The Heiress

Chapter 106

"Miss Park of the Wang Empire will arrive next week to discuss the collaboration that we have been planning for a long time already. We can't just tell her that there will be no funding for this project since we have used all the military money to purchase more food for everyone!" The Prime Minister explained. "The Wang Empire is one of the most demanded companies right now because of the technology that they have created. We can't let this project go!"

"Prime Minister, my only concern is the welfare of our people. What is the use of that military sophistication if our people are dying from starvation?" Another minister said. "I'm sure Miss Park of the Wang Group will understand this. After all, the welfare of the people should be our priority."

The argument went on as the Prime Minister continued to use Chaeyoung's name to the dismay of most Cabinet members. They hadn't even met Chaeyoung, but they already had a bad impression about the latter.

Of course, Gideon did not say anything about that, as Chaeyoung had told him not to protect her name. Chaeyoung had also told him to use this opportunity to see who was actually siding with the Zhou Family among the Cabinet members. By pretending to be vulnerable, many people would show their real faces and kick him while he was down.

....

Gideon couldn't help but applaud Chaeyoung for having the initiative to tell him about that. For him, her plan was so flawless that he himself could just sit there, feeling calm and assured that this incident would be over soon.

Chaeyoung also told him another thing, which made him speechless. The Queen was using an arsenic type of slow-acting poison, which was laced in the papers with calligraphy that she always gifted him. Nathaniel always loved calligraphy and the Queen had taken advantage of that.

After just a few months of being married to her, Gideon remembered, the Queen gave him the first calligraphy painting, which he always liked from then on. A year after that, he started showing some symptoms of poisoning. Although he knew he was being poisoned, he always assumed that it was something that he had taken in with his food and drinks. He never thought that it was something that he had touched.

Then, he thought about how Mason loathed those gifts and always compared them to Claire's works. Because of that, he never touched or even looked at them. At that time, he would only laugh at his friend's comments about the paintings. Now, he felt thankful that Mason never spent any time with those gifts.

Or else, he would have suffered from the poison himself.

"Enough!" He sternly said after most of the Cabinet members were already in an argument with each other. He then turned his gaze towards Prime Minister. "I want to change the financial budget that we have for this year and give half of the allocated budget for Military enhancements to the Food and Agriculture sector."

"I beg to disagree with Your Highness." The Prime Minister immediately chimed in. "This will weaken our security forces. If the rebels and militants take advantage of this and attack us, then all of the citizens will suffer."

"Prime Minister Lee… if our soldiers are already dead from starvation, then how will we be able to fight those militants?" He asked, making everyone look at the Prime Minister. This was actually the first time that Gideon's tone became so sarcastic towards the Prime Minister and a lot of the Cabinet members were very curious about the latter's reaction.

"With all due respect…" the Prime Minister said with a sullen expression. "I am also concerned with the welfare of the country…"

"Is that why you want them to starve?" Gideon asked, making the Prime Minister speechless. He looked at Gideon as fear started making him doubt his previous decision of siding with the Zhou Family in this power struggle. Why did it seem like Gideon was very confident of his actions?