The death of Chryses sent a great shock through Cyprus.
He had been a politician still in the prime of his career. Among the Elders, he had been on the younger and healthier side, and people found it difficult to believe that he had passed away so suddenly.
“Was it assassination?”
“I hear there were no external injuries.”
“What about traces of poison?”
“Further investigation will be necessary, but according to the physician, that possibility is unlikely as well.”
The cause of Chryses’s death remained a complete mystery.
And naturally so. Who in the world could have guessed that, after being ordered to “hold his breath,” he had voluntarily sealed his own airway until he died?
Once it became known that there was no trace whatsoever of any conspiracy, people’s attention turned instead toward the political legacy he had left behind.
Chryses had been the leader of Helios, the greatest city in Cyprus, and a politician who had wielded authority comparable to that of a king.
Naturally, his son Ambrosius, known as the “Prince of Cyprus,” emerged as the leading candidate, but—
“I am still recuperating from the aftermath of the fire. Moreover, I was so preoccupied with tending to my own health that I failed to look after my father’s. The grief and guilt still weigh heavily upon my heart.”
He calmly concealed his grief and politely declined the position of Elder.
“For someone as inadequate as myself to become an Elder would be…