Snow became all but a walking corpse, suspended in disbelief. The entire morning was chaotic as he addressed the remaining members of the royal court and Nayzaria, announcing his father's passing. The light faded from his eyes, and his sensations numbed from repeating himself so many times.
Sultan Huran was in an uproar, and Ali refused to leave Snow's side, yet nothing could ease the storm in his mind and heart.
Next, it was time to address the rest of the kingdom. The entire public was something unmanageable. His coronation was a rushed, unrehearsed, and sloppy formality. Through it all, Snow only thought of his father's last words over and over. He imagined Arthur's smiling face in the city temple, watching him marry Ali. He envisioned his father raising a glass at dinner, commemorating their union and announcing plans for a castle of their own on the southern border of the continent, close to the port. In a flash, all these expectations and fantasies were scattered like sands in the wind until all that was left was white. A blank horizon was before him now, and he was too stunned to do anything but stare.
With the king in a hypnotic state, void of the ability to process the world around him, the wedding had been postponed. The new era had come, and their new king ascended the throne far quicker than expected. Yet, Snow was like a zombie, staring off into space, hardly with the mental capacity to speak his wedding vows at the rehearsal the next day. The happiest day of his life felt like a foggy vision, a scene being played out before Snow without his participation. For three days, his soul seemed all but ready to depart from its shell before he finally wept and mourned.
While the king's entire world had become a shattered ruin, Queen Ophelia wore her grief with the same level of refinement and sophistication as she would express celebration or joy. She claimed an active role upon her husband's parting, encouraging the royal guards to investigate any evidence and to question everyone who had been in the castle that evening. Sultan Huran became a prime target, being the last person seen with Arthur.
Some had said they heard screams echo from the corridors, others that they thought they heard someone wandering about late in the evening. Lanterns and candlesticks had been found knocked over just outside the hall's door, which was wide open, though Sultan Huran had testified against such an observation at the time of his parting.