A still silence swept the entire hall.
Paul had just openly threatened the Emperor.
Vorn stood up at this moment.
"Duke Paul."
"The Spacing Guild urges restraint. Such a demand destabilizes more than the throne." he said.
Paul slowly glanced towards Vorn in silence for a few moments.
"I am willing to practice restraint for the sake of the Imperium," Paul said.
An imperceptible sigh escaped Shaddam's lips when he heard Paul's words.
"But know this, once my condition changes, it can never be brought back to the table," he said.
'Please Hurry!' Paul thought to himself, praying they would agree to change his conditions.
Vorn was silent.
He was, after all, unable to speak for the Emperor.
Shaddam glanced around towards Fenring for a moment before his eyes flashed towards Mohiam, his truth sayer.
She was quiet but nodded.
'He clearly wants something else... but 500 billion is impossible... he knows it is impossible.' Shaddam thought as his jaw clenched, as he nodded.
"Three conditions." Paul held up three fingers.
"First, the concentration of CHOAM shares under the Imperial throne ends today."
'What...?' The thought appeared in Shaddam's head.
"Reduce the Emperor's shares and have them fairly distributed through a Landsraad council amongst the families in Imperium based on their contributions," Paul said,
Almost immediately, a wave of whispering spread among the Minor houses.
Thufir who was standing behind Paul, his eyes remain white for a long time before returning to normal.
He didn't speak, but his eyes silently lingered on Paul.
Paul did not speak as he glanced around the hall.
His thoughts were completely at odds with his appearance and bravado.
'I don't know how long I can hold the poison off,' Paul thought to himself.
His teeth were gritted as he forgot to even speak for a moment.
The great houses quietly discussed what this would mean for them.
The muttering grew louder and louder.
At some point, the whole hall was filled with noise.
"This is a justified punishment," Yins Ecaz said.
The voices to contradict him were scarce but remained strong.
No matter whose side the Houses stood, this condition would lead only to benefits.
'If this is agreed to... My throne' He didn't dare to complete the thought.
He took a deep breath before he spoke.
His eyes glancing towards his ally houses, most of whom did not even speak up in his favour.
"CHOAM governance is not a matter for Landsraad to arbitrate," Shaddam said, The loud hall slowly began to silence as they looked at Paul who remained silent for a moment.
'God, this fucking hurts,' Paul thought to himself as his arm felt like it was burning, but he knew he had to respond, he had walked in prepared to respond expecting this.
He looked at Shaddam before he spoke.
"It became a Landsraad matter the moment Imperial shares were used to fund a military deployment against a Great House."
"You are destabilising the whole Empire," Shaddam said.
"Indeed, this will cause chaos!" Count Fenring exclaimed in support of Shaddam.
"The houses present here, I believe, will see it in another light, Emperor Shaddam," Paul said silencing Fenring.
"My Second Condition," he said pausing for a minute.
"The Sardaukar will be subject to limitation and inspection under Landsraad authority."
"Unacceptable!" Shaddam shot up.
"It is acceptable!" Paul shot back.
Shaddam was already seething internally.
'He has crossed lines he can never come back from,' Mohiam thought to herself, her eyes wide as they hovered on Paul.
Shaddam shook his head in denial.
His fists were tightly clenched when he heard houses all around the stands begin murmuring amongst themselves.
He felt his power slipping from his hands.
Glancing around, he took in a deep breath before speaking.
"Do you Houses not see what the goal of House Atreides is!" Shaddam exclaimed.
"Their military is currently one of the strongest within the Empire. Do you really wish to give such power to House Atreides?"Shaddam asked, and a few murmurs began quietening down as they stared at him.
"If the Sardaukar must be subjugated to limitations and inspection under the Landsraad Authority, then it must only be fair if all houses are subject to this," He said.
Paul's eyes swept around the room in silence and noticed that even House Ecaz and House Vernius seemed to have been caught off guard by what Shaddam said.
His jaw clenched as the poison within his arm flared.
'I lost this one...' Paul thought to himself, 'The last point is the most important... I need to move quickly, I don't know how long I can control this.'
"Third," Paul said.
"Arrakis will be recognized as a permanent territory of House Atreides."
"It will not be reassigned. House Atreides will protect it as the sovereign ruler of Arrakis." Paul said.
Not even a moment passed before someone stood up.
"House Richese agrees to this proposition."
Paul glanced towards the voice and saw Sera standing up.
She had barely finished speaking before House Vernius stood up in support, and soon House Ecaz and a few more Great Houses that had deep cooperation with these three great houses stood in agreement.
They were aware that as long as House Atreides ruled Arrakis, they would benefit, and if House Ecaz, Vernius, and Richese benefited, other great houses with close contracts tied to these houses would be greatly boosted for them.
"No!"
"Enough!" Shaddam shouted as he stood up.
"Arrakis is a treasure belonging to the Imperium, no one Family can hold sovereignty over it!" Shaddam said, and several houses rose in agreement with him, almost equivalent to the voice that supported House Atreides.
The head of House Moritani was the loudest voice amongst the crowd.
"Giving House Atreides such power is foolish by all metrics!" He exclaimed.
Several other houses joined in support of House Moritani.
As the arguments intensified, Paul was barely able to maintain focus as he tried to keep the poison from spreading.
He grit his teeth, the sounds of shouting becoming deafening to his ears.
"Stop," Paul spoke.