The sovereign paused and added, "It's not my place to judge but, really, should the Emperor of the Country of Great Light find what you do to my country out of newspapers?"
Precisely at that moment, the doors of the golden peacocks moved apart and another character — Giles — walked in.
Bemish turned to him and said vengefully, "Well, what have I told you? We got it."
"I am very upset, Mr. Bemish," sovereign Varnazd continued, "I considered you to be an honest man. I am always wrong about people."
"Bemish has nothing to do with it," Giles said, "Our company was supposed to get the license. It took us a while to persuade Mr. Bemish so that he agreed to build it our way."
"And how much has it cost you for Mr. Bemish to agree?" the Emperor smiled.
Bemish became as red as the apples on the tapestry behind the Emperor and said, "It cost them nothing. I thought that if I had to screw around, I would at least do it for free."
"Just a moment," Giles was astonished, "What do you mean, "for free?" You received…"
Bemish turned and started walking towards Giles.
"Son of a bitch," he hissed. At that point, Shavash spoke in calm voice, "This is my fault, Mr. Giles. I took some money from you to give to Mr. Bemish but I spoke to him and he refused the money. So, I took it upon myself to keep it."
Absurdly, Giles and Bemish burst out laughing.
"I swear by god's goiter," Yanik spoke through his clenched teeth looking at the small official. But the Emperor didn't pay much attention to Shavash's confession; he was probably used to these things. The first minister started pompously, "They used to boil criminals in oil for selling the country and to crucify them on gates! How can you justify yourself, Mr. Shavash?"
"I," Shavash said, "don't see what I should justify. I signed a treaty that transformed Weia from a pebble in the Galaxy's backyard into an ally of the Federation of Nineteen and its potential member. The way the agreement is defined makes it most profitable for the Weian people. Accordingly to the treaty, three months ago we obtained a seven billion dinar credit that the first minister had conducted unsuccessful negotiations for. I made the most profitable deal for Weia in the last seven years and I made the Earthmen pay for it with a seven billion credit!"
"Well," the Emperor hesitated, "if it is indeed the case…"
"But how will this man justify his actions?" Shavash continued, "He lost his way among his bribes and he is completely incapable of performing his duties. He is ready to destroy the Empire just to destroy me with it. How will this man justify his actions when he delivered the information concerning a classified agreement to the newspapers of the heretics? How will you justify it, first minister?"
Yanik went gray in the face.
"It's not true," he muttered.
"Nonsense! I will prove that it's true and I will demonstrate how you, instead of notifying the Emperor, preferred to let the heretics know about everything!"
"Come here, Mr. Yanik," the Emperor said.
The old minister made one hesitating step forward, than another one.
"Is it correct? Who gave the information to Blue Sun?"
The official paled and his hands started shaking.
"Tell me the truth…"
"I… I…," the old man muttered, "It's the military consul of Gera… I didn't take any actions against it, but… Unfortunately, I don't know what to do…"
"Resign," the Emperor said. The old official desperately threw up his hands. Shavash banged his fist on a brazier.
"Who cares about Gera?" he cried out, "We are now Earth's ally. We should admit that Bemish's company will obtain a military commission from us! We should admit that the Empire has finally drawn a lucky number after seven years of suffering!"
The Emperor faced Shavash with a sick smile.
"Should we appoint you to the first minister position?"
"Yes," Shavash said, "it will confirm that we made a military agreement with Earth and that we will not turn away."
"If Mr. Shavash becomes the first minister," Giles reached out, "Earth will consider it to be a… favorable omen. It would mean that the government's position is firm. We are ready to consider a new loan."
"Sovereign," Shavash said," I haven't taken a single bribe that was not beneficial for our people but you can't have a first minister who betrays his country and his Emperor in order to get even with his personal enemy!"
The Emperor was quiet. Everybody stood motionless. The golden peacocks stretched their necks listening to the silence. The brazier smoke quietly danced atop a sun ray. When the Emperor spoke, it seemed to Bemish that gods on the skies and demons in the underground went still listening to him.
"You are right, Mr. Shavash. It would make sense to appoint you as a first minister. Unfortunately, I can't do it."
"Why?" Shavash asked.
The Emperor raised his grey eyes at the official.
"I can't do it because you are a scoundrel, Shavash."
The official was taken aback. In another place, he would probably make a standard repartee that he had never heard that scoundrels couldn't be first ministers and he would generally comment in detail about this most childish argument. Here, he suddenly closed his mouth and blinked like a gosling.
"I will not appoint you as a first minister, Shavash, while I am alive," the Emperor continued quietly. "You are a scoundrel. When you appoint a scoundrel to such a position, in the end he always causes more harm that good for the country."
He paused and raised his eyes at Bemish.
"Great Wei, what should I do? What would you, Terence, do at my place?"
"I had an honor to present my opinion to you," Bemish answered, "And my opinion was that first ministers should not be appointed by a sovereign, but rather be appointed by the people via their duly elected representatives."
The sovereign laughed nervously. Then he guffawed out loud.
"You are right, Terence," he spoke, "You are right! I will gather your… representatives. Let them decide themselves who is gonna be the minister! And let Mr. Shavash prove them that he acted for the people's good, let's see if my people are as stupid as I am!"
The Emperor rose and rushed into the inner halls. Giles and Shavash hurried after him but the guards didn't let them through. Bemish turned around, tripped over a golden peacock and bolted downstairs. Halfway down, he almost collided with Kissur who was ascending quickly.
"Kissur," Bemish said desperately, "You know that they forced me to do it."
Kissur just waved his hand.
"How is the sovereign?" he asked.
"He fired Yanik."
"Great Wei! Who is the first minister?! Shavash?!"