On to the prime minister!

Belinda entered the main chamber and sat down on her golden throne while Prime Minister Guldaro and the court's Elven Wizard, Xalandra stood up at her approach.

"My queen," said the prime minister. He was a tall and relatively handsome man for his age (50). Guldaro was a consummate opportunist. During the country's brief civil war, he had served the king's cruel brother, but quickly betrayed him and turned him over to Belinda's husband, ending the war and ensuring himself his cushy position. This had all happened before Belinda's marriage, and she was thus unaware of any of this.

Guldaro had long been scheming to grab more power for himself, but the king and Xalandra had both kept him check. At least until recently. With the king gone, Guldaro had wormed his way into control of the treasury, by convincing Belinda that affairs of the coin were beneath her.

He had then bought off Xalandra with an offer too tempting to refuse: if she agreed to ignore his own dealings, she could have access to all the magical artifacts and tomes kept locked away in the royal vault.

"My queen, there is a question about the treasury that needs your attention. It's just a simple formality, but I need you to apply your royal seal to this decree before it can become official..."

"Fine Guldaro," said Belinda, marking the page with her signet ring without bothering to look at it.

"But I thought you were taking care of these matters," she said, clearly annoyed by this smallest of tasks.

"I am excellency, but as I said, your royal authority was needed in this rare instance. It shant happen again," said Guldaro, practically jumping for joy.

The agreement in question had just given him total control of the kingdom's treasury, as well as the royal family's personal assets, with a staggering 10,000 gold-a-month pay raise and a generous benefits package to boot.

"Now, about the art gallery," Belinda chimed in. "Is everything back in place yet?"

"Oh yes, your highness, everything is back to normal," said Guldaro. He had secretly sold off the paintings in the gallery to the highest bidder to help pay for the personal army he was clandestinely raising. The new ones were simple forgeries painted by street urchins.

"Good. I want to see hubby today, it's been too long."

"Very good, your excellency. Now if you will permit it, I shall get back to running my... er... your kingdom." With that Guldaro bowed deeply and left, leaving Belinda and the (spooky) court wizard alone.