A king does not need to understand everything.
He needs to decide.
That is what I’ve always believed.
My father, Darius, ruled with scrolls and swords.
I learned to rule with something more subtle — delegation.
There is power in letting others act on your behalf.
It spares you the burden of questions, and multiplies your reach like the branches of a cedar tree.
But even the tallest tree can rot at the root.
The Rise of Haman
Haman rose fast. Too fast, some whispered.
But I didn’t mind his ambition.
He was efficient. Unflinching.
He said what others were too careful to say.
He bowed lower than the rest.
Laughed a little louder at my jokes.
Brought gifts I hadn’t asked for.
I thought that meant loyalty.
Perhaps it meant hunger.
But I was tired of thinking.
So I handed him my seal.
The Signet Ring
It was simple, really. A piece of engraved metal passed from one hand to another.
But that ring did more than seal wax.
It gave him my voice.
My authority.
My permission.
When he came with talk of “a scattered people,” troublemakers who “keep themselves separate,” who “do not obey the king’s laws”…
…I did not ask for names.
I asked for peace.
He offered ten thousand talents of silver to eliminate them. I waved it off.
“Keep the money,” I said. “Do with the people as you please.”
I signed it away.
Just like that.
A King Without Questions
I did not read the full decree.
I didn’t ask who the people were.
I trusted the man I had elevated.
And why not?
The empire was stable.
The court was quiet.
Even Esther seemed untroubled — though, now I wonder…
Did she know? Did she read the storm I failed to feel?
The Quiet in Her Eyes
In the weeks that followed, I noticed her face change.
She was not cold.
But distant.
Not afraid.
But withheld.
She still came when summoned.
Still smiled at the right moments.
But behind her silence, something sharpened.
I should have asked her what was wrong.
I should have asked anyone.
But kings do not question what they believe they own.
And I…
I had forgotten that even a crown does not protect you from the consequences of your own indifference.
What a Ring Cannot Undo
By the time I understood what Haman had done — by the time the ink had dried across 127 provinces and families had begun to weep for a future they no longer had — …it was too late.
And when Esther finally spoke…
she did not plead like a subject.
She confronted me like a mirror.
And I saw it.
Not just Haman’s cruelty.
But my permission.
