Theony's naked hard truth of the matter struck Philips hard.
In fact, it might have hurt harder than if Lord Theony was just a power hungry traitor.
Were that to be the case, the Crown Prince could have somewhat soothed his heart.
But Theony's reasoning laid bare to the crown prince the absolute disaster the royal family was currently facing.
They had lost three huge back to back battles- first- the chance to take Zanzan, second and their most grievous wound- losing the fortress of fortress, Thesalie and the third and the latest, the defense of their capital.
Each of these defeats not only caused the loss of the crown's prestige and territory, but it also meant the death of a huge number of loyal nobles and competent officers, shrinking the royal family's pillar of support even more.