General Morn, the King's cousin, wanted to take Meron's throne and cleanse the Kingdom from the eyesore that Verhen was.
Morn had never forgotten all the trouble that Lith had caused to the noble households and resented him for having never really bent the knee to the Crown, no matter how many resources the state had invested into him.
The General believed that making an example out of him would have raised the morale of the troops and taught all the mages of commoner origin a lesson. Either they accepted to be pawns in the game of politics or they lost their place on the board.
"The first thing we have to do is to put Verhen on trial." Morn said. "His brother is a traitor and their name is a disgrace for this Kingdom. The citizens demand justice and if we can't offer them the Dead King's head, we can at least offer them those of his parents.