The king sees right through the distress of his advisors, recognizing that they are trapped in an impossible situation. He understands that their repeated requests are nothing more than a desperate attempt to escape their looming punishment. He opens his accusation with a declaration of absolute certainty. This certainty is rooted in a truth that is firm and unshakeable [מצודת ציון], allowing him to state beyond any doubt that he knows exactly what they are doing [רש״י, מצודת דוד].
He then confronts them about their handling of the current crisis. The primary approach among commentators is that the king accuses the wise men of simply trying to buy time. They hope to delay their fate until his anger cools and he changes his mind, or until they can devise a trick to save themselves [אבן עזרא, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Other scholars suggest a more fatalistic meaning, where the king informs them that at this very moment, their lives are already forfeit and they are completely handed over to death [רש״י, מצודת דוד, יוסף אבן יחיא, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Alternatively, his accusation implies that they are actively trying to deceive him [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. From another perspective, their useless pleading is actually causing them to lose whatever little time they might have otherwise been granted [אלשיך].
The root of their behavior lies in their realization that the dream has completely slipped from the king's memory. The commentators agree that the king is exposing their deep hypocrisy. The advisors are fully aware that he has forgotten the dream and cannot share it with anyone. Despite this, they stubbornly repeat their requests for him to recount it, using this impossible demand as a shield to avoid their failure [רש״י, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אלשיך].
The wise men know that the decree against them is an established and absolute decision [אבן עזרא]. The king firmly shuts down any hope of negotiation, making it perfectly clear that no amount of stubbornness or attempted compromise will lighten their sentence. There will be no reduction of their punishment from death to mere suffering, as his final intention is to destroy them completely [אלשיך].