Before the carriage heading towards the capital even reached the city gate, Todd, sitting inside the carriage, could hear the commotion coming from afar.

Cumberland's distinctive booming voice was the first to reach his ears: "This is a despicable murder! The Holy Crusade should be His Majesty's direct forces, yet they've created such a huge scandal! This is all because you've been spoiled and arrogant all this time!"

As the commander of the Crusader, Ackerman argued, "Grand Master, no one wanted to see what happened today, but it was indeed an accident."

Cumberland raised his voice: "Bullshit accident! Then let me ask you, since the last attack, Jacqueline has been forbidden from leaving the Crusader camp without permission. How did she sneak into the wedding venue? And how did she disguise herself as a maid?"

"I believe these are all work oversights."

"A mistake?! You should know better than me that if someone hadn't been pushing her along, how could she have had the chance to sneak in?!"

Ackerman paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "This was an accident."

"Look at your face in the mirror! Your expression right now is telling me that you don't even believe your own words!"

The Kingdom's Prime Minister Emerson's voice rang out: "Enough said. Now that this has happened, blaming each other is pointless. The key is how to clean up the mess!"

Cumberland said angrily, "Randall has a knighthood, he participated in the battles of Lone Rock and Holy Guard, and is a well-known human hero in the entire city! But his wife is now lying in the hospital, her life hanging in the balance, and this dark-skinned brat actually tells me it was an accident!"

Several Crusader shamans of different species looked at each other, wanting to speak up in defense, but not knowing what to say.

The Valkyrie leader, Ivy, leaned against the city wall with her arms crossed, watching the group argue incessantly as if it were a show.

Finally, with a shout from a guard, the argument came to an end.

"His Majesty has arrived!"

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Todd's carriage slowly approached the gates of the royal city.

However, with the clattering sound of the wheels rolling over the stone slabs, the carriage showed no intention of stopping.

The crowd watched as the king's carriage drove past them and into the inner city.

The impatient Cumberland was about to step forward when he saw a servant jogging up and announcing to everyone, "His Majesty has ordered everyone to wait in the side hall for a moment!"

Ackerman scratched his head: "Wait a moment?"

Emerson called out to his attendant, "Does Your Majesty have any other urgent matters to attend to?"

The latter shook his head and said, "I don't know. His Majesty only ordered everyone to wait."

Seeing everyone's bewildered expressions, Ivy smiled slightly and turned to walk into the inner city.

Entering the King's audience room, Todd changed into casual clothes, sat down in a chair, and began to look through the reports and documents on the table.

Without a knock, and before the guards could even announce her arrival, Ivy pushed the door open and walked right in.

Todd didn't even look up: "I reminded you beforehand to let me know before you came in."

Ivy snorted: "When you call me to the bedroom at night, I've never heard you complain about these things."

Todd shook his head with a wry smile and waved for the guards to leave.

Ivy leaned back onto the sofa, grabbed a snake fruit from the silver platter with her right hand, rubbed it casually on her body, and took a bite.

As Todd reviewed the documents, he asked, "How is Barbara's injury?"

"It's neither good nor bad."

"What's the meaning?"

“All Crusader soldiers possess regenerative abilities to varying degrees, and elves are no exception. Unless the wound is fatal to the head or heart, Crusader soldiers will not die on the spot,” Ivy said, chewing on a piece of fruit. “But the dagger pierced a rather unfortunate spot; it damaged part of the heart muscle.”

"Myocardium?" Todd stopped writing. "What did the doctor say?"

"Barbara will survive, but she cannot engage in any strenuous activity that could damage her heart for the rest of her life."

"Any strenuous activity that could damage the heart is prohibited?"

"Hmm? Routine operations are mostly fine, but there's one problem..."

Todd sighed: "Childbirth."

Evie nodded and said, "That's right. The doctor said that having a child puts a huge burden on the heart, which can worsen heart damage and may even be life-threatening."

Todd closed his eyes: "So, the doctors advised them to terminate the pregnancy."

Evie's expression darkened: "And I suggest you don't get pregnant in the future."

What did they say?

“Randall already knew about it when I left, but Barbara was still in a coma. As for their decision, I don’t know.”

Todd stood up from his chair, looked out the window, and said, "Give up the child..."

Evie whispered, "If it were me, I would never give up the child."

Todd shook his head and asked in a low voice, "What's the reaction from the outside world regarding this matter?"

"Arguments, conflicts, chaos."

"Please elaborate."

Evie put down the snake fruit and slowly said, "Jacqueline was captured by the Knights at the wedding and immediately imprisoned in the Knights' military camp. The Shaman Assembly was very dissatisfied with this and demanded that she be transferred to the Crusader's prison."

"The Knights not only rejected the request, but also publicly declared that they would thoroughly investigate the murder, believing that someone must have been assisting the killer."

Todd then asked, "And what about the public's attitude?"

"Some of the human residents who attended the wedding have protested to the Crusaders. They have gathered together and called on all humans to hold a march to protest this unjust treatment."

Todd nodded slightly.

Ivy asked curiously, "Aren't you going to stop these people?"

Todd turned to Evie and asked, "What would you do if you were in that situation?"

Evie raised an eyebrow: "The supreme god has no need for restless believers. All troublemakers will be executed on the spot, and their souls will be eternally condemned to the coldest hell."

Todd shook his head and said, "Doing that is like pouring a can of oil on the flames of hatred."

"So what should we do?"

Todd didn't answer the question, but instead asked Evie, "Have you found the person I asked you to find?"

"He's in the hallway."

"Let him in."

Evie glanced at Todd, then turned and walked out.

A moment later, a middle-aged man followed the Valkyrie into the king's audience chamber.

The middle-aged man had a typical Slavic face: a long skull, a high forehead, low cheekbones, thin lips, a slightly protruding chin, slightly graying temples, and a tall but slightly overweight build.

Upon seeing this person, Todd's face broke into a rare, warm smile.

An excited middle-aged man rushed to Todd and knelt down on one knee to perform a standard audience greeting.

Todd smiled and said, "Huggins, you've gained weight, and your hair is whiter than before..."