——

The wind in the palace was gloomy and somewhat dull. The wooden building covered in snow, even though it was shielded by the elements on weekdays, still looked decayed at first glance.

"Mavis." The Pope's old voice sounded, "I remember I told you before that your goal is to kill the king, not to seriously injure him."

Not far away, Mavis knelt on one knee. Hearing this, she defended herself nonchalantly: "He is the king of Amikubi. There are so many resources in the treasury. If he carries a few life-saving alchemy equipment with him, even if you do it yourself, you may not be able to succeed in one strike."

The Pope's already stern expression now looked more like the ferocity of a demon statue, completely losing the kindness of an elder.

"So this is why you never considered a second assassination attempt when he was seriously injured for a long time?" The Pope pointed to the king who was lying on the bed not far away and had been unconscious for a long time.

He looked down at Mavis and sneered, "Apart from the fact that the order has not been completed, what is the situation of Godfori spreading in this city now? You'd better give me an explanation."

Mavis simply went from kneeling on one knee to sitting on the ground. She raised her head and looked at the Pope in front of her, whose face was full of wrinkles but still refused to admit his age. She felt like vomiting.

"What's the point of explaining or not explaining? Shouldn't you know the situation in the inner city better than me? After all, I have always been in charge of things related to the Dark Church. If you want to know what happened in the inner city, shouldn't you ask Lera?"

Mavis gave the Pope a mocking look.

Afterwards, she never paid the price for her words. At least in the Pope's words, the reason for Mavis's punishment was: "Did I allow you to look me in the eye?"

"ah--"

The next second, Mavis couldn't help but scream.

The Pope looked at the woman lying on the ground bleeding with cold eyes. The anger in his heart caused by the unexpected changes was completely released.

Mavis, who fell to the ground, felt her vision was obscured by a red color. She felt a tearing pain in every corner of her body, and red blood was constantly flowing out of her eyes, nostrils, and ears.

The world was spinning, and the magnificent palace was distorted in the eyes dyed red.

The handle that Sully had previously guessed was not so much a handle as it was a congenital defect in Mavis's body.

Having an affinity for each of the two elements does not mean that one is a rare genius. On the contrary, this peculiarity is more like an intractable disease that cannot be reconciled with existing means.

Normally, these two forces maintain a delicate balance in Mavis' body, but if the Pope chooses to stimulate the light element that has been rooted in Mavis' body since childhood, then the so-called balance will be broken in an instant.

The two elements, which are inherently opposite, will be like a soldier who has never noticed the enemy before, suddenly discovering that the enemy has already mixed with himself the moment the balance is destroyed.

The two elements started a war in a state of mutual hostility, and Mavis' body became a battlefield for the elements.

This is like implanting countless bombs inside her body and detonating them at the same time.

Mavis was already unconscious from the pain, but she suddenly thought of herself sitting by Sully's window that day.

When facing Sully's words, Mavis responded: "I have never thought about how to deal with it."

At least in her half life, she has never made an active choice.

No matter how much you do in a life arranged by others, it is always within the frame drawn.

There is no need to be alone.

Sully's fingers, which were originally resting casually on the booklet on the table, couldn't help but press down hard for a moment.

After letting go, he replied, "Then don't think about it. This is something that you can't figure out even if you think about it. Let me think about it."

Now Mavis couldn't help but wonder what Sully would do.

But no matter what she did, if her body could endure one or two more elemental collapses...it would be gone.

…

Three days after the Pope arrived at the palace, news finally came from inside the palace that the king had woken up.

When the news spread throughout the city, Ophelia sent her knights to deliver a new message.

That is - the king's summons.

After the knight finished speaking the king's instructions, Sully raised his eyebrows and said to Egbert beside him, "I thought it would take another two days for the king to wake up."

"It's probably because the Pope changed his plan at the last minute," Egbert pointed out. "Ophelia doesn't have the ability to wake the king. As for me, I was deliberately hiding my identity before the Pope came to this city, let alone after he came to this city."

Therefore, the only one who can wake the king up is the Pope.

Egbert felt emotional. Compared to himself who just figured it out now, Lord Sully must have taken the current situation into consideration when he wanted the king to wake up.

There is only one reason why the Pope would save the king, and that is to repay a favor.

Ophelia's purpose in waiting for the king to wake up is to tell him the truth. The Pope's purpose in wanting the king to wake up is, of course, to make him clearly feel his own powerlessness.

It will definitely be cured, but it won't be a complete cure.

The inability to restore strength is basically equivalent to the king no longer being able to sit on the throne in a world where strength is paramount.

Therefore, the Pope will definitely give up letting the nobles push Xia Zuo to the throne and instead let the king directly support him.

With no one to trust and no one to rely on, Ophelia's emotions when facing the Pope would certainly be the same as in the past.

This naturally left the impression in the Pope's mind that Ophelia was still under control.

As for the information said in the city that Xia Zuo is not the king's child, no one knows better than the Pope that this is fake news.

It doesn't matter who leaked the news, Ophelia is not on the throne yet anyway.

Therefore, when the king was unable to continue to sit in this position, it was only natural that Xia Zuo, the most powerful of his sons and daughters, would succeed him.

So in the Pope's view, everything is still under control.

Little did they know that Sully, who had sneaked into the palace that night to meet the king, began a conversation with the king under the accusation that Ophelia was a "prophet".

The man sitting on the golden throne had an indeterminate height, but he was a very large man.

His eyes are as sharp as a knife, and when he speaks, his deep voice naturally has a suppressive power.

After being offered a seat, Suli sat on a stool with a calm attitude.

Until the king spoke, "Are you the prophet that Ophelia invited from the Mercenary City?"

Su Li was stunned for a moment, then denied it decisively: "Of course not."

When the king frowned, he added: "As for whether the ability to predict exists, I can say with certainty that I do not have this unscientific power."

"And if you want to ask why I know so much from my perspective, I can only say that this is just a relative inference from the logic of neutralization."

"For example, the Pope wanted to kill me, but now he saved me?" The king's stern face did not reveal any other meaning.

Fortunately, Suli is not the kind of person who relies on reading people's facial expressions to communicate.

"Yes, that's easy to understand, isn't it?"

"If you die directly in the assassination, then Xia Zuo, as the Pope's child, the Pope can of course take it for granted that the child raised by your legal wife, the Holy Lady of Light, is not qualified to inherit the throne, and bring Xia Zuo, the hidden son, out to the public."

"Xia Zuo's absolute personal strength, plus the fact that the Pope only needs to use a compassionate attitude to say that for the survival of Amikubi, even if the condition of your marriage with the Holy See during your lifetime is that the child born by the Holy Lady of Light will be the first heir... he is unwilling to let a child who is not capable of taking on national responsibilities sit on the throne. As a result, Xia Zuo is the only possibility left to take the throne."

Sully also told the king: "When the time comes, the Pope will not only gain higher prestige, but also the victory of stealing the country."

"Then the eldest princess you hold in your palm will die, to prevent her from becoming a threat to Xia Zuo, who has the ability to inherit the throne. And your other children will also become implicated in this conspiracy."

The king's aura became more and more obvious.

"All the possibilities you mentioned are based on my death. But now, not only am I not dead, I can also sit in front of you soberly."

The king tried to suppress Suli with his eyes, hoping to make him submit, instead of sitting on the stool, looking directly at his figure and talking to him.

But this was of no use to Suli.

No matter how hard Sully tried to threaten or intimidate a guy whose ashes might have been burned out if it weren't for his own efforts, he couldn't feel it.

So he spoke more calmly than before about the possibility that the king was alive.

"Assuming that your eldest princess does not know the truth about Xia Zuo's bloodline, and now that you have suddenly woken up, your strength cannot be restored to its peak, and you have been seriously injured and have sequelae... Do you think you can continue to sit on the throne for a long time?"

"As far as I know, one of the three great dukes of Amiqbi is your blood brother."

Suli looked at the king meaningfully, and found that the king's face looked even more ferocious, as if he wanted to eat someone.

Suli, who didn't think he would be eaten, would cruelly reveal the truth: "If you don't want to hand over your position to your brother who once fell behind you, then you can only choose to pass it on to your next generation, right?"

"As a princess, do you think it is possible for Ophelia to sit on the throne if she doesn't know the truth?"

When Sully said this, he felt as if Ophelia's eyes were stabbing him in the back.

"Even though Ophelia is excluded, Xia Zuo, the most powerful of your descendants, will still be the most powerful contender for the throne."

"And you, knowing that you are injured and unable to provide for your next generation, choose a strong enough offspring as the new king. Even if he is not smart, he has a high survival rate in the face of danger because of his strong strength. Isn't this the only choice?"

"So, as you can see, it makes no difference to the pope whether you live or die."

The king's demeanor grew more serious.

The snowy scene outside made the palace seem even darker.

"Have you ever thought that I would keep you from leaving here by trying to guess my inner thoughts like this?"

The murderous aura that suddenly rose up made Egbert, who was following behind Sully, look much uglier.

Suli was speechless.

The situation has come to this, and you still want to suppress him, is there any point?

So he simply looked into the king's icy blue eyes and said, "Don't forget, for the Pope, it doesn't matter whether you are alive or dead, and the reason you are still alive now is that..."

"My guidance." Sully emphasized the word "I".

Suli's emerald green pupils made the dim interior of the palace seem even darker, but the moment he raised his head, the king felt that his eyes seemed to be glowing.

It was not bright, but rather a substance that was like the will-o'-the-wisp glowing inside the skull of a person who had been dead for a long time.

There was no murderous aura, nor any intimidation, but it just made people break out in cold sweats for some unknown reason.

Suli spoke in a steady voice. He looked up at the sturdy man sitting on the golden throne and warned the king at just the right pace: "I can keep you alive now, but I can also make you... lose the right to live at any time."

In this city, everyone is as rotten as the mud in stagnant water.

What good is a king?

If he was really a good person, how could the Pope have plotted against him?

When the Holy Lady of Light proposed marriage to him, why did he not refuse?

You have to know that according to the age difference between her and Xia Zuo, Xia Zuo was already born, not just conceived.

Going back in time, it was basically the period when the Holy Lady of Light married the king and Xia Zuo was just pregnant by his mother.

When the king was unaware of Ophelia's true identity, he accepted the saint's marriage proposal. If he had not intended to consolidate his own position, Sully would have dared to return to the inn and eat a live sheep that had not been processed yet.

Sully glanced at the man who was about to stand up from the throne, angered by his tone, and said calmly, "Or do you think it would be better if you really died?"

As soon as these words fell, Suli saw the king sitting firmly on the golden throne again.

There are brains, but not much.

Suli thought gloomily, if it weren't for...

He was too lazy to continue discussing this with the king now, as everyone already knew the information.

"You have to make a decision. Kill the Pope, or..."

Sully stood up from the hard stool, adjusted the scarf on his face again with his tender hands, raised the corners of his lips, and slowly finished his unfinished words.

"—killed by the Pope."

All of Suli's expressions, eyes and body language were telling the king a fact that he was unwilling to accept but had to acknowledge.

That is, this young man who was regarded as a prophet by countless people did not care about his life or death at all.

A silent fear enveloped the burly man, and the king could only say in a dry voice: "I understand."

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