Chapter 70
"Are you sure you saw it clearly? Is it really the Pope?"
"That pomp and circumstance was absolutely true, sir, but, but..."
The man glared at his subordinate: "Hurry up and speak!"
His subordinate knelt on the carpet, bowing deeply, and said cautiously, "When Prince Garcia went in, the palace doors opened, and our men saw two figures standing inside. One was the young man who came with the papal retinue, and the other was... the papal envoy who opened the secret realm at the Royal Academy this morning!"
Are you sure!?
"Absolutely true!"
The man's pupils darted around rapidly. He took several deep breaths, his suspicions growing stronger.
The Pope is probably long dead. In order to maintain the Church's position over the years, they created an imposter to impersonate the Pope and deceive the world!
Can……
The third prince is dead, and who knows if those curses will reach the Golden Merchant Guild. The third prince and the queen had frequent dealings with the Golden Merchant Guild before, and the queen actually dared to poison so many people; she's really insane.
What's the use of knowing this now? The Golden Merchant Guild's current priority is to sever ties with the Queen and the Third Prince. He sent many trusted confidants into the secret realm, but none survived. They had signed a pact of no regard for life or death earlier, so now they have to swallow their pride and accept their bad luck.
Jin paced back and forth anxiously.
He then remembered something else: that it had been said before that the Holy Son Sylvain was related to the demon race.
But can the Golden Merchant Guild really stand up to the Church?
Jin's face was slightly pale.
Just then, a person rushed in from outside and said urgently, "President, the executive officer has led a team downstairs and says he wants to thoroughly investigate the Chamber of Commerce's annual tax books."
"Why would they investigate this out of the blue?!" Jin was taken aback for a moment, then flew into a rage and roared.
No matter how angry you are, you still have to put on a nice face and greet the executive officer.
As he took a step, he suddenly realized something: "He's not dead?"
The subordinate stammered, "His Highness the Second Prince did not leave the Fourth District during the New Year."
Jin's expression twisted for a moment, then, as if he had thought of something, a thought flashed through his mind, and he put on a smile again and walked outside.
He thought that all the royal princes except Ethan were dead.
*
King Charles's days are numbered.
Garcia was unable to stay by his brother's side day and night. Ethan was released and knelt before his father's bed, wailing uncontrollably. As the youngest prince, he was in even greater pain than the old king.
His own mother poisoned his brothers, his elders and relatives, and caused his father to fall into such a predicament that he never recovered.
The young prince was meek and mild-mannered. Even when King Charles coldly summoned him to preside over the funeral, he appeared distraught. In the end, the old king couldn't bring himself to do it.
The task of handling the funeral arrangements fell to Garcia.
Lortheran said he couldn't help, as court etiquette had developed considerably in the two hundred years since his death, and every detail was meticulously crafted. In his words, just put a coffin on him and bury him in the royal cemetery.
If there are still young children at home, they are called to cry for three or four days.
And that was that.
Garcia hasn't been doing well these days either; he's lost weight. He used to keep several expensive dogs at the Prince's mansion, which he would carefully groom every day, but now he's so busy he can't even take care of his friends, let alone his dogs.
He wore his princely robes every day, and the buttons that used to be tight around his fat belly had loosened over the past few days. In the huge hall, he looked exhausted as he received the nobles who came to pay their respects. It was truly a laughing stock that most of the royal family members had died.
I also felt sorry for her.
Such an absurd and unbelievable thing actually happened so easily.
Fate is truly unreasonable.
When nobles and royalty came to pay their respects, they saw luxurious coffins befitting their owners, draped in white veils symbolizing purity, with bouquets placed in front, carried by servants to the royal tombs.
The guards, clad in silver armor and armed, stood watch around the royal cemetery. Some of them stood beside the dug graves. At a command, the coffins fell, and the priests bowed their heads and chanted scriptures. Amidst the murmured and indistinct chanting, soil was poured over the coffins and then filled the pits.
The burial took only one day.
The end of this day signifies a severe blow to the once-thriving royal family. The royal family's power will only face two scenarios: either power will be divided, or power will be highly concentrated in the hands of one of the survivors.
For Hilda, dealing with Garcia was the best thing ever.
However, he soon heard new news that the prince from the fourth district, who was nominally there for training but was actually the second prince who had been rejected by the king, was still alive.
Then it dawned on me that the second prince hadn't even returned to the capital for the New Year.
At that moment, in the royal palace, in the king's bedroom, Garcia stood by the bedside, quietly asking how to deal with the second prince.
Garcia knew some of the inside information, but not the whole story.
Charles listened to his brother's words, lying in the soft bedding. He opened his eyes a crack and gazed at the intricate and beautiful patterns on the curtains. Although he did not like luxury, the servants always put thought into the inconspicuous places.
"Let him continue as the executor." After a long while, the aged voice rang out, "He has no interest in the throne, and he resented me back then."
For some unknown reason, King Charles closed his eyes, looking extremely exhausted.
Seeing this, Garcia stopped asking questions. The king's lucid moments were becoming increasingly rare. He had originally intended to keep Ethan in charge of the funeral arrangements, but then he thought, what was the point of forcing the child to do these things when his own father was on the verge of death?
They decided to have Ethan accompany the king.
The king's spirits had indeed improved somewhat. Although he still said that Ethan should take charge of the overall situation, he knew in his heart that Ethan was willing but unable, or perhaps neither willing nor able.
His deduction was quite accurate. Ethan was a soft-hearted child who valued family ties highly, which was why the Third Prince had held him in contempt for many years but had never been angry with him.
As a father, he was extremely gratified by such loyalty and affection, but as the current king of the Kingdom of Lortheran, facing a situation where all the crown prince candidates had no chance of survival, he had to be stern.
Instead, Garcia advised him that even if he continued to be so independent and self-reliant, he still had the assistance of his ancestors and the Pope, and if all else failed, he, Garcia, the former crown prince, would be there. He suggested that the child should spend more time with his father.
King Charles listened to his words, speechless for a long time.
He used to think that by governing the kingdom so well and eliminating Mercury, a major threat, he could hold his head high even after death when he saw the spirits of his father and grandfather.
When that day finally came, I was shocked to realize that I hadn't done anything better.
"Garcia".
He spoke softly with his eyes closed.
Garcia, who hadn't left yet, responded upon hearing this.
"I still hope you will be king."
Charles spoke in a whisper, carefully, as if afraid of being overheard.
His voice was so soft that even Garcia let out a puzzled "Hmm?"
He immediately added, "It's nothing."
After waiting for a while without receiving any further word from Charles, Garcia turned and left the palace. Ethan, who had been waiting for a long time, had now gone to rest.
Stepping out of the palace, Garcia realized that the sun was already setting. The palace servants stood not far away, their shadows falling in the corridor. Garcia stared intently at the setting sun, which soon disappeared behind the undulating, rounded dome of the Kingdom of Lortheran.
He actually heard it.
However, compared to Charles's hopes, he still maintained that the king should let a more suitable person do the job.
Now Lortheran has transformed into a rising star in the court, following the path he recommended. The king is in poor health, the queen has been executed for poisoning members of the royal family, and the entire council of elders has been temporarily sealed off. He has no intention of reopening it in the near future.
What's the point of running it? It costs tens of thousands of silver coins to maintain; that money would be better spent on repairing the main roads outside the capital.
Thinking of this, Garcia was furious. He snorted and strode toward his former palace.
On the other side, the Papacy.
The other archbishops also knew about what had happened to the royal family. They were shocked and saddened. Garcia was busy, and even Hilda, who had dealt with the royal family for many years, was temporarily free. The handover of the papacy this quarter was also temporarily put on hold.
Uther felt somewhat guilty, thinking that if he hadn't failed in his duty to supervise the Third Prince, allowing him to escape from prison and later enter the secret realm, then none of the subsequent events would have occurred, resulting in so many deaths.
These days he stays in the prayer room and refuses to come out.
Are all members of the royal family innocent?
That doesn't seem to be the case.
Veris stood on the balcony of his study, watching the sunset in the distance. A cool breeze ruffled his sideburns, turning his white hair into platinum blonde, making it hard to look away.
"In the end, it's just dogs fighting each other. The problems within the royal family have a long history. I could tell that there was trouble this time, which is why I let it go unchecked. But the result is more serious than I imagined," he said.
The voice was light and airy.
Sylvain stood behind him, slightly larger than him, so much so that from the outside it seemed as if he were enveloped by him.
Hearing this, she simply lowered her eyes and said nothing, only staring at his long, white hair, studying the slightly curled ends, before finally replying, "Didn't Lortheran also say nothing?"
Indeed, as an astrologer, Lortheran must have sensed something, but for some reason, he didn't warn any of the royals he encountered.
“He just doesn’t consider himself a member of the royal family anymore.” Veris tilted his head, pulled his hand forward, and only let go after making him stand next to him.
Sylvain looked down at his withdrawing hand and said, "You know Lortheran very well."
“I know everyone well,” Veris chuckled. “Those of us who have lived a long time can figure out what anyone is thinking if we put in the effort…including you.”
He tilted his head and looked into Sylvain's eyes, his tone ambiguous: "But I'd rather go to great lengths for you than for anyone else."
Sweet words can always please a lover.
How could a poet wandering in a tavern not understand this eternal truth? He moved closer to Sylvain, who looked at him and lowered his gaze slightly, as if he knew what he was about to do.
The two of them moved even closer, and they could clearly feel each other's breaths.
However, just as they were about to make contact, Veris straightened up, turned around, and walked inside.
Sylvain stood on the balcony; the setting sun had already withdrawn its last rays, and the deep blue sky heralded the approaching night.
The lamp on the table lit up, and the figure stood beside the table, bathed in a soft light.
A flippant voice rang out: "You really like being outside, huh?"
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Author's Note: One more chapter today.
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