Outside the chapel, a crowd had gathered. A sudden spread of news shook everyone. The nobles and soldiers were all shocked. Even those who had been vaguely aware of some of the truth in advance were also informed. The details of the incident made me extremely shocked -
In order to eradicate the nobles who had opposed him, in order to frame Duke Gawain Cecil, in order to ensure his royal power, in order to avoid Cecil The family returned to the center of power in the kingdom and actually single-handedly directed the shocking killings on Crow Mesa.
This is not a rumor, but there is tangible evidence and witnesses - a secret letter that was supposed to be destroyed was found, and several chamberlains who were unwilling to remain silent also came forward to testify against the king's crimes. , outside the chapel, the fat Earl of Baring angrily waved a letter in his hand: "This is a conspiracy! The king used false news to deceive Duke Cecil, making the duke mistakenly believe that Crow Terrace was occupied by monsters, and the king killed him Hundreds of nobles and their knights, just because these people have opposed him!"
The knights around the church started to commotion, and the commotion gradually evolved into louder and louder shouts, and some of them were shocked. The frightened inner court nobles also quickly joined the wave of condemnation. Only a few people in the crowd maintained a strange silence, and a small number of nobles had blank and stunned faces, as if they had suddenly lost their position, as if they had suddenly lost their position. I can’t figure out what went wrong in this world.
More people were incited, and a sense of betrayal and anger began to spread among the crowd.
“The king we supported turned out to be a tyrant?!”
“He can kill a hundred nobles who oppose him today, and he can kill us tomorrow!!”
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"He himself was crowned with blood! We should have known from the beginning!"
Someone in the crowd was shouting at the top of their lungs. Only a small number of people shouted at the beginning, but Somehow it quickly infected almost the entire crowd. Some people shouted for the king to come out of the church, while others who felt betrayed stared angrily at the door. If it weren't for the last guard guarding the door of the church, These people may even rush into the church.
Then, the door of the church was pushed open, and Wales Morn appeared in front of these people.
"The king is coming out!" "He is coming out..."
The crowd couldn't help but take a half step back in the commotion, but then rushed forward again, making a lot of noise Miscellaneous voices sounded from all directions, clamoring for the king to explain the contents of the letter. The Earl of Baring stood at the front, waving the letter in his hand, and said loudly: "Your Majesty! Please explain all this - why do you Are you going to write to Duke Cecil that Crow Terrace has been occupied by monsters?"
The fat earl's face turned red, and he seemed to be draining all his strength with every word he spoke. .
Welsh looked at Earl Bahrain silently for a few seconds, and then spoke clearly after the crowd around him quieted down.Said: "I just cleared away the moths in the kingdom."
This was a disguised admission, and the crowd was immediately in an uproar.
When the uproar almost reached its peak, the crowd suddenly became quiet again.
A tall figure walked out of the shadows in the church. Gawain walked out of the door and stood next to Wales expressionlessly.
“To be honest, from the day I walked out of the grave, I have met many people in this era. Some people try to be my opponents, some think they are my opponents, and some are my allies. There are still people who think they are my allies," Gawain glanced at the king beside him, "but you are the only one who is neither an opponent nor an ally. You are the first person so far who has really surprised me, and even caught me off guard. ”
“Then this is my greatest honor,” Wales said softly, “There is only one thing you have to do next—condemn me.”
p>No one heard the whispered conversation between Gawain and Wales, but everyone could see that the two people were communicating. A nobleman wearing a royal blue coat shouted loudly: "Cecil Duke, you have been deceived by this 'king'! He wants to put you in an unjust situation!"
Gawain glanced at the shouting noble and said to Wales in a low voice: " This man is very loyal to you."
Then before Wales responded, he said: "It's a pity that the stage you arranged is not in my style."
Welsh face. Finally, Gawain showed a trace of surprise, but before he wanted to say anything, Gawain had already taken a step forward and said to the gathered nobles and soldiers: "No need to doubt, I know what is on the Crow Terrace."< /p>
The square in front of the chapel suddenly fell silent, and everyone was so surprised that they forgot to make a sound. Some people couldn't help but take a breath after a while, while others subconsciously turned their eyes to All around——
The soldiers and tanks of Cecil's Legion gathered around the open space. Those cold war machines were watching all this indifferently, without sadness or joy, and with good discipline.
"The letter is true, and so is my bombing of Crow Mesa, but before we discuss whether it is just or not, I have something I want you to see."
As Gawain spoke, he stretched out his hand to the side. Only then did people notice that a short half-elf wearing black close-fitting leather armor had been standing there at some point - this amazing concealment skill. First, the supernatural beings present were surprised, and then they saw the half-elf hand a stack of paper with writing and patterns to Gawain's hand.
Gawain took the printout handed over by Amber, flipped it over at first, and then read: "Earl Uriel, a noble directly granted by the royal family, whose fiefdom is located in the west of Saint-Sunil, last month On the 58th, he planned to defect and once packed the belongings of twelve carriages, including three carriages and several war horses that were supposed to be used as city defense supplies and were stolen by taking advantage of his position... LaterAfter noticing the abnormal movements of the Royal Knights, the escape was urgently called off.
“Viscount Hodikor, a nobleman of the inner court, also planned to defect and transferred a large amount of property belonging to the royal family by bribing guards... Also because he was well-informed, he urgently canceled the escape, and then actively loyal to the new people. King, in order to cover up the crimes he had committed.
“Viscount Barger and his brothers tried to defect from the north city gate, and they did not hesitate to kill an opponent of the defection who tried to report to Silver Castle. an upright knight and disguise it as a fall.
“This one is even more powerful. Countess Hopkina tried to defect. I even have a magical photo of her driving to the North Gate in a car——”
Gawain raised a page, which clearly showed an image of a noble carriage with its emblems wiped off, driving towards the city gate. On the image, a woman with a slender face was sticking her head out and looking nervously at the street, while the background behind the carriage was It is the well-known northern wall of Saint-Sunil.
"I still have a lot of information here, a lot."
Gowen's voice woke up many people in the square who had fallen into a daze. After waking up, almost everyone They all suddenly felt a complete chill spreading from the bottom of their hearts.
The Duke watched everyone - even though he was far away in the south, his sight had already covered the royal capital in the north.
These materials, these words and pictures, the perspectives they present are disturbing, and the details they contain are terrifying. For a moment, the nobles in the square even had an illusion - as if they Living completely and unobstructedly under Cecil's nose, every guest at a banquet, every guard under every porch, every pedestrian passing by the roadside, every corner, every moment, There is a pair of eyes belonging to Cecil staring at him.
But Gawain himself knew that he was far from achieving this. Although after more than two years of operation, the Military Intelligence Agency had indeed set up many stations and spies in Saint-Sunil City, he had no confidence in the king. The "monitoring" of the capital is still quite limited, but those nobles who tried to defect were really unlucky, or they only cared about the attention of Silver Castle, and ignored the civilians who could be seen everywhere on the roadside and behind the windows in alleys. His sight turned out to be a lot of mistakes.
On the other hand, the information in his hand is also half true and half false - but at this time, who cares?
"At a time of national calamity, trying to defect, taking away military supplies, destroying the city's defense layout, and even murdering the city's defenders is a serious act of treason," Gawain put down the information in his hand and said calmly, "What happened on Crow Terrace was just a law enforcement incident."
This is Gawain's style - he was the one who ordered the bombardment of Crow Terrace. There is nothing hard to admit. He just wanted to eradicate those nobles. , also has nothing to admit, just like what he did in the southern border, he neither beat around the bush nor pretended to do anything about traditional nobles.
After all, the order he promotedWhat exists with the old aristocratic order is not a "deviation", but a tit-for-tat confrontation. Since it is destined to be incompatible from the beginning, it is better to do it more directly.
After all, he does not need to "leave a way out" for himself among the old aristocracy. Instead, he must be careful that if he cooperates with this scam today, one day in the future this hypocrisy will become the people's fault. A stain in the eye.
"I've finished speaking," he said calmly, "Who wants to speak?"
There was silence in the church square, but this silence was not only caused by nervousness and fear, but also by something. This contradictory and entangled mentality troubles everyone. Except for those soldiers and low-level knights whose positions may be relatively simple, the nobles with a little title present are aware of the difficulty of this problem:
Traitor It is extremely abominable. There is no doubt about it. The people standing here at this moment are basically the main war faction who have actually defended the royal capital and are disdainful of the escape faction. After seeing the evidence, of course they have no idea what happened on Crow Terrace. Feeling a certain level of recognition.
But Gawain Cecil’s methods made them feel uneasy, and the sound of cannons made everyone deeply afraid.
The king did eliminate the "worms" in the kingdom, but it is undeniable that the king did use this method to eradicate dissidents, regardless of whether Duke Cecil knew the truth on Crow Mesa. , the king’s letter is true, and the motivation is also true...
The huge sense of contradiction and almost absurd sense of division made everyone at a loss what to say, and it seemed that no one They shouldn't support it, but they have to support someone...
The unbearable silence lasted for a whole few minutes before it was suddenly broken by someone.
The people gathered in front of the chapel suddenly dispersed from both sides, and Duke Baldwin Franklin, who was wearing a ducal cloak and had an elegant temperament, stood up.
The Duke was holding something inexplicable to others - a metal plate made of mithril.
After seeing the metal plate, Gawain didn’t show any surprise on his face. He just turned his head slightly and glanced at Victoria next to him. In the complicated sight of the Duke of the North, he I saw a trace of solemnity, and then that solemnity turned into relief.
Badwin Franklin came to Gawain and Wales with the mithril plate in hand. After exchanging a deep look with Wales, he turned around and looked at the crowd in the square: < /p>
"In any case, there is no doubt that the king's act of eradicating dissidents with the help of Duke Cecil, his motives contained great selfishness and a terrible abuse of power, which is proved beyond doubt. One thing: Wales Morn is no longer fit to be our king, he should step down and abdicate in favor of someone else.
"Duke Cecil's bombardment of Crow Mesa was a thunderous means of rooting out the traitors. , he is far away from the center of power in the royal capital, and has no motive to eradicate those with political dissent. Although this decision may be too cruel, it isA normal decision in a state of national crisis - this is my judgment. "
Behind Gawain, Amber, whose figure was hidden from everyone's sight, whispered softly: "It's so ridiculous..."
Gawain responded softly: "That's right. It's just ridiculous. ”
There are too many points for debate in Badwin’s words. It seems that he deliberately magnified the fault of one party and deliberately ignored the terrible behavior of the other party. It was obviously Gawain who really fired the gun. In the end, But everyone should ignore this.
But the most ridiculous thing is that after Baldwin's words fell, no one in the square spoke up to refute. There was silence for a moment, and then they exchanged glances with each other, and in some silent understanding, they nodded one after another.
Badwin turned around and looked into Wales's eyes: "Your Majesty. , do you have any opinion on this conclusion? "
Welsh showed a relaxed smile, and things finally returned to the direction he planned.
"I have no objection. ”
“Then, please give up the throne, Your Majesty. ”