Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

Chapter 174 Why does it exist?

On the last night of 1349, Audrey officially came of age socially.

On the same day, the current King George III of the Kingdom of Loen was assassinated.

When the nobles arrived, they saw only the palace in ruins and George III, sitting cold on the throne.

They even saw two archbishops from the Storm Church and the Steam Church, as well as Duke Georgina and Prince Sonia. The first two were archbishops from the True God Church, true saints. The latter two were important pillars of the royal family, and were undoubtedly demigods.

Even though the nobles didn't know what exactly happened, they could guess that the king was successfully assassinated under the protection of at least four saints!

This discovery made the nobles' scalps tingle, and when they thought of the assassination of Duke Negan a few days ago, some of them couldn't help but feel panic.

But soon they thought of a more important question, which was who would be the next king?
A family cannot be without a master for a day, and a country cannot be without a ruler for a day.

Although the death of the king made them extremely sad, choosing a new king was the top priority right now!

Compared with other nobles, the expressions of some nobles headed by Earl Hall were quite subtle, because they were all believers of the Church of Evernight.

As everyone knows, there are three major orthodox churches in the Kingdom of Loen. At present, the archbishops of the Storm Church and the Steam Church are both here, but Archbishop Saint Anthony is nowhere to be seen. Does this represent the attitude of the Church of Night towards the royal family in some sense?

If this is true, then how should these nobles, who are believers of the Church of Evernight, deal with themselves?
Earl Hall lowered his head slightly and glanced at Prime Minister Agusid not far away.

Prime Minister Agushid was standing next to the Deep Blue High Priest at this time, seemingly trying to gather intelligence. He turned around sharply, met Earl Hall's gaze, and shook his head imperceptibly.
-
In a lounge of the Sodrak Palace, Hibbert was on pins and needles, pacing back and forth in the room nervously.

When the news of the king's death reached the party hall, although the queen was heartbroken, she still took measures at the first time - the nobles followed her to the scene to check the situation, and the nobles' families returned to their respective lounges. During this period, no one could leave Sodrak Palace.

"Crack!"

The door of the lounge was suddenly opened, and it was Earl Hall who returned to the lounge with a tired face.

Hibbert immediately went up to him and couldn't help asking in a low voice:
"Father, how is it going?"

Earl Hall glanced at his impatient eldest son, but did not scold him. He shook his head and said:
"His Majesty the King was assassinated and the assassin has been caught on the spot. Don't worry too much, we will be able to leave tomorrow morning."

"The assassin was caught?"

Hibbert breathed a sigh of relief, then asked curiously, "Father, who is the assassin?"

"She is a Sequence 6 witch named Triss Chick."

“Sequence 6? How is that possible… Wait, Triss Chick? Triss!”

Hibbert first thought it was impossible. How could a Sequence 6 witch successfully assassinate George III? But he soon remembered another thing - the third prince Edessak secretly hid a witch, colluded with the witch sect, and killed the people. He fled three days ago and is still wanted. And the witch he hid was Triss!

Hibbert's eyes were full of disbelief, and he said in a difficult voice:
"Is it the Third Prince?"

"Yes."

Earl Hall nodded, then sighed softly, "We all underestimated this Third Prince, including His Majesty the King. In order to assassinate the King, he gathered at least five saints to break into the palace. Not only did he successfully assassinate His Majesty the King, he even killed a saint of the royal family!"

“Five…”

Hibbert found it difficult to wrap his mind around this.

If Edessak had gathered five Beyonders, even if they were mid-sequence Beyonders, he wouldn't be that surprised. But these were five saints, five saints who could be compared to the archbishops of the Orthodox Church, genuine demigods!
Where did he know so many demigods?

Hibbert blurted out subconsciously:

"Is it a witch sect?"

"It's very likely." Earl Hall nodded slightly. The information he had only allowed him to draw this conclusion.

From his perspective, Edessak fled because he was in collusion with the Witch Cult, and the Witch Cult was therefore put on the blacklist of the Kingdom of Loen - although the Witch Cult was a frequent visitor to the blacklist.

And because of this reason, both Edessak and the Witch Cult hated George III to the core. Neither side was a normal person, and it was entirely possible that they would directly gather several saints and attack the palace.

Hibbert thought of another important question and asked:
"What about Prince Edessak and those saints?"

Earl Hall said vaguely:
"They are all dead. That's what the royal family said."

Hibbert understood immediately.

The fact that the royal family said this shows that this is not the case.

It is very likely that Prince Edessak killed someone and left peacefully. After all, he was a saint, how could he be so easy to kill?
In order to save face, the royal family would of course announce to the public that the murderers had been killed on the spot.

As for the facts, who cares?
Just like the death of Duke Negan, most people are not interested in who is the mastermind behind it.

And it is the same now—

It doesn’t matter who killed the king. What matters is that the king is dead and a new king should be appointed!
Hibbert's expression changed slightly, and he asked cryptically:
"Father, should we go to the eldest prince's place..."

"Need not!"

Earl Hall shook his head and reminded, "The eldest prince is the first in line to the throne."

"clear."

Hibbert nodded solemnly. The eldest prince was the first in line to the throne, so even if they did nothing, the eldest prince would still be the first in line to the throne.

In addition, the eldest prince has always been closest to these old-established nobles and can best represent their interests.

In contrast, the second prince knew that he was no match for the eldest prince, so he was closest to the emerging bourgeoisie.

That is, the House of Lords supports the eldest prince, while the House of Commons supports the second prince.

The former represents traditional power and influence, while the latter has vast wealth and even the support of the king. Yes, although these people are far less powerful and influential than the aristocracy, they have the support of the king.

Because just like the name of 'Sodrak Palace' means 'balance' in ancient Feysac language, the king also wants balance.

It is not a good thing for the royal family that the nobles hold too much power, so the king has been suppressing the House of Lords and the nobles and strengthening the power of the House of Commons. The strengthening of the power of the House of Commons also indirectly gave the second prince the ability to compete with the eldest prince, which is essentially the "balance" that the king wants to achieve.

Now that the king is dead, the balance is broken and the ownership of the throne has become a game between two forces.

In this regard, the nobles have a natural advantage - those who attend the New Year's Eve party are all nobles, which means that those who come to attend must at least have a title.

Although many members of the House of Commons have obtained titles with the support of the king, they are a minority after all.

Most of the parliamentarians were still kept in the dark and had no idea that the king was dead.

In addition, the eldest prince is the first in line of succession. Unless there are any unexpected events, it is a foregone conclusion that he will inherit the throne.

Even if the eldest prince was defeated and the second prince ascended the throne, it would not be bad for Earl Hall.

Because in addition to being an old aristocrat, he is also a successful banker, and he has a good relationship with the members of the House of Commons.

Therefore, even if Earl Hall does nothing, he can still sit back and relax.

As for the king's death, Earl Hall undoubtedly had complicated feelings.

The cooperation between the two sides has been quite pleasant. Although the king is suppressing the nobles, Earl Hall's interests have not been seriously damaged. Although the previous "hypnosis incident" was very unpleasant, Earl Hall even contacted the nobles regardless of the impact and prepared to confront the king. But it was limited to confrontation. He had no ability to overthrow the king, let alone launch a coup.

Being able to force the king to back down and give him an explanation would be the greatest victory.

As a result, the king died, and the original plan was naturally aborted and ended in failure.

However, Earl Hall, whose plan failed, was not too upset about it. Instead, he felt a little weird.

He was hypnotized and the king was assassinated.

Hypnosis can be lifted, but the dead king cannot be resurrected.

At this point, Earl Hall could only sigh:

"It seems!"
-
Somewhere in Sodrak Palace.

The queen looked at the king's body in the crystal coffin and said with great sorrow:

"Grand Duke Georgina, I hope you can tell me the truth. Did the murderer escape?"

Georgina Augustus whispered:

"Your Majesty, just as I said, the murderer is dead."

The queen wiped away the tears from her eyes, looked at the woman in an evening gown beside her, and said in a hoarse voice:

"Didn't you ever think of leaving someone alive?"

Georgina had a bitter look on her face:
"Alive? If Archbishop Horamick hadn't rescued me in time, I would have almost died in their hands. How could I have caught him?"

Georgina feels a little scared when she thinks about it now.

Those assassins broke into the palace with the intention of risking their lives, they never thought of being able to go back alive!

So even though they were besieged by two demigods, and even though they were already wounded and in danger, they never thought of escaping. Otherwise, even if the two demigods joined forces, it would not be so easy to defeat them.

It is precisely this attitude of being ready to die that makes Georgina extremely fearful.

After all, those red knights are all saints! No matter which faction they are in, saints are the absolute backbone, but their fearless appearance is exactly the same as the death warriors trained by the royal family! It's as if death is completely commonplace for them.

"it is good!"

The queen looked at Georgina expressionlessly and said calmly:
"Let's assume they are dead. What about their bodies? Even if we couldn't hold back during the battle, we could have accidentally crushed them to dust. What about their extraordinary characteristics? What about their weapons and armor? Why is there nothing left?"

Georgina opened her mouth, speechless.

It wasn't because she couldn't answer the Queen's question, but because even she knew that her answer wouldn't convince anyone.

Those red knights who broke into the palace were all killed, but they left nothing behind.

No bodies, no armor, no weapons, and no Extraordinary Characteristics.

They left nothing behind.

If the bodies of George III and another royal demigod had not been lying in front of her, if the wounds on her body had not still been aching, and if Archbishop Horamick had not personally testified for her, even she herself would have doubted whether this was a dream.

But Georgina couldn't remain silent forever, and finally gave her answer with difficulty. She whispered:
"The one who killed the king was an angel, an angel of at least Sequence 1. We didn't see a corpse, nor did we see any extraordinary properties, perhaps because those had already been taken away by 'Him'."

"Angel……"

The queen's expression changed slightly. Why would a Sequence 1 angel come to kill a king in person?
If it was really a Sequence 1 angel who personally took action, then why did He send several saints to die? He could have directly killed Georgina and other saints, then openly broke into the palace to kill George III, and finally left in style.

With the strength of a Sequence 1 Beyonder, the entire process could be done without anyone noticing. Killing a Sequence 5 King wouldn't be that troublesome, unless...

The queen seemed to suddenly realize something and subconsciously looked at Georgina.
-
On the other side, Yu Jin, who also stayed in the lounge, fell into deep thought.

George III's death was not surprising, but the process was unexpectedly smooth.

Putting aside the Fool, he thought that at least one of the Twilight Hermits and the Church of Night would take action, but until George III was killed, no fourth party intervened. The Church of Night remained silent, and the Twilight Hermits seemed to have never existed. Except for Hvin Rambis, a demigod suspected to be related to the Twilight Hermits, no trace was left.

On the contrary, it was Prince Edessak and the third-party force he represented that completely surprised everyone.

The power he used was obviously different from the "Extraordinary System" of this world, and did not belong to any of the twenty-two paths. Instead, it overlapped with some of the power possessed by Ember, and they had a common origin!
Ember murmured in a low voice:
"Why do the Crucible Knight, the Black Blade Assassin, and the Dark Abandon appear in this world at the same time?"

The person behind Prince Edessak might be able to give him the answer, but the other party doesn't seem to want to contact him directly.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

George III was dead, and his Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic fell into the hands of Ember, and the "Black Emperor" plan was declared bankrupt.

No matter what conspiracy the power behind him is planning, it no longer has any meaning to Yu Jin.

And he won't pass on the fire until he has thoroughly figured out all the secrets behind it.

Because he must first figure out why he is passing on the fire.

(End of this chapter)