The capital of Legrand, Metzl.

A restless atmosphere enveloped the city.

The commander of the guards guarding the city huddled in the turret on the city wall, waiting for the arrival of the army.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Today was the day when the new King, Grand Duke Grice, was crowned.

At this time, Grand Duke Grice’s procession should have already crossed the streets and arrived at St. Wyth Cathedral in the southern part of Metzl. Just a few days ago, the Pope’s envoy crossed the sea to spread the Pope’s will throughout Legrand’s land. The Duke of Buckingham, who had been deadly enemies with the New Royalist Party, had no choice but to bow his head in front of the will of God.

The civil war was over and the new King was about to be crowned.

Only after being crowned could he officially become the King. In order to prevent unexpected occurings from cropping up, after Grand Duke Grice received the news that the Duke of Buckingham had finally conceded he had quickly arrived at Metzl City.

On the day of Grand Duke Grice’s arrival, the Duke of Buckingham held a very simple welcome ceremony outside the city gate. Although the hostility between the two sides was still strong, under the witness of the Pope’s envoy, it was “a reconciliation to the harmony of before.”

On the one hand it was out of eagerness and on the other hand it was out of vigilance, Grand Duke Grice tried his best to reduce the entire process of the coronation ceremony——completely different from the previous grand coronation ceremonies, this coronation ceremony was cut down to only the necessary steps. It was even forbidden to hold any celebratory parades.

Throughout the process, the Duke of Buckingham seemed to have already given up and did not make any drastic moves.

The only thing he refused to do was to hand over the Rose Palace.

The reason was that the Rose Palace was the King’s most important residence, and he could only move in when he had officially become the King.

Grand Duke Grice was unwilling to offend the old Duke at this critical juncture, so he had to give up temporarily and work overtime to plan the coronation ceremony.

The coronation was to take place today.

The order of martial law was imposed on every gate of the Metzl city wall. Obviously, Grand Duke Grice did not really relax his vigilance. He even brought in an army from the south to prevent the Duke of Buckingham from rising in revolt during his coronation.

“Damn the weather.”

It was now October, and the commander shivered from the cold as he cursed quietly while holding his sword. He looked out from the viewing gap in the turret again and this time a galloping cavalry vaguely appeared in his vision.

They had arrived!

The commander’s spirit suddenly lifted. He hurriedly stretched out two white rose flags from the turret and played the agreed semaphore towards the outside.

The army was fast, and in a blink of an eye it was nearly at the city wall. Two identical white rose flags were flying over the cavalry. A cavalryman urged his horse out of the line, a flag in his hand as he arrived under the city gate. He waved the flag vigorously and played the agreed semaphore.

The commander was relieved.

“Let down the suspension bridge!”

He saw the cavalryman clearly from his height, and recognized that it was Viscount Bourn from the New Royalist Party——the army transferred over from the south by Grand Duke Grice was under his command.

The walls of Metzl were tall and strong, and there were sturdy trenches outside the walls. There were a total of twelve city gates distributed in all directions. The city gates were all situated on a solid stone platform in the middle of two circular towers, and were equipped with heavy suspension bridges. It would take months to break through Metzl City from the outside, it was practically indestructible.

Today, the only one allowed to be put down was the suspension bridge to the southwest.

The wide suspension bridge was lowered, and the cavalry charged over it like a whirlwind. At this time, the commander had just stepped down from the tower, ready to step forward to meet Viscount Bourn and convey the Grand Duke’s arrangements.

He had just walked down the stairs when he realized that something was wrong.

Blood!

A very strong smell of blood!

As soon as the gate of the city opened, he finally noticed that the oncoming cavalry practically reeked with blood!

“Have you encountered an attack?”

The commander stepped forward in confusion. However, his face changed as soon as he finished speaking.

Because he saw Viscount Bourn who had played the semaphore, his face frighteningly pale and without any armor on——how could a general not wear armor?

However, without waiting for him to understand other things, everything was already over.

The extremely fast cavalry passed the suspension bridge in an instant.

The leading horse directly kicked the commander over. The man on the horse was wearing a scarlet cloak. He held a long and narrow curved sword and swung it down, a spray of warm blood spattering out instantly. Succeeding with just a single slash of his blade, the young knight rushed into the city gate like a gust of wind without stopping.

His red cloak billowed, flapping fiercely in his wake.

The rest of the cavalry followed closely behind.

The soldiers guarding the city gate noticed this drastic change. They realized that it was not a comrade-in-arms but an enemy, but it was too late. The cavalry had all crossed the suspension bridge, and the city guards could only step forward with their spears to block them in vain.

But how could they match this Ingres cavalry?

Yes, they recognized it.

It was not the cavalry of Viscount Bourne, but the light cavalry of Ingres. These wild cavalrymen who lived in Ingres wore simple leather armor. They used a single-edged sword with a narrow and slender blade. It was most suitable for slashing from a horse, and it looked like a thousand arcs of crescent moons when it was cut downwards.

They laughed loudly, carrying long bows and quivers, and wielding their swords as they followed their leader.

The man who led this cavalry was incredibly young, his silver hair flying in the morning mist and contrasting sharply against his bloody robe.

It was the King!

Pureland I.

The King who was determined to be dead by everyone had reappeared in front of the people. And as soon as he appeared, he brought with him a bloody cavalry that seemed as if they were a signal to more bloodshed to be had.

……………………

St. Wyth Cathedral.

This was the place where the kings of the past had been crowned. Today, many powerful nobles had gathered here.

The Duke of Buckingham had given up resistance, and the Royalist Party had been defeated. The New Royalists all looked at their enemies with barely hidden triumph and glee. The most proud of them was Grand Duke Grice.

His private guards were scattered outside the St. Wyth Cathedral, his opponents in the church were all depressed, and the crown was within reach.

——Oh, not the one that had been passed down from generation to generation.

The Rose Crown was likely buried in the soil with the former King, and Grand Duke Grice paid for a new crown personally.

The coronation would be held at the intersection of the nave and the wing of the St. Wyth Cathedral. The Grand Duke Grice had cut down the procedures making up the entire ceremony as much as possible out of caution, but in order to declare his victory to the people, he still held the coronation in accordance with the tradition. A huge wooden stage was placed in the center so that the people in the nave could clearly see the crowning of the new King.

The bell was rang.

This was probably the strangest coronation ceremony in the entire history of the Legrand Empire. The atmosphere was so cold and antagonistic that it did not seem like a grand ceremony was being held, but more like an invisible war was taking place.

On the honered guest seats near the altar.

The group of people headed by the Duke of Buckingham remained silent and did not cheer. Their cloaks were still decorated with the badge of the iron rose. Although the members of the New Royalist Party took off the white roses and put on beautiful and luxurious clothes, they also wore close-fitting chainmail under the velvet and silk and carried swords on them.

Under the royal robes of the “New King” Grand Duke Grice, there was also an exquisitely crafted chain mail armor.

If it were not for maintaining his majestic appearance, he almost wanted to put on a plate armor to attend the ceremony.

In the solemn chanting, the choir played brilliant hymns, all of which concealed the antagonistic atmosphere in the air. Grand Duke Grice stepped solemnly on the long red carpet in a purple robe with gold threads and walked into the church.

He walked up the steps and climbed onto the high platform.

The young cardinal, the special envoy of the Pope, was the host of this coronation ceremony. He stood in front of the altar in the middle of the high platform, and behind him was the archbishop of St. Wyth. On the tray held by the archbishop, the new crown was placed in the middle of the soft velvet.

Grand Duke Grice and the cardinal exchanged glances.

The cardinal coughed slightly. He looked at everyone and made a speech: “……In front of the benevolent Holy Lord and the Holy See, I ask everyone to allow Grand Duke Grice to claim the crown of the Legrand Empire based on his rightful status……”

The core members of the Royalist Party instantly turned their attention to the Duke of Buckingham.

This was not in line with the convention of the coronation ceremony!

According to the normal order, the coronation vows should be taken first, then the holy oil should be given, and then finally the crowning ceremony!

But now, it was clear that Grand Duke Grice had colluded with the cardinal and brought the final crowning ceremony to the forefront. The New Royalist Party had already known about this change. Almost as soon as the cardinal’s voice fell, they all cheered and shouted “Aye! Aye!”

The Duke of Buckingham’s face darkened, and he made a simple and powerful gesture.

The Royalists in the honored guest seats suddenly stood up, opened their beautiful cloaks, and drew sharp swords.

Almost at the same time that the Duke of Buckingham and the others got up, the New Royalist party also stopped shouting. They also lifted their outer robes and drew out the weapons hidden under their cloaks.

In a flash, a deathly aura swept across the church.

“Lord Duke of Buckingham.”

The cardinal looked at the Duke of Buckingham with a cold face on the high platform.

“Blood before the Holy Lord, is this your reply to the Holy Lord? This is the place where the Holy Spirit inhabits, not your battlefield!”

“If the Holy Lord’s rules can be changed by humans, then it is not a big issue for the church to become a battlefield.”

The Duke of Buckingham replied as he slowly drew out his sword.

“Either follow the rules or go to war now, this is my answer.”

Grand Duke Grice’s face was blue with anger.

According to the traditional rules, the coronation oath was proclaimed, the sacred oil ceremony was carried out, and the crown was finally granted……The whole process would take at least half of the morning. But he didn’t want to delay for even a second at this time.

Don’t know why but a kind of anxiety shrouded the heart of Grand Duke Grice. And this kind of anxiety reached its culmination when both sides drew their swords.

The two sides were deadlocked for a while.

The cardinal looked at the archbishop of St. Wyth, implying that he should ease the atmosphere.

However, at this moment, the sound of the collision of iron on iron came from outside the church accompanied by dying screams. Grand Duke Grice was greatly shocked, and everyone suddenly looked towards the entrance of the church.

The clopping of horseshoes could be heard.

It seemed as if a whole cavalry was charging forward, the sound of the war horses galloping, making no secret of their murderous intentions.

This was not his army!

Grand Duke Grice realized this.

The nobles exclaimed.

A war horse appeared at the entrance of the narrow nave of the church.

Under the high arch, the man on the war horse had his back against the light. He was shrouded in the shadows and people could only see his thick scarlet cloak and the long and narrow curved sword hanging from the side of the war horse. A drop of blood slowly descended along the graceful lines of the blade.

Drip.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The drop of blood fell on the red carpet.

“If I remember correctly——”

The man on the war horse slowly raised his head, and the light coming in through the stained glass windows fell on his face.

“I am still the King!”

If you would like to show some ♡  then please consider supporting this translator! ლ(⌒εー)ლ

Prev