“So, you are saying that he took the negotiating team and voluntarily left Truu City to come to Metzl?”

The King and the Duke of Buckingham were standing in the pavilion. Hearing the words of the Duke of Buckingham, the King seemed to be a little interested.

“What is your suggestion? Do you think I should put him to death?”

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The Duke of Buckingham smiled slightly and found that he and his nephew’s thoughts coincided with each other: “No, I am here to intercede on his behalf.”

“The reason?”

The King was not angry.

“Because he is a romantic idealist——in the words of those court poets.” The Duke of Buckingham sighed, “He is too idealistic. The reinforcements that Grand Duke Grice wanted to call in were actually him and his soldiers, but after Grand Duke Grice threw in his lot with the Holy Court, he chose not to move.”

“A brave man who is too righteous to the point of stupidity.”

The King gave his evaluation.

“It sounds like you are very impressed with him.” The Duke of Buckingham asked with interest.

“Of course.” The King smiled. “A general who can stand in a stalemate with the Bressi Expeditionary Force for nearly a month while lacking both ammunition and food. Even if he is an idiot, he is also an idiot that needs special attention.”

The Duke of Buckingham laughed: “Yes, Your Majesty. It is exactly so——that guy is politically stupid, but he is an outstanding military genius.”

The King did not care about the hundreds of nobles, but he absolutely cared about a military genius, a general who could risk his life for his soldiers. He could even tolerate the Devil who wanted to take away his life twice, let alone a general with an overly romantic spirit?

In a few words, this pair of uncle and nephew reached a consensus.

At this time the north wind blew past again, the heavy snow falling down. The Duke of Buckingham glanced at the Black Tower inadvertently and then suggested to the King that he should go back. Baron Sheehan had been waiting in the palace for a while now.

“He won’t care about waiting a little longer.”

Despite saying that, the King left the pavilion.

………………

Drip, drip, drip.

The blood fell drop by drop on the icy rock, and the Mad Queen pressed her face on the icy iron railing, staring at the King’s fading back in the backdrop of the falling snow.

“Child, my child, Pureland, my Pureland!!!”

The King’s figure finally disappeared completely from sight, and the cry of the Mad Queen suppressed in her throat finally broke out. She threw back her head, crying in joy and pain.

“My child! Pureland! He is alive! He is alive!”

In the dark tower, her cries resounded in a long echo.

“Yes, he is alive.”

The voice of the Duke of Buckingham sounded calmly.

The Mad Queen suddenly turned around to look at the Duke of Buckingham in a scarlet cloak standing not far behind her.

The Duke of Buckingham’s eyes fell on the Mad Queen’s hands, and he showed a complex expression of “as expected”: “This is something you are capable of doing.”

The Mad Queen held a thin piece of black iron blade in her hand. She held the iron blade with her left hand, the blade digging deep into the flesh of the Queen’s palm, probably even embedding into bone. The Mad Queen’s hand was covered in blood, but by now the blood was already frozen by the cold weather, causing the wound to look particularly terrifying.

Seeing her like this, the Duke of Buckingham was able to guess what had happened at once.

The Mad Queen wanted to use this opportunity to assassinate the King. Don’t underestimate the simple iron blade in her hand. It was sharpened into a light and thin, extremely sharp blade. With Eleanor’s ability, with the help of the right wind at this distance, she could kill anyone under the tower.

This was the famous warrior queen of Legrand.

However, at the last moment, when the iron blade was about to fly out, the Queen grabbed onto the blade herself.

She recognized the King.

“Are you awake?”

The Duke of Buckingham asked. Eleanor understood the meaning behind this question.

“I am awake.”

The Queen forced her hand to open, the icy blood shattering and falling to the ground. She leaned against the wall wearily and raised her head.

“This nightmare has lasted for too long.”

“William told you the answer from the beginning. You should have some confidence in us.” The Duke of Buckingham spoke a little reproachfully, “Pureland——back then the Pope came himself so we couldn’t reveal too much to you. But we thought you would understand from the name.”

On the surface, the name Pureland meant “honor and glory”.

However, there was another obscure meaning in the ancient Legrand language——’although shattered and corrupted, in the end there will come the beauty of rebirth’.

“No.” The Queen interrupted the Duke of Buckingham. She sneered, “Do you think I don’t know the meaning of this?”

“Then why?”

The Duke of Buckingham became more and more confused, and this doubt had troubled him for more than ten years.

“I have kept something from you all…..” The Queen paused, “I performed a secret ritual. And I saw…..”

Her tone began to gradually become harsh and hurried again.

“What did you see?” The Duke of Buckingham asked.

The Queen stretched out her hand and held her forehead. Although she was awake now, but when she recalled that vision, the pain overwhelmed her again, and she cried gutturally: “I saw him dead! I saw him die…..again and again! I thought you all failed!”

There was so much hatred and sorrow in that low guttural shout. The target of that hatred included not only the Holy Court, but also the Duke of Buckingham——and even William III. For so many years, the Queen had struggled in this hatred.

The Duke of Buckingham froze in place.

The Queen raised her head, tears streaming down her face.

“I saw him die before my eyes…..again and again. And I couldn’t save him! I couldn’t save my child!!!”

“How long?”

The Queen showed a sorrowful, almost twisted smile: “It has been like this for more than ten years.”

“Relax, Eleanor.” The Duke of Buckingham lowered his voice, “No matter what, it’s all over now, it’s all over, we won the gamble.”

“Yes, we won.” The Queen turned her face and looked at the direction of the King’s departure, “My child, my Pureland…..We won, and he finally grew up healthy and safe.”

“What are you going to do now? Go and see him?” the Duke of Buckingham asked.

“No.”

The Queen refused.

She stretched out her hands and smoothed her hair. Although she was grotesquely thin, that face still revealed a special beauty that was familiar to the Duke of Buckingham. Sober, calm, and decisive: “I can’t appear now. There must be a reason why the secret ritual went wrong…..I think the astrologers must have been involved in it at the beginning. Those damn astrologers, after they submitted to the Holy Court, they have carried out orders beautifully, really a bunch of loyal dogs.”

“Give me a list of astrologers who have been active ten years ago.”

“What are you planning to do?”

The Duke of Buckingham had a familiar, bad premonition.

“Kill them.”

The sharpness in the Queen’s eyes suddenly condensed. She was as thin as a brittle skeleton, but when she said this, the air seemed to echo with the sound of iron on iron for an instant.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, and blood for blood.

Whoever it was that took away her lover and also caused her child to become entangled in such a dangerous gambling game, then she shall kill him! She even dared to kill God’s grace, let alone just a bunch of Holy Court dogs.

The Duke of Buckingham sighed quietly.

He knew that Eleanor was not joking.

She had done such things a long time ago——perhaps a large part of the King’s disposition was inherited from his mother.

21 years ago.

When William III went on an expedition, a large-scale mutiny occurred in the three states south of Legrand, and many lords joined the mutinous faction. William III and the Duke of Buckingham left with most of the army. The gates of Metzl Castle were opened by a traitor, and the lords charged all the way to the Rose Palace.

Those rebels thought they would see the Queen and the servants of the palace begging.

And they did see the Queen.

The Queen stood in front of the gate of the palace, dressed in armor, just herself and her warhorse.

She wore a scarlet cloak, which fluttered in the wind, as if she was standing in a blazing flame. She carried a long iron spear and looked indifferently at the stunned rebel lords. With a wave of the iron spear, she drew a long line in front of the palace.

“I know what you want to do.”

The Queen’s voice was cold, the backdrop that of the Rose Palace standing majestically behind her and her warhorse.

“If you want it, then come and get it.”

“I can give you all the glory, wealth, power and position you want. You don’t need to fight for it.”

“As long as you have the life to take it!”

As she was speaking, the servants rushed out from the palace and poured buckets of oil on the ground in front of the palace. The lords exclaimed and found that the sides of the streets around them had already been soaked with kerosene. In their panicked disturbance, the Queen took over a torch from an attendant.

So long as the torch fell to the ground, the fire would consume everyone in an instant, including the Queen herself.

The Queen held a torch in one hand and a spear in the other.

“Come!”

Why did they think that when William III left, the palace would be left unprotected? The one who stayed behind in the heart of this empire was the warrior queen who was comparable to William III. She was shockingly beautiful but also shockingly crazy.

The lords were struck dumb by the Queen’s actions, and after a stalemate for a long time, they prepared to leave.

However, archers who finally arrived appeared on the roofs on both sides, their sharp arrows aimed at the rebellious nobles. The Queen held the torch, the flame reflecting her face as she watched the rain of arrows falling down from the sky. The corpses piled up at the main entrance of the Rose Palace, and the blood spread to the ground underneath the Queen’s horse.

The largest massacre against the nobles in Legrand history was committed by Queen Eleanor.

The Duke of Buckingham suddenly recalled what the King said at random that day, to simply kill off all of the New Royal Party nobles…..

This temper was indeed really passed down the family tree.

“Stay in Legrand for now. Look at how you are now. Who could recognize you as the former Queen?” The Duke Buckingham felt a headache, but the burden in his heart was finally completely lifted, “You don’t want him to really lose his mother, after already having lost his father, do you?”

This remark had a greater impact on the Queen.

“Arrange for me a secret room with a secure identity. So that I can see him every day and will not be too far away from him.” The Queen glared at the Duke of Buckingham angrily for a while before ordering.

This familiar arrogance, familiar fastidiousness and familiar commanding tone.

The Duke of Buckingham felt that the bossy Eleanor he was familiar with was finally back.

“You should fix your temper.”

He said helplessly.

“In any case…..”

The Duke of Buckingham revealed a tired smile: “Welcome back, Eleanor.”

“I’m now awake, and…..look at yourself now, you have become so old so fast.” The Queen was silent for a long time before smiling easily, “He will become a real king, just like his father.”

“He will.”

The nightmare was long but it had finally ended.

It had been nearly a thousand years since the crown of the Rose family became shrouded in God’s haze, and it was time for the crown to regain its brilliance.

………………

Baron Sheehan walked into the Rose Palace.

At this moment, his mind finally settled down.

When he led the cavalry to lay ambush on that cold night, he was ready to die without a burial place. Without such determination, how could he have dared to draw the bowstring against the King.

Baron Sheehan saw the King.

He was sitting by the window of the study, the sun falling on the King through the glass window. The feeling was exactly the same as when Baron Sheehan first saw him. The King was the most beautiful rose bred and nurtured by all of the court’s luxury. Almost aggressively beautiful.

“Good day, Sir Sheehan.”

The King paused in looking through the files, and looked at Baron Sheehan calmly.

Since that rainy night, Baron Sheehan knew that their King, His Majesty, was not as simple as he seemed on the surface——not just anyone could defeat an entire branch of the Gulundi heavy cavalry. He walked in silently and knelt down slowly without making a sound.

Baron Sheehan lowered his head. He could not see the King’s expression, but only heard him speaking in an unhurried tone.

“I heard that you hosted my negotiating team for a while, and I hope this will not bring you more burden. You sent them back to Metzl City today intact, right? Sir.”

“Yes, all intact.”

“Excellent.” The King chuckled lightly. “You finally made the right choice.”

“All the officials of the negotiating mission are in the inn outside Metzl. The contract is also intact.” Baron Sheehan spoke a little bit faster, “The knights of Truu City are loyal to you, and I am the only one who made the wrong choice. My arrival to the capital is by their armed escort. I beg that Your Majesty’s anger not to fall on them.”

The King did not directly answer his question, but lightly tapped on the armrest: “Let me guess at your plan.”

“Your knights are fully armed, and you chose the inn closest to the crossroad for them. Then you came to see me alone, without any weapons, in order to beg mercy for your knights. If I don’t agree, then your knights will also have a chance to evacuate as quickly as possible. The worst case would be them resorting to take the negotiating team hostage in exchange for their own safety. And you plan to throw your life away in this palace, yes?”

Baron Sheehan did not answer.

“You are really a lone warrior.” The King praised him, his tone suddenly changing. “But it’s a pity, sir. When you arrived at the palace, your loyal men couldn’t help but follow you into the city. Their ability to maintain a convincing disguise is too shoddy, so my uncle sent them to prison to reflect.”

Baron Sheehan suddenly raised his head, his hand subconsciously moving to his waist.

And touched only air.

Only then did he remember that when he stepped into the Rose Palace this time he had handed his weapons to the guards.

“Don’t be so nervous, sir.” The King noticed his subconscious movement, “The people I want to kill can line up from the gate of the palace to the gate of the castle. You and your brave and stupid soldiers are not qualified to be on the list. “

Heart falling back down in place, Baron Sheehan recalled what he had heard during this period, about the New Royal Party nobles being exploited by the King, almost emptying them of their pockets: “I would like to offer you everything I have. Please forgive them for their recklessness.”

“I don’t need your loyalty, or your oath. Those things are not worth a penny.” The King leaned back in the crimson chair and looked down at him contemptuously. “As for wealth, that I may consider, but I don’t believe you can offer up any.”

“Then what do you need, Your Majesty?”

Baron Sheehan did not think that the concept of tolerance could be related to the King.

The King picked up the file at hand, and then handed the compiled file to Baron Sheehan. Baron Sheehan took it and flipped through it. His face showed a look of surprise, and soon became more and more solemn.

Finally, he raised his head in astonishment and looked at the King. A guess came to his mind.

“I want an army.”

The King said slowly.

Not an army borrowed from someone, or an army ordered from the nobles during war, or an army hired with money, but an army that belonged only to the King, an army comparable to the Gulundi heavy cavalry. From generals to commanders to soldiers, from armory to battle flags, only the King’s will shall be obeyed.

Baron Sheehan’s speculation was confirmed.

The King was determined to carry out what his father failed to accomplish.

He wanted to reform the military system!

“How firm is your determination?”

The King looked at Baron Sheehan coldly.

Baron Sheehan took a deep breath, the cold air filling his lungs. Under the societal conditions where the Chivalric Order and the aristocracy system were intertwined, if one wanted to make changes, then one could imagine how much resistance and bloodshed there would be. If he failed, the King might still be safe and sound, but he would definitely meet his death.

But wasn’t this what he had longed for countless times before?

There was not only danger, but also an opportunity that he never thought he would be able to get.

He heard his breathing become quicker, knowing that the things he had previously imagined were close at hand.

“I am willing to serve you!”

The King revealed a smile.

He picked up a letter of commission from his desk and handed it to Baron Sheehan.

“What shall Your Majesty’s army be called?”

Baron Sheehan took over the letter of commission, and instead of reading it, he asked the King.

“Rose.”

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The King looked out the window, his eyes seeming to pass over the majestic Rose Palace.

“Iron Rose Cavalry.”

October 1432.

The turmoil of military reforms began to brew, and in the study of the palace, on a winter morning, the embryonic form of the Iron Rose cavalry formally took shape. The King would soon have the first army that only obeyed the will of the crown.

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