September 17, 1432, seven in the morning.
The sun has not yet fully risen, the cold mist is slightly blown by the wind, and the gray Merenta giant towers silently in the fog. Winter in Legrand came early, and in September it was already covered in frost and snow.
The old Duke of Buckingham walked out of the Tower of Mern, the breeze blowing his pale temples.
The old man who had guarded the Legrand Empire for decades was tall and thin, and he was shrouded in dark clothes. He was escorted by two poor young soldiers. Although the old man was not wearing fancy clothes, he still had the power on his body, and they didn't dare to press his shoulders at all.
The Duke of Buckingham straightened his back in front of the tower, his blue eyes looking at the dark sky.
There were not many witnesses to the execution, except for the guards who were fully clothed, there were only more than 200 people present. Count Walter, Lord of the Castle of Meun, stood at the front of the crowd, and on his left was the ambassador of the Kingdom of Pullen to Legrand, the ambassador of the Holy Empire, and the ambassador of the Empire of Blaise to Legrand. The rest are some other nobles and nobles with status.
Earl Walter admired the great man's impending doom. Except for a small number of people like the Earl, the rest of the audience turned their heads sideways, unable to bear to see the tragedy.
The Duke of Buckingham walked calmly and calmly to the high execution platform and stood in front of the headstock of the black tree. After he stood still, he glanced down at everyone present, stretched out his shackled hand, and pressed it down just like when he preached before the march, signaling the audience to be quiet.
As is customary, he began to deliver his dying speech.
After briefly entrusting his soul to the Creator, his voice became low.
"...I ask all of you present to pray for our supreme king, may the Lord bless him with health and long life..."
His eyes were fixed on the crowd.
Under his sharp eyes, someone in the crowd pressed the waist knife into the sheath little by little.
Everyone bowed their heads and murmured a prayer for King Purland I of Legrand.
Earl Walter sneered in his heart.
I'm afraid this old thing is not old and confused, and he is still praying for his bastard nephew to death.
Whether sincere or false, solemn prayers sounded low, and an inexplicable emotion spread in the cold air.
The butler felt more and more restless. He stood behind the count and reminded in a low voice that it was best to let the execution begin quickly.
"What could go wrong?"
The count answered nonchalantly.
After the sad prayer was over, the execution officially began.
The executioner poured strong wine over the giant sword, and the cold light on the surface of the sword was like a mirror. The Duke of Buckingham swung back the guards who were about to come forward, knelt down before the hardwood, leaned over expressionlessly, resting his pale head on the skid.
Earl Walter cleared his throat.
"I declare—"
He felt that he was arrogant.
"stop-"
A sharp voice cut through the cold air.
The sound came from far away, followed by the clamor of the people and horses. A galloping horse came, a tall knight in armor with a sword in his hand. The soldiers who had been ordered to set up their shields and drew their swords tried to stop him. The knight mercilessly kicked the soldiers to the ground and cut down several people.
"Who dares to be so presumptuous!"
Earl Walter's expression changed, and he drew his long sword with a "swipe".
At the same time, he was horrified, who could let the castle guards in without his consent? !
The knight who chopped the guard down didn't answer, he threw his long sword out, and the executioner on the high platform fell in response. The knight then turned over and dismounted, reined in the reins and stood aside.
Earl Walter strode angrily towards the knight.
Da Da's hooves hurriedly sounded again, not one person, but two.
The horses, which were a little behind, galloped in a hurry, kicking up a blizzard of snow. And this newly arrived warhorse was even more presumptuous, it rushed all the way, and there was no sign of stopping. The surrounding guards didn't even have time to step forward, and the warhorse rushed in front of the count, and in the neighing, the tall man stood up and kicked his front hooves heavily.
The iron hoof kicked the Count's chest, knocking him to the ground.
The crowd was noisy.
"I."
Cold voice.
The sun jumped out of the clouds, and the sky suddenly covered all the flawless snow. In the dazzling morning light reflected by the snow and ice, the man on the back of the first horse looked down upon the fallen Earl Walter.
The count's voice was cut in his throat, and he was paralyzed to the ground.
The man on the horse has the same ice blue eyes as the Duke of Buckingham, which is the symbol of the Rose Family of the Legrand Empire. Silver-white hair hangs down on the scarlet cloak, and the boy's eyebrows are filled with threatening majesty and terrifying anger. The count recognized him and understood why the guard had let him in without notice.
That is the king of Legrand.
Purland I.
…
"Roger de Walter."
The young king in the red cape slowly read out the name of the master of the castle of Mourne, and those who knew the king knew that this was the prelude to his rage. He walked slowly around the crawling earl, his whip in his moleskin gloved hands.
"I have issued an order against execution. I am glad that you are so heroic and fearless."
The juvenile king who has devoted his national strength to the prosperity is elegant and noble. Every tone and every syllable can be regarded as a model of the upper class.
The count trembled in this elegant tone. He ignored the pain of being kicked over by the horse's hoof, and crawled towards the horse's hoof on the snow.
The young king kicked him away, his eyebrows shrouded in gloom, and his tone suddenly changed, becoming incomparably stern: "Brave enough to disobey my orders!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
The count stood up abruptly, terrified to death.
"Holy Lord is above! I would never dare to disobey your orders! I definitely did not receive a second order from you..."
As if he suddenly saw a life-saving straw, he grabbed it with all his strength.
"Your Majesty! The messenger from the Imperial Council did not arrive in Morne County! Your Majesty!"
The whip was thrown out like a viper and slapped the Count heavily. He groaned and the words were drawn back into his stomach.
"The messenger didn't arrive?" The young king retracted his whip and paced unhurriedly, with a contemptuous sneer on his thin lips, "What is that? I only know that my order was violated. Starting today, I'll take back all the territory I've given you—"
"His Majesty!"
The two voices overlapped.
One is the pale-faced Earl Walter, and the other is another person in the crowd.
Zhu Chi raised his eyes.
An archbishop stepped out of the crowd, holding the cross and bowing his head in front of him: "Your Majesty the King, the Holy Lord taught us to be tolerant, Mr. Count did not receive your second letter, I hope you will open up and forgive his sin."
"Are you pleading for him? My bishop."
Zhu Chi narrowed his eyes slightly, and his tone was unkind.
Everyone in Legrand knew that the conflict between the young king and the church did not last for a day or two.
The head of the inner court shook his hand nervously. Last month, His Majesty did something outrageous, and the relationship with the Holy See has developed to the point where he is about to be expelled from the Holy Church. At this time, there is no doubt that there is a conflict with a bishop. Very irrational.
"My dear majesty, I believe that your uncle will also support you with a loving heart."
Bishop replied.
Including Zhu Chi, everyone looked towards the high platform.
The Duke of Buckingham had been unshackled, and he stood on the high platform, looking down at his unexpected nephew. The Duke was carrying the light behind his back, and it was difficult for people to see what he looked like, only the black robe on his body was blown by the wind. He slowly nodded towards Zhu Chi.
No one dared to speak.
The uncle and nephew looked at each other in a strange scene.
In the end, Zhu Chi looked away without any expression.
"Since the messenger is missing in your territory." Zhu Chi looked at the bishop coldly, but said to the earl, "Give you three days to find the intercepted messenger, or—get out of Moen county."
The bishop opened his mouth, wanted to say something, and then gave up.
Logically speaking, the nobles acquire the conferred land from the king, so they need to be responsible for various affairs in the territory. However, the messenger set out from the palace and passed through at least three counties along the way, and everyone knew that the messenger was likely to be stopped shortly after leaving the palace.
Right now, the king directly ignored these and forcibly set the location of the messenger's disappearance in Morne County, which was obviously a prelude to punishment in disguised form.
But for a tyrant like the king, not depriving the earl of his title on the spot and throwing him into prison was already a concession.
The limp Earl was dragged down.
The crowd gradually dispersed.
Seeing the Duke of Buckingham being asked to be taken off the guillotine, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Blasey let out a faint sigh.
"What a cruel monarch."
The ambassador of the Kingdom of Pullen to Legrand sighed that this was the first time he had seen the king of Purland who was rumored to be inviolable. The ambassador of Pullen looked at Ambassador Blaise.
"I really sympathize with the people of Legrand."
Ambassador Blaise absentmindedly prevaricates a few words.
He returned to the embassy and immediately spread out the letter.
"My dear lord, our plan has failed, and we may need to consider carefully whether to help the archduke take the throne next... I think we may have miscalculated something. The Lord is on top, I hope it's just me illusion."
The letter was sent out of Merne that same day.
…
In the study in the castle.
Although he did not deprive Walter of his title at the beginning, since Zhu Chi was here, the top master of the castle was changed. He stayed in the study, flipping through the collection of books.
The steward of the inner court knocked on the door carefully and got permission to come in.
"Your Majesty, the Duke would like to see you."
He reports.
"not see."
The inner court chief's expression froze, looking at him in astonishment.
The author has something to say: Tyrant Classic Sanlian: No, it's nothing, that's all.