Archbishop Rodrik opened the heavy scriptures and was about to read out the prayers that should be included in the ceremony for this very special "God's Judgment" to everyone.
The queen spoke first.
"I ask God, the only just judge, maker of peace, to judge justly, and I humbly ask for your blessing and mercy on me and my people and my kingdom." Adele's voice echoed clearly in the cathedral.
There was an uproar in the church.
No one knew why the queen interrupted the words of Archbishop Rodri forcefully, and she herself started the sentence.
"A blasphemous heresy..."
Balder stood not far from the high platform, his old face shrouded in the shadow of the vertical pier. He held a yellowed holy book tightly in his hand, his shriveled body was supported by the power of anger and hatred, he stood up straight, his eyes stared at the queen on the high platform without blinking, his lips moved.
"You will regret your attempt to deceive the world, let God expose your evil soul, let God take away your usurped crown, and let everyone see how humble you are..."
"If your justice still exists in the world, let the long-awaited rain fall! Let the water of life of all things fall!"
Adele raised her hands and placed them on both sides of the crown. She looked directly at the statue in front of her, with no reverence or humility in her eyes, like a knife like a sword.
She was fed up with having someone else judge and adjudicate her.
Those people, those guys, what qualifications do they have to judge her? !
August 28, 1557.
She stepped onto the guillotine on this day.
The sun scorched the earth, and she stepped onto the guillotine amidst the sound of swearing and cursing. Crows flitted past the pointed towers. The executioner polished his knife, and she knelt where her mother had died, and heard the wind blow over the rocks, hear the flagpole snap, and hear the cursing die briefly in the wind, then boil.
-look! This is God's will!
— She brought the drought!
— against the natural order!
…
Amidst the sound of cursing, the executioner raised his knife high, and the torrential rain poured down.
rainstorm.
A sudden rainstorm without warning.
That was the most fatal knife that fate carved on her throat.
This torrential rain sealed her conclusion—"heretics and women ruling the country violate the laws of nature, and brought disaster to Roland"—turning everything about her into a hysterical absurd joke.
"Come to prove my glory!"
Adele resolutely took off the crown on her head and placed it on the cold rock in front of her.
Rodri heard her last words, her voice was low and hoarse, as if a roar had erupted from her throat after suppressing it for a long time - facing fate, facing the world.
"To prove that my crown is well-deserved!"
Sunlight falls through the painted rose window in the center of the pointed arched dome, enveloping the queen and the solemn statue of the gods on the high platform.
Mrs. Kelly stood under the high platform, and there were many noble ladies and ladies standing beside her. She knew that they were looking at her with ridicule and pity. Only she knew that she was so calm. She folded her hands in front of her body and stared at Adele who was kneeling alone on the high platform without blinking.
Her princess, her majesty, her family and her beliefs.
How long has passed? Watching the young princess grow up gradually, watching the princess never shed a tear since the queen passed away. Three years ago, on August 20, she stood in the Cathedral of Santa Maria and watched the archbishop put the crown on Adele's hair, washed with great joy and burst into tears.
it's all over.
At that time she thought... It's over, the girl she took care of will be happy, happy, and no one can hurt her anymore.
Why is it not over
They wanted the queen to accept God's judgment, and Mrs. Kelly also wanted to ask God—why did she give her master so much suffering? Isn't she firm enough? Not fair enough? Not kind enough? Not kind enough? Don't love this country enough
No, if what her master did was not enough, then no one else in this world could.
no more.
Time passed bit by bit.
The last sliver of morning coolness had long since disappeared, and the scorching afternoon sun took away all the remaining moisture from the ground. The people waiting outside the church only felt that they were standing in the stove, their clothes were soaked in sweat, but dried quickly, and some even fainted from the sun.
The result of the trial seemed to have come out, and the dissatisfaction and doubts of the people outside the church could be heard clearly even standing inside the church. In the church, people's whispering has turned into loud speaking, "heresy", "temptress", "sinner", "divine punishment"... all kinds of vicious words collide back and forth under the interlaced marble arches.
There is no god in this world.
Mrs. Kelly thought calmly, holding the poison hidden in her sleeve.
The old priest Balder tremblingly raised the scriptures, lifting them up with all his might.
Then, in his hoarse voice, he shouted to all the people in the church who were also impatiently waiting: "A heretic woman is not worthy to rule the country, and the queen of the witch is not worthy to defile the throne! Gentlemen! Ladies and ladies, Look at the sky outside, look at the scorching sun like a torch, isn't God's will clear enough?"
Dalton cursed, and was about to go over and shut up the old guy who deserved to go to hell.
"Could it be...cough cough cough..."
The old priest Balder wanted to say something, but he started to cough violently.
Can't say a word.
Dalton didn't believe that this stubborn and arrogant crazy old man was simply choking on his own saliva. He stopped, narrowed his eyes slightly, and found a tall and silent monk standing behind the old priest. He clung to the old priest tightly and supported him as if he was worried that the old priest would faint due to emotion.
Bribes, poisons that are not lethal but useful...
The means of the two-headed snake family.
Dalton looked up in the direction where Heinrich was standing, and the eyes of the two men who hated each other collided briefly and coldly.
On the day of the parade, the queen had dealt the Old Gods a fatal blow, an ancient and colossal monster dying but unwilling to let go of its grip on the country. The last ones who were unwilling and fanatical gathered in the cathedral today under the leadership of Father Baldr and Brother John.
Although the old priest Bald was dumbfounded in time by the monk bought by Heinrich, his words just now were like a stone thrown into the lake, causing an uproar.
One, two, three...
One after another, the scriptures that recorded the teachings of the old gods were held high.
"She is not worthy to be king!" Who knows who was the first to roar, followed by the Old God believers and all the people who were fanned, "Get her off! Let her get off!"
get off!
get off! !
…
The sound wave rushed to the dome.
The queen heard Heinrich's rare curse, heard Dalton ordering the soldiers to gather around the high platform to prevent the rioting crowd from rushing up to hurt her, and heard Archbishop Rodrik loudly reaffirming the order of God's judgment... She was overwhelmed by the surging crowd Malicious impact, but the thoughts are so calm.
Tick, tick...
She counted the ticking of the church clock in her mind.
Adele... Adele...
In the monotonous, sentencing-like ticking, Adele remembered the story of her mother when she was a child. She told stories of castles, cavalry and princes. Her face was illuminated by the warm orange firelight, her hands were warm and powerful...then the fire quickly rolled up and burned the palace, and she was allowed to speak the last few words with her loved ones in the last moments before the execution.
She held the young Adele, and called her name in a low voice and hastily.
... Adele, my daughter, the continuation of my life, I will protect you, protect you with my life, my soul and everything.
... Adele, you have to remember that everything that doesn't destroy us, that doesn't crush us, only makes us stronger.
The mother's tone was so hasty and anxious, as if she was afraid that she would not be able to tell her the most important things at the last moment of her life, and would not be able to pass on her most precious things to her.
Adele, my daughter, I love you forever.
After saying the last sentence, she became the resolute and proud Queen Keleli again, raising her head to give orders to the executioner.
-bring it on!
Adele heard the wall clock pass the moment she will remember forever, heard the Hong bell echoing in the air.
The torrential rain on August 28, 1557 was the fateful knife that carved her throat. Now she wants to hold this knife and slash it at all the enemies who hate her and despise her.
Everything that doesn't crush her, destroy her, or kill her makes her stronger.
bring it on!
Dalton's musketeers surrounded the high platform tightly, and used their guns to push back the crowd that was rushing forward. Unable to get close to the high platform, the believers of the old gods standing in the corridor on the second floor simply climbed up the railing, cursing "heretics, go down", while throwing heavy scriptures at the queen on the high platform.
boom-
A gunshot broke the solemnity of the church and made people's eardrums sting.
Dalton had a cold face, and it was he who pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The believer of the old god didn't seem to have imagined that he would shoot in the church so decisively and recklessly - the church as a sacred place has always prohibited fighting and bloodshed. He stared wide-eyed, fell from the railing, and slammed his head heavily on the hard rock amidst a sound of exclamation.
Brain mixed with dazzling blood splattered.
"Bring her down!"
Heinrich cursed and yelled loudly at Archbishop Rodrik who was close to the queen. At the same time, he tried his best to push away a fat MP who was blocking the way in front of him, and moved closer to the high platform.
When the first victim of violent conflict appears, the situation will spiral out of control in a dangerous direction.
Why the hell is she insisting on this weird divine judgment? And why didn't he just help those old bones of the old gods
Shouldn't the double-headed snake family's interests come first
Everything has a price.
Heinrich told himself so in his heart.
Although he reconciled with the queen after the rebellion, the feud brought about by the rebellion has always been there. Now that the Old Gods faction has been driven to a dead end by the queen, if the queen wins today, the Heinrich family will benefit from their choice, otherwise it is very likely that they will be expelled from the imperial capital again...
Heinrich avoided the deeper answer in his heart, telling himself that this was just a bet.
The patriarch of the two-headed snake family, known for his elegance, pulled out his rapier from under his cloak, and neatly stabbed it into the chest of a monk holding a holy book in front of him.
When the rapier was drawn, hot blood splashed onto Heinrich's cheeks and hair, dripping down the corners of his eyes.
Corpses and blood became catalysts for emotions.
The people of the Old God sect quickly pulled out the cold dagger from under the monk's robe, cursed angrily, and surged towards the high platform. The ladies and ladies who did not expect that things would evolve to this point trembled, screamed, and cried in panic.
At the moment Dalton stepped onto the first step, on the high platform, the Queen stretched out her hands.
She held the crown.
Click.
All the chaos seemed to be forcibly suspended by an invisible force.
The thunder exploded in the sky, and the sound spread rapidly in the sultry and restless air, enveloping everyone in it. The thunder was so loud, so majestic, so terrifying. The moment it sounded, the anger was taken away from some people's faces, and the people who were trying to break away from the musketeers just stood there dumbfounded.
They looked up, staring blankly at the sky.
It's Ray.
It was thunder that had not been heard in months.
They almost thought it was their own hallucination, but at the next moment, all the window lattices in the church made a sharp sound—the gust of wind roared in.
The high double-arched windows on the west side of the church tore the strong wind. Hundreds of strong winds collided and rushed in the church. Everyone's clothes were blown by the wind, and the corners of their clothes made a shrill and shrill sound. In the strong wind, thunder rang out one after another, as if the gods were angry.
"His Majesty!!"
In the horror of everyone, Mrs. Kelly's joyful voice stood out, even breaking through the rumbling thunder.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the high platform again.
On the high platform, Adele stood up slowly, holding her crown tightly with both hands, the silver tip and the corners of the gem pierced her flesh and blood.
The breath of the approaching rainstorm was carried and enveloped the earth. High in the sky, countless dark clouds piled up like mountains came from all directions and gathered together. The sun that was scorching the earth just now was completely covered, and the restless crowd outside the church fell into a deathly silence.
People raised their heads in a daze, and one after another, they became silent stone statues.
The light cast by the huge rose window in the middle of the four façades disappeared, and before the candles could be lit, the church fell into darkness. Thor's wagon galloped by, and the windows trembled with a dull rumble and sharp click.
Lightning cut across the sky.
Adele turned to face everyone in the church and held up the crown high.
Archbishop Rodrik was originally standing on the steps, but at this moment he involuntarily stepped back.
Adele standing in the light was printed in his pupils.
The lightning illuminated her clearly, and she was standing in the circular light cast by the rose window high in the main entrance of the church, her fine linen robe pressed tightly against her body on one side in the wind and billowing on the other side. Her curves were exposed, but no one, not even the most lustful man, would pay attention to it at this moment—a majesty, a godlike majesty enveloped Adele.
She is a rose.
A rose that is tough and beautiful against the wind.
The rose made of iron and stone, gold, the most mellow and hardest thing, no one but God can forge it.
The cold wind poured in, and the world was shrouded in darkness and blue.
Adele stood in front of the statue, her icy face was illuminated by pale lightning. In the eyes of everyone, she put the crown firmly on her head.
She crowned herself.
There is no pope, no holy oil, no gods, only herself and those who should submit to her.
In front of Adele's eyes, the knife raised high by the executioner of the previous life, and the shadow cast by the crows circling, those past events are dispelled forever at this moment.
She grasped for the crown that was hers, for the glory that would have been denied her.
"I'm Adele Rolland."
The lead lattice on the middle wall of the west facade of the church is inlaid with stained glass windows, depicting the saints gathered across the interval of time and space, and they participated in this special coronation ceremony. Lightning criss-crossed, and the queen's shadow was infinitely magnified and pulled away, even covering the statue standing behind her.
She spread her arms, and the linen dress became her fine robe.
"I am the daughter of the twin kings, and I am the king of Roland!"
The torrential downpour flooded the whole world.