Half a day ago.
It's almost evening.
"Aldrich, are you ready?"
The setting sun dimmed in the sky, like a gauze dyed red with blood, reflecting the silence of the palace. The palace was like an iceberg, dead and motionless, facing the noisy crowd outside the streets of the palace.
The rumors are getting worse and worse. Local officials and people have gathered outside the palace, shouting that we want to see His Majesty. The armies in various parts of Frieden were also ready to move, and many generals secretly returned to Snowdy City and handed over secret messages asking to see the king.
At this moment, Aldrich and a bishop in purple robes stood in the palace. They looked out the window at the chaotic capital city, but their expressions were as calm as a frozen lake.
"Bishop Victor." Aldrich turned his head, "I have been preparing for this moment my whole life."
The bishop heard this and nodded silently.
They stopped looking out the window, turned around together, and walked out of the room.
Outside the door, the queen and several maids stood there. When they saw the two coming out, they lowered their heads in fear.
"Your Highness the Queen."
Aldrich smiled kindly, walked over, and held her hands: "It will start soon. From now on, Frieden's future can only be left to you and Bishop Victor."
The queen was silent for a moment, then suddenly used force to pull her hands out of Aldrich's hand.
She held her belly, said nothing, and nodded quietly.
Faced with the queen's somewhat resistant posture, Aldrich was not angry, but showed loving eyes. His droopy old eyes looked at the queen again.
"May God bless you."
After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the corridor.
The bishop in purple clothes, the queen who seemed to have tears in the corners of her eyes, the maid who bowed her head and said nothing... everyone followed Aldrich and walked forward silently, like two rows of mourners in mourning clothes at a funeral.
Aldrich was at the front. The sunlight falling on his wrinkled cheeks seemed to outline a picture of mountains.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the gate of the palace.
At this moment, the entire team has grown a lot. Several personal guards, several prestigious officials, a general... Although there were more people, they were still arranged very neatly. The person standing at the front was also changed from Aldrich to the Queen.
The queen wore a black plain skirt and a black veil. From time to time she took out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
But Aldrich, at this moment, took off his neat robe, his white hair was messy, and his clothes were in a mess. His hands were tied behind his back by iron chains, and his body was also wrapped with circles of magic-forbidden iron chains, making every step his aging body took seemed particularly difficult.
Several soldiers escorted him and followed him at the end of the team, making the harsh sound of chains scraping against the ground.
"Your Highness, are you ready?"
Before they stepped out of the gate, the bishop came up behind the queen and asked in a low voice.
The queen turned her head, glanced at the gorgeous coffin being carried in the procession, and took a deep breath.
"… I'm ready."
Along with a buzzing sound, the door in front of me was opened.
The afterglow of the setting sun and the noisy crowd flooded into the queen's eyes. The queen couldn't help but tremble. She was silent for a few seconds, touched her belly, took steps, and walked forward again.
The crowd outside the palace suddenly fell silent the moment the queen appeared.
"...Your Highness the King and Queen?"
Some officials and people recognized her.
The queen paid no attention. From the moment she walked into people's sight, she raised her head slightly, folded her hands, showing a calm expression, and walked forward silently in the manner a queen should.
The silent crowd parted a path.
The queen continued walking until she reached the middle of the street, then stopped.
Behind her, a long queue appeared in front of the people.
Among the queues, the most conspicuous thing is undoubtedly the coffin.
The people looked at the transparent coffin, the flowers in the coffin and the "sleeping" king. For a while, countless gasps came and went.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
The crowd surrounding here suddenly knelt down on one knee from the inner circle to the outer circle like dominoes. They lowered their heads heavily, clenched their right hands on their chests, and had a look of grief on their faces.
The long street outside the palace has never been filled with such a depressing atmosphere.
Even though the rumors had provided enough warning, when the truth of death appeared in front of them, they still felt an unparalleled shock.
At this time, the queen's voice rang.
"The former Hessen Empire, the second prince of the old king, François Hessian, our King of Frieden, passed away six days ago, in early September of the ninth year of the new calendar." Her voice seemed to be suppressing grief. , but it sounded extremely loud, "My husband... He protected our land and freedom, and protected me and our daughter. In the end, he died at the age of thirty-four."
The dead leaves rustled down. An uncontrollable sadness spread among the crowd.
Some even started sobbing.
"However, my husband did not die fighting disease and enemies, but died of betrayal." The queen's voice continued to reply, "As everyone has heard these days, Aldrich , the president of the Master Freemasonry, my husband's most trusted subject, was actually a spy sent by Ikol. He killed the king, killed the hero who established Freeden, and wanted to destroy Our hard-earned peace.”
Following her words, the two soldiers escorting Aldrich also brought the person from the end of the team to the coffin and pushed him to the ground.
Aldrich fell to the ground with chains all over his body, trembling feebly under everyone's gaze.
The people wiped away their tears and looked at Aldrich, and various voices came from the crowd again.
"The rumors...the rumors are actually true."
"How could this happen? It's so terrible... He actually did such a thing?"
"Kill him! Kill this treacherous guy!"
The queen turned around and stared at Aldrich indifferently. The emotions that flashed through her eyes were much more complicated than fear, hatred and pleasure.
After a moment of silence, she made a quiet gesture.
When the crowd around her gradually calmed down, she spoke again:
"Six days ago, he killed His Majesty, wanted to take control of the palace, and treated the entire Frieden as a gift to Ikol. Fortunately, at such a critical moment, perhaps the gods have not abandoned us yet. A friend stood up and stopped his evil behavior, preventing it from leading to a greater tragedy."
As she spoke, she extended her hand to the purple-robed bishop.
"Archbishop Victor. He defeated Aldrich, stopped the traitor's conspiracy, and returned our country to us. If it weren't for him, my daughter, I, and the unborn child in my belly would be dead at this moment. Three cold corpses.”
The people looked at each other in astonishment.
They didn't know whether they were shocked at the moment because the church had "saved" their country or because of the news that the queen was pregnant.
The bishop just stood there, his eyebrows lowered, motionless.
"In the past, we had many misunderstandings about them. But now, he has saved my life and my child's life." After the queen said this, she wiped her tears and continued with some choking, "As a mother and wife, I cannot ignore this. So, Bishop Victor, thank you very much, you will be given the freedom to preach in Frieden. I can feel the heart of my husband, who made me take this decision, and no one can question it .”
The bishop stepped forward and clasped his hands in prayer.
"May God bless your country."
The crowd was in an uproar.
The ban on the church was one of the oldest policies and they were used to it. However, the queen herself wiped her tears before them, as did Aldrich, the prisoner, and the bishop who came to help. Everything is alive and they have no way to question it.
Therefore, under this scene, no one even raised a voice to object.
Even those officials who had always hated the church were speechless at the moment, not knowing what to say. Even if they knew it, they couldn't tell it.
"Also...about the crime of killing the king."
At this time, the queen came to Aldrich again, regaining her indifferent attitude, and said: "The traitor who planned the entire conspiracy, Aldrich, and all the treasonous mages under him, in the name of the queen, I declare them to death. .”
There was another exclamation from the crowd.
All the treasonous mages under my command...meaning...
Just when the people were looking at each other, a large group of soldiers suddenly walked out of the street at the right time.
People turned their heads.
I saw the group of soldiers slowly walking out. The team was very large, at least thousands of people. Among them were hundreds of prisoners, each with disheveled hair and a mess. Like Aldrich, they were tied with chains one after another, interfering with the surrounding elements and preventing them from performing magic.
Looking carefully, some people also recognized that the prisoner was a member of the Master Freemason who had disappeared in the past few days.
Suddenly, people were even more surprised.
Within a few days of the rumors spreading, all branches of the Freemasonry in the country closed their doors. And comparing the number of people, a total of five to six hundred people, it seems... all the members of the Freemasonry in Freden are here.
It turns out that they were not missing, but were all arrested.
"General Barritt, take everyone to the north of the city for execution."
The queen spoke, her voice clear and cold, like a castrated opera singer.
Behind her, General Barritt walked out with heavy steps and bowed expressionlessly.
"As commanded."
The people had not yet realized what was about to happen. But under this momentum, they still gave in and gave way. So, General Barritt escorted Aldrich, and the thousands of soldiers behind him escorted hundreds of mages, and walked towards the north of the city.
Their speed was very slow and it took them more than an hour to reach their destination.
The people of Xuedi City also informed each other and followed one after another.
Their destination was a wasteland in the north of the city that few people passed by. However, at this moment, in the eyes of those people, this wasteland was completely different from their memories.
The originally flat ground suddenly appeared with a huge pothole.
General Barritt stood in front of the pit, turned around and nodded, and then pushed Aldrich down.
There were exclamations among the crowd, probably... they were also shocked by what they had guessed.
As for the nearly a thousand soldiers behind the general, they were instructed to escort the mages, stepped forward, and pushed the mages down the pit one by one under the watch of countless people.
Immediately afterwards, an unbearable scene happened.
The mages were tied with iron chains and almost collapsed as they walked along. However, when they fell into the pit and saw Aldrich, they all struggled to get up and rushed towards Aldrich like a mad cow that had been hungry for two days and saw a red cloth.
"Why do you want to harm us? Why!"
The heart-rending roar echoed in this pit.
The more mages are pushed down, the more chaotic the situation in the pit becomes. After a while, Aldrich was overwhelmed by the red-eyed mages, like a caterpillar drowned by ants, and he couldn't even see anyone.
People frowned, and many people could no longer stand it.
However, being pressed among the crowd, Aldrich's expression was completely different.
He felt the teeth biting into his body, felt the hatred the mages had for him, and the sharp pain of filing the bones in his body. At that moment, a calm and heartfelt smile appeared on his old face.
He narrowed his eyes and looked up.
Soon, I smelled the smell of grease in my nose, sparks appeared in my sight, and the screams of the mages came from above.
"finally… "
He closed his eyes, feeling as peaceful as being saved.