The emperor, who was over fifty years old, was pale and his mouth was wide open, like a fish out of water. His chest was heaving rapidly, but his head still seemed to be dizzy from the feeling of being out of breath. In his mind
Ups and downs, only one thought keeps spinning.
How is it possible?
If it weren't for the gold-edged parchment in front of him, which had a high-level magic mark unique to the emperor's body and could never be forged, then Bellino XVII would definitely think it was a scam, a complete scam.
Twelve provinces declared their support legal... Bah! What kind of heir? I am obviously still alive and well! The behavior of these guys is simply treason!
But the scary thing is that if the three provinces already occupied by the Tuminis are excluded, these twelve provinces already account for half of the empire's current territory, no, even more than half!
"They...huhu..."
The emperor breathed heavily, and finally made a sound until he was close to the scale of an hourglass. He stared at the woman's face, and made a vague sound in his throat: "They, who did they support? It's...Amber
Tower, or Gibson? Or Ives? Could it be, Ross Thorne?”
"Hehehe..."
The woman let out a string of light sneers, her shoulders trembling slightly. Even though her swollen belly made her figure unattractive, the charm in this smile was still touching: "Use your brain, my lord, since
These things were recorded and sent together. Do you still imagine?
No, who did they put on the table... And I have already mentioned the names of the places, haven't I? Well, let me tell you, four people, four of them are supported. Ferdinand is
Gibson, Fox is Ives, Bosworth is Alberta, Halsted..."
"No! This is impossible!"
The old emperor suddenly burst out with a cry like a dying beast, and his voice became clearer. "This is impossible, my sons, there is no way they would do such a thing! What on earth did they do? How did they do it?"
Can you ignore me? Has it come to this? No, this is a scam, everyone. Those lords are deceiving me, even the Knights of Golden Jinhua, and those ministers, those lords. Those dukes. They
They are all disloyal and unjust cowards..."
"That's ridiculous." The woman kept watching the emperor's hysteria coldly, until a fierce cough soon interrupted the emperor's words... She reached out to help him pat his chest to straighten his breathing, and then sighed: "You
They should also know that they just made the best choice for themselves."
"Traitor, I have been deceived from the beginning! This is an unforgivable betrayal to me and the empire!"
After a while, the emperor finally regained his ability to speak: "They think it's enough to just have those little bastards? Can they be allowed to take away the power I gave them forever? Dreaming! All traitors must pay back
.With their own blood...they will drown in a pool of their own blood!"
His voice was very soft, but with undeniable firmness.
The emperor seemed to have regained his confidence at this moment.
A piece of information quickly appeared in his mind, and he combined it into a usable plan: "Announced support, and each has its own candidate? This group of idiots, what they are doing is just spreading their own strength,
And they are all peripheral guys... They can't organize enough military forces with just one or two provinces.
, and how much time do they think they have if they want to integrate the power of several provinces? Humph, do they really think I just made a confused decision? These idiots probably only have enough brains for
After learning how to hold a knife and fork to eat, I already knew they would have such a trick, yes, I knew it a long time ago!"
"Really? You already knew that?"
"Of course, these bastards are like annoying crows. They can only see those shiny things in their eyes, but they don't know that what they are staring at will never be gems!" The emperor sneered: "They only pay attention to those things, so
They are like a group of monkeys. No, the monkeys are more awake than them. At least the monkeys know how to pay attention to the movements around them when stealing food, and they..."
The emperor's words stopped suddenly because he suddenly realized that the question he just heard was not from the woman in front of him.
In the center of the field of vision that raised his head in astonishment, there stood the young man,
Familiar figure, familiar face - that is a beautiful face that can make women jealous, with a high bridge of nose, a thin lower jaw, thin lips that seem to be painted with light khao... But that face
The emperor's familiar, flattering smile seemed to be frozen, and only a pair of blue-gray peach blossom eyes were shining with luster, making everyone who looked at him feel cold in their hearts, as if there was a layer of arrogance burning there forever.
Fiery ice.
"Is it you? No, no..."
The emperor's turbid eyes stayed on his face for a while, and his face turned pale again. The blood that had just rushed to his head due to excitement slipped away from under his skin, leaving only the iron-gray loose skin, and even his lip skin.
He gradually turned pale and trembled: "Oh, yes, of course it's you, and only you... Yes, yes, it's not unexpected."
Tiberius Gracchus, the Imperial Elector, the commander of the Thunder Red Dragon Legion...
But behind this string of honorary names is a cruel fact——
At dusk, the palace is about to close. All foreign ministers cannot stay in the castle without the emperor's permission, let alone enter the emperor's exclusive living room, unless they bypass more than thirty people on the way.
There is a layer of light and dark protection—sixty retinue knights, eleven doors on the corridor, and six mages guarding the outside of this room.
The only ones who can do this are masters, right? Even those with the power of the Thunder Red Dragon Knight will find it difficult to do so.
But if you change the method, it would be much simpler - for example, slowly replace the emperor's confidants when he is "ill"... Then, no matter how delicate the defense is, it will eventually collapse from within.
The young knight looked at the king who was humming vaguely. He stretched out his hand to pull out a chair and sat down grandly.
"You can remove my personal guards, and you can have access to my chamberlains. You can also temporarily remove those mages and priests... But, do you think this is foolproof?" The emperor's voice trembled, and he grinned.
He opened his mouth and his expression seemed to be crying or laughing: "If I never show up,
Someone will definitely ask for an audience, and if I die, you will not get anything. Tiberius, do you think you can suppress Illyria with just your two thousand Thunder Knights? Do you think Bain supports this?
Are the Marquis, Theriot and the others really unable to stop you?"
"Of course not,"
The emperor's series of questions made Tiberius smile: "I am not arrogant to that extent. I think that the less than 2,000 people I have on hand can compete with Theriote's 5,000 Golden Flower Knights. What's more,
Bain Branch will also help, as well as Gong
My penetration into the Ting Mage Group is also very insufficient. In fact, just the guardian knights from various temples in Illyria are enough for me. The power of those holy warriors is not much worse than that of my Thunder Red Dragon, and even more so.
Not to mention there are city guards and whatnot?"
"So, what exactly are you going to do?"
"How do you say that?"
The young man shook his head gently: "Actually, it was unexpected. I thought they would be more calm. But thinking that they are too smart is actually not very good... Or, they are already impatient, right? Greedy
It is a very terrible trait. Once it occurs, it will never be
It is impossible to eliminate it. Those superficial satisfactions are just a simple cover-up. Of course, I still have to praise them. They did a great job. In this way, they were destined to be unable to concentrate their strength before the attack, and afterwards
All it takes is a slight push to fall apart."
"Is this you too...?"
The king's voice trembled, and the man's slow narration made him feel fear, even more than the fear of death for a moment. He opened his mouth, as if thinking of something vague: "You encourage them, and you also encourage them."
You want them to leave me on purpose, and you are waiting... No, you have already manipulated them, right? Whether it is the territory or those children..."
"No, no, no, I didn't manipulate them, I just gave them hope. And their actions are enough to give me an excuse."
Tiberius laughed, "Yes, excuses, the stupidity of these guys will give us enough excuses to destroy them, crush them, re-establish the empire, and realize His Majesty Iskandar's grand dream. To do this, I
I must remove all the obstacles, smash them to pieces, and pave the way for me to move forward!"
"Dream? Magnificent?" The emperor was stunned: "You rely on this childish dream to support you?" He said: "This is ridiculous..."
"absurd?"
Tiberius raised his voice: "Your Majesty, you seem to lack enough respect for your ancestors... Well, let me ask you, what do you think of Emperor Iskandar, your ancestor?"
"
Seeing the emperor dumbfounded and confused, the young elector smiled: "Ah, you don't need to answer, I know that you regard him as a clay doll or a stone sculpture, not as good as various statues of gods, because he doesn't care about you at all.
It is of no use except for use in some important ceremonies.
His statue and reputation, right? But I am different. My lifelong dream is to realize the dream of His Majesty Iskandar, although it has been tarnished for too long by you dirty, stupid and lazy guys.
, but it doesn’t matter, just start over.”
He stretched out his hand, scratched the old emperor's forehead, and then slowly twirled his fingers: as if he had touched something disgusting.
"This old, decadent country that exudes a sour smell, or in other words, a huge cage... No matter how you describe it, in short, this large, useless and disgusting country is locked in the continent.
Half of the land, and the people on it, but it is not at all what His Majesty Iskandar promised to his people, his lords, and his imperial electors to build.
That country, that should be a great giant, a Titan. We, the people of the empire, his rulers, stand on its shoulders, being... But that empire is so great in His Majesty Iskandar
He died the day the Western Expedition stopped. This thing now is just a wreck, a piece of rotting flesh. It is disgusting and entrenched here!"
The young man frowned in disgust:
"You are the fly that rotted this mass of flesh, built it into your nest, and settled here. You spread the maggots that breed because of stupid things like you to all levels of this country. And I
, we must burn this wreckage now, crush these maggots, and put everything back on track!"
"You can kill me and then try. It depends on whether your knights can do this, and how many people are willing to follow your footsteps..."
The emperor gritted his teeth and gave up everything: "As long as there is enough evidence, everyone, everyone will cut you into pieces and use your skin to decorate their medals!"
"No. My Majesty, of course I will not kill you. If I kill you, with my power..."
"What are you talking about?"
Tiberius's slow voice made the woman beside him finally couldn't help but speak with a sharp voice: "That's not our plan!"
"Of course not. But I have already said that there are still many things that need to be added to the plan. That's what the plan is. A plan that cannot withstand changes at all is definitely a very bad plan."
Tiberius remained unhurried. However, this comfort did not seem to please his companions:
"You know you can't control him forever? At least you can't keep him from showing up forever. Those mages and priests will all be suspicious! Those members of the family, they can't let a person of unknown origin take over.
Illyria, and Baine
Even if they are not allowed to let you do this, even though they are not as powerful as you, their superiority in military strength is enough to kill your knights! So you must kill him, you must kill him, and let him immediately
Pass down the imperial edict and make my child the emperor of the empire!"
"I know, I know, I don't need you to remind me." Tiberius stared at the woman coldly: "Yes, indeed, our Majesty has the pure blood of His Majesty Iskandar, even if I am very
I doubt it, but it has indeed been preserved. The two identities of Emperor Iskandar the Great's direct blood relative and the emperor of the empire are destined to not be controlled by the power of the imperial elector. However, we still need him, correct
In other words, he needs his body."
"What?"
"How do you say? Luck?" Tiberius said leisurely: "It is precisely because of His Majesty's blood that we can give him such an opportunity."
He spoke very slowly, so no one paid attention to his words before he finished speaking.
The eyes of the three people turned at the same time, and at the intersection of them, a chair had already stood up at some point.
This is a pale, huge, strange creation covered with spikes. In fact, it is better to say that it is a chair than a hill, a pile of bones... The gray-white smooth calcium is cleverly shaped and supported on it.
, a handsome young man with a hint of laziness. He
He was wearing a golden robe, and the open collar exposed his strong white chest. He just sat upright on the skeletal throne, tilting his head slightly, holding his chin with one hand, and scanning the three people.
, his expression is indifferent, but full of freedom and nobility.
"This is my bloodline? It's disappointing."
He spoke.
The air seemed to have solidified for a moment, and the terrifying coldness was silent, but it penetrated into people's hearts bit by bit. That strange feeling was like a cold woman's song, melodious and ethereal in the darkness,
Grasp everyone's heart little by little.
"Dirty, rotten, old, is this the body you chose for me? I'm not satisfied. I'm very dissatisfied... Tiberius."
"His Majesty."
The young man fell to his knees at some point and buried his head in the most humble manner: "I am incompetent, so I can only ask your Majesty to condescend for the time being, but please don't worry, because there is a more suitable candidate here. One who has not gone through any
The polluted body, as long as you wait for a while, he will definitely become the most suitable% for you..."
"What did you say?"
The scream interrupted him, and the woman's eyes widened as if she were crazy, staring at the man: "What do you want to do to me, no, to my child?"
"Shut up! Kneel down!"
Tiberius said in a deep voice, but without seeing him make any move, the woman had already knelt down with a thump, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I didn't think well..."
"It doesn't matter, she's a very interesting woman. I like women like this."
The young man on the throne spoke softly, and the woman's trembling body was reflected in his black eyes: "You mean this child? It's very interesting, but it's still too young. It will take me a long time to wait until he grows up.
, if you can only use the body of this disgusting old guy, it really won’t be a very enjoyable time,”