The bright sun at noon projected in from the windows of the auditorium and shone on Lawrence's back, forming a lakelike and hazy halo in everyone's eyes.
"I...am I dreaming?!"
Some guests looked pale and murmured to themselves. From the time Pauli announced the treaty to the present, everything that had happened was like a bizarre dream that was difficult for them to accept.
The congressmen in the front row were not much better than the deputies. They could not help but tremble and looked nervously at the heavily armed patrols around them. In Lawrence's order just now, there was nothing that said they could leave.
Carlo stood at the long table like other congressmen, silently looking at Lawrence on the stage.
Although he knew the inside story in advance and was not as panicked as other congressmen, Carlo couldn't help but look complicated when he saw his brother standing on the stage giving orders.
Two years ago, when Carlo wrote a letter inviting Lawrence to come to Ajaccio, he still wanted to use his power to support his younger brother and keep him under his shadow.
But looking at now, Carlo looked at Lawrence absentmindedly in the somewhat dazzling sunlight. He already understood that from now on in Corsica, he would need to rely on Lawrence's shade.
At this moment, this auditorium has become the center of the storm in Corsica. No representative would want to risk losing his head to get involved in this change.
Therefore, although the representatives did not react to the situation, after hearing Lawrence's promise to protect them from leaving the Governor's Palace, they stood up in a hurry and ran towards the door without any regard for grace.
Some representatives sitting in the middle even overturned the benches and stepped out directly from them, just to leave the auditorium faster.
Paulie lay in the chair as if paralyzed, with almost no blood on his face, silently listening to the noises and shouts made by the deputies as they fled through the door.
After realizing that something was wrong, several of Pitt's personal followers rushed up and surrounded Pitt, protecting their master in the middle, staring at Lawrence in horror and uneasiness.
"This is Governor Pauli..."
After Old Sean ordered a few patrols to escort the representatives away, he walked to Lawrence, stared at Paulie in front of him timidly, and whispered:
"This is the first time I've seen him so close."
For an old man like Sean, who has completely experienced the Republic of Corsica from its establishment to the present, Pascual Paoli is undoubtedly a well-known name.
Now that he is surrounded by this legendary figure with weapons, this also gives Old Sean an unreal sense of distortion.
Grosso also had the same feeling as Old Sean, but the object of his attention was William Pitt who was standing beside him.
For this famous former Prime Minister of England, Grosso had no idea that one day he would be able to stand on the stage and look down at such a big man wantonly.
Of course, both of them also understood who the person was who enabled them to achieve this.
"Monsieur Bonaparte, all the guests have been evacuated."
Old Sean saluted Lawrence lamely and said, being in this auditorium of the Governor's Mansion that he had never dared to imagine before, Old Sean's behavior could not help but be much more respectful.
All the guests in the back row had left, leaving only rows of rickety benches in place.
The huge auditorium fell silent again. The congressmen had already turned pale with fright, and they kept thinking about whether they had done anything to contradict Lawrence, or whether they had any bargaining chips to bribe Lawrence to let them go.
As for Paulie, who was at the front of the long table, directly facing Lawrence, he kept his eyes closed and said nothing as if he did not belong to this world.
Peter stared at Lawrence in silence. It was only then that he realized that his understanding of this young man in the past month or so was completely wrong.
He was not a lamb that could be controlled by himself at all. When he put on his gentle coat and showed his terrifying fangs, Peter realized that it was too late.
"And..." Lawrence nodded to Old Sean and said:
"Take someone to find Haled. Once you find it, you don't need to report it to me. You can just leave it to the citizens outside."
"yes."
After receiving the order, Old Sean couldn't help but feel a chill on his back. On the way here, he saw the huge crowd of angry citizens. After throwing Hallid in, not even a bone would be left.
After hearing Lawrence's order, Paulie's eyelids twitched slightly, then he sighed inaudibly, and slowly opened his eyes to look at Lawrence, but his eyes were already cloudy and without any energy.
"Khalid...Is this the reason for the riot you just mentioned?"
Paulie's voice suddenly became older, as if ten years of his life had passed in just a few minutes.
Lawrence glanced at Paulie expressionlessly, nodded slightly and said, "That's right."
"That's right...if I had attacked Haled at that time..."
Pauli had bags under his eyes and couldn't stop chattering. From time to time he chuckled to himself and said:
"That won't work either. You can always find a reason to come here anyway."
After that, Paulie grabbed the armrest of the chair again, turned sideways with great effort, looked around at the patrols around him, grinned miserably, and said:
"Look at these young men, I don't know what kind of witchcraft you used on them to make them take such risks to follow you. You have obviously been dismissed..."
"Okay, Governor Pauly."
Lawrence waved his hand directly to interrupt Paulie's endless chatter, and said coldly:
"Since you said that, you are admitting that you are responsible for the crimes committed by Khaled, right?"
After hearing this, Pauli and the congressmen present could not help but be stunned for a moment. In the past, no Corsican dared to point at Pauli and question him.
But when they saw the patrols surrounding them, they immediately recognized the reality and silently sighed in their hearts:
The weather in Corsica has indeed changed.
Paulie lay on the chair in silence for a long time before recovering from the huge gap. Then he adjusted his emotions a bit, sat upright and looked at Lawrence and said:
"What do you want to say, Lawrence."
Even though he had been directly defeated by Lawrence, Pauli still knew that he still had the biggest bargaining chip in his hand, which was that at this moment, the supreme leader of Corsica was still Pascual Pauli.
Lawrence saw that Pauli had regained his energy and knew that he wanted to formally negotiate with him, so he said:
"Even as the governor, you must bear the corresponding responsibility and guilt in this riot."
"Really? Tell me, what responsibility do I have to bear?"
Paulie stared directly at Lawrence and asked without any politeness.
The empty auditorium echoed the exchanges between the two. The rest of the people, including Lord Peter, also listened with bated breath and silently stared at the two people who represented the old and new Corsica respectively.
"During the exercise of your powers as governor, you made unforgivable decision-making errors, which caused inestimable losses to the Corsican people and directly caused today's riot. Therefore, in order to calm the public's anger and express your apology...
.”
Lawrence put his hands on the podium, lowered his head and looked down at Pauly, and said in a deep voice: