He's in Love with the Devil.

Chapter 35: Convening of the Conference

The carriages with rosebud curtains were crushing the snow on the road, and started to return to the capital, Metzl Castle, one after another.

What was polarized was the mood of the people.

When the king's commissioners arrived in the counties, the commoners were as numb as a pool of stagnant water, and the nobles were busy preparing ceremonies and gifts. But when it was time to leave, the situation changed completely. The nobles hated the backs of the carriages, and at the same time, they were afraid. The commoners, on the other hand, watched the carriages leave with fondness and a glimmer of hope in their hearts in the middle of winter.

This time, will it work? It'll be better, won't it?

Let's hope that the king's wrath, while burning his enemies, will bring a little warmth to them, the poor people suffering from the cold - even if that is not the king's intention.

A little hope flared in the hearts of the people, and for the first time, the commoners looked forward to the Council more than the nobles.

The King's Black Wings brought back thick piles of information, and the King summoned his advisors and officials. The royal officials, who had expected a comfortable winter, had to leave their beautiful lovers and rush to the palace.

This was probably the worst winter these officials had ever had.

They were confronted with investigation reports so thick that they could be piled up to the ceiling, and when they sat down, they were instantly drowned in the files. The sky seems to be flying documents ...... The king gave them half a month to organize the results of these investigations and compile them into a detailed and complete national tax and civil affairs book.

Holy Lord! Is this something that man can do?

The tax collectors, clerks, and statisticians ...... groaned in despair when they received this order from the king. A few of them thought that the king was joking, but reality showed that the king was not joking.

The people involved in the compilation were put up in the Palace of the Roses, and the guards of the palace politely told them, "Gentlemen, when you have finished your work, you may leave. Until then, please feel free to stay in the palace."

And so began the darkness of overtime work, so much for the lord's exploitation of his serfs.

One man tried to find out if the palace guards could go out for a walk, but if he didn't see his mistress, he'd never set foot in her room again.

The soldier of the guard shook his hand with deep sympathy, so sincere that he seemed to be about to shed a tear: "You are so right, sir, my beautiful Miss Lisa is also waiting for me, if I let you step out of the palace, Miss Lisa can only go to see me in front of the tombstone!"

At the end of his speech, he asked, "You must be able to understand me if you are in the same situation as me, right?

Officials: ...... Well, such a rogue tactic with no chivalry, as if a rogue, is indeed their majesty's style.

Resign yourself to your fate.

The chief housekeeper was running between the officials and the king during this period of time, constantly conveying the king's will to the codification officials, he originally treated people kindly, but at this time, as soon as the officials heard the chief housekeeper's footsteps their scalps reflexively started to tingle - because this often meant that the king had made some harsh demands again.

"What a terrible way to keep track."

While the compilation officials had a belly full of bitterness, the king was in his own office going through the completed parts of the compilation and commenting on them unflinchingly.

The Duke of Buckingham sat across from the king, glanced sideways at the tax rolls that had never been so neat and clear before, and ultimately chose to remain silent.

--It's winter, and there's nothing wrong with moving your fingers more.

The king quickly flipped through the tax book while mocking it to death in a mean and spiteful tone. During this period of time, his workload even exceeded that of the compilation officials, and each completed fascicle was approved by the king himself, and when he encountered ambiguities, he would have to call them back and have them start over.

The king added "reforming the system" to the list of long-term plans he had in mind. Oh, and then there was the re-education of royal officials.

God bless the royal officials, and may they be strong enough.

"Are you worried about something? Your Majesty."

The Duke of Buckingham noticed that the king didn't call the Chief of Internal Affairs in first after he closed the tax book. The Duke of Buckingham's workload wasn't small these days, and he and the king worked with his advisory board to analyze suitable candidates for the Sheriff's Reserve based on these surveys.

"Cinque Ports Alliance."

The King replied.

The Cinque Ports Alliance had the privilege of having a separate system for their taxes, and the scope of the king's investigation this time did not include the autonomous cities of the Cinque Ports Alliance.

It's not hard to guess how many pounds of money slipped through the king's pockets each year.

However, it was not because of this that the king thought of the Cinque Ports Union.

--It was for the Black Death.

According to the information received from the devil's side, Rogaland wasn't the only country that had an outbreak of the Black Death. Nowadays, maritime shipping is booming, and sea transportation is also an important way for the Black Death to spread. If we can't control the customs effectively, then even if the devil can solve the plague in Rogaland's territory in some way, the Black Death may still break out in Rogaland's territory again very soon.

Even if it is not for the sake of the "Uncrowned King", the king must completely solve the Cinque Ports Alliance before the Black Death arrives.

The king sighed.

"Call a meeting of the council."

The king put down the tax rolls, a tacit acknowledgement that they had passed his scrutiny. He looked out the window in silence.

The Duke of Buckingham followed the king's gaze and saw only snow covering the land of Rogaland. The Duke sighed with relief and complexity in his mind:

How heavy is the burden of a nation? This is a no-question answer, for only the one who wears that crown knows.

It is not worn on the head, but in the heart.

And the one who wears the crown in his heart never cares to say how heavy the burden is.

"At your will, Your Majesty."

The Duke of Buckingham said.

..................

As October drew to a close, in obedience to custom, the king sent out a proclamation to all the land of Rogaland. [1]

But unlike in the past, this time the meeting was bigger than ever. Nearly a thousand delegates were granted permission to attend, and these included the towns' freemen in addition to the regular local nobles. Compared to the representatives of the freeholders who were allowed to participate in the conference, the representatives of the royal family of the Angell Kingdom who were also allowed to participate in the conference appeared to be less conspicuous.

Besides that, the Cinque Ports Alliance, which was a member of Rogaland's special composition, also had its own representatives.

The Cinque Ports Alliance had been excessively quiet for a while, but this quietness was just as unusual as the king's own lack of expression.

Eventually, the representatives of the Cinque Ports Alliance departed from the port of Cossoa.

A small, unnoticeable event was the addition of a low-profile young man to the delegation.

Flurries of winter snow blanketed the Rogaland Empire as people began to gather towards the capital.

Nervousness, excitement, uneasiness ...... all sorts of emotions like dark currents surging under the empire's ice layer, only the one high up on the throne knows best what the real purpose of this meeting is.

The largest council in the history of the Rogaland Empire was about to arrive.

..................

"What a masterstroke, my dear sire."

A letter of indistinguishable exact material was unfolded by a pale, slender hand, and the devil quickly skimmed the contents. He exclaimed.

A crow rested silently on the black dead tree in front of the devil, it had dark red eyes and cawed twice in response to the devil's words.

"Shut up, Monra."

The devil chided without hesitation.

The raven known as "Monra" ignored his rebuke and continued to caw at him in an ugly, short, urgent voice.

"Come on, what's the point of rushing me?"

The devil raised his hand and the letter burned up in mid-air, turning into a flurry of crumbs, which then dispersed and transformed into a black, eerily beautiful butterfly.

"The law hangs over the earth, cutting the heavenly earth and hell ...... The time has not yet come, we need to wait."

Perhaps the "law" in the devil's mouth worked, and the crows quieted down.

The black butterflies slowly fluttered forward.

The devil raised his head, looked at everything in front of him and sighed quietly: "...... you say, I go in now, those lords will not be concerted to come after me?"

In front of the devil loomed a creepy gate of purgatory, it looked like it was made of a raging convergence of blood and dark colors inside its door, and there were vague cries of sadness pouring out from behind that door like thousands of souls were breaking up, and also like thousands of evil spirits were laughing. Ancient words were inscribed on the side of the door:

Enter hence into that city of woe.

From here into the abyss of misery.

Henceforth into that crowd of all the dead. [2]

Below are two lines that have been obliterated by men - let's call them men - with swords, and it is impossible to see what they are.

Immediately after that was:

Before me there was nothing but eternity.

I am with heaven and earth; for ever and ever. [3]

"I hope there won't be anyone guarding behind the door." The devil muttered, but his demeanor was not the least bit nervous, and even hinted at a bit of anticipation, "You know I'm going to be cleaning the palace for His Majesty. Alas ...... this is really a trivial and troublesome but sweet work."

The crow cawed angrily once again.

"Oops, sorry, I forgot that you're not in a position to serve His Majesty right now."

The devil apologized falsely, but the smile gave off a hint of wantonness anyways.

The crow flew up angrily and fluttered its wings around the devil, with the intention of swooping down and pecking out the devil s eyes ...... But it was only an intention.

Just as the lords of hell hated this guy with a passion, but no one was willing to actually mess with him, the raven had been careful to draw a line in its mind, not allowing itself to cross the line that angered the devil.

Because ......

The whole hell, this guy is the one who's downright crazy.

"The kingdom of that millennium is coming, and God has called those seven angels to go to that earth with trumpets in their hands, and the rivers will turn into seas of blood, and the plagues will swim the continents with the schools of dead fish ......"

The devil softly hummed an ancient sacred chant, stepping forward over a field of skeletons of who knows what. The great gates of purgatory loomed before him, ancient taboos blocking the connection between earth and hell.

"The seven plagues of that last day bring the final judgment."

Raven watched as the devil stepped right through as if nothing had happened.

Author's Notes:

[1] According to parliamentary procedure under Edward III, Parliament had to be convened in the King's name, and a proclamation had to be issued in advance.

[2][3] Quoted from Dante's Divine Comedy, the subsequent setting of Hell will be adjusted to some extent by synthesizing various materials.