He's in Love with the Devil.

Chapter 26: God Bless the King

After the conclusion of a meaningful duel, there should indeed be loud cheers. But the nobles present were so shocked by the ruthlessness shown by the king that no one reacted for a while.

Except for one person.

The Duke of Buckingham.

The old Duke, wearing a scarlet cloak similar to his nephew's, stepped out of the gallery. He came to the center of the nave, and kneeled on one knee before the young king on the dais, and took the knight's oath of allegiance. Just as the king was crowned here, he led the crowd in the oath of allegiance to the king.

"God bless the king!"

The Duke of Buckingham's voice echoed in St. Wessex Cathedral.

"God bless Rogaland!"

The royalists wearing the Iron Rose followed the Duke of Buckingham out of the pews. They likewise came down the narrow aisle, and kneeled on one knee toward the king on the platform.

"God save the King!"

"God bless Rogaland!"

Their voices came together and stirred the blood in the hearts of men.

The weapons in the hands of the nobles of the New King's Party fell to the ground one after another. With pale faces, they left their seats one by one, joining in this extravaganza that was disguised as another oath of allegiance. In the end, all the knights fell to their knees, and the first large-scale pilgrimage since the accession of King Pourcelin I served its political purpose.

The Cardinal, with a grim face, watched it happen but was powerless to stop it.

He realized that his plan to strengthen the influence of the Holy Office on Rogaland had come to naught. Amidst the cheers, the majesty of the imperial throne of Rogaland was strengthened as never before.

His plans were all over! His beautiful dream of promotion was also over!

Outside the St. Wessex Cathedral, Edmund, the general of the Angel army guarding the place, sighed softly.

All this time, people have been mistaking a lion for a coward.

General Edmund seems to have already seen the appearance of the glory of the Rosebud family flourishing again ...... Heaven ah! Bless them Angell, I hope that this time their big gamble will not be bloodless.

The cheers echoed under the brilliant dome of St. Wessex Cathedral.

The winds of winter whistled past, and the bodies of the usurpers lay under the throne behind the young king, gurgling with the blood that had soaked the chair, the symbol of power, day after day for hundreds of thousands of years. The king stood tall and looked over everyone.

This is Rogaland.

This is Rogaland, where the blood of the Rosebud has been king for generations.

God bless the king!

God bless Rogaland!

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

Rosemary's Palace.

This historic palace welcomes back its true owner.

In the king's room, the fire in the fireplace was roaring, and the light from the fire made the exquisite relief paintings on the walls come more and more to life. Here and there, the pattern of roses was everywhere, and the floor of the room was covered with an intricate and slightly strange carpet.

The king lowered his eyes slightly, surveying the embroidered out patterns on that carpet.

The craftsmanship was exquisite, but it was the content of the patterns that caught the king's attention.

It was a picture of a pale dragon's bone coiled with scarlet roses. Judging by the proportions of the dragon's bone to the mountain range it lay prostrate on, that dragon must have been staggeringly huge when it was not yet dead.

"Your Majesty."

The Duke of Buckingham, who had changed his clothes, walked in, much relieved by his nephew's safe and sound return. He smiled slightly when he saw the king.

"You arrived just in time."

"You were the one who slowed them down." The king closed the book in his hand, and he placed a chair by his side, apparently for the Duke of Buckingham. With the King's character, this was already a subtle form of intimacy, "The hand of the Papacy is stretching out longer and longer."

"They have been foolish all these years."

At the mention of the Holy See, a trace of coldness swept across the Duke of Buckingham's face as he said faintly.

"I heard that the Holy Court on the other side of the Abyssal Strait has begun to see different factions fighting within themselves, and coupled with the booming business, I'm afraid that some of the old timers can't sit still anymore." The king was thoughtful.

After that disguised second oath of allegiance ceremony at St. Wes Cathedral was over, the young cardinal who was the pope's envoy quickly left Metzel City.

It seemed that he also understood that the king must have had a murderous intent towards him upon his return.

The king could have stopped him if he wanted to, but now that the civil unrest had just subsided, it was not a good idea to turn against the pope. Therefore, the king only sent someone to turn around in that cardinal's residence, and that young cardinal was scared enough to climb out of his room over the wall in the night, and fled in a terrible mess.

It was a little revenge for the king.

The Duke of Buckingham gazed at his nephew and let out a long breath, "You have grown up."

"You say that as if I were a child." The king replied, "May I remind you that I am of age."

The Duke of Buckingham laughed.

The King smiled back.

Everything today might look like a miracle aided by the Holy Lord, or the devil - well, this one did have - in the eyes of others, but only the king himself knew best that it was actually the result of an all-out effort and cooperation from many sides.

Oh, and Archduke Grice himself had a lot to do with it.

Though in saying that, the Archduke wouldn't be happy at all right.

Things had to be dialed back.

Nothing was more crucial, naturally, than the King's timely rescue of the Duke of Buckingham in late September.

The King, wary of possible assassinations and coups, sent the Duke of Buckingham back to the Palace of the Roses and granted him the right of regency in public. Therefore, when the news of the king's death spread later, the Duke of Buckingham was able to suppress the deterioration of the situation as quickly as possible.

While the Duke of Buckingham was doing his best to reduce the influence of the rumors in Metzel Castle, the King sent the Knight Commander and another sworn knight to act as messengers at the same time.

The Knight Commander who was an exiled member of the Angell royal family went to contact the Angell state on behalf of the king himself, while the other sworn knight carried the king's letter, and after disguising himself, he rushed to Metzl Castle as fast as he could by taking the shortest route.

This second letter was addressed to the Duke of Buckingham.

In the letter, the king carefully recounted his situation and his next plans.

Due to the heavy guarding by Archduke Grice's men along the way, the Oath Knight had spent some time and energy trying to get rid of those pesky little rats, otherwise he was originally supposed to arrive a little earlier.

It was also fortunate that the Duke of Buckingham, who was in the Rose Palace, was loyal to his nephew, and forcefully went to war with the Archduke of Grice, buying precious time for the king. At the time of the Pope's envoy's arrival, the Oath Knight also managed to secretly deliver the letter to the Duke of Buckingham.

The Duke of Buckingham, who was already near despair, received the king's letter and immediately regained his vigor.

The king mentioned in the letter which route he would take to reach the capital, and the experienced Duke of Buckingham immediately dispatched his close associates to make every effort to get in touch with the king - this is also one of the main reasons why there were so few royalists attending Archduke Grice's coronation ceremony today.

After getting in touch with the king, the Duke of Buckingham immediately and cleanly gave up on a head-on conflict with Archduke Grice and chose to back down instead.

The old Duke acted realistically, even going so far as to endure the desire to cut off Archduke Grice's head with a sword, and hypocritically held a greeting ceremony outside the gates of Metzl to cope with the occasion.

Of course, Archduke Grice, who had already lost his life, was not that stupid.

He was on strict guard against the Archduke of Buckingham, which happened to be right within the king's and the Duke of Buckingham's plans.

In order to attract Archduke Grice's attention, the Duke of Buckingham refused to hand over the Rosebud Palace and personally stationed himself at the Rosebud Palace, sharing the same city with Archduke Grice, forcing Archduke Grice to keep a close eye on the Duke of Buckingham's movements.

Take a look at the approximate spheres of influence of the Royalist and New King's parties.

The royalist party represented by the Duke of Buckingham was mainly concentrated in the north, while the power of the Archduke of Grice, who relied on the alliance of the five ports on the southeast coast, was mainly distributed in the south. In order to prevent the Duke of Buckingham's uprising, the Archduke of Grice had to guard the north closely.

However, while Archduke Grice put all his attention on the north, the king had already led the army disguised as Archduke Grice quietly around the flank of Metzel City from the south.

Thanks to Archduke Grice's constant troop movements to the north during this time, the king had his army rush a lot faster after he had them change into the White Rose War Banner.

It had to be said that Archduke Grice was really a good man.

The Duke of Buckingham knew his old rival so well that he even guessed who Archduke Grice would choose to command the rescue army and promptly conveyed this news to the king.

When the king received the news, he immediately realized that this was a good opportunity.

As the capital of the Rogaland Empire, Metzl City's walls were tall and thick, suitable for defense. If one wanted to forcefully attack into Metzl not only would it take a lot of manpower and resources, it would also take a long time. Originally, the king was planning to work with the Duke of Buckingham inside and outside to open the city gates from the inside.

However, Archduke Grice was keeping a close eye on the Duke of Buckingham's movements at the moment, so that would be a higher risk.

Now, Archduke Grice delivered the key to open the city gates to the king.

Angell's army traveled lighter and marched faster. In the evening of yesterday, the king had actually arrived at the vicinity of Metzel City at the head of his soldiers.

After carefully observing the terrain, the king stationed his army on both sides of an obligatory valley. At dawn this morning, Archduke Grice's relief army arrived in the valley, with huge logs and rocks rolling down the slopes on both sides. Many of the cavalry lost their lives before they realized what was happening.

It wasn't even called a battle, but a m******e.

The dazed and confused reinforcement men and horses huddled together and trampled on each other, while the well-fed king's army sliced and diced the ranks like intertwined canines and teeth on the left and right.

In the end, they walked out almost dripping with blood and corpses, including the king, all of whom were covered in blood.

Baron Born survived.

But that wasn't out of luck or because he was brave, it was because the king had ordered ahead of time that he be spared a little life.

Baron Bone was the key that tricked the gates open without bloodshed.

However, Baron Boone's armor was stripped to prevent him from betraying them, and at least ten bows from the army were pointed at the back of his head as he rode away from the group - the king didn't seem to have the words "follow the rules" in his vocabulary, nor did he care about the tactics used. The king didn't seem to have the word "routine" in his vocabulary, and he didn't care whether the means used were despicable or not.

The white rose banner of the new king's party, the familiar baron of Bourne, the correct banner ......

The gates opened.

From that moment on, everything was doomed.

The king stepped on blood and battle and returned to the throne.

The Duke of Buckingham sighed softly in his mind as he listened to the king's lighthearted account of the journey.

What a likeness.

And his father.

"Well, I'm so glad." The Duke of Buckingham gave a pleased smile, "Rogaland now has a true monarch."

The king made a monotone sound and did not refute his words.

The king knew exactly how much risk the Duke of Buckingham had taken in this series of machinations.

If the King did die, then the Duke of Buckingham would be completely discredited. If the king does not arrive at St. Wessex Cathedral in time, the Duke of Buckingham will fight the new king's party to the death ......

Then the final result would be no more than the Duke of Buckingham dying with Archduke Grice.

None of this was mentioned by anyone.

The result was as one would have wished, and what should be remembered was naturally remembered by those who should remember it.

"God bless Rogaland."

The Duke of Buckingham said.

The King was not impressed.

It would be more appropriate to say that the devil helped him.

The king had defended his throne with the blood of the Archduke of Glace, and it was mostly over, but there was still much to do next.

For example ......

A reckoning.

Ah, let's not forget that our King is also extraordinarily good at holding grudges, and it's time for those new King's party to pay for what they've done.

It's worth mentioning that after the "coronation" ceremony, the king simply invited all the participating nobles to the Rose Palace in a courteous manner - he just had the soldiers point iron arrows at them instead of putting swords on their necks, wasn't that courteous enough? wasn't that polite enough?

"What do you intend to do about it?"

The Duke of Buckingham asked.

"It would be better to kill them all, wouldn't it?"

The king said as if nothing had happened.

In the king's opinion, Rogaland lacked everything but nobles.

Any nobleman had dozens of children waiting to inherit the title. When this group of unproductive nobles died, the time it took for the new nobles to grow up would be enough for the king to strip them of their power.

However, after thinking about it, the king regretfully gave up this intention.

After all, in this era, the rules of this world's knight wars were still in place, and even defeated nobles would not be killed, but would wait to be released after paying a ransom. Moreover, the king had incidentally mapped out the county's situation, Rogaland's underbelly, in this period of time in his hidden identity.

The great nobles played an important role in the country's political system, and dealing with too many of them at once would cause new turmoil.

It was very regrettable.

However, the time is still young.

The Duke of Buckingham looked speechlessly at the King.

"A joke, not so serious."

The king said easily.

Nope.

The Duke of Buckingham thought to himself.

I don't think you are joking at all.

"Well, let us go and meet these ......" The King stood up and paused with a meaningful smile, "these rich and generous fine gentlemen."

He emphasized the words "rich" and "generous".

Author's Notes:

King: Just kidding.

Duke of Buckingham: You don't just seem to be joking.