He's in Love with the Devil.

Chapter 21: The Iron Rose

A cold late September breeze ran through the long hallway.

The Duke of Buckingham was alone as he passed by the ornate paintings that lined the corridor, and he remembered the contents of every painting here, for it was here that he and his elder brother had spent their long childhood.

This was Metzl Castle, but as the royal palace of the capital of Rogaland it had another name:

The Palace of the Roses.

In Rogaland, the king owns many territories and castles. Many of these castles were used as palaces. But this castle is different, it is named "Rosebud", this is the heart of the entire Rogaland Empire. The owner of this castle can only be the king of Rogaland.

When he went to the Moon River Fortress to negotiate, the king delivered the Rosebud Palace to the Duke of Buckingham, which meant that he handed over the right of regency to his uncle once again.

The Duke of Buckingham did not feel ashamed of this trust from the king, and apart from holding a royal council in the colorful room of the Rosebud Palace to deal with political matters, he did not set foot in any part of this castle that belonged to the king. He did not even take up residence in the room which the king had assigned to him in the palace.

But today was different.

The place that the Duke of Buckingham traveled to today was the Color Room of the Rosebud Royal Palace - the place where urgent and important meetings were held.

"Good day, Mr. Duke."

There was another group of people coming up to meet them, and the two sides met head-on in the splendid corridor. The leader, dressed in deep black brocade and wearing a white rose on his chest, smiled and greeted the Duke of Buckingham. The men behind him were all similarly dressed in black and wore white roses denoting mourning.

"I am so glad that you are as hard as ever."

He was Archduke Grice.

In a way, he was also the King's uncle, for he was the half-brother of the Duke of Buckingham-he was the son of William III's mother, the late Queen Isabel, by remarriage.

Unlike the Duke of Buckingham and the King, the Archduke of Glace did not inherit the signature silver hair and blue eyes of the Rose family. He had brilliant blonde hair and light green eyes that always seemed to be smiling.

He surveyed the Duke of Buckingham in mock surprise, "Have you forgotten something?"

"The King doesn't need that."

The Duke of Buckingham said coldly, his gaze sweeping over the faces of those wearing the white rose.

Those people subconsciously bowed their heads to avoid the old duke's gaze. This made Archduke Grice vaguely annoyed.

"Please don't say that, Mr. Duke." Archduke Grice exuded a hint of extremely appropriate sadness, "This is for my poor nephew."

"I'm so sorry."

The Duke of Buckingham was tall and thin, and with the cold wind whipping his cloak, he looked as if he were surrounded by scarlet blood, and within such close proximity, those who confronted him could almost smell that blood.

"Back in Betna Harbor, that sword was stopped by William."

Archduke Grice's face suddenly changed, and the smile disappeared from his face all of a sudden.

He looked at the expressionless Duke of Buckingham with a deadpan iron face.

Few people knew that the Duke of Buckingham and Archduke Grice had once had a forceful conflict when they were young. Still a youth, the Duke of Buckingham threw his half-brother off the sea ship, and immediately after grabbing his own sword, he also jumped off, and while the man was in mid-air, the Duke drew his sword out.

After many years, the murderous aura that was on the blade of that sword came back with a vengeance.

"Get lost."

Archduke Grice subconsciously stepped aside, and the people in black robes behind him similarly scattered. The lone, cold and arrogant old duke walked straight through.

"I'd like to know."

Archduke Grice suddenly gave a grim laugh.

"After all these years, whose sword actually came faster."

The Duke of Buckingham didn't answer, his scarlet robes rolled up, and from afar they looked like fiercely unfurled battle flags.

The bell of Metzel Cathedral was rung.

The strong, low, solemn and solemn bells echoed for a long time above the castle of the entire Rose Palace. Everyone who was in the heart of the empire could feel that kind of restless, touch-and-go atmosphere in the air.

Parliament was convened.

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

Color Room.

This room is ornately decorated on every side with murals that tell stories from the scriptures. Angels symbolizing judgment and justice look down on the congregation from the dome, which has a special political significance because it holds each person attending the meeting accountable for the choices they make or God will punish them.

The members of the royal council, the chancellor, the nobles of the upper council who were able to make it, the archbishop ...... these important political players of the king gathered here, surrounded by countless lit candles, whose flames ran in horizontal rows, and the people were seated in the cold, monolithic building.

All, except the Duke, were dressed in pitch black robes and wore mourning white roses on their chests.

The argument soon began.

Pullan I was very young and had not married, much less had any children to speak of. So the heir to the throne could only be chosen from among the king's relatives.

The Archduke of Grice had been preparing for this for a long time, but the most important part of it had gone wrong some time before-the king had arrived in time to save the Duke of Buckingham. This was the last thing he wanted. But since it had happened, Archduke Grice could only find a way to reverse this defeat.

He took a step backward as a step forward.

At Archduke Grice's cue, the Lord Chancellor of Walingshire turned the argument to the silent Duke of Buckingham.

He asked pointedly what his Grace the Duke, who was first in the line of succession to the throne, thought of the matter. Did he feel that it was his place to succeed his nephew on the throne?

Murder and Punishment.

In the entire Rogaland Empire, who didn't know that the only person who couldn't possibly have a peek at that crown was the Duke of Buckingham? This kind of questioning was simply the greatest insult to the Duke.

Everyone dispatched the Duke of Buckingham outside of the jousting team by default, but at the same time, everyone was unable to bypass the Duke of Buckingham's existence.

With these words, the conference room, which was arguing like a marketplace, quieted down.

"My opinion?"

The Duke of Buckingham slowly raised his head and everyone was creeped out.

The old Duke's gaze was so cold and sharp, like the hard ice covering the river in the bitter winter.

The Chancellor of Waring County was a young man, and when he was born the Duke of Buckingham had already gathered his claws and teeth, and he had never even seen this old man when he had stepped over mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield. He was conceited and ignorant enough to think he could go and provoke a lion!

But soon, he learned.

This old lion could willingly put away his claws and teeth and bend his head to the butcher's knife from his king, or he could bare his bloody fangs for his king.

The lion was not old!

The scarlet cloak snapped up, and the two rows of candles lit in the conference room swayed for a split second. Cold as an eagle suddenly spreading its wings and rushing up to the sky, the sound of a sword rang in everyone's ears, and a longsword heaved through the hard rocky long table.

Under the illumination of the candle flame, the sword that was nailed to the tabletop was exposed halfway, and half of its blade was like snow!

At that instant, everyone felt an icy cold pouring down from the top of their heads, creating an illusion that the sword was not nailed into the long table but their own heads! No one saw clearly when the old Duke drew his sword, and no one thought that the old Duke who had been silent for so many years would suddenly rise up one day.

The old Duke of Buckingham placed his hands on the hilt of his sword as he slowly raised his head and swept his gaze coldly, "That is my opinion."

Morphological cold, fury, and blood.

Some people were shocked by this sword and sat stiffly in their position with trembling, while others showed complex expressions, as for Archduke Grice his face was ugly to the extreme.

The Duke of Buckingham was a madman.

He was wearing a gorgeous cloak, but underneath it, he wore the sharpest longsword.

He wasn't even here for the council, he was here to go to war with everyone.

Perhaps in the troubled times of two hundred years ago, the nobles of that time would have been ready to splatter the ground with blood, wearing breastplates and swords under their cloaks. But that was never now, and none of them expected the old duke to be so mad.

No one dared make a sound.

The Duke of Buckingham had just made it clear with that sword that he could draw his sword and kill anyone in this chamber at any time - and he was perfectly capable of doing so. No one wanted to use their own blood to be that test stone.

"Is this how you keep your promises of allegiance?"

The old Duke's voice was the only one in the large conference room, low and depressing.

Archduke Grice realized he had to stand up for himself, and he confronted the Duke of Buckingham from a distance, "But the King is dead."

"You saw the king's body?" The Duke's gaze swept steeply.

"He was sacrificed in the middle of the forest, who can be sure that the king's corpse is still alive, if one day we cannot find it, is Rogaland going to be without a king for one day?" Archduke Grice laughed coldly, "What, do you want to cut off everyone's head to be buried with the king? Do you dare?"

"The king is still alive, I vouch for it on my life and honor."

The Duke of Buckingham threw his voice.

Not the people stirred.

They had already accepted the fact that the King was dead, but the Duke of Buckingham's reputation for supporting the Rogaland Empire for decades made his words so powerful that some of them began to waver.

"You want everyone to go mad with you?" Archduke Grice looked around, "You want to accompany him in his madness? Gentlemen! The Brechtian Expedition has not gone! We need a king! The thirty-six states could rebel at any moment, do you want to watch Rogaland fall apart?"

The commotion morphed into whispers.

"Gentlemen, I pledge my life, my honor, and my wealth that the King still lives in this world in good health and well, and that he will return soon." The Duke of Buckingham was majestically cold and hard, "When my brother, who divided the land among you, you offered him the promise of faithfulness and loyalty."

"Now, it is time for you to choose."

The Duke of Buckingham gave a high five.

A dozen or so knights entered the room in a row, carrying delicate trays in their hands. Those trays held a crest of iron roses. The crowd quieted down.

The Duke of Buckingham rested his hands on the hilt of his sword again as he calmly looked at everyone.

"Either wear the glory of the Rose and guard your promises." He raised an eyebrow, "Or, turn your backs on your oaths and become enemies of the Rosebuds!"

"Please!"

The knights, also clad in bloody robes, spread out with trays, and they were silent as iron. The nobles recognized them-they were the survivors who had accompanied William III on the battlefield in the beginning. Now, they had redressed their scarlet cloaks for William III's son.

Dead silence, terrible dead silence.

Finally, someone took off the white rose on his chest and picked up the Iron Rose badge.

One, one, and another.

Then the person wearing the Iron Rose rose automatically stood up on the side of the long table where the Duke of Buckingham was. And the wearer of the White Rose rose and sat down on the side of the Archduke of Glace. Within a short time, a decision and a division were heatedly played out in the chamber.

In the end, the White Rose and the Iron Rose were sharply defined, and were in stark opposition to each other.

In terms of numbers, the side wearing the Iron Rose was clearly less than the White Rose. But each of them is as silent as a steel sword - the vast majority of them are men who have followed William III and the Duke of Buckingham into battle. Now, they chose to renew their trust in their former general, the Duke of Buckingham.

The two sides faced each other.

A murderous atmosphere, as if the sound of jingoism was ringing in everyone's ears.

Archduke Grice was so angry that his face turned blue.

It had taken him nearly ten years to plan the situation at hand, but the Duke of Buckingham had made it into a stalemate with both sides facing each other with a single force.

The illusion of successfully seizing the throne became illusory.

"Good."

Archduke Grice gritted his teeth and sneered.

"We'll see!"

He rose angrily and left with the people who had chosen him.

The Duke of Buckingham gazed at his sword.

He had killed many people in the first place to keep his nephew safely on the throne. Now, in order to hold the throne for his nephew, he absolutely did not care to kill more!

"Now, gentlemen, do you smell the blood from the throne?"

He muttered.

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

In the year 1432, winter was approaching.

Long-simmering unrest erupts with the assassination of the king. The Duke of Buckingham stakes his life and honor on the table, the Archduke of Glace stakes his wealth and future glory. In the stalemate, both sides have each sent out their own men to search for the king. The difference was that one side was there to welcome back the king, and the other side was there to witness the king's corpse.

With the "Iron Rose" and the "White Rose" as their symbols, the royalist party and the new king's party split into two factions. One side swore to protect the throne and the other side swore to take it away.

At this time, the king himself, alive or dead, became a sword.

A sword that could decide the whole situation.

Countless people had one question in their minds: where is the king? Where is he?

As a matter of fact, the king is also on the battlefield.

Author's notes:

Come, make your choice--

The Iron Rose or the White Rose?

A little explanation:

The medieval system of inheritance was complex.

In England, for example, there were no strict written rules about heirs, and members of the royal family could become kings by force of conquest, by law, by parliamentary election, and in a variety of other ways. Between the royal family, the nobility often maintains intricate blood and marriage relations, which all constitute a huge and complicated inheritance network. From the Norman dynasty to the present day, 41 monarchs of 10 dynasties have been passed down in a single line, all with varying degrees of lineage.

This will not be discussed here, but only briefly why the marriage of the Queen Mother is significant.

This can be done by looking at the history of the Tudor dynasty. At that time, the marriages of widowed queens were very important. England even imposed a series of stringent requirements to stop Henry VI's mother from remarrying. But she did eventually remarry, to Owen Tudor. After her remarriage, the king's new brother posed a serious threat to the king.

"...... If the Queen Mother married an English nobleman, her new husband would have a position of immense value ......"

"...... In the fall of 1427, the English Parliament issued a decree explicitly forbidding the Queen Mother from remarrying without the "special permission" of the adult King, the purpose of the decree being to "protect the honor of the most exalted position of the Queen of England". The purpose of the decree was to "protect the honor of the most exalted position of the Queen of England," but the actual purpose was to prevent Catherine from marrying in England for at least ten years. Based on the requirements of the text of the decree, it is clear that the financial cost of marrying the Queen Mother was so high as to be tantamount to self-inflicted bankruptcy.

...... If the father of the child had independent political status and ambitions, then his child, as the king's half-brother, would be a threat to the king."

--Quoted in [English] Dan. Jones The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors p68-p70.

As for history, the children born of Catherine's remarriage did become an important political weight at the time. This had to do with the marriage system of the time, which was strictly monogamous, from the princes down to the nobility.

In addition, there were many factors involved in the succession to the throne.

For example, during the reign of Henry III, Henry III attempted - though ultimately failed - to plan the Sicilian throne for his son Edward with the Pope.

Here Archduke Grice, in addition to the weight of the Queen Mother [emphasis added], is the reason for the person whom the Queen Mother remarried [emphasis added].

Prevent controversy early introduction, will have continued to explain later.