136 – Conflict (8)
‘These bastards…!’
“Why are you arguing with me that they died on their own? Above all, wasn’t the Duke of Anjou in the midst of negotiations for surrender?!”
I don’t even have to be ridiculous.
I know enough that my image isn’t good enough to make even the most bizarre conspiracy theories sound plausible.
Still, why the hell are you blaming me for something that really has nothing to do with me?
[Ines, did you do this by any chance?]
[No, I didn’t do anything.]
I asked Ines just in case, but it wasn’t something Ines did.
Then it was just an accidental death.
I don’t know about the Duke of Provence, but I can’t just ignore the deaths of the Dukes of Anjou and Neustria, blaming me.
Do you think it’s okay to be blamed for all the sins because I’m looking after you? Uh?
“The Duke of Anjou was found dead from arsenic poisoning, and the Duke of Neustria was found dead with a knife stabbed in his throat. Why on earth do you claim that it was my fault? There’s no benefit to be gained!”
“Indeed, Your Majesty. God thinks, the one who will benefit the most from that death seems to have laid the blame on You.”
“The one who will benefit the most… The future duke.”
Leclerc is right.
Originally, when a crime happens, the first thing to do is to include the person who will benefit from the crime as a suspect, right?
The one who will benefit the most from the death of the previous duke is, without a doubt, the successor who will take the place of the duke. For other things, gains and losses can come and go due to differences in perspective, but the succession of titles is clearly only beneficial for anyone to see.
‘The more I think about it, the more plausible it is.’
If the heirs assassinate the former duke to usurp the duke’s place, and blame me for the death of the former duke, they turn others’ suspicions against me. Even I have a very bad reputation, so that nonsense would sound plausible, so there would be no reason not to.
The news that the Duke of Provence had died to me had spread far and wide, so that false claim would have gained all the more credibility.
…Heh heh, you dare to spread rumors and use me?
“I will send a letter to the nobles of Carolingian to convince them. There is no benefit to be gained by killing the two dukes, and the Duke of Anjou has been negotiating about surrender, so there is no reason to kill him, etc. By the way, by the way, the Crown Prince of Caroling that happened not too long ago assassinated the former king and took over as an example.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. What about the military?”
“First of all, we must finish the Neustria front quickly, where the majority of the army is located. Contact the Confederate Army blocking the Duke of Provence’s army to devise a strategy based on holding out for as long as possible.”
“I will.”
Unfortunately, appealing to my character is not convincing, so I have to list objective facts as much as possible to convince the aristocrats, but fortunately there is plenty of evidence.
From the way I was negotiating surrender with the Duke of Anjou, sending a request to surrender to the Duke of Neustria, and so on, everyone can see that I had no intention of killing them.
“Oh, and you completely recaptured Lens?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. You will soon be able to have your coronation there.”
If a proper coronation ceremony is held here and crowned as the rightful king of Carolingian, neutral nobles or nobles who want to change sides will be able to drive wedges with this.
It doesn’t make much sense to me, who still have the sensibility of a modern person, but holding a coronation ceremony legitimately with a crown seems to be a powerful enough action to turn the hearts of nobles who claim to be neutral.
From nob le mtl dot com
Mulon Neustria, Anjou, and Provence, who are claiming the throne for Caroling as much as they are, go crazy and won’t admit it, but they’ve already completely turned their backs on each other.
…………
“Crazy…”
The Duke of Architan reads the letter from Claude and swears softly.
I should refrain from such vulgar language as it degrades my dignity, but I can’t help but spit it out.
[The death of the two dukes is very sad, but Jim has no gain from killing them. Please don’t act recklessly, turn your back on nonsense and listen to only the right words.]
No benefit to be gained by killing the duke?
Then why did you kill the Duke of Provence? It’s a very terrible method that even a corpse can’t be preserved intact.
Even if there was no material benefit to be gained, isn’t the psychological benefit, that is, the pleasure of killing the guy who fed you candy, a completely different matter?
If you think so, the evidence that the king claims, that is, the fact that he was negotiating about surrender, seems rather a preparatory work to prove his innocence.
“Your Highness… I have many ears to hear.”
At that time, the servant who saw his master swearing at Claude was frightened and stopped his master.
The duke looked at the attendant with a puzzled expression and looked down at his anger, and then he managed to contain the anger and ask his opinion on why.
“…Are you intimidated by the King of Rotharing?”
“It can’t be! It’s simply that I’m worried that Your Highness will get involved in something troublesome.”
You make very ugly excuses. From the look on your face, you were definitely scared.
…Tsk, I don’t like it.
Because King Rotaring is such a madman, even unrelated servants are unable to speak out.
“…Yes, I believe you. Anyway, I’ll have to send a positive reply to His Majesty and a letter of consolation to the faction’s nobles.”
Aside from whether the king’s claim is credible or not, I can already say that I’m on the same boat as King Lotharing, as I am the head of the faction that has him crowned King of Carolingian.
That means that no matter how strange King Rotaling does, I must support him unconditionally.
Still, it’s fortunate that it’s not completely sophistry, and it’s an acceptable argument. If it was a nonsensical argument, I would have lost face as I have to support it.
“Yes, Your Highness. And the neighboring Duke of Anjou has turned hostile. What can I do about that?”
“I have a personal relationship with the newly crowned Duke of Anjou, and if I attack me, I will be surrounded by enemies on all sides. Turn in the direction.”
First of all, Provence is urgent.
Since all of the Provence army has been driven to Rotaring, the main base has been emptied, and thanks to that, my faction’s army has been able to break through the Provence territories very easily.
Once you occupy as many places as you can and then solidify them, you will be able to obtain control of the occupied territories and distribute them to the nobles of the faction after the war. I eat the remaining land.
‘And I’ll be able to make the nobles of the faction my vassals by asking the King of Rotaring for a share.’
If the king has any thoughts, he will accept my request.
The vassal’s tax will be considerably reduced as I’m in the middle, but the risk of rebellion and rebellion will be reduced and the king’s political burden will be greatly reduced, so if you are sane, there is no way you can refuse this.
…Of course, the king looks a bit crazy, but he has the ability, so there’s no way he won’t notice my consideration.
…………
“You f*cking bastard!!”
I don’t like any of them.
At first, when I heard the rumors about King Rotaling, I thought they were malicious rumors. Even if some of them are true, since he is a person with morals, many gossips cannot be true.
But now I know for sure. Those rumors were all true.
To think I was the one who killed my father for no reason and even accused me of killing him…
“Ha ha ha ha…”
What’s even more infuriating is that Rotaring’s henchmen are spreading that nonsense, and little by little there are stupid authors who believe it.
Of course, they probably don’t really believe in those words that are punctuated with lies. It’s probably just using it as a justification for switching sides, judging that King Rotaling has already had a coronation ceremony in Lens.
Still, pretending to believe such nonsense on the outside is absolutely unacceptable.
‘The only option left is resistance…’
If his father hadn’t been murdered, he wouldn’t have resisted with all his might, and would have just found the right moment and negotiated a surrender with the King of Rotaring, aiming for later.
However, his father was murdered, and in a situation where it is clear that Rotharing was behind the assassination, the King of Rotharing is accusing me of being the culprit.
As a result, the option of negotiation was completely blown away.
If I surrender to him, it would be like admitting to the bullsh*t that I killed my father.
‘Is this what you were aiming for?’
If Neustria’s power had been intact and surrender negotiations had been made, Rotaring would have had to take care of the circumstances, but if Neustria’s power was completely evaporated and perished, it would be the best situation for Rotaring.
Because you can take all kinds of loot to your heart’s content.
“…Good.”
If you want it, I will.
There is no surrender. Never.