When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#730 - Meliati is a bastard?

The blood droplets seeping from the lead box left a trail of broken, dark marks on the stone tiles.

Stepping over the blood, Cosimo walked through the palace corridor, only to find that all the silver candlesticks that had once adorned the walls were gone, leaving only scorched mounting holes.

The sound of hammering came from afar, as craftsmen and soldiers pried the last few gold-leaf images from the walls.

He stood in front of the audience hall door for a long time, took a deep breath, and then knocked on the oak door.

"Enter."

The audience hall, once filled with enamelware and malachite sculptures, now had only bare plaster walls.

The porcelain, gold, and silver decorations were all gone, their whereabouts unknown.

Ginigis III was huddled in a faded brocade velvet chair, with a dull orange cat curled up on the long table.

Seemingly frightened by the approaching behemoth, the orange cat on the table suddenly flattened its ears, arched its back, and hissed at Cosimo.

Beside the table, in addition to the attendant, Viscount Balde, was a plain-looking old woman, sitting humbly on the edge of a chair.

The old woman was huddled in the shadow of a pillar, her age-spotted fingers nervously rubbing her coarse linen skirt, and the worn tips of her shoes scraped two light brown marks on the ground.

When she looked up to steal a glance at the lead box, her turbid whites were tinged with the color of jaundice.

It was rare to see such an old woman in the court, which could not help but make Cosimo take a few more glances.

"Your Highness," Cosimo knelt on one knee, holding up the lead box, "The robber gang smuggling white sugar and clothing has been captured."

The moment the lead box was opened, the head of Viscount Lavelle, with a frozen sneer, appeared in everyone's sight.

Ginigis covered his mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief, and the attendant immediately stepped forward to examine the head.

Cosimo knew that the new king, Ginigis, a vegetarian, did not like to see blood and corpses.

At the same time, it was because of this that the king's breathing technique was only at a laughable second level.

But Cosimo naturally did not say these words, but lowered his head and waited.

The attendant leaned over and said a few words in the king's ear, and Ginigis immediately laughed, combing the orange cat's bristling fur with a comb: "Well done, my bee sting."

After soothing the orange cat, Ginigis took off a gold ring from his hand and threw it to Cosimo: "The battle has cost a lot, so I'll give you this as a reward first, and I'll reward you again after defeating Nedbach."

Looking at the ring in his palm, Cosimo thought again and again, and finally hesitated and asked: "Your Highness, please forgive my impudence, the soldiers are all asking, can the salary be paid at once…"

Ginigis was very frank: "The white sugar from Windmill Land has overthrown Leia's power in Windmill Land, and the commercial tax and ransom tax have been greatly reduced, so I'm short on funds.

But it doesn't matter. After defeating Duke Nedbach, I will empty the shares of all related nobles, completely abolish royal privileges and fiefs, and auction off these titles and manors to raise funds.

At that time, I will pay all the back pay, salaries, and fiefs at once."

This time it was Cosimo's turn to be surprised. He really didn't expect it to have reached this point?

Arbitrarily selling off titles that were the identity of nobles, instead of inheriting them according to blood or granting them to meritorious people?

Legally speaking, Ginigis, as the king and the head of the Blue Bee family, did have such power, but this would inevitably arouse widespread opposition.

Ginigis's succession was already full of doubts, and now he was shaking his legitimacy even more.

Cosimo looked at the gold ring in his palm, feeling a mixture of emotions.

When Cosimo excused himself and left, Ginigis turned his head to look at the old woman beside him and continued calmly: "You go on."

When she opened her mouth, she revealed her missing front teeth, and the drafty voice was like passing through a dilapidated bellows: "Yes, Your Highness… That night, the fog was so thick that you could wring water out of it. I was carrying a chamber pot to the back alley.

The moonlight stretched my shadow very long, and I heard movement in Miss Loulus's room…

I went in to see… Good heavens, the one lying on that bed was not a twelve-year-old girl at all, but a monster more than three meters tall…"

Before she could finish, Balde narrowed his glasses: "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

The old woman hesitated for a long time before muttering: "I have no evidence, but I once saw with my own eyes that the little girl turned into a three-meter-tall gorilla…"

"Or do you have any physical evidence?"

"…" Looking at the old woman's bewildered look, Ginigis casually tapped the table with his cane, "Alright, I know. Someone, please take her to rest and take care of her health."

"Perhaps it's the ravings of a country woman," Balde leaned close to Ginigis. "It's not necessarily true."

"Does it matter whether it's true or false? As long as it's useful," Ginigis said lightly, looking at Balde's blinking eyes: "Think about it, Vicente was able to become the Duke as an adopted son because he married Loulus.

And Loulus gave birth to a daughter, and he was considered to be in charge of the Duke's position on behalf of his daughter.

Since Loulus didn't go mad from the witch disease, but was a witch herself, and witches can't have children, then where did Melia Ti come from?

I guess she should be Vicente's or Duke Hemastone's illegitimate daughter, and most likely Vicente's illegitimate daughter.

Why? Duke Hemastone is a great knight who finally had a daughter in his later years.

Later, he got older, and you know that the great knight's testicles will shrink into raisins because of the potion, making the probability of him having another daughter very small.

Then this Melia Ti is the adopted son Vicente's illegitimate daughter.

I can't help but ask, will the nobles be convinced that a woman with no blood relationship with the Iris family has become the Duke of Hemastone and even the Autocratic Duke of Thousand River Valley?

Will those people in the French Iris family be convinced? Will those old antiques in Norn who value bloodlines above all else support Melia Ti?

If Melia Ti has no bloodline of the former Norn King, can she still get the strong support of the Norn people?"

The attendant Balde scratched his head: "What's the use of revealing it now that the boat is already done and she is already the Autocratic Duke?"

Ginigis sneered: "Reputation is sometimes more useful than a sharp blade. This story is both true and reasonable and can gain the trust of many people.

Melia Ti doesn't understand the role of reputation. She stubbornly suppresses everything with force and spies. Once her invincible icon has flaws, people will doubt it.

With more doubts, even a little flaw will be infinitely magnified, as if she has become the flaw itself."

Balde was thoughtful.

Ginigis asked in a low voice: "Did the previous attempt to sneak robbers into Thousand River Valley to cause damage succeed?"

Balde shook his head in shame: "They were either blocked by the bastions and clockwork cannons, or found out by the night watchmen and Cheka."

Ginigis stroked the orange cat's soft fur: "Don't worry, watch, the places where swords can't enter, straw sandals can easily tread."