"Subjects of the Empire, at this moment, my heart has been torn in half. ”

On Duke Cleveland's Square in front of the palace, the First Prince Alcott is giving a speech to the gathered people of the imperial capital. It's just that his speech skills are too clumsy, just holding the speech and reading it from the script, whether it is his expression or tone, it is difficult to see "the appearance of his heart being torn in half".

"Although His Majesty the Emperor and the Emperor sincerely hope for peace, we cannot allow the alien race to be humiliated, and the glory of the Empire, handed down by Henut the Great, must not be lost in our hands, therefore, we must fight, we must fight the enemy to the end. Although war means sacrifice and means that people will suffer disasters, we must face it, and we must fight for the sake of peace and hope for the future. Subjects of the Empire, please be strong in this time of suffering with me and His Majesty the Emperor, and may the Archangels bless you. ”

Alcott bowed his head and reverently prayed the prayer, and the people in the square followed suit.

In the stands behind the First Prince, Arnold turned to Bishop Juan beside him and said, "His Royal Highness the First Prince looks very pious. ”

"It's just that he's not fit to be a speaker. Juan glanced at Iscario and Francisco beside Alcott, "The speech is very exciting, but perhaps it is the third prince who will make more tears to make this part of the speech." ”

"He's really doing this. Arnold smiled and nodded, at this point, Francisco is still more talented than Iscario.

"But......" Bishop Juan suddenly changed his words, and then turned his head to look at the palace behind him, "I can't even give a speech before the war in person, so I can only let the first prince do it for me, it seems that His Majesty the Emperor is really sick." ”

"Winters are always cruel. Arnold retracted his smile and his eyes became cold, "Old people always die in this season, and it is too easy to take people's lives to be able to freeze the cold of their hearts. ”

Juan lowered his eyes, he heard Arnold's words, and he didn't say a word.

"Today is the day of Mass, presided over by His Excellency Francis himself, Lord Arnold, have you been to the Basilica of Hadith since you arrived in the imperial capital?"

Arnold glanced at the crowd in the square and shook his head silently.

"I'm going to Mass to meet His Excellency Francis, would you like to pass?"

"That couldn't be better. Arnold nodded, thinking of the task Astaru had given him.

After Arnold explained his entourage, he and Juan got into the carriage of the Northway family. As soon as he got into the car, Juan immediately lost his polite smile and asked Arnold very seriously: "It seems that the imperial capital is quite disgusted with our non-participation in the war, even beyond our previous expectations." ”

"Oh. Arnold was noncommittal, and in his opinion it was something that was expected and not worth the fuss.

Of course, Juan was not satisfied with such a reaction, he leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "I heard that the Duke of Heslett invited you to meet in private before, did he say anything?"

He was concerned about the state of the imperial capital, but did not show his true intentions. Arnold didn't wonder that Juan would know about this, in fact, the meeting couldn't be concealed at all, "You don't have to be too nervous, even if the royal family is dissatisfied, the Sky Mage Council and the Church have proved the danger that Vodahara, they can complain at most." When disaster comes, the royal family simply has no room to punish us, not to mention that they have long been unable to punish us. ”

"But since the signing of the Charter of the Fog Castle, the royal family has also not cared about the eastern territories. Juan frowned, not taking it easy, "They have long lost their ambition to annex the Askar Alliance, the eastern territory is even a burden for them, and the lords put much more pressure on the emperor than the annual taxes and tributes. They're afraid they don't care what happens to Vodahara. ”

"Anyway, we didn't expect them to help us in the first place, did we?" Arnold couldn't understand why Juan was so worried, these worries were meaningless, "Anyway, we will wait and see what happens in the imperial capital, of course, no one wants the people of the White Land to really enter Wangji and destroy the royal family of Stor, in that case, it will also affect the stability of our territory." ”

"yes...... But we can't contribute much, so we can only hope that His Highness Iscario's battle plan will really work. ”

Arnold turned his face and looked at the window, but out of the corner of his eye was still on Juan. This Northville was so far from his brother the Duke of Æthelwolf that he was a little indecisive in both vision and determination, and he was not even as decisive as Michelia.

The Basilica of Hadith and Duke Plaza of Cleveland were not far away, and after a few moments of conversation in the carriage, Arnold and Juan arrived at their destination.

The Mass was deliberately postponed because of the pre-war lectures scheduled today, and when Arnold arrived at the church's door, he saw many worshippers pouring into the cathedral.

As the Duke of Cold Mountain, the treatment was naturally different from that of the common people, as soon as Arnold appeared, the deacon of the church came forward to lead the way, and Juan was taken to the other side because of his status as the bishop of the city of Vodahara.

The common people attended Mass on the first floor of the church, while the nobility was on the second floor, and the two classes could be distinguished and distinct. However, the nobles would thus lose the opportunity to receive the holy bread and blood distributed by the Chief Cardinal of Francis, and could only receive it from other clergy.

Arnold, of course, didn't care, he hadn't met Chief Cardinal Francis before, and as a member of the demon lord's family, he was not even religious, so he stayed on the second floor and watched the Mass.

"May the mercy of the all-knowing and all-powerful God, the grace of the archangels, and the gifts of the nine Holy Spirits be with you. ”

Cardinal Francis, the Chief of the Church, held the canon in his hand and sang the entrance song.

"Be with your heart too. ”

The believers stood up and recited the entrance song to each other.

The Chief Cardinal of the Church looks younger than Archbishop Benedict, and because of his pampered relationship in the imperial capital, he is much better than the penanced Archbishop Benedict, but in fact, the Chief Cardinal is older than Benedict.

The ecclesiastical system is based on a principle of balance, with the Archchurch in the imperial capital as the center of the Church and the College of Cardinals as the general head of the vast ecclesiastical organization. All cardinals, however, are only clergy in the bishopric hierarchy, having a lower status than the archbishops of the dioceses. The Church uses a special form in which the Supreme Church does not appoint a Church leader, in order to achieve a balance between the local diocese and the central Episcopal Church.

Thus, the Chief Cardinal is in fact the most powerful person in the Church, and in such a high capacity he personally presides over Mass, and it is clear that the Chief Cardinal of Francis is very keen to gain popular support at this time.

Arnold had no interest in the ritual, and in order to pass the time, he turned his attention to the painted frescoes of the church, which were quite delicate with mythological stories, but what attracted Arnold was not the brushwork of the paintings, but another discovery.

As a relative of Belel, one of the Nine Grand Dukes of Hell, Arnold has been deeply branded with the mark of a demon on his body. It stands to reason that anyone associated with demons should be ostracized by the church as soon as they enter it, and the holy forces that reside there will immediately discover Arnold's hostile identity and quickly destroy him to the point where nothing is left. However, in reality this did not happen to Arnold at all, nor did it happen in the church of Vortagen, and even the miracle bestowed by Yellard appeared on him, which seems very strange by any reason.

Especially thinking of the voice of the suspected archangel he heard in the palace of Belier, even if he knew that it was something that could not be explored, Arnold would still think about it from time to time.

But whether it is a god or a demon, their affairs are very difficult to understand, and the same is true of the task that Yastalus gave Arnold, even if you ask Lily, the other party has no idea the reason for this task.

Is it just because of a whim?

Arnold stared at Cardinal Francis, and if the Chief Cardinal was killed for such a ridiculous reason, then Francis would have died blindly.

Of course, Arnold knew that this was completely impossible. Ashtarus is not such a simple demon lord, it can be seen from his actions to help Arnold calculate Belel by the way, what Ashtarus has been planning, his actions must be meaningful, a huge conspiracy is slowly weaving in his cobwebs, and at the same time it is gradually surfacing, but with Arnold's mortal vision, he can only glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the conspiracy.

After his sermon, Francis began to distribute the bread and blood, and the cardinal was surrounded by many clergy who helped him, including Juan, who had just been invited. However, despite the help of so many people, Francis personally distributed each piece of holy bread to the faithful.

During this time, the priest of the church went up to the second floor to present the holy bread and blood to the nobles who came to Mass.

The Mass lasted for a long time, and it was not until the last believer had taken the things that Cardinal Francis had time to stop and wipe the sweat from his forehead.

A deacon walked up to him and whispered a few words to the Kinsis, then he looked up and looked at Arnold on the second floor.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know that the Duke would come to Mass, and I'm sorry to have neglected you. ”

Francis immediately arranged a meeting with Arnold, who, although in fact the most powerful man in the Church, was still only a bishop, still below the rank of duke.

"It's okay, it's just a temporary idea. Arnold was a little uncomfortable with Francis's extremely polite attitude, he felt that Francis's politeness was almost flattery, and compared to the character of Archbishop Benedict, the chief cardinal was obviously a native of the imperial capital.

"Your piety will surely be blessed by the Archangels, Amen. Francis continued to praise, which made Arnold's discomfort even heavier.

"Is there one thing I can ask you?" Arnold changed the subject, and with such a slick attitude he couldn't ask anything, "Can you please tell me the truth?"

"Of course. Francis' face was as kind as when he had just distributed the holy bread, "I must know everything." ”

"What is the condition of His Majesty Harold?"

Arnold was not polite at all, and opened his mouth with a heavy question.

Faced with this question, Francis, who had just said that he "knows everything", immediately fell silent.

"This ...... I'm afraid you should ask His Royal Highnesses. ”

"His Majesty the Emperor is ill, of course I will ask you to go and treat him. Arnold didn't bother to answer the other party's words, "You must know the actual illness of His Majesty the Emperor, right? Since you just said 'know everything', then please tell me the truth." ”

The corners of Francis' mouth twitched, and he regretted that he had said such kind words so easily. He originally thought that a young duke like Arnold would not ask too troublesome things, but he didn't expect that the worst topic would be the first thing to say.

"I did say that, and it's my promise to you. However, I have also promised His Highness Alcott that I will never tell anyone else this secret. Two conflicting promises, whichever I keep, will break the other. So can you please not embarrass me?"

"Promised His Highness Alcott?" Arnold asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right. The cardinal nodded and replied in a serious manner, "That's all I can tell you. ”