"Jay, Jay, Mr. Jericho!" Gladys stared at Swin and Sophia with wide eyes, shock and panic on her face.

"Exactly. Swain straightened up, his face still the same.

Gladys's mouth was wide open, and the little girl's mouth was now open enough to fit an egg. However, although she kept her mouth open, she couldn't even say a word, and she was transformed by Swain's words, and fell into great confusion.

"I didn't expect you to be roommates with Sophia, so I can rest assured, anyway, to have a friend who takes care of each other, I'm at least not too worried about my sister as a brother. Ignoring the embarrassment of the atmosphere, Swain continued, "I thought I would have apologized for not revealing our last names to you when I visited the professor, but I couldn't see you at Professor Ranke. Fortunately, now we meet again, which is also a kind of coincidence in fate. ”

After Swain had said so much, Gladys, who had plenty of time to react, finally came to his senses. She quickly lowered her head and hid her flushed face as much as she could. "You, you don't have to be so polite, I asked you a lot of rude questions last time, and please don't mind. Then she added in a very whisper, "By the way, what did you, what did you talk about when you visited my father?"

Glatis's voice was small, but Swain heard it and quickly answered. "I talked to the professor about the Franconians, mainly about the material that the professor had written in the History of the Frankenian Nation that had not appeared in historiography before. ”

Hearing something familiar to him, Gladys raised his head suddenly, and the flush that was red to the roots of his ears just now disappeared in an instant, leaving Sophia who was watching from the side stunned. "Are you referring to the great plague of the time of Astrad I and the mysterious extinction of the Franconians?"

Sven's eyelashes twitched, and his eyes stared straight into Gladys' sky-blue eyes. "What do you think about this? You deliberately put the Great Plague before the Frankinians disappeared, and do you also think that the Great Plague caused the Frankthens to disappear and become extinct?"

"Do you have any other opinions?" said a difference of opinion, and Gladys actually showed a pair of eyebrows and vertical eyes under Sven's direct gaze, which was almost like the extremely shy little girl just now.

"I made a hypothesis with the professor that perhaps the Empire had carried out a man-made massacre of the Franknians, and that the large number of corpses was the best source of the plague, wasn't it? The official records of the empire clearly state that there was a great plague in Glamorgan shortly after the disappearance of the Franknians, and there are numerous folk legends that the great plague was incarnated by the spirits of the Franknians, and with such clear evidence, it is clear that the Great Plague was in no way the cause of the disappearance of the Franconians. ”

Gladys was silent, Swain's conclusion was actually what Professor Ranke had hinted at in the book but had not made. These accounts are included in the book, but the professor adheres to the objectivism of the Dunndorff school, giving only facts but not conclusions.

"Well, I admit that you have a point, at least the current sources do not support the hypothesis that the Great Plague exterminated the Franconians. But is your claim that the Empire slaughtered the Franknians too sensational? There is no information or rumor to support your view, is it, and if it is really the Empire that has launched a strangulation against the Franknians, then it is impossible that there will be no rumors left, and there will not be any remnants of the Frankthens completely disappeared. ”

"It's just a hypothesis, and no one has been able to give a plausible explanation, at least for now, for this unsolved mystery, unless the Franconians come back from the dead and tell us what happened. Swain spread his hands, not looking nervous or angry at Gratis's aggressiveness.

Gladys smiled bitterly, indeed, there is no point in such an argument, not to mention that the occasion is not appropriate, and now they are not in an academic salon.

"It's late," Swain took Sophia's hand and held out his free hand to Glatis, "Would you like to have lunch with our brother and sister?" ”

As soon as the topic changed, Gladys immediately withdrew from the strong mode just now, and instantly changed back to the shy little girl he used to be.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Jerichault......"

She blushed and gave her hand to Swain.

————————————————

There are only two days left before the canonization of the Earl at midnight, and the Cape Cathedral is putting the finishing touches on the ceremony.

The cathedral, built in the era of Bag I, has been a symbol of the church and clerical authority of Dewei since the day it was completed. After Bag I seized the cape and expelled the infidels, His Majesty, who was only one step away from the empire, donated this territory of a principality to the Pope and the Church, which received great appreciation and gratitude. When his son Astrad I founded the Siliul Empire, the Church and the Pope also gave great support, placing the crown that belonged to the Franconians on the heads of the Siliuls.

The basilica was also one of the gifts of the Pope after the dedication of Bag I, and was designed entirely by engineers from the Papal States at the papacy's crown, and was the tallest church in the world until Karin I rebuilt the Tiamat Palace.

As a result of His Majesty the Emperor's personal visit today, the Archbishop de was personally present to greet him, and the priests and nuns in the church were also in the service to greet him.

When the archbishop, who was over sixty years old, finally waited for the golden carriage belonging to the royal family to appear in sight, he immediately cleared his throat, and the church music group immediately played the imperial anthem "God Save My Emperor" to welcome the emperor.

In the midst of the majestic music, the carriage stopped in front of the wide, pointed doors of the Cape Cathedral.

"Salute to you, Your Majesty. The courteous archbishop did not wait for the Emperor to come down, but as soon as the carriage door was opened, he went up and saluted His Majesty.

However, when the archbishop remained bent over for a long time, he never heard the emperor's voice. The puzzled archbishop raised his eyes slightly, but what he saw was not His Majesty the Emperor.

"Your Highness Beria!" exclaimed the archbishop.

The man whom the archbishop called His Highness Beria was the same middle-aged man that Artemis had seen that day in the Palace of Tiamat.

"Hello, Archbishop Cuthbert. The second prince, Beria, helped the archbishop, but at this time, the emperor finally got out of the carriage, and the archbishop, who had just straightened up, had to bend down immediately, which was also embarrassing the old man in his sixties.

"No need to be polite, Archbishop Cuthbert. The Emperor said in a loose voice.

The archbishop straightened up again, although the atmosphere became very awkward because of his inadequate dedication, but fortunately, the emperor's aura directly attracted everyone's attention to him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the archbishop secretly observed the emperor's side face and Beria on the side. Although it has always been rumored that His Majesty Emperor Nicholas I prefers the second son Beria, but today the emperor took Beria to the Cape Cathedral in a royal carriage, and it was Prince Beria who got off the carriage first and appeared in front of people, which has to make people wonder if the emperor will really support the second prince and Crown Prince Alexander to compete for the throne.

The emperor looked at the towering and majestic Cape Cathedral, and the look in his eyes seemed to be thinking about something, and others did not dare to interrupt the emperor's thoughts. Beria, on the other hand, looked at Archbishop Deweide and smiled.

The smile startled the archbishop. Although Beria is very good-looking, it can even be said that he seems to be polite, or his tone makes him a little too weak. However, this highness is the Empire's Minister of the Interior, and controls the Empire's millions of secret police and gendarmerie units.

The Ministry of the Interior of the Sililian Empire was a very special institution, and the governor was a minister rather than a minister, because this position was often held by members of the imperial family, such as Beria, now the second prince. And the power of this department is terrifying, because the Cyrul Empire has been strengthening the imperial power since Midletus I, and now the Silurian Emperor has reached the level of "I am the state", and the highly centralized central power and the extremely oppressive imperial power have brought about an almost omnipotent Ministry of the Interior. And not all the departments within the Ministry of the Interior are responsible to the Minister of the Interior, or in other words, the number of departments and powers that the Minister of the Interior can control depends on the degree of trust the Emperor has in him.

And the current Royal Highness Prince Beria is clearly favored by the emperor, and he controls most of the institutions of the Ministry of the Interior, except for a few that are directly responsible to the emperor. Therefore, Beria was a great threat to other imperial officials, and most people did not dare to offend His Highness easily, and they did not dare to easily express their support for the open and secret struggle between the two princes.

After secretly pinching the sweat in his heart, the archbishop carefully shifted his gaze to His Majesty the Emperor. The Supreme seemed to finally come back to his senses and strode into the church.

Although he had come to inspect the decoration of the ceremony, the emperor did not pay much attention to the decorations and decorations of the interior of the church, and he glanced at it curriedly, suggesting that the archbishop was preparing an occasion for a private conversation.

Receiving the emperor's eyes, the archbishop immediately understood, and after retiring from the crowd, he led the emperor into a prayer room. And when he saw the prince Beria following behind the emperor, the archbishop faintly felt that the arrival of the emperor this time might not be so simple.

When the archbishop closed the door of the room, the emperor didn't even intend to lay the groundwork too much, and directly threw out the intention of this visit. "Archbishop Cuthbert, I don't have a lot of time today, so I'll tell you straight. With regard to the Earl's Faithfulness Ceremony at Midnight the Day after Tomorrow, I hope that you will give the Earl Jericho the duty of awarding the sword to the Count's father, Viscount Jericho. ”

The emperor's words made the archbishop stunned at once, although he faintly felt some foreboding from the beginning of today's greeting, but when the emperor said it bluntly, the archbishop was still taken aback.

"Your Majesty, it has always been the duty of the Church to bestow swords on noble vassals, and this tradition has not been changed even after the Revolution. Although he knew that with the character of this emperor, once he spoke, it was unlikely that he would take back his fate, but for such a big matter, the archbishop was still reluctant to take on the responsibility of setting this precedent, which was undoubtedly a very shameful thing for him, and might even cause dissatisfaction and criticism from the church.

The Emperor walked up to the icon and looked at it, while Beria, who was on the side, took the initiative to explain to the archbishop: "You also know that the Jericho family and the Midnight Countshire have always been the southern nobles of the empire, and they have always maintained the semi-independent status of the last era, which is unacceptable to the empire and the royal family. This time, the succession of the Earl of Midnight was inherited by the eldest grandson, and the original eldest son was unable to inherit the title and territory of the earl because of the bad relationship with the previous earl, and the relationship between father and son was quite bad, which is also the opportunity we have been waiting for, so we want to take this opportunity to split the Jericho family, and also give a threat to the stubborn landlords in the south, so that these unruly southern nobles know the power and determination of the empire. ”

Beria's words were so blunt that the archbishop did not believe that this could be their true purpose. But after thinking about it, even if the archbishop wanted to guess whether the royal family was trying to hide its true purpose this time, it seemed that there was nothing more important to the royal family than getting rid of the stubborn conservative forces in the south, so the archbishop, who did not know the details, had to accept such a statement.

However, even so, even if Beria's attitude was unexpectedly frank and showed enough sincerity, the archbishop could not help but feel a chill when he heard such a naked conspiracy. Not only because he did not want to get involved in the conspiracy, but also because he did not want to be deprived of the power to grant the sword, the archbishop still wanted to fight again. "However, now that the southern aristocracy is just resting on their laurels and no longer poses a threat to the empire, it is a little stingy to try to completely solve the problems of the south. In my humble opinion, there should be a better and more direct solution, and if you really want to solve the problem of the Jerichale family, perhaps you can declare that the succession of Count Jericho is not in accordance with the law and doctrine, and our church will certainly support your majesty's ......"

Although the archbishop's proposal sounded like a plan for the emperor and Beria, and even more poisonous, his purpose was simply not to lose the church's already small power and presence. Although he will participate in the royal family's conspiracy against the Jericho family, at least he will not allow himself to participate in it openly.

However, the archbishop did not fully know the true purpose of the emperor and Beria. Although the Emperor considered it, he believed that the Marquis de Metternich's proposal could divide the Jericho family, and thus divide and eliminate the stubborn power of the southern lords, but this could only go so far, and the secret of the Jericho family made it impossible for the Emperor to destroy this family and the title of Earl of Midnight.

"Although your proposal is very good, we can't do it, Count Jericho's succession is completely legal, and we have confirmed that as royalty, we should serve as an example of the empire, and we cannot go back on our word. ”

Hearing Beria's reply, the archbishop couldn't help but say a word in his heart, but Beria's words and attitude also made him understand that the royal family's decision was not allowed to be rejected this time. "I lost my words. I have been blinded by the sin of greed, may the Lord forgive me. Although he secretly cursed the emperor and Beria in his heart, the archbishop still had to show his repentance, "If I say such things, even if the Lord mercifully forgives me, I should still punish myself." Your Majesty, allow me to accept the next three days of self-confinement, and ask Viscount Jericho to do the work for Count Jericho's sword. ”

The archbishop was willing to cooperate, and the emperor finally stopped admiring the icon, which he was tired of, and turned around and nodded in satisfaction. "The archbishop's devotion to the faith is truly touching. Since the archbishop has such a devout faith, and the Cape Cathedral has put so much thought into the canonization of the Earl of Midnight, I will donate ten thousand imperial geals to the cathedral to fund your missionary work. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. The archbishop bowed deeply to the emperor, no matter what, the face of the money is the greatest, and this ten thousand imperial geer can completely make up for the loss of the archbishop.

"However, the power to confer the sword, which has always belonged to the Church, is handed over to the mortal world, and His Majesty the Pope may also need a sufficient explanation, and I will ask the minister in the Papal States to explain to His Holiness the Pope in person, that all the telephone bills will be paid by the Empire and the Imperial Family. ”

Even the Pope has the Emperor in front of him, which is a very good situation for the archbishop. Since his arms can't twist his thighs, no matter how much he insists, he will only attract the emperor's anger, on the contrary, now the archbishop can't help but get 10,000 imperial geer compensation, and he doesn't have to bear the responsibility, which is almost a beneficial and harmless thing.

Just when several people in the room were getting their own satisfactory results, there was a knock on the door.

The knock on the door made the emperor frown, if it wasn't a particularly important matter, there shouldn't be any palace attendants knocking on this door.

The archbishop opened the door, and sure enough, one of the emperor's court attendants reported to the emperor with a nervous expression: "Your Majesty, there is a rebellion in the south!"

"Click!"

The archbishop was horrified to see that the emperor had smashed the icon directly to the ground.