Chapter 531: Who is the Loyal Minister?
Garcio silently lowered his head and said nothing, Leonidas grabbed his clothes and shouted, "Tell me, you didn't kill her, did you?"
He glanced at the poor basement and found that in addition to the miscellaneous items and tools that had been piled up here, the lost clothes in his son's room were piled up on a white cloth in the corner of the wall, and there were still some uneaten food in the few worn-out bowls by the wall. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 info
He ordered the soldiers to take away his son's clothes, and he and Catherine led the soldiers to escort Garcio to the council chamber, where the members of the House of Elders and the officers who had heard the news had already gathered, and they all showed surprise at the sight of the slave Garcio who had been brought in.
Leonidas sat down in his seat, and when Catherine and the others were seated, he asked Catherine to give a detailed account of what had just happened, and Catherine explained how she had found out that Garcio had infiltrated the king's chamber and stolen a wooden sword, and how she had discovered the basement under his bed.
Knowing that it was Garcio who kidnapped the little prince, the elders and officers present were very shocked, and the abbot of the House of Elders, Adusus, looked up and asked Leonidas with a moment of silence and concern: "Your Majesty, in this way, the disappearance of the queen must also be related to him, could it be that the queen has been ......?"
Leonidas was silent for a moment with a worried face, then got up and walked up to Garcio and ordered his soldiers to put his head up, and then asked in sign language, "I ask you again, where is the queen, and have you killed her?"
Garcio looked at him silently, turned his gaze to the little prince next to the throne, and stared at him with a strange gaze, Leonidas followed his gaze and turned back to look at his son, and saw that the little prince was looking at Garcio with concern.
"Listen," Leonidas, forcing Garcio's head to turn to him, staring at him and saying, "If you insist on not telling me anything, I will only send you to the gallows, and I am not joking with you, and I will ask you one last time, where is the queen?"
Garcio remained unresponsive, his gaze continued to turn to the little prince behind him, Leonidas sighed helplessly and let go of him, turning around and looking down to think about what to do.
At this time, Athos, the commander in charge of the garrison of the royal city, said: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince, his clothes and the Queen's saber are in the hands of Garcio, and I don't think there is any need to ask about this matter." ”
"The commander is right," said Adusus, sighing, "Your Majesty, this slave is probably coveting the queen's beauty, and the queen will not bear it while you are not trying to commit murder, so he poisoned the queen and then abducted her to satisfy his malice." ”
"What should you do?" asked Leonidas, sitting down on his throne with a gloomy face.
"As a slave, he killed the queen and kidnapped the little prince, and the people should be torn apart. Athos replied without hesitation, and everyone present nodded in agreement, and Leonidas bowed his head in silence, hoping that Garcio would guide him to the whereabouts of the queen.
At this moment, Catherine suddenly got up and said to Leonidas: "Your Majesty, I don't think we should execute Garcio now!"
Hearing her words, Leonidas jerked his head up, and with a look of anticipation in his eyes, motioned for her to continue, and Catherine said loudly in the face of the gaze of the courtiers: "It is indeed true that Garcio took His Royal Highness the prince hostage and carried the queen's short knife to commit murder, but there are still many suspicions about him to be investigated. ”
"First of all, if he really coveted the queen's beauty and killed the queen in anger, and kidnapped the little prince to vent his anger, then why did he take away all the clothes of His Royal Highness for the season?
Leonidas rubbed his hand against the beard on his chin and nodded meaningfully, and the courtiers in the room looked at each other and exchanged words, only to hear Catherine continue: "Why, then, did Garcio run to steal the wooden sword of His Royal Highness the Prince, knowing that the king had returned?"
"As a slave, if he is found in the king's room without the king's permission, it is very likely that he will be executed, Garcio has been a slave for many years, he will not be ignorant of this, but he still has to risk being killed to enter the room to steal a wooden sword, why is this?"
"And the third point," Catherine said, turning her gaze to the little prince beside Leonidas, "when I subdued Garcio, His Royal Highness tried to help him, and children do not hide their likes and dislikes, if Garcio really abuses him, how can he help him?"
"Not only that, but I also noticed that there was some food in a few bowls beside His Royal Highness, and I think Your Majesty saw them too, and I don't know very well what kind of food the slaves eat here, but from my point of view, the quality of the food is not bad, and if they are given to His Royal Highness the Prince, they are not very difficult to swallow. ”
"You're right, it's true that the food wasn't for slaves to eat every day. Leonidas nodded meaningfully and said, "Miss Catherine, what you say is very reasonable, what do you think we should do with Garcio?"
"Mr. Rogge has gone to track down the whereabouts of the Queen, maybe he will bring back any useful clues, we should wait for him to come back before making a decision, maybe he can find something in Garcio that we have not found. Catherine said earnestly to the king.
Before Leonidas could make a decision, he heard a voice outside the door: "Ah, it seems that someone is calling my name?"
The people in the council hall turned their heads to look in the direction of the door, only to see Rogge striding in from the door, he took off the black broad-brimmed hat on his head and came to the king of Sparta, Leonidas, who got up, glanced at Garcio kneeling in the middle of the hall and the little prince beside the king, and said, "It seems that Your Majesty has gained a lot." ”
"It's all thanks to Miss Catherine," Leonidas looked appreciatively at Catherine standing on Rogge's side, and Rogge turned back to Catherine and smiled slightly, "Baby, you really didn't disappoint me, should I say that I had already guessed that you would find His Royal Highness?"
Catherine looked at him with a little surprise, and after a little thought, she suddenly realized: "Could it be that you already knew that His Royal Highness the Prince was in the hands of Garcio, so you asked me to stay and keep an eye on His Majesty's residence?"
"Almost, I can't think of any other place to hide His Highness. Rogge smiled and looked around at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces, turned his gaze to the door and said, "Is that right, honorable queen?"
Before Rog's words fell, the queen's figure appeared at the gate, and everyone in the hall widened their eyes in surprise, and Leonidas stepped forward excitedly, seeing his wife take off the little milky white cloak she wore from her head, revealing the smiling face that made him worry.
"Oh my God!" Leonidas stepped forward and hugged his wife tightly, and the queen snuggled up in his arms, and said in an excited voice, "Your Majesty, I will almost not see you!"
"Tell me, what's going on?" asked Leonidas, letting go of his wife's concerned gaze.
"On the night after you left with your army, someone secretly told me that someone was going to assassinate me and our son that night!" the queen looked up at Leonidas with indignation, and the king of Sparta opened her eyes wide in astonishment and asked, "Who is it? Who is so bold?"
"It's you," the queen snapped up her finger at the abbot of the House of Elders, Adusus, and shouted, "If we hadn't received the news in advance, my son and I would have been ghosts under the killer knife you sent!"
The people in the hall intertwined their shocked eyes on Adusus's face, and Adusus looked at the queen in surprise and exclaimed: "This is simply nonsense, Queen, don't listen to people to sow discord, I am loyal to Your Majesty, and I have never been disrespectful at all, this is really a great injustice!"
"Your Majesty, all you have to do is call Elidas and ask. The queen glared at Adusus with a cold eyebrow, and turned back to the king of Sparta.
"Elidas?" Leonidas, hearing the name, suddenly remembered that he was the lieutenant who had discovered the queen's disappearance, and he immediately summoned Elidas to him, and as soon as he saw the queen, Elidas fell down on one knee and said, "Queen, it is very good that you are safe." ”
"Centurion Elidas, please tell Your Majesty and all those present what happened that day. The queen lifted Elidas up and said to him.
Elidas looked around at the crowd, looked at Adusus's face, and said, "As you know, I am the herald of the commander of Athosus, who was in charge of the garrison of the royal city, and on the afternoon of the incident, the commander of Athos took me to Abbot Adusus's house. ”
He glanced coldly at his nervous boss Athos, and continued calmly: "They discussed in front of me how to kill the queen and seize the power of the country while His Majesty was away. ”
"You're talking nonsense!" Athos stepped forward and pointed at Elidas.
Edas was unmoved by his rebuke, and calmly continued: "Actually, this is not the first time that Athos has conspired with Adusus to usurp the throne, and he will take me with him every time, he thinks that I have the same thoughts as them, but in fact I have been secretly spying on them, but I have not found the right time and evidence to expose them. ”
Leonidas turned his head and squinted at Athos, the commander took a step back tremblingly, Leonidas immediately turned his cold gaze to Alydas, and said in a deep voice: "Go on!"