Chapter 101

The death knell reverberated over METZL castle, so clear that it seemed as if there was only the sound of the unknown bronze bell in the air.

An old priest in METZL castle, who had never been seen before, led the funeral procession with a group of priests. The priest's hair was frosty white and his chest was hung with a silver cross. In the low chanting of the Psalms, the procession approached slowly.

The Duke of Buckingham's coffin was not covered with the usual cross shaped coffin on which the king draped a rose flag. No one questioned this. If the Duke of Buckingham could not afford such an honor, no one in the whole of Legrand would be entitled to it any more.

Unlike ordinary nobles who carried coffins in sedan chairs when they were buried, eight coffin bearers with black hoods came out of the residence carrying the Duke's coffin. General John, the son of the Duke of Buckingham, was at the front of all the coffin bearers. Next to him was the elegant and sad first mate Charles, and most of the rest were old dukes.

The Duke took part in hundreds of battles for Legrand all his life. Most of the royal soldiers he led died with him in the northern rebellion, but there were countless knights who followed him to the battlefield at that time.

"It was 1412, when I was a little Bowman, and our general led us to fight the bastards of Thorne I thought I was going to die! As a result, our general was the first to rush up, so everyone rushed up... " Almost all the people who followed the Duke of Buckingham in the war affectionately called him "our general".

In all free time stories, there are always knights who are proud to have fought with the Duke.

The funeral procession was long.

A lot of knights came from all over Legrand. They all got off their horses and put on the cloak they had worn when they fought with the Duke under their own ceremonial clothes. They respect their general with all their strength. The king walked in front of them, followed by the nobles, and the guild representatives followed.

When the coffin passed through the long street waiting for the crowd, the cry could no longer be suppressed, and it filled the air.

The birds that landed on the eaves were startled by the cry and fluttered their wings to fly into the gray sky. The snow like white flowers were thrown from all around to the coffin.

Mourning flowers and snow generally fall, as if heaven and earth suddenly white, heaven and earth suddenly sad.

The king was wearing a black cloak. He looked up at the sad flowers falling like snow and the red eyes of people. Winter seems to have not passed, or continuous snow, but it seems that winter has already disappeared, boiling magma running in the ground.

At the end of the funeral procession were the same poor people who had been invited to attend the funeral. But as the coffins passed through the long street, more and more people entered the funeral procession. Some of them prepared their own black clothes, while others took them from the royal guards.

The deep black river flows slowly to St. Louis' Cathedral.

The Duke's cemetery is very close to William III.

According to Legrand's tradition, the tomb was excavated on the spot on the day of burial. The king dug out the first soil for the Duke and handed the shovel to general John. After General John passed it on to Charles. By the time it was handed over to the last knight, the tomb was big enough and deep enough.

The children in the choir sang a hymn in unison. In the hymn, father Anil read the final eulogy with a heavy holy book.

The king stood in front of the choking crowd, looking at the earth little by little covering the coffin with the scarlet King's flag. He suddenly raised his hand, took off the rose badge on his chest, and threw it into the backfill tomb.

Some things will come to an end at the cost of others.

The hymn is rolled up high in the cold wind, gathered together with the death knell and more elegy, as if all the sad past events from the legendary era to the present are surging up again, reminding some people what they should bear.

1433, Legrand, St. Louis cathedral.

A heavy square stone tablet stands in front of the Duke of Buckingham's tomb, on which are engraved the blooming roses and the words "for glory". On the day the tombstone of the Duke of Buckingham was erected, on the other side of the abyss channel, the first priests in Blaise entered the secular palace.

After the fall of the symbol of the old era, a new era is brewing.

………………

Rose Palace, funeral banquet.

This is supposed to be a quiet and mourning funeral banquet, which is destined to be turbulent.

All the state representatives and lords who accepted the invitation gathered in the main hall of the palace. For these state representatives and nobles, they did not have much heart to mourn the death of the Duke of Buckingham, which was not a bad thing for the state. For the States and lords, this meant that there was one less person to fear.

Many people want to clap in their hearts when they are crying symbolically.

The battle for power will never end with death.The Duke of Buckingham has always been a sharp sword to deter the nation. After his death, Legrand completely lost an important pillar, and the whole country fell to the young king. Obviously, for the people of the state, they doubt whether the young king can have the same authority -

the victory of the war can be attributed to personal bravery, but it needs more political skills.

After the king's victory, he directly abolished the independent state status of Balboa and Newcastle. This practice, in the eyes of some people, is too young and arrogant.

Compared with ordinary people's grief, the Lords and nobles paid more attention to some other messages from the funeral:

the Archbishop of St. Louis did not attend the funeral. Does this mean that the royal family and the holy see are about to tear face again? There was no Thanksgiving ceremony at the funeral. The royal family would not make such a small mistake in etiquette unless it was intentional Does this represent the rumor that the king is about to retaliate against the monastery?

At the banquet, the Lords, wearing mourning white flowers on their chest, raised their glasses to each other from time to time in the name of "mourning for the Duke", taking this opportunity to test each other's words.

The king sat in the seat of supreme power.

On the high throne, the king put his left elbow on the armrest and held a golden wine cup in his right hand. He allowed the representatives of the States and the nobles to talk with each other. It seemed that he did not see that some people's sadness was replaced by the joy of interest interaction. The painted glass on the dome of the main hall refracts the light of the candle. The light falls from the sky and covers the king.

He poured and drank without expression, leaving a vacancy beside him.

That position belonged to the Duke of Buckingham.

On the other side, count Henry, who had made great efforts in this rebellion, was sitting in a position which was not matched with his contributions, and was talking with several border lords in a low voice. From time to time, his eyes swept over the king who raised his glass to drink.

General Edmond was sitting in the corner.

He held up his glass as a cover to watch count Henry, them, and the king. During the rebellion in the north, he led angel's army to assist the king in attacking Balboa, and then he quickly withdrew. Unlike the dizzy count Henry, the fool actually occupied a piece of land on the border of Balboa and tried to expand his territory.

It's more stupid than a donkey.

Did he think that the king who abolished the Balboa royal family would be willing to let the hard won land be controlled by the border lords? Or did he think that after winning a battle, he would have enough capital to advance in front of the king?

For general Edmond, the death of the Duke of Buckingham is not a good thing for the States and lords.

General Edmond had a premonition when he carried out the cleaning order, but this funeral, after he saw the king, that premonition became stronger. The death of the Duke of Buckingham injected a kind of cold things into the king's blood vessels. It seemed that he had firmly put on an iron mask. Under the mask was a bloodthirsty monster, which was slowly licking its tusks, waiting for the moment of declaring war.

He went directly from a proud young monarch to a monster stepping out of blood and fire.

General Edmond preferred a dangerous but familiar lion to a bloody monster who didn't know what to do.

Seeing that the king on the throne did not move from beginning to end, the nobles at the banquet exchanged their eyes. In the end, an archbishop from other provinces who came to attend the funeral stood up. He came from Jolin County, Legrand, and was the only clergyman in Legrand next to the Archbishop of St. wes.

After standing up with his glass, the Archbishop of Jolin first raised his glass to the king and apologized for his impolite behavior. Then he directly put forward his own Accusation: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my presumptuousness. I really can't see such a huge mistake happen in everyone's eyes, but no one has put forward it."

"Go ahead, please."

The king held his glass and answered carelessly.

"Lord, I saw such a thing happen today." The Archbishop of Jolin exclaimed sadly, holding a wine glass in one hand and a cross on his chest in the other. "At today's funeral, there is no one to thank our beloved Duke God, how unfair is this to a noble man like him? Do you want to see the Duke suffer from red fire in purgatory? Do you want the Duke not to be redeemed

There was a murmur in the ballroom, and it was clear that the Archbishop of Jolin was not the only one who noticed it.