I will be crowned king

In the luxuriously decorated living room of the Imperial Embassy, ​​Brandley paced back and forth in front of the fireplace with his hands behind his back, constantly asking the servants about what was going on outside the door, and each time he got exactly the same result: "The Whitehall Street police are still While the alert is being maintained, people inside the embassy cannot enter or exit normally at all."

This news, which was neither good nor bad, made the Imperial Ambassador even more anxious. A few minutes ago, he had just bribed a relatively high-ranking police officer with a large amount of money and dug out a very important piece of information from the other party: the Storm Legion had entered. city ​​and blocked the Osteria Palace!

As soon as he was assassinated, he immediately mobilized the army into the city, and even arrogantly surrounded the palace and the Privy Council... Anson Bach's decisiveness and arrogance made Brandley take a breath, and at the same time he finally believed the rumor from a certain gossip: the so-called Army The alliance between the Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the Colonies is actually led by His Excellency the Lieutenant-General.

In other words, Luther Franz actually supported both his heir and...son-in-law? Let them compete with each other and win over the different forces of Clovis, so that no matter which side wins, the Franz family will be in power in the end?

But this doesn’t make sense. Ludwig’s idea is understandable, and he plans to use the name of the king to unite the upstarts and become a veritable dictator; but Anson Bach... woos the bottom and allows the provincial forces to enter the Krone Wei Cheng, wouldn't this weaken the royal power? What on earth can he gain?

Once the Rauchzi National Assembly really succeeded, what use would the Nicholas I they spent so much effort supporting support have?

Or maybe the Franz family really intends to... No, no, this is already the 103rd year of the Saints calendar. Who would dare to usurp the country at this time...

etc! If it was Anson Bach... If it was the Anson Bach who contributed to the unification of the land, the collapse of the Kingdom of Iser, and the independence of the colonies...

He, he might actually be able to do it!

The more Bradley thought about it, the more panicked he became. He even regretted why he agreed to the Holy See in the first place. Why did he covet the position of ambassador and not leave Clovis City, a place of right and wrong, as soon as possible? !

"You look very nervous, Bradley?" A childish, slow and somewhat teasing voice walked into the hall: "Why, I only left you for a few minutes, and you miss me so much?"

In normal times, even His Majesty the Emperor would have retorted and complained about this kind of inappropriate joke, but at this time, he was as if he had received an amnesty, and he was so excited that he took three steps and did two. , knelt down directly in front of the opponent:

"Machias... No, dear Machiavelli, you are finally back!"

Even though he was almost overcome with emotion, he still remembered the "ancient tradition" that the other party specifically mentioned: for a truly noble person, the name itself is the honorific title of the highest rank, and adding the suffix would actually downgrade him.

As one of the oldest families in the Order World, a descendant of the Dragon Knight Hered bloodline, Brandley has heard of this to some extent - just like the Seven Knights, descendants directly use their names as surnames, and even many Scholars also believe that the surname itself originated from the concept of "descendants of nobles."

"The Storm Legion has sealed off the Osteria Palace. I heard that the Privy Council is already seriously discussing the matter of the Citizens' Council... The most important thing is that Anson Bach, he, he is very likely..."

"Still alive." He took the words slowly, with a faint smile on his face: "Yes, I know. In fact, I just talked to him a few minutes ago. He is more interesting than I thought." Where are the people.”

"M-Machia..."

"What's wrong, Bradley, why do you look like this?"

Machiya walked past the kneeling Imperial Ambassador, patted his shoulder lightly, and reflected his smile into the eyes that stopped suddenly due to shock and solidified: "Don't you think that I will completely Will you obey the orders of the Holy See?"

"Or do you think I'm...yours?"

"Must... serve you?"

This...Bradley opened his mouth, wanting to say something but not daring to say it.

After witnessing or experiencing the other party's unfathomable and arbitrary power with his own eyes, he had completely surrendered to the other party and did not dare to show any disrespect.

"...Machias, you are our protector, the light, the torch in the darkness. You give us what we want. You...of course can do whatever you want."

"No matter what you do, you must love us."

His expression was extremely pious, and his slightly trembling words were accompanied by cold sweat on the back of his neck and temples. He was so awed that he seemed to be meeting a god.

Machia's eyes were kind, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

"Don't be so nervous. Of course I am on your side... Keeping your promise is the most basic virtue." Machia said softly: "But Bradley, you should also understand that just because you have to keep your promise, I cannot hurt you. Anyone including your enemy Anson Bach."

"Yes, yes, we...we don't dare to bother you to do it ourselves!" Brandley said quickly, with an expression of awe and a flattering smile, and his face became very distorted because of the confusion:

"It's just that the first phase of the plan failed. The Holy See refused to contact us. Many people were scattered in the city. The Clovis people also blocked the embassy and did not allow us to go out at will. I just..."

"Of course! This is definitely not your fault. Rather, it is precisely because of your help that the plan can proceed so smoothly. But our current situation is really dangerous. Anson Bach is still alive! Once he is completely controlled The king and the Kingdom of Clovis, the situation for us people is very dangerous!”

"Makia! I... we, the humble ones, really need your help now!"

Not only verbally, but Bradley's expression also became more humble, as humble as a believer praying to God.

"Bradley, my poor Brandley..."

Machia's smile remained unchanged, and she gently raised the hand on the other's shoulder, pressing the imperial ambassador's head; Brandley only hesitated for a moment, and quickly lowered his head in cooperation.

"Human beings... are very weak and powerless creatures, but they have extremely crazy and unimaginable hearts; their small bodies contain huge wishes." Machia said softly: "Since it can't be carried, then resort to the wish. To realize it with a truly powerful existence is a matter of course, and there is no need to have any worries."

"But unfortunately, I can't fulfill your wish this time... because I keep my promise and cannot harm any human beings unless..."

"Except, unless?"

"Unless...he appears in front of me."

The fluttering words seemed to have a unique magic power, echoing in Bradley's mind for a long time.

……………………

With the permission of the king himself, the majestic Ludwig returned to the Privy Council Hall and announced the result in public, and asked the members to start discussion immediately and provide a result as soon as possible.

Not surprisingly, this immediately aroused the anger of the entire Privy Council: Even if you, Ludwig, are in power, your duty should be to hand over the bill discussed by the Privy Council to His Majesty for review, and then take it back to the Privy Council for finalization. How can you How about privately discussing with His Majesty and directly ordering the Privy Council to do things?

Even if you settle for the next best thing, there is not even a shadow of the bill now. You ask us to produce results without even giving room for discussion. Doesn't this mean that we have to pass whatever you say - five hundred people in the hall. The Privy Council becomes the seal of your Prime Minister's Office? !

"Why, do you still feel aggrieved after being able to make a seal for once?" Ludwig was not polite at all, and responded sarcastically on the spot:

"Don't forget, it's not just the hundreds of thousands of Clovis citizens outside who are full of anger now, but also half of Clovis who don't recognize His Majesty today. This means that the Privy Council, as the executor of His Majesty's will, also Not recognized by them!”

"At this critical moment, to put it bluntly, the legitimacy of the 500-member Privy Council has become questionable. Facing the angry citizens, our authority may not even be as good as that of Anson Bach, whose whereabouts are unknown! They don’t trust us, let alone that we will really keep our promises, they only believe in His Majesty!”

"Let me make it clearer, in fact, it is completely meaningless whether you pass this bill or not, because His Majesty has already decided to do so; what you want to sign and seal is the speech that His Majesty will read publicly in a few hours - —If you don’t sign, it means your names are not on His Majesty’s speech!”

"When His Majesty Nicholas I announces to the citizens of Clovis at the gate of Osteria Palace that he is allowed to form a citizen assembly, he will immediately gain the support of the entire city and sit on Clovis... No, it should be Followed by the greatest city in the world! Those local sects who are like chickens and dogs are nothing to be afraid of. They will definitely rush to serve you impatiently and share His Majesty’s mercy.”

"At that time... we who have not passed this bill and even opposed it with all our strength... what will happen to us?!"

After roaring in one breath, Ludwig slammed the table with the hilt of his sword and looked around coldly.

The whole place was... deathly silent.

After the silence, what followed was an extremely efficient exchange and discussion: Regarding the parliamentary system, Clovis did not make many achievements in this aspect. Many of them were left behind by conventions over a long period of time, and now To establish a system from scratch, it is natural to carefully clarify the distribution of rights and specific functions.

Conservative congressmen with many wealthy families read historical materials and provided reference suggestions from the "Knights' Meeting" in the Dark Ages and the older "Citizens' Assembly", while the new rich are more convinced of the "superiority" of committees and shareholding systems and believe that occupying wealth The number of representatives can be used as the criterion for establishing the identity of the representative.

How to select representatives, the number of representatives from each community, the time and frequency of parliamentary convenings, and most importantly, the functions and scope of authority of the citizens' assembly... With endless discussions, the members of the Privy Council completed an unprecedented initiative: The mouse chooses his favorite cat.

There is no doubt that all members of the Privy Council do not want the Citizens' Council to have too much power, so they must set the other party's functions as detailed as possible and have as many restrictions as possible.

However, as more and more restrictions are imposed on the Citizens' Council, the functions and scope of the Privy Council's own powers have become clearer and clearer. They are no longer as vague as in the past and have a lot of room for maneuver.

So the more they discussed, the more they felt how much influence this citizens' assembly would have on them. Following this, they got a clearer understanding of "how many rights they have" and "what exactly is a king?" know.

When a sacred and noble identity becomes a mere "position" and "title", is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Ludwig didn't understand, but he knew that this result must be in someone's plan.

……………………

Outside the gate of Osteria Palace, representatives from various communities and streets in the city gathered around tens of thousands of people, holding high the flag of King Clovis and came to the square outside the palace gate, nervously looking up at the incomparable building. The gorgeous palace quietly awaits the final moments.

The Storm Legion, which had already been assembled and on standby, now assumed the responsibility of maintaining public order and discipline. The five infantry regiments were divided into ten parts, using human walls to separate the people. They held loaded rifles with bayonets in their hands. Don't dare to relax at all.

Soon, a small figure appeared on the city wall. Behind him were several well-equipped guards. Even though they couldn't see clearly the other person's appearance from a distance, a small cheer erupted from the crowd.

Amidst the scoldings and warnings of the soldiers, the people and representatives calmed down a little, and finally there was no trampling or attacking the cordon.

Looking at the sea of ​​people below, Nicholas Osteria, who was standing on the city gate, had a bloodless face at this time. His stiff hands trembled as he opened the scroll he had prepared and began word by word. Read the above content aloud.

He read very slowly, stumbled and even made many mistakes. The Queen Mother, who had to hide behind, kept reminding him, and the royal guards on both sides had to hold his shoulders to prevent the little king from collapsing directly on the ground. .

But this actually doesn't matter, because the people under the city wall have no idea what he said. They can only see the noble figure reading aloud, holding his breath pretending to hear clearly, and looking up without blinking.

"...At this point, with the authority given to me by the Ring of Order, I officially declare as the King of Clovis that I allow the establishment of a citizens' assembly..."

The little king was relieved when he finally finished reading the last content. He tremblingly raised the scroll above his head as Ludwig had ordered.

In an instant, the entire Osteria Square erupted in fierce cheers.

Applause, shouting, dancing... It was like the roar of thousands of cannons, and the little king's mind went blank for a moment.

Unconscious.