Lord Duke

Chapter 18

The king had already finished his lengthy and extremely gorgeous opening speech, and finally he opened the black-bound hard copy in his hand, and when he turned to a certain page, he raised his voice a little bit, and said slowly: "Then, all of you present here have no questions about the royal law. Article 20, what do you think about the changes in the kingdom's tax law?"

The freshly picked flowers in the vases on the chiffon tablecloth still had a little dew on them.There was silence at first, but the king's words were like a stone, disturbing the seemingly calm lake.The hall became noisy.There was a lot of discussion: "What? The tax law needs to be reformed?"

He snorted again, "Your news is too late! Heh heh, when is the change of the kingdom's laws not cautious? It's just this time..."

Then there was someone who thought about it and said, "I agree, the tax increase is good for us..." This is obviously a person who doesn't know that the over-collected tax mentioned in the proposal will be handed over to the church.

"........."

Payne was noncommittal. He picked up the Earl Gray tea on the table and took a sip. There was no astringency in the mouth but silky smoothness. Presumably, cocoa should be added.With calm eyes, he quietly watched these people argue and discuss.

Slanter didn't hide his true nature too much, he leaned lazily on the table, a lock of blond hair fell from the corner of his forehead, reflecting his emerald green eyes.He rested his chin on one hand and looked at the boiling meeting place with a smile.

Prince Arizona, who was diagonally opposite the table, had a sneer on his face, and he sneered again in his heart, but the object of the taunt was not King Phil, but the nobleman who jumped out to discuss in a hurry. Clear..." He turned his eyes, and started talking nonsense without even understanding the situation?Hmph, didn't you see that King Phil didn't say anything? !How stupid.

His dissatisfied eyes were instantly withdrawn from those frizzy and unable to sit still royal side branches, but there was an unspeakable feeling in his heart.

The king seemed to be satisfied with the noisy scene, and stayed until he felt that it was almost done—in fact, he raised his scepter and leaned on the ground for a short while. The sound of the scepter hitting the thick red carpet was not eye-catching. The voice suddenly disappeared.Only then did the king raise his voice, and said loudly: "The reason for this parliamentary meeting is not only because of the needs of the people, but also because Bishop North proposed amendments to the tax law. This is a big matter, so I will invite you all in the name of safari. Called here."

"With regard to the reform of the kingdom's laws and taxation laws, if you have any opinions, you can put forward your opinions. I believe that you will be able to negotiate a satisfactory result. Of course, if you have any dissatisfaction with other regulations of the kingdom's laws, you can also bring them up for discussion."

"About Bishop North's proposal—" the king turned his gaze to North, but North ignored the king's gaze, and just whispered something to a person behind him.The man backed away quietly, as if he was going to grab something. ...the king doesn't care at all.There was a sullen look on the king's face, but he tried to hide it.

North put on his bishop's silver robe, with two strands of long silver hair hanging in front of his face, he raised his eyes, but strangely did not feel disobedient, he said: "You can take a look at my proposal. "As soon as he finished speaking, the person he was responsible for came forward with a group of people dressed in missionary black and white uniforms, and put a white paper document in front of the nobles and royal children present.They backed away quickly, as if they had never appeared before.

The faces of some nobles present were a little ugly.The king tried to calm down, but Prince Arizona frowned, and finally clicked his tongue impatiently.By doing this, the bishop really stomped on the face of the royal family.Why is the Cloweve Hall so easy to enter?Are the guards guarding the perimeter dead?But these priests who claimed to be serving the gods came in, so... unimpeded.

The nobles remembered that they couldn't bring people in. Could those with titles be inferior to those who were just missionaries?Even if he didn't think so, the bishop's actions also lost the face of the nobility.Some thought more deeply, and even began to think about not getting involved in the muddy water or supporting... Protestantism.

These thoughts only flashed in the hearts of these nobles, and they all began to read this proposal at this time.Payne flipped through the white paper in front of him, and quickly glanced at ten lines. His eyes were still like an ancient deep pool, calm and bottomless.The smile on the corner of Slante's mouth did not fade away, and he also quickly finished reading.

North slightly raised the corners of his lips, and said, "What do you guys think? Raise [-]% of the tax, [-]% to the lord, and [-]% to the church?" The whispering voice remembered that the king was too lazy to stop it and it was not easy to stop it. They are all gentle and polite in their hearts, so naturally they don't have much deterrent effect.

Moreover, he closed his eyes slightly, feeling his head hurting again.I just sighed in my heart: No wonder North is so confident that his proposal will be passed, and the people will support and agree!Because the proposal reported to him is completely different from the current one... It's too big!To let these nobles also benefit!

Alisan was lazy. Although he didn't know North's proposal before, he heard North's intentions in this proposal.He just doesn't care about it.All he cared about was the development of the royal family.So what about the people... well, someone will take care of it.

He thought for a while, then showed a smile that was finally not a mockery, and looked at Duke Payne.Only this person has the heart for the country and the people.It's a pity that the king is a fool, he keeps doubting others and wears down his loyalty.Alisan yawned, his hat tilted so that it almost covered half of his face.The noise around him didn't seem to affect him at all.

Slant came close to him, and the heat seemed to be spraying on the skin of Payne's ear, which was a little itchy: "Pain, did the king tell you about North's proposal before? Well, Saying goodbye to me on such a piece of land before, and still leaving in such a hurry, could it be..." He leaned back, his tone changed, his eyes were bright, and he said with a smile: "It's just for this tax law change?"

Payne nodded and said: "There is something wrong with this matter. The king said before that North's proposal clearly wanted to return [-]% to the church. The king..." Before he finished speaking, Slant continued, "The king is not Will lie about this matter, then, this Bishop of North is really a well-established figure in the city?" Payne nodded, but there was a kind of joy in his eyes, he was very happy to follow his train of thought.

The people around the two of them were discussing enthusiastically, and almost no one noticed the conversation between the two of them.After thinking for a while, Slant took out a folded piece of paper from the slanted pocket of his clothes, unfolded it, pushed it in front of Payne, avoided Payne's gaze and narrowed his eyes and said: "This is the information I collected about the principality's serfdom. information, and I myself wrote some of the irrationality of it..."

Payne was a little surprised, but he heard Slanter continue: "You will definitely not agree to the bishop's tax reform system, and you should have made full preparations.... But I think, besides this, you also want to borrow Is this an opportunity to shake the principality's serfdom?" He raised his eyes, his green eyes were like a lake full of water, Payne was a little lost for a moment, he answered involuntarily: "...yes." Then there was another feeling of numbness The feeling came from the end of his nerves, he was a little trembling, a little excited, and also uncontrollably joyful.His heart beat "Boom, boom!"

If it was an opponent, it was an opponent who was evenly matched, and he had to be cautious. He had figured out his mind so accurately!However, they are friends, or... more than that.Payne understood something in his heart, but he didn't dare to understand.Because, he knows, this is not an era of tolerance, and this moment is not a good time.

Besides, there is still a long, long time, waiting for him to figure out his mind.No hurry, no hurry... He stabilized his sudden rapid heartbeat, took the piece of paper and folded it, looked directly into Slant's eyes, and said very seriously: "Thank you."

＊＊＊＊＊＊

Queen Isa was a little tired, she really felt that the recent things were too annoying.She walked to the window, opened the curtains, looked in the direction of the Clovev Hall, and prayed silently in her heart: everything is going well for the king, and all wishes come true... Queen Isa also knew that it was impossible for her wishes to come true, she thought , although she can't do too many things, she hopes to do her best not to bother the king.

She just remembered what happened a few days ago.Inexplicably, there was a letter and a kraft paper bag on her window sill.She was really shocked when she found out!You know, this is the third floor!Queen Isa thought about it, and opened it anyway. Surprisingly, it was a blank letter.Queen Isa, confused, opened the brown paper bag.

Then she found a stack of letters.

Then, after thinking about it, she quietly went to Princess Bella without disturbing the king.She was too lazy to talk to Princess Bella, and wanted to send her away.The king had had enough troubles lately, and she couldn't really bother him with such little things.Besides, Princess Bella didn't cause any harm to the royal family, and she couldn't be punished much if she didn't make a big fuss.

In the end, Princess Bella went to a small town in the middle of the country.Isa casually mentioned to the king that Princess Tibera was sick and wanted to rest in a small town in the middle of the country, and the king nodded dispensably.He really couldn't spare more energy to take care of these chores.Because of this, he lost the opportunity to know something.

What neither the king nor queen knew was—

The queen's letters were not all.

North picks out the less important ones.

In the three-story hall of the church, on the carved spiral staircase.North played with a handful of letters in his hand, and read out softly: "Crowve Hall... There is a side door to enter and exit... In the side hall of the palace... there are tunnels... and..." He Feeling very funny, I threw the letter up with a wave of my hand, fluttering like snowflakes.

He laughed out loud, Garth's ability to coax little girls into defrauding information is really... wonderful.A look of hostility flashed across his eyes, and he stroked his face with his fingers. Here, there should have been a scar... but it fell on another person's face.He looked ferocious for a moment, but his voice was calm: "Is the matter done?" A voice behind him replied respectfully: "The letter has been placed with Queen Isa. She finally sent Princess Bella to the small town in the middle."

North nodded: "That's fine. Princess Bella is no longer useful. In this way, there will be no troubles, let alone us." But a voice came suddenly: "Brother is too much. ..." Before the person arrived, the voice arrived.Gass said softly: "Brother stole my letter?" North's expression remained unchanged, unmoved, and said lightly: "Is there something wrong?"

Gass smiled indifferently, the expression on his face changed back and forth, and finally turned into an obedient smile, which looked extremely harmless: "Of course not. Princess Bella, I've been thinking about how to deal with her recently What?" In his eyes, there was a light flickering on and off, with a hint of fierceness.North stepped forward, stroked his hair, and whispered: "Don't forget our real purpose."

Gass smiled, "No."

——Princess Bella was chosen at the beginning because although Princess Bella is an offshoot of the royal family, her father has three parts of French blood, and her mother is a complete Princess of the Royal Family of Eton.Her father once presided over the renovation of the Eaton Palace to show his loyalty, so some secret passages should have been quietly built.Well, Princess Bella probably knows this unconsciously.Of course, this is just speculation.But what's the matter?guess, true.

***

Cloweve Hall

The nobles insisted on their own opinions and began to argue.

Earl Custer's eyes sparkled, and he was the first to express his opinion, "I think the bishop's proposal is good! The kingdom's laws should be changed." North smiled faintly, and turned to Castor The count nodded.A few earls who had no idea followed suit and said, "Not bad, we agree!"

The king's complexion was ugly, and the complexions of some nobles were also ugly.

Immediately, Earl Monton sneered with disdain, and his dissatisfaction almost overflowed: "Caster, you madman! I'm afraid you are crazy about money!" God, because Earl Custer always mocked Earl Monton for not having aristocratic upbringing and having a shallow family background.

Another member of the royal family came to interrupt: "This proposal is good, but the overcharged tax share needs to be renegotiated!" The member of the royal family next to him stared at him fiercely, and hurriedly said, "I don't think this proposal will work! ..." Then, all kinds of voices came out.

The nobles insisted on their own opinions, basically starting from their own interests.

Xixi in the world is Lilai. The hustle and bustle of the world is all for profit.

Payne looked at the scene in front of him coldly, feeling a little sad in his heart.

——But there was a warm feeling coming from his hand, and the hand he put under the table was covered with a slender and flexible hand.It's kind of weird, but it feels like...

Silent yet firm.

Payne ignored the strangeness and discomfort, and did not shake off that hand.He suddenly covered his eyes lightly with his free hand, hiding the sudden surge of emotion in his eyes.He showed a silent smile, and this slight emotion was actually captured.Call him... how can you not like it?The many thoughts in his heart seemed to turn into a little bit of stardust, and then... the dust settled.

Call him... how can you not like it?

The author has something to say:

God, it's already December!

My fourth grade T^T