Human dimension reduction

The entire royal palace was in panic because of the Duke of York's death, but in the final analysis, this matter has nothing to do with most people, so except for the servants related to the Duke of York and Miss Mary, everyone else was feeling uneasy and excited Moods exchange information with each other.

"...I heard that he was smothered to death, the cloak presented by the king..."

"...No, it's obviously a sharp weapon. The servant who cleaned the Duke's bedroom said that the whole room was splattered with blood!"

"But... why the Duke of York?"

"Because His Majesty is protected too well? Lord Aiden doesn't allow anyone to approach His Majesty's bedroom now..."

"If you ask me, maybe it has something to do with the Duke of Gloucester? Isn't it known that he has a bad relationship with the king?"

All kinds of strange speculations filled the entire Palace of Westminster, the gates of the palace were closed, and no one was allowed to enter or leave. Duke Stuart returned to his suite, sitting behind the table with a gloomy expression. , I don’t know how long it took, there was a sound of crackling vessels in the room, and the guards waiting at the door did not dare to move. The next second, the door was suddenly opened, and Duke Stuart walked away expressionlessly. out.

He doesn't mind doing evil things such as murder and arson. To put it bluntly, in Northern Gaul, he has done more serious and terrible things than this. Otherwise, the current order in Northern Gaul would not be so orderly. Will not wear the title of tyrant.

But he doesn't mind others scolding him behind his back for those things, it doesn't mean he can bear to frame him.

The furious Duke didn't see any abnormalities on his face. He even smiled with the maids who were guarding Miss Mary. Miss Mary, who was startled and fainted because of seeing the Duke of York's tragedy, had come to her senses and sat on a soft chair. Looking at him from the chair.

She was in a goose yellow plain long dress, without jewelry, with red eye circles, and long hair hanging loose. She really looked like a pitiful beauty.

Unmarried women are not allowed to meet with unmarried men in private. Stuart briefly greeted Mary with the excuse of coming to condolences, and the interesting maids sat down at another round table, not far from here. The distance is not close enough to hear their conversation, but it also won't allow the two of them to be alone.

"You are very clever, whose idea is this?"

After a brief silence, Stuart asked coldly.

Instead of the polite tenderness of the last meeting, his eyes were replaced with a cold and sharp chill, as if he had met an opponent who was evenly matched with him.

Mary raised her hand embarrassingly and brushed her hair behind her ears. She kept looking at her maids, looking a little restless, "No... Your Excellency, I don't quite understand what you mean."

"I don't care who you kill," Stuart was annoyed by her poor performance trying to be stupid, and his lips moved slightly, "If you want to play an innocent lamb, you'd better wipe the blood from under your nails first .”

As if she had been scalded by a branding iron, Mary almost bounced off the soft chair. She clenched her hands tightly and stuffed them under the layered lace skirt, with a pale and blue face: "I'm not ..."

"I said I don't care!" Stuart interrupted her sternly.

"But tell me the reason, the reason for your stupid and reckless move—I remember I told you that I could consider your proposal, but only if you obeyed my arrangement."

Stuart was going crazy now, he couldn't imagine that his temporary partner would be so... stupid and crazy.Murder the Duke of York? !Which devil stuffed this genius idea into her head?Especially since this woman actually did it herself!With such a clumsy murder technique, if the king hadn't been so stimulated and fainted on the spot, he doubted that Mary might have been hanged on the gallows in front of the city hall by now.

But why? !

As a person with a brain, there is always a reason to do such a thing, right? !

What good did the murder of the Duke of York do Mary?Even though Stuart racked his brains, he couldn't think of any reason worthy of her action.

The always cunning and keen North Gaul consul was rarely confused.

The princess who was stared and questioned by him looked pale, cold sweat broke out on her forehead, strands of long golden hair stuck to her skin, she looked very pitiful, but Stuart would not be sympathetic to women regardless of the occasion Man, his heart is much colder than his appearance.

"I can see that, and when His Majesty has calmed down, it will occur to you that you had better tell me everything, or you will soon face the King's wrath—without reservations."

The Consul of Northern Gaul struck another blow at her fragile heart.

"Think about how His Majesty the King attaches great importance to loving the Duke of York, and then think about what will happen to the murderer who murdered the Duke of York...I hope your stupidity and stubbornness will not be used in this kind of place."

Mary took a small, short breath, her pale green eyes wide with fear.

"It's... my father." She moaned out the two words in a voice not much louder than a newborn cat.

Stuart's dark blue pupils suddenly shrank.

"After he left, someone told me to ask for your help...but...but he said, you can't be trusted either, you must want all the heirs to the throne to die than to let him return to London to become king , and then marry me to rule the empire as a matter of course..."

Mary spoke intermittently, with a distorted cry in her voice: "I, I couldn't contact my father the day before yesterday..."

The princess was trembling all over, looking at Stuart with fear in her eyes. Obviously, in her heart, the only one who could push her father to a corner was the Duke of Stuart, who had commanded a large army in London.

After disconnecting from the Duke of Gloucester, the first thing Mary thought of was her father's vague warning "Beware of Stuart, use his strength but don't trust him", plus what her father said, if she mentioned Marry Stuart to help him seek the position of king, and Stuart will definitely try to get rid of the first few heirs to the throne...

Mary suddenly fell into a dilemma.

She had to rely on Stuart's strength to help her father return to London, but Stuart obviously did not want the Duke of Gloucester to come back again. The two goals can only be said to overlap to a certain extent, so in Gregory After the inexplicable disappearance of the Duke of Rost, Mary cast her suspicious eyes on Stuart for the first time.

As for whether this matter has anything to do with Stuart...

The duke with black hair and blue eyes had dark eyes. He seemed to want to yell for a moment. The veins on his forehead were throbbing. He took a deep breath before forcing down his furious mood, and asked softly: "...so is this the same as the Duke of York? what is the relationship?"

Mary raised her eyelids very quickly, and rubbed the satin ribbon on the skirt with both hands, with a broken and broken calmness on her face: "If Richard dies, everyone will think it has something to do with my father, and I If your father disappears again, they will think of you."

The pale green eyes, which were very similar to those of the little king, stared straight at Duke Stuart.

"The two heirs to the throne died one after another. The biggest suspect is you who married me. So let my father come back, become the first heir to the throne, and fulfill our agreement. At that time, Edward will have no time to investigate the cause of Richard's death. .Or, you will be my accomplice."

Looking into these eyes, Stuart felt as if he saw a little king who could stand up to him in a daze.

As expected of cousins ​​who bleed the same blood, they are both vicious and cunning at critical moments.

but……

Stuart was about to laugh angrily: "Just because of this... ridiculous reason?"

He couldn't find any more suitable words to describe the absurd feeling in his heart. Mary's reason sounds very reasonable, but as long as you think about it carefully, you will find that it is full of loopholes, not to mention whether the little king will "no" "Kung Fu" pursued the cause of the Duke of York's death, and she was not even sure whether the Duke of Gloucester's disappearance had anything to do with him!

The most important premise is her own conjecture and guesswork!

And just relying on such a guess, this woman killed her cousin without the slightest hesitation.

He had seen the scene where the Duke of York died, full of blood and suffocated children, the horror was beyond expectation.

...just because the woman felt that Richard's death would save her missing father from him.

Stuart looked at Mary like a monster, and a long-lost chill ran down his spine.

He has seen many kinds of conspiracies and schemes and vicious hearts, but it is definitely the first time he has seen a woman like Mary who ... is completely based on guesswork, but also acts viciously and irrationally.

——Even now, she didn't have any remorse or guilt for killing Richard. She was just afraid that her crime would be discovered.

"You haven't thought about it at all, if your father's disappearance has nothing to do with me, what will you do next?"

Stuart looked at Mary with incomprehensible eyes. In his eyes, the woman in front of him had already taken off the category of "communicable human being", and was more like some... strange species.

It's like, Stuart and the little king racked their brains to try and use each other, but a chimpanzee rushed in and overturned the chessboard, insisting that he had won.

This scene would break any intelligent person.

Stuart is currently in such a mood that he wants to curse but is unable to open his mouth.

Hearing what Stuart said, Mary's expression was stunned for a moment, and then slowly became blank: "It has nothing to do with you? But... But how could it have nothing to do with you..."

Stuart only felt that his blood pressure was rising. He stood up abruptly, stared at Mary for a moment, and left without saying a word. It took a while for the maids to gather around, and he was surprised to find that the princess's face was pale. , as if about to faint.

"My dear Miss Mary! What's the matter with you?"

"What did His Excellency the Duke of Stuart tell you? My God, your complexion is so bad... smelling salts!"

There was a commotion in the room, and Stuart exhausted all his strength to keep himself calm. Mary's actions were extremely stupid, but it is undeniable... Stuart is in an extremely embarrassing situation now.

The disappearance of the Duke of Gloucester...has nothing to do with him, he did order his knights to hunt down these people, but the knights came back and said that the Duke of Gloucester seemed to be guarding against his pursuit, and they had no choice The safe road disappeared as soon as they left London. The last trace appeared in the Black Forest south of London. Through that forest was Kent. They probably wanted to go to Kent to gather the army belonging to the Duke of Gloucester.

The problem is... It is unbelievable to want to cross the Black Forest without any preparations. Even the most experienced hunters dare not step into this primeval forest infested by wolves. The reason why it is named Black Forest The forest, because it swallows life as silently as night swallows day.

So, with only a dozen knights, without sufficient ammunition and weapons, and even food reserves are in jeopardy, what is the probability that the Duke of Gloucester and his party can pass through the Black Forest?

In short, in Stuart's mind, the Duke of Gloucester, his old opponent, was already a worthless dead man.

A dead man can't make any waves, but the dead man's daughter really gave Stuart a headache.

…Because he found out that he actually had to pinch his nose to save Mary.

With the loss of Richard, Duke of York, and Henry, Duke of Gloucester, this brainless Lady Mary has unknowingly become first in line to the throne.

Marrying her has become the fastest way to gain imperial power.

So how would he prove the culprit's innocence to the little king?

Holding a silver candlestick in his hand, Aiden appeared behind him at some unknown time: "Your Excellency Duke Stuart, Your Majesty the King invites you to the study."

The little king knows more than Stuart. At least he can judge from the current stability of the world that the Duke of Gloucester is still alive somewhere. Richard, who was supposed to die, is now a piece of the puzzle that fits the world. The crack, the little king is a little suspicious... maybe he will be the next to die.

And he didn't intend to wait any longer.

He signed his name at the end of the sentence with red ink, pressed it with his fingers and slid it to the opposite Lorenzo: "Act now."

The Sardinian assassin picked up the sentence and saw the name on it, his eyelids twitched: "...doesn't need to go through the High Court?"

The little king's tone was short and harsh: "No need, arrest her immediately, execute her in secret, and don't let her survive tonight."

No matter how sad the little king was at the time, after thinking about it carefully afterwards, he could discover Mary's abnormality, and he suddenly realized that maybe he didn't have more time to let the high court go through the procedures of proof and trial.

If he guessed correctly, Mary must have been stimulated to attack Richard. This matter has nothing to do with Stuart, and it can only be the fleeing Duke of Gloucester.

Mary thinks something has happened to the Duke of Gloucester?

The little king touched Mary's brain circuit very closely, and immediately realized that once Mary said that the Duke of Gloucester was dead, Mary would immediately become the first heir to the throne. The first heir was sentenced to death.

So he could only ask for quickness and execute Mary before everyone reacted.

While asking Aiden to transfer Stuart, the only person who would find a way to save Mary's life, the little king asked Lorenzo to bring his warrant to arrest and execute Mary, just to prevent everyone from reacting. Let it all settle.

As soon as Lorenzo went out, Stuart walked in on the back foot led by Aiden.

The little king put aside the quill pen dipped in red ink, and looked at the other party across the oak table with a cold expression: "Now, do you have anything to say to me?"

Stuart showed a gentle smile, and made up his mind to find a way to deal with the little king for a longer time, at least to make up a complete set of reasons to remove Mary's suspicion.

Coincidentally, the little king had the same idea.