The beads of blood seeping from the lead box trailed intermittent dark marks on the stone bricks.
Stepping on the blood droplets, Cosimo walked through the palace corridor, only to find the silver candelabras originally embedded in the walls had all disappeared, leaving only charred fixing holes.
In the distance ca the sound of hamrs striking, as artisans and soldiers pried the last few gilded portraits from the walls.
He stood before the door of the audience hall for a long ti, took a deep breath, and then knocked on the oak door.
"Co in."
The audience hall, once filled with enal wares and malachite sculptures, was now left with bare plaster walls.
The once-present ceramics and gold and silver decorations had all vanished, their whereabouts unknown.
Ginijis III was nestled in a faded brocade velvet chair, a dull-coated ginger cat curled on the long table beside him.
Perhaps frightened by the closeness of a giant, the ginger cat on the table suddenly flattened its ears, arched its back, and hissed at Cosimo.
Besides Viscount Balde, the attendant officer, sat a rustic-looking old woman, hunched ekly on the edge of a chair.
The old crone huddled in the shadow of a pillar, her liver-spotted fingers nervously rubbing at her coarse linen skirt, the tips of her worn-out shoes scuffing light brown marks on the floor.
When she glanced furtively at the lead box, her clouded eyes glead with the hue of jaundice.
It was rare to see such an old woman in the court, which inevitably drew Cosimo's gaze a few more tis.
"Your Highness." Cosimo knelt on one knee, holding up the lead box, "The gang of sugar and garnt smugglers have all been captured."
At the instant the lead box was opened, Viscount Ravel's head, frozen in a cold sneer, ca into everyone's sight.
Ginijis covered his mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief, while the attendant officer imdiately stepped forward to inspect the head.
Cosimo knew that the new King Ginijis, being a vegetarian, didn't like seeing blood and corpses.
For this reason, this king's breathing technique was rely at a laughable level two.
Of course, Cosimo did not say these things out loud; he simply kept his head low, waiting.
The attendant whispered a few words into the king's ear, and Ginijis burst into laughter, combing the ginger cat's bristled fur, "Well done, my Bee Sting."
After soothing the ginger cat, Ginijis removed a gold ring from his hand and tossed it to Cosimo, "The expense for battles is great, this is your reward for now; there'll be more after defeating Nedbach."
Staring at the ring in his palm, Cosimo contemplated for a long ti, finally hesitating before asking, "Your Highness, forgive my rudeness, but the soldiers are all asking, can they be paid at once..."
Ginijis was quite frank: "The windmill land sugar has toppled Leia's influence there, drastically reducing comrcial and city ransom taxes, making things tight.
But don't worry, once Duke Nedbach is defeated, I will clear and implicate all concerned nobles, completely revoke royal privileges and fiefdoms, and auction off these titles and estates to gather funds.
At that ti, I will distribute all owed military pay and land grants in one go."
This ti, Cosimo was surprised; had it really co to this?
Selling noble titles indiscriminately instead of inheriting them by bloodline or granting them to ritorious ones?
Legally speaking, Ginijis, as the king and head of the Lanfeng family, indeed had such power, but this would undoubtedly provoke widespread opposition.
Originally, Ginijis's succession was widely questioned; this only further undermines his legitimacy.
Cosimo looked at the gold ring in his hand, feeling a mix of emotions.
After Cosimo left, Ginijis turned to the old woman beside him, impassively continuing, "Go on."
She spoke, revealing missing front teeth; her breezy voice sounded like it was passing through a worn bellows: "Yes, Your Highness... That night, the fog was so thick it could be wrung out, I carried the chamber pot to the back alley...
The moonlight stretched the shadows long, and I heard noise from Miss Louise's room...
I went in to look... Heavens, lying on the bed wasn't a twelve-year-old girl at all, but a monster over three ters tall..."
Before she could finish, Balde squinted, "Do you have any evidence for what you say?"
The old woman hesitated for a long ti before mumbling, "I have no evidence, but I saw it with my own eyes, that little girl turned into a three-ter-tall gorilla..."
"Or do you have any physical evidence?"
"..." Seeing the old woman's dumbfounded look, Ginijis casually tapped the table with his cane, "Alright, I got it, soone, escort her to rest, and take care of her health."
"Perhaps it's just a countrywoman's ravings," Balde leaned in to Ginijis, "This might not be true."
"Does truth matter? As long as it's useful."
Watching Balde's blinking eyes, Ginijis said lightly, "Think about it, back then Vincent ascended to be the duke as an adopted son because he married Louise.
And since Louise bore a daughter, he was thought to govern for his daughter in her stead.
Given Louise wasn't infected with Witch's Sickness and went mad, but was instead a witch, and witches can't bear children, where did Moliat co from then?
I suspect it's either Vincent or that Duke Hemashi's illegitimate daughter, most likely Vincent's.
Why? Duke Hemashi was a Great Knight, only having a daughter late in life when the high pills of a Great Knight had shriveled into raisins, making the chance of him fathering another daughter near impossible.
So, Moliat is Vincent, the adopted nephew's illegitimate daughter.
Now I must ask, would the nobility actually accept a woman without any blood relation to the Fran Iris Clan seated at Duke Hemashi's place, or even at the autocratic duke of Thousand River Valley?
Would the people of the Fran Iris Clan be satisfied? Would those old folks of Norn, who view bloodline over everything, still support Moliat?
If Moliat doesn't even have the bloodline of the previous Norn Chosen King, would she still receive strong support from the Norn people?"
Yet the attendant officer, Balde, scratched his head: "The die is cast, she's already the autocratic duke, what's the point in revealing this?"
Ginijis sneered: "Sotis a title proves more effective than a blade; a story that's both true and plausible can win many over.
Moliat doesn't understand the power of titles; she high-handedly suppresses everything with force and espionage. Once a flaw appears in her image of invincibility, doubts will follow.
With enough doubts, even a minor blemish can be magnified infinitely, as if she had beco a flaw itself."
Balde seed thoughtful.
Ginijis asked in a low voice: "Did the plan to have the bandits infiltrate Thousand River Valley for sabotage succeed?"
Balde shook his head ashad: "Either blocked by the fortress and spring cannons or discovered by the Night Watchers and Cheka."
Ginijis stroked the ginger cat's soft fur: "Don't worry, watch; where swords and spears can't penetrate, straw sandals may easily tread."
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