Embers of Embers

Chapter 458 The Death of the King
Gaul Naluo, Goli.
As the capital of Gaul Naluo, Goli is the most prosperous place in Gaul Naluo. Although the steam technology cannot compare with the old Dunling, the power of this country can be seen from the towering and continuous buildings.
Countless spiers are like lances piercing the sky. They gather together and become mountains with raised blades, just like mountains rising from the flat ground.
The residence of the Garel royal family is located in the center of these mountains, on the tallest peak. From here, their king can easily overlook the entire Goli and even further places, as if everything is in his hands. Like a sand table.
Since the Night of Tribulation, Cornell did not stay at the port of Maluri. He simply bandaged his wounds and returned to Goli. He walked back and forth in the following days and could not sleep well at night. Thinking about something painfully.
Many ministers who met Cornel had the same consensus. Cornel had changed. They couldn't tell exactly what had changed. They just felt that the heir to the kingdom was much more complicated than his previous self. In the past, Cornel couldn't hide his inner thoughts. He was like a naive child, and his thoughts and actions could be easily seen through. But now the ministers can't see him clearly.
Cornel seemed to be shrouded in an unknown fog. He lowered his head and his eyes were cold, like the God of Death, looking at this world that had nothing to do with him indifferently.
"Has my father's illness improved yet?"
Cornell stood in the dark corridor and asked the doctor beside him.
The doctor swallowed. Cornell usually seemed very easy-going, but now he was like a cold sword, making the doctor breathless.
"No, and it's getting worse."
"Is that so?"
Cornel rubbed his head in pain. His father became the king after the defeat in the Glorious War. At that time, Gaul Naluo's vitality was severely damaged, and the people were extremely angry towards the royal family. In order to calm all this, and revived Gaulnaro, whose father had labored immeasurably.
Fortunately, he did it in the end, and the country regained its vitality. However, because of the hidden illness and fatigue in his early years, he lay in bed for many years, like a breathing corpse.
"Is he still awake?" Cornel asked.
"There is still some consciousness..." the doctor said.
"Okay, I know."
Cornell waved his hand, signaling the doctor to leave.
At this time, he was the only one left in the dim corridor, and at the end of the corridor, behind the door, was his father, now the king of Gaul Nalo.
Cornel thought for a long time and seemed to have made up his mind. He walked towards the door with firm and heavy steps.
Slowly opening the door, there wasn't much light in the room. The curtains were tightly closed, not a trace of light could come in. There was just a little bit of light in the corners, preventing the room from being completely engulfed in darkness.
There was a person lying on the big bed in the middle. His breathing was very steady, and his body was rising and falling slowly with his breathing.
Cornel walked to the bed and sat on a low chair. After a long time, the man on the bed seemed to finally realize that someone was coming. He turned his head with difficulty, his old face revealing his intention to die.
"Father."
Cornel stretched out his hand and held the king's old and decayed palm. It was cold and had no warmth of a living person.
"Cornell?"
The king blinked hard, trying hard to see Cornel's face clearly, and stretched out his hand to touch his face, but he touched the scar that had not yet healed.
"Starting to look like a man."
The king stroked the scar on Cornel's face, which was the last one left by Ivar. Feeling the faint pain, Cornel said softly.
"A lot has happened, and I feel like there's something I should talk to you about."
The ghost-like figure in his mind reappeared, the deformed and dying guy, holding twisted steel and attacking him. Such an image would always appear in Cornell's mind, dominating his dreams.
"Oh? What about Maluri? I've heard about it."
The king tried to sit up, but his tired body had no strength left. He gave up after a few attempts and lay on the bed looking at the darkness above.
"How do you think the situation will develop in the future? Cornell." The king asked.
"War is unavoidable, Inlveg needs to destroy our position of securing power, and the Vikings need plunder to catch up with others. This is a war that cannot be refused. I guess their fleet has been assembled long ago," said Maybe it will appear in our waters tomorrow.”
Cornel frowned, war was coming, and no one could stop it.
"Then what do you think we should do?" the king asked again.
"Rhine League, once Gaulnaro falls, Leiber and other countries bordering us will be completely exposed to Inverg's vision, especially Leiber. If they can, they will never let Leiber go. The cypress produced is an important resource that is enough to advance Inverg's steam technology by leaps and bounds. With these, our alliance will only become closer."
The king looked at Cornel approvingly.
"Isn't that great? They have their spears and we have our shields."
"But...but these are too idealistic. People's hearts are unpredictable. We may trust our allies, but we cannot trust them absolutely. Moreover...Gaulonaluo is not an iron plate inside."
Cornel expressed his sorrow fully.
"The believers of the Evangelical Church are not worried. Under the pressure of Orthodoxy, their voices will only become smaller and smaller. But other ministers and dukes do not think so. They have huge industries in all walks of life, and war will only Let their wealth shrink, maybe they will refuse the war, and then these discordant voices will slow us down. You have the ability to rule them, but now you are trapped in the hospital bed..."
Cornell's voice gradually dropped.
The king did not speak, but after a long time, he slowly talked about the past.
"Did I tell you about your grandfather?"
"No, his name is a taboo. When I was a child, even if I inquired out of curiosity, you would scold me."
Cornel remembered his grandfather, the closest thing to a mad king, who held a banquet and then poisoned all the members of the royal family until only Cornel's line remained in the empty palace. .
"Then let's tell it now. If I die, no one will really know this story... He is a hero. Heroes should not die in obscurity like this. Someone should remember his deeds."
The king tried hard to remember, his mind was in chaos, and his memory was a little blurry.
"I was about the same age as you at that time, and the entire royal family was a loyal believer, but your grandfather was not. He always wanted to break free from these shackles. To this end, he created the Iron Law Bureau and did many strange things. Until one day he was targeted by the Evangelical Church. His actions offended God, and he might be labeled a heretic and eradicated in a few days.
Your grandfather also thought about how to resist. He tried to unite all members of the royal family to resist, but he found that everyone was pursuing different things. Others quite liked to be believers. As long as they prayed, they could enjoy glory and wealth. Why? Want to resist? "
The king tilted his head and looked at Cornel with a smile.
"I remember it was a not too cold night. Your grandfather came to my room. He was not like a king, but like a drunkard. He was talking and crying... I have never seen him like this. He said that the honor he insisted on was to those people the filth of the sewer, and that if he did not break free from it, Gaulonaluo would always be bound to the evangelical church."
"In the end he seemed to have made a decision, and he told me he was going to do something big."
Cornel's heart suddenly became cold as he thought about what that big event was.
"Then as you know, he held a banquet to poison all the discordant voices, purified the will of the royal family, and emptied all power. Under the operation of the Iron Law Bureau, one noble after another Become a beggar.
But this happened later. At that time, I followed the ministers and guards and rushed to the banquet. Among the corpses on the ground, he sat on the throne piled with corpses and drank, with disheveled hair, like a madman. "
As if he had returned to that time, the king's heartbeat could not help but speed up, and that scene appeared in front of his eyes again.
"It's hard for me to describe my emotions at that time. Yesterday I was flirting and playing with the maid, and I was about to go to the tavern for a drink. But suddenly my father went crazy. He killed everyone. The ministers and nobles were watching. I am the only one left in the entire royal family.”
The door was pushed open, and what followed was not a corridor, but a banquet full of blood. On the throne where corpses were piled up, the Mad King looked at the king, crossing time and space, and he smiled with relief.
"At that time your grandfather was looking at me like that. Others said he was crazy and wanted to rush to kill him, but I saw it. Those were a pair of extremely clear eyes...you have the same eyes as his."
The king looked at Cornel.
"He's not crazy at all, he knows what he's doing."
The sweet smell of blood filled the air, and Cornel squeezed the king's hand tightly, as if he wanted to squeeze the last warmth out of this body.
"Do you know about transformation? Sometimes people suddenly transform at a certain moment and become another person wholeheartedly. From a confused and ignorant child to a warrior, they know what they should do and what kind of fight they should fight. battle."
As the cruel memories came into focus, the king continued.
"That was that time for me. I knew for a moment what he was going to do and what I was going to do. Then, under your grandfather's gaze, I drew the guard's sword and ordered everyone to capture him alive.
In the following days I judged his crimes and blamed him for all the mistakes. In order to appease my anger, I executed him with my own hands in front of the people. Except for this memory in my mind, I remembered everything about him. All evidence of its existence was destroyed.
I became the new king, and from then on there was only one voice left in the royal family. "
The king's description was so real that Cornel could feel the king's emotions from the trembling palms.
"I killed my father with my own hands, Cornel Garrel."
He growled lowly, and then asked with a dull look, as if he had lost all his strength.
"Patricide, this is probably the curse of our Garrel royal family."
The empty eyes turned to Cornel's face, and Cornel did not avoid it, and his calm eyes met the king's.
"So are you here to kill me? My son."
Cornell nodded in affirmation.
"Can I hear the reason?" asked the king.
"The war is coming. If we make the slightest mistake, we will be destroyed by the enemy. And as I said before, Gaul Nalone is not united. Everyone has their own interests. All we can do is do our best. A consensus could be reached, allowing them to reluctantly unite.
But I can't do it, I'm not the king, I don't have the ability to command them. "
Cornell's voice was cold. He had already made all the decisions, and nothing could make him waver.
"Father, you are the king of Gaulnaluo now, but you are suffering from illness. If this continues to delay, it will only slow down the efficiency of our war. You may also be coerced by ministers and nobles to make unfavorable actions Our choice.
All I can do is to formally establish the king's power before the war breaks out. Otherwise, if you die during the war, it will be a major blow to our morale, and it may even cause power disputes.
Even if you give up your position to me, your presence may become a flag for those who oppose me. They may use your name to resist me, and even say that you will think that I am wrong in the near future and stop me. "
Countless conjectures have already been conceived in his mind. Cornel returned to the capital this time to kill the king and his father.
"who are you?"
the king asked.
"Gaulnaro."
Cornell replied.
"I'm very curious. Not long ago you were just an ordinary little kid. What changed you? That made you become like this."
The king didn't have the slightest fear, as if death was just a very common thing for him, not worth fearing and having nothing to look forward to.
"A Viking."
Cornell said, looking confused.
"I didn't know him for long, maybe only a few hours? He is a deformity. He doesn't like war. He just wants to find a place to spend his life casually, but he was still involved in this in the end. In the midst of the dispute, it stands to reason that a guy like him should resist fighting, but at the end of his life, this deformed man died like a warrior, interpreting the value of his life.
At first I couldn't understand why he would do this, he did what he hated the most, and he gave his life for it, and he was in pain until he died, but he was willing to do it for the greater good.
I think I understand now that some things have to be done by someone, for ideals and purposes that are neither noble nor dirty. "
"Then have you thought about the price? No matter what the reason is, you will do evil and make mistakes, and such a person will be punished, regardless of whether there are gods or not in this world, this is the same. Are you ready? "
the king asked.
"My grandfather sacrificed himself to get Gaul Nalo. Now I sacrifice myself, what does it mean?"
Cornel said expressionlessly.
"Gaulnaro shall live forever, father."
The king was stunned for a long time, and then he laughed. He patted Cornel's shoulder vigorously, as if admiring him. This continued for a long time before he stopped.
"No, it's not necessary, child. If you do this, your throne will be disputed. Some people will attack you and spurn you. Maybe you will become the next mad king."
"Are you begging for mercy? Hope I can let you live?" Cornell asked.
The king shook his head with a smile, and the next moment his sick face showed a scowl.
"No, I just want to say that you don't have to be a sacrifice."
The king sat up little by little from the sunken hospital bed. Incredible power burst out from his withered and withered arms. He was like a dying man, but the fire of life burned tenaciously, slowly On the ground, he walked out of bed and stood up for the first time in a long time. His figure was a little shaken, but in the end he remained strong and steady.
"My father, your grandfather, he opened the way for me, so now let me open the way for you, Cornel Garrel."
The king put on his dusty robes and put the royal crown on his head.
The hallucination in his eyes finally seemed to dissipate, and the king saw clearly the guy standing behind the door. Curley, who had lost his arm, smiled at him.
"Let me survive for a while, child."
Everything seemed to go back to a long time ago, reminding him of the night before the bloody banquet. He turned around and said to Cornell.
"Now, I'm going to do something big."
(End of this chapter)