"Where did this parchnt co from?"
The Duke of Bold’s serious gaze slowly withdrew from the parchnt, warily turning to Laino.
Seeing his solemn expression, Laino’s face changed, quickly turning to one of disappointnt:
"By the look of it... everything recorded here, it’s all true?"
The old Duke’s gaze fell upon the maids and servants:
"You may leave."
The maids and servants bowed politely and hurried out.
Only father and son were left in the study.
Laino, with a complex look, watched the Duke of Bold and pursed his lips to ask:
"The Fla Demon Disaster ten years ago... was the Castel family the real mastermind behind it?"
"Did you personally orchestrate the Tulip Count’s rebellion?"
"Tell , is this true? Or is it false?"
Laino pressed each question step by step.
Just as the Duke of Bold was about to answer, Laino added:
"I want to hear the truth."
The Duke of Bold fell silent.
He laid down the parchnt in his hand, let out a light sigh, and countered:
"What if it’s true? What if it’s false? These are all things of the past."
Laino’s face turned ugly in an instant:
"Things of the past? So it’s true... the origin of everything is indeed the Castel family?"
"Is it the Castel family, who guarded the Bold Duchy and were respected by its subjects, that secretly caused the Fla Demon Disaster a decade ago, shattering thousands of families?"
"And the purpose... was for you to regain the ability to conceive?"
"Was it you who plotted the Tulip peasants’ revolt, causing tens of thousands of subjects to beco displaced?"
"Is this what ’Bold’ stands for? Is this what you call the glory of the nobles?"
Listening to Laino’s accusations, the Duke of Bold’s face turned pale and then flushed.
After a mont of silence, he said:
"Laino, what is recorded here is only one side of the story, without evidence."
"Evidence? I’m afraid even if there was evidence, you would have already destroyed it, wouldn’t you?"
Laino sneered.
The Duke of Bold’s expression suddenly darkened:
"Laino, mind your tone and rember who you are! I am your father!"
"But I don’t recall having such a dark father..."
Laino shook his head coldly.
Watching his obstinate stance, the old Duke frowned.
He knew his illegitimate son was stubborn, not responding to force but possibly to gentle persuasion.
At this mont, it seed the wiser choice to speak softly.
With this in mind, the old Duke set the parchnt aside and let out a soft sigh:
"Yes, the Fla Demon Disaster of a decade ago... the Castel family was involved, and I did plan the Tulip Count’s rebellion. But there were reasons for everything."
"Reasons?"
Laino furrowed his brows.
With a deep sigh, the old Duke continued:
"Yes, my child, all of this... was for the future of the duchy, and it was for you."
"I lost the ability to have children long ago, with only you as my son, but no one in the Bold Duchy will acknowledge your birth, everyone only sees Anthony as the heir to the title."
"But from the beginning, I knew that you were more suitable to be the heir of the duchy than Anthony, you are my child, you are the one who should inherit the title!"
"For you, for the future of the duchy, to dispossess the Tulip Count of his rights to the succession, that’s why I engineered the peasants’ uprising in the Count Territory..."
"Just as with the Count Territory uprising, so it was with the Fla Demon Disaster."
Laino couldn’t help but laugh in anger:
"For ?"
"How noble!"
"So many died in the Tulip rebellion, and you dare say it was for the duchy!"
"The Fla Demon Disaster caused such great loss to the Bold Duchy, and you dare say it was for !"
The Old Duke frowned slightly, and spoke indifferently:
"I know this parchnt says that I initially did it to restore my fertility, and I must admit, the person who gave you this paper indeed knows so of the secrets from back then."
"However, that isn’t the complete truth of what happened."
"The truth? At this point, you still want to talk to about the truth?"
Laino spoke angrily.
The Old Duke regained his composure entirely, quietly looking at his illegitimate son and slowly said:
"Laino, do you know how dangerous the Bold family was ten years ago?"
"At that ti, there were four Blazing Suns in the duchy, three of whom were not born into the Bold family, and two of them were from the Castel family..."
"The Star Moon War had ended, the duchy was in need of rebuilding, yet the Castel family was rising daily..."
"Count and Countess Castel were highly prestigious, followed by countless nobles and commoners, many lords of the kingdom ntioned our Bold Duchy only in relation to Castel, not knowing of Bold..."
"Their power was too great, it already threatened our rule over Bold... If allowed to continue developing, the entire Bold would fall into chaos."
"Wait... you an to say..."
Upon hearing the Duke’s words, Laino was slightly stunned.
The Old Duke looked at him deeply and continued:
"Yes, you are thinking correctly."
"Indeed, the Bold did orchestrate the Fla Demon Disaster from behind the scenes. However... the true purpose was to suppress the power of the Great Nobles that had grown out of control..."
"The Castel family was too strong, and they were very close to Anthony, even the Broey family was their close ally..."
"Perhaps during the war, they were the duchy’s arm, but the war has ended, and the duchy does not need so many Blazing Suns."
"We need the hand of the Blood Demon Church, we need the calamity of the Fla Demon Disaster, we need the Drunk Dream Saloon to strike at these increasingly powerful nobles."
Laino was utterly stunned:
"So you secretly instigated Count Broey? So you allowed the Fla Demon Disaster to break out? You watched the Fla Demon Disaster ravage land and allowed the Blood Demon Sect to harm innocent girls, all to eliminate the family that made the greatest contributions to the duchy during the Star Moon War?"
At this point, he suddenly realized sothing, and his face turned ugly:
"Wait... the Drunk Dream Saloon this ti, is it the sa?"
"Did you already know everything? Did you know about the existence of the Drunk Dream Saloon, just waiting to catch everyone at the end?"
The Old Duke paused for a mont, then sighed:
"Is that so bad?"
"If we don’t use the power of the Drunk Dream Saloon, how else can we eliminate those nobles who may not obey your rule in the future?"
"Laino, I know this might be hard for you to accept, but it’s necessary."
"We are Bold, we are the lords of the duchy, we cannot allow any subject to have the power to challenge us."
"Nobles value honor, and by handling it this way, we can appear as saviors in the eyes of our subjects, while also removing a threat."
"If sacrificing a small portion of our subjects can secure the duchy’s long-term peace, isn’t that a good thing?"
Laino stared at the Old Duke, as if looking at a stranger:
"Mad!"
"You... you must be mad!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)