I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

105 – Previous (1)

“Are you all talking?!”

“…”

The atmosphere of Seonghwangcheong cannot be said to be good even with empty words. No, that’s the worst

Originally, it is impossible to determine the outcome of a war in just one year. Even if you shut yourself up in the castle and stay still, you can easily pass two years.

However, the civil war of the Holy Empire was not like that. The nobles of the Holy Empire were often tied to each other by blood ties with the nobles of the neighboring provinces, so if things went wrong, they often surrendered.

No matter how devout aristocrats are, there is no way they would join in killing their in-laws and relatives. In the first place, isn’t it completely the same as the main school, except for a part of the reformist group that is called heresy? In fact, there is no problem even if it is not a heresy, but simply a reforming force that arose out of dissatisfaction with the current Canaanism, but the nobles cannot understand why they are going this far.

Of course, if the religious conflict escalated to the extreme, the story would change completely, but before that, the war broke out too hastily. Although the cause of the civil war was heresy, it was the ignorance and greed of foreign powers that pulled the trigger, so nobles naturally had no choice but to put more weight on blood ties than religious beliefs.

There were, of course, many aristocrats who were deeply religious, but aristocrats belonged to the secular world, not the clergy. If the nobility weighed the afterlife and the present world, of course they had no choice but to lean toward the present world, and since the atrocities of the temple forces spread throughout the empire, the number of nobles who cooperated with the temple forces decreased day by day.

“Only one year, one year!”

The outlines of the war’s victory and defeat began to emerge in one year. As a result of the defeat of the forces of the temple.

The nobility of the holy empire who belonged to the holy war faction often slowed down or attempted sabotage, and the common people did not understand that they had to kill them even at the cost of their lives.

No matter how much the clergy scold them for heresy, the people only bowed their heads on the outside and remained cynical on the inside. The tyranny of the church was felt more directly by the people than anyone else.

The holy war forces that had entered the enemy territory with hostile ruling powers and hostile public sentiment had no choice but to be helplessly defeated. It was normal for guides hired nearby to go round and round to their destination, and requisition was impossible because there were no goods at all, and the nobles, who were obviously on the same side, were hesitant and turned the troops into a turtle, all kinds of disasters befell the crusade forces.

Of course, there are still aristocrats who are friendly to the temple faction, and there are many church spirits who generally show infinite loyalty to the Holy Emperor, but they are a minority and the people under them have not changed, so they did not have a big impact on the civil war. .

The temple, like other temples before it, was falling into ruin. Of course, you can hold out for at least two more years, but the end is only ruin for anyone to see.

“Even, isn’t the King of Rotaring too self-indulgent?! Do you think it makes sense that you can’t even rebuke such self-indulgence in this place, the center of pious faith?!”

Of course, war cannot be guaranteed to be won, so if you hypnotize yourself that it was inevitable, you can preserve your mentality.

However, Claude’s actions so far can’t be like that. Wasn’t it inevitable?

Rejecting Seonghwangcheong’s offer, accepting a sinner’s offer, forming a mercenary group against the holy war, violating God’s command not to have multiple wives, breaking the commandment not to receive interest.

I couldn’t properly make it a problem that everyone should pay attention to Rotaring.

In other words, Seonghwangcheong, who had to pursue true faith, banged his head against the secular ruler for secular circumstances.

Of course, the first two were received flatly by Seonghwang himself in exchange for the establishment of the Archdiocese, but Seonghwang, who was filled with anger, couldn’t think of anything like that.

“This, profit…!”

“His Holiness!!”

Seonghwang, who had been angry alone in silence for a long time, could not control his anger and fainted.

The surprised priests and attendants hurriedly rush at the Holy Emperor, but the Holy Emperor just wheezes and breathes heavily.

The body of the old Seonghwang could no longer bear the many things that had happened during the past year.

…………

“My lord, this is a personal letter from King Rotaling.”

“…Thank you.”

To hear a letter from Rotaling arrive within a few days after His Holiness passed out… What a coincidence.

Fortunately, it’s a shame because I was representing His Holiness, but it’s fortunate that His Holiness wouldn’t have been able to respond properly if he had received this.

It would be better if this personal letter didn’t contain proposals that could completely destroy my future.

“Whoa…”

The cardinal, who is in charge of Seonghwang’s duties, sighs and carefully opens his personal letter.

Because he has a lot of realistic sense, he is well aware that the current situation is too precarious.

‘I hope that the solution to the current situation is written.’

The current state of Canaanism is literally a house of sasang.

If even a little too much shock is applied, the authority of faith will fall endlessly and roll to the floor.

‘Agreeing with the dethroned emperor could prevent such a catastrophe, but due to the political situation in Seonghwangcheong, such a thing is impossible at all costs. Then, as an alternative, we should work with the Rotaring Bureau, which is closely related to that empire.’

For example, will the Rotaring function as a breakwater for heresy, or will it function as a sword that slashes heresy? Like this.

The cardinal who served as Seonghwang’s deputy thought so and read his letter.

“…?”

What is this?

A solution to the current situation is clearly written. But this…

‘…Are you insane?’

The Kingdom of Rotaring will help the expansion of Canaanism in Korea, which means suppressing the conversion of heretical heretics and establishing minor theological schools. Also, are you willing to mediate peace negotiations with the Empire…?

There was a lot of chatter, but to summarize the main point, it can be summarized like this.

Well, suggestions are fine. This is no different from the King of Rotaring’s affirmation that true faith does not disappear in Rotaling, and it is almost the only way to reach an agreement with the emperor without losing the prestige of faith. The only country that did not participate in the holy war was Rotaring, so the emperor would not accept the mediation of other countries.

‘However, he only briefly mentioned a few lines about the sins he had committed, but did not offer a sincere apology.’

But other than that, everything is just annoying. There are things that should be there and things that should not be.

According to the contents of the letter, King Rotaring called Orthodoxy the name of Canaanism.

In other words, this means that King Rotaring regards that heresy and true faith as equals, and behind this act, he is implicitly threatening to become a heretic if he is wrong.

Is King Rotharing crazy? How could a writer who knew very well the character of His Holiness, who was devout, write in this way?

If His Holiness hadn’t collapsed, reading this letter would have meant a catastrophe… Wait.

“…Look at me.”

“Yes, Your Excellency Cardinal.”

“Who is this letter from?”

“Yes? It came to His Majesty the Cardinal.”

“That’s why the country is asking whether it came from an individual or from a position called Seonghwang.”

“Oh, that’s His Eminence Cardinal himself.”

…Huh.

Somehow, I thought it was too strange for a letter to His Holiness.

King Rotaring secretly tried to negotiate with me at Seonghwangcheong, who is famous for having a broader worldly perspective than the other brothers.

If His Holiness had been in good health, he would have been sweating over persuasion.

If you roughly manipulate the contents of the letter to make it more conciliatory, and then explain King Rotaling’s offer to the brothers, they will be accepted with a very high probability. This useless war must end quickly.

‘…It’s all good, but I’m a little nervous.’

It wasn’t long after I took over as assistant manager of Seonghwang that this letter came. Are there any coincidences that fit so tightly?

Of course, looking at the distance between Seonghwangcheong and Rotaring, it should be seen as a mere coincidence, but it still fits so well that I feel a bit uneasy.

Umm… Well, it’s an open secret that each country planted a spy in Seonghwangcheong, and it didn’t hurt, so let’s move on for now.

Because whether it’s a coincidence or not, what I have to do doesn’t change.

“Look, summon the State Council tomorrow. It’s such an important matter that if there isn’t a cardinal who fits the position, we’ll have to leave him out.”

“Yes, yes!!”

Seeing the cardinal’s strange behavior, the attendant tilts his head and asks questions, but soon wakes up at the firm tone of words that come out of his mouth and hurriedly leaves the office.

Generally, Seonghwang’s deputy should not actively do anything, but the main goal is to maintain the status quo, but that fact is not important to him now.

‘I have to finish all the work before His Holiness wakes up.’