Author: Mr. Tai Su

Duke James and others initially thought that Rex would lean towards his nephew, Alex, who had just inspired the bloodline of the Sword of Truth. By then, no matter the strength of the knight or the distance of the blood relationship, David would be able to win without any doubt.

After succeeding to the throne, who knew Gordon would actually come back, which completely disrupted their plan.

Rex knocked on the gavel in front of him, the sound was clear and low, and everyone in the Hall of the Noble House fell silent.

Rex made the sign of the cross on his chest, his face was sad, his eyes were filled with tears, his eyes were shining brightly, and his deep voice echoed in the hall of the House of Representatives.

"Our great King Feltis and His Majesty Crown Prince Patrick were called by the Lord one hour ago. Let us observe silence for them and wish them the favor of the Lord in Paradise Mountain."

James and others all stood up and made the sign of the cross. They lowered their heads and the atmosphere was quiet and sad. Five minutes later, Rex, the Speaker of the House of Nobles, motioned for everyone to sit down. His eyes became tough, he looked around at everyone and spoke.

"Since His Royal Highness Crown Prince Patrick, the first in line of succession of the Kingdom, has also been called by the Lord. He has left no heirs, so according to the law, our House of Nobles will elect a crown prince, and the selection criteria are based on the order of succession and can

Be blessed by the Lord.”

The so-called blessing from the Lord means that the cardinal came to preside over the succession ceremony. Rex did not let the nobles speak, but directly pointed to Gordon next to him and continued.

"The Holm royal family suffered such a blow. It was at this time of crisis that Earl Gordon decided to put his family first, quit the Knights Templar, and returned through the church's teleportation array. He is an eighth-level knight in the prime of life.

And he is of pure Sword of Truth bloodline. Therefore, I propose that he should inherit the throne, and I ask everyone here to vote by a show of hands."

"Wait a moment."

Duke James stood up quickly, interrupted Duke Rex, and asked in a loud voice.

"In this case, according to the law, more than two-thirds of the members must agree, and there must be no objection from the nine dukes before the elected one can inherit the throne. Speaker Rex, is that right?"

Rex stared at James gloomily, with an unkind look on his face. He had long known that the liberal group would not agree so easily, so he explained.

"Yes, that's not right. If all the candidates cannot get more than one-fifth of the votes, there is no need to meet this condition. In an emergency, as long as those who get more than half of the votes can directly obtain the inheritance rights, I believe that is the case now.

In an emergency, the throne cannot remain vacant for a long time."

"Whether it's an emergency or not, you don't have the final say. Everyone needs to vote."

"Now, I recommend a successor, Earl David. He is closer to His Majesty the King. According to the succession order, he is far ahead of Earl Gordon. Moreover, he is also a great knight and inspired the bloodline.

strength."

Duke James did not go up to the stage to speak, but stood directly on the spot, looked around the other nobles, and said loudly.

"I don't think any member of parliament will object to the succession, right? Whoever sets an example first, then when his son or grandson inherits the title, can other more powerful candidates in the family use this as an example?

Stealing the title?"

The order of succession is the basis for ensuring the orderly inheritance of the noble class. All nobles want to leave the title to their direct heirs! If they are powerful, they can snatch it. Then wouldn’t the family have crazy internal strife and kill each other? The family will soon be destroyed.

It will decline and die! This is one of the reasons why the nobles are attached to the church. An independent and powerful church can ensure that no one relies on strength and ignores the law to snatch the title of the family.

A conservative noble stood up at this time, saluted everyone in a gentlemanly manner, glanced at Duke Rex and Duke James, and said.

"The inheritance part of the "Code" clearly stipulates that bloodline ability is the basis of noble status, and strong strength can be used as a reference for succession. I will not go into the specific calculation method. Earl Gordon has the strength of the Sky Knight.

, can be in the same position as Earl David, so the selection of Earl Gordon does not violate the "Code" and will not cause the collapse of the aristocratic order."

"Moreover, Earl David's father is a magician. We have to consider whether he can receive the Lord's blessing."

The speech of this conservative nobleman was concise and to the point, completely disrupting Duke James's offensive.

Earl Haisong stood up with his quill, saluted gracefully before retorting.

"The fact that his father is a magician does not mean that his son is not a devout believer. Earl David has never missed a service and often donates money to the church. Everyone knows his piety. I believe that the Lord can see and be tolerant. In the night watchman team

There are many magicians who have repented and converted, aren't they?"

"And Earl Gordon once joined the Knights Templar. From the perspective of handling things in the future, I find it difficult to believe that he will put the interests of the Kingdom of Holm and the interests of the nobles first. This is not blasphemy to the Lord.

Divine power and royal power need to be separated and cannot be mixed together."

"About this, you don't have to worry. I will definitely look at the issues of the nobility from the perspective of King Holm, and I will never handle matters as a Templar."

Earl Gordon raised his hand, looked at all the nobles, and said very sincerely.

The liberal nobles and conservative nobles stood up one after another, arguing and expressing their opinions. Finally, Rex banged the gavel again and spoke.

"The discussion has ended. Now everyone is invited to vote. If you agree with Earl David, please raise your hands."

The nobles raised their arms sparsely, with more than one-third of the votes cast. Compared with the liberals and conservatives, although they were smaller in number, they were more united.

This result made Duke Rex frown. If it exceeded one-fifth, he would not be able to use the first special clause. He had no choice but to continue speaking.

"Please approve Lord Gordon's show of hands."

One arm was stretched out one by one. Seeing that more than halfway was not a problem, Rex began to think about how to pass the emergency discussion. Suddenly, the raising of the arms stopped and stopped at nearly the halfway position.

Duke Rex was anxious and looked at Duke Sørenfen. He shook his head and said that he would not support a candidate with too strong a church color. As a leader of the conservatives, Duke Sørenfen’s statement

Directly affected a large number of nobles.

Duke James smiled proudly, looked at Duke Rex with penetrating eyes, and said in a deep voice.

"Speaker Rex, it seems we are going to have a long discussion and negotiation."

When Duke Thorenfen hesitated, he was sure to eliminate Earl Gordon from the candidates.

Rex fell silent and looked at the gavel in his hand. Suddenly, he raised his head suddenly and said desperately.

"I propose another candidate."

"Who? Who is higher in the line of succession than Earl David and Earl Gordon?"

Duke Russell expressed his objection and frowned. He couldn't figure out what Rex was thinking at this time and asked quickly.

Rex took his time and looked around the crowd, attracting everyone's attention, and then spoke slowly.

"Countess Violet Natasha Violet, who also inspired the Sword of Truth bloodline, is closer to His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Prince than Earl David, and she is also a powerful Heavenly Knight, a devout

Believers can receive the blessings of the church."

"In terms of blood inheritance, Countess Natasha of Violet is the second in line of succession after His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. She is also a Heavenly Knight and a devout believer, so she is the most reasonable heir to the throne."

Rex's face had firm lines and his eyes were sharp as he stared at all the nobles. Of course, his eyes stayed on the enlightened nobles most of the time.

Duke Russell stood up and shook his head, and they again expressed their objection.

"Speaker Rex, we all know very well about Natasha Violet, but why are we still discussing it?"

"Countess Natasha's mother, Princess Meredith, became a magician and voluntarily gave up her right to inherit the throne, which means her children no longer have this right."

Earl Seapine and Viscount Harrison looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They and others who were clearly leaning towards the Magic Council actually wanted to use magicians as an excuse to object.

At this time, Duke Sollenfen spoke with a serious face, looking at the enlightened nobles, and reminded him.

"If this logic is established, then for example, David will not have the right to inherit. The inheritance rights of the nobility come from the nobility of blood, and they can all enjoy it unless they are expressly deprived of it by the "Code". What Countess Natasha inspired is

The purest Sword of Truth bloodline can directly obtain inheritance rights from His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Duke Rex breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Duke Sollenfen, who had remained neutral, had leaned towards Natasha. This result was what he wanted to see, and he quickly followed up.

"The reason why I just held a meeting to discuss candidates instead of directly letting Her Royal Highness Princess Natasha inherit the throne is because she is currently the only heir to the Principality of Violet. According to Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the inheritance part of the "Code",

If the successor has inheritance rights from other countries and families and cannot be merged, then his or her succession order will be lowered by one level, and will happen to be in the same sequence as David and Gordon."

The Principality of Vaorit is the center of the church's northwest defense system, and the church cannot agree to its merger with the Kingdom of Holm.

"The first two candidates failed to gain unanimous approval, so there is no problem in my proposal to Her Royal Highness Princess Natasha."

"Duke James, Duke Russell, do you have any other reasons for objection? If not, we will have a vote."

For a while, the enlightened nobles could not find a good reason to object. Women's inheritance rights were clearly written into the "Code". Moreover, Natasha became a Sky Knight in her twenties and was expected to be a genius in the future.

, it seems that there is no problem for Natasha to become a candidate for the throne.

Suddenly, Earl Haisong had an idea and remembered something. His face became more confident and he spoke again.

"I heard that Her Royal Highness Princess Natasha likes women. Same-sex love goes against the teachings of the Lord and cannot produce offspring. Such inheritance is meaningless."

"That's nonsense. All the nobles of the Principality of Violet know that Her Royal Highness Princess Natasha likes the legendary epic knight Ivan Viscount Vincent. This relationship was approved by both families. If it weren't for their

They have just come of age and are still unwilling to get married, so Grand Duke Violet is going to get them engaged!"

"If there are no other doubts, let's take a vote."

Duke Thorenfen was the first to raise his hand. He is not as extreme as Rex. He prefers a candidate that can be accepted by the church, parliament and nobles, so as not to cause a split in the nobles, a civil war in the kingdom or a major conflict in the church parliament. That will

Let the entire Kingdom of Holm decline, many cities become ruins, and the victorious nobles will not receive much benefit, and Natasha is undoubtedly a suitable candidate.

The father of Duke Thorenfen is Winston the Night Walker. His appeal among conservative nobles is no less than that of Rex. His raising of hands immediately caused a group of arms to stand up, and then the nobles who supported Rex

They also raised their hands one by one, and soon reached two-thirds of the total number of people.

Duke James and Duke Russell looked gloomy, and were about to use the Duke's right of veto to change the issue to whether it is a state of emergency. This state will involve a series of issues, and the conservatives may not be monolithic.

Suddenly, Viscount Harrison remembered something, picked up a quill, wrote a sentence on the paper, crumpled it into a ball, and quietly passed it to Duke James.

He was worried that he would be overheard by Duke Rex and other golden knights. Duke James carefully unfolded the ball of paper and saw what was written on it.

"The relationship between Her Royal Highness Princess Natasha and Her Excellency Hathaway is closer than we imagined."

Duke James's expression became complicated. After discussing with Duke Russell, he suddenly raised his arms and expressed his agreement. This shocked most of the enlightened nobles, but they still chose to believe them and follow them.

, all raised their hands.
To be continued...