Author: Half-wounded but not broken

The capital of the Kingdom of Orion, Silvermoon City.

The city is built on the edge of a huge lake. From here, you can take a boat down the river, go through the valley, bypass the end of the highest mountains, and enter the sea.

A city built on the lakeside is called Silver Moon City because when the area was not yet developed, pioneers once witnessed the moon goddess Su Lun throwing tears of the moon into the lake.

For the common people of Silver Moon City, the biggest news today is not that the king has done something ridiculous again, but that this ridiculous king is finally gone.

As soon as the news came out, there was a lot of discussion. Everyone was more inclined to believe that the king died due to the wind on his horse. Considering his virtue, it was very possible.

But no matter how absurd he is, he is still the leader of a country, and his death will cause many things.

The so-called curfew is to avoid causing any trouble during the power vacuum period when the king dies and the new king takes over.

However, the curfew is basically stated on the surface, and many people are secretly inquiring about information and exchanging opinions. The old people who have benefited want to hold on to their interests, and the newcomers who are eager to climb up want to seize the opportunity. So even if

On the streets that are supposed to be deserted, you will occasionally see many messengers from various nobles and powerful people passing through the shadows.

When a king dies, the ceremony of funeral and succession of a new king begins.

Since the establishment of Silverymoon City is inseparable from the moon goddess Suellen, the religious atmosphere in the city is stronger than that in Brevoir. The funeral of the old king and the succession ceremony of the new king are both responsible for the church.

The temples of Selun, the goddess of the moon, Lathander, the lord of the dawn, and Lyra, the goddess of joy, all sent bishops to enter the palace immediately.

According to the rules, they need to check whether the king died of natural causes, confirm whether there is a will, and then discuss the succession of the new king after hosting the funeral.

The cause of the old king's death was not announced due to face reasons. After all, it was unlikely to be broadcast, and of course no will was found.

The three bishops exercised their sole right to the throne and expelled all royal heirs from the palace and declared a nationwide curfew to avoid any trouble during the king's funeral.

Logically speaking, if there is no will, the eldest son will naturally inherit, but as mentioned before, Orion's situation is a bit complicated, and the second prince is not totally without a chance.

The bishop may also feel a headache and plans to hold the funeral first and then discuss the issue of the new king.

Instead of living in the palace, the princes would not live on the streets. They had villas in the city. And like many nobles who became busy after the death of the king, they were also very busy.

In the second prince's villa, even though the lights were only turned on at the lowest level to express his grief, people were coming and going like a party.

Some people came in person hoping to explore the bottom, while others sent their sons or relatives due to the distance or inconvenience of coming in person.

But soon the dip turned into a squabble.

The reason is naturally because of Princess Miaojie.

The default inheritance rule in this world is that the eldest son inherits, and there is no way for the second child to jump.

Orion's situation is special. The king delegates too much power, which also allows the princes to secretly contact many forces.

About 70% of the hereditary nobles around the second prince are loyal. Among the 11 cities in the country, four cities are willing to support the second prince. This is already a very high proportion.

But in order to win the support of the nobles, the second prince stood on the opposite side of the people.

Due to the hedonism of the old king, corruption in Orion was extremely serious, and he could often get money issued by the treasury by just writing bad checks.

Obviously, after the disappearance of the tyrannical demon king, he no longer had any serious troubles, and his funds should be more abundant. However, Orion has been treading water in the same place for the past twenty years, without any progress at all, because corruption is too serious.

If you eat meat on top, you should also drink soup on the bottom.

Also due to serious corruption, the supervisory department has become ineffective and has long been involved in the grand event. The common people are complaining endlessly about being squeezed.

No wonder the second prince won over the nobility but lost the hearts of the people.

It seems very powerful, but the First Prince is not bad either.

There are only a few nobles who support him, but most of them are well-behaved old nobles. They are indispensable to Orion's ability to persist to this day without an uprising.

There are also four cities that support the First Prince, and coupled with the huge public base, the two sides are almost evenly matched.

This is also why the three bishops have a headache. The two princes have almost the same power. A real quarrel may lead to a split in Orion. In that case, not only will the three bishops be blamed, but the church itself will be humiliated.

The one who broke this balance was Princess Miaojie.

When he heard that she secretly left the city with her guards, the second prince felt that something was wrong. After all, Miaojie was not the kind of wild princess who liked to run outside and play. As expected, she went to get sponsorship for her eldest brother.

They are both brothers. The reason why the distance between them is so obvious is because they are not the same mother.

The first prince and Miaojie's mother were from knightly aristocrats, a group of nobles who were not hereditary and promoted based on merit.

The mother of the second prince came from a hereditary noble family. These hereditary nobles were all the elders who developed the land of Orion.

The two sides disliked each other from the beginning, and the two princes were taught that they should never lose to each other.

So they are obviously brothers who are more than 10 years apart. Miaojie is obviously closer to the eldest brother and disdainful of the second brother.

Miaojie ran out to fight for support from her eldest brother, which was indeed a bit unexpected. After all, in the second prince's impression, Miaojie had never left the palace before.

However, the second prince still thought of the brother-sister relationship to some extent. The people he sent out at first did not want Miaojie's life, but just wanted to scare her and scare her back to the palace.

Who would have known that this princess was so stubborn that she took a boat out to sea when there was no way to go, planning to save the country by taking a curve.

This made the second prince angry, so he ordered to hunt him down.

The group of people quarreling in his villa were all the closest confidants of the second prince, and they also knew that they could not let Princess Miaojie continue to mess around.

But the killers sent were just fake and were beaten into pieces. Many of them were even scared to death by a few adventurers, which made this group of nobles doubt the professionalism of the so-called professional killers.

But they have no right to complain, after all, the dead soldiers they send are just as crappy, and their threat level is not as good as the professional killers who take orders.

As a result, not only did Miao Jie fail to be killed, but Juniper City, which had always been neutral, was pushed to the side of the First Prince.

In fact, the second prince didn't mind the defection of one or two cities. It was a blank promise, and he was also sending people to fight for it. The most troublesome thing was not who the city lord supported, but Miaojie's actions.

Ever since Miaojie left the capital, rumors began to spread that Princess Miaojie personally went to major cities to lobby for the kingdom. Only by letting the first prince become the king can the Orion Kingdom have a future.

The common people didn't know the difference in background between the two princes. They only knew that Princess Miaojie was willing to help the eldest brother to turn her nose up at the second one.

This will have a considerable publicity effect. People did not support the second prince in the first place, and they do not support him now.

What's more, Miaojie herself is also an important weight.

Due to the strong religious atmosphere in Orion, most of the royal family are believers, whether they are pious or not is another matter.

But as soon as Miaojie was born, she was baptized by Su Lun, the goddess of the moon.

Note, it is the baptism of the goddess, not the baptism of the church.

For a long time, some people have believed that Miaojie was the person blessed by Su Lun, the goddess of the moon. Although she was not pious, and although she was not a priest, she held a transcendent status in the church and had a huge influence among believers.

Her gesture of leaning towards the first prince caused the 50/50 balance of power between the two princes to collapse, and this will become more and more obvious as time goes by.

After finally enduring the old king's death, he finally had the opportunity to ascend to the throne. How could he give up so easily?

So the point is not how many cities Miaojie convinced, but her actions.

There is another biggest variable, and that is the military.

The military does not participate in politics. This is clearly written in the country's constitution. However, laws are made by people, and the attitude of the military is also crucial.

From generals to lower-level officers, more than the vast majority of the army is controlled by knights and nobles. The second prince really has no way to win over this part. If the first prince fails to succeed, will he incite the military to stage a coup?

This also has to be guarded against.

There are many things to consider, and it is more difficult to maintain a family business than to expand the territory.

Another reason why the second prince felt a headache was related to the noisy guys in front of him.

They only saw the defection of Juniper City, but they did not see the huge influence of Miaojie herself. The second prince really wanted to point his finger at these people and yell at you, you fat pigs!

The founders of all the river kingdoms were once adventurers or mercenaries, and they developed this barren land into fertile soil with the will to never admit defeat.

Their descendants are naturally the descendants of heroes.

But it has to be said that not all descendants of heroes are heroes.

These people have no self-discipline, are afraid of getting hurt, are afraid of losing face, and are unwilling to get their hands dirty. They will only take away the benefits. When a real crisis comes, they can't come up with any reliable solution except quarreling.

The second prince had heard enough of the noise, so he left a message to take some time in the garden, and left on his own, regardless of whether others heard it or not.

The setting sun shines on the carefully manicured garden, coating it with a golden coat. The water mist from the fountain brings some coolness and dissipates the scorching summer heat wave.

But the second prince was not in the mood to appreciate it. He was closing his eyes and thinking about countermeasures.

At this time, in the shadow behind the second prince, a pair of pale yellow eyes lit up.

"Can the devil's army help me stop Miaojie?"

"Of course, I can help you become the king."

"The premise is that we must cooperate with you, right?"

Joining hands with the devil is a very risky thing. Not to mention that the three major temple forces in the city will definitely explode together. Once exposed, they will become the public enemies of the world.

The story of Brevo was still fresh in my mind. The second prince was neither deaf nor blind, so of course he had heard of it.

Especially considering that the second prince of Brevor died suddenly after that incident, which made the second prince of Orion feel sad, maybe it was the devil who had been running to persuade him.

The prince's hesitation made the owner of the pale yellow eyes very angry. It was really hard to find a guy who was as easy to fool as Randall.

What's more, compared to Randall, this prince's biggest shortcoming is not that he is too smart, but that he is too indecisive.

He couldn't make any decisions quickly, even if it was something as small as what to eat in the morning, he had to hesitate for a few minutes.

This kind of people are more troublesome than fools, because they always consider the cost-effectiveness between the price they pay and what they get, but it is easy to ignore what they really need.

Obviously, the second prince was not qualified to laugh at those nobles.

As I just said, not all descendants of heroes are heroes...
Chapter completed!