"The stupid His Majesty, Francis IV?" Jiang Li"s pupils dilated as surprise became barely concealed from his face.The youth found it unbelievable that the highest person of this kingdom went out it in the middle of the dark to see somebody like him instead of getting comfy with his beloved royal consort. Was he so free? And with no regard for his life?
As he could see it, there was not a single general accompanying him, and while the knights were stronger than the ones in Agatha"s place, they were still not enough of a deterrence. Even the sickly him from the G.o.ddess" world could still take out all of them in a minute. Not to mention right now the body he was using was trained and healthy.
"d.a.m.n, he"s a goat, indeed. Every country has spies from other monarchs, and probably with them are some a.s.sa.s.sins too. Even now, I can feel some malicious auras in the dark. Yet he dares come out with just these few to secure his safety. Should I commend him for being blindly confident in his people or himself just because he hailed from somewhere under an Angel of War?"
He was really speechless.
For a minute, he wondered who did Margarette owe her intelligence and knack for business and ruling from.
"Good evening, Your Majesty." After collecting his thoughts, he greeted without bowing. He continued with no whatsoever hint of respect or awe in his tone, "It"s almost midnight. Your Majesty should be in your chamber with your queen or consort. May I know how and for what reason did I gain the honor of a king like you looking for me?"
Given such an att.i.tude, what else would he get from the people nearby? His deed naturally elicited discontent from the proud knights accompanying the king. Serving Francis IV and being the king"s escort was the greatest honor for them so they felt violated as they laid eyes on someone disrespecting their liege.
"Boorish, illiterate, and foul-mouthed!" Jiang Li heard the insulting remarks from the back, and he was lazy to check who it was. "Why are you not yet kneeling in the presence of His Majesty!?"
"I never kneel even to my parents." The youth laughingly said.
"Then would you rather I teach you how to bend your knees?" The knight next to the king coldly queried.
"As an act of kindness towards a fool like you, let me remind you that you are in no position to question anyone here or speak without being permitted to, you blasphemous believer of the Fallens! Kneel!"
The big guy was standing on the right side of the person who was dressed like a regular n.o.ble, with no crown or scepter on his person for an obvious reason.
Jiang Li did not appreciate being trapped there with literal man-made walls as he couldn"t go after the girl who had left. But he certainly hated being interrogated more. As they said, prideful men hated being neglected and treated like air. This was why after giving the captain of the knights a stern glare, he ignored him and turned to the king and deliberately asked using the same tone he used earlier, "So yeah, how I may be of service to His Majesty?"
The loud-mouthed knight that had been deliberately neglected became furious and wanted to yell at Jiang Li, but a hand rose from his left and he knew it was the king who did this.
An odd smile could be seen from the face of Francis IV.
"I am but a simple man so I prefer no physical fights if words could do the job. Allow me to extend my greetings to you, Mr. James. How about we find a place to hold our conversation? I"m sure you would prefer a better spot rather than this lonely and dark street."
"Well..." Jiang Li was about to say he was busy when another person cut him off.
"Your Majesty…" Anxiously, a soft melodious voice from behind resounded, and Jiang Li was not surprised to find it was Agatha. "We have to get this done before the people in the palace realize we"re not there."
"As expected, it"s the villainess." He secretly clicked his tongue.
He figured there should be a reason why this location was visited personally by the king and that it could only be because there was a witch loathing him and Margarette who could easily pillow talk to Francis IV.
Another odd thing was how one of the knights referred to him as a blasphemous believer of a Fallen Angel, which translated to a witchcraft pract.i.tioner. How else would this bunch know about this?
It seemed the villainess did not appreciate his effort.
"My king." Jiang Li heard the woman softly reminded the king, "Please don"t forget that we are here to capture him."
"I wonder why the royal consort hates me," he coldly chuckled.
The woman"s eyes flickered with resentment.
Her eyes were seemingly speaking to him, "Are you really asking that?"
Agatha obviously could not stand being grounded and pushed around by the couple anymore so she risked telling her beloved king about their ident.i.ty, hoping to see them in the gallows. She was very vengeful and the appearance of the prince from Borley also gave her the urgency to do some cleanup.
Wanting the pair to be gone for good, she was thinking if the coven couldn"t deal with them, then the royal army or knight platoons should be able to. Or in actuality, the orthodox laws reinforced by the crown and one of the churches should be able to.
"Your Majesty, the envoy from the Borley Kingdom has specially made a request for help and the great artifact from their side has already verified what the blasphemer looks like. It also pinpointed this location."
With ferocious eyes, the royal consort looked at Jiang Li, and her tone was the complete opposite of her tone earlier.
"There"s no doubt it is him. The power of the G.o.ds and the Pope of Penemue have said it all. If he could even do that to a church, then he is a threat to sovereignty! Any time soon, he might incur the wrath of the G.o.ds. There"s no telling if our kingdom won"t be struck by their divine hands if he stays here! He should be arrested as soon as possible to be sent to the royal envoy from Borley!"
Her lady-in-waiting saw the signs and nodded at the captain of the knights who then went to say in a thunderous voice, "We have pieces of evidence testifying that you, Mr. James, has posed as a fake messenger of the Temple of Penemue. We have also confirmed the Viscount"s daughter kidnapped by you. Your resistance is futile! You have to come with us and face the consequences of your actions!"
Jiang Li"s bored eyes never left the king.
"Your Majesty," Confronted with various accusations, he called out with seriousness lacing his tone. "It"s bad to listen to only one side in a trial. The accused should be given rights to speak and prove an allegation wrong."
"Hmm, you"re right," replied Francis IV with a nod. "But if proofs against the accused are pa.s.sed down from the Church of Wisdom, then it"s another matter altogether. It"s universally known that the believers of Penemue, especially the Pope, never lie or spread made-up stuff. The G.o.ddess of Wisdom never makes nor tolerates false notions."
Jiang Li was stunned for a moment before he chuckled and shrugged, "If so then there"s nothing I can do but admit defeat. I am but a single person while the other is a church or even a G.o.ddess. But as I am sure that the royal consort has told you so much about me, so I will just take this chance to make you aware. It"s already a great show of respect for me to continue letting you all stand…"
"Preposterous!"
The enraged commander waved a hand and a second later, everyone else was raising their lances and swords towards him, killing intent pouring from all directions. It was evident none of them liked Jiang Li"s behavior.
"It seems it"s true that no criminal and guilty won"t admit to their crimes right off the bat and they would first deny or say something ridiculous, before protesting and running away when presented with proofs."
A step behind the man, next to the monarch was Agatha whose eyes flashed with glee upon seeing that the youth was digging his own grave. He wants to go against more than a dozen powerful knights that could fight toe to toe against magicians? Good that he was being stupid then. She wanted to see him die from the knights" collective attacks!
Her beautiful eyes went to the man standing on her left. From the beginning, she knew his words were all that mattered today and she was waiting for him to issue the order to detain the man. All it would take was a single order and even those guarding from the shadows would join the fray.
"Come on, my beloved king. Please, say it..." she softly, and almost inaudibly, whispered.
As Agatha imagined her wish coming true, she heard Jiang Li spoke again, "Well, I was about to raise two choices to you guys, make way or fight. I didn"t expect the answer will be this quick..."
"But are all you really sure about this?"
Francis IV, the middle-aged regal king with military air surrounding him, stared at Jiang Li for some time. The tension was filling the night air and the royal concubine"s heartbeat was racing. Probably from observing for quite a while, Francis IV noticed that the youth was not really concerned about the number of weapons pointed at him. Because of this, the king shook his head before he calmly told everyone, "The coldness outside is making me uncomfortable. Stop raising your weapons and escort me somewhere I can talk peacefully with this gentleman."
The faces of the majority changed.
"What? His Majesty"s not going to punish him despite my report and his act of disrespect?" The expectant look from Agatha also froze, turning into disbelief. Her expression suggested she felt betrayed just now and in her head, she kept questioning if she had heard correctly.
After nodding to the king, Jiang Li cast the woman a meaningful glance.
...
The two were ushered in a clean but simple activity room on the west side of a mansion in the same area which was secretly owned by the royal family.
The youth was quite impressed by the majesty of the other when he kept the persistent knights and villainess outside.
However, his mind, which never forgot his primary concern, was still following Margarette. Since he wanted to see for himself what she had been up to lately, he wanted to finish the matter quickly.
"Your Majesty, pardon me for being a boy with no whatsoever gift of the gab. So what is it that you wanted to negotiate with me to not order my capture per your favorite woman"s request?" he asked.
If this had been somebody else, his head would have been cut off already for his disrespectful tones and words. It was a good thing the king seemed to be not after Jiang Li"s imprisonment or death. And in actuality, he seemed to be not the kind of foolish ruler people was making him out to be. Well, it was still true Francis IV didn"t make the best decision to seek him out with only that bunch to protect him.
Jiang Li tilted his head, waiting for the other"s response.
The king whose eyes were s.h.i.+ning with suppressed glee suddenly gave him a slight smile. Francis IV greeted, "How do you do, Mr. James?"
"Not in the best mood, I guess?" Jiang Li answered, not hiding his distaste for being put in an encirclement earlier.
Apologetically, the seemingly amicable monarch said, "Well, I can guess why and I perfectly understand that everyone put in that situation will feel the same. My excuse for that is that I was simply making an opportunity for us to meet and speak in private. About my daughter."
With arched up brows, the youth amusedly replied, "Is that why you want to talk to me? And in the middle of the night even? Sorry, I think the one Your Majesty should bother is Andre Grey. I don"t know much about the d.u.c.h.ess because I don"t care about her."
"But so do I."
Jiang Li"s left brow arched up. He didn"t know whether to take it as the king just being heartless. It didn"t make sense because the man just said earlier that he came to him for his daughter, which was technically the d.u.c.h.ess. Unless the middle-aged guy meant something else...
"Here." The young man watched as the other pulled out something from nowhere which was then laid down on the table.
It was a card. Jiang Li involuntarily furrowed his brow upon seeing the image drawn on it.
He gazed into the king"s eyes, deeply wondering what a picture depicting a burning castle had to do with the king looking for him to speak about his previously ignored princess.