1.
For Count Martil, he was now truly in a difficult situation where he was riding a tiger and couldn't get off.
After weighing the pros and cons, the count finally made a ruthless decision and bet all his chips on the strategy of full-scale attack.
At this moment, there was no hope of retreat. Once he chose to back down, everything that the Martil family had painstakingly accumulated over hundreds of years in Thorsburg would vanish like a dream in an instant.
Although the Martil family had intricate connections with the noble aristocrats residing in the capital, it was, after all, not a member of that group of noble aristocrats. The Martil family had always belonged to Thorsburg and was rooted in the southern land of France. Thorsburg was like the fertile soil that nourished the growth of the Martil family. This family was like a big tree that had taken deep root to thrive and flourish. If it left this soil on which it depended for survival, the whole family would be like floating leaves, swaying precariously in the wind and rain. Without the roots and the support of the trunk, how could those leaves last long?
Now, there was truly no way to retreat.
If the heir to the lord standing in front of him was a kind-hearted and lenient young man with the same temperament as the old Count Meding, perhaps there would still be room for negotiation and compromise between the two sides, and perhaps there would still be the possibility of withdrawal and avoidance.
However, the reality was not so. The young man in front of him obviously could not accept the compromise conditions he offered. Once this young man gained a firm foothold in Thorsburg, he would surely uproot the Martil family without mercy and then use a raging fire to burn down this family tree that had already taken deep root and spread its branches in Thorsburg.
Count Martil seemed to have already seen the tragic end of the family's descendants. They were drowned in blood one after another; he also seemed to have seen the ancestral house of the family, which had a history of hundreds of years and had stood there long before Thorsburg was established, burning fiercely in the fire and turning into ruins; he also seemed to have seen in a corner of the slum, the descendants of the Martil family fighting and killing each other for a piece of dry bread, and beside them were numerous graves that didn't even have tombstones.
The count knew very well in his heart that all this was highly possible, and this was the miserable end that awaited after failure.
Count Martil had never thought that he would have a day of failure. After all, in his opinion, it was too absurd. Behind him, there was a huge force as support. The great figure who was truly manipulating everything behind the scenes had far more power than a small lord like Count Meding. The reason why that great figure didn't directly intervene in this matter was only to maintain his good reputation.
What's more, the descendants of the Meding family, in his eyes, were not brave and fearless fighters at all. They were more willing to hold a quill pen and engage in literary pursuits rather than pick up swords and fight bravely. Dealing with such enemies, in his opinion, there seemed to be no possibility of failure.
However, who could have expected that all of a sudden, everything had changed dramatically.
Out of nowhere, such an heir to the lord had emerged.
If this young man was just a clumsy impostor with poor acting skills, that would be okay.
But he happened to have excellent acting skills, successfully deceiving the eyes of most people and winning their support and allegiance.
Even so, at first, Count Martil wasn't too worried. After all, the main power in Thorsburg was still firmly in his hands, and he had a huge force as a solid backer behind him. Even if this impostor was allowed to sit on the lord's seat, it didn't seem unacceptable. At worst, he could be made a puppet with only an empty title.
However, even if this young man was only a nominal lord, it was by no means a situation that Count Martil could accept. He didn't think he was that magnanimous. What he would rather see was that this impostor was exposed in front of everyone, and at the same time, taking this opportunity to severely suppress those families that had once supported this impostor.
Because of this, all the secret actions that the count had previously planned were carefully prepared around how to expose this fraud.
However, he never expected that the development of the situation would become so unfavorable to him.
He never expected that the enemy he faced was neither a clumsy impostor full of flaws nor a group of despicable impostor gangs, but a sinister alliance composed of conspirators and killers.
Count Martil began to be afraid, and quite afraid.
Since many of his subordinates were successively killed, the shadow of fear had been lingering over his heart.
Compared with him, his opponents were obviously more unscrupulous, and their means were shockingly cruel and violent.
Those people, it was too feeble to describe them with the word "cruel". Just by looking at their act of tearing people into pieces alive, one could deeply feel that they had an almost insane obsession with blood and were extremely bloodthirsty.
And now, Count Martil had to face these bloodthirsty enemies with a stiff upper lip, but he had no idea what kind of fate awaited him. This fear of the unknown, which was always by his side, was truly the most terrifying.
Count Martil tried his best to dispel the overwhelming sense of fear in his heart. After a great deal of trouble, he finally managed to calm himself down with great difficulty.
After all, he still held an "ace" in his hand that could turn the situation around and a trump card.
He believed that he still had a way to prove that this young master Ivan was actually an impostor.
However, although this trump card did have a certain effect, in the eyes of most people, using such means was really against nature and human ethics and was too immoral. Once such a method was adopted, I'm afraid he would immediately become the target of public criticism and be spurned and fiercely attacked by everyone.
Therefore, as long as there were other feasible ways, he would try his best not to use this means and wanted to avoid this kind of practice that would arouse public anger.
Originally, he was quite confident that he could collect other evidence.
Previously, he arranged for people to secretly monitor Mr. Hyde and all the related people, and this operation did indeed obtain a lot of intelligence information for him.
However, it was helpless that there was very little truly valuable and useful content in this intelligence. The reason was that the people he sent to carry out the surveillance task were also under the strict surveillance of the other party. Every move was seen by the other party, and it was basically difficult to obtain key and effective content.
What's more, time was too short. Before this, he didn't even know that there was such a person as Lord Hyde in the world.
However, who could have expected that after that, the other party directly massacred all the forces under his control with extremely cruel means, which was extremely heinous.
Although two weeks was a rather desperate short period, it was not completely fruitless.
The person named Audrey had shuttled back and forth between South Port and Thorsburg several times, and his tracks were extremely mysterious and suspicious, full of a strange feeling that was difficult to figure out.
When in South Port, this person's actions were particularly secretive. He sneaked in and out of the Bairdit family many times and also transported a large number of oil paintings.
Now thinking back, Count Martil couldn't help but feel annoyed. How could he have been so careless and not paid attention to this matter at that time? There must be some unknown secrets hidden in those oil paintings. It was just that he didn't notice it at all at that time.
In addition, Audrey also secretly brought two people to Thorsburg.
One of them was the most famous and highest-priced prostitute in South Port. Thinking about it carefully, it was not difficult to understand. It was heard that at least one thing about this young master Ivan was exactly the same as the real Ivan Bairndit, that is, both of them were out-and-out playboys in the eyes of everyone. From this perspective, sending a prostitute to such a playboy as a plaything seemed to be a rather "suitable" arrangement, but this practice was really not decent.
And the other person seemed to be the butler of the Bairdit family. After that tragic massacre, the body of this butler was not found. At that time, Count Martil secretly thought that this person might have escaped by a fluke and survived.
If this butler could be found, it would undoubtedly be a very convincing and powerful piece of evidence. Maybe he could turn the tables with it.
Unfortunately, the people on the other side were much faster and more ruthless than him.
Those dozens of corpses lying in disorder and the extremely bloody and terrifying killing methods had a devastating effect. Not only did all the forces he had painstakingly accumulated disappear in an instant, but also those people who were willing to work for him as long as the price was right and there was profit to be made now also avoided him like the plague, for fear of getting involved with him and bringing disaster upon themselves.
Seeing that there was really no other available evidence, it seemed that he could only use that trump card, although this was the situation he least wanted to see.
Count Martil hesitated for a long time and struggled constantly in his heart. Finally, he gritted his teeth and made a ruthless decision. He simply decided to go all out, regardless of facing the situation of being condemned by thousands of people.
The count took a deep breath and took a big step forward. This step, seemingly ordinary, was actually to boost his courage. Then he cleared his throat and said loudly: "Dear gentlemen, ladies, and misses, today is really a crucial and extremely grand day. At this moment, the young heir of the Meding family is standing in front of all of us. If his pure bloodline can be proved beyond doubt, then he will naturally become the new lord of our land and shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading everyone."
"Count Martil, there is no doubt about this. We have carefully checked all the relevant documents before. All kinds of documents are complete, and authoritative appraisal experts have also been specially invited to verify. The experts have also verified the authenticity of these documents. This is an established fact." Count Fesnan immediately responded, with an unshakable firmness in his tone.
"Of course, I can fully imagine that. There is no doubt that those documents are authentic and reliable, and I don't deny that. But I'd like to ask you all, what substantial content can these documents actually prove? If these documents were in my hands at this moment, would you all easily believe that I am the son of Miss Lisa? Obviously, this is extremely absurd, don't you think so?" Mr. Martil immediately retorted, with a hint of aggressiveness in his words.
"You are questioning the identity of Mr. Ivan, right?" Count Fesnan frowned and asked directly.
"Yes, I'm not just simply questioning. I even have solid evidence that can prove that Mr. Ivan is not the son of Miss Lisa at all. The real Mr. Ivan Bairndit unfortunately passed away in that terrible plague seven years ago. This is an absolute truth." Count Martil raised his voice and declared excitedly, looking as if he was already sure of victory.
"Count Martil, you should think carefully about what you are questioning! Your words have really insulted the reputations of several noble gentlemen. Take the respected butler of the Bairdit family, for example. He is undoubtedly the one whose reputation has been damaged the most. Your questioning is equivalent to questioning his loyalty and his precious dedication. Moreover, insulting the dead is an extremely serious crime and also an extremely despicable act that people despise. After all, the dead have passed away and can no longer defend themselves."
"Secondly, you have also insulted Lord Hyde. You have questioned his wisdom and slandered his honesty and reliability. You should know that for an outstanding diplomat, wisdom and honesty and reliability are his most precious treasures and the foundation for him to settle down and be respected."
"Finally, your words are equivalent to insulting all of us present. What you imply is as if you described us all as deaf and blind, completely ignoring those verified documents and facts. Count Martil, if you can't provide sufficient and convincing evidence to support the reasons you mentioned, then I will propose that all the nobles in Thorsburg vote to impeach you. At that time, you will have to be responsible for your words and deeds." Count Fesnan became more and more excited as he spoke, and his face flushed slightly with anger.
"Insult? I have never insulted anyone! Take that butler as an example. Has anyone seen his body with their own eyes? As far as I know, he is still alive in this world. Moreover, he is not a loyal and reliable gentleman at all. As long as you carefully check the financial account books he managed on behalf of others, you can easily find many flaws in them. As for Lord Hyde, in my opinion, he is a liar, an out-and-out and absolute liar, and also a highly skilled liar. And this young master Ivan is the liar among liars, the most successful liar I have ever seen, who has deceived everyone around. Why, don't you believe it? Do you want to see the evidence? Well, I'll show you the evidence right now." While speaking, Count Martil slowly took out a delicate small box made of gold wire from his arms with a pretence of calmness.
He carefully opened the box. On the scarlet velvet cushion inside, there lay a grayish-white, rather irregularly shaped cylindrical object, which was a bit creepy to look at.
Count Martil held the box in both hands and raised it high, saying with a slightly smug look on his face: "Everyone, please look. Here is the evidence! This is a phalanx bone taken from Miss Lisa's body. Everyone should have heard of the blood kinship identification ceremony. Archbishop, as a powerful and highly respected clergyman like you, you should be able to preside over such a ceremony. As long as some blood is taken from this young master Ivan and through this ceremony, it can clearly prove whether the blood flowing in his body is related to the Meding family or not. Then, the truth will be revealed to the world."
Hearing what Count Martil said, most of the nobles present were stunned at first and couldn't fully come to their senses for a while. The whole scene instantly fell into an unusual silence, as if time had frozen at this moment.
Only to hear Archbishop Montild angrily rebuke: "Mr. Martil, your act is really too much. This is simply the act of a devil! You not only wantonly insulted the reputation of the dead, but also blatantly desecrated the dignity of the dead and even damaged the remains of the dead. Such a crime is absolutely unforgivable. What right do you have to prevent the dead from resting in peace? Even wild dogs on the roadside know that flesh and blood returning to the earth is the law of nature, and bones should never be damaged. But what you have done now is even worse than a wild dog."
The archbishop's words instantly ignited the anger of everyone in the church, making them filled with righteous indignation. In their hearts, Miss Lisa was like an angel descending to the mortal world. Her death had already made people extremely sad. Now, someone had hurt Miss Lisa's bones for such a despicable purpose. This was an act that was completely unacceptable and an unforgivable evil.
Many nobles, including Viscount Terbo, all had angry looks on their faces and approached Count Martil menacingly. In their opinion, perhaps stabbing this despicable villain directly through the heart with a sword would be considered a merciful way. For a person with so many evil deeds like him, being tied to the stake and burned was the most appropriate punishment.
Count Martil had expected this. Seeing that the situation was not good, he quickly retreated to the side of the young man.
"Enough, stop!" The young man exuded a powerful and intimidating aura and shouted angrily.
The angry shout was like a resounding bell, echoing and lingering in the air above the church for a long time.
The young man slowly scanned the gradually approaching nobles with his cold and sharp eyes like a hawk.
The deafening rebuke, combined with his intimidating stare, made the enraged nobles suddenly feel a sense of fear in their hearts, and their steps involuntarily paused.