[ three hours before the bishop’s vote. ]
Rosa crushed the secret letter in his hand angrily and smashed it on the ground. The secret letter was sent by Richelieu through a secret channel. The seal and handwriting on it were written by Richelieu himself, however, the contents of the letter made him a little angry. This old thing actually made him support the new pope with all his might? Just that Little Apprentice Knight was qualified to be the Pope? ! Had Richelieu lost his mind? !
He wished that he could find Richelieu right now and question him face to face. However, what made him furious was that not only was he unable to see Richelieu, but such an important piece of news was directly released to the public!
In this way, even if he joined hands with the other bishops to oppose this matter, it would also cause the Holy See to lose face. After all, this was a major matter like the succession of the Pope. If it was reversed repeatedly, not only would it cause the public to discuss.., it’ll be a joke to all sides.
However, at this point, he does not care so much.
“Contact the other bishops immediately. I suspect there is something fishy about this. We must not elect a new pope so easily before we meet His Holiness,”Rosa said to the butler beside him, his eyes dark.
Butler looked at his face full of Haze, dare not say more, nodded quietly promised.
“I don’t believe that the other cardinals would tolerate a nameless brat as the Pope!”Rosa thought to himself. As one of the eight cardinals, he was already in his early 70s this year, in terms of seniority, he was considered an elder among the Cardinals. He thought that when Richelieu abdicated, he would be one of the most powerful competitors. But now, he had directly destroyed all of his hopes.
In order to wait for the day Richelieu abdicated, he had secretly laid down his chess pieces twenty years ago, preparing for the arrival of that moment. However, this moment had come too quickly and caught him off guard, leaving him completely unprepared, moreover, he had directly skipped the voting segment and swept him out of the game!
He really could not swallow this resentment. After more than twenty years of careful management, he was now facing a situation where he would lose the entire game.
“Old Man, what are you planning? Damn it!”Rosa clenched his fists and hammered the table. The wooden table immediately cracked.
At this moment, footsteps came from outside the room again. Rosa turned his head and saw that the butler who had left earlier had returned. A hint of anger flashed across his face, “Why are you back? Hurry up and go. If you miss the time, I’ll take your head!”
“Aiya...”
A mocking voice came from behind the butler. The next moment, the butler’s body fell to the ground. He was dead.
Rosa’s pupils constricted. He looked at the wizard-like figure in a black robe behind the butler. His expression changed slightly. He said with a cold gaze, “The dark church? How dare you come to me. Are you here to die?”
Although he said that, his palm quietly moved behind his back and touched the hidden alarm line under the table.
After all, the latter was able to break into his castle and was still so fearless. It was most likely that he came with ill intentions.
The black-robed man said with a smile, “Let me introduce myself first. I am an elder of the fifth district. You have given me a good title, Ghost. I quite like it.”
Rosa said with a cold face, “I know you. You were lucky enough to escape from the Battle of Red Castle eight years ago, but you still dare to appear in front of me today. You are quite brave!”
“I was bullied by you when I was outnumbered. Today, I want to experience the feeling of being bullied by outnumbered.”The black-robed man clapped his hands with a smile. Suddenly, the sound of wind was heard from several broken lattice windows in the room, with a few bangs, the glass windows were smashed. A few figures jumped into the room and landed in the middle of the room. They seemed to form a triangle and surrounded Rosa.
Rosa’s expression changed slightly when he saw this. He touched the finger under the table and hooked it. However, he found that the dark line was loose. This meant that the line had been cut short!
He had an ugly expression. He did not expect that his heavily guarded home would be infiltrated by the other party unknowingly. This could only mean that there must be a dark church’s chess piece lying in wait by his side, otherwise, these people would not have appeared here silently!
“You Think You can assassinate me with just the few of you? Aren’t you thinking too simply!”Rosa’s gaze was gloomy. He did not act rashly but instead, he was stalling for time, he hoped that his trusted aides and the Knights stationed around the castle would be able to sense the situation here. “If there really is a fight, my men will rush over immediately. Since you have all walked into the trap, don’t even think about leaving!”
Although he knew that he was at a disadvantage, he could not lose his imposing manner.
The black-robed man chuckled and said, “Your eminence, we are not here to kill you.”
“HMM?”Rosa’s gaze moved slightly, but his heart was still vigilant.
The black-robed man said leisurely, “My Lord has asked me to communicate with you. I believe that you have heard about the succession of popes. My lord hopes that you can give your full support to the new pope.”
Rosa’s expression changed. These words were too familiar. He had just read the contents of the secret letter. Could it be that..
“Your Lord? You are one of Richelieu’s people? !”Rosa looked at him gloomily, but a chill rose in his heart.
“No, no, no.”The black-robed man immediately shook his head and said, “Richelieu has already pledged his loyalty to my lord. So, as Richelieu’s subordinates, I hope that you can cooperate.”
Rosa was startled: “Pope will swear loyalty to your lord? Who Is Your Lord?”
“You won’t know even if I tell you. My lord is a big shot from the inner wall.”The man smiled. He didn’t know much about dudian. At this moment he deliberately said that he came from the inner wall, the purpose was to intimidate Rosa. After all, Dudian had given him the task to ask Bishop Rosa to support the new pope.
“Please”was a very particular word.
“Inner wall?”Rosa was surprised. He felt the pressure in his heart. It was very likely that someone from the inner wall was able to kidnap Richelieu. After all, Richelieu’s power wasn’t simple. At least as far as he knew.., this old man’s power was above that of the great king of light!
“Cardinal Rosa, have you thought about it?”The black-robed man was not anxious at all, and he said with a smile.
Rosa stared at him, and after a moment.., he gritted his teeth and said, “The new pope is a member of Your Dark Church, right? If you let him take the position, it’s equivalent to giving the church to you dark church disciples. Don’t even think about it! Even if I die, I won’t agree to it!”
“Then you die!”The black-robed man shrugged and waved his hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A few figures around suddenly jumped up and pounced toward Rosa.
Rosa was shocked, but he did not panic. His body suddenly fell back and hit the glass window behind him.
Poof!
A cold light suddenly pierced through the window at an extremely fast speed. Rosa was shocked when he saw it. He did not expect that there was another person hiding outside the window. There was not even the slightest sound, although his perceptive ability was not strong, it was not so weak that he could not be detected even if someone was so close to him. This could only mean that the latter was a terrifying assassin who was extremely good at hiding!
The sharp blade pierced through his back. The pain instantly spread throughout his body. Rossa let out a low growl in pain and struck out with his palm.
With a bang, the withered old palm hit the black shadow outside the window. The black shadow let out a muffled groan and his body flew out of the window. He fell more than ten meters down the building. Just as he was about to fall, he quickly grabbed the wall with his palm, the palm seemed to have a suction force and was firmly attached to the wall, like a spider.
On the other side, when Rosa repelled the attacker from behind, his body was blocked, and he was immediately surrounded and attacked by the surrounding people. He glared angrily and growled as he slapped his hands toward one of the slim figures, preparing to find an opening from there.
The slim figure held a soft sword in his hand. As he shook it, it was like countless shining silver snake heads that were moving, pouncing toward Rosa’s face.
Rosa did not dare to meet the attack with his bare hands. He immediately withdrew his hands. At the same time, he felt his strength rapidly drain away. The pain on his back spread to his entire body in a short moment. He was about to change his hand gesture to defend, but the pain surged to his arm, in an instant, his body was a little stiff, like a cramp.
In this short moment of stiffness, the pincer attacks instantly hit Rosa.
With a bang, Rosa’s body flew out like a rag bag and crashed into a wall of the room. The huge oil painting hanging on the wall was also shaken down. Dust fell down, landing on Rosa’s face and hair, he looked extremely miserable.
Rosa struggled to get up from the ground. A counter-current surged up from his chest and he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, splashing onto the expensive carpet. His face was flushed red. He raised his head to look at the approaching black-robed men. He was so angry that his beard and hair were all spread out, however, he could not exert any strength at all. He just lay on the ground, trembling all over!
“As a human being, why do you have to make things difficult for your own life?”The black-robed man said with a smile, as if he did not care about what he said.
Rosa’s eyes were about to crack, and he glared at him. “If you want to kill, then kill. Bah!”He spat out a mouthful of blood, splashing it on the black-robed man’s face.
The people around him immediately held their weapons and prepared to attack.
The black-robed man immediately stopped them. Then, he raised his hand and slowly wiped the blood on his face. He ordered, “Go and get a pen and paper.”
A person beside him immediately took it from the desk and handed it to him.
Rossa saw this and immediately knew what they were going to do. He said angrily, “Even if I die, I will not let you do whatever you want. Don’t even think about touching the Holy See! !”
The black-robed man kicked his arm. With a crack, his arm was instantly broken. He screamed in pain, but his body was still numb. Obviously, the sharp blade that attacked him earlier contained poison.
“Cut off this hand.”The black-robed man ordered.
“Yes.”The person next to him immediately drew his sword. Without waiting for Rosa to react, he felt a chill on his arm. His arm was actually cut off!
The black-robed man picked up the broken arm and said softly, “Even if you are not present, it will be the same even if you are sent here. Your Eminence, I will send you to the embrace of your god of light right now.”
Rosa glared angrily and cursed.
The black-robed man turned around and raised his hand slightly to signal.
PFFT! PFFT!
A few sounds of flesh being pierced rang out. Rosa, who was lying on the ground, had four sharp swords stabbed into his body, nailing him to the gorgeous carpet. Fresh blood flowed down the sharp blades.
Carly was one of the two women of the eight cardinals. She was thirty-eight years old this year. To be able to become a cardinals at this age was extremely impressive. She was the youngest among all the Cardinals. Of course, this was also related to her family’s help. After all, her grandfather was the fourth pope!
“Mrs. Carly, have you finished writing?”On the sofa in the study, a short old man sat with a wide sword on his back and a black cloth wrapped around his back. In other places in the study, four figures dressed in black robes stood, their temperament was cold, like four ghosts.
Beside the short old man’s crossed legs, there were two corpses. One had his head chopped off and the other had his chest pierced through. The wounds were extremely large. Many nobles recognized these two people. They were Bishop Kali’s personal attendants. Although they were only attendants, in the eyes of many nobles, they were also important figures.
In front of the study table, Carly’s hair was disheveled. She sat on the chair with an unsightly expression. Holding a pen, she was struggling to write down the words that the short old man had told her. On her beautiful face, there was a bright red palm print, it was from the hands of the short old man.
In the hands of this sword king, who had a long reputation in the dark church, she was actually unable to retaliate. She could only be forced to obey!
After a while, Carly finally finished writing the letter word by word. The pressure on her body seemed to have suddenly been relieved. She bit her lip slightly. She knew that by doing so, she had betrayed her faith and the church, she had also betrayed the great god of light! However, if she didn’t do this, not only would she die, but she would also implicate her family. She only hoped that the other bishops would be able to escape this disaster. As long as someone objected, this puppet pope controlled by the dark church would be unable to ascend to the throne, would not be able to ascend to the throne!
“Let me take a look.”The sword king casually stretched out his hand.
Carly picked up the letter that she had written and slowly handed it to him.
The Sword King took a look and narrowed his eyes. He smiled and said, “The words are pretty.”After saying that, he put away the letter.
Carly’s expression was unsightly. She said, “I have already done as you said. Don’t hurt the innocent anymore!”
“Innocent?”The Sword King raised his head and glanced at him. “When you killed our disciples, why didn’t you think that they were innocent as well? They just like things and are a little different from you.”
Carly knew that she had no right to reason with him. She gritted her teeth and lowered her head, not saying another word.
“Now, I still have to ask you to come with us.”The Sword King stood up and dusted off the invisible dust on his body, he said, “How can the new pope not have the support of the Bishop? When the time comes, you will be able to meet Pope Richelieu, whom you have been longing for. He will give you an answer. I hope you won’t be stupid. I can kill you at any time. Anyway, your vote is already in my hands.”
Carly clenched her hands tightly, her nails sinking deep into her palms. She knew that she had no choice. However, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope for her to meet Richelieu!
In another castle, Lados was covered in cold sweat. He quickly finished writing the letter and handed it to the black-robed man in front of him. He forced out a smile and said, “Do you think this will work?”
The black-robed man glanced at it and put away the letter. He raised his head and looked at him mockingly, saying, “I didn’t expect that there would be such a weak existence like you among the Cardinals. If the other cardinals were like you, it would save us a lot of trouble.”
Lados smiled and said, “You’re right. If there’s anything else that requires my cooperation, feel free to say it.”
“Come with us.”The black-robed man was too lazy to say anything else. He snorted and turned around to walk outside. He stepped over a few corpses that were bleeding on the ground.
[ two hours after the voting meeting ended ]
Barton followed Ernorin through St. Mark’s Square and came to the front of the Holy Temple of the Pope. Barton looked up at the magnificent holy temple with a face full of shock. It was the first time he had seen such a grand and magnificent building.., a solemn and solemn holy aura rushed to his face, making him feel awe and respect in his heart. All the distracting thoughts were instantly thrown to the back of his mind, and his heart was filled with piety.
“Come in.”Ernorin led the way in front.
Barton followed him into the hall. Immediately, he saw many high-ranking officials of the Holy See standing in the hall. There were knights wearing bright silver armor, holy priests holding books in their hands, and people wearing snow-white high hats, he did not know what profession they were from, but they seemed to have a noble temperament. They were most likely important figures.