Ch.136Expansion (8)

‘These bastards…!’

“Why are they blaming me for their own deaths? Above all, wasn’t the Duke of Anjou in the middle of surrender negotiations?!”

This is beyond absurd.

I understand that my image is poor enough that even the most outlandish conspiracy theories about me might sound plausible.

But why on earth are they pinning something that has absolutely nothing to do with me on me?

[Ines, did you do this too?]

[No, I didn’t do anything.]

I asked Ines just in case, but it wasn’t her doing either.

So it was just an accidental death that happened by chance.

I might understand if it were about the Duke of Provence, but to blame me for the deaths of the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Neustria is something I simply cannot let slide.

Do they think they can pin all sorts of crimes on me just because I’ve been lenient? Huh?

“The Duke of Anjou was found dead from arsenic poisoning, and the Duke of Neustria was discovered in bed with a knife in his throat. How on earth can anyone claim these were my doing? I have nothing to gain from it!”

“Indeed, Your Majesty. In my opinion, whoever benefits most from these deaths seems to have framed Your Majesty.”

“The one who benefits most… the successor dukes.”

Leclerc is right.

When a crime occurs, the first thing to do is to consider who would benefit from it as a suspect, isn’t it?

The ones who benefit most from the death of a duke are undoubtedly the heirs who will inherit the title. Other considerations might have varying benefits and drawbacks depending on perspective, but the succession of a title is clearly beneficial to anyone.

‘The more I think about it, the more plausible it seems.’

The heirs assassinated the previous dukes to seize their positions, then blamed me for their deaths to divert suspicion. Given my terrible reputation, such rumors would sound credible, so they had every reason to do so.

Especially since news of the Duke of Provence’s death at my hands would have spread widely recently, making their false claims even more believable.

…Heh, they dare use me by pinning false rumors on me?

“I need to send letters to the nobles of Caroling to persuade them. I’ll simply list objective facts—that I had nothing to gain from killing the two dukes, that the Duke of Anjou was negotiating surrender so I had no reason to kill him, and so on. Ah, I could also cite the recent example of Caroling’s crown prince assassinating the previous king to seize the throne.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. What about the military situation?”

“We need to finish the Neustrian front first, where most of our army is deployed. Send word to the southern forces blocking the Duke of Provence’s army to focus on holding out and buying time.”

“As you command.”

Unfortunately, appealing to my character lacks persuasive power, so I must convince the nobles with objective facts—fortunately, evidence is abundant.

The fact that I was negotiating surrender with the Duke of Anjou, or that I sent surrender demands to the Duke of Neustria—anyone can see from my actions that I had no intention of killing them.

“Ah, and we’ve completely recaptured Reims?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. You’ll be able to hold your coronation there soon.”

If I can hold a legitimate coronation there and be crowned as the rightful king of Caroling, it will cement the loyalty of neutral nobles or those considering changing sides.

Though my modern sensibilities make it somewhat difficult to understand, holding a proper coronation with the crown seems to be a powerful enough act to sway the hearts of nobles claiming neutrality.

Of course, Neustria, Anjou, and Provence, who all claim the throne of Caroling, will rage and refuse to acknowledge it, but they’ve already completely turned their backs on me, so what does it matter?

……….

“That madman…”

The Duke of Aquitaine quietly curses after reading Claude’s letter.

Such vulgar language should be avoided as it diminishes one’s dignity, but he simply couldn’t hold it in.

[While the deaths of the two dukes are deeply regrettable, I had nothing to gain from killing them. Please refrain from rash actions, turn away from false rumors, and listen only to the truth.]

Nothing to gain from killing those dukes?

Then why did he kill the Duke of Provence? And in such a horrific manner that the body couldn’t even be preserved intact?

Even if there was no material gain, the psychological benefit—the pleasure of killing someone who had humiliated him—is an entirely different matter, isn’t it?

Thinking about it this way, the evidence the king presents—that he was negotiating surrender—seems more like groundwork laid in advance to prove his innocence.

“Your Grace… there are many ears listening.”

At that moment, a servant who witnessed his lord cursing Claude stops him in alarm.

The duke looks at the servant with an expression of disbelief, about to unleash his anger, but barely manages to suppress it and asks why the servant intervened.

“…Are you afraid of the King of Lotharingia?”

“Of course not! I’m simply worried that Your Grace might become entangled in troublesome affairs.”

What an ugly excuse. Your expression clearly shows you’re terrified.

…Tsk, how displeasing.

Because the King of Lotharingia is such a reckless madman, even servants unrelated to the matter dare not speak freely.

“…Fine, I’ll believe you. Anyway, I should send a positive reply to His Majesty and letters to soothe the nobles of our faction.”

Whether the king’s claims are believable or not is beside the point—I am already the leader of the faction supporting the King of Lotharingia as king of Caroling, so I’m in the same boat as him.

This means that no matter what strange things the King of Lotharingia does, I must support him unconditionally.

Fortunately, his claims aren’t complete sophistry and are somewhat reasonable. If they had been utterly absurd, I would have lost considerable face for having to support them.

“Yes, Your Grace. And what shall we do about the now-hostile Duke of Anjou on our border?”

“I have a personal relationship with the newly enthroned Duke of Anjou, and if he attacks me as well, he’ll be surrounded by enemies on all sides, so if he has any sense, he won’t attack. For now, just maintain defenses and redirect all forces toward Provence.”

The urgent matter now is dealing with Provence.

Since the Provence forces have all rushed toward Lotharingia, their home territory is undefended, allowing our faction’s army to easily raid Provence territory.

If we occupy as much as possible and then consolidate our hold, we can distribute the conquered territories among the nobles of our faction after the war. And incidentally, I’ll take the remaining lands for myself.

‘And I can demand a share from the King of Lotharingia to make the faction’s nobles my vassals.’

Given the king’s worsened reputation, if I offer to manage them directly instead, a king with any sense would accept my demand.

The tax revenue would decrease somewhat due to my position as intermediary, but the risk of rebellion and resistance would be reduced, and the king’s political burden would be greatly lessened—no one in their right mind would refuse such an arrangement.

…Of course, the king seems to be lacking in sanity, but no matter how unstable he is, he has ability, so he should recognize my consideration.

……….

“That bastard son of a whore!!”

Not a single thing pleases me.

At first, I thought the rumors about the King of Lotharingia were malicious falsehoods. Even if some were true, as a person with morals, surely not all the slander could be factual.

But now I know for certain. All those rumors were true.

To kill my father without reason and then try to frame me as the murderer…

“Ha, hahaha…”

What infuriates me even more is that Lotharingia’s minions are spreading these false rumors, and some fools are starting to believe them.

Of course, they probably don’t truly believe such fabricated nonsense. Since the King of Lotharingia has already held his coronation at Reims, they likely judge that the tide has turned and use this as a pretext to switch sides.

Still, the very fact that they even pretend to believe such rumors is absolutely unacceptable.

‘Resistance is the only option left…’

If my father hadn’t been murdered, I wouldn’t have resisted with all my might but would have negotiated surrender with the King of Lotharingia at an appropriate time and waited for a better opportunity.

But my father was murdered, and with Lotharingia clearly behind the assassination, the king is trying to frame me as the culprit.

This has completely eliminated the option of negotiation.

If I surrender to him, it would be tantamount to admitting his false accusation that I killed my father.

‘Was this his plan?’

If surrender negotiations had taken place while Neustria’s military power was intact, Lotharingia would have had to make many concessions. But if Neustria’s forces are completely annihilated, that would be the ideal situation for Lotharingia.

He could freely claim all the spoils of war.

“…Fine.”

If that’s what you want, I’ll give it to you.

There will be no surrender. Never.