Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1899, Chapter 1871: The Queen's Consort
When the voice spoke, Lann and Dolores had not yet squeezed to the front of the crowd.

Therefore, Lan En did not see what the person who spoke looked like.

Judging from the voice alone, it was a mature and dignified female voice.

Dolores seemed to be able to recognize who was speaking just by their voice, so she froze halfway there, looking no different from the others who had gathered at the Golden Tree Cathedral early in the morning.

On the contrary, Lan En took advantage of the moment when everyone was frozen in place and finally squeezed to the front row, and saw what it was like to be surrounded by the crowd.

Lan En only recognized three people who were gathered at the very back of the crowd.

One of them is Gideon Ofnir, whose entire suit of armor is decorated with ear and eye patterns.

He must be representing the Faded Ones directly under Two Fingers, and he's here with two other people beside him. Lann hasn't seen them before, but judging from their side profile, their pupils also lack the blessed golden light, meaning they are Faded Ones as well.

The Faded Ones were dressed in various styles, making them easily distinguishable from the uniformly dressed and disciplined Knights of Rodel.

The group of people standing in the inner circle were all clearly not ordinary figures in the Golden Dynasty.

As the largest military force of the Golden Dynasty, the Knights of Rodel can only stand on the outer circle now, with only a very few members of the Knights Order qualified to stand closer.

The other person Lan En knew was Grek, whom he had met at the tribute ceremony in Nymgford before he left Rodel. Grek was the son of Lord Goughia of Nymgford, who was fostered in Rodel as a hostage, or rather, as a symbol of loyalty.

At this moment, Grek still looked much the same as he did during that tribute ceremony.

He had a head of white hair and looked to be in his thirties. Even in the Golden Age, when gold was a popular decoration and material, his appearance was far too ostentatious and extravagant.

However, his expression and demeanor today were quite different from those during the previous tribute ceremony.

When Lan En went to watch the tributary ceremony, Grek was just a footnote when Prince Godwin appeared, but his arrogant expression was so overpowering that Lan En couldn't suppress it even if he wanted to. Besides, at that time, Lan En felt that standing next to the Golden Prince was also a matter of dignity for him, so he didn't even think about suppressing it.

This made that arrogant and self-important feeling even more prominent.

But now, he stood trembling to one side, his body more than half a meter taller than Lan En, his lips pursed, unable to utter a word. His expression was unreadable—was it fear? Helplessness? Or…?

A vague sense of excitement?

Although Griffith and Greik were granted fiefdoms in the border region of Nymgforth, they were nonetheless members of the Golden Family, with a pure lineage. They were direct relatives of the First King, Griffith.

Among the three ranks—the Golden Clan, the Golden Royal Family, and the Golden Royal Family—composed of the closeness or distance of blood ties, the father and son, though inconspicuous within the powerful Golden Dynasty, were indeed among the highest echelons.

Whatever happens in this dynasty, if they really want to discuss it, they should both be able to stand at the very back and listen in.

The last person Lan En recognized at the scene was the dead man lying on the ground.

Yes, a dead man. In this golden age where death had ceased, a dead man appeared.

And he is also—[Gold] Godwin!

The perfect golden prince of the Golden Dynasty, the first and only child born to the most orthodox and prestigious [First King] Gavriel and [Eternal Queen] Marika.

The leader among the demigods.

Subjects under any Golden Dynasty sincerely believed that if this eternally unchanging Golden Dynasty ever showed any inclination to change its successor, then Prince Godwin would undoubtedly be the successor.

Inherited legal principles, the qualities of a king, power, appearance, faith... Godwin was perfect in the Golden Age.

Queen Marika, as a deity, is certainly eternal and not easily attained, but if anything happens to the King of Elden, King Fladagan, Prince Godwin should take over and become the new King of Elden.

He became the companion of the gods, and the companion of his mother.

The term 'partner' here does not necessarily refer to a marital relationship, but rather to the correspondence between gods and kings within the Elden Ring system.

But now, this perfect prince, the perfect heir, the ballast stone of the Golden Dynasty's stability... his cold body lies motionless in the center of the Golden Tree Cathedral.

His golden hair was loose, stuck to the ground and his body by the pool of blood gushing from his body.

The words 'He is dead' echoed throughout the entire Golden Tree Cathedral, but everyone remained silent, not daring to utter a sound to refute this outrageous judgment and conclusion.

Because the person who made this conclusion looked exactly like the statues enshrined in most of the churches throughout the Golden Dynasty's territory.

That was a woman who was also over three meters tall.

Wearing a simple black dress, in this dynasty that revered gold as decoration, the only gold embellishment on her clothes was a simple belt around her waist.

A belt and a skirt were enough to accentuate her beautiful figure. But without a doubt—there is no one in the world who can better represent the concept of "gold" than her.

She herself is the purest and most orthodox form of "gold"!
On her fair skin, her golden hair, even more radiant than Godwin's, was styled into two long braids. However, the golden braids were asymmetrical, one long and one short, with the end of the left braid visibly cut off.

She wore a simple golden laurel wreath on her head.

【Eternal Queen】, Marika.

The Golden Dynasty, the only deity in the borderlands, made its judgment here, declaring that her eldest son had died in this Golden Law era where death no longer existed!
No one dared to say a word.

Standing next to Queen Marika was a man with fiery red hair, a strong physique, and exceptionally handsome features.

[Wang Fu] Ladagan.

Queen Marika stood before the body of her eldest son, her head bowed so that her expression was obscured.

Radagan stood beside her, his expression so cold and hard it sent shivers down her spine.

After a long silence, Gideon Ofnir cautiously spoke, amidst the silence of the God and the King.

“If His Majesty has confirmed that Prince Godwin is indeed dead, then without a doubt, something must have happened to the sealed [Death Rune].

"Shouldn't we first ascertain... the situation of Lady Maricus, no, I should now call him Lord Granger?"

Sir Hundred's words were indistinct; when he uttered "Your Majesty," it was unclear whether he was addressing the Queen or the King's consort.

However, given the current situation, no one really cares about such trivial matters.

“Gideon, do you think…” Queen Marika began softly, head bowed, “that it was Maricus who betrayed the Golden Law, who betrayed me?”

“No, Your Majesty,” Sir Hundred immediately denied, adding cautiously, “I was only considering the location of the [Death Rune], so I gave a possible direction of trouble, and I did not make any speculations.”

Maricus?
Lan En stood quietly to the side, catching the name in his ears.

At the same time, compare Baizhi's description with the various events in his collection of books about the border region.

Finally, some of them suddenly realized what was going on.

Maricus is likely the sworn brother of Queen Marika, and also her shadow beast. At the same time... he was also responsible for sealing away the defeated [Death] when the Golden Age of Law was established.

However, [Death Rune]?
This was the second time Lan En had heard the word "Rune". The first time was at the place of the great tortoise Milie in Lienia, where he heard that the Full Moon Queen, who had lost her heroic heart, was now spending her days holding an amber egg containing a great rune.

Thinking of this, Lan En looked up at the red-haired man standing silently in the arena. That amber egg was the gift that the King of Elden had given to his ex-wife.

"Gulange's loyalty is beyond question."

At this moment, it was Radagan who stepped forward to speak. He seemed to trust his wife's sworn brother's loyalty even more than his own wife did.

This was also the first time Lann had heard the voice of the controversial King of Elden. Compared to Queen Marika's majesty, his voice had a more warrior-heroic fortitude and unwavering resolve.

Radagan continued, “Grang sealed the Death Rune into his sword. It was just a sword, an inanimate object; it’s not surprising that there were oversights. It had nothing to do with loyalty.”

A person capable of sealing the entire world's "death" onto a sword for safekeeping cannot possibly be weak. Even this queen's sworn brother should be among the top fighters in this divine dynasty.

At least according to Lan En's understanding, even the demigods dared not act recklessly in the face of Marikas's name alone.

This level of deterrence is clearly even greater than that of the king who still has to hold political discussions with demigods.

However, it's also possible that it's because Maricus possesses the [Death Rune].

The demigods are immortal under the Golden Law, and even the King of Elden cannot kill them.

But looking at Godwin's corpse lying on the ground, it's clear that this kind of immortality isn't very reliable for Maricus.

His immortality is useless in front of others, and demigods would naturally be intimidated when they encounter him.

In the folklore of the Golden Dynasty, this title was equivalent to the death of a demigod.

Now, Radagan bypassed Queen Marika and directly stated that Maricus's loyalty was beyond question.

This made Lan En wonder: Did he truly trust this Shadow Beast? Or was it mainly to stabilize the situation, and he didn't want to, or couldn't, involve someone with too much influence and power in the still unclear situation?

(End of this chapter)