Throne of the North.

Chapter 565 Suicide as a Sign of Loyalty: The Betraying Kingdom's Nobles and the Reveling Imperial Nobles

The day after the Feast of Grace ended, an enraged King Carlos denounced the despicable actions of the Dawn Church for daring to attempt to kill a noble king, and thus issued a declaration of war against the Dawn Church.

"The Dawn Church has no right to judge nobles, much less to kill a king. The Flor Empire will help the Kingdom of Carlos fight against the evil from the Church."

The emperor was also furious. He was still shaken, thankful that he hadn't gone to the Kingdom of Carlos, and also grateful that King Olsen hadn't died under divine punishment.

"That damned Dawn Church actually tried to kill your king!"

King Olsen ordered all the nobles in the Kingdom of Carlos to assemble their armies. He was about to wage war against the Dawn Church, with the help of the Flor Empire, of course.

However, this king had never received any experience of being a king, or what a king should be like.

He naively believed that by donning the crown, he had become the king of countless people.

He believed he was more fit to be king than that ashes-covered corpse, yet he failed to remember that he was able to become king precisely because he was overthrown by the various hidden dangers in Kaan Diaz's bloodline.

……

Viscount Jokic returned to his territory, looking utterly disheveled and devoid of any noble bearing. He resembled a desolate mountain landscape battered by a Force 18 gale, filled with despair.

"Father."

His eldest son, Croixos Jokic, is considered the most capable member of his family and will lead the family to another glorious era.

At this moment, even the usually mature heir couldn't help but feel uneasy, looking blankly at his father. He had not yet taken on the mantle of the nobility, and he didn't know where the Jokic family would go from now on.

Viscount Jokic, who had just sworn allegiance to the new king, looked at his eldest son, his only son, who was also one of those who envied the Earl of Clayton's bloodline.

"Kroissos, what do you think we should do? The king is dead, his head has been chopped off, and his body has been burned to ashes. The new king wants me to gather the army and the imperial army to fight against the Papacy."

Croesus lowered his head, and after a long while, he spoke:
"I don't know either, Father."

“You know, you’re very smart, and you do many things better than me. But the only thing you’re not as good as me in is that you’re my son. You’ve been under my watchful eye since birth, and everything you do has a different meaning.”

"You're not unaware, you just don't want to say it, right?"

No one knows a son better than his father. Viscount Jokic admitted that he was not as capable as his son, but none of his ancestors were as capable, which he was proud of. However, he was also very aware of his son's habits.

He always does.

Croesus raised his head and said:

"Whether it is fighting against the Empire or against the Papacy, our family will decline. In the face of the war between the Empire and the Papacy, the Jokic family has no right to influence their outcome."

Jokic fell silent. As a nobleman, he didn't want to hear such words, but it was the truth. Compared to the two massive chariots, they were just ants in a collision.

"so what should I do?"

"Father, you may go south to seek refuge with the Papacy, or you may obey the King's orders to assemble an army. Your people will always follow your will."

Croissos's words stunned Viscount Jokic.

Will you follow me forever?

Viscount Jokic left somewhat dejectedly. Behind him, Croissus watched his father's retreating figure and suddenly regretted saying those words. At that moment, he couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

Early the next morning, Viscount Jokic summoned his knights, ordered them to assemble their troops, and then entered his castle.

“I, Viscount Rafi Jokic, will absolutely not recognize the current king of Carlos! He may be of Carlos blood, but he is no longer worthy to be the monarch of Carlos!”

Inside the castle, Viscount Jokic died in front of his will, and at the same time, the entire Viscountry was thrown into chaos. No one could have imagined that the Viscount would commit suicide.

Fortunately, the army had already assembled, and Croesus had long established his authority and prestige among his father's followers, so the viscountry did not encounter any further trouble.

“The Viscount Jokic family will absolutely not accept King Olsen’s orders until the real King Carlos appears.”

On the day of his accession, the new Viscount Jokic swore an oath of betrayal against the king and assembled an army to build a defensive line on the edge of the viscountry to fight off any potential enemies.

The nobles were shocked by Viscount Jokic's death and were once again tormented. The day after the oath of Croissus, a large number of nobles in the land of the Kingdom of Carlos swore to reject all orders of King Olsen. They would protect all the power and honor of the Kingdom of Carlos as noble lords.

It is said that on that day, more than three or five nobles committed suicide in their own castles, in order to declare their loyalty to King Caan Diaz and their resistance and dissatisfaction with the new King Olsen of Carlos.

When news reached the capital that the nobles were no longer obeying the king's orders, King Olsen was furious.

He was already seriously injured, and if it weren't for Grand Duke Meyers' methods, he would have died under divine punishment long ago. The arrival of this news almost made the king die of anger on his bed.

The magician's life-saving potion worked wonders, pulling the king back from the brink of death.

"Traitors, traitors! They're all Carlos's traitors, those damned bastards!"

King Olsen could only helplessly smash the precious artifacts in the palace. Looking at the wealth that belonged to Kaan Diaz, Olsen felt no pleasure, but rather a great deal of disgust.

Their existence seemed to mock the new king for being good for nothing but his bloodline.

The nobles of the empire were also helpless, never expecting such a mess to arise. Now they not only had to deal with the Papacy, but also help King Olsen stabilize the power of the Kingdom of Carlos.

Following the divine punishment, the Dawn Church has assembled armies from five directions toward the Kingdom of Carlos. Indeed, after the Empire destroyed the Kingdom of Carlos, the pressure it faces is even greater than before.

When the Kingdom of Carlos belonged to the Dawn, this was the only battlefield between it and the Empire. However, after the Kingdom of Carlos came under the Empire's control, it completely opened up the world's geographical landscape. The Kingdom of Carlos was surrounded by the naval forces of the Dawn Church, even extending to the western ocean. The significance of the Kingdom of Carlos was like the Winged Canyon to the north; beyond the Winged Canyon, the North Wind Province stretched out as far as the eye could see, a vast expanse filled with the people of the Dawn Lord.

The internal strife within the kingdom was clearly something the empire did not want to see. However, the war between the empire and the Kingdom of Carlos had ended, so the empire had no direct reason to intervene in the kingdom.

The only thing that could be done was for His Majesty King Olsen to write to His Majesty Emperor Flor, where the two reminisced about their friendship and, at the end, invited the imperial army to help them.

This assistance will not involve sending hundreds of thousands of troops to help His Majesty the King.

King Olsen invited the Emperor of the Empire to send troops to help him, who was all alone, while the Emperor of the Empire requested that the King of Carlos allow the Empire's army to fight against the Dawn Church on the edge of the Kingdom of Carlos.

In a sense, this was a transaction, not a war. The two sides were no longer enemies, and therefore the imperial army's initiative against the Kingdom of Carlos decreased significantly.

The Empire will send an army to assist King Olsen. This army will not be mobilized directly from the front lines of the war with the Papacy, but will instead be assembled within the Empire and will even have to meet with His Majesty the Emperor before setting off.

This is the boring and ancient rule of the nobles, and it is also the reason why the nobles on the land of the Kingdom of Carlos dared to declare their betrayal two or three days after the king's coronation, even before the imperial army had left. Under such noble rules, they no longer had to face the hundreds of thousands of imperial troops as they had before the Festival of Divine Grace.

Of course, these hundreds of thousands of imperial troops actually had a way to help King Olsen set things right and directly crush the rebellious nobles.

That was when King Olsen Carlos of Carlos announced to the world that Jokic and a large number of nobles were guilty of treason.

As long as the king declares these nobles guilty of treason and betrayal of their oath of loyalty, all the nobles of humanity can launch an attack on them and slaughter them all. Whoever kills the traitorous nobles will gain their lands and titles.

This is the punishment for the traitors and the reward for the loyalists. The fact that betraying the king and betraying the kingdom are two different things also proves that the king's power and dignity are not much higher than those of the nobles. At least he is not the kind of "Son of Heaven" who is above all others and whose word is law.

No matter how excited King Olsen was about his throne and how much he lost his mind, he would not dare to issue such an order.

He could not bear the responsibility of killing too many nobles, and as the king of Carlos, he also needed the loyalty of those Carlos remnants.

Moreover, even if we take a step back and assume that all the nobles who swore allegiance to him in the capital city committed suicide in the castle, their heirs have now inherited all those territories and titles.

Those successors have not yet come to the capital to swear allegiance to the king.

Therefore, these nobles cannot be said to have betrayed their oath of loyalty. Moreover, as Viscount Croiss Jokic said, they were still rebelling against the king as nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos.

They were merely betraying the king and committing treason.

King Olsen has not yet established his authority in human civilization, and his opinion may not be widely accepted.

"Even if they are not recognized, as long as the king gives the order, all the noble territories in the south will be razed to the ground."

Earl Clayton and Earl Sterling discussed the current situation in the Kingdom of Carlos. After the war of annihilation of the empire, things became a hundred times more chaotic than before.

"The nobles wouldn't mind having an extra piece of land."

Count Sterling said this, frankly, he really hoped that King Olsen would issue an order for those nobles to commit treason, so that he could make the decision today to marry one of his granddaughters to King Olsen's future son, thereby gaining the status of a maternal relative and slaughtering those nobles.

The noble territories that are conquered can be divided among one's own children and left as gifts for great-grandchildren.

"He won't do that."

Both counts understood that the king could not possibly issue such an order, so after speculating, they let it go.

Count Sterling began inquiring about matters within the empire, such as the fact that now that the Carlos War was over, the nobles were rewarding their contributions and wanted the Taotie to devour half of the Carlos Kingdom.

There are huge interests at stake here.

On the surface, it's all about land interests. The land in the Kingdom of Carlos is fertile, and the nobles can make a fortune just by taking a bite.

There are far too many things that are unseen.

For example, Pearl Bay, located north of the Kingdom of Carlos and in the Thousand Lakes Province of the Empire, is now completely under the control of the Empire. If the nobles can acquire the land north of the Kingdom of Carlos, it is equivalent to possessing the wealth of Pearl Bay.

For example, only a portion of the empire's nobles would be able to occupy this land, so who would occupy it?
The fact that some of the four Grand Dukes will receive a share of the spoils will demonstrate which Grand Duke holds the upper hand in the political struggles of the capital city. It will also allow the nobles to see which of the four Grand Dukes is more directly powerful and can be relied upon.

For example, once the Kingdom of Carlos is conquered, the major merchant guilds of the empire will be able to travel all over the world. Even the Dawn Church cannot stop those merchant guilds from smuggling themselves out. How much profit is involved in this?

In addition to these interests, there is also the competition among the electors.

Elector Freud gained the approval of many nobles during the war, while another Elector, Volvoco, in the capital city, was equally powerful. It is said that he has called on the nobles to treat the slaves and nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos with good treatment, and promised to establish new professions to help the people of the Kingdom of Carlos regain the means to survive.

The nobles were also concerned about which elector would get the biggest slice of the pie after the war.

The interests are not limited to these; many interests, both large and small, have come to the surface because of this war.

In short, outside the Kingdom of Carlos, the Dawn Church has already organized five legions heading this way, but the current imperial nobles have no time to think about the upcoming war.

Their main energy is currently being consumed by internal power struggles and political infighting within the empire.

This was a celebration for the imperial nobles. Even in his old age, Count Sterling couldn't contain his excitement. He had made the right bet; the sunk costs of the war were about to turn into several times the wealth that would return to his territory.

On the other side, Earl Clayton remained somewhat silent. He should have been discussing with Earl Stirling how to use the victory in the war to increase his chances of becoming the fifth Grand Duke.

However, a letter from the North interrupted Earl Clayton's joy and dampened his spirits.

(End of this chapter)