Chapter 835

Not… how did you suddenly get serious all of a sudden?

Faced with Leon's abrupt, chaotic hammer strike, the attending councillors were first stunned, then instantly enraged!

Earlier, joking around and pulling pranks was fine—after all, it wasn't ourselves who got humiliated, and we could even enjoy the spectacle, so there was no need to clash directly with you, the acting speaker.

But now, this is about the interests of nearly half the people here—the officer purge order, of unparalleled importance—and you still want to settle it with this childish, reckless method? This is simply…

"Absurd!"

Morley, the Marquis, who had been fooled twice, slammed his desk with both hands and rose for the third time, pointing his finger at Leon's nose and roaring:

"This is the Upper Council! Not your monkey show stage! You're not fit to be deputy speaker! Get off right now!"

"Yes!"

Seeing someone take the lead, the noble councillors whose interests were harmed by the officer purge order all rose up, pointing and condemning:

"How can such a sacred place be turned into your playground?"

"Get down!"

"In my view, let's add a temporary proposal to revoke the Lyon family's deputy speaker seat!"

"Yes! And the officer purge order must be voted on again! We don't recognize any proposal passed this way!"

"Step down! Step down!"

…

This is bad!

Watching the furious crowd of councillors below, the Minister of Finance stared wide-eyed, wishing he could rush up and strangle Leon alive!

Of the 168 councillors present, nearly 40 percent had already sided with the royal house, and another 20 percent had been swayed by Veronika—so if the proposal were presented properly, it would pass the first review with 100 percent certainty.

Then Joshua would stand up, following his plan, representing the royal house with strong authority, first suppressing part of the opposition, then retreating half a step to win over another portion, securing the two-thirds majority needed to permanently seal the purge order.

And Joshua, who had attended this Upper Council meeting and "personally" pushed the purge order through, could take over part of Veronika's faction, build up his own prestige, and successfully swallow the biggest prize.

This was a sure thing if done properly—but this damn Duke of Lionheart had to go and add unnecessary theatrics, pulling some low-class stunts!

Now the opposition councillors were furious and erupted; the councillors on Joshua's side were morally compromised and dared not speak up—if the acting speaker got ousted and another vote had to be held, the sure thing might now slip away!

Useless, incompetent fool!

After mentally labeling the flailing Leon on stage as "incompetent," the Minister of Finance glanced at Joshua on the throne, who looked utterly flustered, and sighed inwardly.

He's still just a child—faced with this storm of outrage, he's surely panicked inside. No point expecting Joshua to calm things down; it's up to me now.

"Everyone, please calm down!"

"Please listen to me!"

The Minister of Finance rose from his seat and shouted loudly:

"The most important thing now is to keep the Upper Council proceeding properly!"

"Quiet! Everyone, be quiet!"

Though the Minister of Finance had considerable prestige, he'd been fooled too badly by Leon—the councillors' emotions were unusually charged, and they all turned red-faced, yelling at him for his misconduct, desecrating such a sacred place.

And Morley, the Marquis, already short-tempered and humiliated twice, simply roared louder, drowning out the Minister's desperate pleas with his curses.

After shouting himself hoarse and realizing his voice was drowned, the Minister grew desperate. Leon, seemingly noticing him, waved urgently, signaling him to come up on stage—and even lifted the fallen golden bell, bending to pick up the small silver hammer on the floor.

Right—the bell!

Seeing Leon's actions, the frantic Minister suddenly realized: in this chaos, to drown out the shouting, only a louder noise would do—and the golden bell on stage was clearly the perfect solution.

Realizing this was the only solution, the Minister was overjoyed. He didn't even use the steps—he scrambled up onto the stage with hands and feet, snatched the small silver hammer from Leon's hand, and prepared to strike the bell to restore order.

But at that moment, Morley's eyes flashed red, his fury doubling—somehow, the sight of Leon on stage became unbearable.

Unable to contain his rage, he yanked off his heavy leather shoe, stomped it hard, and with a roar, hurled it with all his strength straight at Leon.

Though his throw was slightly off-target, Leon seemed startled, stepping back two paces and raising his hand holding the hammer—causing the Minister, lunging to grab the hammer, to stumble forward, his head tilting upward with the momentum…

"Thud!"

A muffled crash drowned out all the shouting—the Marquis's thick leather shoe, made of tanned oxhide, with a wooden heel and iron tip, weighing two or three pounds, slammed squarely into the Minister's occiput, knocking him flat on his face.

And "startled" Leon instinctively stepped back, avoiding the flailing hands of the falling Minister—but the single podium couldn't be avoided; the Minister grabbed it and pulled it down, crashing it directly onto Leon.

What the…?

What just happened?

Why did the Minister fall?

I don't know—I didn't see clearly either.

Something was thrown, then he collapsed.

Faced with this unexpected turn, every councillor below—including Morley, who had just thrown the shoe in uncontrollable rage—froze in shock. Only Leon on stage didn't freeze; he sighed, slightly exasperated.

Even that didn't knock him out? My luck really is terrible… but it doesn't matter.

Amid Joshua's utterly stunned expression, Leon's right foot, hidden behind the podium, suddenly lashed forward with a gust of wind, kicking straight into the Minister's forehead.

After receiving this blow, the Minister—whose head had already suffered repeated impacts—finally collapsed, unconscious, the shoeprint clearly stamped on his brow. Leon, having delivered the final blow, raised his finger toward the bewildered Morley below and bellowed:

"Someone attempted to assassinate the Minister of Finance! Guards! Guards!"

"No! I didn't! I didn't do it!"

Hearing Leon's cry, Morley jolted awake, snapping out of his uncontrollable rage.

But the guards, startled by the sudden event and ordered by the acting speaker, had already rushed forward, pouncing on Morley with vicious expressions, piling on top of him in a heap, crushing him as he screamed in agony. Meanwhile, Leon cried out dramatically:

"Minister! Minister! Minister, wake up!"

Dragging the unconscious Minister out from under the podium, wiping the shoe grime from his face, Leon cleaned up his final details, then tossed the Minister back onto the floor. He slammed his fist onto the podium, eyes blazing with fury as he roared down at the crowd:

"Look what you've done! This is a sacred council chamber—not some street market! What do you think this place is?!"