Chapter 585

As for ordinary commoners, and also those petty nobles who lack, or rather are not qualified to pick a side, their overall impression is:

"The third prince is quite a good prince."

"Second uncle is also quite suitable for me."

"I have already prepared to accept Her Majesty the Queen's rule."

……

Huh, how come this set phrase seems to be missing a line?

Don't worry, on the fourth day, when the forty-level messenger cavalry rode across the Deep Forest, they spread an even more heaven-defying news.

"Good grief, the eldest princess has also withdrawn from the throne race!"

???

Now everyone from nobles to commoners, from the main continent to the subcontinent, from natives to players, all people of the four nations and two planets are stunned.

Damn, all three heirs have dropped out, and the king kicked the bucket on day one—so what in the world are we supposed to do with our vast Deep Forest realm?

Or perhaps……

Which powerful duke wouldn't want to stop languishing under others, have his loyal subjects lift the imperial robe for him, and then be publicly embarrassed!?

Sigh, hard to say, hard to say……

In short, driven by the warning 'Don't sleep too soundly tonight, something big is coming,' the nobles of Deep Forest spent a sleepless night.

After great effort they made it to dawn; under their accustomed gaze, it was still black-clad, black-armored, but the aura was now that of a new batch of fifty-level messenger cavalry, which finally arrived.

And this time, what they had to tell everyone was——

"Um, may I confirm that again?"

……

"Oh, okay, okay……"

After seeing off the messenger cavalry that came and went like the wind, the young viscount collapsed limp on the ground, pretty much done for.

Similar events played out all over Deep Forest, and while the players across the border weren't scared silly, they were in an uproar.

"Holy shit, little robot…… wait, no, who the heck is the fourth prince!"

"Come on, man, does our Shen Lin Wang Guo even have a fourth prince as an heir?"

"I've seen this episode—it's about Horus successfully overthrowing the false emperor in a parallel universe; no pretenses, I'm actually already a devotee of lust!"

But no matter how you say it, this suddenly appearing heir to the Lionheart Throne, appointed by the deceased father and three elder siblings, is just too childish!

So even though nobody dares to offend the arriving messenger cavalry anymore, for fear of being punished with a no‑discount nine‑clan elimination for desecrating angels.

"Please, have pity on this old bone of mine!"

But the powerful patrons behind the three heirs still gave it their all, practically begging, trying to pry some information out of the knights' mouths.

Probably the mastermind behind all this also anticipated this, so this time the knights actually spoke out the second piece of information.

"Patience…… tomorrow……"

No choice; the bigwigs could only sit obediently, quietly awaiting that hint of green at the kingdom's heart, to freely change Deep Forest's future.

Finally, after another long sleepless night ended, at dawn of the second day, when the nobles' brave retainers looked toward the capital region, they saw……

No cavalry, nothing at all!

Only a grand, epic‑movie‑score‑like performance sound came from within.

Every Deep Forest resident knows what this is: it's the piece left by the forefather king, played only when the kingdom faces a major event, of extraordinary status.

……

!!!

"Quick! Quick! Quickly contact the lord, have him come right away!"

"Where's the lady? Lady!"

"Oh my goodness, I will surely become a renowned historian remembered through the ages!"

As everyone expected, amidst what sounded like a chorus of ten thousand voices singing in praise, the twenty‑eighth Lionheart King of Deep Forest finally revealed himself to the world.

He…… he actually is!

Everyone was anxious and eager, but upon seeing the figure on the throne, they all exchanged looks of barely contained astonishment.

"A child?"

In fact, after Fiya ascended the throne, among the many criticisms she faced from court and populace, aside from her personal ability, the most frequent target of attack was her age.

Whether out of envy or a sense of duty, nobody thought that someone so young could bear the responsibilities a king ought to shoulder.

But regardless, even though she had just turned adult last year, she was at least eighteen and had worked for a while under the shelter of her father and elder brothers.

Her succession is reasonable, lawful, and justified; at least everyone can willingly cry 'Her Majesty the Queen' without awkward glances.

Tsk, who would have thought the opposition previously used this as a tool, openly and covertly attacking Fiya for being young, still wet behind the ears, a blond‑haired lass of a Lionheart King.

Now, not only is she in her prime, at the peak of power and vigor, she inexplicably collapsed, and the heir is still a child of unknown origin!?

Moreover, the child who sits securely in power for some reason wears a gold mask engraved with patterns, completely covering his face.

"I feel weird……"

Amid the clamor, an old man in a cyan‑gold robe slowly walked up to the platform—he was a highly respected elder duke of Deep Forest.

Gazing at the distant populace, he cleared his throat somewhat bewilderedly and spoke loudly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens of Deep Forest, good morning……"

Although his words lacked some inflection, this fine voice is definitely that of the Deep Void Duke.

And in his velvety low voice, the ultimate purpose of the recent strange maneuvers in the capital region was finally revealed at this moment.

When everyone thought that the old king died in the third month of Guangguang and the new king was born in the fifth month, that already counted as a lightspeed‑level transfer of power.

Its good neighbor, the great Shen Lin Wang Guo, stepped forward and loudly declared to the world——

Seven days!

Seven days is enough!

No preparations, no invitations—today is the coronation ceremony of the Deep Forest's new king; this is a notice, not a request!

But over the past few days, there have been far too many major incidents and mishaps; such inevitable, foreseeable trifles are no longer enough to shock everyone.

Therefore, it seems likely that the purpose was to scare everyone to death—yet the ones who placed the Lion Heart Crown upon this mysterious fourth prince were actually his three elder siblings.

Moreover, in front of everyone, they who once wished to tear apart their own blood relatives for this crown are now overflowing with enthusiasm and tenderness.

If it weren't for the fact that the three princes' faces, voices, and aura fluctuations are genuinely theirs, everyone would suspect someone was impersonating them.

... No, if they weren't impostors, that would be even more terrifying.

Heavens above, please, whoever you are, what on earth has happened in the Royal Capital!

Ordinary folks might only think this far, but the clever have already realized another issue.

Based on what we can see so far, it seems the biggest beneficiary of this series of events is precisely this somewhat overly young king.

But he on the throne was perhaps a little too calm, sitting silently throughout the ceremony, hardly speaking unless a necessary response was required.

He doesn't look like a child who might still wet the bed, nor like the ultimate victor of a dark struggle; instead, he seems like yet another pawn.

But if even this abruptly appearing fourth prince, the new generation's Lion Heart King, is merely a pawn, then who actually won this round of the pinnacle competition?

The answer is that, right after the coronation ceremony ended, another world record was refreshed—the speed of the queen's investiture.

Although, by normal age standards, many crown princes already have wives before ascending the throne, and with the king's coronation, the queen would naturally appear as well.

But precisely because of that, it's merely a formality; there are more important matters, so the queen's investiture ceremony is usually not rushed.

Even for the female-strong, male-weak Meriel, she waited three months, only donning the queen's crown after helping the newly enthroned Anton quell all his enemies.

So…

One after another, the female nobles who usually wield great prestige and influence in the Royal Capital passed through people's minds, yet none possessed the qualification and resolve.

Yes, just as no one knows this king, his queen is likewise a stranger.

Moreover, not only is she herself unknown, but even her honest father, who may have only been made a Marquis yesterday, is unknown to everyone!

"Ah this."

It looks like everyone's an idiot, so who actually won?

Those former crown princes and dukes on the platform were all respectfully bowing to the new king and queen—could it be that everyone won?

No, power is a life-or-death struggle.

There may be many beneficiaries in the end, but the true winner will always be only one.

So when that stunning queen, whose age appears to be not much older than Fiya's, placed the crown on her head and stepped forward to give her address,

"Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon."

As soon as her voice fell, a heavy aura surged outward; even tens of miles away, ordinary people could sense a threat flickering on the horizon.

"I'm unworthy, but in my youth I once witnessed an eighty-level great being act in the northern borders; its aura wasn't this frightening!"

"Then does that mean… ninety level? This is at least ninety level!!!"

"Heavens! Is a ninety-level already worthless?"

Since it was already afternoon, and many people had rushed from the four wilds of the Jingji region to watch the ceremony, someone immediately deduced the level of that aura.

Then.

The king who suddenly passed away.

The crown prince who willingly withdrew.

The duke who endured in silence.

The newly appeared king.

The haughty queen.

Up to this point, everything finally makes sense.

There is a force hidden behind the world, possessing one or even several top-tier combat powers, which in a single night occupied the entire Jingji region.

They kidnapped almost all of the nation's highest power holders, and made their own choice uncontroversially become its new master!

Some relatively clever competitors only belatedly realized why the Jingji region had been so strange these past few days.

Such momentous news, yet it trickles out like squeezing toothpaste?

Of course, because this is clearly an attempt to desensitize everyone!

Just imagine—if what happened today had occurred a few days earlier, how would the people present have reacted?

Even if they wouldn't act on the spot, their anger and doubts would definitely outweigh their surprise.

Even those great nobles in the wilderness would develop a confidence like, 'It's merely a ninety-level; if we all gang up, we could certainly defeat her.'

What will happen afterward is hard to say, but at least it won't be like today.

After using increasingly shocking news to numb all of Shen Lin Wang Guo, and then using ever higher-level messenger cavalry to suppress all discontent,

Nowadays, no one in Shen Lin Wang Guo dares to question news from the Jingji region, naturally including today's events.

Even the Earth Think Tank observing this from afar dares to guarantee, let alone forcibly shoving upon the Deep Forest people an inexplicable, youthfully shocking king and queen.

Even if this king is a self-proclaimed royal descendant old beggar, and that queen is a sow that only grunts, the people of Deep Forest today can only choose to accept!

Therefore, when the behind-the-scenes mastermind steps onto the stage, this match is actually already over; everything now is merely a lengthy victory animation.

However, although their debut was rather overbearing, almost crushing with absolute power to proclaim their victory,

yet Queen Vanessa still practiced the truth of 'strike a slap, give a sweet date,' saying some comparatively pleasant words.

Moreover, while soothing everyone, she also proactively explained why the king kept his face covered the whole time.

It turns out that Prince Davison suffers from leprosy; he feared his terrifying visage would frighten his subjects, so he donned a mask.

However, no one cares about that anymore, because the anxious onlookers, full of gain-and-loss worries, are all nervously exchanging their concerns.

Even if the queen had been as gentle as possible, that almost suffocating heavy atmosphere showed no sign of relief; on the contrary, it grew even more intense.

At this critical moment, another grand and mighty chanting voice, which could be said that every Deep Forest person had already heard countless times, came from the south.

Everyone's hearts jolted, they all turned and saw that it was indeed an armed cultivator battle team from the Deep Forest Church, and there were five such teams right away.

At the very front of this group of cultivators, there was even a magically powered levitating ship that resembled a moving temple, and two flags fluttered above it.

On the left flag was painted the emblem of the Deep Forest Church—a towering tree so huge it almost seemed to be copying the Elf Kingdom's logo.

On the right flag was painted a crown woven from fresh flowers, the symbol of the Deep Forest Pope.

As just mentioned, the person behind the scenes kidnapped almost all of the kingdom's highest echelon.

And now, the Pope! The benevolent mother of the forest! His Holiness Messiah, Pope of the Deep Forest Church, personally led her papal army here!

Furthermore, besides the five cultivator battle teams, behind her were three flower‑rank envoys: 【Hanmei】, 【Tanhu】, and 【Moxinglan】.

For a moment, the entire Jingji countryside fell silent, but pairs of eyes that kept shifting and secretly observing revealed everything.

Could it be that the Deep Forest Church is planning……

But if we step out of the personal perspective and think from the God's‑eye view that knows more information,

If this group of Deep Forest believers truly came to fulfill their duty, to set the royal authority right, and to oppose another group of plant‑people,

Then those flower‑rank envoys who arrived should not be these three flowers that Ji Ming has not yet forced into a benevolent defection, but rather should be the lineage of the Iron‑wrist Saintess.