Iris Flower: Why Did You Suddenly Fight Back?

With the arrival of the Sky Knight squadron on Glass Island, Iver can finally breathe a sigh of relief and settle down to study properly.

Because Meg has been reincarnated as Ligeia, Avalon no longer needs to rush to resurrect Lancelot to protect the country. Therefore, the Queen does not need to die for the time being, which indirectly postpones the crisis facing Shadow Angel.

Queen Sophia today undoubtedly wishes she could live.

Soon, Avalon and Star Antimony will inevitably clash. Queen Sophia's thoughts are similar to those of Iver and Ligeia... If handled well, this war could actually be an opportunity for Avalon.

But this comes with a prerequisite: ensuring that Avalon doesn't descend into chaos.

Although those old men and thugs are useless, they still wield power. The still relatively inexperienced Isabel might not be able to control them, nor does she have the discerning eye to select talented young people.

However, Queen Sophia herself could handle it without any problem.

During this time, she could take the opportunity to teach Isabel some things... and have Iver mentor Isabel.

Her previous refusal to teach Isabel the art of governance was probably different from Isabel's own belief that "I am not suitable to inherit Avalon"—because if that were the case, she would not have been able to ask Master Agnes to protect Isabel and teach her extraordinary arts.

By then, the curse had already begun to spread. Instead of letting Yanis protect herself or investigate the cursed one, Queen Sophia made her protect a little girl who was very low in the line of succession and had no ability to Path of Authority? "--So it seems that Queen Sophia has really been doing all these years is hiding the truth in the forest."

After listening to Iver's explanation, Sherlock thought for a long time before answering in this way.

Sherlock currently "dead and hasn't been resurrected," missing out on many interesting things. So, Iver made a special trip back to the bishop's house to update Sherlock on the information.

Aside from omitting his appointment as Minister of Everything, Iver told Sherlock everything else—even that Aleister had been transferred to his command. Of course, this was to prevent Sherlock from getting bored and conducting pointless investigations, thus exposing his true intentions.

"Go on, I'm listening."

Iver sat on the sofa, sipping sherry, and listened with a smile as Sherlock began his analysis.

When old Meg brought this wine over, Iver was surprised to find that it was quite delicious. Now he bought some more to give to the Bishop —ostensibly for the bishop, but actually he drinks a little himself from time to time.

Just treat it as a storage space. There might be some occasional storage wear and tear.

To be fair, Meg's taste is indeed quite good. The wines she recommends are definitely worth mentioning.

So the reason she usually likes to eat fried chicken and fried fish is probably because there really isn't much good food in Avalon...

Sherlock wasn't drinking; he simply had an unlit cigar dangling from his mouth, his hands moving with incredibly expressive gestures as he spoke eloquently, "His Majesty probably already guessed that the curse didn't originate from a single source, which is why the royal family members died in different ways. It's precisely because the curser isn't from just one side... the Noble Red of the Stibnite Person, the spies and assassins of the Iris People — Lloyd's's might not know, but the first two are enough."

"This is also why she never revealed the name of the cursed one—with the Eye of Avalon and Master Agnes around, it would have been quite simple for her to investigate if she really wanted to. But the answer was something the people of Avalon couldn't bear. So she could only pretend she didn't know."

"If we are fighting against one country, it might be able to ignite the fighting spirit of the Avalon people. But if we are fighting against two enemies at the same time, there is no way we can win."

"There are only four countries around Avalon. Apart from the Western Theocracy and the barbarians of the Northern Wolf Country, there are only Star Antimony and Iris left. And those barbarians already had a bad relationship with us, plus the dissolute Iris People and the shady Stibnite Person, we can say that we are enemies of the whole world."

Sherlock is undoubtedly a fan of the Queen.

However, what he said this time was probably true.

Looking back now, knowing that Avalon couldn't easily break the curse, nor could she avoid being cursed herself, Sofia calmly made several preparations:

She first began to promote Isabel's hidden Path of Beauty, keeping her away from royal social interactions and the center of power, maintaining her purity, and avoiding contact with her brothers and sisters; then she began to prepare for the Shadow of Avalon Ritual, planning a protector for Avalon; she also found Isabel Yanis as her protector and mentor, ensuring that Isabel could grow up healthily.

Although Isabel's artistic talent was quite outstanding, it was not enough to win Yanis's heart—therefore, the only reason Yanis, who loved to travel the world, was kept in Avalon for so long was because of the Queen's request.

From this perspective, arranging for Isabel to attend the Royal Law University to interact with outstanding peers and future pillars of the nation; giving preferential treatment to Sherlock, who is loyal to the royal family; and even granting Iver a ministerial position—all of these were for Isabel's benefit. They were all paving the way for her future rule.

As Isabel said, she had always had a good relationship with her grandmother. But Sofia's love for her was not about intimacy, pampering, or gifts, but rather existed in a more rational and long-term way.

"That's wonderful," Iver exclaimed.

Her Majesty the Queen's only miscalculation was that Isabel was driven to a state of isolation by the pressure.

After all, she often sneaked out of the Silver and Tin Palace to watch plays when she was a teenager, dressed up as a female college student and pretended to be a junior when she was in middle school, and was a social butterfly who could easily get along with a world-renowned painter she met for the first time and made Yanis offer to draw her portrait... It is indeed hard to understand why Isabel would become withdrawn so easily.

"I'm afraid from the very beginning, Princess Isabel has been the most suitable person to inherit His Majesty's governing philosophy."

Sherlock answered affirmatively, "Avalon urgently needs to open up and accept extraordinary individuals from other paths."

"Her Majesty the Queen has done everything she could despite the resistance to reform. She is an exceptional and outstanding monarch, but she still lacks time."

"According to my calculations, it will take at least another generation before we can truly see the effects of the reforms and allow Avalon's technology to catch up with international standards. If we choose to stop or even regress at this point, we will miss the last window of opportunity."

"Really."

Iver nodded, surprised by Sherlock's keen observation.

Once the Narcissus Principality achieves independence... that technologically advanced nation, whose entire ruling class is composed of mages, will begin to unleash its technological prowess accumulated over a century. And once Star Antimony disintegrates, the three masters of Demon Scholar, Alchemist, and Necromancer—who are no longer mutually restraining, will be able to pull off something big.

Queen Sophia did not foresee the Fallen Angel ' affairs, but her political acumen easily saw through the instability of the Narcissus Principality and the internal crisis of Star Antimony.

In this situation, any monarch who cannot resolutely overcome political resistance from all sides and continue to complete reforms as quickly as possible is effectively extinguishing Avalon's last hope. But Sofia can only trust Isabel.

Because while other heirs might betray her, Isabel was the only one who couldn't. After all, Isabel herself was a holder of an illegal path.

The Path of Beauty, which is controlled by the Iris Flower Kingdom and allows for clandestine observation and even easy teleportation through "Artistic Vision," is undoubtedly limited in Avalon. Those conservative knights dislike—or rather, fear—this flashy ability.

Now that all other heirs have been excluded, the cursed one from the Iris was caught red-handed during the "assassination of the minister," Meg's lifespan problem has been resolved, and Isabel has gained two capable assistants, Iver and Sherlock... After Avalon revived the multiple deadlocks that had trapped Iver, the Queen immediately stopped pretending.

She demonstrated the iron fist that had ruled Avalon for many years—

The Queen publicly displayed Ligeia, claiming that she was closely related to Meg by blood, was a chosen one blessed by the Silver Crowned Dragon, and also possessed Meg's Dragon Blood Law Decree —therefore she would succeed the "unwell" Meg as the Grand Arbitrator.

Although Ligeia appears very young, she is actually already an adult. She only maintains her youthful body due to the power of the gods.

The Queen's words had been approved by the Church. Those in high positions present could also sense that Sofia was speaking the truth.

Immediately afterwards, Avalon began to put pressure on the Iris.

They produced concrete evidence that Dean Lars Graham, as the leader of Iris High School, had "abused and murdered students," "desecrated corpses," and "assassinated ministers"—but made no mention of the curse.

However, the Queen specifically stated that when the Grand Guardian surrendered, he not only refused to surrender but also intended to use magic to attack innocent people. Had they not interrupted him on the spot, the number of civilian casualties would have exceeded one thousand.

—So, what was clearly a shameful incident of Iver being attacked three or four times in a row was transformed into a great achievement.

Following this, the assassin who attacked Iver was also identified—her transfer to the Royal Law University was handled by Master Lars Graham. And since they used the same techniques, they are highly likely to have come from the same spy organization.

Because of Avalon's sudden attack, and the fact that these testimonies could be sworn to by the Nine Pillar Gods in public to ensure their authenticity, Iris was suddenly plunged into an extremely embarrassing and distressed situation.

They have repeatedly found themselves on the defensive in negotiations on other matters recently, and the Iris newspaper, like flies that have smelled blood, went directly to Avalon by boat to conduct interviews in person.

Once they return to Iris, this matter will likely escalate further.

With Lars Graham taking the blame, the assassination of Minister Drost in prison was explained: an unnamed high-ranking official from the Bureau of Supervision presented compelling evidence that Minister Drost had come into contact with a transcendent being from the Path of Love in prison before his assassination.

As we all know, the main paths of the Iris Flower Kingdom are the paths of Path of Love and Path of Beauty.

Avalon, who was being suppressed, suddenly began to fight back, completely ignoring the Stibnite Person who were actually attacking them, and instead turned around and attacked Iris, who was secretly causing trouble, with all its might—which caught both Star Antimony and Iris off guard.

This was the first suggestion that Iver made to the Queen after becoming Minister of Everything.

—It's like a one-on-one battle between men in the top lane. If your jungler comes, I can trade one for another, so I'll kill the one who came to help first.

Star Antimony and Iris are inherently enemies. They are happy to see this situation.

Star Antimony was already overwhelmed by the internal chaos when it saw Avalon suddenly fighting with Iris... In order to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, it immediately scaled back its operations, keeping the spies inside Avalon in a dormant state.

They planned to just watch Avalon and Iris fight. They even intended to add some firewood to make their fight even more exciting.

Little did they know, this was all a play staged by the Queen.

In this way, Avalon had some breathing room.

Having been cut off from aid from Star Antimony, the Noble Red Society lost its ability to disrupt Glass Island due to the spying of the Eye of Avalon and the attacks from the regular army.

The operation was named "Bear Hunt." Officially, it was to eliminate "the giant forces that intended to overthrow Avalon's rule and the illegal superhuman organization that had carried out multiple massacres of innocent villagers," without mentioning any support for Star Antimony.

Since the fire hadn't reached them, the Stibnite Person didn't agree to help Noble Red at this time.

So, within three days of the operation's commencement, thirty of Noble Red's strongholds were destroyed by the lightning summoned by the griffins.

The Queen gave an interview to The Glass Staircase Newspaper.

She did not indicate that this was a long-planned counterattack. Instead, she feigned ignorance, claiming that these actions were strongly advised by the new "Minister of No Matter," and that she was "very surprised" by them.

However, Her Majesty the Queen respected the minister's personal wishes and chose to keep his true identity a secret.

For a time, the entire Avalon was filled with curiosity and speculation about this minister who had no authority.

"—So, Iver."

After praising the Queen, Sherlock pointed to the newspaper and asked, "Who do you think this minister is?"

The first chapter is 4,000 words. The second chapter will have to wait until around 2 PM, meow.

My nose is running more, it feels like a cold caused by rhinitis, or maybe the rhinitis was triggered by the cold... Compared to previous years, I have an extra bronchiolitis, which is a sequela of last year's COVID-19.

In short, not having the Double Ninth Festival is a good thing...