A crescent moon hung in the night sky, accompanied by scattered stars.
A black funeral procession was rapidly gathering.
Not only were the people dressed in black, even the horses they used were black. The Warren Royal House crest had also become black and white at this moment.
Dressed in black and wearing a mourning hat, Mary walked in the middle of the procession. Qin Ran was beside her, while James VIII's coffin followed behind them.
There was no body inside, only some of his personal clothes and belongings.
There were no elaborate rites or prayers.
Once the procession had assembled, it headed toward the cemetery outside Lerdri.
Before James III, the Warren Royal House cemetery had always been located somewhere behind Warren Palace. But as time passed, the growing number of dead royals made that small burial ground insufficient. Thus, during James IV's reign, the Warren Royal House built a new royal cemetery outside Lerdri.
Leaving the palace gates and passing through the Inner City, the procession entered the Outer District.
Quite a few commoners appeared along the streets.
One after another, they had changed into black clothing and voluntarily came to see James VIII off.
The king created by the "combination" of First Crow and James VIII was not, in the traditional sense, a good king.
But he was certainly not a bad one, either.
He had not imposed brutal tyranny, nor had he slaughtered innocents indiscriminately.
On the contrary, he had lowered taxes as much as possible every year.
The commoners did not understand much more than that, but they remembered that those tax reductions had allowed them to endure several harsh winters.
For that, they were grateful to His Majesty.
More and more commoners lined the streets to see James VIII off.
They prayed softly.
Some