Chapter 84
How did Boris Abel, the leader of the Nagabi Merchant Guild, end up at the Queen's birthday dinner?
Still in this way...
As the largest merchant guild in the Anas Empire, the Nagabi Merchant Guild has connections with many nobles.
Rumor has it that the previous leader of the Chamber of Commerce, Kent Abel Sr., had a falling out with the Lawrie Family.
After all, Darnell Laurie served as the Empire's Minister of Finance, and the Nagabi Merchant Guild controlled the Empire's finances, so conflicts and contradictions with the Minister of Finance, who was in charge of the Empire's assets, were inevitable.
It's perfectly normal for the two sides to be hostile to each other.
The nobles had clearly grown accustomed to hearing from time to time about the clashes between the Nagabi Merchant Guild and the Finance Minister, who won and who lost, and who had tricked whom...
But what's going on now?!
Why would Darnell Laurie, as the Empire's Minister of Finance, walk so respectfully behind the leader of the Nagabi Merchant Guild?
Some people were puzzled, but many more were simply baffled.
Boris doesn't personally handle the various affairs of the Chamber of Commerce; most of the less important collaborations are managed by Vincent, the Chamber's chief steward.
He only intervenes when it concerns whether the Nagabi Merchant Guild of Commerce's business will proceed smoothly or be affected.
Therefore, very few people in the empire had actually seen Boris.
Therefore, when Boris and Darnell walked into the banquet hall one after the other, most of the nobles maintained a blank and puzzled expression.
This included King Puli.
Lady Jona, however, looked surprised and frightened, her extreme paleness returning.
The surrounding area was no longer under Puli's control.
Anxiety began to creep onto the king's already furious face, and he demanded in a voice as if his throat were being torn apart, "What exactly do you want?!"
Minina: "Have you gotten so old that you've forgotten what you just said? Should I remind you again?"
She said condescendingly, "After tonight, you will no longer be His Majesty the King of the Anas Empire."
"You are no longer worthy to sit on the throne, get down, Puli!"
"No, you can't!"
The king appeared to be panting heavily, as if he could not bear it any longer, like a raging old lion that had been pushed to its limit.
He roared, "No one but me is worthy of the throne of the empire, except me!"
As Puli once again roared in fury for the knights to come in and drag Minina away, but still received no response, Boris had already walked up to him.
Boris, standing in the space Queen Minina had vacated, returned his gaze with a meaningful, indifferent expression; his brows and eyes were incredibly deep, his green eyes like the darkest, coldest bottom of a lake.
This expression only fueled Puli's anger further, and he shouted, "Get out of my way! Who do you think you are?!"
Boris slowly removed his brown leather gloves and handed them to Darnell behind him, Darnell accepted them respectfully, without even the Queen showing any objection.
This made Puli turn his gaze to Boris again, scrutinizing him closely.
Cyrus sensed something was amiss.
He leaned back against the Pope's chest and asked in a low voice, "Boris... does he have some connection with the imperial family?"
Segalot: "What kind of relationship do you think it would be?"
Cyrus: "... A fallen prince's revenge story?"
Upon hearing this, Segalot gave him a strange look.
Cyrus opened her mouth in surprise, stammering, "N-no way... Could it be that I guessed right?!"
He was just saying it casually.
After all, that's how it always happens in TV dramas; the twists and turns make it interesting. But who would have thought he'd actually encounter something like that in real life?
Segalot couldn't help but smile, stroking the soft hair on his head, and generously praising him. "A clever child."
No, I am unworthy of it.
Cyrus was incredulous, almost wanting to cover her face to hide her uncontrollable expression—was Boris really the prince of the empire?!
Following this line of speculation... could he be the son of the late Prince Lawrence Cavendish?!
It's impossible that he's King Puli's illegitimate son...
After all, although both of them were blond and blue-eyed, there were quite a few people with blond hair in the Anas Empire. Darnell, who was right in front of them, was blond, so there was nothing unusual about it.
As for green eyes, this is not very common, and it is mostly seen in the royal family of the empire, where it is considered standard.
Even Cyrus had to admit that among eyes of the same color family, Boris was undoubtedly the most beautiful.
He watched as things unfolded.
Boris smiled as he was being scrutinized by Puli, though the smile clearly didn't reach his eyes.
He replied, "Just a hair's breadth, Uncle, you almost really poisoned me back then."
"But unfortunately, I'm still alive, and I've come back to take my revenge on you."
These words, spoken without being hushed, rang out unexpectedly at the banquet, causing everyone who was unaware of the situation to gasp in surprise.
An uproar erupted instantly.
They whispered in shock, looking at Boris and King Puli with expressions of disbelief and uncertainty.
Lady Jona's face turned even paler, her lips trembled, and she seemed to want to say something but was temporarily speechless.
Puli was so shocked by the meaning of those words that he took a step back. He looked at Boris in disbelief. "No, this can't be! You and Lawrence don't look alike at all!"
He and Lawrence are brothers, and they look about 70% alike.
Boris: "I'm glad I did."
"If I looked very much like my father, I wouldn't have risked staying in the Empire for so many years to lay the groundwork. As for who I resemble, why don't you ask Lady Jona beside you?"
What do you think, Mother?
Joanna swayed unsteadily, her lips trembling, but she couldn't utter a single word.
Boris scoffed at this, "Why don't I speak for you?"
"I look like your father, who is my maternal grandfather."
"That poor old man never saw his beloved daughter before he died."
"Because you cannot give up the luxurious imperial life, the privileged environment, the wealth you control, and the man you obtained at the cost of everything..."
[Honestly, I've been using this app to follow my favorite books lately. It has multiple reading sources, various voice options, and works on both Android Apple.]
The king looked at Joanna, wanting her to refute him, but Joanna's pale and fearful face said it all.
Boris is right.
He was indeed Archibald Cavendish, the son of Prince Lawrence and Joanna.
He died in an accident when he was only eight years old, after his father Lawrence passed away.
The nobles couldn't help but look at Boris, trying to find a resemblance to Lawrence in his face.
The older generation of nobles, in particular, even took a few steps forward to observe—though not very clearly, the more they looked, the more similar the outline became...
Boris looked at Joanna with a mocking expression, and finally, hatred surfaced in his eyes. "I really don't understand you."
"For so many years, you know how much I've wanted to rush up to you and confront you—you had the chance to become the Queen of the Empire, yet you willingly seduce this man and help him kill your husband, my father!"
"And he was completely indifferent and unconcerned about your attempt to poison your only son at the time!"
"How did you manage to do that?! Was your heart kissed by the devil?!"
Joanna was forced to retreat continuously by these extremely angry words.
She tried to explain, "No, that's not it... I didn't know His Majesty was going to poison you, how could I..."
Boris: "Of course you didn't know that Puli wanted to poison me."
"But you brought me to someone who could poison his own brother, never considering whether I would be harmed..."
"Why did you stay with this man after he fed me poisoned water and disposed of my body?! Why?!"
Joanna's face was completely drained of color; she looked as if someone was choking her, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish starving for air.
Tosi stood stiff as a log.
What is the truth of the matter?
Joanna is an extremely vain woman.
She didn't Lawrence but married him anyway. Later, she was seduced by Puli and, believing his sweet words, helped Puli poison Lawrence.
Later, in order to eliminate any future trouble, Puli poisoned the then-young Boris, and without Joanna's knowledge, dumped his "body" in the slums.
People die there every day.
But the Creator God protects you.
Along the way, the jolting of the carriage caused Boris to vomit some of the poison, and he vaguely regained some consciousness.
Later, Boris was rescued in the slums and had a chance encounter with Kent Abel, the old merchant leader who had previously received help from Lawrence.
Old Kent Abel took him away.
They eventually arrived in the small country where Joanna was born, but by then Joanna's father, who was also her maternal grandfather, had already passed away, and the throne had been inherited by a member of the royal family.
Old Kent Abel did not rashly allow Boris to show himself.
After secretly listening for a long time, he decided to leave with Boris.
Later, old Kent discovered that Boris looked more like his maternal grandfather, so after asking Boris's opinion, he adopted him.
They returned to the empire.
Boris may have initially harbored illusions about his mother, Joanna.
But the truth was later revealed—his mother was one of the murderers. Despite discovering that Puli had poisoned him, she pretended nothing had happened, continued to stay by Puli's side, and even gave birth to his son.
All of this fueled Boris's deep resentment.
He eventually uncovered the absurd and ridiculous truth in the past.
This woman was blinded by "love." After helping Puli do all sorts of bad things, she discovered that Puli could not keep the promise he had made to her—to make her the queen of the empire.
Because the Holy See will definitely obstruct it.
Because Puli could not give up the marriage alliance with the Lawrie Family, he eventually married Minina Laurie.
Joanna can't turn back now; even if she loses her son, she can only keep going.
Both of them held leverage over the other.
Boris Abel's real name was Archibald Cavendish.
He has royal blood and is first in line to the throne.
He wants Puli to pay the price for his sins and repent before the devil! His mother, along with the illegitimate child he had with Puli, will not escape!
Archibald had been planning this for years, and finally found an opportunity at Cyrus's Castle—where the Pope and the Duke happened to be in the same place.
King Puli had an affair with his deceased brother's wife, and they even had an illegitimate child. This was a great disrespect to the Creator God, and he subsequently clashed with the Holy See on several occasions...
Due to the King of the Puli Empire's status, the Holy See found it difficult to conduct substantive arbitration on this matter.
Although Segalot didn't care about Puli's romantic history, the dignity of the Holy See could not be challenged.
After Archibald probed, hinted, and expressed his intention to cooperate, Segalot got involved—overthrowing the empire is a very interesting thing.
Orville was also interested in splitting the empire and making Achiyoli an independent territory; Desinia did a good job of that, didn't they?
He had had enough of Puli's stupidity, arrogance, and hubris.
So, after meeting at Cyrus's castle, Segalot, Orville, and Archibald secretly reached a preliminary agreement, and this plan to overthrow the empire was finally put into action that night.