Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 157 The Saintess of Lorraine (Third Update)
(Correction: I previously said that France had a population of five million, but that was a figure from the early Middle Ages. I was wrong... In the later Middle Ages, France's population had already reached twenty million, which was quite large.)

February 25, 1429, inside Chinon Castle.

Chinon Castle, situated behind the Loire River in a strategically important location, was where Henry II moved to live and later developed into a formidable fortress. During the Anglo-French Wars, the Dauphin resided here and issued various orders from within the castle.

In a sense, this castle has become the political center of all of France, although... the whole of France is in grave danger.

Just a few dozen miles from Chinon lies Orléans, the front line of the power struggle between Britain and France at this moment. France is now struggling to hold on by relying on the defensive line built up by the Loire River and the city of Orléans. Chinon, the actual center of France, is less than a hundred miles from the front line. France has reached its most difficult moment.

Once Orléans falls, the Loire River will be indefensible. The English army will cross the Loire directly, and with a pincer attack from the north and south, France will have no chance left. The eight-year-old King Henry VI of England will then rule France, possessing both the English and French crowns, and will become the most powerful monarch in all of Europe.

So what if Chinon was only a few dozen miles from the front lines? Where could France retreat to at this point? Surrounded by enemies on all sides and suffering defeat after defeat, France had nowhere left to retreat.

On this day, the castle of Chinon was filled with the rare sounds of singing and dancing. Numerous noblemen and women were invited to a banquet, complete with clowns, magicians, and musicians—not a grand affair, but certainly complete.

"Oh……"

Laughter and exclamations rang out between men and women from time to time, but Prince Charles, the host of the banquet, was not happy; he was still thinking about the war at the front.

Orleans has been besieged for four months, with no food supplies and no outside help. No one knows when Orleans will fall. This life-or-death situation makes Charlie extremely anxious. Even with delicious food and music in front of him, he can hardly eat.

The minister beside him noticed his complicated emotions and spoke to the crown prince in front of him.

"Your Highness, why don't you eat?"

Charlie shook his head and sighed.

"How can I eat anything in this situation?"

Seeing the dejected Crown Prince before him, the minister quietly instructed the guards to end the banquet and allow the Crown Prince some peace and quiet.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles, standing beside him, stared blankly at the food in front of him, clearly in dire straits.

His father was mentally ill, and the defeat at the Battle of Akukin resulted in the loss of nearly half of the kingdom's nobility, forcing him to agree to pass the throne to King Henry V of England upon his death. The Hundred Years' War between England and France had originally been decided during Henry V's reign, but the unexpected simultaneous deaths of the two kings gave the French nobles an excuse to refuse to recognize the royal authority of the current King Henry VI of England.

His mother, Isabella, who did not like him, openly declared that he was not Charles VI's biological child, but rather the child of her and her lover. Although Charles directly denied this, claiming that his mother was coerced by the English, even he himself did not know the truth.

As the crown prince, he was heavily in debt.

The Queen of Sicily, the Lord Keeper of the Royal Seal, and even his cook were his creditors. Numerous merchants had borrowed large sums of money from him at exorbitant interest rates. Even the fish he ate were pond fish raised by local priests in Bourgeois. Therefore, those priests were also his creditors. Wasn't his stay in Chinon Castle a way of hiding from his debts?

No matter how you look at it, the country seems hopeless, to the point that a thought suddenly popped into Charlie's mind.

"Perhaps... it would be better for me to retire?"

Would it be better to give up this rightful throne?

He was the Crown Prince of France, but also the Count of Anjou, with numerous in-laws in both England and France. Even if he abdicated the throne, his relatives could protect him. Even if Henry VI dared to disregard the nobles' objections and insist on eliminating him completely, he could simply retreat to his Anjou territory.

The thought was so strong that Charlie was tempted, but just then...

"...The Saintess of Lorraine?"

Stunned by the messenger's words, Charlie did not answer directly. Instead, he looked at the minister beside him, his bewilderment only the minister could understand. But the minister's gaze at the crown prince spoke plainly.

"This was not my arrangement."

There is a long-standing prophecy in the Lorraine region: "One woman will destroy the Kingdom of France, and another woman will revitalize it."

For the Crown Prince's courtiers, the first woman was his mother, a major problem, while the second woman remained unknown. In an attempt to exploit this prophecy, the Crown Prince concocted several Lorraine saints in hopes of boosting morale, but none of them worked…

Therefore, when the Crown Prince heard that another Saintess of Lorraine had arrived, he almost assumed that this was another scheme orchestrated by the ministers.

"What kind of girl was she?"

The crown prince then inquired about the messenger, who, not daring to be negligent, explained in detail.

"She is a commoner girl from the village of Domrémy in the Lorraine region. She claims that she has heard the voice of God since she was thirteen years old, and that God commanded her to help the Dauphin ascend the French throne... Now, the girl is outside the castle, waiting for His Highness's summons."

After questioning the messenger in detail, the Crown Prince fell into deep thought. This Lorraine Saintess was different from the other Lorraine Saintess he had fabricated before. Her reputation, along with her bold and courageous actions, was gradually spreading throughout the regions she had passed through.

However, the prince was still hesitant, unsure of what this girl who claimed to hear the voice of God truly meant.

"perhaps……"

A thought that he couldn't believe flashed through his mind.

Two days later, the Crown Prince's advisors discussed the matter several times, and there was a great deal of disagreement about whether to meet the girl. Some suspected that she was an assassin, while others felt that given the current situation, it would be fine to meet her.

But in the end, the hesitant crown prince gritted his teeth, overruled the objections, and made a decisive decision.

"Whether it's true or not, if I don't even dare to see a woman, what kind of crown prince am I?"

However, the crown prince was not entirely reckless. Inside the castle, he spoke to the courtiers before him.

"However, to rule out the possibility that she might be an assassin, and also to test her authenticity, I've decided to conduct a small test..."

……

So, after waiting outside the castle for two days, the girl from Lorraine who claimed to have received divine revelation was finally able to enter the castle.

"Come in."

The guards who had been standing watch at the castle gate carefully examined the woman in the veil before them, and after confirming that she was unarmed, they spoke.

The woman inside the hood nodded, then lifted the hood on her head to keep warm, revealing a head of golden hair and a pair of bright eyes. She looked curiously at the open castle interior before stepping inside.

(End of this chapter)