Imperial Crown.

Chapter 438: Too bad, I died too late

Chapter 438: Too bad, I died too late
Chapter 447: Unfortunately, I died too late

A month later.

On the streets of Lanbao, the ribbons left over from the National Day were hastily removed and replaced with black veils to represent mourning.

People took to the streets and left bunches of white or yellow chrysanthemums beside the fountain and outside the Possa Palace.

Today is the day of Eivor VIII's funeral.

Cardinal Boser of the Ivor Diocese presided over the funeral. He stood in front of the coffin with a calm expression:
"Today, with heavy hearts, we bid farewell to His Royal Highness, Grand Duke Georgie Vanya Eivor, who has devoted 18 years to the Principality."

"He is a filial son, a responsible husband, and a qualified monarch."

"It is under his governance that the Principality of Eivor has become more prosperous!"

“In the past 18 years…”

The speech continues.

Although the nobles below had to listen due to etiquette, many of them began to whisper to each other.

"Who is Archbishop Boser talking about?"

"I don't know, but it's not the Eivor VIII that I know."

"That's strange. Could it be that the person lying in the coffin is someone else? I want to open the coffin and take a closer look."

"Don't do that! What if the person lying inside is not Eivor VIII? Wouldn't that be terrible?"

The Duchy of Eivor has a history of more than 600 years, and there have been foolish and incompetent grand dukes, but there are indeed not many who are so incompetent.

In the eyes of most of Eivor's nobles, Eivor VIII's greatest contribution in life was his death.

The second greatest contribution is that he left no descendants, so no one can overturn his verdict.

Of course, the competition for first and second place is quite fierce.

Because many people still think that he died too late.

As the brother-in-law of Eivor VIII, Quentin couldn't help feeling uncomfortable when he heard these discussions.

Not that he thought Eivor VIII was very capable.

But looking back, the reason why Eivor VIII fell into such a bad reputation was mainly because he lost to Raven, bringing shame to the Principality of Eivor.

But to be fair, except for the most prosperous period of the Principality in the early days of its founding, which Grand Duke could have performed better against Raven?

Quentin was not sure.

Because Raven is indeed a rare military genius, it is not an exaggeration to call him a "famous general".

Of course, these words only turned around in Quentin's stomach for a few times before being swallowed back down.

He also has a lot of responsibility for the defeat of the principality - you can scold Eivor VIII, but you can't scold me!

Finally, with a cry of “May his soul rest in peace,” the Mass came to an end.

It's officially time for the cocktail party.

There was no laughter, but the atmosphere was even more relaxed than at the party when Raven arrived in Eivor.

"Lord Raven, long time no see." Tyrone walked up to Raven with a glass of wine in his hand. "You seem to be in better shape recently."

"It's not bad. Although I don't have many years to live, I can't stay in bed forever." Raven smiled and said, "But Marquis Tyrone, you must have been very tired to come all the way here in such a short time, right?"

Tailong pursed his lips slightly, looking a little unhappy.

The death of Eivor VIII was so hasty and sudden that he was unprepared. It had been more than 20 days since he received the news. He could be said to have rushed here immediately after settling his affairs, otherwise he would not have had time to attend the funeral.

After looking around and making sure no one was approaching, Tai Long lowered his voice and said, "Raven, you've gone too far this time, haven't you?"

"Eivor VIII is still the Grand Duke of Eivor after all. Do you know how much trouble his death will cause?"

Talon didn't mean to scare Raven.

The Duchy of Eivor is a member of the city-states of Fitun, and is now overshadowed by the Kingdom of Fitun; although Keynes controls part of Eivor's national affairs, he cannot go further.

The two sides reached a delicate balance.

But this balance has been broken with the death of Eivor VIII. The future direction of Eivor and the relationship between the Empire and Fitun have suddenly become complicated.

Raven denied, "Mr. Marquis, Mr. Governor, you are really wronging me."

"Although I may do some extraordinary things from time to time, I will never kill a Grand Duke without permission."

Although his tone was sincere, there was a gleam of distrust in Taillon's eyes.

It's like saying, we all know each other so well, why would you lie to me?

"..." Raven was speechless and sighed softly: "It's true that I didn't do it. Is there any benefit for me to kill him?"

Tyrone was stumped by the question, and this was also the point that he couldn't figure out.

Raven has already repaired the teleportation array and can control the Blue Castle at any time. No matter who is in power in Eivor, they cannot harm Raven's interests.

Moreover, if Raven really wanted to kill Eivor VIII, he could have done it four years ago when he captured the Blue Castle. There was no need to wait until now.

Another point.

Although the news announced to the public said that Eivor VIII died of a sudden illness, as far as Talon knew, Eivor VIII's death was quite miserable. The house was in a mess, and it was obvious that he had a fierce fight with someone.

If it was Raven who took action, it wouldn't have been so ugly.

"Who do you think did it?" Tyrone asked.

"It could be anyone." Raven shrugged. "A radical Eivor patriot, an enemy of Eivor VIII, or simply a maid or guard who is dissatisfied with his oppression."

"But none of that matters."

"Now we have to consider how to keep Aivor running smoothly."

Tai Long nodded, his expression much more relaxed.

Although Raven's teleportation array has greatly reduced the influence of the Slater family in Eivor, decline does not mean disappearance.

As long as the Slater family holds the Sigh Wall, there will be a steady flow of benefits.

"Eivor VIII has no offspring." Talon shook his glass. "If we choose another Grand Duke now, not only will the patriotic forces in Eivor rise, but it will also give Fitton room to intervene."

"We need someone we can trust to hold the situation together."

It's not that he doesn't want to seize the situation in the Duchy of Eivor, but Talon himself knows that although his family has developed a certain amount of power and relationships in the Duchy of Eivor over the past four years, these people are not enough to suppress the overall situation in terms of ability, status or prestige.

This is what Raven admires about Tyrone.

Even if the two people don't get along with each other, they will not act emotionally and will be able to put aside their pride when it comes to common interests.

"I have a candidate." Raven said, "However, I will have to wait a few more days before I can give you an answer as to whether he is reliable or not."

Tai Long nodded slowly: "Don't be anxious, but don't delay too long, lest the situation becomes uncontrollable."

Having said that, he turned the wine glass upside down and turned away.

After the farewell reception, Posuo Palace became deserted.

According to the customs of the principality, Eivor VIII's body needs to be kept overnight before being moved to the tomb of the successive dukes of Eivor the next morning.

Cui Qi, whose husband had just passed away, returned to her room after a busy day.

Sitting down in front of the dressing table, she sighed softly with a complicated expression.

suddenly.

The hair on her neck stood up, and Cui Qi froze in place as she looked at her reflection in the mirror:

"Lord Lei, Lord Leiven, why are you here?"

What frightened her even more was that Raven in the mirror looked so young and didn't look old at all!
……

Chapter 448: Dogs Can’t Wear Clothes
The black veil hat that she had just taken off was placed beside her, making Cuiqi's hair a little messy.

Her eyes were slightly distracted, her nose was straight and straight, and her fair face had a pair of moist red lips that were very beautiful.

Under her swan-like neck, she wore a tightly gathered black dress. Her legs were crossed, revealing the black fishnet stockings under the hem of her skirt.

Looking at Cui Qi in the mirror, Raven said in a soothing voice:
"Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

Cui Qi opened her mouth slightly, with her tongue sticking out and trembling slightly, as if she wanted to say something but didn't dare to.

Seeing this, Raven continued, "Nine months ago, I aged 9 years overnight."

"I thought that it was the blood curse inherited from my family that suddenly broke out." "But now, I slowly realize that it seems that this is not the case."

"During that time, Eivor's finances suddenly had an additional amount of 160 million gold coins, the whereabouts of which were unknown."

"And according to Margaret, you kept her away for a few days before my blood curse broke out."

"My sudden aging, the missing gold coins, and your sending Margaret away all happened at exactly the same time."

"Do you think this could be a coincidence?"

The blood suddenly drained away from Cui Qi's face. She grabbed the back of the chair with her pale knuckles and tried to stand up, but her body slipped to the ground.

Turning around with her hands and feet, Tsui Chi knelt in front of Raven, touching her head to the ground, and defended herself in a trembling voice:
"That's not what I wanted to do."

"It was all Joe Guitar who forced me to do this!"

At this point, she no longer dared to hide anything and told him in detail how Eivor VIII had asked Thomas for help, how Thomas had acted as a go-between, and how he had finally used a pair of underwear to perform the Soul-Falling Ritual on Raven in the Sanctuary of the Netherworld.

After saying all this, Cui Qi seemed to have taken a weight off her shoulders and said calmly:
"At this point, I have nothing to defend myself. I only ask that you, sir, spare my life. For this, I am willing to pay any price!"

As early as after the death of Eivor VIII, Twilight knew that this day would come.

Raven would certainly suspect something was wrong with the account books, and would then trace the huge sum of money handed over to the Hand of Death, and discover something fishy.

But she still held on to a glimmer of hope.

After all, there was no trace of the soul-falling ceremony.

But now that Raven asked her, she could no longer pretend she didn't know.

Looking at Cui Qi kneeling on the ground, Raven shook his head and sneered.

At first, Raven did not connect the death of Eivor VIII with his own sudden aging, but just felt that his death was strange.

How could it be such a coincidence that Eivor VIII died right after he arrived in Eivor?

Raven's first reaction was that someone was setting this up to frame him.

But when Raven inspected the scene with the Eye of Truth, he confirmed through various clues that although the scene was tragic, the wounds on Eivor VIII were not caused by others - he died at his own hands.

Or rather, in one’s own fear.

What made Eivor VIII so scared?

Raven thought of the accounts that had been sent to his room.

So he immediately sent the account books back to Eagle City and handed them over to Fiona for analysis.

As a result, it was sent back to Raven three days ago, allowing Raven to see the 3 million gold coins that were carefully hidden but clarified by Fiona and whose whereabouts were unknown.

Combined with Margaret's confession, Raven came to a conclusion that he himself did not quite believe - the outbreak of his blood curse was not natural, but was pushed by someone.

It is very likely that Eivor VIII and his wife were both involved.

That's why he came to test Cuiqi.

Unexpectedly, he actually discovered this huge hidden secret!
"Tell me, are you willing to pay any price?" Recalling everything he had suffered, Raven's voice became colder.

Cui Qi's body shivered from the cold, but she sensed a glimmer of life from it:
"Yes, sir, I do."

"As long as you can spare me, I am willing to be your dog and will never disobey any of your orders!"

Raven chuckled, "Okay, let's do it."

"What?" Cui Qi didn't understand.

"Didn't you say you wanted to be a dog?" Raven said, "I didn't know that dogs could wear clothes."

Cui Qi felt a little relieved, even though what she said was not literal.

Being insulted is the fate of writers; being misinterpreted is the destiny of expressers.

At least, this shows that Raven is still greedy for her beauty and she still has value in Raven's eyes.

Slowly taking off clothes, from high-heeled boots to stockings, from black gloves to long skirts, it was like performing a unique dance...

Cui Qi's movements were slow and gentle, making sure Raven could see them clearly.

She knows how to make men enjoy and intoxicated.

Just when Cui Qi was about to stick it on, she heard a "hissing" sound.

"Be good, come here." Raven waved his hand.

Cui Qi crawled to Raven's feet, raised her head and begged: "Sir..."

Snapped.

The slap landed on Cuiqi's face.

It wasn't heavy, but the sound was crisp enough to shatter Cui Qi's fantasy.

I had no choice but to endure the humiliation and bow my head obediently.
"Let's go." Raven left the room through the side door and came to a small garden.

No matter how clean the trail is, there will always be some sand.

She endured her disgust and married Eivor VIII in order to climb to the pinnacle of power and no longer have to bow down to anyone.

After the death of Eivor VIII, she finally fulfilled her long-cherished wish and became the most respected person in the Principality of Eivor.

But she is so noble, she is the mother of a country,
But she couldn't and dared not show any dissatisfaction.

suddenly.

A fire lit up at the corner ahead, and the vigilant voice of the palace guard rang out:
"Who's there!?"

"It's me." Raven said.

In the dark night, the light was dim, and the guard did not notice the changes in Raven's appearance:
"Mr. Earl! Why are you here?"

Raven casually said, "I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, so I came out. Do you want to take a look?"

Cui Qi's mind went blank.

Once she was seen in this state, her reputation would be ruined, and she would be expelled from the Eivor family, becoming a synonym for shamelessness and debauchery.

From the most noble Grand Duchess to the most lowly prostitute!
Cui Qi supported herself on the ground with her hands and feet, which were bleeding, but she was still pulled forward little by little.

Cui Qi realized Raven's intention, and for the first time that night she shed tears and cried out:

She kept shouting, her mind in a mess.

Cui Qi didn't know when the guard left. When she came to her senses, she had returned to the room and collapsed on the bed, not wanting to move at all.

A familiar yet strange voice sounded. Cui Qi looked up suddenly and saw Raven holding a crystal in his hand, on which appeared a nightmare scene for her.

She knelt on the ground with a flattering look on her face!

It's a crystal that takes pictures.

"Give it to me!" Cui Qi's rationality was instantly overwhelmed. She stood up and rushed towards Raven, but was roughly pushed away by Raven and fell on the bed.

Sitting up with all her might, Cui Qi could no longer conceal the hatred in her eyes:

"Raven! What the hell do you want to do!?"

"How far do you want to humiliate me before you stop!?"

"Yes, that's right." Raven finally smiled. "This is much cuter than when you pretend to be nice to me."

Raven threw the crystal high up and caught it, then said:

"My purpose is simple."

"From now on, as long as you obey my orders, the crystal will remain in my hands."

"Otherwise... all the citizens of Eivor will be able to appreciate the 'beauty' of their Grand Duchess."

After saying that, he turned and left the room.

Looking at the shaking door, Cui Qi bit her lips tightly until they bled:

"Raven...you devil..."

"devil!!!!!"