As a queen who has lost her kingdom, I can see the comments section.

Amelia also arrived. Today she was wearing a black dress and a black lace wide-brimmed hat. Her long, light blue hair, dyed light blue, hung down from the hat and was gently lifted by the wind.

Her beauty attracted the attention of some passing nobles, but because of the special occasion, no one came to chat with her.

Beside Amelia was Irene, dressed in a black and white maid outfit, following closely behind her, cautiously wary of anyone who passed by.

"Is it about to begin?"

Amelia looked towards the castle, where carriages were already approaching. On one of the carriages, which had no side carriages, lay a black coffin, inside which lay none other than the Grand Duke of Ogden.

After looking at the coffin of the Grand Duke of Ogden, Amelia glanced at the many princes and princesses not far away.

At this moment, the princes and princesses are all at peace with each other, as if their attention is focused on bidding farewell to the Archduke of Ogden, but in reality, how many of them are truly thinking about this?

The competition for the next Grand Duke was not open, but the nobles had already formed their own factions, and the army was silently gathering strength.

Ordinary civilians might not see anything amiss, but those with a bit of status or position could sense that a storm was brewing in Beard City.

These guys are all unstable factors.

"Lily, let's get in the car," Verna said as she approached Amelia.

Amelia nodded.

She and the others will accompany the coffin of the Duke of Ogden to bid him farewell, which requires a journey around Beard, and naturally, they will need to travel by carriage.

One carriage after another was ready. Amelia and Eileen entered one carriage, and Verna also entered the carriage. The carriage was driven by Verna's guards.

The other princes and princesses, as well as many nobles, also entered the carriage.

The coffin carrying the Duke of Ogden led the way, followed by a series of carriages, while large numbers of commoners lined both sides of the street to watch the Duke of Ogden's coffin proceed.

Inside the carriage, Verna sat down next to Amelia and whispered, "Amelia, I've found out some very important information these past few days."

"What is it?"

“It’s related to Vincent.” Verna’s expression became more serious as she said, “I’ve discovered that Vincent has also gotten involved with the military.”

"army?"

"Yes, I have quite a few people in the army, so I discovered some clues."

She explained the situation to Amelia in detail, saying that her people had discovered that some military personnel had been bribed, and when her people followed this lead, the clue pointed to a noble viscount named Harley Thomas.

"Harley seems neutral on the surface, not close to any princes or princesses, but how can there be an absolutely neutral nobleman?" Verna couldn't help but sneer as she said this.

During regime change, so-called neutrality does not bring any benefit, because neutrality means instability, and who wants to see instability exist?

Those vying for the Grand Dukeship will not allow neutrality; everyone must have their own stance. So-called neutrality merely indicates that one already has a stance in mind but is unwilling to reveal it.

"Is this Viscount Halley one of Vincent's men?" Amelia asked.

“That’s right. Although he covered it up very well, nothing stays hidden forever. These things can still be uncovered if you investigate carefully,” Verna said seriously.

"How well does Vincent understand the power dynamics within the military?"

"I'm not sure about that, since I only have a partial understanding of the military's capabilities."

"So, after you learned this news, what did you decide to do?"

“I need your help.” Verna looked at Amelia seriously and said, “I need you to pass this information on to Bennett so that Bennett can deal with Vincent.”

Verna cannot reveal her situation yet, but it's different for Amelia. Bennett knows Amelia's identity, and if Amelia mentions this to Bennett, Bennett will only assume that it was the force behind Amelia that found out.

She needs to remain hidden behind the scenes, planning to let the other competitors fight it out first, while she reaps the benefits.

Amelia nodded knowingly: "I understand what you mean, but there's still one more question."

"What's the problem?"

"Given the current situation, Bennett is under a lot of scrutiny, and it won't be easy for me to get in touch with him."

Amelia's answer made Verna think.

Amelia continued, "So you have to tell him this yourself. You can say that you got the information from me, and I believe Bennett won't doubt it."

“That works too.” Verna thought about it and agreed with Amelia.

This gave her even more ideas: she could claim that any information she found out was from Amelia, and then tell Bennett so that Bennett could deal with it.

Without Amelia, she obviously wouldn't have been able to relay the message to Bennett so easily.

This made her feel that it was absolutely the right decision to team up with Amelia. With Amelia, she wouldn't feel restricted or unable to perform her duties in many things.

Thinking of this, Verna said, "Amelia, you helped me become a Grand Duchess. When you restore your kingdom in the future, I will also do my best to help you succeed in restoring your kingdom."

Amelia nodded with a smile.

==========

By the time the coffin of the Duke of Ogden had circled Beard once, almost a whole day had passed.

As dusk fell, the group finally arrived at the north side of the Grand Duke's castle, at the location of the Grand Duke's mausoleum.

After getting off the carriage, Amelia looked to the side and saw Bennett getting off another carriage next to her.

Upon seeing Bennett, Verna went straight over and whispered something to him, so much so that even Amelia, who was not far away, could not hear their conversation.

In fact, what Verna was referring to was Vincent's practice of bribing people within the army.

As Bennett listened, he couldn't help but be surprised: "Is it Vincent? This guy actually wants to get his hands on the Grand Duke's position?"

Verna nodded and said, "That's right. This guy is very well hidden. He even made moves in the military. We have reason to believe that he has made more preparations in other areas, so we must be on guard."

Bennett became cautious.

Although he was the most popular prince, he understood more and more at this moment that he had to be careful. He had reached the final stage and he must not make a mistake at the last moment.

but……

"Did Amelia tell you all this?" Bennett asked in a low voice.

“Yes, Amelia found out all of this. She felt it wasn’t convenient for her to contact you right now, to avoid attracting attention, so she asked me to relay this message,” Verna replied confidently.

"Is that so..."

Bennett glanced at Amelia discreetly, a hint of wariness creeping into his heart.

Because what Verna just said was something that happened within the military, and it was a very secretive matter. Unless one had infiltrated the army of their Duchy of Luban to a certain extent, it would be impossible to know about this.

Amelia is clearly a queen of a fallen kingdom. Even with the support of the elves, how did she manage to infiltrate the army of the Principality of Luban to such an extent?

Bennett increasingly felt that Amelia was no ordinary person.

Could it be that Amelia has some designs on the Principality of Luban?

Bennett couldn't help but feel worried. If he could sign a contract with Amelia under God's witness, he wouldn't have to worry about this issue. However, their contract was still delayed.

Now that so many eyes are on him, it's difficult for him to approach Amelia and sign a contract...

'As long as Amelia doesn't turn against me for the time being, there's no need to worry too much; she should be supporting me now. With my current strength, I'm more than capable of dealing with the rest of my competitors.'

Bennett thought to himself that there was no need to worry too much.

Shortly afterward, the Duke of Ogden was successfully buried. After leaving a number of people to guard the cemetery, everyone left as night fell.

==========

Two more days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was November 23rd.

In just two days, the situation in Beard City has been incredibly volatile and unpredictable.

The seventh prince was found dead in the street one morning, his body covered in whip marks.

The fourth princess hanged herself in her residence; whether this was suicide remains to be seen.

The Ninth Prince was run over and killed in the street by a carriage. The murderer has already taken his own life, and the identity of the person who instigated the incident is unknown.

Two days!

In just two days, the prince and princess died one after the other.

The number of nobles who died for various strange reasons was also considerable, and the entire city of Beard was like a bloody vortex.

Vincent, who plays a key role in this, is standing in an alleyway wearing a cloak, holding a fat man by the neck and lifting him high in the air.

“Earl Gaine, why did you have to support Bennett of all people? Then I have no choice but to send you off to the afterlife.”

With those cold words, Vincent tightened his grip, and the sound of bones breaking immediately rang out, rendering the obese man unable to struggle any longer.

Vincent casually tossed the body aside and coldly scanned his surroundings. Besides the obese man, there were many other corpses in the alley; they were all the obese man's guards.

“Your Highness, I have something important to report,” Viscount Halley Thomas asked from behind.

"What is it?" Vincent asked.

“We’ve been under investigation recently. Their identities are currently unknown, but some of our activities within the military may have been exposed,” Harley said in a deep voice.

"Is that so?" Vincent narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.

There's not enough time.

Given enough time, he could arrange things much better, but as it stands, his accumulated strength is enough to deal with others, but too much to handle Bennett.

“It seems we have no choice but to take a risky approach,” Vincent said in a deep voice. “It’s most likely that Bennett is investigating us and has become suspicious of us. In that case, we have no choice but to take action against Bennett as soon as possible.”

Two princes, a princess, and numerous nobles have died in recent days. Many of them were killed by Vincent, but the deaths of a considerable number of others were unrelated to him.

He figured it was probably Bennett who did it, that guy was also eliminating competitors.

Under such circumstances, as the eldest prince, he would still stand out and would not be ignored by the other party.

So let's find a way to eliminate the other party before they make a move.

"The next Grand Duke of Luban can only be me, Vincent!"

Chapter 104 Upper Apostle

Before the situation stabilized, Bennett was always surrounded by a large group of people, his bodyguards, who protected him closely.

At this moment, Bennett had just finished dealing with some matters and left the castle, intending to continue with the rest of his business.

His brows remained furrowed.

Because more than one of his supporting nobles had died mysteriously in the past two days, he could easily imagine why this was happening. Clearly, someone was eyeing the position of the next Grand Duke, seeing him as a thorn in their side, and wanted to reduce his power.

So who could that person be?