Chapter 1029 Won
"What?" The king opened his mouth wide as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Duke Raymond shuddered while thinking, 'What did the crown prince do in that place? We'd sent him so that he could pressure them to show him the main city.
'A normal complaint wouldn't really matter, but the ones sending it this time were the Sword Arbiter and the Moon Temple. Even the Ardagan family wouldn't let go of this opportunity.
'As the number one arbiter, we still have to listen to Duke Lorelei to a certain extent. Did he say the Moon Temple was questioning the Muivell Kingdom's decision by ruining the marriage?
'Since when did they marry? No, wait. For the Muivell Kingdom, the marriage would only be recognized after a ceremony. But for the commoners, who couldn't pay for it, they usually registered it with the government, which would get the approval of the temple to bless their relationship.
'Don't tell me… The Moon Temple had recognized it? As a noble, it wasn't that much of a problem for him to get it registered with the government. In other words, he had registered their marriage… But when? Wasn't his marriage ceremony still at least nine months from now?
'Even the temple wouldn't really recognize it if the ceremony was too long… unless they either moved up the schedule or got them to bend their rules.'
Duke Raymond instantly realized that it seemed to be the former. Noel moved up the schedule to the point where the Moon Temple had no choice but to recognize it.
As Noel said, he had made a decision to move up the schedule. And he used his sly nature to think of a way to take advantage of it and make that decision a good one.
With this, no one could shove Anna's spot as the main wife even if it was the princess.
And there was one thing that Duke Raymond understood after learning about their marriage. There was only one thing that could anger Duke Lorelei.
'The fact that their marriage had been recognized meant that Anna Stargaze had become the lady of the family. Did the crown prince take action against the lady of the Ardagan family?
'Even if he were a crown prince, there was no way he could do that. His action would be scrutinized, and if he wasn't punished, the nobles would definitely complain about this. We could shut commoners up, but nobles are different, let alone Noel Ardagan.
'Don't tell me… Did he plan this whole thing? He knew that the crown prince would be sent, so he moved up the schedule and set this trap where we have no choice but to recall the crown prince and punish him.
'They got us good…' Duke Raymond gritted his teeth, realizing that they were defeated this time. He never thought that this young noble would be much harder to deal with compared to his father.
Noel couldn't help but turn around and ask with a panicked expression. "What happened? What happened to my wife?"
The soldier didn't know what to say since it was an emergency message that was carried by pigeons. They didn't have a lot of information in it. So, the soldier couldn't only shake his head.
"What did the crown prince do over there?" The king roared, never expecting that his plan would be ruined. No, it could be said that his plan actually backfired, considering he sent the crown prince to find out the truth.
Noel clenched his hands into fists while turning back to the king, asking with a dark face. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, I would like to ask if this is how you're going to treat your loyal subject."
"Earl…" The king was completely astounded, never thinking that during the whole debate, he couldn't get a single advantage from this young man. He thought he had prepared for everything, but he was wrong.
"Was it because of my parents? I have forgotten all my past because I want the best for this kingdom. I was exiled to the Demon Banner Army. In there, I could see all the people seriously wanting to protect the kingdom from the demons. I, too, wish for it.
"I fought against numerous demons and defeated a lot of the Supreme Devil Organization's members. I even killed a total of three Devil Saints for the sake of this kingdom.
"Yet, the only thing I received was humiliation after humiliation. Is this how you're going to treat your subject, Your Majesty?" Noel asked out loud, his expression was dark as if he had been wronged his whole life.
The nobles from all factions fell silent. No one could actually speak. Noel obviously knew what he was doing was weakening the royal family. But the royal family couldn't admit that they were the ones creating the terrorist organization. Even if Noel spouted these lies, they couldn't say anything back.
For those who sided with Noel, this was actually a good time to push back. This was a dark chapter for the royal family. Once exposed, the royal family would lose a lot of trust from the citizens.
Their words might not be heard by the populace.
For those in the neutral faction, they could see that the only way to appease Noel was to either give him a promotion in rank or agree to the road building. Either way, it would benefit Noel the most. In the end, Noel would become a Marquis sooner or later.
At the same time, they could finally see Noel's skills in politics. With such a skill, surpassing his father would be an easy task.
It gave them a favorable impression and persuaded some of them to join Noel's side. However, they wondered what actually happened in his city. Was this staged?
Obviously, the royal faction knew this was staged. They were aware that the king had sent the crown prince to take care of this.
While the crown prince wasn't as good as most nobles, he still saw a lot of politics and learned a lot. To think that he would still fall for the Ardagan family's plot.
Of course, if this matter spread, both Noel and the royal family would take a hit to their reputations. Anna's name would be tarnished and the king would have no choice but to disown the crown prince while losing the trust of the citizens.
However, the king knew the damage to the royal family was much bigger than Anna's reputation. That was why he had no choice but to stop the rumor from spreading.
The nobles in the hall were smart enough not to spread this matter. And even if one or two spread them, people wouldn't really believe it… if the Ardagan family didn't say anything.
That was why the only way to stop all this was to give Noel what he wanted.
He had two options, either rank promotion or road building. If they built the road, the Ardagan family would become the wealthiest family once again. And this time, it might even surpass that title and become the top family in the world.
But if he was given the title, it also meant that he had to expand his territory. Giving the territory south to him wouldn't be possible. In other words, he could only give the demon territory to him.
In other words, if Noel decided to expand, he would be able to get everything that this place had.
And with that size of land, Noel would definitely get a lot of new things and people. His original plan, which was to circle Noel with the nobles of the royal faction, had been ruined because of this.
However, there was one thing that Noel wanted. That was to reclaim the territory of his ancestors. That was right. He wanted to make the fallen territory his own. This was the last he could do for his ancestor.
While he was at it, he also wanted to show that he could make a prosperous territory from it.
The king gritted his teeth and had no choice but to declare, "Recall the crown prince to the capital city right now!"
"Y-yes!" The soldier panicked and hurriedly escaped from the hall.
The king then turned to Noel and said, "I have never thought that the crown prince would do such a thing to the lady of the Ardagan family. As the king and as a father, I apologize. I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation.
"To reward you for your action in repelling the demons and the Supreme Devil Organization, Earl Noel Ardagan shall be promoted to Marquis. His territory will be expanded two hundred kilometers to the north, which is currently within the demon territory. His reward will be increased to 150,000 gold coins, 30,000 demon crystals, and 15 treasures."
This was what Noel had expected. By expanding his territory to the demon territory, it wouldn't be weird if he asked for the Demon Banner Army to set up a base in that place. In other words, they had to send one sword, one shield, and one utility squads to help him clear up this territory.
In other words, he could actually get a bulk of Demon Crystals from the Demon Banner Army, which would be the fuel for all his rune technology.
In addition, having a joint operation between his army and the Demon Banner Army would definitely be beneficial for his soldiers.
And by becoming a marquis, he could have more nobles and soldiers under his command.
This reward would definitely help him build his new territory.
Noel didn't say anything as he simply fell on his knees as a sign of accepting the reward while showing his disappointment in the royal family's action.
The nobles thought this action was appropriate. However, most of them never imagined that the royal family, who had prepared for this battle, ended up getting extorted by Noel.
In this debate, Noel won.
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