Chapter 76 Duke: I wish I had Deya's courage
"Hurry up, His Majesty the King gave you 'Lottie' as a reward to work for you. If anyone dares to be lazy, be careful of the whip in my hand!"

On the banks of the Spey River, the Royal Guards stood on both sides. An officer waved a whip from time to time, angrily scolding the hired sailors for diving into the riverbed.

The sailors took turns going down the river to complete this "well-paid" job.

There were pieces of ship wreckage floating on the surface of the river downstream, and the sailors were looking for corpses in the water.

"His Majesty the King only gave us such a small amount of money, and he wants us to risk our lives to retrieve the body. He is so fucking stingy."

"Shh, keep your voice down so those people don't hear you. Our Majesty can give us some symbolic money, so just be thankful."

"I read in the newspaper that the eldest prince is rebelling and wants to seize power and usurp the throne?"

"What we are salvaging now is not the body of the eldest prince, right?"

"His Majesty is so cruel that he even killed his own son."

The sailors chatted in low voices, and their words were full of ridicule for the king.

Corpses were pulled out of the river one after another. Each corpse was completely burnt, making it impossible to tell what they looked like when they were alive.

Until a mutilated corpse was placed in front of the officer.

The corpse was wearing a ring on its finger with the royal emblem on it. This should be the corpse of the eldest prince.

But whether it is true or not requires professionals to distinguish, and they are only responsible for salvage.

……

The waves crashing on the fine sand are magnificent, and seagulls are crying under the blue sky.

In the distance, a lighthouse stands on the shore, guiding the direction for lost ships.

The Duke of Hudson stood on the beach in military uniform. He was tall and mighty, with an upright posture. He had a navy coat draped over his shoulders and held a ceremonial sword in both hands, standing in front of him.

"How's Hogan doing?"

The Duke of Hudson lost an eye in a battle with the fleet of the Narbo Empire.

He could have sought out a high ring priest to restore it, but Duke Hudson refused treatment.

To the Duke, it was a warrior's medal.

The adjutant beside the Duke bowed and said, “Lord Hogan was injured and is now recuperating.

In order to give His Royal Highness a chance to escape, he faced two 7th ring masters head-on without retreating, and his injuries were very serious."

The Duke nodded and said, "It's OK that he's not dead. I used to look down on that guy. He has no courage and lacks decisiveness. I even think he is not a descendant of my Hudson family.

I didn't expect that he would dare to do such a thing as forcing the emperor to abdicate. I have a higher opinion of him."

The adjutant knew that the 'boy' the Duke was referring to was the eldest prince.

"Your Highness, the prince has been confirmed dead in the River Spey."

"I know that since he dared to do something like forcing the emperor to abdicate, he should be prepared to die. This is the fate of every soldier!"

The adjutant secretly looked at the Duke, the sea breeze blowing on his weather-beaten face, and he seemed not sad about the death of His Royal Highness the Prince.

The adjutant hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Your Excellency the Duke, there may be something wrong with the death of His Royal Highness the Prince. His Majesty the King would never have killed him."

Duke Hudson laughed and said, "Of course, your Majesty cannot kill that boy. He is the king's bond to me.

There must be some conspiracy behind this, but so what? In the end, the boy chose the death of a warrior, and that was enough.

Now, after all these years, the rope has finally broken.”

Duke Hudson fell silent again, his already white hair fluttering in the wind and waves, and suddenly said:

"That little fellow from the Cavendish family actually slapped the king in the face in front of all the nobles and chose to break off the engagement."

The adjutant didn't know why the Duke said that, so he remained silent. "If I had his courage and determination back then, and didn't care about the so-called Duke's position, and was determined not to let Elena marry the king, she wouldn't have died."

The Duke's words made the adjutant's expression change slightly.

His Excellency the Duke's words are indeed meaningful. Could it be that Lady Elena's death is related to the King?

Duke Hudson looked out at the rough sea, his mind unconsciously recalling past events.

That year, the Kingdom of Anglo-Saxon joined forces with the Narbo Empire to launch a naval invasion of Susaitani.

As the eternal 'Secretary of the Admiralty', the Hudson family took up the challenge.

Although the Hudson family defeated the coalition forces of the two countries with the support of the kingdom, it was a pyrrhic victory.

The previous duke died in battle, and the entire family was torn apart, with other families eyeing the city covetously.

Everyone has been coveting the Hudson family's navy for a long time.

In order to help her brother who had just inherited the title of Duke to stabilize the internal situation and fight against foreign enemies, Elena chose to marry into the royal family and married into Abrana.

This puts the Duke of Hudson in control of the situation today.

But if he could do it all over again, Duke Hudson would definitely not want the so-called dukedom, but would also want his sister to be happy.

Shortly after giving birth to her daughter Celeste, Queen Elena died of illness.

The high-ranking officials of the kingdom who knew of the existence of Sallysthe believed that this was related to the cursed girl.

But Duke Hudson knew that this had nothing to do with Celeste.

Hogan, who had been guarding the queen in the royal family, told him that after giving birth to Sally, Elena was very sad when she saw her cursed disabled daughter.

However, His Majesty the King took advantage of the sadness of maternal love and Elena's weakness after giving birth, and forced her to death through various means including but not limited to cold violence.

As soon as the queen died, the king immediately married the eldest daughter of Duke Frederick.

The Duke of Hudson at the time didn't know why the king was so anxious to marry a second queen.

Now, after so many years, he finally understood the king's operations.

As the first heir, theoretically the future king, even if Elena dies, the Hudson family will support the king because of the existence of the eldest prince.

His Majesty the King’s second and current Queen is from the Duke Frederick’s family, which also enables the King to gain the support of the Frederick family.

This is an open conspiracy. As long as the king is alive, there is no point in having an heir.

For the sake of the two heirs, the two ducal families had to support the king's policies.

Even in the end, he was able to use the right of inheritance to force the two duke families to turn against each other.

In addition, the king took advantage of his daughter's marriage to the Cavendish family, and his ambition was completely exposed and obvious more than a decade later.

The king used various arrangements, marriages, and political means. He just wanted to take back the nobles' fiefdoms and learn from the Narbo Empire to concentrate power!

So Elena must die. Only when she dies can the king's plan proceed.

She died because of the king's ambition!
"Write a letter to the king in my name and tell him that I want to take Sally back to Hudson County and let our Hudson family take care of her."

The Duke's words shocked his adjutant, who said anxiously, "My Lord Duke, that... that is the cursed girl."

Duke Hudson sneered, "Curse? My Hudson family are all men of the sea. We are not afraid of even this cruel sea. What's so scary about a mere curse?

Besides, that child has suffered enough.”

The adjutant said no more on this issue. He asked again: "Sir, who should we support between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists?"

The Duke said proudly: "No one will support them. Let them fight on their own. No matter who wins in the end, they are the ones who need the support of my Hudson family!
Hudson is always the 'Secretary of the Admiralty' of Sussett, always the Hudson of the sea! "

(End of this chapter)