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Bang!

In Lion Roar Castle’s Conference Hall, another coffin was added.

The guard carrying the coffin reported loudly: “Young Master Joyce, we found this corpse in Butler Derrington’s room.”

After Viscount Walra went up and checked it out, he said sadly: “Yes, it is indeed my father’s remains!”

“Framed! It’s a frame-up!” Joyce cried out sharply, his young face filled with anger and fear, “You framed the butler!”

Watching Joyce’s loss of composure, Colin smiled faintly and said, “Young Master Joyce, you can’t malign a righteous knight without evidence.”

Knight Louis also immediately stepped forward to question: “If Butler Derrington really conspired to murder Count Uman, why would he deliberately hide the corpse in his own room?”

Colin, seemingly prepared, explained calmly: “Because he wanted to find something from Count Uman’s body.”

“What?”

“Duke St. Hilde’s will!”

“The will?!”

Everyone exclaimed in surprise for a moment.

Knight Louis also looked at Colin with uncertainty, his mind racing with various thoughts, and for a moment, he dared not speak.

“Did Duke St. Hilde leave a will?” Archbishop Agani seemed to be learning of the existence of this will for the first time, staring intently at Colin without blinking.

“Of course.” Colin gestured to Viscount Walra to explain.

Viscount Walra immediately took out a roll of parchment and said solemnly:

“I just found this will in my father’s room. It is this very will that led to my father’s death!”

With this, Viscount Walra handed the will to Archbishop Agani and respectfully said, “Sir Archbishop, please read the Duke’s will.”

Archbishop Agani took the sheepskin scroll, appearing composed on the surface, but a storm was already brewing inside her.

Even without looking at the contents of the will, she could guess what it said.

Given Colin and Walra’s confident demeanor, the will must have named Vera as the successor!

Moreover, the well-calculated performance of Colin and Walra just now made Archbishop Agani realize a cruel fact—

The Uman Clan had sided with Vera!

This was the most lethal move!

The Uman Clan’s switch of allegiance also meant that the Joyce line had completely lost control of Winterfell City.

With the loyal Golden Lion Legion outside the city, even if the City Defense Force was still in the hands of the Joyce line, they could no longer cause any ripple.

That’s why Colin dared to publicly kill Butler Derrington and brazenly frame him.

Having absolute power also meant having the right to speak.

It’s just like a country being able to claim another country possesses weapons of mass destruction based on a tube of laundry powder.

The vital factor is not the authenticity of the evidence, but whether you have the strength to silence those who question it.

Now, Colin had that power.

Archbishop Agani felt a heavy burden in her heart, realizing that she must make a new choice.

She slowly unfolded the parchment, and under the expectant gaze of everyone, she opened her red lips and read aloud:

“I, Cyrus St. Hilde, by the title of the 17th Northern Duke, appoint Vera St. Hilde as the Marquis of the North. After my death, she will inherit the Duke of the North’s position, assume control of the North Territory, and carry on the glory of St. Hilde… ”

“Impossible! It’s not possible!” Joyce’s sharp and immature voice sounded again.

Gone was the pride of a triumphant young man; all that remained was endless horror and anger.

“I don’t believe it! I am my father’s first successor! How could my father allow Vera to inherit the duchy? Let me see, let me look!”

Joyce stretched out his trembling hand, demanding to see the will firsthand.

But Archbishop Agani ignored his request, simply saying: “This is definitely Duke St. Hilde’s handwriting, and the seal is also correct.”

This represented the Church recognizing the validity of this will!

Colin smiled faintly, admiring the archbishop’s skilled ability to go with the flow.

However, her sense of timing had also saved him a lot of trouble.

“Give it to me, I want to look!” Joyce continued to make a fuss.

However, Archbishop Agani seemed to have not heard his request at all, returning the will back to Viscount Walra after securing it.

Viscount Walra paid no attention to Joyce, he simply tucked the will securely onto his person.

Joyce was completely ignored.

“You… you…” The little boy’s face flushed red as his body started to tremble, his eyes filled with unbelievable terror.

This young child was prematurely experiencing the bitterness of the world’s indifference.

But at this moment, everyone in the room didn’t have the leisure to concern themselves with a brat’s mental health issue, especially after the brat had lost the aura of being the Duke’s successor.

Viscount Walra continued to explain, “My father told me that when he arrived at Winterfell City three days ago, the butler Derrington approached him and showed him this will.

However, at the time, the butler did not intend to follow it, but to destroy it entirely, and have Young Master Joyce take over!

So, my father falsely agreed to help the butler destroy the will, but in reality, he swapped it out and tucked the real one away.

Knight Louis was present at the time, he can testify.”

All eyes abruptly landed on Knight Louis.

At this moment, Louis understood that the momentum had been lost, Uman Clan’s betrayal made Joyce’s succession an impossibility.

Moreover, the will wasn’t even destroyed.

At this moment, Knight Louis even doubted whether Count Uman had been playing both sides all along.

Did the Uman Clan always support Vera?

Had he been fooled all along?

Knight Louis sank into deep shock and confusion, hesitating for a moment before finally nodding in admission of the truth of the matter when faced with Viscount Walra’s questioning.

Having received Knight Louis’s affirmation, Viscount Walra was even more confident and continued,

“The moment my father saw the Duke’s will, he decided to support Miss Vera, but Butler Derrington insisted on promoting Young Master Joyce and claimed to have united all the powers within the city, forcing my father to join them.

Having no choice, my father could only pretend to agree.

But when Viscount Angler arrived on behalf of Miss Vera, my father immediately allied with him, wanting to lead the clan army out of the city to fight against the rebel army with the Golden Lion Legion!

But, this act was seen as betrayal by Butler Derrington, who then secretly contacted the Dwarfs and arranged for an assassin to cruelly murder my father.

After killing my father, Derrington wanted to search the will from my father’s body, thus the assassin left my father’s remains and carried his head back to Lion Roar Castle to report.

But what they didn’t know was, my father had always kept the will in his room.”

After listening to the story of Viscount Walra, everyone in the room fell into silence.

All circumstances regarding Count Uman’s death seemed to have a reasonable explanation, but whether it was the truth was not so important.

They all understood that the story told by Viscount Walra was nothing more than a lofty excuse, what really mattered was the crushing military power of Vera’s faction.

So, when Viscount Walra decided to lean towards Vera, the situation within Winterfell was already set in stone.

Butler Derrington had to be a traitor, not because of the “truth” told by Viscount Walra, but because of the Uman Clan’s army and the Golden Lion Legion outside the city.

Colin cleared his throat righteously and said, “Butler Derrington colluded with the rebel army and conspired to murder Count Uman, his crime should be punished!

Does anyone have any objections?”

His gaze swept over each of their faces.

Joyce had already lost his senses with such a heavy blow, looking like a soulless husk, standing motionlessly.

Knight Louis had kept his head down and was only thinking about how to save himself.

Knight Chester remained neutral and silent as always.

As for Archbishop Agani, when her eyes met Colin’s, she smiled brightly and nodded,

“Butler Derrington indeed deserves his punishment, Viscount Angler, I highly agree with your handling!”

Colin also smiled in satisfaction, “Having your approval, Archbishop, is my honor. However, I hope you can find someone to repair the church to prevent incidents like Knight Thomas’ from happening again.”

This meant he acknowledged that Thomas was indeed killed by the collapsing church, which was considered Colin’s return for Agani’s change of stance.

Agani caught Colin’s intention, her smile became brighter.

Colin’s reciprocation let her know that he was a willing collaborator.

With that in mind, Vera’s appointment as Duchess was not something unacceptable.

“Rest assured, Viscount Angler, we will reinforce the church to prevent such accidents from happening again.

Now, let’s welcome Miss Vera into Winterfell as soon as possible.”

“As you wish!”