A Beast Among Princes

The monk paused, then raised a hand to stop him.

“This gentleman, please wait a moment. The morning cleaning isn’t finished yet…”

“I am Yodel Finn. I’m looking for Bishop Yelica. An urgent matter. Could you please inform her for me?”

Yodel was quite renowned in the Chant Church, so the monk immediately recognized him.

“Ah, it’s you! Please have a seat. I’ll notify the bishop at once.”

Only a few minutes later, Yelica hurried over.

She didn’t directly ask why he had come; instead, she led him to an underground chamber before inquiring.

“Prince Eck Windsor has been assassinated. Did you know?”

“Need you ask? I’ve been up all night because of it. The assassin sure picked the right time—Archbishop Sasha just left for the headquarters in Riwa.”

“By the way, you’re not the assassin, are you? Killed him and then fled to our church?”

“Stop joking. I have an important task for you.”

Yelica immediately became serious. She knew the line between work and play.

“You need our help with the investigation? This case involves a royal family, very sensitive. As a neutral organization, the Chant Church can hardly intervene unless invited by the state religion or the king.”

Yodel shook his head, his tone grave: “No, no investigation needed. The second prince, Frank Windsor, is the mastermind. A monk from the War God Church carried out the deed.”

“Huh? Yodel, wait, my head’s spinning… The elder prince’s brother murdered him? And what does the War God Church have to do with this?”

Yelica scrambled to write down this bombshell.

“That’s how it is. I need you to inform the state religion. A foreign church sending assassins to kill in the capital of the Three Islands Kingdom—I think the state religion monks will be very interested.”

This move by Yodel was meant to brand Frank with the crime of colluding with a foreign religion, causing a rift between him and the state religion.

“Hiss… Is this information reliable?”

“I’m a Death God’s chosen. How could I not know who killed the prince?”

“True,” Yelica naturally believed Yodel, but she still had doubts: “I’ll tell the state religion, but what if they don’t believe me?”

“That doesn’t matter. You’re a bishop after all. As long as you report this intelligence, they’ll take it seriously. Let them work backwards from the answer; it’s better than stumbling around like headless flies.”

“Alright, I’ll do as you say.”

Yodel was about to thank Yelica when the ethereal, empty voice sounded again.

“Henry VI’s death plan has encountered a disturbance. He originally had twelve years left to live, but now it’s less than a year. Still Frank Windsor’s doing. If you want Cecilia to ascend the throne, you don’t have much time to prepare.”

“What’s wrong?” Yelica saw Yodel’s face suddenly turn frighteningly pale and asked with concern.

“That beast… that beast has struck his father, the king. The king has at most a year left.”

“…” Yelica was speechless. Frank had murdered his brother and now his father? Raised under the church’s high moral standards, Yelica had never encountered such a thing… She felt her worldview being tested.

Struggling to digest the shock, Yelica nearly ground her teeth: “Such a person must never become king. I’ll report this to the Highest Sanctuary.”

Yodel’s mood was no better than Yelica’s.

Facing such a ruthless and merciless opponent, the difficulty of getting Cecilia onto the throne was imaginable. Outside, the threat of a world war; inside, a murderous prince; plus the War God Church stirring up trouble everywhere… Damn it, how did the country end up like this?

Faced with this chaotic situation, Yodel felt, for the first time since his transmigration, utterly overwhelmed and at a loss.

‘No, this won’t do. I need to calm down. The situation is far from hopeless. Calm down and think about what advantages I have, what resources are available around me. There must be a way to break the deadlock.’ He forced himself to empty his mind and start reorganizing his thoughts from scratch.

First, Yodel thought about the information gap.

The prince didn’t know his crimes had been exposed; he still believed the state religion would agree to his coronation. But in reality, the state religion would soon become suspicious. As long as the state religion was convinced the prince had colluded with the War God Church, they would firmly stand by Cecilia.

Additionally, the prince didn’t know Cecilia had recovered. From his perspective, Cecilia was critically ill and couldn’t inherit the throne, making him the sole heir. But in reality, the highly popular, recovered Cecilia was a strong contender for the throne. Once the prince’s fratricide was exposed, Cecilia would become the sole legitimate heir.

Finally, there was Yodel himself—the hidden card of Cecilia’s faction, and the trump card, for obvious reasons.

As long as he could leverage these three advantages, Yodel believed he could show the prince what a surprise truly meant.

Then, following this line of thought, the next step was to find ways to fully exploit these advantages. Yodel immediately assigned himself two tasks: re-establish contact with Cecilia, and build basic trust with the state religion.

With the strategy in mind, implementation began.

“Yelica, based on the intelligence I just provided, try to gather as much evidence of the second prince’s crimes as possible. I’ll ask the Minkton detectives to cooperate.”

“Oh, looks like you have a plan?”

“Yes, rest assured. I will never let that murderer become king.”

****

At Buckingham Palace, Cecilia hid in her bedroom, her eyes slightly reddened, as if she had just cried.

“Idiot… brother, you big idiot, how could you be so stupid… to get into trouble near the palace? Who did this?”

By now, Cecilia sensed she was under house arrest. Her movements were being subtly restricted. And who ordered the house arrest? She had already guessed.

Buckingham Palace was the royal stronghold; the state religion and parliament had no right to confine a princess, so the suspect could only be from the royal family. Her father had always loved her, especially after she fell ill; he wouldn’t confine her without notice. Moreover, after her confinement, her father hadn’t visited her, so Cecilia felt his situation might also be dire.

Among her two brothers, the eldest, Eck, was dead, leaving only Frank.

“It must be Frank… But how does he have so much power to trap Father and me? Did he stage a coup? Forcibly take over the palace? What is he planning? Could he be connected to Eck’s death… From the perspective of interest, he is indeed the most likely murderer, but last night he sat beside me the whole time chatting.”

“Or perhaps Frank is an accomplice, playing a supporting role in the assassination…”

Emotionally, she didn’t want to believe her brothers were killing each other, but rationality told her Frank was the murderer.

As Cecilia was pondering, the door swung open without warning.

“Dear sister, I’ve come to see if you’re feeling better.”

Frank strode in with a gentle smile and sat down by Cecilia’s bed.