Weapon seller in the world of magic

Chapter 616: It’s Judgment time (part-2)

So far, it was Queen Bai Lianhua who attracted the attention but Mark’s sudden question made King Qi, the center of attention.

As she pointed out earlier, none dared to point their finger at King Qi, but secretly, everyone believed that he was impotent. King Qi cannot father his children and that is why he was preparing his nephew as the successor of the kingdom. This was an unsaid fact, not only in the eyes of officials but also the people of the kingdom.

And when Mark suddenly shattered their belief with a simple statement, everyone now stared at King Qi, asking for an explanation with their eyes.

King Qi, feeling enormous pressure on his shoulders, walked forward a couple of steps and knelt down, cupping his fists with a bow, "Your Majesty, it was due to a prophecy from our Retired Royal Diviner, Master Chen."

"Prophecy?"

King Qi explained, "If I ever fathered a child, that child would bring doom to the kingdom. He will be the reincarnation of death who will not only end our dynasty but cause millions of deaths in the future. For the sake of my people, I had to remain childless. I would rather let people think that I’m impotent, sterile, or even homosexual than let such a dreadful future happen." He glanced to his left at the Queen, "I… I… *sigh* I love my wife, Your Majesty. It is not that I wanted to ignore her. It is just that I loved her so much that I had to stay away from her. Until she said it with her own mouth, even though everyone was talking about it, I never once believed that she betrayed me. To protect her dignity and prove that she is innocent, I waged a war. I went on for a year of conquest. Even after all this, I won’t be ashamed to announce that I love her, Your Majesty. Yes, I’m sad, disappointed, and angered by her betrayal, but my love will be there for her, always."

"Dear…" Bai Lianhua looked at him, her eyes filled with tears, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty about her actions, quite in contrast to her earlier announcement.

His words also generated pity from many officials and fellow generals. They never expected that their King was sacrificing himself for the sake of the people, although some still thought that he was a p*s*y to forgive his wife. But, no one doubted his words because of Mark’s presence.

*Ding! There’s a 99.7% probability that he is telling the truth, Master.

As the notification was heard in his ears, Mark nodded in understanding but then questioned why he had never revealed it to his wife, if that was the case.

To which King Qi replied that he was afraid of Late General Bai’s potential rebellion out of anger. There is also a high possibility of a coup from noble lords if the truth was ever out back then. Later on, so much time has passed that he just put away the matter altogether.

Mark digested all the information. King Qi was right in his eyes; Queen Bai, to some extent, was also correct in her eyes if one sees from a modern life point of view, and Shi Chong was the great scapegoat in all of this.

Mark was slightly troubled by his judgment. It’s not that he doesn’t know what to do. It is just that the clash of the current era’s culture and the modern era’s life from his past life gave him trouble. He was aware that he should tread this matter very carefully. If mishandled, a wrong message would be sent to the citizens.

After much thought, Mark called up the prisoner and gave his judgment, "Shi Chong, regardless of whether Queen Bai was willing to come with you voluntarily, it is a fact that you loved a married woman. She is troubled by her marriage life and might have taken a drastic step. What about you? Where was your intelligence gone? If you truly loved her, you should have waged a war against King Qi like a man or had him assassinated by any other means if you were not brave. Of course, those crimes will have their own set of consequences, but to save her, you should have killed her so-called heartless husband who ignored her, freed her from the marriage, and married her officially, giving her a new life.

But, No. You chose the stupidest way to solve it. Look at the consequences. You made King Qi as your enemy. You brought war to your doorstep. You even tried to ambush him using cowardly means even after issuing a challenge in the name of the Shi Dynasty. Your ancestors should be ashamed of you. Other than this, I myself sent my representative to give you an opportunity to save your city. But no, your stupid confidence in the outsiders caused thousands of casualties.

You truly deserve death, but I promised that I wouldn’t let you die. I give you three days. Rest well, eat well, and train well. After 3 days, you will have a battle with King Qi without any cultivation or weapons. You win and you will be exiled from this continent. You lose and you will be crippled, not just your cultivation. I meant literally."

Shi Chong’s pale turned by the sentence.

Mark didn’t care about it anymore and shifted his attention to the woman, "Queen Consort Bai, as a human being, my sympathy is with you. But as the Chancellor, I have to point out that you made a mistake. If you want to leave the hellish marriage, you could use your late father’s influence in the army and your position as the principal queen to escape from the palace on your own during your husband’s absence. You could just come down to the south or take up a boat to travel to the Baize Empire to start a fresh life. The ornaments on your body are worth enough for you to live your life comfortably, too. Then, you can find someone, fall in love, and live with your own family. Why did you think that you needed a man’s help in escaping you?"

"Eh?"

"Earlier, you also mentioned that if it was anyone else, you wouldn’t dare. Do you know why? Because you can’t live as a commoner. You couldn’t give up the luxury of the palace for the sake of freedom. In fact, you want both of them. Quite greedy, don’t you think?"

"This… Your Majesty…"

"I’m not done yet, Queen Consort Bai. Whatever path you chose was indeed wrong, but it is not a crime of law or anything. Your crime is the fact that you broke the sacred pact of marriage and indirectly became the fuel for the war. At the same time, we can’t ignore the fact that your actions stemmed from your husband’s ignorance and not being truthful to you. Combining every fact, I sentence you that from now onwards, you are no longer a noble. I revoke your status as a principal Queen and order King Qi to appoint another.

Now, as a human being who sympathizes with your situation, using my status as a demigod, I offer you asylum in Vienna City. You cannot marry anyone else as long as King Qi lives and your fertility will also be taken away from you. However, you can start a fresh life with a new identity and live in any way you want.

This is not an order but a way out for you. If you don’t want to accept my offer, you can continue to remain in this palace as a commoner, and I leave your fate in the hands of your husband. King Qi will give you any punishment he deems fit. You have 3 days to think. Until then, Alina would ensure your safety in this palace."

"This is too biased…" such thought occurred in the minds of every official around.

"And King Qi…" Mark was quite calm as he carried out sentences, giving the reason and pointing out their faults, but when he faced King Qi, the main source of the entire issue (excluding himself), Mark’s gaze turned colder, "What kind of an idiot are you?" He shouted, making everyone shudder collectively for a moment.

King Qi, who was already surprised by Mark’s light sentence, was further stunned by Mark’s shout. "Your… Your Majesty? Wha… What do you mean?"

Mark continued, "The future is ever-changing, Qi Tianchen. And the prophecy only indicates the likelihood of the future. If the future is determined by prophecies, then no matter what you do, it will happen, won’t it?

Even if you stayed childless and ignored your wives, the victories in battles might be called for celebrations, and you might get drunk so much that you would probably father a child with some servant or a stranger. Or you might be entangled in a situation where you might be trapped and exposed to aphrodisiac with some woman. If we think that way, I can see even more than a hundred possibilities. With such possibilities, will you stop drinking then? Will you stop going into wars? Will you stop going on and lock yourself, then? Or will you just commit suicide and think that this will end?"

Qi Tianchen: "…"