"Huh???"
Xiao's eyes widened, his face full of confusion and bewilderment as he stared at the Carian Knight, who was eloquently listing a long string of charges against him.
However, these were clearly crimes committed by Ranni and Marika, so why were they all being pinned on him now?
"Um… can I see the message the Erdtree sent you? I feel like I'm being framed!"
Xiao looked at the Carian Knight with a serious expression, asking in a solemn tone.
"Of course, no problem!"
Although the Carian Knight was puzzled, he readily agreed.
He quickly took out the latest Erdtree leaf and raised his hand to toss it to Xiao.
During this process, Moongrum, who stood ten meters away from Xiao, remained vigilant. His hands tightly gripped his shield and longsword as he focused completely on guarding against any possible danger, fearing that Xiao might suddenly lose his temper and attack him.
Xiao took the leaf and carefully read it:
"The leaves bear tidings,
The divine being of the former law has returned from beyond the fog,
The shadow of Death, hidden for ten thousand years beneath the Golden Order, stirs once more,
When the Gloam-Eyed Queen arrives at the Erdtree, she shall bring Destined Death to the world!"
After reading it, Xiao was so angry that he felt cold all over, even in the middle of summer.
"Where in this does it say that I stole Destined Death? And who said I killed Godwyn and caused the Night of the Black Knives?"
Xiao shook the Erdtree leaf repeatedly as he angrily questioned the Carian Knight.
They say rumors kill people. The Erdtree didn't say anything, yet these unruly people of the Lands Between spontaneously pieced together an entire story and dumped all the blame on him. Could this world get any more ridiculous?
"Then let me ask you this: if it wasn't you who orchestrated the Night of the Black Knives, who else could use Destined Death? It couldn't possibly have been Queen Marika herself planning everything and then killing her own eldest son, who inherited the perfect Golden Order, could it!?"
The Carian Knight's retort rendered Xiao speechless for a moment. He truly wanted to say that Marika was indeed capable of such a thing.
After all, for someone as powerful as Godwyn the Golden, who could overpower the Ancient Dragon Gransax, a creature the size of the Royal Capital itself, to be assassinated by a group of killers from Marika's own kin without even a proper battle, seemed somewhat unrealistic.
There was no major conflict, and Marika, a deity connected to the causality of all things and aware of nearly everything, somehow failed to notice it.
The Night of the Black Knives either meant that Godwyn the Golden willingly accepted death, or that Marika deliberately suppressed Godwyn the Golden's power.
Otherwise, with the strength of Ranni and the Black Knife Assassins, they might not even have been enough for Godwyn the Golden to fight with one hand, let alone carry out such a silent assassination.
But if he actually said such things aloud, not only would the Carian Knight refuse to believe him, even Xiao himself, if he hadn't known the plot in advance, would never have believed it.
After all, Marika was the Eternal Queen of the Lands Between. How could she personally orchestrate such a conspiracy?
She had always been dedicated to maintaining the Golden Order, so how could she casually choose to destroy it?
And Godwyn the Golden was incomparably powerful and practically invincible. His existence itself was the perfect embodiment of the Golden Order.
So, no matter how one looked at it, Marika killing her own child seemed utterly illogical.
Then, besides Marika—the Eternal Queen who once conquered and sealed away the Law of Death—only the creator of the Law of Death, the Gloam-Eyed Queen, could wield the complete power of that law without suffering backlash.
At the same time, only this Queen of Death from the previous era possessed the capability to silently kill Godwyn the Golden together with her followers.
"Of course, you could also claim that a demigod chose to sacrifice herself in order to assassinate Godwyn the Golden and perish alongside him.
"But have you considered why any demigod in the world today, all of whom are Godwyn's own siblings, would want to kill their elder brother?
"Eternal Queen Marika and His Majesty Radagon do not need heirs. There is no such thing as abdication or succession. The title of Imperial Prince among demigods is more symbolic than practical, so there isn't even a real power struggle!"
The Carian Knight continued questioning Xiao.
Listening to his words, Xiao couldn't help wanting to say that Ranni really had done exactly that—that she truly sacrificed her eternal flesh in exchange for dragging Godwyn the Golden's soul into death.
But in the end, Xiao only opened his mouth without saying anything to defend himself.
Because he knew very well that no matter how much he explained, he could never provide a convincing answer.
What Ranni and Marika did was simply an act of self-destruction, where those in power voluntarily abandoned their own authority.
Through the meticulously orchestrated "Night of the Black Knives," they successfully eliminated Godwyn the Golden, the pinnacle heir of the Golden Dynasty's next era, and Ranni, the Dark Moon Princess, the pinnacle heir of the Carian Dynasty's next era.
One lost her soul, while the other lost her body, directly causing both great dynasties to fall into a crisis with no proper successors.
Immediately afterward, Marika personally shattered the Elden Ring, causing the two greatest centers of power in the Lands Between to lose the supreme authority that should have belonged to them.
The Golden Dynasty lost Marika, its absolute core figure, while the Carian Dynasty also lost the Full Moon Queen's rule.
Marika chose self-destruction and voluntarily abandoned the throne of power;
Meanwhile, under Marika's intricate calculations, the Full Moon Queen was also forced to relinquish her royal authority.
It could be said that the true purpose behind the "Night of the Black Knives" and the shattering of the Elden Ring was to simultaneously eliminate the first and second holders of supreme authority within both the Golden royal family and the Carian royal family.
Their goal was to create a vacuum of power, open the path for contention, and ignite ambition, ultimately triggering the civil strife among the Carian sorcerers and the wars surrounding the Royal Capital throughout the Lands Between.
Their actions resembled a fairy tale, creating an illusion that could never exist in reality: the upper nobility, even the royal class itself, choosing to wound their own power.
They chose to destroy their own authority, open new pathways, allow the lower classes to obtain more hidden knowledge, and gain greater legitimacy in their struggle for power.
Thus, the current era of endless war was born—a war that began as a conflict among demigods, but ultimately ended with the rise of a Tarnished.
It should be understood that under the structure of gods, divine beings, and demigods established by the Greater Will during the era of the Golden Order, social hierarchy had already completely solidified.
Even demigods barely possessed the qualifications to participate in the highest-level power struggles, let alone ordinary mortals from the lower classes.
All demigods and mortals alike could only serve beneath the divine beings, forging brand-new laws for them and continuously pushing the world forward.
Yet it was precisely because of this self-inflicted destruction of power that the demigods finally stepped onto the main stage, ultimately even allowing an ordinary Tarnished to ascend and become Elden Lord.
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