"No wonder Perot wants to deprive Krautz of his divine grace, the turmoil he caused has done us a great favor, and it has completely ruined the last hope of the Pellow Church to seize the initiative in the Far East, and Philip is going to hate him to death." Roland sighed, his mood extremely complicated.

"So it's not so simple to say that good and evil are right and wrong, how many people are doing stupid things with enthusiasm, the wrong route, and the harder they work forward, the farther away they are from the end." Rudolph hugged his son's shoulders and sighed.

Roland no longer dwells on the philosophical dilemma of right and wrong, but instead remembers another matter, "I am very concerned about Clausez's dying words, if there is a conflict between the state and the church, what should we do?" ”

"It depends on who can better represent the direction of the progress of the times, the church or the state." Faced with this extremely acute question, Rudolph smiled slightly, and said to his son calmly, "The state and the church are made up of people, and people's ideas and positions will always change from time to time, how can there be a royal family or an eternally correct church, the state system will not be in the interests of the people, the system will be changed, the church will reform if it cannot bring spiritual comfort to the believers, and if the reform is not enough to solve the chronic diseases, it will use revolution to overthrow them." ”

Sighing softly, he continued: "Actually, I admire the spirit of Krautz, but it's a pity that things in the world are judged by success or failure, and Krautz lacks self-knowledge, so he took his life in vain, not only could not defend the interests of the empire as he wished, but also nailed the coffin board to the Pelo Church in the Far East, and his life was a tragedy...... I don't want the same tragedy to happen to me, if one day — I mean if ...... I can't keep up with the times, and I'm reduced to the old stubbornness, or into a self-righteous paranoia like Krautz, and a stumbling block that prevents you from moving on the right path, and all you should do is kick me away! ”

"I don't like this joke," Roland smiled reluctantly, "you're overthinking, there will never be that day—"

"It's not a joke!" Rudolph stared into his eyes and reiterated word for word, "If that day comes, I would rather earn respect as your enemy than ask for sympathy as your father!" ”

The acquaintances on the trees seemed to be discussed, and the hysterical chorus sang for a while, and suddenly without warning the collective silence, the hot wind blew through the branches and whistled, and the autumn sun was chopped by the lush branches and leaves, casting the light and dark spots on the bodies and faces of the father and son. Just when Roland doubted that the silence would last until the end of the world, the intellectuals seemed to have had enough rest, and once again pulled their throats and sang in unison.

Rudolph patted his son on the shoulder, and his face returned to gentleness: "Okay, don't talk about these bad things, when I see Klautz, I think of another old friend who is in prison, and I will accompany him to visit him." ”

The "old friend in the cell" was Archbishop Philip.

It took a great deal of effort for Roland to rescue His Excellency the Archbishop from the temple dungeon—or perhaps more appropriately, the kidnapping—but Philip's life was no better than it had been. After the recovery of Krasbourg, he was returned to the Temple Dungeon and imprisoned. There can't be any way, there aren't many places in this world where a quasi-legendary priest can be held, and a dungeon with its own anti-magic field is obviously the best choice.

Of course, Roland would not have mistreated Philip as much as Clotz did, and the conditions in the cell were much better than before, at least there was plenty of fresh food every day, and Philip could read books and newspapers, and he was aware of the news that had happened outside the bars for the past month.

"Are you okay? Philip, my dear friend. Rudolph walked into the dungeon with a spring breeze, intending to give the archbishop a warm hug after a long absence, but was coldly rejected by the old fellow.

"Hmph, hypocrite! You're so embarrassed to come to see me, it's shameless! Philip leaned back in his armchair and looked at the Koras son, and asked sarcastically, "Look at this wonderful father and son, it is no longer the time to visit me at the temple, and now that you are kings and princes, you should be busy with the feast and the guests enjoying the drinks, why do you have time to visit me, an old prisoner?" Or have you prepared a cup of poisoned wine for me and come to see me off? ”

"Kreuz is dead." Rudolph pulled a chair and sat down across from Philip, "Just now. ”

The sarcastic smile on Philip's face suddenly froze, and he subconsciously exclaimed, "You killed him?" Immediately shook his head again, "No, if you were going to kill him, you wouldn't wait until today, and it's not good for you if Krautz is dead...... What the hell is going on? ”

"It was suicide, he swallowed the strychnine poison pill." Rudolph crossed his arms and stared into Philip's eyes and said: "The situation in the Far East makes him hopeless, especially what happened today, and it hits him too hard. ”

"What happened today...... Philip picked up the newspaper on the table, which still smelled of ink, and flipped through the front page to read it, "Celebration of the independence of the Kingdom of Koras...... The sanctification ceremony at the Temple of Sindra was a great success, with millions of devotees gathering in the capital for the pilgrimage...... Really a big hit? ”

Roland walked behind his father and met Philip's puzzled gaze: "Of course it was a great success, otherwise how could we have the leisure to visit you." ”

"It can't be...... How is this possible? Philip slumped in his armchair as if he had been hit on the head.

"Krautz's treatment is far inferior to yours, and if he had a newspaper to read, he would know that although we have abolished the status of the state religion of the Holy See of Perot, we do not intend to persecute the existing Perot believers in the Far East, and he can hold his faith in prison, just like you." Rudolph said with a smirk.

"Krautz is a fool, and I will not go to the end of the road as rashly as he did, although the life I am living now is worse than death." Philip stared blankly at the newspaper and muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry to keep you here, but at least you can still read the newspaper—"

"Is that a good treatment?" Philip interrupted Rudolph, grabbed the newspaper and waved it angrily, "I'd rather not have this kind of charity!" Look at what is written in the newspapers! "Demystifying the Revolution in the Far East" - what kind of bullshit article is this, it is pure rumors and slander, I want to live ten years less after reading this kind of thing! ”

Rudolph knew, of course, that the article was written by John Pullett and that the material was provided by Roland. In his report, Plitt published Krautz's edict ordering the suppression of the revolution, and insisted that the written order was signed by Philip, which led to a series of speculations that eventually implied to the reader that Philip was the mastermind behind the murder at Fort Atonement, and that Krautz was the executioner he used.