The news of Malin becoming His Highness reached Copenhagen much faster than the loyalty shown by his legion, plunging the entire city into chaos—especially after hearing that he had hanged the rebellious noble officers and shot the old Hagelberry, who was responsible for assassinating the Northernists. Yet, that Majesty had lowered the city gates early on, and after killing many fleeing nobles, the soldiers on the walls finally, at the first ray of dawn on the hill outside the city, saw His Highness’s battle flag, saw the soldiers carrying it, and also saw His Highness walking ahead of them. As he approached the city gates alone, more soldiers saw the Marshal’s cloak on him, saw the scepter in his hand. Then, the soldiers killed the officer in charge of supervising the army, and, under the orders of officers willing to defect, they opened the city gates. Watching the gates open, the army entering the city, Malin walked to the group of officers kneeling by the gate. Most of these young men had anxious looks on their faces, and a few bold ones watched Malin with hesitation. "I don’t know if your families were involved in the assassination, but you opened the gates, preventing more unnecessary sacrifices. The bloodshed in these past days has been enough; letting a bit less bleed is for the best, so you are pardoned." At this point, Malin noticed an officer raising his hand. "What do you have to say, young man?" Malin did not mind giving these young men a chance to speak. Then he spoke: "We heard that you killed the old Duke Hagelberry. Why, Your Highness Malin, he was your kin." "But he did not stop His Majesty the King and his colleagues from committing such atrocities, and naively thought that taking over the dirty work from the hands of his offspring, just because those young ones had not dirtied their hands, I would forgive his family... My kin was gravely mistaken, from the moment he took brutal action against the Northernists, I could not forgive him anymore, and since he chose to stand for his king and colleagues, he must learn to face an angry avenger calmly." Saying this, Malin handed the Marshal’s staff to the World Tree Sapling, then looked at the old man and his family dragged up by the soldiers. "Earl of Gold, long time no see. Where are you taking your family?" Malin smiled at the old man while noticing Link Svenson walking over with a gun. The latter came to Malin’s side: "Your Highness Malin, according to previous testimony, the Earl of Gold was involved in the assassination of our two middle-level cadres, and in the past few days, many of our comrades were killed in his territory." Malin shook his head, looking at the old man and his family, who could barely stand, several children’s crying drawing Malin’s attention. "Your Highness... when they killed our comrades, they hanged their families too." Link Svenson seemed to notice the reluctance in Malin’s eyes. Malin turned his head to this young man, who immediately looked down. "I know what you want to say." Then, Malin turned his head towards those surrendered young men: "If your families are guilty, you may take your wives and children, this is my mercy to you, but your families must stand trial." Malin originally thought these young men would stand up and resist, but no one did... Ah, wait, there was still one young man who stood up. But he did not walk towards Malin, instead, he walked towards the Earl of Gold’s group, reached the end of the line, looked at Malin, and pointed to a pregnant young woman: "Your Highness, this is my woman." Malin glanced at Link, Svenson’s younger brother shook his head, but sought out another witness—a lieutenant quickly ran over, glanced at that young man: "Your Highness Malin, that’s Max Payne, his childhood sweetheart, all our Xita City soldiers know, back when that woman was married off by her father to someone from the city, this guy went mad." "Your child?" Malin asked. "Mine, and this one and this one." The young man reached out, pointing to two children being led by an old lady. Malin nodded, then looked at Link: "Go help this young man." They were a pair of twins, looking only three or four years old; Link nodded and personally took people to snatch the two children from the old woman’s hands. As the young man left with the young woman, Malin could clearly see the silence and reluctance in one man’s eyes in the group, as well as the confusion, unease, and relief after calamity in the woman’s eyes. He also saw the two children staring fixedly at their father, seeing the tears of joy in the young man’s eyes. At this point, pursuing the truth seemed a bit too unkind, thinking of this, Malin drew his gun from his waist and walked toward the old man. "Earl of Gold, it’s unfortunate we meet again here." "Your Highness Malin, at this point, there is no warmth left between us, please don’t be so gentle, it will give the children behind me some unrealistic fantasies." The old man looked at Malin, his face full of a bitter smile: "But I still want to ask, can you really not spare those children?" "Didn’t you also spare none of their children back then?" Malin countered. "But looking at it now, we are the failures, the villains who will be written into history, and you are the victors. Shouldn’t you show some mercy to this country?" The old man looked at Malin, waiting for an answer he knew he would never hear.