"Oh, right, where are the others?"
The King of Poland's interruption broke Rostislav's awkwardness, so the Moscow Prince immediately asked where the others were.
Uncle, Third Uncle, Aunt, and King Béla were all not here. Where did they go?
The subsequent reactions of the two men made the Moscow Prince somewhat confused. Bolesław looked impatient, while Second Uncle seemed… awkward? It was the first time he had seen Second Uncle embarrassed.
Finally, Second Uncle spoke up and explained the reason.
"They're still confronting each other in the palace. If Izyaslav and Vsevolod weren't there keeping an eye on them, they would have already started fighting."
Hearing Second Uncle say this, Rostislav understood why. After all, the two people in the palace had a deep-seated blood feud.
Aunt's husband was killed by Bela, and Bela was extremely cautious, thinking it was the other side's doing the first time something happened, which was perfectly normal.
But Rostislav didn't expect them to still be in a standoff now. This hatred was truly boundless. It seemed he had underestimated these grievances.
"So that's how it is… This is truly…"
The Moscow Prince rubbed the back of his head. He had something he wanted to say, but felt it was inappropriate, so he ultimately held it back.
Bolesław, however, had fewer qualms. The King of Poland was the person here who needed to be least concerned, and he spoke directly.
"They don't know what's important, do they? These two are just like that, and there's nothing that can be done. Moreover, although we've won now, I estimate those two aren't willing to come out. They're both afraid this might be a conspiracy from the other side, and they'll be cut down by pagans loyal to the other side if they come out. They're not even willing to send people out to look. Damn it, it's likely we'll have to go invite them together in the end."
"Then how do we get them to come out? We need these two to preside over the situation now, especially King Béla, he's the master here! We can't just wait until we're rested, can we? When would that be?"
Rostislav stated the current problem. He truly didn't know what to do.
Bolesław merely shrugged his shoulders, Siczech, standing behind him, also looked speechless, and Second Uncle shook his head. However, Rostislav suddenly thought of a solution.
"How about having the priests sing hymns? That way, they'll believe we've won a great victory."
This was indeed an effective method. Only priests in Hungary would sing hymns, and when the singing began, the two could confirm that the Christians had achieved victory—something pagans could not imitate.
However, his words were met with speechless stares from the King of Poland and the Chernigov Prince, leaving Rostislav quite at a loss. Had he done something wrong?
Then the answer was revealed. The two pointed in a direction, and the Moscow Prince then saw the burning Fehérvár Cathedral and the corpses hanging on the church.
Well, this path was clearly impassable, and Second Uncle then raised other doubts:
Even if the two in the palace confirmed the victory using hymns, how would they be sure that the victory outside wasn't also a trick by the other side? Could this be another conspiracy?
At this, Rostislav was completely speechless. There was nothing he could do but sit aside and rest first. As for now, Second Uncle comforted him, saying that his other two uncles would find a way and that he shouldn't worry too much, but Rostislav didn't have much hope.
In any case, after such fierce fighting, the first priority was rest. Once they had rested enough, they would go into the palace together and invite those few out.
And just as Rostislav was resting, he suddenly heard music in his ears—music representing victory and celebration.
Then he saw King Béla walk out of the palace, with Uncle and Third Uncle behind him.
With King Béla's appearance, many soldiers also emerged from behind him. These soldiers had previously only been used to confront Aunt's subordinates, but now they finally left their posts, and these forces were finally liberated.
These soldiers took over the positions of the exhausted warriors who had been fighting for a long time, allowing those who had been battling for so long to finally rest.
Many soldiers lay down or sat down directly, disregarding the blood that covered everything on the ground, their faces full of relief.
Rostislav would later learn that his two uncles had, after assessing the situation outside, gone to persuade the two confronting parties.
And in the end, although they couldn't persuade their sister, they did persuade King Béla—more accurately, King Béla felt the situation outside was more severe and urgently needed his attention, so he took the Rus' Princes' offer to step down and handle matters himself.
But at this moment, Rostislav was unaware of all this. He only felt that he could finally relax, that everything had finally come to a temporary end, and there was nothing left for him to do.
Soon after, the relaxed Rostislav felt utterly exhausted. He first found a wooden board to lean against, but before long, the Rus' Prince, unable to resist, lay down.
Today, Rostislav had expended too much energy. He had been thinking and making judgments almost non-stop, made a difficult decision, and had fought on the battlefield for so long.
And now, as his mind relaxed, fatigue naturally surged over the young man like waves, urging him to rest quickly. All the overloaded parts of his body also sent out the same signal.
And so, involuntarily, he fell asleep.
— — — — — — — —
The sleeping Rostislav was, of course, carefully moved by his attendants to rest, and the palace also had dedicated staff to arrange a room.
No one disturbed Rostislav; everyone knew he was the great hero of the day, and everyone held gratitude for him in their hearts.
While this hero, who single-handedly salvaged the entire situation, rested, many things happened outside.
First, under King Béla's command, a major cleanup was launched inside and outside Fehérvár. Anyone in the entire city with even a slight connection to paganism had to be arrested.
As for the rebellious pagans, there was even less to say. These guys tried to hide, but they were quickly ferreted out, as citizens were very clear about whether those people were locals or not.
Of course, many people were also mistakenly arrested during this period, but why would a feudal government care about such things? If you were caught, you were unlucky. You want to plead your case? Dream on, pagans, hurry up and be punished!
Next came severe laws and harsh punishments. With so many foreign guests present, such a violent pagan rebellion occurred. Where would King Béla put his face? He lost so much face in front of so many foreign guests.
And more importantly, this incident was practically trampling the Árpád Dynasty's royal power into the ground, with pagans doing such things in the political center of the Kingdom of Hungary.
If King Béla did not take some countermeasure, then whether he could even sit firmly on the throne would be a problem.
So, after the captured pagans were completely drained of all value, they were hanged outside the gates of Fehérvár, and these dead bodies had an endless supply of "successors"—King Béla was frantically arresting people.
In addition to hanging, there were also various displays of torture. In this cruel era, the only way to deter was to be even more cruel, and this was also the most effective.
Thus, a bloody storm was unleashed within the Kingdom of Hungary.
However, a bloody storm was not enough; the leader of the pagans had not yet been brought to justice, and he still possessed extremely powerful forces.
And there was also that damned bastard, that damned claimant to the throne. Various undercurrents still permeated the Kingdom of Hungary.
Thus, the negotiation deadlock that had previously troubled all parties was broken. King Béla proactively made concessions; he now needed to concentrate his forces to suppress the pagans. As for his brother's wife and children, they should be relegated to a secondary position.
So, if concessions needed to be made, then make them. After all, it was just a dead brat; he couldn't turn the world upside down.
King Béla quickly reached an agreement with his late brother's wife. Bela would redeem the border outposts and grant her and her son a generous annuity, enough to support a retinue, and would apologize and repent for killing Andrew.
After reaching this agreement, both parties signed and swore under the watchful eyes of representatives from various countries, and thus, Hungary's internal succession crisis was considered over.
But everyone knew that the internal war was about to begin.
And all of this happened in the short time that Rostislav was asleep.
— — — — — — — —