Alfred looked at his embarrassed mother standing in front of him with a complicated expression, he never thought that one day their mother and son would face each other in this way, looking at the mother who was still wearing the same dress as when he attended his wedding, but now how to look down, Alfred finally sighed, he looked at the Josha who was standing aside, hoping to get some inspiration from his wife to end the embarrassing meeting that made everyone awkward, but Alfred found that At this time, Jisha seemed to be looking at a statue in the distance that had been cut off half of its head in the battle that had just ended.

Alfred walked over and wanted to pull Jisha into his arms, but his fingertips just touched Jisha's skin, but he didn't expect that Jisha, who was still in a trance, suddenly withdrew her arm violently, and at the same time, her other hand was slammed at an surprisingly fast speed, with a crisp snapping sound, Alfred's face already showed a clear palm print!

Everyone looked at this scene in amazement, and a few soldiers who were walking stopped because of accidents, and the queen, who was standing opposite with an indifferent and arrogant face, had already exclaimed in surprise.

Alfred also looked sluggish, he touched his cheek and looked at Josha at a loss, seeing that Josha also seemed to be at a loss, Alfred said a little worriedly: "Dear you......"

"Oh, I'm sorry Alfred," Josha stretched out her hands and wrapped Alfred's hands together and put them on her lips and kissed them, "You know I'm actually too nervous, they all said that I used to fight in the war and thought that I wouldn't be afraid, but in fact I was scared to death, especially when I saw those dead people, I was almost frightened, just now I even thought something terrible was approaching me." ”

"It's not your fault for this, you've always been too brave and too proud, and even I forgot that you are a woman who needs a man's protection." Alfred immediately persuaded him with pity, and he tried to hug him again, but she refused because she felt guilty for having offended her husband and the regent in public.

"If it were an ordinary wife, it would be fine to apologize for her recklessness at this time, but now I am not only disrespectful to my husband, but also offended the regent of the kingdom, which is a very serious crime, even if you are willing to forgive me out of selfishness, but I must be punished as I deserve, and this is related to the laws of Naples." As she spoke, she took a step back with some stubbornness, and then bowed very formally and asked for her leave, "I will shut myself up in my room and accept the punishment, I will only eat coarse bread and water during this time, I hope you will not use your power to pardon me easily, this power is not intended to be used at such times." ”

After saying that, she walked forward in Alfred's complicated gaze, which she didn't know whether to be moved or distressed, and when she passed by the queen, she stopped and looked at the queen, who was staring at her with scrutinizing eyes, and whispered, "Your Majesty, I regret that you failed, Alfred is now the regent of Naples." ”

"You cursed woman," the queen burst out of her mouth with an angry but helpless curse, "I know the conspiracy of you, your uncle and your brother, and I know that your family treats my son as a fool, I can understand all this, but how dare you beat my son in public?!" ”

"So I'm willing to accept the punishment I deserve," said Jossa to the queen in an explanatory tone, and when she saw the worried look on Alfred's face, she shook her head gently at the queen, "You really shouldn't have broken his heart, do you know how hard Alfred was hit by your betrayal?" ”

The queen angrily wanted to pounce, but was pulled by the two maids next to her, she struggled to try to step forward, but found that the two maids who looked frightened and helpless on the outside but were actually not polite at all caught her firmly, and what made the queen even more frightened was that she clearly saw some kind of hint in the eyes of the two maids.

"Your Majesty, you have really lost, do you still think that you can impress your son with the affection of mother and son," said Jossa whispered very close to the Queen's ear, "and you will soon find out that everything you have guessed is true, as you said to my uncle, the Count of Mordiglo, that it is not just your defeat, but the defeat of the entire Neapolitan royal family." ”

After saying that, Ji Sha took a step back, bowed respectfully, and then walked towards his room in the palace without looking back, under the "escort" of the two grenadiers.

The queen tried to catch up, but was tightly controlled by two maids, and Alfred was already walking towards her.

"Mother, is power really more important to you than me?" Although he knew that it was a bit hypocritical to ask such a question, Alfred still wanted to prove his helplessness and distress to others about the decision he was about to make, so when he saw that the queen was about to open his mouth, he immediately continued to say to himself without waiting for her to speak, "Since this is your choice, I can only accept this cruel but unavoidable reality, as my wife just said, as a relative, I can forgive you for hurting me, but as the regent of the kingdom, I can't cover up your crimes, So I can only declare here that you have been formally arrested for rebellion, and that your trial will then be decided by a tribunal composed of Neapolitan nobles. ”

Seeing Alfred's expression of relief after saying this long paragraph, the queen's face was first desperate, and then slowly showed a sudden look.

"This is your collusion, everything just now is just a play for this, you have long wanted to imprison me, don't you, and you want to expel your father, you want to be king, and she wants to be the queen of Naples, isn't it?!"

The Queen's questioning roar echoed through the messy halls where a hasty but still grand wedding had been held the night before, but now, in the midst of ruined ruins, the Queen of Naples was facing judgment from her son.

Standing in the corridor outside the hall, listening to the constant shouting of the queen inside, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes slightly, with a tired look on her face.

"Your Highness, where are we going now?" The guard next to him asked.

"Back to the room, of course." She propped herself up slightly and walked forward, her face not showing the joy of victory, but a little annoyance.

To her surprise, in the room she had prepared for herself to be "confined", she saw Count Mordillo, who had been waiting for her.

After motioning for the guards to withdraw, the Count sat down in the chair opposite Josha, and looked at her very earnestly for a while.

"Looks like I guessed correctly, you and Alexander planned all this, even the Queen's rebellion, right?"

Listening to the Count's inquiry, Tsusha did not answer directly, but placed a small bottle in front of the Count.

"It was given to me by Alexander, and I used it to make Alfred sleep all night."

"God, what are you all doing, doesn't he know that the most important thing for you now is to master Alfred, and to use this thing for such a thing," said the Earl, taking the bottle and pulling out the cork, putting it under his nose and sniffing it, "This thing has a taste, how did you get that kid to drink it?" ”

"It's not difficult to deal with an Alfred, but I'm now wondering what to do next, after all, I can't always use this thing."

"Don't tell me you don't want to make out with Alfred," the Count took a sip from the glass that Josha handed him, "I know all about you, but there's nothing I won't stop you from, but you can't ruin our plans because of this, you must know that all you have to do now is to get pregnant as much as possible." ”

Tsuisa didn't speak, she watched the Count wonder what was worth it to him other than to fulfill his ambitions, which seemed to never be realized.

"Is Montina's army powerful?" The Count asked suddenly.

Jisha glanced at her uncle with a little surprise, and she could vaguely guess the reason for the earl's question.

Whatever the reasons for not exposing Alexandre in the first place, it is now true that Alexandre Juliant Gombray was the son of Georgie Mordillo, or somebody else, or Madame Georgesanne and somebody.

But this did not mean that Count Mordillo would allow Alexander to continue so alone and disobediently.

What the Count needed from the beginning was an obedient puppet, and even though Alexander had given him too many surprises now, he still tried to control this "nephew". ”

"The hunters of Montina were very disciplined, and the Balkans were brave, or as savage as the pagans," said Josa, who thought for a moment and put it more appropriately, "They only listened to Alexander." ”

"Of course I know this, just like those Kosentsa who only obey you," the Count looked at the door with a meaningful look, "You are not like your mother, she is an obedient woman, and you are very clever and stubborn, which I thought was nothing before, but since you have met ...... After that, you changed a lot, and it made me a little worried, boy. ”

Looking at her uncle's slightly worried eyes, Ji Sha shook her head slightly.

"Uncle, you are wrong, in fact, I have always been like this, but you have never really paid attention, you don't have my mother and I in your eyes, all you have in your heart is your dream of unifying Sicily."

The Earl looked at him with some annoyance, he thought that the reason why he became like this was entirely because of Alexander, which made him feel the urge to find that person to theorize, but the Count also knew that this could only be thought.

"I now want to know what he's going to do."

The Earl rubbed his forehead, which was a little swollen, although his body was still strong, he still felt tired from the series of fierce fights before, which made the Count clearly realize that he was still old after all, and his plan had not really begun yet.

The Count feared that one day when he could no longer hold on, there would be no shadow of it, and that the dreams he had fought for all his life might disappear with his old age, sickness, and even death.

"I've heard about him and that bohemian girl, it's unbelievable, and I'd believe it if you said he arranged it all, but I'm interested in knowing what his purpose is, and I think you must know, after all, your brother and sister are really good, so can you tell me?"

Looking at the strange smile on her uncle's face, she felt the urge to punch him in the face for the first time, but she resisted it in the end.

She thought about it for a moment, and decided to reveal something to the Count, so that he would know what kind of person the puppet he had been trying to control was.

"He's very ambitious," seeing that the Count seemed to want to laugh, he continued to say quietly, "Compared to his ambition, Uncle I have to say that your dream is a little smaller, after all, all you want is a unified Sicily, and maybe there is something else, but he wants it," said him, as if he was pondering what to say, and then she walked to the window and looked at the sea in the distance, raising her hand and drawing a big circle in the air, "He wants everything, I mean he can see it, he can touch it, And then there was everything he could think of. ”

The Count's cheeks twitched, and although he didn't know the full meaning of what he meant, he knew that it was indeed a very large and even a terrible ambition.

In fact, from the promotion of the free trade zone, the Count had already sensed Alexander's shocking thoughts, but now that he heard the confession of Tsusha himself, the Count had a new understanding.

"He wants Wallachia or Bosnia?" Although he thought it might be a little funny to think so, from the rumors he had heard about Sophia, and then thinking about the meaning of Jisha's words, he felt that it was not a cranky question.

"Wallachia, Bosnia, even Hungary and Bohemia, is there any difference between this?" Zhisa thought back to the thoughts Alexander had revealed to her from time to time, which made her even think that her uncle's vision was still a little short-sighted.

"This is impossible," Modillo instinctively objected at first, he thought it was a bit ridiculous, but then his expression slowly became solemn, "You mean that he made a so-called holy marriage contract with that bohemian woman in order to one day obtain the inheritance of those places?" ”

"Otherwise, why do you think he went to such great lengths to go to a place like Wallachia?" Speaking of this, seeing the Earl's skeptical eyes, Jisha nodded a little helplessly, "Of course, I admit that he is also for that nasty bohemian girl, but it doesn't prevent him from realizing his ambitions, does it?" ”

"Yes, no," the Count muttered as he stared at the ground in front of him, and only then did he realize that he might not be worried about Alexander's disobedience, but rather that he might be an obstacle to Alexander's ambitions, and then the Count suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at his niece, "Tell me, child, what did he promise you?" ”

"What promise do you mean?"

"What else could it be, back crown. The future crown of the kingdom of Mordillo, Cambrai or some other name, of course, even a duchess crown, this is what he must give you, you know that you are going to be the queen of Naples in the future, but you have done so much for him, is it just a queen of Naples? The Count of Mordillo looked at his niece and began to teach, "If he can really fulfill his ambitions, then at least you should be crowned the crown of the two Sicilies, and even the queen of Sicily, which you deserve." ”

She thought for a moment, as if remembering what Alexander had promised her, and then, under the Count's gaze, she suddenly smiled and said, "He promised me that I would be irreplaceable by no one, and his only sister." ”

There was silence in the room, and Count Mordillo, who was stunned after hearing this, looked at Zha in a daze, as if he wanted to tell from her demeanor whether she was perfunctory or the truth, and after a while, the count's mouth finally spit out a muffled voice: "You really know how to play." ”

Alexander did not enter the palace, perhaps simply because he did not want to see her titular husband, and he went straight from the lookout post to the docks.

The port of Santalucia had been completely blocked, many of the ships trying to go to sea had been ordered to anchor, the two batteries that controlled the high part of the pier had been occupied, and the Balkans, who had vomited all over the ship, showed a terrible ferocity as soon as they landed on their feet, and this time they did not even use any tricks of deception or sneak attack, but rushed directly to the battery, and drove them off the battery before the defending city defenders could make a decision on whether to resist or not.

Someone on the dock suddenly looked at the sea and shouted, and Alexander looked in the direction they were pointing, and saw several large ships slowly approaching from outside the harbor.

The ships were adorned with conspicuous pennants, and as the fleet drew closer, it was clear that the three circles in the peculiar triangle were fluttering in the wind.

The castle above represents Montina, the red cross on the left is Pisa, and the addition of a knight riding on a black unicorn on the right foreshadows Alexander's power over Wallachia.

As the fleet approached, a large group of disbereaked-looking Balkans rushed down from the ship as if fleeing for their lives, many of them smelling of vomit, and some of them knelt down and kissed the ground as soon as they reached the ground, while thanking God for letting them ashore alive in Wallachian or other vernacular, which no one understood.

"Stand in line, you maggots!" A Wallachian officer slammed his stick at the soldiers in the crowd and cursed, "If you are facing the Ottomans now, you will all be dead by this time!" ”

"Forget it, I'd rather fight with the infidels than go back to the ship." A Balkan man lay on the ground and looked at the sky: "I am here to fight, no matter who I fight, I am not suffering from that sin." ”

"I say you have to get up," said the officer, poking the soldier in the stomach with a stick, "and if it would be not as simple as whipping the Earl to see you like this, I have noticed that there are many trees around here, enough to hang all of you." ”

"If that then I should have no soldiers available," Alexander walked over, took the stick from the officer's hand, and poked the soldier in the stomach who was still lying on the ground, but had a frightened look on his face, "You, get up quickly, I now appoint you as inspector, and if everyone is not lined up before the bell rings, you will be hanged on the dock with the last ten men, understand?" ”

"Obey the order, sir!"

The soldier jumped to his feet as if he had been burned by fire, and he even snatched the stick from Alexander's hand and screamed and rushed into the messy crowd.

Immediately afterward, there was a howl of ghosts and wolves in the team.

Looking at the Balkans who moved in an instant, a smile hung on Alexander's lips.

When he was the lord of Agri, he had only a pitiful amount of power in his hands, and he dared to contend with Frederick.

And now he is the Count of Montina, the regent of Pisa, and his army has occupied Naples.

"Schel," Alexander said to the guard officer who had walked through the procession to him, "now I want you to do something else, but be careful this time. ”

The Balkans nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

Not far from the docks, a Jew watched in silence, then he gathered his clothes in the sea breeze and turned away.