When Alexander returned to the castle, Sophia had just finished scrubbing.

When Sophia first became pregnant, although he was not very clear about what precautions a woman should take during pregnancy, Alexander still listed a lot of terms according to some impressions in his memory, because unlike being able to supervise Lucrezia at all times, Sophia was so far away from him that Alexander even sent someone to the Balkans every few days to deliver a letter in order to remind the female officers around Sophia to follow the rules he had set before leaving.

Although such a constant urging inevitably caused some people to be dissatisfied, but perhaps stimulated by Lucrezia, hoping to have a child of her own to make Sophia obedient, this very important way to maintain hygiene Although as her stomach became more and more inconvenient, Sophia still persevered.

Looking at Sophia, who was wrapped like a ball in a pile of pillows on the soft couch, Alexander couldn't help laughing, he walked over and pecked at Sophia's forehead, and then sat down to look seriously at her face that was still beaded with water.

"That's good, you're going to have a healthy baby." Alexander knew that Sophia was actually a little nervous, which could be heard from the female officers and others around her, and Prato had always paid attention to this matter in addition to taking care of the Balkan business, so Alexander was still very clear about Sophia's situation.

Then seeing Sophia suddenly make a strange gesture, Alexander thought for a moment and looked down at himself, and then comforted and said: "Of course I want to have a son, but you don't have to worry too much, remember I said that if it doesn't work once, we can try a few more times, there will always be a son, and don't forget that we also want our children to marry the daughter of Ladisras so that they can inherit Bohemia in the future." ”

Alexander's slightly joking words made Sophia look unhappy, and she stubbornly grabbed a pillow and stirred it vigorously, while gurgling sounds came out of her throat, as if she were performing some ritual with seriousness and persistence.

"Well, we're going to have a son this time," Alexander agreed a little reluctantly, knowing that Sophia was a very stubborn person, and perhaps there was nothing more important to her now than having a child, or rather a son.

After all, Lucrezia had already had children before her, but that was nothing, after all, Estelles was a girl.

Alexander knew that if this topic was allowed to continue, maybe they might have to be entangled for a day, so he saw the moment and was ready to say something else: "I didn't expect you to decide to move the capital so quickly, I can't help but admit that your decision is completely correct, and to be able to see the situation so quickly, Sophia, you are now a real queen." ”

Listening to Alexander's praise, Sophia first smiled and looked "you finally guessed", but gradually her face showed a puzzled look, and then she simply shook her head blankly, looking like she didn't understand what Alexander was talking about.

"Didn't you decide to move the capital to Bucharest because you wanted to eliminate the influence of the Transylvanian nobility?" Alexander asked a little strangely.

Sophia showed displeasure, she twisted her head to the side and looked a little angry, but after a while, she couldn't help but turn around and start to gesture, but I don't know if she was scribbling because she was in a bad mood or the meaning was too complicated, Alexander couldn't see it clearly, and for a while his face was also at a loss and didn't know what to say.

Sophia was even more upset, and her bad temper and the temperament peculiar to being a pregnant woman made her grab a cup next to her and slam it to the side.

With a bang, the cup slammed into a table not far away, and the water in the cup immediately soaked the books on it, and Sophia let out an exclamation in her throat, and immediately gestured to Alexander to clean it up.

Alexander walked over with some curiosity, and in his impression Sophia was not so much that she couldn't learn, but that she didn't like to read, even if Queen Bosnia had reprimanded her more than once because of this, but like her bad temper, she never changed her bad habit of hating learning.

Now that there were books in her room, and she seemed to care, Alexander was intrigued.

He walked over to take the cup, and then carefully turned the soaked pages, but when he saw the patterns of dresses in the book, which seemed to be quite well painted, he was stunned for a moment, and then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

"You decided to move the capital because of this castle?" Alexander turned around and asked, and when he saw a smile on Sophia's annoyed face, Alexander immediately understood.

It was in this castle that they met again, and it was here that they made the sacred covenant.

Then, at the age of 15, the most beautiful age for today's girls, she gave herself to the most beloved.

Everything is in this castle, so Sophia stubbornly believes that this castle should belong to her and her, so she declares that the palace in Bucharest is her summer residence in the kingdom, and because she has been reluctant to leave, Bucharest has unknowingly become the new capital of Wallachia.

It's all because of this, and there is no conspiracy or strategy.

Everything, just because of a girl's almost stubborn persistence.

Alexander's heart swelled up with unspeakable emotions at this moment, and he walked over and stood in front of the couch and looked down at Sophia, who was lying there looking up at him, and then he slowly knelt down and took Sophia's hand that he had put aside.

"Remember when I told you that one day we would go back to Sicily?"

Sophia nodded immediately, very serious, apparently she had always remembered Alexander's promise.

"In 2 years, at most 3 years, I will fulfill this promise, you will return to Sicily with honor, and those who have been unreasonable to you at the beginning will finally kneel in front of you and kiss the road you have walked."

Hearing Alexander's words, Sophia smiled again, she nodded, but then shook her head again, and then shook her body slightly with her hands in her hands, and looked at Alexander at the same time.

"Of course, our children will go back with us, and I will make the Sicilians bow their heads in front of our children and then honor them."

Sophia smiled brightly this time, she was used to grabbing the pillow next to her and stirring it up hard, which made Alexander secretly a little worried, if she couldn't change this habit when she had a child in the future, would the child be twisted into a twist by her?

The shock of Alexander's return to Bucharest was still spreading throughout the city, as could be seen from the fact that the ladies had said that there were many more noble ladies than usual who had come to greet Sophia that night.

In the past, unless it was some special days, there were a certain number of court ladies who said goodnight to His Royal Highness the Grand Duke at night, and often some nobles and noblewomen would become representatives of the nobles in their ability to say goodnight, which was a court rule that had been passed down from the Prague court for several years.

It has always been fashionable in the Balkan countries to imitate the Prague court, but tonight everyone seems to have forgotten the rules, which makes those female officials have to knock on the door again and again to come in and report: "Madame so-and-so hopes to be honored to say goodnight to His Highness." ”

Looking at Sophia, who was already a little tired and a little tired, Alexander simply walked out of the door and gave an order to Schell, who was standing at the door: "Let the huntsmen stand outside the door, and from now until tomorrow morning, no one is allowed to disturb His Highness's rest." ”

Although surprised by Alexander's order, the female officers were wise not to say anything about the huntsmen who immediately took action, but Alexander noticed that the female officers seemed to be slightly disappointed, which led him to guess that either some of the noblewomen who asked to see them were their own people, or they had accepted bribes from others.

However, Alexander didn't want to care about this, he just wanted these female officials to serve Sophia honestly, and as for the Wallachian nobles, Alexander had no interest in meeting them immediately.

Or, before that, he needed to meet a very important person - the Patriarch of the Diocese of Bucharest.

Although he had not seen him for less than a year, the Patriarch of Bucharest looked much older, his gray hair was completely white, his beard was not as thick as before, and his eyes full of slackeny bags required a great effort to see what was in front of him.

But when he saw Alexander, the Patriarch had a smile on his face that could not be described as "childlike innocence".

"You are always there when we need it most, and if it weren't for the fear of blasphemy, I could even have you as an angel sent by God to save us." The Patriarch gave his blessing earnestly after Alexander saluted him, and then extended his somewhat thin hands to Alexander.

Alexander and the Patriarch's hands were held together, and to his surprise, the Patriarch used a lot of force, although this made his fingers tremble slightly, but the Patriarch never let go of his hand.

Alexander walked slowly in the church with the somewhat sluggish patriarch at his feet, the sun shining through the window and casting a long shadow behind them.

"I think so because I heard the fighting, and I saw the flames and blood in my sleep, I don't know if it was a revelation from God, but Duke you know that the atmosphere is not right now, and I can feel it, even though I am too old to leave this world." The Patriarch's voice was a little hoarse and vague, but he could still hear it clearly, because he was originally very tall, although his body was already rickety, but he could still say in Alexander's ear: "Listen to the Duke, I know that you have great ambitions for Wallachia, and there is nothing wrong with that, who has no ambitions, my ambition is to become the supreme ecumenical patriarch of the East, but I didn't have such a bold idea before, it was you who made me have such ambitions." ”

Alexander smiled in response, saying that he had been able to finally get the support of the Patriarch at the Battle of Bucharest to solve the problems he and Sophia faced by concluding a purely religious covenant of holy marriage, all because of his willingness to support the Diocese of Bucharest as the first Patriarchate of the East after the fall of Constantinople.

"In my dreams, there are Wallachians, Croats, Caniolas, Serbs and Moldovans, but there are no Ottoman enemies, are they so strong that they can conquer us all without shedding a drop of blood, but under the city of Bucharest they are not so defeated that even the Sultan himself was seriously wounded, but if it were not so, how do you think I should explain my nightmare?"

Looking at the patriarch who was looking at him with cloudy eyes, Alexander nodded knowingly and replied: "Perhaps, what you are dreaming of is not a war with the Ottomans, but a civil war of our own, a war brewing because of ambition but because some people are unable to restrain themselves. ”

The Patriarch nodded silently, a somewhat stiff smile on his face, and at the same time he patted Alexander's hand as he held him: "I think maybe this is really a revelation from God, and God did foretell your coming." ”

Alexander took the Patriarch's left hand and kissed it, then helped him to continue his walk deeper into the church.

The meeting with the Patriarch seemed to send a signal, and Bucharest was shaken when the Patriarch later publicly announced that a grand Mass of blessings would be held for the imminent birth of Sophia and Alexander's lawful child.

It was realized that the Church had reached some kind of tacit agreement with the Grand Duchy of Wallachia, and the result of this tacit understanding was that the Patriarch not only reaffirmed the legitimacy of Sophia's future child, but also clearly expressed his support for the child's future inheritance.

This was certainly a good thing for some, but it frustrated others, and for a time there was a lot of speculation about the attitude of the Patriarch in Bucharest.

However, Alexander obviously didn't have time to care what the nobles thought, and the only thing he cared about now was Sophia and the child in her womb, so he never went out after returning to the castle, which made the Wallachian nobles talk about it again.

Those people didn't quite understand Alexander's actions, or they thought that he cared so much about Sophia must only be because she was the Grand Duke.

In this era, not many men, especially aristocrats, will pay so much attention to women, even if they are about to give birth, men often do not think that this is a very important thing, as for a man who completely throws aside the affairs of the state and only accompanies the woman, in the eyes of many people it is incomprehensible, and even ridiculed.

The only reason Alexander was not openly ridiculed was because he was the hero of the Battle of Bucharest, but even that did not prevent many from secretly speculating about his actions.

As the day of Sophia's birth drew nearer, the court doctors and some experienced women from the city had been arranged, and they had been divided into shifts to be on duty, while some of the Wallachian ministers were no longer easy to travel unless necessary.

The birth of the first child of the Grand Duchess, and most likely the future heir of the Duchy of Wallachia, attracted the attention of too many people.

During this time, Alexander met Helva's niece, Aloxia, and looked at Countess Slavo Berniger, who stood with the young official named Omo, with an unconcealed joy on her face, and Alexander could think that she should be very happy now.

It's just that if she knew that maybe she might have a conflict with her uncle Helva, I don't know if she would still have such a carefree smile.

To Alexander's surprise, the young man named Omo seemed to have a clear view of the current situation, and while Alosia went to greet Sophia, Omo, who had been by Alosia's side, suddenly asked Alexander: "Your Highness, what do you think of the king's territorial claim to Caniola, or do you think it will affect Wallachia in the future?" ”

Alexander looked at the young official quietly, and under his scrutiny, Alexander did not see any anxiety, but on the contrary, there was a posture that seemed to be eager to try, which made Alexander wonder in his heart, did he want to ask this, or did his brother that Kulash have any ideas, or was this what Herva told him?

"Does my opinion matter?"

"Of course, you are a hero of the Battle of Bucharest, a great general, and you are also a noble monarch, and no one is better suited to express an opinion on this matter." The young official replied a little stubbornly, and his little experience did not make him aware that his words had violated some taboos as monarchs, but his serious and persistent demeanor did not make him look so annoying.

"Herva is a friend of mine, and I don't think there's anything to blame for his quest for the realm, and although Archduke Karl is on good terms with me, I don't want to take sides with any of them in this matter," Alexander didn't care about Omo's obvious disappointment at what he said, but continued, "The only thing that concerns me is that I don't want this to affect Wallachia, and His Royal Highness is about to give birth, and I won't allow anything to affect her and the child in the meantime." ”

As he said this, Alexander's eyes sharpened as he watched Omo, and he knew that for whatever reason, the young official would surely relay his words to Helva, and it was unknown whether Helva would be relented by his warning.

But Alexander didn't care what the Croatian and Northern Bosnian kings would do, because he had already made plans.

As the days passed, Sophia gradually showed signs of prenatal care, and her temper became worse because of this, and it was terrible to be angry with the archduchess, especially when she was still a pregnant woman with rare strength, and she was angry and liked to smash people, those maids and servants could only secretly thank His Royal Highness the Duke of God for being by her side at this time.

Sophia's dependence on Alexander has become more and more severe, and sometimes even people who have just woken up and not seen him will be inexplicably angry.

This made it very difficult for Prato, who had just returned from Moldova, because he had something very important to report to the duke, but every time he received the reply "His Highness is accompanying His Highness".

It wasn't until he finally got permission to meet Alexander in a hurry in the hallway not far from Sophia's bedroom.

But Prato had just spoken, "My lord, I saw that Rois??" ......", the door of the bedroom not far away was suddenly pushed open, and then the shout of a female official resounding through the corridor startled everyone: "My lord! Your Highness is about to give birth! ”

Hearing this, Alexander's expression changed, and then he threw down the stunned Prato, turned around and rushed into the bedroom!