The appearance of Princess Caniola stunned many people.

For a moment, countless pairs of eyes looked at the princess and the group of soldiers who had walked in with her.

Several Caniola nobles tried to stand up to stop the sudden appearance of the outsiders, but they were greeted by a musket that was held up in front of them and could even smell the heavy smell of gun oil.

The hunters immediately guarded the entrance to the banquet hall as soon as they entered the ballroom, and at the same time, a group of soldiers led by Gompati made their way through the crowd to Alexander.

"Your Excellency," Gompati bowed to Alexander, and then commanded in a loud voice, "Protect Your Excellency!" ”

"Hah!"

A neat shout swirled over the banquet hall, and the hunters quickly formed a small phalanx around Alexander, keeping Alexander and the people around him in the middle.

Archduke Karl looked at his aunt suspiciously, wondering why she suddenly came in with these people, although this kind of answer didn't even need to be explained, but he was surprised and puzzled because he didn't understand why Princess Caniola suddenly opposed him.

Even until Princess Caniola left the hunters and walked in front of him, Karl still had a strange expression of disbelief on his face.

"Why?" Karl finally asked, and he could see that the princess was not coerced by these people, but on the contrary, she was bringing these people in, "Why did you oppose me, what did they promise you?" ”

The princess looked at Karl silently, and after a while whispered, "There are no conditions, I just ask them not to hurt you." ”

"Don't hurt me?" The Grand Duke's emotions suddenly became agitated, he reached out and grabbed Princess Caniola's hand, ignoring her pained expression, and asked her loudly, "I am the Grand Duke of Caniola, the master of this country, who can hurt me?" Is he or you, or is it anyone else? ”

"Carl, don't you understand?" The princess struggled and defended, "We can't compete with the Ottomans or the Western countries, and you are too brutal, not like your father at all, you want to completely annex Marzidovi, and even want to wash the Catholic church there, don't you know that this may lead to the Vatican's revenge?" ”

"Just because of this you betrayed me, betrayed your king and relatives?" Karl looked at the hunters and angrily questioned his aunt, "Do you think they can defeat me, don't forget that I can gather enough troops, this is Caniola, you forget that Mohammed II, who was called the Conqueror, suffered a crushing defeat in this land, do you think these people can compare to him?" ”

"But now you can't muster more than thirty men," Alexander sneered, "and I can assure you that if you dare to gather arms, the Sultan's army will at once find enough reason to invade Caniola, and at that time no reason will be able to keep your crown as Archduke." ”

Karl stared at Alexander indignantly, his eyes in a trance, sometimes angry, sometimes hesitant, as if he didn't know what to do at this moment.

"Your Majesty, believe me, such a threat is meaningless," the old nobleman whispered beside Karl, although he was a little apprehensive when he looked at the muskets in the hands of the hunters, but he had to speak when he saw Karl's hesitation, "Your Majesty, don't be intimidated by their intimidation, if the Sultan knows that we are only raising the army for self-preservation, he will not blame us, I am sure that many people will be willing to testify for you, they will prove that you are completely out of desperation, Even in order to destroy the enemy with the Sultan, it was necessary to go against his will. ”

The old nobleman's words made Carl's heart move, he first looked at the old man with a little suspicion, and after he nodded slightly, Carl's gaze gradually became firm.

Alexander kept an eye on the old man, and although he didn't know what the man had said to Carl, it was not hard to guess just thinking about it.

His eyes swept to Busako again, and this time Busako nodded slightly.

"Grand Duke, have you made a decision?" Alexander asked in a loud voice, "I know this is a difficult decision, but you should understand that if you can't rule over others, you should at least learn how to control your desires, otherwise you will only put yourself in a worse situation." ”

Karl's face was gloomy, he could vaguely understand the meaning of Alexander's words, his eyes seemed to flicker twice at this moment, and finally his eyes fell on the old man.

"Tell me if I call up the army, will the Sultan really not blame me for this?" Karl's voice was low, as if he was afraid of being heard.

"Yes, you can rest assured that the Sultan will not blame you for this, these people are the enemies of the Sultan, you have also heard, he said before that the Vatican is already preparing new crusaders, you should be very clear about the brutality of those crusaders, remember how the Poles were ravaged by the crusaders, and now they are coming to Caniola, so if you gather an army against the enemies of the Sultan, not only will you not be punished, but you may also gain the trust of the Sultan."

"Bayezet's trust?" Karl let out a muttered moan, his voice small but clear, and the obvious sarcasm in his tone alerted the old man.

The old man couldn't help but look at Karl because he was a little unsure of the meaning of the Grand Duke's words, just in time to meet Karl's grim gaze.

The old man had a premonition that something was wrong, and he instinctively stepped back to try to get away from Karl, but he only had time to take a step, and when he tried to move, a blinding flash had already struck him with Karl waving his arm towards his chest.

The old man barely had time to let out a cry of horror before he was stabbed in the chest with a sharp sword, and when his cry of pain and terror rang out in the banquet hall, many of the Caniola who had only paid attention to Alexandria made you not even have time to look back.

Everyone looked at this sudden scene in amazement, no one knew how the two people who had just stood together to identify the opponent of the earl from the West could suddenly kill each other, and what was even more terrifying was that the Grand Duke was holding the arm of the old man who was trying to escape with one hand, and while whispering something in his mouth, he repeatedly stabbed the old man with his sword until the old man slowly fell to the ground with a frightened and desperate face with his mouth full of blood.

Carl was covered in the old man's blood, and when he turned his head to look at the others, his gaze was unabashedly tyrannical.

"Who else, who else wants me to reassemble the army?" Karl pointed his sword at the people around him, "The promise I made with the Sultan will not be broken by anyone, and this man has encouraged me to break those treaties, so I will punish him." ”

As he spoke, Karl squatted down, looked condescendingly at the old man who was about to breathe, and said fiercely in a voice that only two people could hear: "You poisonous snake, how much benefit Bayezid has given you to deliberately encourage me, we all know that no matter what the reason, as long as I gather the army, it will be an excuse for the Sultan to occupy Caniola, but you still dare to encourage me, you damn old donkey, I made you regret all these things you have done." ”

As he spoke, Carl stood up and looked around, and when he saw the eyes of the people avoiding him in fear, Carl grinned and let out a smug sneer.

But when he met Alexander's eyes, Karl smiled, then grinned.

"Are you satisfied with this, Earl, now your army can be withdrawn." The Grand Duke walked through the crowd of evasives to the table, grabbed a glass of wine and poured it down, then he turned his head with some difficulty, and looked over his bulging and misshapen shoulders to look at Alexander, "I have not broken the agreement with the Sultan, nor have I become an enemy of you, and now what else do you have to find fault with?" ”

Alexander looked at Karl calmly, except for a moment of surprise when he suddenly slaughtered the old man, and he had been looking at the Grand Duke calmly after that.

Alexander had to admit that Karl's actions were not only unexpected, but also had an unexpected effect.

His act of killing the old man could be said to be appropriate and even "flattering" in every way, although it seemed unfair to the recently dead old man, but in fact the result of his actions was not only to avoid the immediate confrontation with Alexander, but also to tactfully express to the Sultan his determination to keep his promise.

What's more, he avoided the possibility that Bayezid would find an excuse to annex the Duchy of Caniola.

The old man was undoubtedly a leader of the Ottomans, and although Alexander did not know what he said to Karl, he could guess some clues from Karl's deliberate shouting.

It was clear that the Grand Duke Karl was not as irascible and arrogant as he seemed on the surface, and he not only guessed the old man's intentions, but he was even able to immediately use this seemingly brutal but quite ingenious way to free himself from the siege, which made Alexander unable to help but get acquainted with this man again.

At least this is a shrewd, resolute and ruthless ruler.

As for what the Caniola people would think about killing the old man, Alexander didn't think Karl needed to worry about it.

Brutal rule can sometimes have bad results, but there are no surprises as long as you don't cross the line that can lead to serious consequences.

And sometimes a modest act of cruelty can instill awe in a neglected courtier, especially for a monarch like Karl, who had just been forced by the Ottomans to sign such a humiliating treaty, the appropriate use of brutal means was obviously an effective means of reasserting authority.

Thinking of this, Alexander took a different view of the Archduke Caniola, who was often despised because of his obscene image.

And Alexander didn't know if Karl had thought everything through the brief moment when he made the decision to kill the old man, at least he took advantage of this incident to deliberately propose to Alexander to withdraw his troops in public, which was obviously to put pressure on Alexander in this way.

"You may be mistaken Archduke, all I care about is the fate of Princess Marzidovi and her entourage," Alexander did not want to let the Grand Duke get his wish, "I hope that the princess and her retinue will stay in my camp with Princess Caniola, knowing that since I have promised them, I must ensure their safety, and at least until you have a formal wedding, I am obliged to protect the princess from being offended." ”

Kalmer was silent, his hand holding the glass was slightly upside down, as if he was about to lose sight of something, but after a while he put the glass on the table, and then took a breath before he said slowly:

"Count, I am willing to accept your request for the sake of respecting your noble character in keeping your word, but I hope you will assure me that this is only for the sake of respecting the canons, and will not offer them any other help."

"I assure you that all I do is to protect Princess Marchdovi's chastity."

Alexander felt the same, and looked at Karl, whose face was so gloomy that he was about to drip water, that he waved his hand to Busako, who was standing nearby.

Bussako immediately hurried forward, he walked past a few reluctant Caniola men to Princess Marchidovi and bowed, and under the gaze of the Grand Duke, Busako accompanied the princess in a protective posture to his own people who were protected by the hunting guards.

"Aunt Alexandra, are you going with my fiancée too?" Karl looked at Princess Caniola with a gloomy face, and saw that the princess shook her head slightly and said "no", and the Grand Duke seemed to sigh: "This is probably the best news I heard today, at least you haven't completely abandoned me." ”

"Karl, you should be a brave monarch, but sometimes your bad temper will only get you into trouble."

Princess Caniola shook her head helplessly, she turned to look at Princess Marchidovi, who had already walked to her own people, and said to the Grand Duke: "The way you can unify Caniola should be through marriage and blood, not war, we already have too many enemies, what can make the enemy happier than cannibalism, I am against you because you not only want to annex Marchidovi, but also oppose all the nobles of Caniola, you must know that the agreement you signed with the Ottomans has discredited you, If you continue to be willful, it may lead to the trouble of our family, just like ...... back then."

"Just like my great-grandfather was robbed of his grand ducal throne, right?" Karl stared at his aunt's eyes with an ugly face, and seeing that the princess seemed to avoid his gaze, Karl took a step forward and said fiercely, "You know, I almost succeeded, but you ruined my good deeds." ”

"Don't be stupid Karl, don't you see those armies," the princess stared uneasily at the hunters who were slowly forming their ranks, "if there is a fight, their army will soon surround the palace, I am saving you Karl." ”

"Save me by putting my dignity at the feet of that man and trampling him," Carl yelled angrily, and then he suddenly inhaled hard, "but I still have to thank your aunt, after all, you still did me a great favor." ”

With that, Archduke Karl threw down the stunned Princess Carniola and walked towards Alexander.

"Count, you can take my fiancée and her brother away, but you won't be able to protect them for long, for we will soon be married." Archduke Karl walked up to Alexander casually, not caring about the Marchidovidians who cast hostile glances at him, "I can't help but admit that I am impressed by your bravery, but I want to warn you that the Marchidovidians are not very good partners, they first betrayed us in order to get the aid of Cepes, but soon betrayed that Zepes, because this Cepes sent troops to ransack half of the Marchidovi, but also because of this John Coe Marchidovi took the opportunity to become the Grand Duke of Caniola," Karl said and smiled at Alexander, "I know that in your minds, we may think that we are all ignorant and even savage, but in fact we have the same wisdom and the ability to understand people's hearts as you do. ”

"I've learned a lot about this."

Alexander said from the bottom of his heart that he could not help but admit that Karl was a resolute and perceptive man, and that such a man would be difficult to deal with if he had any more power.

"Believe me, it's actually better for you to cooperate with me," Karl suddenly lowered his voice, "I know that what you just said that the Vatican is preparing to gather European troops to fight the Ottomans is false, maybe there is such a thing, but I don't believe that Western Europeans would come to a place like Caniola." ”

Alexander's heart moved, and of course he knew that his words could not help but be scrutinized, after all, it had only been two years since Charles' invasion of Italy, and it was no secret that Louis XII might invade again.

However, seeing that the Grand Duke did not seem to be ready to expose his words, Alexander couldn't help but have a few thoughts in his heart.

"You should know that because of the agreement with the Sultan, at least during the Ottoman expedition, Caniola will not be able to have an army, but this does not prevent us from helping foreign troops, after all, the Sultan's army will also ask us for supplies."

The Grand Duke said as he looked around, and then he said in a low tone, "Listen, Earl, I can acquiesce to your army taking whatever you need from the warehouses in Caniola, but I want you to do something for me as well." ”

"What is it?" Alexander asked with some curiosity, thinking that the two people who had just been tense began to bargain in a blink of an eye, and Alexander could only sigh that the world was impermanent.

"You know that the Ottomans are going to pass through Caniola, and that's not a good thing for me, so I'd be glad if you could make some trouble for the Ottomans."

"If I'm not mistaken, the condition is that we must do so in our own name and not that the Sultan thinks that the Caniola is working against them, and that the supply you provide to me must be kept secret, right?"

"Earl, you are a wise man." The Grand Duke smiled meaningfully, "If you agree with all the places I will give you supplies, believe me, I'm not doing it for you or for myself, I just don't want the Ottomans to have a smooth life." ”

Or maybe he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to realize his hidden ambitions, Alexander pondered for a moment, and seemed to vaguely remember something.

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