Alexander looked at the princess in front of him with a little surprise, although he knew that the identity of "princess" did not necessarily have to be associated with the words imagined before, but although the princess in front of him was indeed quite dignified, but obviously there was a big gap with what people generally thought, it was actually a "gift" for the sultan, which sounded a little strange.

Sultan Bayezid II was one of the ten great kings who came to be known as the founding fathers of the Ottoman Empire.

The greatest achievement of this monarch's life was to secure the Ottomans in the Balkans.

As a result of the crushing defeat of Mehmed II at Belgrade about half a century ago, the Ottoman Empire's ambition to rule the Balkans was postponed for almost half a century.

Because of the fiasco, the plan to occupy Greece and then the whole of Bulgaria was inevitably frustrated, and even though the Ottoman army had been firmly in Bulgaria for decades, the Ottomans were still troubled by the endless resistance and uprisings.

Even now, Bayezid II's decision to march to Bucharest via Belgrade was due to the unstable situation in Bulgaria.

Compared to Wallachia and Moravia, the situation in Bulgaria was much more complicated, and the result of the aristocratic structure was that it was easier for each to defeat without a unified king, but because of this, it was not possible to defeat or bring the king to surrender as a unified state would.

The sporadic resistance of the Bulgarians in various places made the Ottomans concerned about the safety of their logistics, and because of this, Bayezid II decided to take a more reliable route for the day.

The country of the princess in front of her was one of the stops on the route that the Sultan was going to pass through.

"Look, I said I was a gift."

Sitting on a box, Princess Alexandra Co Caniola smiled wryly, her eyes fixed on the fire lit in front of her.

After a short audience, the princess invited Alexander to rest with her in the small camp surrounded by a convoy, and had the young earl brought wine with her.

"The Sultan has ordered that all principalities through which his army will pass must be given a hostage, knowing that my nephew is not married and has no brothers, so it is my duty to do this of course, and it is my duty as a princess of Caniola."

Alexander already knew by this time that the nephew of the princess was the current Grand Duke of Caniola, but it made sense why the Sultan would want such an elderly princess.

But thinking about it, Alexander suddenly realized that since this was not far from Ljubljana, it was clear that he had entered the territory of the Duchy of Caniola.

But the strange thing is that except for some villages along the way, there was no garrison, let alone the shadow of the army.

Could it be that the Duchy of Caniola is so "peaceful"?

But when Alexander raised the doubt to the Moleko knight, a bitterness could not help but rise on the knight's face.

"Our army has been disbanded," and sure enough, as soon as the knight spoke, Alexander was stunned, "according to the Sultan's orders, no armed organization of more than 30 people is allowed in any place where the Ottomans pass through, and all garrisons must lower their flags, and soldiers are not allowed to be called up in the name of the family, otherwise they will be dealt with as enemies of the Sultan." ”

Speaking of this, the knight shook the meat of the hare in his hand with a dagger in front of Alexander.

"Do you know what happened to the Sultan's enemies, who would be mutilated and hung on trees along the way like these hares to terrorize others, and who would forbid us to be buried according to our faith, so that even if we died, our souls would not have peace, and this is the Sultan's rule over us?"

"That's why I say your arrival is a miracle, you know, although the Sultan's army is far from us, the people are already frightened, and even some nobles have begun to arrest those who want to resist, and they are ready to be slaves to the Sultan."

Princess Alexandra sneered, straightening up slightly, and let out a slightly painful moan.

A maid immediately handed a vial to the princess, and as the cap was opened, the pungent smell immediately came out.

"Forgive me for my old fault," the princess asked the maid to pour the dark green liquid from the bottle into her glass, and after shaking it slightly, she drank it, "I have pain all over my body at this season, because I have always lived in my own territory, where there is much more sunshine than in Ljubljana. ”

Alexander nodded silently, looking at the princess who was still being held hostage at her age, Alexander couldn't help but feel a little worried about the future of his trip.

Alexander himself would never have wanted to fight the Sultan head-to-head, because that was purely seeking death.

Unlike the Mongols, the Ottomans were clearly more organized and planned, and their policies towards the occupied lands were more purposeful, and they must admit that the Ottomans today not only had wise and wise monarchs, but also had more powerful weapons and tactics than the Europeans.

It was obviously unwise to fight with such an army, Alexander's plan was only to find Sophia, go to the big copper mine and leave quickly, and in his mind, the hostility of the Balkan countries to the Ottomans and the trouble of resistance were enough to entangle the Sultan in it, so it was unlikely that he would encounter the Ottomans at all.

It's just that this idea was a little shaken after meeting the princess with his "same name".

If the princes of the Balkans were really as the princess Alexandra had said, one only had to think about it to know that although the distance seemed to be long and the terrain was complicated, the sultan would not have been marching under Bucharest for as long as he thought.

It is not known whether Sophia is in Bucharest now, and if it doesn't, she will have to be searched everywhere, after all, as rumors, Sophia is now running around the Balkans, and Bucharest is just the place where the Balkan princes will definitely last meet.

Thinking about it this way, Alexander did not see the situation in front of him so easily.

"Caniola is just one of them," Princess Alexandra smiled bitterly as if to see Alexander's hesitation, "all the principalities, the realms, and the nobles and knights, I don't know how many of them have not forgotten their honor, but these things did not appear again in Caniola, and everyone was terrified." ”

"But Your Highness, isn't there still that Roman princess?" The maid, who had been sitting without saying a word, suddenly spoke, and then she lowered her head as if she were a little timid, and hid her face in her turban.

"You mean the woman who is said to have the same name as me?" Princess Alexandra said a little sarcastically, seeing that Alexander seemed to be suddenly interested, the princess shook her head slightly, "This is really God's wonderful arrangement, the two of us are sitting here, talking about the third Alexander." ”

Hearing the princess joke with the unisex names Alexander and Alexandra, Alexander smiled back quietly, although he was a little anxious to hear the news about Sophia.

Just thinking about Sophia actually giving herself the middle name of "Alexandra", Alexander felt a strong sense of strangeness in his heart for a while.

He wanted to take Sophia away from the dangerous place of the Balkans, but in his heart he was worried that the relationship between the two would weaken because of this period of separation, he knew that with Sophia's beauty, even if she couldn't speak, there would be no shortage of suitors, not to mention her current identity, even if she looked ordinary or even ugly, there would be many people who would beat her mind.

This is not going to work, Alexander pondered that Sophia must be taken away from the land of right and wrong in Bucharet as soon as possible, and as for whether she wanted to be taken away by Alexander did not think about it, he was even ready to take her away even if he was forced to do so.

Now that he suddenly heard that Sophia had actually filled in the name of Alexandra in her name, Alexander's heart couldn't help but overflow with unspeakable taste for a while.

Some warm, some sour.

Sophia left Rome because of him, and gave herself the name Alexandra because of him.

It's just that his emotions were quickly pulled back by the words of this Alexandra in front of him.

"That woman is just a puppet," said the princess in a sarcastic tone, "I don't know from which poor and remote place that woman came out of impostor, but I think the nobles don't care, they just want her to be a puppet, some people call her the silent princess, that's because they don't want her to talk at all, believe me, that woman will not end well, and you know that people still call her 'Joan of Arc of Rome', so do you know that Joan of Arc of the French ended up being burned as a heretic?" ”

There was a burst of exclamations all around, and everyone responded to the princess's words in a slightly exaggerated tone, regardless of whether they knew what had happened to Joan of Arc.

Alexander's face sank, he knew that this Princess Alexandra was right, and her words proved many of his previous speculations, it was clear that Sophia's situation did not seem to be good, and she was in danger of being sacrificed by those nobles at any time.

At least for the nobles, if they were to lose badly in the confrontation with the Sultan, they could have sacrificed Sophia to save their lives.

It's entirely possible, and it is even estimated that some of the people who spread her reputation everywhere had the intention of making her a scapegoat from the beginning, and if she failed, they would betray her to exonerate herself, and even if they succeeded, she was just a puppet sitting on a throne in the eyes of those people.

Even then they will put another puppet on the throne from somewhere, and as for Sophia, as Princess Alexandra said, nothing will end well in the end.

But although this was indeed the case, it made Alexander unhappy to hear the woman in front of him say it.

The change in Alexander's expression immediately attracted the attention of Busako, who was sitting next to him eating, but always paying attention to his surroundings, and he immediately looked at his master, and Gompati on the side immediately noticed this faint change and stopped.

The atmosphere in the camp froze instantly, and the Moleko knight, who was vaguely aware of the change in the situation, looked at Alexander vigilantly, while the young man named Jiali had slowly grasped the handle of the short knife at his waist.

In the camp that was quite relaxed just now, there was a faint tension for a while.

"Your Highness, I suggest you apologize for what you just said," Alexander stood up and looked condescendingly at the woman in front of him, "Although you are the princess of Caniola, you cannot compare with Sophia Alessandra Valleolo in terms of status and status, and there is nothing in your words that can prove to be true except for despicable jealousy, on the contrary, your words and deeds will only make her reputation more admirable, so you now have two choices, either apologize for your words, or I don't mind punishing you for your unreasonableness and offense in her place." ”

Princess Caniola's wrinkled face was sluggish and stiff, and she looked at the young man who had just been so polite and thoughtful that she was fascinated, and she wanted to ask if it was a somewhat hateful joke, but looking at the look on the young man's face in front of her, the princess quickly understood that he was serious.

The princess looked at Alexander in a daze, she didn't know how she had offended the young count, and she didn't believe that what Alexander said was because of the inexplicable Greek princess, because as far as she knew, the princess seemed to have suddenly appeared out of the Balkan mountain villages.

As for the suggestion that someone might have come from the Prague court, I don't know what kind of motives it was, whether it was the Greek widows, the Wallachian knights, or the Atlantian nobles, they were silent about this statement, and some even publicly refuted it.

So in Princess Caniola's opinion, that woman was actually just a puppet pushed out by those nobles, but now the attitude of this count from Rome made her wonder if she had heard it wrong, or the young man in front of her wanted to use the topic to play.

"I don't think there's any need for us to continue to make each other uncomfortable," the princess gave the eviction order with a gloomy face, "Earl, I hope you can forgive me if I say anything that makes you feel unpleasant, but if it's because of that woman, I'm sorry I won't change my opinion." ”

The princess straightened her back as she spoke, her thin neck stubbornly stalked upward, the sagging tendons on her neck trembled, and her eyes were straight as if they were an aggressive rooster.

Alexander frowned slightly, he was not prejudiced against the princess, but her words made him very unhappy.

And perhaps she was right on Alexander's worries, which made him feel even worse.

"Your Highness, you probably haven't understood me yet." Alexander slowly stood up.

Seeing that the Moleko knight's body seemed to be about to stand up, Busako, who was next to Alexander, had quickly pulled out his musket from his waist, and the gloomy muzzle was pointed directly at the knight's chest.

There was a cry of terror all around, and the princess's maids ran in all directions in panic, and the princess of Caniola was already pale, and her lips trembled.

"You're not what a nobleman should be." Knight Moleko said with a gloomy face, his gaze fixed on the muzzle of the gun in front of him, as if he was considering whether his breastplate could block a bullet.

"If I were you wouldn't do something stupid," Alexander said, glancing at Knight Moleko, "you should know you can't stop bullets." ”

"I am ashamed of your behavior, you have insulted the honor of being a knight," Knight Moleko glared angrily at Alexander, "I thought you were a hero who fought against the infidels for the will of God, but your current actions have completely ruined your reputation as a nobleman and a knight." ”

Moleko complained angrily, because he found that he didn't know when the camp had been surrounded by this strange army, and the soldiers in crimson uniforms had disarmed the small number of guards in the convoy with quick and clean movements, and what made him even more uneasy was the appearance of several familiar figures in the convoy.

"Bohemia!" Looking at the uniquely dressed light cavalry, the Moleko knight's face instantly became panicked, and he looked at Alexander, panic and pleading for the first time in his eyes, which had always been stubborn.

"Count, for God's sake, don't let those barbarians offend Your Highness and her maids," the knight begged in despair, "do a good deed, they are all nobles of noble birth like you, can you watch a good girl from a noble family being bullied by a filthy bohemian?" ”

Alexander looked at the Moleko Knight, and his indifferent gaze made the knight feel fear in his heart.

"These filthy bohemians of which you speak are the best soldiers of mine, and they have won many victories for me, so I do not feel at all that they are not worthy of the noble ladies you speak of."

Alexander said as he looked at the frightened maids gathered around the princess, and looked at their frightened eyes, and a mocking smile hung on Alexander's lips.

"This is your noble lady? Your noble status does not hide your timidity, and do you think that the girl whom your master ridiculed is now calling the people to rise up against the Ottomans? A hint of contempt flashed in Alexander's eyes, and he looked at Princess Caniola, who was staring at him with a sinking face, "The only way for the Duchy of Caniola to deal with the Ottomans is to send them an old and decrepit princess as a hostage, I don't know how long your nephew can sit on such a grand duke's throne, but I think he probably won't care about it himself, because your entire duchy has already been frightened, maybe the Ottomans will soon find out, they only need to send a few children and a dog to conquer you." ”

"You are not allowed to insult the knights of Caniola!"

A young voice roared angrily from the side, and the young man named Jiali suddenly rushed over desperately, and in the exclamation of a young woman, he ignored the tip of the sword pointed at his throat by the hunter next to him, and instead roared at Alexander: "I want to challenge you!" ”

"Nope! Clary! A young woman was about to pounce like crazy, but the hunters held her shoulders tightly.

Stressed, he remembered that this woman seemed to be a close attendant of Princess Caniola's side, and at this time, the princess looked at the woman's excited appearance, and her face became even more ugly.

"If you want to duel me, you'll have to win against my captain first." Alexander didn't look at the young man, Gally, but walked towards the young woman.

"Don't you dare to fight," the young man roared and tried to pounce forward, but his shoulder was already grabbed by the hunters in front of him, but when he saw Alexander walking towards the young woman, panic finally appeared in his eyes, "What are you going to do, you are not allowed to touch my sister!" ”

As he spoke, he lunged forward, but could not get out of the hands of the hunters.

Alexander walked up to the panicked young woman, looked at her face, which had turned pale from panic, but was still quite beautiful, and paused for a moment, then suddenly turned to Princess Caniola, who was watching this scene without saying a word, and said, "Your Highness, although you are very unreasonable to Princess Sophia Alexandra Valleolo, I can give you a chance to apologize. ”

Princess Caniola stared at Alexander with a gloomy expression, she didn't know why this Roman nobleman would go so far to defend the Greek princess, but when she heard that this army was going to Ljubljana, the princess had to ask in a stiff voice:

"How do you want me to apologize?"

"Take out half of your convoy," Alexander's words caused the Bohemians next to him to burst into cheers, but the next words made them whistle desperately, "and give me this maid of yours." ”