A group of people looked curiously around the dead elk, the crossbow arrow was very powerful, directly penetrating the elk's neck, looking at the elk with no other scars on its body except for a bleeding wound, people couldn't help but look at Sophia curiously.

Many people are full of curiosity about this 'Greek princess'.

There have been many rumors about her origins, and some say that she fled from Crete, and that she had endured so many hardships along the way that her faithful retinue had perished in danger again and again.

Some people say that she is actually just a shepherdesss of an ordinary peasant family in the Balkan mountains, and she became a legendary princess after being found.

However, it is also said that she was actually a girl who was quietly sent to the Prague court under the protection of the Eastern Roman nobles who had fled from Greece very early, and the King of Bohemia secretly took her in, and then hid her in his own court, waiting for the time to be ripe for her to appear to the world.

However, it is also said that the princess was actually taken in by her faithful men by a Bohemian, who allowed the Bohemian to wander around with her, while the loyal guardians took on various identities, lurking by her side, secretly guarding the last bloodlines of the Eastern Roman Empire, waiting for the time to regain the kingdom.

There are many rumors about this mysterious girl, and some of them are even more and more divine.

But whatever it is, it seems so mysterious and unfounded, which makes Sophia's identity even more elusive.

As for these rumors, Cepes had searched for the source of their circulation, but despite his covert attention, he had difficulty finding the source of these rumors for a while.

Chipes once wondered if these rumors were deliberately spread by Ladislas II, because he noticed some details in these rumors, including the fact that every legend seems to be more or less worthy of believing in Sophia's origin, but if you look closely, you will find that all the rumors seem plausible, and each of these rumors never mentions whether Sophia is really the last legitimate descendant of the Eastern Roman Empire, but each one seems to point to her identity as the last bloodline of the Palaiologos.

Cepes knew very well that the rumors were right, and that if it was believed that the Roman descent would be enough for the King of Bohemia to benefit from them, but if it was pointed out that the girl was not the person one thought she would be, none of these rumors would have proved that she was indeed the person one had been hoping for.

It's just that it doesn't matter how many people care about whether she is the Greek princess or not.

Since the end of last year, the number of people present in Bucharest has gradually increased, and in 1499, during these two months more and more people have gathered in Bucharest, in addition to the King of Bohemia, the Grand Duke of Wallachia and the descendants of the Eastern Romans who have lost their country, as well as large and small nobles from Moravia and Bosnia or their envoys, and it is even rumored that the Emperor has sent envoys to Bucharest because Vienna has heard about the princess.

And vaguely, Cepes also heard that there seemed to be people from the Vatican in the Balkans, but because the news was mixed, he didn't know if it was misinformation for a while.

The girl on the horse in front of me has attracted too much attention, and as for why people pay attention to such a girl who is only 14 years old and knows her situation a little clearly, she knows that she is actually a dumb girl who can't speak, there are various reasons, and even some of them are unspeakable.

At least Chipes knew that his own reasons were not as noble as they appeared to be.

Chipes was the son of Vlad Tzepes of Transylvania, the famous Grand Duke of Wallachia, and as a descendant of the famous Piercing Duke, Vlad left his son a great name and the title of Grand Duke of Wallachia, but also a terrible mess.

The situation of the Principality of Wallachia is delicate, as a Christian country Wallachia does not have good relations with neighboring Hungary, and as a principality nominally dependent on the Ottomans, since the time of Tzepes's grandfather, Wallachia's relationship with the Ottomans has always been one of fighting and surrendering, sometimes dependent and sometimes resisting.

It's just that as time goes on, it has become more and more difficult for Wallachia to maneuver in this gap.

So Tzepes was faced with a difficult choice between total surrender and Ottoman surrender and eventual total devouring, or to see an opportunity to join the European nations that were clearly aware of the danger and were preparing to unite against the infidels.

It was at this time that the legend of the Greek princess suddenly appeared, and from the disdain of this legend at first to the staunchest supporter of the 'princess', Cepes was very deliberate, and even for this reason he had carefully considered whether he should propose to the princess if necessary.

As for the authenticity of this princess's identity, at least in Tzepes's opinion, there is no need to pursue it at all.

But that was before he met Sophia, and when he actually met the 'Greek princess' and spent a lot of time with her, Chipes found that he had gradually developed an unusual interest in the girl, even if she sometimes did not behave like a princess, and more importantly, she was still mute, but he found that this did not affect his interest in the girl in the slightest.

However, Chipes was also keenly aware of Ladislas II's idea of trying to fight the girl, which made Chipes secretly remind himself to be careful not to offend the King of Bohemia and his wife, after all, he now needs the king's support.

Sophia took off the crossbow string very carefully, usually in order to maintain the crossbow, she was very careful, sometimes in order to maintain the toughness of the bowstring she would deliberately use butter to carefully smear, just like her already quite famous armor, she did all these work herself, never pretending to others.

The 'Greek Princess' has a gorgeous set of armor that makes many people doubt, and that armor is obviously the most popular in Milan at the moment, both in terms of style and pattern, especially the intricate patterns on the armor inlaid with beautiful enamel that make people mess around, which once made many people wonder if they would instantly become the target of the enemy's fire if they wore such a set of armor on the battlefield.

This makes people wonder which ill-intentioned guy gave Sophia such a set of armor, and what makes people even more surprised is that this set of armor is obviously not just a beautiful product, this can only be heard from the sound of Sophia walking after putting on the 'clanging' armor, it is definitely the real thing.

Sophia sometimes likes to show off in front of people in that armor, which makes some people think of the famous French heroine who galloped across the field decades ago, and some people have begun to call Sophia Joan of Arc of Greece.

This title seemed to delight Ladislas II, who did not stop it but took the opportunity to publicize it, and Sophia's fame spread like wings through the mountains of the Balkans, and as more and more people were drawn to Bucharest, finally to the attention of Sultan Bayezid II himself.

"You shouldn't chase the elk, because sometimes a beast is very threatening when it is cornered, and even an elk can do terrible things to escape."

Cepes accompanied Sophia, who didn't know why her mood suddenly became not too high, walked slowly, and when he turned his head slightly, his eyes would involuntarily fall on Sophia's towering chest, maybe the waistcoat of the hunting skirt was too fitting, Sophia's breasts that were completely arrogant to her peers made Cepes feel a little hot.

Sophia didn't seem to hear, she looked down at the road ahead, her eyes were obviously a little dim, if it weren't for the fact that she didn't know that there was no problem with her hearing, Cepes would have thought that she couldn't speak or hear.

It wasn't until she reminded her again that Sophia seemed to come to her senses, she looked at Cepes a little dazedly, and then let out a muffled sound in her throat.

"What do you think of your adoptive father?" Chipes asked, he knew the Bohemian named Nashan, the captain of the guard and the lover of the Queen of Bohemia, as for whether Sophia's relationship with the Nashan adoptive father and daughter was real, Chipes thought it would be better not to delve into it and ask clearly.

However, when he was free, Chipes couldn't help but speculate whimsically whether Sophia was the illegitimate daughter of Nashan and the queen.

The queen is obviously very kind to Sophia, which can be seen from the fact that she always likes to take Sophia with her, for example, the queen not only brought Sophia with her on this hunt, but also dressed her up unusually beautiful as always.

Chipes sometimes wondered if the queen was treating her like a doll, because she always dressed her in beautiful clothes, put on gorgeous jewelry, and after dressing her up beautifully, she appeared in front of people like a beloved toy.

As a result, people began to woo the 14-year-old girl.

The first to be so bold was a nobleman from Hungary, who suddenly knelt before Sophia in front of the crowd and recited aloud verses praising her beauty, and then promised the queen in an exaggerated tone that he would cherish and love her 'loveliest goddaughter'.

The result of this was that before the other nobles who had not yet woken up were annoyed, the queen had already angrily denounced the nobleman in public.

Then, after a reprimand, the queen ordered the nobleman to be expelled from Bucharest and returned to his domain, and Ladislas II, who heard of this, declared that the nobleman would not leave his domain until he repented and was forgiven by the king.

It was from then on that the attitude of the King of Bohemia towards the girl was known, and how important the girl was in the eyes of the King and his wife.

Tzepes was able to get so close to Sophia, not only because he was the Grand Duke of Wallachia, but also because many descendants of Eastern Roman nobles went into exile in Wallachia and Moravia, including descendants of prominent families such as Djilas, who were originally prominent in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Eastern Roman aristocracy, though in exile, still had a profound influence in Greece, which made Chipes more important than anyone else in the eyes of Ladislas II.

A soft "whoosh" came from Sophia's mouth, and Cepes followed Sophia's slightly curious gaze and saw a young man kneeling on one knee on the side of the road not far from them.

The young man was dressed in a half-body armor, a helmet tucked under his armpits, and his head was held high with a pair of eager eyes firmly attached to Sophia's body.

Chipes frowned, he knew the young man, an emissary sent by Viscount Herva from Croatia, whose name seemed to be Morko.

Speaking of this young man, he is now a small celebrity in Zagreb.

However, the reason for his fame was not because of his status, in fact, although the young man himself was of ordinary status, even his master was only an insignificant exile, and although he had the title of heir to the Duke of Zagreb on his head, he was in fact a down-and-out nobleman who did not even have a territory.

This Morco became famous because he got into a street fight with someone on his first day in town, and after being taken in by Cepes, who happened to be passing by at the time, the young man went on to do something that made everyone stunned.

When he saw Sophia for the first time, the young knight named Morco publicly expressed his admiration for her.

This is the first person to dare to take risks since that Hungarian nobleman professed his love to Sophia and was harshly reprimanded!

The scene was first unexpected and then excited, and people waited to see what was to come, and speculated about what punishment the young man would receive.

Sure enough, the queen was furious, and she ordered the lowly knight to be driven out of the city, and warned him not to return to Bucharest or else he would be arrested.

But no one expected that this young knight named Morco showed extraordinary courage and tenacity, and after being expelled from the city, he did not leave Bucharest but waited on the side of the road outside the city every day, although he knew that it was unlikely to meet Sophia, but he stubbornly stayed outside the city despite the heavy snow and freezing cold.

Whenever someone enters or leaves the city, a young man is seen looking into the city with hot eyes, and that stubborn look makes it seem as if he can give up everything.

As the days passed, the young man attracted more and more attention, and the love affair began to circulate about the infatuated young knight, so much so that by the time Tempes heard about it, Sophia had already heard about the reckless young man.

The infatuated knight and the noble princess, such legends will always lead to all kinds of stories, especially the disparity of identity and always make people more empathetic to the resonance and affection of this kind of story.

Eventually, when she saw the legendary young knight standing outside the city, Sophia rarely interceded with the queen.

Morco was eventually pardoned, he was allowed to enter the city, and as an emissary to Viscount Helva, the otherwise obscure little man became a celebrity in Bucharest.

It's just that Morco doesn't seem to be timid because of the pardon, he is still almost obsessively infatuated with Sophia, although he can no longer say it, but he always silently expresses his love for Sophia in his own way.

"Knight, your stubbornness will one day cost you your life," Tzepes said, looking at Morco on the side of the road, "the queen forgives you because of your bravery, but your stubbornness and entanglement are indeed easy to provoke people. ”

"My lord, I just like what I like," Morko stood up, but his gaze remained on Sophia, "I used to think I was in love with a young lady, but now I know that I was just naïve." ”

"But you can't guarantee that your current infatuation is naïve, believe me that it won't be long before you will send your own infatuation, it's too funny."

Chipes looked at Morco a little helplessly, he didn't want to hit the young man, but he also wanted to tell him that his wishful thinking was insignificant in Bucharest, and that those who wanted to fight the idea of a Greek princess could go around the city walls.

Morco wanted to argue with Chipes, and although he had great respect for the Wallachian Grand Duke, his excited love made him a little desperate.

But before he could speak, a hand suddenly pressed on the top of his head.

Morco turned his head in astonishment, and then his face instantly turned red.

Sophia didn't know when she brought the horse to him, she rode on the horse condescendingly, reached out and pressed on the top of Morko's head, and pushed her palm back slightly hard, and Morco couldn't help but raise her head and look at her.

Sophia's eyes were full of curiosity, while Morco was excited, and for a moment the two of them looked at each other silently in such a strange posture.

At last Sophia withdrew her hand, and she ignored Moorko's urging forward, leaving only the young knight looking at her back with excitement on his face.

That person, he doesn't love me. On the horse, Sophia gestured to Chipes.

"How do you know, to know that the whole of Bucharest knows that he loves you like crazy."

Chipes asked, curiously, sometimes he thought that this girl was really strange, perhaps because she had been raised by her 'adoptive father', and she seemed to have the savage mystery peculiar to bohemians.

I just know. Sophia raised her head slightly, her chin raised proudly, and looked at Cepes with slightly stubborn eyes.

Her appearance drew a smile from Cepes, but before he could say anything more, a horseman galloping in caught his eye.

Chipes took a few quick steps to meet the cavalryman, while behind him Sophia's gaze was cast into the distance.

"My lord, news from Zagreb!" The cavalry ran up to him and reported to Cepes.

How do I know? Because I know what kind of eyes the person who truly loves me will look at me.

Sophia was thinking about her mind alone, so she didn't notice the next few words of the cavalry who reported the news in front of her.

Zagreb, Montina, and Alexandre Giuliante Gombray......