At the mouth of the Dembvica River, a small but solemnly dressed procession waited patiently.

The emissary sent by the Archduchess two days ago had already returned to Bucharest ahead of schedule.

The news that the messenger brought back was heartening.

Wallachia's choice of Sicily's action on the side of Naples during this change of power in Sicily paid off unexpectedly

It is said that bribing the Ottomans with money just as they passed through the Polpurus Strait was so much that the people of Bucharest felt distressed.

However, compared to the wealth brought back by the Grand Duke, it was only a small amount of money.

The mere thought of this is enough to make people excited, and it is said that the agreement with the Kingdom of Sicily has also brought more than enough benefits to Wallachia.

However, what made many Wallachian nobles more concerned were the strange signs that the expedition had loomed about.

The Wallachian army's unprecarious passage through the Strait of Borphorus was unbelievable to many, and those who had previously opposed the expedition were stunned by the unexpected surprise.

This has left many Wallachians in the background, and some wonder if this means that there may be signs of a possible change in relations with the Ottoman Empire.

After all, as relations with Northern Bosnia became more and more delicate, Wallachia was ready for a possible war with this neighbor, so if relations with the Ottomans could be temporarily eased at this time, it would be much easier to throw all the power into the Bosnian side.

Because of these considerations, the nobles of Bucharest were even more anxious to know the truth from the Grand Duchess.

The gradual appearance of boats on the river in the distance caused a commotion among the people waiting on the shore, who knew that it would be a long time before they could reach because of the upstream, but they still crowded to the shore, anxiously awaiting the return of the expeditionary force.

On the largest ship in the fleet, Sophia stood on the deck and looked forward with the same eagerness.

Although she knew that it was much easier to take a boat than by land, she was already a little desperate at this time.

She had been separated from her children for far too long, and since the birth of her children, she had not been away from them for so long.

The excitement of returning to Sicily and the subsequent battle took up too much of her energy, so although she missed her children, it didn't seem so strong, but now as she got closer to home, that longing became more and more difficult to suppress.

Sophia feels that her children deserve to be happy, both in terms of status and the love of their parents, and she feels that her children have the right to be the best in the world.

It was for these reasons that she accepted Jisha's conditions and sent troops to Sicily.

Towards noon, the fleet finally docked at the dock on the banks of the Dembvica River, and looking at the group of soldiers coming down from the ship, the nobles of Bucharest secretly wondered whether the reward of the expedition was commensurate with the price paid.

When they saw the large and small boxes that had begun to be carried down with the entourage of the Grand Duchess, and looked at the salute that was gradually piling up like a hill on the shore, the eyes of the nobles became hot.

Speaking of which, the female archduchess's lack of words is indeed a big trouble, which undoubtedly makes the status of those relatives around her more important.

Because these people almost controlled Sophia's connections with the noble ministers, they made them hot court nouveau riche.

This worried the Wallachian nobility, fearing that some of them would become courtiers who played tricks of power, and that there might be cronies of the Duke of Rome and Thesia, and that Wallachia would eventually become a vassal of that duke.

But now looking at the female archduchess, not many people think like this anymore.

Sophia's unusually toughness, or rather willfulness, began to be difficult for Wallachians to accept.

But gradually, they found that the willfulness of His Royal Highness not only did not bring trouble to Wallachia, on the contrary, it was precisely because of her toughness that Wallachia had not only risen since the Battle of Bucharest, but even now had the posture of competing with Bosnia for hegemony in the Balkans.

The ministers' eagerness to know what the expedition was going through did not affect Sophia, and she did not even bother to be polite to the men, and hurriedly ordered her to rush to Bucharest at once.

When she finally entered Bucharest when the sun was slightly wester, she was surprised to learn that in addition to her lovely children, there was an unexpected guest waiting for her in the palace.

Queen Maria Astamara of Bohemia looked at Sophia, who was standing in front of her with a complicated expression, only as high as her eyebrows.

She remembered how wild and untamed the girl had been when she was brought to her, and that the queen had spent a lot of effort to train her to be a worthy court lady.

It's just that the queen had to reluctantly give up her plan to change her, and once said to Nashan with some worries that with Sophia's appearance, it will probably be difficult to find a suitable husband for her in the future.

These words were still fresh in the Queen's memory, but now they seemed to have become a joke.

The girl she thought might not be able to marry not only had a pair of children, but more importantly, she became the monarch of a grand duchy.

Even the queen herself had to suffer from the bumps of the long journey for reasons closely related to her this time, and of course Nashan's company made her feel that the journey was not so annoying.

The queen came to Bucharest to negotiate on the arrangements of Ladislas II.

Although it was already known that Sophia was not in Bucharest, Ladislas II was pleasantly surprised by the proposal brought by Nashan before, but he did not dare to make a rash decision.

The recovery of the Hungarian territories occupied by Austria was a long-cherished wish for recent generations of Bohemian kings.

Especially Maximian's encroachment on Hungary, Ladisdas II was on the verge of becoming unbearable.

It's just that it's not a long time since he was last taught to be a man by Austria, so although Ladislas II was excited about this suggestion, he didn't dare to respond easily because of various concerns.

He feared that it might just be a means for the Duke of Rome to relieve pressure on the Italian war, which was said to be about to break out at any moment, or that it was simply a desire to make Bohemia attract the firepower of the Austrians.

So he needed to know how determined both the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany and Wallachia would be in the event of a war.

And this is obviously not something that can be figured out by the messenger's telling.

So the King of Bohemia simply asked his queen to rush to Bucharest in person to determine whether Bohemia could benefit from a war that loomed into which all of Europe was involved.

Sophia's presence surprised Sophia, and although she was anxious to see her children, she respectfully met with her.

Sophia had some affection for the queen, and even at one point she felt that the queen was as close to her mother as she was at all.

Although the heavy classes at the Prague court almost drove her crazy, she was annoyed by the forced departure from Alexandria.

The queen's promise to make her a noble court lady once gave Sophia the illusion that she might be able to return to Alexander.

It was only later that she discovered that it was not the cumbersome court etiquette and dress that really brought her back to Alexander, but her armor and sword.

Of course, she also liked to dress up now, at least she could clearly feel that Alexander liked her interest in wearing those extravagant bloats.

"I can't imagine you risking your way through the Ottomans," the queen looked at Sophia in disbelief, even though she knew that she was standing in front of her like that, but the thought that she had passed through the Ottoman territory made the queen shudder, "Do you really think it's worth it?" ”

Sophia made a simple "um" sound, and she was taken into the Queen's arms.

"You are willing to do so much for that Duke of Rome Thesia, and bear children for him, but what can you get my poor child?"

Sophia smiled at the queen's complaints, and she kept making cheerful syllables while gesturing, chattering and trying to let the queen know how happy she was.

And these happiness come from the man who was questioned by the queen.

"Your Majesty, in fact, this expedition has brought more harvest than anyone could have imagined," Bodepaed, who stood behind Sofia, lost no time in joining in, "not only have we brought back a large amount of loot, but according to the agreement with the Queen of Sicily, Wallachia will have the right to use all the ports that the Kingdom of Sicily can influence in the Mediterranean. ”

"Oh?"

The queen's expression changed slightly.

Although Bohemia was far away from the depths of the European continent, this did not prevent them from knowing the sea, and Queen Maria Astamara, who was born into the royal family of Naples, knew exactly what this right meant.

It's just that when she heard the title of "Queen of Sicily", the queen had a strange feeling in her heart.

As the queen of Bohemia from the Astamara family, Queen Maria was well aware that the royal family of Naples had been cut off with Alfred's death.

The current queen is destined to be the beginning of the new royal family of Naples in the future.

This can't help but make her feel something, but that's all there is to it.

"So you think war is inevitable?" The queen's expression grew serious.

The originally warm atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed solemn, which made Sophia, who was already thinking about the child, even more impatient.

Bodped cautiously looked at His Royal Highness the Grand Duke, and saw that Sophia did not mean anything, so she could only speak: "Your Majesty, as you expected, the war in Rome should be inevitable, as can be seen from Her Majesty's unhesitating dispatch of troops to Sicily. ”

"Of course, but I wonder how determined the Queen is about this war, and I mean, is she ready to go to war with the Emperor?"

Bodped was about to answer, but was suddenly interrupted by Sophia, who was standing up.

Standing in front of the queen, Sophia gestured to her excitedly, with a look of excitement on her face and a look of pride that the queen felt only when she had mentioned Alexander before.

Sure enough, the female official on the side respectfully explained to the queen what the Grand Duke meant.

"Are you saying that this war was more of the will of the Duke of Roman Thesia?" Knowing that this was indeed the case, the queen asked, "But you must know that Maximir had a very strong army in Lombardy, and that he could send more troops there at any time." ”

Sophia nodded, she frowned as if she was thinking about how to answer, and then made a few gestures to the female officer next to her.

Soon a map was placed in front of several people, and looking at Hungary on the open map, Sophia poked hard at it.

"Dear Sophia, I treat you as my own child, so I don't want you to deceive me," the queen said, "We all know that the war between Wallachia and Bosnia is imminent, and at this time I doubt that you can still send troops to Hungary. ”

"Your Majesty, it is true that we and Bosnia will break out at any time, but that does not mean that we do not have the strength to send troops to Hungary at the same time, so if you and Your Majesty the King do not have to worry about Bohemia facing Austria alone."

Bodpaed glanced at Sofia as he spoke, and after receiving her nod of permission, he continued: "According to the arrangement of the Duke of Rome Thesia, we have signed an agreement with Archduke Karl, who has already settled with Caniola, guaranteeing that once war against Bosnia breaks out, we will attack Bosnia from the east and west. ”

The queen's face gradually showed a look of surprise, she looked at Bodpaed, and then at Sophia, who seemed to be a little absent-minded, and then said in a low voice: "I didn't expect this." ”

"In fact there is more than that," continued Bodpaed, "as far as we know, the Ottomans are likely to have a civil war, and by that time they will not be able to continue their offensive against Poland, and will even be incapable of invading Europe for a long time, and this is a good opportunity for a definitive settlement of the Hungarian question, Your Majesty. ”

Bodeped's words made the queen secretly gasp, seeing Sophia looking at her with blazing eyes, and then nodded very directly, the queen couldn't help but try her best to suppress the vaguely excited excitement in her heart, and asked cautiously: "There will be civil strife in the Ottomans, can you be sure of this?" ”

"Ah~"

Sophia immediately let out a smug single voice, gesturing to her heart with a gesture that even the queen could roughly understand at this time, and then she showed that characteristic look of pride.

"This is what the Duke of Rome Thesia told you?"

This time, the queen could guess what Sophia meant from her expression without the explanation of others.

Seeing that Sophia immediately smiled and nodded, the queen couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

She knew that, as Bodped had said, this was indeed a good time to settle the Hungarian problem, which had plagued Bohemia for a long time.

This made the queen a little worried, and once she heard the news, perhaps no one could stop Ladisdas II from joining the great war that spread across Europe.

Outside, a dull thunder rang out, and the sky gradually became overcast, just as the battle clouds over Europa covered Bucharest before the rain.

And Sophia was smiling at this time, hugging her twin children and kissing constantly.

After a long time, she pulled out two beautifully crafted ornaments from the luggage that the servants had brought into the room, and only after painstaking discerning them did she put them on the delicate necks of her children.

In addition to the coat of arms of the Valleolo family, the back of the pendant is engraved with "August Alexandru Wallachia" and "Catherine Alessandra Bosnia".

vertex