Chapter Seventy-Eight: The First Entry into the Court

There was a large circular lighthouse towering over the White Channel of Dover, but what attracted Woolfheard more than the architecture itself was the light from the top of the lighthouse, which she first noticed more than ten miles away, and it was only when she got closer to the channel that she confirmed that the source of the light was actually the lighthouse.

The "magic" of the English is an open secret in the North, and this lighthouse is one of the most famous evidences of this - King Edgar is said to have personally created the "moonstone" on the spire and then ordered it to be installed on the gray lighthouse of Dover, and every morning, the guards would go to the top of the tower to refill it with whale oil to ensure that the blazing glow would never be extinguished, and that even the most terrifying storms would be instantly recognizable by ships in the nearby seas. Edwin had watched the king make the big thing, called the Fresnel lens, which was nothing more than a single piece of crystal that had been repeatedly polished, and after the initial exclamation, Edwin had lost interest in the toy.

The Earl of Otto, on the other hand, was the first time he had seen such a nineteenth-century lighthouse installation, and he glanced at the usual Edwin knight, and could not help but think that the purpose of this building was probably not only to guide ships, seafarers have always been the most superstitious, and the "magic" of the English obviously formed a strong deterrent to all enemies who coveted this coast. Thinking that he was about to meet again with the king who ruled this "fairy island", the old prince of Saxony was in awe.

Fort Dover, along with Fort Calais across the Channel, forms the maritime gateway to the island nation, and over the years, Dover's castle has been fortified countless times, with an even more eerie inner wall looming above a giant battlement wall on the stone wall, and a star-shaped tower at its centre. The old castle where Wolfhilde lived in Saxony was far less imposing, and even the Harzburg and Goslar palaces, which her father had demolished, could hardly compare to them. To be honest, before arriving in London, she had been frightened by such murderous buildings.

The defenders seemed to have been prepared, and soon provided the nobles of the fleet with various supplies, including a pot of fragrant rose water, much to the delight of Woolfhilde, who was still bothered by the smell of the ship.

After a night's rest, the Saxons immediately began to move north, and Count Otto looked ten years younger after changing to a horse, while the knight of Edwin, dressed in full-body plate armor, was so radiant that the young Woolfhild could scarcely dare to look at him. She had almost forgotten the fact that she was about to meet the prince of England, and was immersed in a gentle infatuation like a white rose.

A large number of brightly dressed horsemen escorted Saxon maidens with sweet smiles like apples through Kent and Sussex, and after crossing the Thames north of Southwark, to Tony Island in west London.

The Marble Bridge to the Palace of Westminster was not far, but before reaching the Palace, the cavalry of the Guards, who were in their daily training, passed in front of the Palladian white hall, and the Saxon nobles, who had never seen the drills of the English Guards so closely, slowed down and watched the procession of cavalry, which was full of symmetry and rhythm.

Count Otto von Nordmark felt a growing sense of anxiety, he had seen the power of the King of England, but such a dismount would not be pleasant, what did King Edgar want?

After extensive drainage and reconstruction, Westminster is much more open than it was a decade ago, with a variety of classical sculptures and paintings complementing the rose windows and flying buttresses of the cathedral in the distance, a Gothic art that adopted the style of later generations of ornamentation rather than the Dover Fortress. For the Saxons, the Frankish and Italian Romance buildings were instantly dwarfed, and the unfinished church spires seemed like a silent challenge, and if they approached the site and heard the architects and craftsmen above and below the scaffolding shouting in different languages, they might immediately think of the Tower of Babel.

As you enter the fountain garden, where the swans roost, a peculiar tune suddenly sounds, making the faint noise of London sound like the sound of an organ in the distance. Although the King of England himself was more fascinated by the mystical rhythms of the woods, he chose Brahms's grandeur for such occasions, and the heroic rhythm that abandoned all innocent moaning romance was taken to the extreme by the new strings, with the result that the Saxons were moved to tears when they finally saw the King himself.

King Edgar was in his prime, with blonde hair spreading out from under his crown, and in appearance, the king looked more like a handsome Norse warrior, more suitable for the land of ice rocks and white bears than this summer garden.

Woolfhild suddenly recalled his father's assessment of the northerners, that the colder the north wind, the hotter the Viking blood.

The King of England was surrounded by princely nobles such as the Earls of Pembroke, Mercia, Northumbria, and the Bishop of Warchester, and the splendor of the King himself was not diminished by these powerful lords.

"Your Majesty (Hlaforde)." She bowed her head and greeted in a rather rusty Anglo language.

"My child, you are like coming home in our kingdom." Edgar bowed.

When Count Otto presented Edgar with a gift from the Duke of Saxony, Edgar thanked the queen, who could not help but glance at Woolfheard when he heard that the queen was too pregnant to attend the ceremony.

The girl did not notice this important news about her future, she was still enjoying the melody of "The Emperor's Quartet", and she almost forgot that her dog was still suffering in the car.

"My lord, tell me, what does the Duke think of the 'Pope' of Rome?" After finally entering the private chat stage, Edgar asked the Saxon people straight to the point.

"You have to understand, Your Majesty, that the Duke was imprisoned in Harzburg by the Emperor for two years, and that the Emperor is even more powerful now than he was then." Otto reluctantly defended Magnus, who understood what the king meant, but Magnus's goal was not just to start a great rebellion - the duke wanted a crown.

Edgar was silent, he didn't know what the Duke of Saxony really thought, but with the current situation of the Holy See, it was really difficult to arouse people's allegiance, although he himself could personally compete with Henry IV, but what good would that do England?

"We'll have to talk about the North, but for now, let's let the kids meet first." The king finally replied.

As a result, Woolfheard finally met the rumored Earl of Kent, Edmund, the king's son.