Behind Anna, Starurachos suddenly panned there, "Your Royal Highness Princess, maybe Your Excellency the Grand Duke can't let go." After all, the Grand Duke is a man of great affection, and he felt that it was his duty to help you escape from the palace, but he had already accepted the blonde widow, so the more serious his affection, the easier it was to fall into the whirlpool of self-blame. ”

"It was my choice before, but now it's the big barbarian who has to make a choice?" After Anna said this, she held the table with her hand, "Actually, I don't blame him, even if I am now stripped of the title of Princess Komnenos purple, I am still generous, I only hope to be with the big barbarian." ”

Starurachos smiled, "Your Highness Princess, this is not difficult to do. So Anna turned her face sideways and looked at the fat eunuch who was not amazing.

"After all, I have been in the Dalian team for so long, and I also know a lot about the past of His Excellency the Grand Duke, that blonde widow is a Varyag, and now she is staying in the Italian city of Bari, and she is not in the army, because the Grand Duke cherishes her and is afraid that she will be involved in danger, so the farther the pace of the expedition, the more opportunities you have, Your Royal Highness Princess." Then, with an expression of "I know, you know", Starurachos suddenly took out a green vial, showed his golden flattering teeth, and quietly held it up in front of the princess, "Please allow your loyal servant to dare to present you this secret recipe that I had obtained from the special merchants of the imperial capital on the other side of the strait, and which had been passed down for centuries by the Roman palace and nobles, and which cost me ten Byzantian gold coins." ”

Anna's eyelashes trembled, her face seemed to be feverish, and she understood what was in the bottle in the fat eunuch's hand. So he took it with his hand and looked at it. "Bastard Starurachos, your loyalty is speculative - when you bought this thing. I didn't escape from the palace at all, so you prepared this thing to please any woman, as long as she could throw herself into Gawain's arms and win the favor of the great barbarian. ”

This frightened the eunuch immediately knelt down, "Please forgive me for my selfishness, but please rest assured, Your Highness the Princess, that I am always watching over the Grand Duke, who has crossed the sea from the city of Bari." He has always restrained himself, and even if he captured the beautiful heretical Pauline consuls in the previous battles, he always treated him with courtesy. Therefore, this green bottle, just like my loyal servant, is prepared for the arrival of Her Royal Highness the Princess, and the person who prepares it is called fate. ”

"This thing, it looks like I'm a seducer of men," Anna said resentfully, but quietly accepted the bottle. The mind is used in case of a moment, and it is not too late to repent in the presence of the Virgin afterwards, how much does she understand the power of such a thing, and can make a man bow down to you. Willing to be a subordinate of the skirt, Antonina used it to control the great general Belisarius (her husband). "But Starurachos, if only a third person in the camp knew. I will cut off your tongue. ”

Subsequently, when the candle flame in front of the table is extinguished. Anna was dressed in **, lying in the crimson tent, which Gawain had given her to live in, she stared, looked at the furnishings around her, and quietly rubbed the green bottle under the blanket, her heart was full of conflicts, and then she raised her nose, like a small beast, and sniffed the blanket, which was different from the previous in the Salabrea Hunter's Hut, which was stained with the smell of the big brute.

"Anna, your ** is getting bigger again, it's good." In the dream, it was the mysterious woman in black again, but the python behind her did get bigger, the huge snake head, the eyes were like red pillars of fire, and the heavy body pillars could no longer accommodate it, so it was covered on the gable wall of the temple, and dust and broken bricks were pouring down, but this time Anna came bravely, she was already familiar with this dream, and she was not afraid of this terrifying snake, and even asked directly, "Please tell me, where is the land of the Seven Ridges?" ”

"O land of the Seven Ridges, facing the ocean on one side and surrounded by mountains on three sides, there is the place where the Holy Apostle was born." Then, the woman in black had a face full of expressions that could only tell you that she had come here, and then changed the topic, "You want to seduce Gawain, you don't have to be like this, elegant and noble princess, are you still afraid that Gawain will not be yours in the future?" At your previous wedding, instead of climbing out of the imprisoned walls along the aqueduct and breaking your sister Daido's engagement with Gawain, it was not so much Gawain who abducted you as you abducted Gawain. Since you have been deceived even by your father, and you can ignore your sister, then no other woman in the world can stop you, Anna. ”

The words seemed to sting Anna, "How can I, how can I be?" I didn't mean to do it. The eldest princess knelt down, covered her chest with her hands, and said bitterly, "And father, why do you say these things to a demon like you?" Presumably, you're also getting some benefit from me and Gawain, because demons have always believed in equivalent exchange—but! After speaking, Anna raised her eyes, "I am not hypocritical to the big barbarian, if one day, I need Anna to pay for Gawain, I will never hesitate." ”

"That's also following the principles of contract and exchange, isn't it?" The black-clad Jeehyuk said with a smile.

"No, by no means." Anna's eyes were so determined that she panicked a little, so she smiled and turned and disappeared into the smoke in front of the temple.

Then, Anna came out of her dream, muttering strange words, and woke up with her eyes open.

It was already early the next morning, and the 30,000 remaining pilgrims, with 30,000 brought by Gottschalk, who had just crossed the sea, began to repair the camp in Nicaea, mingling with the lord's army, and everywhere there were the cries of men and cattle, Walter and Dorus, holding their swords, respectfully bowed before the scarlet tent of Grand Duke Gawain, hoping to express Gawain's previous life-saving grace to the whole team.

But Gawain went to the camp at the back last night, and now it was Anna who was resting in the crimson camp!

"Quick, quick, quick! It would be extremely rude to make the lords outside wait for a long time, whether His Excellency the Grand Duke would come at once or not, and I know that they Franks are the most particular about these things. Starulachos, who was leaning against the window of the tent, said nervously, meaning to ask Anna to meet the two country lords in place of Gawain first.

This made Anna more nervous than any other moment, but after all, she was a dignified princess of the Roman Empire (once upon a time), and she could not show her timidity on such an occasion, and soon sobered up her head on the bed: if this is the case now, sooner or later she must get used to facing this group of barbarians, and be her own treat, and she must not always hide behind Gawain's shadow.

"Hey, Starurajos bring me a mirror." (To be continued.) )