In retrospect, Loren had no memory of how he had made his way back, for when he came back to his senses, he was already outside the Red Blood Castle.

From the top of the clouds to the Byrne border, and from the border to the county of Crimson Castle in the north-central region... When she returned to the Red Blood Castle alone, disheveled, Charlotte Turin, the Countess of the Red Blood Castle, stood outside the palace gates as if she had expected him to arrive at this time.

Directly below the gate, the countess in a long black and red dress with a meticulous expression stared at Duke Byrne, who lived like a wandering knight, and raised her head, her sharp gaze looking down slightly seemed to pierce his face.

Cold eyes, serious expressions, arrogant postures, majestic and murderous aura... It's almost time to engrave the words "Don't enter the living" in front of the smooth and white forehead.

This kind of scene is somewhat similar to the first meeting of the two people.

"Your Excellency Duke, today is the sixty-fourth day of your 'expedition' to the Yunling Kingdom. ”

Charlotte calmly looked at the embarrassed black-haired wizard, without a trace of emotion in her voice: "Remember... Did you promise me anything before you left?"

"Uh... Vaguely remember some. Holding down the "bouncing" heart, Loren showed a slightly flattering smile: "I promised a maximum of two months, that is, ......"

"You're late... Four days. Pursing the corners of her lips, Charlotte still stared at him without emotion, not squinting: "Did I remind you that in two months we will negotiate with the Holy Cross Church to decide on the choice of Bishop of Byrne?"

"Uh... Seems to be like that......"

"Did I tell you that the envoys of the Duke of Arles will come back at any time to discuss the joint encirclement of the trolls, the heresy order, and the trade routes?"

"Should... Should ......"

"Did I also mention that His Highness Brandon has come several times to urge us to settle the supply route of the Sakran Legion in Boi as soon as possible?"

"This—I remember! Lusen reminded me!" the flattering black-haired wizard hurriedly added, and asked with great concern:

"How's it going, is it serious? I'm not there... Are they making things difficult for you?"

"Look at what you said, how could it be... They are all kind elders who are very talkative. ”

Charlotte said lightly, turned her steps lightly, and staggered to open the door: "Please come in quickly - seeing such an embarrassed and imageless Duke of Byrne will really damage the face of the Turin family and Byrne, and will make the people and nobles lose confidence in the Turin family." ”

"In addition, the messengers of the Church have been waiting for a long time, so please get in order as soon as possible and prepare to receive them. ”

"Uh... All right. ”

Although he faintly felt that something was wrong, the black-haired wizard, who was obviously at a loss, couldn't say anything at this time, so he could only honestly follow the countess and walk into the castle.

Almost as soon as I stepped through the door, I heard a loud whistling sound from the hinges on both sides.

"Whew-bang!"

Loren was startled, only to see that the door behind him had been tightly closed!

The two knights of the guard stood on both sides of the door like sculptures, turned to face the gate very "wisely", and resolutely carried out the orders of the countess of the Red Blood Castle, pretending not to see their duke.

There is no way back, and there are pursuers in front of him, and the negligent Loren finds himself in a trap.

"Xia, Charlotte, what the hell are you going to ......?"

Just as Loren turned his head in surprise, he saw the frost-faced countess already staring at him, and some familiar memory suddenly flashed back, causing the black-haired wizard to instinctively retreat......

Knock ——!

Duke Byrne, who dodged a head-on slap, was still hit accurately in the right foot by the slender riding boots under the long skirt.

"Hmmm——?!"

The black-haired wizard who was in pain almost jumped up, jumped a few times in pain, and performed a "Golden Rooster Independence" in public.

Snorting coldly, she withdrew her boots and loosened the skirt that she had pinched and lifted, and Charlotte quietly returned to her original state, as if nothing had happened just now.

"Lord Loren Duke of Turin... Any idea why?"

A sentence without a beginning or an end, but Loren could hear some deep resentment in it.

"Uh...... Know. ”

The black-haired wizard, whose mouth twitched, struggled to keep himself from shouting, and forced a smile.

"It's good to know, so I don't have to bother to explain......" With a slight bow, Charlotte's eyes narrowed, and the bruises on her temples showed the extent of her patience for anger.

Three years ago, she would have absolutely desperately eaten Loren Turin's belt tendons alive, and it was the kind that didn't even have to spit out the bones.

But three years later, the countess of the Red Blood Castle has learned how to vent her anger and dissatisfaction "without losing grace" on the premise of maintaining her demeanor.

"Then, Lord of the Thirteen Lords of Byrne, successor of the House of Turin, His Excellency Loren Turin......"

Every time the murderous countess spoke, she took a step forward, and the syllables between the words spit out from Sakura's lips, but they were like the products of the blood basin of the desolate beast chewing and biting:

"If you dare to abandon your duties next time, take the risk alone, and throw the burden of the entire principality to your courtiers......"

"Let her have to face the church's cold eyebrows, arrogance and rudeness, the great disappointment of the Duke's envoy, and the urging of His Royal Highness the prince step by step......"

"Let her have to curry favor and comfort again and again, and do everything in her power to entertain these important envoys who feel that they have been neglected and ignored, and make up all kinds of lies all day long to deceive them so that they will not throw their hands away......"

"Four whole days, four days... If you dare to let me go through such four days of life and death, and live like a year......"

Step by step, and finally "pop!", Charlotte, who stood in front of Loren, was so "enthusiastic" that almost the whole person was attached to Loren.

Of course, it is the "enthusiasm" that can't wait to cut him with a thousand cuts.

"I assure you in the name of the Knight Kings of the House of Turin, as the Count of the Red Blood Castle......"

Loren, who didn't dare to move, stood still. Looking at Charlotte in that elegant and ruthless voice, calmly threatened:

"The Crimson Castle Palace will not leave you any more places, don't forget that this is my castle - you should get ready to sleep on the streets!"

With a heavy cold snort, the riding boots that suddenly turned back made a crisp sound on the stone slab, and ten steps away you could feel the "resentment" that permeated her delicate body.

And a certain "sinner" duke could only stand in place, and was "slapped" by the hair that suddenly turned - still could not dodge.

"What are you doing there, are you going to stand in front of the door for a day?!"

The black-haired wizard who heard the words was shocked, and hurriedly followed, with a relieved expression on his face.

After all, Charlotte will be angry, instead of anxiously dragging herself directly into it, which means that the problem is not so serious that it is out of control, and the anger is just to express her dissatisfaction with her punctuality and the resentment that has been in place for this time.

In other words, only when things are almost dealt with, or there is a proper solution, will she pour out her resentment and clean herself up "without any face" - otherwise, even if there is a big grievance, she will not show half of it in front of outsiders.

While complaining about himself, he silently cleaned up all the messes, waited quietly for himself to come back, and then counted himself when no one was around......

"How's it going?"

The black-haired wizard who hurriedly followed asked cautiously - even if he knew that he was fine, he still had to pretend not to know and maintain the most sincere attitude of "confession".

Well... This is also a tacit understanding for the two people.

"The most troublesome part has passed, and it has basically been properly disposed of. Proudly raising her chin slightly, the countess did not squint:

"Otherwise, if everything is waiting for you, the irresponsible Duke, to deal with it, the Duchy of Byrne will be torn apart long ago. ”

Loren, who didn't dare to say a word, could only smile and nod awkwardly beside him.

"First of all, the logistical problem of the legion of His Highness Brandon de Salion - of the three, this is the easiest to deal with. ”

Charlotte's voice returned to its normal tone, solemn and serious: "It's too hard to rely on Byrne for supplies, not to mention the fact that 50,000 people are stationed in Boe, but they have to rely on Byrne to provide logistics-just the loss of the road is already equivalent to the total number of supplies." ”

"So I consulted with the head of His Highness Brandon, and decided that in the future, Boe would provide half of the supplies, and Byrne would take out some mineral and silver aid to subsidize Boe, so that it could be basically maintained. ”

"Anyway, whether it is minerals or silver, they are all abducted from the Yunling Kingdom by our Lord Lord Byne, and they are idle in the vault, and Byrne has nothing to lose. ”

"Let Boe be responsible?" Loren's face showed a confused expression, "Can Sarika Jonah agree?"

Of course she would not agree, but she had to say yes—the rebuilding of the Thousand Hordes, the revival of the Great Poi, the new legions of silver-armored horsemen and hussars, all of which required money and fine iron ore, and a large number of skilled craftsmen. ”

"Salika Jonah is a cunning she-monkey, but bargaining is not this she-monkey's forte... She'll take advantage of it. ”

Charlotte suddenly looked back and glanced at him coldly: "Or is it that our Duke can't bear it, and is ready to... Have you taken pity on the jade?"

The black-haired wizard was sure that he was definitely sarcastic about himself with that sentence just now.

"Whatever you say is what you want......

Muttering something in a low voice, Loren quickly changed the subject: "What about Brandon? Almost all of his legion's supplies have to be self-raised, won't it be a problem for us to suddenly cut off supplies?"

"My Lord Duke, do you really think that this prince would be stupid enough to hang himself on a rope - in three years, Salika Jonah had already made a private alliance with Brandon, and only that she-monkey would be stupid enough to think that anyone else knew anything about it!"

The helpless black-haired wizard could only nod his head.

"His Royal Highness the unreasonable prince, and the mother monkey who causes trouble are easy to solve...... Charlotte said slowly:

"The Church of the Holy Cross, the emissary corps of Archbishop Innocent may not be so easy to dismiss. ”

"I know a little bit ......" the black-haired wizard put away his smile and looked at her solemnly, "I came here for the people of Bishop Byrne, right?"

"Bishop chooses ......" snorted softly, and the corners of the countess's eyes showed a trace of discontented resentment:

"It should be said that it is the one who came to Xingshi to ask for guilt and take the opportunity to make trouble!"

"Huh?"

Loren was stunned for a moment.

"Three years ago, because of Governor Byrne and the Blood Order, the entire Church of Byrne was almost completely destroyed, to the point where there was no one in ten. Charlotte said in a deep voice:

"Not only the Red Blood Castle, but also the churches of the various counties and the monasteries in the countryside have been damaged to varying degrees, and the priests and nuns have suffered heavy casualties. ”

"In order to rebuild the Byrne Church and calm the mood of the people—of course, more to ease the conflict between Byrne and the Heavenly Dome and prevent them from having nothing to do, we accepted almost all the conditions of the church, and it took only three years to restore the entire Byrne Church. ”

"Three years... There are so many clergy in Byrne that it is impossible to rebuild the church in three years, right?"

"So there are a large number of churches and monasteries, filled with priests and nuns, outsiders and native clergy who have been ordained by the Church of the Holy Cross, or by Archbishop Innocent, almost half to half, in other words......"

"Compared to Byrne's interests, the Byrne Church is more subordinate to the Holy Cross Church in the imperial capital, or... Archbishop Innocent. Taking a deep breath, Loren took Charlotte's words: "Is that so?"

“...... That's right. ”

Stopping, the countess slowly turned around and faced the black-haired wizard: "Today's Byrne Church is full of priests from Sackland, Golovin, and Lothair, all of whom have been appointed by the archbishop - any orders of the Holy Cross Church, they will carry out unconditionally. ”

"Although the princes of the principalities have a say in the choice of their bishops, the premise for this is that the church in their country is on the side of the duke; ”

"So if they really want to choose an archbishop who is absolutely obedient, or... Bishop Byrne, who opposes you at every turn, we may not even have room to refute it. ”

Loren's face sank.

Although the Holy Cross's power in Byrne is not as strong as that of Lothair and the Imperial Capital, and the wizarding class has become more and more powerful in Byrne in the past three years, the church is still very influential and influential for the common people;

If you can't beat you, you can be disgusted to death, that's pretty much the case.

"Of course, the problem of the church is not a problem now—all you have to do is choose a Bishop of Byrne as soon as possible. Charlotte said lightly:

"The rest of the things have already been settled. ”

"It's all solved?!" Loren looked at her in disbelief and subconsciously blurted out: "Who solved it?!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes slightly and turned away from him.

The black-haired wizard with a shocked face was slapped by the long hair that rushed to his face.

"Smack——!