"Anyway, that's about it." The Duke of Bavaria finally said.

"Hmm." Bruno, the dragon of utopia, groaned.

He used his shallow mind-reading ability, and found that the Duke was not telling any lies, and the Fire of the Sealed Furnace next to him did not have any expression, obviously acquiescing to the Duke's statement.

"So, let me make sure, this is how it is......" The dragon of fantasy recounted from the beginning:

————————

620 Duchy of Lorraine, Grand Palace of Aachen.

The Duke of Bavaria is visiting the Emperor to discuss the recent movements of the Wolf family.

Since the founding of the Saxon Dynasty, almost most of the nobles knew in their hearts that the wolf and the griffin had become a major problem for the dragon family.

The reason is that they are sitting on too much duchy territory.

In the feudal Holy Solomon Empire, how to prevent the power of other families from growing is something that the royal family thinks about all the time.

On the one hand, most emperors only exercised the power of sub-feudalism, but rarely used the power of transferring or unsealing the feudals, and once used, it was easy to cause rebellion among the vassals; On the other hand, even if you don't offend the vassals, when the vassals become more powerful, they will start to rebel.

In general, he will rebel when he becomes stronger, and if you cut him, he will rebel in advance.

Otto I's policy was not to divide the large nobles, but to divide the large number of middle nobles and minor nobles in large numbers, so that there were various viscounts, barons, and knightly lordies directly under the royal family, which were sandwiched between the territories of the major principalities like fragments.

In response, the great nobles were also actively annexing the territories of the surrounding minor nobles, in order to counter the emperor's policy of cutting feuds, especially wolves and griffins.

As a result, when it came to Otto II, that is, the generation of the current emperor, the griffin family actually had no fief and no successor, no heir! So one of the two henchmen was gone, and only the Wolf family, who occupied Lombardy and Burgundy, remained.

In order to deal with them, the Saxons chose to join forces with the Weissbach family, the feud of the Wolf family, so they have become closer recently.

The Duke of Bavaria even plans to send his young second son, Henry, to study at the Royal Military Academy next year, on the one hand, to act as a proton, and on the other hand, after he graduates, to become His Majesty's blade warrior, thus acting as a bridge between the Weissbach family and the Saxon family.

After all, the future of the entire Duchy of Bavaria will be inherited by the eldest son, Ludwig.

After negotiating Henry's admission, the Duke and the Emperor had a few more drinks at the family feast, and began to discuss the long history of alliance between the two families, the Swan and the Dragon.

Gradually, we talked about how the ancestor of the Weissbach family sealed the fire, and how he followed the ancestor of the Saxony family, Emperor Henry I, to crusade against the Lion Duke who rebelled against the Wolf family.

So the revolutionary friendship between the two families was much stronger, after all, the ancestors had carried guns together.

The Duke of Bavaria was also a little drunk, and when he was too drunk, he took his leave with the emperor and went back to his room slowly.

As a result, at the door of the room, I ran into Queen Theofano.

Theofano, a former princess of the Eastern Solomonic Empire. According to the genealogy of the royal family, it should be the niece of Theodora's grandfather, which is equivalent to the distant aunt of little Sheila. However, this one was married early, and Sheila never actually met her.

The Weissbach family was notoriously prolific artists, and the Duke of Bavaria was also quite fascinated by the culture of Ciris, which was rich in art and culture, and even rumored in the empire that the duke also had a bad idea of Empress Theofano from Eastern Rome......

Just rumors, of course.

Although the duke had a good impression of the empress from Tosara, he was married after all, and he was also a decent person, not to mention having an affair with the empress, and when he was at the Grand Palace of Aachen, he even deliberately avoided any formal contact with Empress Theofano...... Mostly eye contact.

Therefore, it is completely unknown why the queen appeared at his door tonight.

"Your Majesty." The Duke bowed cautiously, then tried to bypass her and push open the door. In any case, if a maid saw the two of them together here, it would be a heavy blow to His Majesty's reputation.

And the Duke of Bavaria, as a decent, upright, and loyal Duke of the Empire, certainly did not let the emperor's reputation be tarnished in any way because of his own mistakes.

Surprisingly, however, a slender hand reached out from his shoulder and pushed open the door with him.

"Your Majesty?" The Duke was stunned again, but Theofano had already pushed him into the room, then turned and closed the door.

"Your Excellency." The queen could not hide her sad expression, and said eagerly, "I have always believed that you are a decent, upright, and loyal person, although they all say that you are ...... to me But I know you've never embarrassed me in public. ”

"It's just, this thing...... I really don't know who to ask for, and I don't even know who in this court can be trusted. Such thoughts haunted me like a nightmare until the Lord sent you here...... I beg you, Your Excellency, whether it's mercy or a deal......"

“…… Please help me! ”

Seeing that Empress Theofano's eyes were red from crying, and she looked extremely pitiful, the Duke was also a little unbearable, and helped her to sit down on the chair:

"Your Majesty, although it is a bit presumptuous to say this, I thank you for the trust you have placed in me. As long as it doesn't hurt me or my family, I'm willing to do my best to help you. ”

"That's right." Seeing that the duke skillfully expressed his attitude, Empress Theofano, who had been sobbing, finally calmed down and showed a grateful expression.

"Your Excellency the Duke......" She unbuttoned her collar, startling the Duke of Bavaria to close his eyes - he didn't see anything, because he was a decent man of integrity.

However, he soon heard the baby's cry.

When the Duke opened his eyes again, he saw that Theofano had redressed. And the little baby in her arms was crying dissatisfied, as if he was angry because he had lost his mother's **.

"This is little Sophie, my daughter and my majesty." Empress Theofano looked at her reluctantly, then closed her eyes in agony, and pleaded:

"I know it's going to come as a surprise and a surprise to you, but it's really the only thing I can think of at the moment......"

"Your Excellency, can you adopt her?"

In an instant, the Duke of Bavaria even thought he had misheard, but Empress Theofano soon handed him the baby.

The queen's movements were so resolute that the Duke thought that if he didn't reach out to catch it, the baby would slip from her loose hand and fall to the ground—so he could only catch it.

The little baby in his arms gradually stopped crying, and curiously opened his big blue eyes to look at the well-dressed middle-aged man. Empress Theofano, on the other hand, stood up and continued:

"She is Your Majesty's daughter, but she can't stay with me anymore...... Otherwise, the child would inevitably go down the path of open confrontation with her father. ”

"Is this some kind of prophecy? Son of Laios? The Duke asked, stunned.

The so-called son of Laius is a myth of ancient Siris, which says that Laius, the king of ancient Thebes, heard an oracle that his son would kill him when he grew up.

So the king had his son pierced his ankle, chained him, and ordered a shepherd to abandon him in the forest to feed the wolves. However, the shepherd took pity on him and sent him to the court of the Corinthian kingdom next door, and when the child grew up, he accidentally killed a stranger passing by in a carriage by his father, King Laius.

The prophecies in the myths of ancient Sirisus often have the "tragic" nature of "inevitable", that is, no matter how you try to escape, you can't avoid the predestined tragic ending. Of course, although it is only a myth, in this otherworldly world, anything is possible.

"Mythology?" Empress Theofano shook her head and said in a tone of some struggle, "It's not a myth, it's the devil. It dwells in my mind, and instigates me to bewitch my husband, and to bring my daughter to sinful ......."

"Ah!!h She suddenly let out a low scream, clutched her head as if in severe pain, and clenched her head through gritted teeth, "...... from my head"

“…… Get out! ”

The Duke of Bavaria stood up in horror, and he subconsciously wanted to push the door and go out to call for the doctor, but it soon occurred to him that if anyone saw him alone with the Empress in a room, with her newborn Highness Sophie, it would inevitably cause serious damage to His Majesty's reputation.

As an upright, decent, and loyal count, he quickly gave up this idea from the point of view of his majesty's sake.

At this time, Empress Theofano stood up again, with the same expression on her face as she had just judged, and with a certain elegant polite smile (even a little politely indifferent), she extended her hand to the Duke of Bavaria:

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, can you give me back my Sophie?"

The Duke of Bavaria was slightly stunned, only to see Queen Theofano's face suddenly turn hideous, and he bent down again holding his head:

"Nope! I absolutely ...... No...... Put Sophie ...... I'll leave it to you......"

The queen's expression was sometimes hideous and desperate, and sometimes it reverted back to calm and grace (even with a certain faint coldness), as if two personalities in the body were in a fierce conflict, constantly vying for dominance of the body.

In the end, it turned out that the queen's personality prevailed. She stood up again on the table, smiled weakly at the duke, and said:

"Your Excellency...... It's time for me to go......"

"I couldn't suppress that devil for too long, so ...... Please leave the Duchy of Lorraine as soon as possible tomorrow......"

"Take my Sophie with you...... Get away from me, get away from here......"

"This is my only plea for you."

She trembled and walked outside, and the Duke of Bavaria stepped forward to try to help her, but was pushed away by the queen.

"So, what's her name?" As the queen pushed open the door, the Duke asked tentatively behind her.

"As a ...... My daughter? ”

Queen Theofano turned around and gave her daughter one last look...... The Duke could be sure he saw some kind of crystalline droplet slipping from the corner of her eye.

Then she turned slowly, as if she had made up her mind, and said in a trembling voice:

"Let's call it 'Eleanor.'"

"Eleanor ......" the Duke of Bavaria repeated the name, knowing that its original meaning was "as bright as the morning light". But when Empress Theofano had said this, she walked forward again without looking back, and disappeared into the darkness of the night where she could not reach her fingers.

——————

"That's right." The Duke of Bavaria bowed his head, "Your retelling is exactly the same as the facts I have just recounted, Your Excellency the Dragon of Fantasy. ”

"Hmm, I see." Bruno, the dragon of fantasy, looked down at his notes and nodded thoughtfully.

While the story is somewhat embellished to the narrator himself, there is nothing logically problematic.

The Duke of Bavaria has always been plagued by rumors, and it is naturally impossible to tell His Majesty the Emperor about this, otherwise His Majesty's character will inevitably suspect that he has some ulterior relationship with the Empress, so that the Empress will secretly ask him for help and entrust His Royal Highness Sophie to him.

And this anger will even extend to Her Highness Sophie. On the other hand, if His Royal Highness Sophie could grow up in the Weissbach family, he would not be treated much worse than in the Saxon family.

Therefore, whether it was for the sake of the Empress, or for the sake of His Royal Highness, or even for the sake of the Emperor, the Duke of Bavaria finally chose to secretly adopt this child, and the motives were reasonable.

As for Theofano's "I don't know who in this court can be trusted", there is no doubt that the Duke of Bavaria has a great distrust of everyone in the Saxon family, so he will hide the matter to this day.

Of course, for Bruno today, he is undoubtedly in favor of the Duke of Bavaria's approach. After all, there was a spiritual plague, and it was not easy to say how many people in the court were infected at that time.

If he rashly chooses to betray the queen, then Her Royal Highness Sophie will inevitably stay in the palace. According to the empress, His Royal Highness was manipulated by the spiritual plague to assassinate the emperor again......

…… For the Saxonys, there is much more to it than a scandal.

Well, who knew that even after leaving the House of Saxony, this Highness would go back to the path of confrontation with her father?

The dragon of fantasy closed the note, silently sighed "Creation makes people", and then said goodbye to the Duke of Bavaria and the fire of the furnace.