In the evening of the same day, the First Viscount's Palace, study.

Ma Xian sat in a chair and looked at a portrait.

The content of the portrait is that under the cover of a beautiful sea of wind and rain, a tall and mighty man and a kind woman who is pregnant stand together. Handsome man and beautiful woman, this is a couple who look very affectionate, and between the two, is a handsome blonde teenager.

The tall man was the young Count Titus, the beautiful woman was the Countess, the handsome blonde boy was Matthew, and the child in the Countess's womb was his current brother, the unborn Lion of Savoy, McQueen.

Looking at this portrait, Matthew's eyes gradually flickered with tears, and he gently rubbed his father's face in the portrait.

He still remembers when his father handed over the painting to him, and he said to himself with great pride:

"Matthew, I want you to witness, witness all this, witness the expansion of this country! Witness the prosperity of this family! Witness the elevation of the Kingdom of Savoy to the status of a prince! And I..."

"When I grow old, you will succeed to the throne, you will not be a hereditary count like me, you will be honored as a marquis! The great Marquis of Savoy! ”

Matthew recalled the scene at that time, and couldn't help but smile, he turned his head and looked at the stacks of thick books in the bookcase..."General History of the Continent", "Theology", "Theory of War", "Rural Economics", "Urban Economics"...

Then he turned his gaze to the head of his bed, where a heavy half-sword hung on the wall.

It is because of this sentence of his father, in order to become a ruler who meets his ideals, a qualified future marquis, Matthew. Titus, he forced himself to practice swords, forced himself to read, like a bookish madman, a martial idiot.

He worked day and night to prepare for becoming a marquis, and eventually, he read a lot of books and learned politics, military affairs, economics, law... And so on and so forth, as a ruler should have all the knowledge, and at the same time became a level 34 great swordsman.

At the thought of this, he coughed violently, and blood kept gushing down his throat and then down his lips.

At the same time, the painting in his hand also fell to the ground

He leaned on the back of his chair, pulled out a handkerchief, wiped the blood from his face, and swallowed a pill.

Under the effect of that pill, he stopped coughing and the bleeding stopped.

Instead of picking it up again, he pulled another painting out of the bookcase.

It is also a perfect depiction of a happy family, with six people, his father, his mother, him, his two younger brothers, and Princess Belea.

He saw with his own eyes that his father gave the painting to his youngest brother... Caesar. His father said to him in a decadent tone:

"Caesar, I'm old, and I can't expand my family's territory anymore, and my energy is not as good as before... There's a lot I can't do anymore. ”

"But I'm not reconciled, I'm not reconciled! This is not the limit of the Titus family! The patriarch of the Titus family should not be just a little count, he should be a marquis, a duke... Even a king! ”

"Go hard, my child! On the day I die, you will inherit the position of hereditary earl, and you must lead the family to glory! ”

Thinking back to that scene, Matthew's face showed a cruel smile. He took out the blood-stained handkerchief and gently brushed it on his father's head.

The old earl's head was then covered in a bloodstain.

Matthew then took out a dagger and stabbed his father's head on it!

The dagger pierced his father's bloodstained head as if he had killed his own father.

Matthew smiled coldly and said, "Hehe, father, my father, why haven't you set up a prince until now?" Why? Why?!! ”

He frantically tore up the painting and roared, "Why don't I play like other people's children?" What am I training for? What do you read for? ”

"Because of your expectations! Your commitment! You tell me that I will be a marquis! I will be the ruler of this country! I will lead the family to glory! ”

"Hehe, you told my brother Caesar the same thing again... Just like he deceived me back then, to lie to my brother! ”

"At the end of the day, you're all for yourself! In order to sit firmly in that position, for the sake of your power, you do not hesitate to separate our brothers! You forced us to kill each other! ”

"You've succeeded, we've been fighting openly and secretly for 13 years! And you have been sitting firmly in the position of earl for 13 years! ”

"Hehe, haha, hahaha... My father, I will let you know that the seat is reserved for me! No one can take it away! ”

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Matthew's crazy smile instantly retracted, and he returned to his previous elegance and peace. He turned the two paintings over, turned them up, and threw them on the ground. In this way, you can only see the paper on the back, but not the content of the drawing.

The room is well insulated, and even if a large fireball explodes here, the sound will not reach the outside.

Matthew opened the door, and a middle-aged man with a gloomy face said respectfully, "Greetings, Lord Earl." ”

Matthew nodded, smiled, and said, "Hello, Mr. Adams." ”

The middle-aged man known as Mr. Adams, Matthew's most trusted staff member and trusted the man walked in.

Killing the little princess, and then borrowing the old earl's knife to kill Caesar, this strategy came from his handiwork.

"Matthew's idiot's family... How's it going? ”

"They're already reunited."

"Good."

Adams looked at the two paintings on the ground and asked curiously, "Look, Lord Earl, your floor has been messed up, and I think you should punish those servants severely." ”

As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the trash.

"No need, these things will be left to the servants later, and that's fine."

With that, Matthew gently closed the door.

Adams sniffed lightly, and immediately smelled a smell of blood, and his hand immediately left the painting on the ground.

He wisely didn't continue with the conversation.

Matthew suddenly asked: "Now that McQueen is in control of the affairs of the East City Gate, the income from the entrance fee has been reduced by one-third, and Caesar has also obtained military power, although we still have the advantage, but the advantage is not obvious, if my father is on Caesar's side, then my situation will be even worse." ”

"What's next?"

Adams thought for a moment and asked with some caution, "I have some ideas, but..."

Matthew gave him a deep look and said, "Say, my Adams." ”

Adams sighed and said, "The failure of this operation can be said to have completely torn the relationship between us and Caesar, because... Little Princess... I think in the future, when it comes time to take sides, she will most likely be on Caesar's side. ”

Matthew's expression became a little unnatural.

"The balance of power between the two sides has become more balanced, and to make sure you get what you want, I have an extreme countermeasure to ensure that you can regain the upper hand... Absolute upper hand. ”

"What?"

Adams said, "Promise to cut the land." ”

"Mowing the land? Which piece of land? Ceded to whom? ”

"Send men to the Princes of Dolun and negotiate with them, asking them to send a brigade of divisions to us in exchange for the Earl of Peace to be ceded to them as military expenses and compensation, after you succeed to the throne."

The town of Peace is a town on the western border of Savoy, which is geographically not part of the Savoy region, but to the plain of Doren. On the whole, it is easy to attack and difficult to defend, but because it is surrounded by plains, many peasants live there, which is a large source of tax for Savoy.

The Marquis of Doren, on the other hand, is a country located in the west of Savoy, with an area about twice the size of Savoy, occupying a relatively vast plain, and is powerful, but it does not have a strong marquis as a ruler, and it is relatively divided internally.

Within this country, all the power is firmly controlled by three big families, and the marquis is also born from these three families in turn.

"Good advice." Matthew commented, "So, who can send a mission?" ”

Adams took the initiative to ask: "You can leave this matter to me, and I promise to give you a satisfactory answer." ”

"Very well, I'll leave this matter to you."

After sending Adams off, Matthew sat down in his chair and thought quietly, then took out a quill and wrote a few words on a small piece of parchment.

He whistled, and a small pigeon flew in. It was a carrier pigeon, but it had the appearance of a mountain pigeon, and it was a gift from Adams.

He tied the small piece of parchment with the writing on it to the pigeon's leg and released it.

Soon, the little pigeon flew to 23 Fengyu Street, where the Earl's Court was located.

The Countess came out of the mansion and, when she saw the pigeon, waved her hand, and the dove landed on her shoulder.

She took the letter off the pigeon's leg and released the pigeon.

The content of the letter is: increase the measurement.

After reading the contents of the letter, she wiped the ruby necklace around her neck, and the magic array on the necklace was instantly activated, spitting out a ray of flame, engulfing the letter.

She returned to the house, where she and her husband, the room where she and the old Count usually slept.

The old earl was lying on the bed, his face had completely lost the sharpness of the day, and he was closing his eyes and recuperating.

At this moment a maid came to the door with a cup, and the countess waved her hand and signaled that she would bring him the medicine with her own hands.

When the maid's back had disappeared, the Countess lifted the lid and took the silver needle from the other servant. The silver needle reached into the decoction in the cup, stirred it lightly twice, and the result was shown to be non-toxic.

The servant took the silver needle and stood at the door. The Countess turned her back to the servant, and gently shook her delicate fingers above the rim of the glass.

As the fingers shook to the ground, some black powder fell from the nails of the index and middle fingers and melted into the decoction.

The Countess took the cup, gently lifted the old Earl, and said, "My husband, get up quickly, it's time to take medicine." ”

She looked at her husband gently, courteously and loyally, lovely and beautiful. The old earl opened his eyes, looked at his beautiful wife, and could not help kissing her gently, then took the cup and drank it all.

Seeing the old Count fall asleep again, the Countess smiled with satisfaction.