The pillars of the terrace are surrounded by spirals, and at intervals of about twenty centimeters, there is a concave ring that closes - these stone columns are divided into sections by the ring, each of which is undulating and curved, and looks like the graceful waist of a woman.

Samantha's left hand rests lightly on the pillar.

Her long, thick eyelashes drooped slightly, and when she looked back from the orange light of the tower in the distance, she saw only a dark shadow in front of her—the dim moon could not illuminate the blurred view of the garden, and the flowers, trees, and rockeries and other dots almost blended in with the endless night in this dim light.

She was stunned for a long time.

The night is deeper and the wind is colder.

The turquoise eyes are losing focus.

Her Royal Highness found that she seemed to have fallen into an abnormal state recently—

In the past, she was like a lively canary in the royal capital of Elva, but when she came to Tarun with this team, she often felt a wave of loss and confusion in her heart.

Fred Wolfe, she couldn't help but think of her knight again—

As a woman's sensitive heart, she believed in the man's sincere and strong emotions, but when she thought of the situation she was about to face, she felt a little guilty.

According to His Majesty's father's confession, she is undoubtedly using this man and his family, and the price is the years of her life - in Samantha Edwin's past memories and emotions, the so-called feelings should be pure heart attraction, but when it comes to the end, everything is not as she once imagined.

The situation in the Northland.

The situation in Nogo.

Of the three Northland realms of Nogo, Lazis, and Ahi, Nogo, the most populous and wealthy, is considered the most important, and in addition to these basic facts, this vast territory also connects the western borders of the kingdom.

A thousand years ago, when the newly founded Elantra Kingdom expanded its territory to the front line of Nogo, it canonized three earls with real power as the main border nobles of Nogo. In the wind and rain that followed, this line of defense remained impregnable, and the nobles of these frontiers and their descendants took on the responsibility on their shoulders well.

This situation was completely broken during the reign of Edwin VII, who was ambitious and enterprising, and successfully expelled the barbarians from the Turandot Heights around the time of the Alfalfa Age, and successfully incorporated part of the Turandot Heights into the kingdom's territory.

This is what is now the western frontier of the kingdom.

It's just that in this way, the three collars of the north have become the hinterland, and the former border nobles have lost their meaning of existence. Although the royal family has some thoughts, these local nobles have deep roots for hundreds of years, and it can be said that there has always been a delicate balance of power between the royal family and the local lords.

Someone tried to break it, but they all failed, and they were bled in the face of the heavy reality.

The two sides seem to have returned to the situation of harmony between the top and bottom and the harmony between the monarch and the minister at the beginning of the establishment of the Elantra state.

However, since the current Edwin IX ascended the throne, the small actions against the Northland Nogo have gradually revived little by little, and the movements from the royal capital Elva have almost never stopped in Nogo. After the end of the "Fog Pine War", such small actions became even more frequent.

For example, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the independent tax system specially established for the nobles on the border was pried open by this majesty - because of the "fog pine war", he found a good reason:

The nobles of the Northland no longer bear the responsibility of guarding the border, and the war is not just a matter for the royal family, and the war tax caused by this is finally passed by the compromise of all the nobles of the border in the quarrel between the two sides, but in this way, the existing estrangement between the two sides has deepened.

And in the last two years, His Majesty has made demands on these lords for a commercial tax and a royal tax.

Not surprisingly, his request was rejected by the nobles of the border area.

But the talons of the Elantra eagle were hungry and thirsty.

The huge war reparations caused the kingdom's treasury to dry up as quickly as if it were bursting its banks, and His Majesty on the throne became more and more eager to collect money.

Of course, neither the royal family nor the local aristocracy are fools, and too drastic and blind measures can easily trigger a backlash from the other party.

Unable to further expand the tax revenue from the Northlands, Edwin IX, who was known for his resourcefulness, finally came up with another brilliant idea.

Co-opting, uniting, dividing, coercing or attacking...... Divide and conquer is a very good strategy.

You have to pick a suitable target first.

……

Unconsciously, the drifting dark clouds obscured the dusk Hook Moon.

The third princess of the royal family, Her Royal Highness Samantha stood on the terrace blowing the cold night breeze, the cold chill swept through her slender swan-like neck, she tightened the snow-white deerskin velvet jacket on her body, and after some thought, her expression became even more lonely.

In these layouts and schemes, she is just a tool, but this tool has its own thinking. The sense of mission as a member of the royal family has formed a great contradiction with her original heart, which is also the source of her entanglement and pain.

It's like a huge whirlpool that can't break free.

She is well aware of the current predicament of the royal family.

So, she vaguely mentioned something to Fred, and the trip to Karthas was one of the explanations given by His Father's Majesty.

There is no room for error!

She took a deep breath and tried to calm her mind.

When the long messy hair was swept across her fair cheeks by the cold wind, Her Royal Highness Princess Samantha, the "white rose" of the royal family, stroked the ends of her hair and regained her usual calm and calm appearance.

The bell tower in the fortress of Tarun struck eleven o'clock in the evening, and she gathered her emotions and strolled away from the terrace towards her room.

On the terrace, there is a row of potted agaves. In this cold weather of early winter, those broadsword-like leaves are full of bright green, although the edges of the leaves are a little yellow, but the straight veins still show vigorous vitality.

There are some things that have nothing to do with right or wrong, no love or hatred, and there is no escape after all.

Because, she knows very well, this is her fate.

The whole city of Tarun fell into a deep sleep in the silence of the night, and Princess Samantha in the bedroom lay down on the soft bed, she quietly closed her eyes, however, tears slipped through the corners of her eyes.

……

"Count the time, and Her Royal Highness the princess should also arrive in Talen."

"Locke, are you worried?"

"Definitely. My instincts tell me that those mercenaries are not to be trusted. ”

One of the three powerful Earls of the Northlands, Lord of Ensada, Locke Lambert said breathlessly as he pulled over a figure that looked like a woman. There was no light in the room, it was pitch black, and he and the figure almost merged.

"Maybe I have a better plan."

"Tell me about it, my little darling."

PS: Supplement.