Palatine nodded thoughtfully. Ruben Soul, a diplomat from a military background, is currently the Foreign Minister of Canaan, and is the old senior of Corofa's military academy, and is also one of the few close friends of Colofa's high-level in Canaan.

Ruben Sirte was sent to the Fort of Atonement at the behest of the Marquis, and although she did not know what they were talking about, Palatina was able to sniff out the direction of the wind, which shows that the Canaanites were supportive of the new regime in the Far East, otherwise there was no need to risk angering the imperial authorities to engage in secret diplomacy.

This is not a secret, otherwise Glova would not have revealed it to her nonchalantly. The geopolitical relationship between the Varess states is generally like this: the empire is too large, too powerful, and too domineering in its diplomatic style, and it has long encroached on the interests of the surrounding princely states, which makes the first prince and the third prince very annoyed. In the era when the empire was strong, they could only obediently play the role of vassal states and vassals, but as the power of the empire gradually weakened, these princely states could not hold back their minions and began to be active.

The Marquis of Feizhen, separated from the Empire by a strait, was the first to openly challenge the Empire's supremacy in international affairs, and to the dismay of the Imperial authorities, they still had nothing to do with the island nation across the Strait......

The empire was a land power, and in order to control its huge territory, it had to maintain a huge army expenditure, which caused a huge financial deficit, and it really had no spare energy to fight the naval arms race with the Fei Zhen, who had already completed the initial industrialization.

There are those who take the lead in provoking the hegemony, not to mention the great Duchy of Baoshihua, which has continuous civil strife, the two major princely states of Canaan and Hailan are in a period of rising national strength, following in the footsteps of Fei Zhenren to promote the magic industrial revolution at home, and frequently carrying out tentative provocations against the imperial hegemony in international affairs, and contributing money and efforts to encourage all reactionary forces that can cause trouble to the imperial authorities. The Marquis of Hailan even openly declared at an international conference that "the empire's territory is too large and is about to crush itself, and it is better to divide it into ten to twenty medium-sized sovereign states, which is a relief to the imperial government and a great contribution to international peace."

Of course, the imperial authorities were to be harshly criticizing such ill-intentioned rhetoric, but it is undeniable that the monarchs of the surrounding countries agreed with these geopolitical assertions and were committed to turning them into reality. In this environment, the Canaanites were clearly happy to see the rebellion in the Far East intensify, and it would be unusual for Joshua's old fox not to try to secretly communicate with Rudolph's traitorous party.

The game at the national level does not prevent the ruling families from entering into marriage contracts, and the ancient aristocratic traditions are still alive and well in modern international political relations. As a young woman, Palatina had feared that the conflict between the Empire and Canaan would affect Corophas's relationship with her siblings, but now she had no such childish scruples and had learned to separate state affairs from personal relations.

At this time, the sound of the piano suddenly became high and solemn, and Glova did not need to look back to hear that a very noble and powerful person had come to the banquet. Sure enough, Palatina tugged at his sleeve and lowered her voice to remind: "Don't eat yet, pay attention to your appearance, the crown prince is here!" ”

"Frank, come and go, and make such a big show, pretending to be ......" Colossa complained and complained, but still tidied up his appearance under Palatina's glare, wiped the food residue from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, and turned to face the hall in the direction of the hall and stood tall and saluted.

Under the attention of everyone, two contrasting figures appeared in front of the banquet hall. The first to enter the door was a short and chubby old man with a smile on his face, with a figure like a pear, wearing a rather fashionable wig to cover the severely declining hairline on both sides of his forehead.

"Mr. Jacob Fogel is fatter than the last time we met, and I envy his good appetite." Grofa quipped in a low voice, and turned his gaze to the tall, thin man next to Jacob Fogel, who was waving to everyone, he looked to be in his early thirties, with a modest smile on his face, a modest but well-behaved demeanor, and the hooked nose and large chin characteristic of the Hansenberg family, even those who were new to the social scene would guess that this person was His Royal Highness Frank, the current Imperial Crown Prince.

"In fact, old man Fogel does not have a good appetite, and these days he is in a hurry to rescue his youngest son and ask someone to unblock his joints." Palatina casually broke the news.

"The little young master of the Fogel family...... That cabinet secretary named Anthony? Curious, Glova asked, "What did he do that even his father couldn't figure out, and he demanded someone?" ”

"If Anthony had stabbed Lou Zi in the Holy City, of course he could have done it with the power of the Fogel family, but unfortunately that kid had bad luck and was sent by the cabinet to collect tithes in the Far East, which resulted in a popular uprising, which later turned into a rebellion that swept the provinces, and Rudolph was able to seize power in the Far East, which should give Anthony, the fuse that triggered the revolution, a credit." Palatina's reserved smile could not hide her schadenfreude, and she was born in a royal family of martial artists, and she was more or less resistant to the upstart of the banker playing the capital game.

"Anthony Fogel trapped in the Fort of Atonement?" Glova had a strange face.

Palatina nodded lightly: "His whereabouts are unknown, his life and death are unknown, and his father and eldest brother have been in a hurry for the past two days." ”

"At such times, old man Fogel can still come here with a smile on his face, and the banker's dedication to social activities is really impressive."

Palatine laughed at his scoff. By this time, Mr. Fogel had already carried Frank to the center of the room, and introduced the most distinguished guest of the evening, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, in a proud tone.

After the applause to welcome the crown prince was over, Fogel went on to introduce the other dignitaries who were present at the charity dinner tonight.

The banker skillfully spat out a series of names, all of whom seemed to be the most prominent figures in the social scene of the Holy City. Grofa was puzzled when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask Palatine beside him: "Who is Baron Bazel, and where does John Raul come from?" I haven't been to the Holy City for over a year, and I feel like an outdated old farmer in the countryside, full of strangers. ”

Palatina glanced at him sympathetically and replied in a low voice: "The social scene in the Holy City changes almost every month, and it is normal for you to feel strange after you have been away from the social center for more than a year. Anyway, when she had nothing to do, she singled out the more important people in the guest and introduced them to Grofa about their origins and circles.