When they left the capital of Kaman, Xiao Mu officially relinquished his duties as regent of Kaman, inherited the title of Duke of Kaman, and became the master of the Duchy of Kaman, as well as the feudal lord of hundreds of lower-ranking nobles in Kaman.

According to mainland practice, the succession of nobles of Duke Carman's rank, and the leaders of the nobility of various countries, should send people to congratulate them. However, this year, perhaps because Kaman was too remote, or maybe the situation on the mainland was too tense, it seemed that all the nobles had forgotten about it, and except for the Duchy of Tra and the Duchy of Mosat, which were friends with Kaman, no one came to the royal capital to congratulate him.

Of course, the poor Jingle Duke Mossat actually took the 200 tons of ore that the contract was to be handed over to Carman as a congratulatory gift, which made Xiao Mu a little crying and laughing.

However, in the past few days, Xiao Mu has not been busy with government affairs, he locked himself in the duke's bedroom in the castle, and did not take a step. The ministers felt that the duke was also mourning the death of the old duke, so no one dared to persuade the duke's councillor.

No, Xiao Mu is actually thinking about one thing.

Before the old duke died, he left a letter to Xiao Mu, Monica and Koster. In Xiao Mu's letter, the old duke left a plan related to Kaman's fate.

To talk about this strategy, we have to mention the marriage between the nobles of the mainland. In the continental tradition, the nobility, including the royal family, kings, dukes, and even the lower barons and knightly lords, all belong to the same hierarchy and are called nobles. In the hierarchy of nobility, they may have differences in status, some high and some low, but there is no difference in status.

And the nobles and commoners, that is, there is a gap in status. Therefore, according to the convention, a nobleman cannot marry a commoner, and a commoner cannot expect to marry a nobleman.

Of course, over the years, many lower-level nobles have gradually lost their ancestral property and land, and their lives have become no different from commoners, in this case, this rule naturally does not apply, and those nobles in the countryside generally do not consider this constraint anymore, the most typical is Kester, Feida was once a slave girl in San Jose, and Kster did not feel that there was any problem.

However, for a person of Xiao Mu's status, his marriage has to be carefully considered.

And the appearance of Lolita made the old duke consider a possibility.

Although Lolita is the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor of San Jose, the reason for the misfortune gives her the status of a princess recognized by the emperor, as the princess of the San Jose Empire, her identity is noble enough in the first place.

The identity gap does not exist, so the old duke takes into account the current status quo of the Principality of Kaman.

With the strong rise of the Desik Empire, the merchant alliance was regarded as an opposing rival by the Desik Empire, and while maintaining strong military pressure, it was also exerting its strength economically, and the merchants of the merchant alliance were being extracted heavier and heavier taxes.

The business alliance itself is not so united, and the position of the three southwestern countries is particularly awkward. Geographically speaking, the three southwestern kingdoms are far away from the Desik border, backed by the Sunset Mountains, and to the east is the remote southern border of the San Jose Empire.

Therefore, at the same time as the pressure of the Desik Empire came, the Shang Alliance involuntarily passed on the pressure to the three southwestern countries.

However, the size of the three kingdoms is relatively small within the business alliance, and it was able to report to the group to resist before, and the unity of the three countries made the business alliance dare not squeeze too much. However, the rebellion in the Duchy of Mosart turned the situation around the three countries in an instant.

In the long run, the three southwestern countries, which are not united and strong enough, will soon be reduced to a small country in the business alliance, and the wealth will be plundered by the rest of the countries led by Manning and become their capital to defend against Desik.

And this, naturally, is a situation that Duke Carman is unwilling to face. At the same time, if De Sick once attacked, with Kaman's ability, he would inevitably lose the protection of the Shang Alliance, and he would inevitably not be able to survive, so the old duke's eyes naturally turned to another powerful empire on the mainland, the San Jose Empire.

If it can get the help of the San Jose Empire, the Principality of Carman will find a second way other than the Merchant Alliance, and if the situation is eroded, the Principality of Carman can give up its membership as a member of the Merchant Alliance and associate with the San Jose Empire as an independent principality. San Jose's sheer size is also unlikely to annex the small country of Carman, which is located in the southwest.

And what opened the door of the Imperial Palace of San Jose was the marriage contract of Princess Lolita, and the marriage contract of the new Duke of Carman, Xiao Mu, or rather, the marriage between the Duchy of Carman and the royal family of the San Jose Empire.

Let Xiao Mu and Lolita marry, so that Duke Carman can marry a princess of San Jose, and tie the interests of the two countries together and become an alliance, which is definitely a very good choice for Carman.

For Xiao Mu, of course he is willing, although he doesn't know what Lolita means, but with the relationship between his sister Monica and Lolita, he is confident that Monica can handle Lolita. Then the question is whether Xiao Mu really wants to propose this marriage contract to Lolita, this marriage contract based on the cooperation between the two countries.

Of course, Xiao Mu knew that Lolita was not born as a princess of San Jose from the beginning, she was the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor of Benin, and by mistake, she had the status of a princess in order to curry favor with the former Prince Ferdinand of Desic. Later, maybe because of the guilt of the Emperor of Benin, or maybe because of Lolita's magical talent, in short, this princess identity finally came true.

But for Lolita, the princess status brought her mainly painful memories, so she preferred to stay in the Duchy of Carman and live with Monica rather than go back to face her princess status.

This kind of thing, the old duke's thoughts are completely considered from the perspective of the Duchy of Kaman, and he does not take into account Lolita's emotions. Xiao Mu was a little undecided, and he summoned the old but experienced affairs officer to tell him the old duke's will, wanting to hear his advice.

The clerk pondered for a long time, "Lord Duke, this kind of thing, from the perspective of the principality, has all the benefits and no harm, as the affairs officer of Kaman, of course I raise my hands in favor." But as a friend of the Duke, I also know that Princess Lolita is the Duke's favorite, and the Duke naturally doesn't want such a contract to affect the simple relationship between the two of you. ”

Xiao Mu stared at the affairs officer, "I said, so much, so what is your opinion?"

The officer's eyes showed a cunning gaze unique to the elderly, "The old duke is gone, but Lord Duke, you still have a sister, why don't you ask Princess Monica for advice." ”

Xiao Mu was deflated at once.

After a few more days, Xiao Mu's desire finally prevailed over reason, and he had to go to the Chestter Manor to write a letter.

The Cache Manor, at the foot of Sunset Mountain, is quite peaceful and tranquil. Every spring at this time, adventurers from all walks of life will follow the avenue in front of the manor and head towards the mountains. The mountains near the Koster Manor are quite fertile and are the first choice for adventurers in the Duchy of Kaman.

It's been some time since she came to the manor, and Princess Monica's mood has recovered a lot. During this period of time, the relationship between Nicker and Ferda has grown by leaps and bounds, Monica has a new interest, and every day when she is fine, she will stare at Ferda and Nicker, so that the two are not embarrassed, and later, Vester simply secretly took Ferda and Rica into the mountains to hunt, which made Monica cry out for boredom.

On this day, Koster, together with Feida and Rika, came back from the mountains with big and small prey. Today's harvest was quite fruitful, the carcasses of several hares and a mountain deer were tied to their horses, and Feida couldn't resist going back to feast.

As he approached the gate of the manor, Kerst found Princess Monica standing at the gate with a serious face, looking forward to it, as if waiting for her return. Lolita, who has always been hiding in the room to practice magic, is actually on the side.

"What's wrong?" Kerst chuckled in his heart, and quickly kicked the horse's belly, and ran forward, turning back and commanding, "Rika, you take the prey to the back kitchen, and Feida you come with me." ”

Monica's temperament really can't hide things, and I don't know how she did it when she was a regent before, or if this is the real her now.

Xiao Mu's letter, after Monica read it, her first reaction was to show it to Lolita, without taking into account Lolita's thoughts, fortunately, Lolita and Xiao Mu had indeed secretly been emotional, and Lolita, who read Xiao Mu's letter, was so ashamed that her face was flushed, and it took a long time before she asked Monica repeatedly and nodded gently.

Monica, who is excited, is really happy for them, one is her own brother, and the other is her good friend.

So, Princess Monica, who couldn't wait, pulled Lolita to find Cast, but she didn't expect Caster to take Feida into the mountains to hunt, so there was the scene of waiting on the side of the road just now.

Caster was stunned to watch Monica pass Xiao Mu's letter to everyone, Lolita was embarrassed to take it again with a crimson face, and after Feida read it, she was really happy for Lolita, but she was also a little uneasy: "Lolita, marry Xiao Mu as the princess of San Jose, can you really do it? We don't owe anything to the Emperor of Benin!"

Lolita smiled at Feida, and instead persuaded her in a comforting tone, "The identity of the princess is just a shell, and Xiao Mu really likes me." As for what the marriage can bring to Carman and San Jose, that's not something we can think about. ”

Monica "snapped" the table on the side, "Yes, my stupid brother, whether Lolita is a princess or not, he wants to marry, as for whether to cooperate or not, let's talk about it." No, no, such a happy thing, we're going to celebrate, Koster, your prey today!"

Caster just stupidly watched Monica finalize the matter in a hurry, and according to her, it was too early to pack up and leave for San Jose together.

Feida looked at Lolita with inquiring eyes, and saw that she was staring into the distance in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking. Feida, who retracted her gaze, turned around and saw Kester's helpless expression, and Princess Monica was shouting for Rika to hurry up and roast game, and she also smiled helplessly.

Early the next morning, two carriages slowly drove away from the Kerst Manor.