The city of Varosser is located directly west of the city of Fit, and between the city of Fit, separated by a large area of wetland wasteland, jungle and mountains, only a barren stone road with a strong wind and a large number of bandits connects the two cities.

Varosese City is a little smaller than Fite City, but because it is closer to the center of the Empire than Fite City, it is much more prosperous than its predecessor.

Before dawn in the morning, the city had become bustling, and many people with business got up early in the morning and began a busy day, and the city gate was opened a full two hours earlier than that of Fit, but even so, when the gate guards opened the city gate, there were already hundreds of passing merchants outside.

The southern part of the city is the most prosperous area in the whole city, where there are many shops, mansions, it is a gathering area of the rich in the city, but also a place where the commercial and entertainment industries gather, all kinds of taverns, high-end inns, brothels, casinos, and even slave exchanges, making it a gold cave for the rich and outlaws, and it is simply a city within a city that never sleeps.

At this time, in a luxury hotel in the southern district, in a top suite, Caterina was eating the breakfast brought by the guard, she looked out the window at the beginning of the dark, and listened to the noise under the window that had lasted all night, and could not help but sigh hatefully, and raised her hand to rub her temples.

Apparently, Katarina, who had not slept well all night tormented by the loud noise, was in a bad mood.

"Miss, the team is ready to go."

At that moment, there was a gentle knock on Caterina's door, and the voice of one of her most trusted men, Orlac, rang out outside the door.

Hearing this, Caterina replied a little tiredly: "Understood, we'll set off when I'm freshened up." ”

"Yes."

Orac finished and left.

Caterina put down the knife and fork in her hand, and only ate a small half of the veal steak on the plate, and raised her head to drink the juice next to her in a few sips, she felt a little tired and disgusting in her stomach, and she really couldn't figure out why people here ate steak early in the morning, wouldn't they feel tired.

The window was slightly opened, and the cool breeze with the fresh smell of the earth suddenly poured in, washing away most of the veal flavor. Caterina greedily took a few breaths of this fresh air, stretched out her arms, and raised her arms, exposing her perfect body curves at a glance, and the thin white gauze nightdress could not hide her graceful figure at all.

After standing still for a moment, Caterina began to change her clothes and organize her belongings.

She carried not much with her, except a money bag full of gold coins, a water bag, two slightly curved daggers in the shape of dragon wings, and a miniature portrait that had been rubbed into a blur.

After putting on the red and black close-fitting light armor that her father had spent a lot of money on for herself, and packing the dagger, money bag, and hydration bag separately, Caterina picked up the blurred portrait the size of the photo and sighed slightly.

It's been a month since she sneaked out of the house with her personal guards, and to be honest, she still regrets it a little.

Not to mention that because she secretly left home, her grandfather, father, and the whole family were worried, and a large number of people were sent to find her, and even Grandpa Erwin, who was vicious in his mouth but actually very soft-hearted, also scattered some of his manpower, which greatly affected the search for his grandson.

Just said that he just relied on this vague portrait to find the people he hadn't seen for more than ten years in the vast sea of people, how could he be successful?

The portrait in her hand is still copied from the oil painting in her grandfather's bedroom, on which is painted a little boy with black hair and black eyes, fair skin, like a porcelain doll, is smiling happily, and next to the little boy, there is also a little girl with short burgundy ear-length hair, dressed very brightly, but not very delicate.

The little girl's skin was a little dark, and her little face was a little thin, although she was also smiling, she couldn't show the cuteness of the boy around her at all, only showing the missing two front teeth, ugly, like an ugly duckling.

That's exactly what Caterina was when she was a child.

Habitually gently caressing the dragon-wing dagger at her waist with one hand, and holding the portrait steadily with the other, Katerina's spirit was a little trance-like.

The marriage contract between her and that person was set by the grandfathers of the two families when she was so old, and when she thought of the one who had rolled in a mud pit with her, ran out to steal the farmer's fruit and was caught, and even cried after being snatched of candy by her naughty self, the little guy who was so sad that he pulled his pants directly, and he was going to become his husband in the future, an indescribable feeling would appear in her heart.

Although Katerina herself couldn't tell what that feeling meant, she knew that that feeling had absolutely nothing to do with joy.

Although looking at the entire empire, as long as it is in the aristocratic class, almost all the marriages of girls are planned and finalized by their parents and elders, this is the rule of the aristocratic class, as the daughters of the aristocracy, they have the responsibility and obligation to use their marriage to strive for the greatest interests of their families, which is also the only contribution that these daughters of the aristocracy can make to the family.

But Caterina is a self-reliant girl and a stubborn girl who wants to pursue a love that truly belongs to her, but she is not willing to be controlled by her grandfather at this point.

It's just that she has never had the opportunity to tell her grandfather what she wants, which even makes her grandfather think that she is actually very willing to marry that person.

She didn't refuse when she was a child, maybe because the little boy was the only person who didn't think she was ugly and was willing to play with her except for the children of her own family, or maybe because she didn't know what marriage meant at that time.

And as she grows up and is sensible, her original ugly duckling-like appearance has become earth-shattering, and she has become more and more beautiful, and she has even been crowned the first beauty in Cassimuro City.

I don't know when it began, a large number of young masters and sons gathered around her, clamoring around her every day, in vain to please her, as soon as she walked out of the house, there would be countless annoying guys rushing to hear the news, making her extremely bored for a long time.

In the end, Caterina had to announce to them that she had been betrothed to the grandson of the Duke of Erwin, the prime minister of the dynasty.

It is precisely because of the fear of the power of Duke Erwin that those noble sons and sons gradually became fewer, until they disappeared.

They dare to pester the daughter of the Imperial Marshal's family because it is not illegal to pursue the woman they love, and even the Marshal will not treat them badly, and may even be proud and happy that his granddaughter is popular.

But once they knew that Caterina had a marriage contract, the nature was different, although they were usually domineering, they were not stupid enough to dare to snatch a woman from the hands of Duke Erwin's grandson!

In this way, Caterina finally got the peace she wanted, but in order to maintain this peaceful life, she was also happy to use the marriage contract with that person as a shield, and naturally she would not propose to her grandfather to dissolve the marriage contract at that time, lest those annoying guys resurgate and make herself uneasy.

In such days, until two years ago, when she had completely matured, she really mustered up the courage to propose the idea of dissolving the marriage to her grandfather, but overheard the conversation between her grandfather and Grandpa Erwin, who happened to be passing by Cassimuro City and came here as a guest.

The two old men, who each held half of the power in the Verthian Empire, were planning a very 'grandiose' plan, the content of which involved two countries, hundreds of millions of lives, and an endless war.

Until now, whenever Caterina remembered the content of that conversation, she was still covered in dark clouds, and her hands trembled.

But it was from that conversation that Caterina finally knew what her grandfather had been fighting for all his life, her father, mother, and the whole family, what they had been planning and arranging for many years.

At the same time, she finally understood how important it was to enlist the help of Lord Erwin by the most reliable means.

It is precisely because of this that Katarina's words of refusal have not been able to be said until now.

His grandfather doted on her very much, and from the moment she was born, he did not despise her at all because she was just a girl and could not inherit the huge family business of the entire Sifes family, but regarded her as the meat of his heart and the treasure in his hand!

When she was seven years old, there was a powerful nobleman who just scolded her, and her grandfather spent a huge amount of manpower and resources, using almost all the means at his disposal, and beat that guy from an extremely noble earl to a commoner!

Even, her grandfather directly angered His Majesty the Emperor because of this!

For such an old man who loves her almost more than anything, Caterina really can't bear to say a 'no' in this matter!

Because she knows very well that in her grandfather's plan, if there is no marriage between the two families and less herself, then the probability of success in that thing will definitely drop by more than half!

So now, she can't, and she doesn't dare to refuse, as the only daughter of the Sifever family, not only can she not disobey her grandfather's order, but she also has to do her best to find the whereabouts of the other party after the marriage partner disappears, in order to ensure his safety.

A series of thoughts quickly swirled through Caterina's mind, and after a while, she sighed and put the vague portrait in a small cowhide envelope and took it into her arms.

Ten minutes later, a procession of well-equipped and imposing knights set out from the western gate of the city of Varoser, and Caterina rode at the front of the procession. Sephaus, it's so similar