Francis II, the ruler of the Kingdom of Ansu and the longest-reigning king since the establishment of the Second Dynasty, stood on the high terrace of the Silver Castle, looking down on this ancient city that had been ruled by the Moen royal family for seven hundred years. It even merged with the whole city, the whole kingdom.

After a long pause of standing and staring, a soft sound of footsteps came from behind, and the old king's hearing was still keen, and he turned to look at the man who was already standing behind him.

It was a middle-aged man in a long black coat with gold trim, short pale blonde curls, and an ordinary appearance that was not outstanding, and he stood in front of Francis II, his eyes deferential and gentle, with a hint of awe.

"Wales, have you seen Aiden?" Francis II looked at the middle-aged man in front of him with an indifferent expression, although the other party was his eldest son, his tone was indifferent and calm, as if he was talking to his most ordinary followers.

Wales Moen, that's the name of the middle-aged man, he was the first son of Francis II, and before Prince Edmund appeared, he was also the only legitimate heir of the kingdom, but in the entire Ansu top stage, the former heir was even more active than Veronica Moen, who entered the church and left the Ansu rule too early.

The "Aiden" mentioned by Francis II was the king's royal prime minister, Aiden Alfred.

"Yes, Father," said the middle-aged Prince of Wales, bowing his head slightly, in a calm tone, "the Prime Minister and I have explained some of the dos and don'ts of living at Silver Castle. ”

"Very well," said Francis II lightly, "after Edmund and I leave, Silver Castle still needs a Morn heir to take charge, and Veronica has converted to the Lord of Light, so this position can only be left to you." Do you understand? ”

Wales was silent for a moment and whispered, "I understand. ”

"Don't worry, you just need to stay in Silver Castle, there's nothing you need to do," Francis II shook his head imperceptibly as he looked at his mediocre son, "The Dukes of the North and the West will take care of everything." ”

Welsh Moen bowed his head deeply: "...... Be. ”

The door connecting the terrace to the castle was pushed open, and Edmund Moen, who had changed into a light knight's outfit, stepped onto the terrace, and the young heir to the kingdom came to Francis II and bent slightly: "Father, it's ready." ”

The old king gave Wales one last look, then turned his head and walked to the door of the terrace: "Let's go." ”

Francis II and Edmund left the terrace, and they descended the stairs through the long corridors of the castle, where they were greeted by two men dressed in fine clothes as they passed through the antechamber.

One is the Duke of the West, Bodwin Franklin, who is wearing a dark blue duke, with an elegant temperament and a bit of bookishness, and the other is Victoria Wilder, the Duchess of the North, who is wearing a white dress and a silver fox shawl.

The two nobles, who were nominally second only to the king in the kingdom, came before Francy II and bowed slightly, and Bodwin Franklin was the first to speak: "I wish you all the best on your journey." ”

"I will work for peace," said Francis II solemnly, and then his gaze fell on the Archduchess, who was as cold and detached as ice and snow, and he looked at her for two seconds before he continued meaningfully, "May Ansu be at peace for a long time." ”

Victoria Wilde nodded slightly: "Ansu will be at peace for a long time." ”

Then they passed by.

When the royal convoy with the Moen royal insignia and escorted by a large number of cavalry and battle mages left Silver Castle, Wales was still standing on the terrace blown by the cold wind, and he quietly looked down at the gorgeous motorcade that was driving past the square in front of the castle, and there was a slight loneliness on his face.

A strange cold wind blew behind him, and the former heir shivered slightly, then turned around, and looked inadvertently at Duchess Victoria Wilde standing in front of him.

It's so cold, this woman who is as cold as the mountains in the north, Wales inhales the cold breath that suddenly floats in the air, but what comes to mind is the scene when he first met Victoria Wilder as a girl twenty years ago, when he was still standing on this high terrace, and Victoria, who was wearing a white princess dress, suddenly ran up, pointed to his nose and said: "You're a prince, right—I'm the future Duchess of Wild!" I'll watch you! ”

A magical condensed snowflake floated on Wales Moen's face, and the middle-aged prince immediately woke up, and he nodded to the Duchess of the North in front of him: "Duke Victoria, I'm going to trouble you this time." ”

Victoria nodded expressionlessly: "You don't have to worry about the affairs of the kingdom, Duke Bodwin and I will take care of everything for you, you just need to live in peace in Silver Castle - don't worry, I will watch you." ”

The last sentence overlapped abruptly with his memory, and Wales Moen's face twitched slightly, but he lowered his head as usual, and said in an unchanged tone, "Okay." ”

Victoria Wilde frowned slightly at the prince in front of her, and then said nothing, a sudden snowflake enveloped her figure, and with the whirling cold wind and snow, her figure had disappeared into the castle terrace.

In the middle of this month of recovery, a piece of news spread throughout Ansu like a warm wind that had suddenly turned around this season—at least, among the nobles who were well-informed and had their own intelligence channels, the news spread as quickly as the wind.

King Ansu, Francis II, and Prince Edmund left the Silver Castle with a delegation of envoys.

Of course, "spreading like the wind" is only relative to the speed of transmission of general news in this era, without the use of griffin messengers, without magic communication, the speed of getting news in remote areas still depends on the speed of the messenger to travel, the current Cecil territory obviously does not have the ability to establish an intelligence line from the extreme south to St. Sunil with griffon messengers and magic communication towers - this needs to cross countless large and small southern borders to separate nobles, cross rock fortresses, and cross the Holy Spirit Plains, where traditional nobles are strong, The high cost is only one aspect, and the intricate power structure is even more of a headache - so when Gawain received the news, it was already ten days later.

This was the result of the rapid acceleration of Cecil's merchant group nodes and MIA operatives along the way, and he had already received information faster than most nobles in the South - even faster than Viscount Andrew in Tanzanian.

After receiving the information, he immediately summoned Hetty, who was in charge of internal affairs, Amber, who was in charge of intelligence, and Byron, Philip, and Soldlin, who were in charge of military affairs, and called them all to the assembly room of the Lord's Palace.

"The royal envoys set out in a convoy, in order to get in touch with Typhon's side, they won't be too fast, they should have just left the Holy Spirit Plain at this time, and they haven't entered the eastern realm yet," Gao Wenyang held a secret letter in his hand—this secret letter was sent by a military intelligence agent in the Holy Spirit Plain, sent all the way through the trade route, and finally passed to him by Amber, "If all goes well, formal contacts and negotiations will begin at the end of the month of recovery, or the beginning of the month of fire, according to intelligence, Ansu and Typhon jointly built a 'Treaty Fort' on the border to conduct this negotiation. ”

Byron looked at the information in Gawain's hand, and muttered a little unexpectedly: "Our intelligence line has been laid to St. Sunil?" ”

"Not last year, but since the beginning of this year our Apothecary has entered the Plains of the Holy Spirit—thanks to the efforts of Mr. Patrick and the assistance of Lady Pény Gülen," Gawain nodded, and then continued, "Edmund Morn, who is with Francis II, is now staying in the Silver Castle. ”

"The eldest son of the king?" Hetty was immediately stunned for a moment, feeling a little strange, "It is said that he has mediocre qualifications, is not good at politics, and has been away from the affairs of the kingdom for many years, and is only a prince who does not have much real power at present...... Why did the king let him stay in the capital instead of Prince Edmund? ”

"I'm afraid Francis II doesn't feel comfortable letting his overly gifted heir out of his sight—especially when he's away from the capital," Gawain shook his head with a smile, "I've met that Prince Edmund, and he's a young man with a lot of insight, but too much of an opinion. As for Wales who remained at Silver Castle...... It didn't matter if he could manage the country well, because Victoria Wilder, Duke of the North, and Berdwin Franklin, Duke of the West, had arrived at Silver Castle ahead of schedule, and with the King's former Prime Minister Aiden as the backbone of the royal faction, Silver Castle was still stable. ”

“…… Then Wales is really a poor prince," Soldlin shrugged, the high-ranking ranger who had witnessed Ansu's 700-year history did not seem to have much interest in the current "bastard royal family", let alone much respect, "He is just a symbol in the castle." ”

"It doesn't matter to Francis II, the entire Second Dynasty was founded under the auspices of the Duke of the North, and the Wilder family is not in Silver Castle, and the surname Moen is just a symbol - in this case, the easier control of Wales will save him a lot of trouble," Gawain waved his hand indifferently, "It doesn't matter to us. ”

Amber was a little strange: "Then why did you call us here?" ”

Gawain didn't pay attention to the half-elf lady beside him, but looked at Byron: "How is the spring expansion of the combat corps and the deployment of new weapons progressing?" ”

As soon as this question was raised, everyone at the scene was stunned.

They sniffed a glimmer of unsettling information from Gawain's attitude.