On the same day that Duke Tegman received Fonter's letter, Louis III of Snowren also received a letter from Father Watt from Fertagen. However, not long after he received Father Watt's first letter, Father Watt's second urgent letter arrived in the hands of the Duke of Louis in Cheval Blanc.

Duke Louis III was sixteen years old, a year younger than his cousin Arnold, his father, Duke Philip II, and Arnold's mother, Madame Althea, were siblings, Madame Orthea gave birth to Arnold seventeen years ago, and Philip II's wife gave birth to Louis the following year. However, unlike Arnold, Louis was not the first child of Philip II, before he was born, Duke Philip had a son and a daughter, Duke Philip and his eldest son Henry died mysteriously at the same time two years ago, and Gunther, Count of Rota, once supported Philip II's illegitimate son Sharp, but in the end, because the status of an illegitimate son was really incomparable with Louis, Count Rota gave up Sharp and surrendered to Louis. And Louie's sister is Miss Michelia, who is now Snowlon's leader, and Arnold's cousin.

The turmoil two years ago was almost the same as the Tamska succession riot nearly seventy years ago, except that Swayne II was able to inherit the duke's throne thanks to the support of the royal family's envoy Eren Northway, the first Duke of the Eastern Territories, and Louis was able to succeed to the throne two years ago thanks to the strong hand of his mother, Lady Veranica, who was born in the top gate of the imperial capital, and his teacher, Archbishop Snowlen, local Dittke.

The current Snowren Territory is basically in a trinity situation, Louis III as a duke, sitting in Cheval White, because he is still too young, so his teacher Archbishop Benedict governs, handling the internal affairs and military affairs of the territory, and is also responsible for all foreign affairs. And within the Tamska family, there is his mother Lady Villanica, although this lady is a woman, but the wrist is unusually tough, when she suddenly lost her husband and eldest son, she was not crushed by grief, but immediately supported her second son, and at the same time forced the vassals in the territory to be loyal to Louis, and sent Archbishop Benedict to the cold mountain territory, asking for the support of Duke Tagman, at that time the cold mountain territory and the Snowren territory were quite close, and Tagman naturally agreed to this request, Chen soldiers at the border of the Holy Helm Territory. Most of the vassals were intimidated by her aggressive tactics and soon expressed varying degrees of allegiance to Louis, and the Count of Rota, who supported Sharp, saw this situation and had to abandon his plans and surrender to Louis.

It can be said that the current Duke Louis was completely raised by Madame Villanica and Archbishop Benedict, but one of these two is his mother and the other is his teacher, and they are both Duke Louis's most trusted and close people, so the three of them are basically one and jointly govern the Snowlen Domain.

Although he initially relied on the support of his teacher and mother, after the succession to the throne, the Duke of Louis soon showed his outstanding talents, and the young Louis had a maturity beyond his years, and with the assistance of Archbishop Benedict, he managed the affairs in an orderly manner, and the city of White Horse became more and more prosperous. Of course, the best thing about him is that he has coordinated the relationship with his vassals, and even in order to stabilize those vassals, he even pardoned his illegitimate brother and Count Rota, who once opposed him, to avoid the division of the Snowlen Domain.

However, although Louis is widely regarded as very wise, he does not give his teacher Archbishop Benedict and his mother Lady Villanica a headache.

"If a tiger doesn't eat people, what will it eat?"

The Duke of Louis leaned on the railing of the tower, looking out at the moon in the night sky. The sixteen-year-old Duke Louis had long flowing and handsome hair, his hair color was very similar to Isabella's, both were almost dark orange brown hair, and his appearance was also very beautiful, not Arnold's morbid fairness, but real handsome—between the age of youth and youth, with some feminine soft curves on his face, and gradually showing the handsome lines of a youth.

"It's a terrible world, full of people like Tegman, who want to devour everything they see, no matter who they are. Even if it's their own son, these guys all go down, oh, this is a crowd of demons dancing! It's as if the whole world is occupied by demons. ”

Duke Louis said, but there was no compassion on his face, but a playful smile on the corner of his mouth, as if he was not disgusted with such a world at all.

"Aren't we all the same? I, my teacher, and my mother, we, we're all devout servants of God, but aren't we all now all in the midst of this terrible world, ready to suck our prey clean......?

Lady Villanica, who sat behind him, frowned, for a time since her husband's death, she had lived in a monastery around White Horse City, but later she had returned to the castle to help her son.

"Not really, Lord Duke. On the desk next to Mrs. Veranica's chair, a voice came from a magic crystal, "Please remember one thing. ”

"Oh?" Louis turned, with a playful smile still on his lips, "Do you want to preach?"

Remember, God exists, and His holiness is with us. But in this world, mortal eyes cannot see, nor are they worthy to see the holy. ”

"In other words, there are only a lot of devils, right?"

"We should worship God and let the Archangel Jerald and His saint remain in our hearts. You should study the teachings of the archangels with all your heart, but you must not be like the angels. ”

"Ha, hahahaha......" Louis couldn't help laughing, "what a teacher, such an ugly thing can be so high-sounding by you." ”

After laughing for a while, Louis gradually stopped laughing, and he touched the tears in the corners of his eyes to calm his breathing. "So, how are you talking to Leng Shanling? Let me see how you behave. ”

"Now there is no point in negotiating, as soon as the matter of the Vortagan Territory comes out, Duke Tigerman no longer needs to make false promises with us, the conflict between us is inevitable, and it is impossible to fight for any chance for your cousin at this time, at least not at the negotiating table. ”

"You're going to fight them?" asked Lady Villanica, who had not spoken, "to fight them in the Vortagan Territory?" ”

"Not really, ma'am, at least for now, we still have plenty of leverage. ”

"You mean Arnold and Northway?" Duke Louis raised an eyebrow, "this is indeed a good opportunity, I didn't expect Father Watt to meet my cousin in Vertagen." However, since Tegman is not going to negotiate with us, what is the use of these chips? Now that Northway's attention is drawn to the Askar Alliance, even if they are willing to help us, they still have to fight with Cold Mountain. ”

"In general, it is, we don't have a better choice. However, since the Arnold took the initiative to take refuge, it was not completely useless to us. ”

"For example?" asked Lady Villanica.

"Lord Arnold is still the legal heir of the Cold Mountain Domain, and his status as the eldest son of Duke Tagman will not change. Therefore, there will definitely be some people in the Leng Shan Territory who support and agree with him, although they may not give much help directly, but if we can control the situation, they should be happy to follow. ”

"But we have to control the situation, we can't count on them!" Duke Louis's words were sharp, and he did not save any face for the teacher.

"Rest assured, we are in control. ”

"Are you sure?" said Lady Villanica, who seemed a little uneasy, "when Arnold was defeated and fled, none of those people helped him. ”

"No, ma'am, their help doesn't have to be seen, as long as we know they are helping Arnold. ”

"What do you mean...... "Lady Villanica understood a little, "to force them to side with us through rumors?"

"Actually, maybe it's not that much trouble, because Duke Tagman is already volunteering to help us spread rumors. Some time ago he had placed the Earl of Frecken under house arrest on the grounds that he had let Arnold, who had fled from his territory to the Vortagan Territory. Although Leng Shanling is calm on the surface now, there are often turbulent undercurrents under the calm water, Duke Tegman is a martial artist after all, he may understand this, but with his character, he may not pay attention to it. ”

"It's really a good idea to use the vassals within the Cold Mountain Domain, to unite inside and outside, and to give Tegman an unexpected surprise when he sends out his troops. Duke Louis stroked his palm and smiled, and there was a hint of sarcasm in that smile, "Probably everyone can see the current unrest within the Cold Mountain Territory, but as long as people like Tegman don't care." Heh, even Arnold, who is in exile, can find a helper in the Cold Mountain Territory, and it seems that Tegman is not as popular as he thinks he is. ”

"It would be great if Master Arnold could help too. ”

"Yet!" said Duke Louis, whose tone suddenly changed sharply, "Teacher, would it be self-defeating for you not to shoot? Although Father Watt's letter to me had a very average assessment of Arnold, is it really that simple to escape from the double betrayal of my father and his retainers, and to find the people we have helped him?"

"Compared to the two, Master Arnold is indeed the better choice for us. After all, Tegman is a man-eating tiger, and having him in charge of the Cold Mountain Territory is too much of a threat to us, and if it is replaced by Arnold, it will be more or less better. What's more, this is also a good opportunity, taking advantage of this father-son dispute, Leng Shanling will definitely be weakened a lot, and the internal contradictions will be enough for them to have a headache, and we can also take this opportunity to seize Arnold's handle so that he can't be our enemy. ”

"And after calming down this dangerous neighbor, our target ......" Duke Louis sneered, his gaze looking west.

"Now that we have basically controlled the Fawt Domain, although the Sriven Territory is a little farther away, their internal problems are no less small than the Cold Mountain Territory, and they are almost all supported by the prestige of Count Sriven alone, if he suddenly falls, then the resistance to our westward advance will be much smaller. ”

"And there's the Forta Collar. Lady Villanica narrowed her eyes and clenched the cross on her chest tightly, "With the minerals there as a backing, we will have a greater chance of going west." ”

"Then, teacher, I'll leave the matter of Forta Genling to you. I don't think my cousin would want to fight with me in this county, but I helped him a lot. ”

"Rest assured, as long as we get things back to the table, it's going to work in our favor anyway. ”

"Then wait for the good news. Duke Louis laughed again, the smile on his lips like a demonic one.

Because hope is so close, despair deepens when the light is extinguished.