"Can you say that again?" asked Sven, tilting his head slightly, his face unchanged.

"Oh, come on, young man, don't play stupid!" Prime Minister Pitt laughed loudly, fortunately, under the cover of the music, his laughter was not very noticeable, "I am not incomprehensible, a young man of your age, once this kind of thing is mentioned, it is inevitable that he will still be a little shy." It's one thing, though, to be shy, and I hope you'll think about it, after all, that's His Majesty's intention—"

"Your Majesty's intentions?" Sven couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, "So does that mean that neither Your Majesty nor you seem to have mentioned this matter to Her Royal Highness the Princess herself." ”

Prime Minister Pitt was a little embarrassed, and it was true that Alexander had not considered Katarina's idea at all. "Your Majesty is the father of Her Royal Highness the Princess after all, and I think he should be fully qualified to represent Her Royal Highness's opinion. Prime Minister Pitt pondered the words and explained as best he could, "Moreover, the marriage of the royal family is inherently very involved, you should understand this, Count Jericho." ”

"Yes, I can understand. Swain nodded, not dwelling too much on this point.

"What about your reply, then?" asked Prime Minister Pete, "of course, you may also think about it, and we need not be in a hurry at this point, and if you wish to ask Her Highness Katerina, you can also go and see her." Now and in the future. ”

Swain remembered what he had said to Caterina before, "There shouldn't be a chance to meet in the future", and he didn't expect that someone would come to give him a chance to break his promise so soon.

"Thank you for your kindness. Swain raised his glass and greeted Prime Minister Pete, "Speaking of which, I have a gift for Her Royal Highness Katarina, I wonder if you will be able to pass it on on your behalf then?"

"Don't be shy, young man, you can leave it to her yourself, what's so embarrassing?" Prime Minister Pitt squinted, his smiling face as if to say, "You're very set, boy."

But there was no smile on Sven's face, not even the slightest hint of resignation. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't give it to Her Highness Caterina in person. ”

"Oh?" said Prime Minister Pitt in a deliberately long tone, "and why?"

"You should be ......" Swain drank the wine in his glass, his eyes still calmly looking at the old man, "Let's break up." ”

————————————————

In the Hall of Glory, the banquet continued, staggering, pushing cups and changing lamps, the nobles seemed to want to completely vent the troubles and gloom that had accumulated during this time, so they seemed to be extraordinarily indulgent, and only two hours after the dinner began, several drunks were already carried out of the banquet hall and sent to the guest rooms of the Tiamat Palace to rest.

Perhaps in preparation, Alexander opened many rooms in the Tiamat Palace for guests to rest, not only for those who are drunk, those who are tired of dancing on the dance floor, and some other guests.

As the first person to leave the ball, Alexander had already danced four dances and drank a lot of wine, and at his age, he could not avoid feeling a little drunk, so under the persuasion of Empress Anna, the new emperor also temporarily withdrew, came to the guest room to rest for a while, waited for a little recuperation, and then continued to appear in the second half of the night.

Alexander was napping on the bed in his guest room when there was a knock on the door.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Pitt is here. The Royal Guard at the door reported.

"Oh. Alexander rubbed his temples, he had drunk a little too much today, so that he was a little dizzy now, "Please let him in." ”

Prime Minister Pete, who was full of red face, walked into the room, saw Alexander's languishing appearance, and asked in surprise: "Your Majesty, are you drunk?"

"Well, my Prime Minister, don't laugh at me, I know you're a good drinker. Alexander grimaced, when he was a child, Pete had been teaching him to drink, "Is there something wrong with you coming to see me? If you ask me for a drink, forget it, if I drink again, Anna will not spare me tonight." ”

Prime Minister Pitt burst out laughing, although Alexander is now the emperor, but with the relationship between the two of them, these jokes are still harmless, of course, in a few years there will probably be no such opportunity.

He laughed for a while, until Alexander's face was a little unsightly, and the old prime minister restrained his smile and began to become serious. "Your Majesty, I spoke with Count Jericho just now. ”

"Jericho?" Alexander's mind was still occupied by alcohol, and he didn't react for a while, "What's wrong with him?"

Seeing Alexander's sluggish reaction, Prime Minister Pitt sighed and poured him a glass of water. "You forgot, it was you who asked me to test Count Jericho's tone," the old prime minister whispered, leaning into Alexander's ear, "about the marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Caterina." ”

Hearing this, Alexander remembered that he had indeed asked Prime Minister Pitt to do it. "So, how did he react, agree?"

Alexander's words were a bit of a big tongue, and it seemed that the alcohol made him not speak very neatly.

Prime Minister Pitt kept his face on his face and shook his head slowly. "I think between Count Jericho and Princess Celestia...... Uh, there should have been a little misunderstanding, young man, it's easy to be like this, what's more, the two of them belong to comparison, well......"

The old man thought about it for a long time before he came up with an adjective.

"Be reserved. ”

Alexander's face darkened, and although Prime Minister Pitt said it very tactfully, there was only one meaning in Alexander's ears: Swain refused.

"In that case, forget it. Alexander drained the water from the cup and put it heavily on the side of the table, "Since Jericho doesn't like my daughter, then I don't need to force it." ”

Prime Minister Pitt could tell that Alexander was angry not only because Swain had rejected the marriage, but also because he was annoyed that Swain dared to refuse the new emperor's proposal, which made the sensitive Alexander feel that his authority had been challenged.

"Your Majesty, that's not what Count Jericho meant. He hurriedly said good things to Swain, "Just now Count Jericho also said that he hopes I can help him transfer a gift to the eldest princess, I think, it should be that they young people have a conflict, there is no need to think about it so seriously, after all, it is a young man, and he is embarrassed to apologize, which is also a common thing." ”

Alexander's face didn't look much better, he glanced at Prime Minister Pitt, and suddenly mentioned another thing: "I remember that Wallace, who was the first to speak in the Imperial Diet and proposed what kind of marriage bill, was killed by Jerichault, right?"

Prime Minister Pitt sighed helplessly, he really wanted to help Swain say good things, but Alexander clenched on, and Swain had so many braids to grab, which made him really helpless.

"Yes, though, that Wallace seems to be from Beria's side, and he came up with that theory, and Count Jericho killed him, and it doesn't count, huh...... Excessive. ”

Alexander pursed his lips, and did not seem to give up on trouble with Swain because of Prime Minister Pitt's words. "But even so, it would be too lawless for him to kill the parliamentarians of the empire for no reason! At that time, Beria had not yet rebelled, and order was still there, not the chaos of the imperial capital later. ”

Prime Minister Pitt had no choice but to nod and echo Alexander, he knew that Alexander was right, but I am afraid that the greater reason why the new emperor did not like Swain was still in doubts, doubts about Swain's position. Such a wanton killing of the Imperial Councilor, even if it objectively helped Alexander, still made Alexander worry about whether this person would obey his orders, especially when he was so young and his surname was Jericho.

After a moment of silence, Alexander said again: "Wouldn't it be too hasty to give him the position of the head of the thirteenth section, can this person really be loyal to Gion and the empire like the late Maxsimian?"

Don't worry. Prime Minister Pitt hurriedly said, "Although Count Jericho has always acted perversely, he has unswervingly stood on the side of the Empire, whether in the rebellion in Pritown or in the civil war provoked by Beria, and the Jericho family has a long heritage and has been serving the Gion family and the Empire, and there is no doubt about his loyalty." ”

Alexander nodded, he knew that Prime Minister Pitt was right, Swain's loyalty to the Empire and the Giang family should be unquestionable. However, Alexander was not worried about Swain's loyalty to the empire and the Gion, but about his own loyalty.

However, this topic is not so suitable to be spoken.

"Maybe I'm worrying too much. Alexander sighed and took this one for the time being, "There really aren't many choices for the head of the thirteenth section now, the heir of the Hecate family is just a girl, and she is indeed inferior to Jericho in terms of age and qualifications, this time since she took the initiative to let it out, then it will be according to her wishes." However, Maxsimian died for the Empire, and I don't want the outside world to say that we are ungrateful. For the Hecate family, we should still be appeased. ”

"That's what you're saying. Prime Minister Pete nodded, "I think the biggest headache for the Hecate family now should be the heir of the family, after all, the last direct heir is a girl, and the situation of their family does not allow collateral inheritance, in this way, the next generation of the Hecate family's direct family will not be surnamed Hecate." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Whoever Miss Heckat is finally married, we may specifically allow one of her children to inherit the Hecatet surname, and to succeed him as the head of the Thirteenth Division in the future upon the departure of Earl Jericht, and perhaps a title to match it. If in the future Miss Hecate's husband also has a title, the privilege will remain in force, even if the child will inherit two titles. However, it is not allowed to pass on to the next generation. ”

"Very nice proposal. Alexander bowed, looking pleased with Prime Minister Pitt's idea, "Then let it be as you think." Let's talk about the next thing. ”

"What's next?" Prime Minister Pitt was stunned, could there be anything else?

Alexander stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the cold moonlight, and his eyes became a little cold. "Beria has been ambushed, but his heir is still there, Beria committed such a crime, dared to covet the throne, provoked a war, and openly sent troops into Deweide, causing a large number of casualties among the people of Deweide, how could he bypass him so easily!"

The more Prime Minister Pitt listened, the more panicked he became, Alexander was going to attack Beria's children!

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, although Beria did commit heinous crimes, none of them had anything to do with his children, and when Beria's troops attacked the Tiamat Palace, weren't his children also in the palace?

Alexander turned his head and stared coldly at Prime Minister Pete, the majesty in his eyes frightened the old prime minister's heart.

"You speak for them, and you want to shield them?"

Prime Minister Pitt swallowed, not knowing how to answer for a moment.