Strictly speaking, the Grand Duke is not a title but a position, and it corresponds to the right of second succession.

The royal family with strong bloodlines always falls into the dilemma of having difficult births. In order to maintain the purity of the royal bloodline, and to avoid the vast number of low-bloodline heirs competing for the throne, the king would rather have fewer children than never overdo it, and they usually wait until they have resonated with the 36 elemental positions before they start to have heirs.

With such a long time span, what if there is no heir to the throne?

The royal system arranged everything. For the sake of political stability, after the new king ascends the throne, he will designate his brothers and sisters as the second in line of succession and give him the title of Grand Duke of the Kingdom. Therefore, the king does not have to rush to have offspring, and his younger brother or sister is the heir to the throne.

When the eldest son inherits the throne, the second son takes over the position of the Grand Duke, and the original Grand Duke is made a court duke, and the right to inherit the throne is automatically extended to the third place. However, neither the title of Duke of the Court nor the sequence of succession to the third throne can be passed on to future generations.

Therefore, the Grand Duke is an alternative to inheritance, commonly known as a spare tire.

Williams is one such spare tire.

The king does not have the right to depose the Grand Duke of his own canonization, and unless the eldest son of the king inherits the throne, the previous Grand Duke will give the title of Grand Duke and the right of succession to the second son of the king.

The first king Ryan once wanted Edward to be the first heir, which was against the system of succession to the throne. But rules serve politics, and if the king is the Golden Knight, his authority is unshakable. However, Ryan's proposal was strongly opposed by the two patriarchs of the family, who were not upset by Williams, mainly because Edward was too young to show his extraordinary knightly talent. Marquis Goron and Wizard Toferwen want to wait a little longer...... What if, Roland changes his mind again?

Williams didn't really care about that.

The direct descendants of the Augustian family, who have a wide range of interests and value family affection over power, not everyone wants to be king. The elder brother Ryan is a golden knight with a long lifespan, and the king's eldest daughter, Roland, is extremely talented, and Williams can't bear the crown no matter how he looks at it.

Williams is happy to be idle, and he takes his wife and children on weekdays, cruising around, and lives a very comfortable life. If it weren't for the Marquis of Gorlon's strong efforts to stop him, Williams would be willing to publicly express his support for his brother Edward as the first heir. However, a sudden change pushed him to the forefront.

Ryan was killed, and the main army of Gambis was pinned down by the Duoduo. Roland led the Knights of Glory into the Rand Empire, and defeated the unicorn knights in successive battles, but she went deep alone, looting and slaughtering two small towns, causing the displeasure of the church.

The situation in the Kingdom of Gambis suddenly became precarious. Williams did not have time to grieve, he had to take on the duties of the Grand Duke of Gambis.

Williams found out that Neovester had not personally intervened to stop the Knights of Glory, and he speculated that this might be due to Sylvia's unclear intentions and the fact that the Yorks had not been linked to Neovest beforehand.

He made a quick decision, first retreated the army of the lords gathered in Waterdeep City to the central town of the kingdom, and then entered Fangs City alone, and after reaching an agreement with the York family, Sylvia led the Fangs to take Roland's Knights of Glory out. Immediately afterwards, the Kingdom of Dodor, the Kingdom of Neville, the Kingdom of El and the Church intervened, and finally the three counts who betrayed the imperial family were executed by order of Neovest, and the three eastern provinces and York were merged into the Rand Empire. The Sylvia tribe moved to the Centaur Hills. The crisis in Gambis eased, but dark clouds still hung over the heads of the Auguste family.

Williams performed remarkably well in his first appearance, not only winning the respect of the Grand Lord, but also clarifying his own path.

In the process of dealing with the crisis, Williams clearly felt the ill will of all parties towards Gambis. He was angry and anxious, but at the same time excited and scrappy, and a wave of power poured out from the depths of his heart.

For the Knights, stepping to the top is not the goal, let alone the end. Knights cannot be slaves of power, otherwise they will be assimilated by the elemental sea. For the children and grandchildren of the Augustian family, the same is true of power.

Kingship has never been a shackle to August's bloodline, but a pleasure brought by duty, a pleasure of struggle.

Ryan aspires to be a great king, and Roland wants to be a commander, a bard, a ranger, an adventurer, and a mercenary...... She has too many ideals. And Williams found fun and a way forward in the battle of wits and courage against various forces.

You want a weak August, but I want to make Auguste strong! This is the determination and pursuit of Archduke Williams.

Williams believes that if he works in this direction, he can also achieve the top.

If you want to realize your ideals, you must first gain power. Williams felt that he had done a good job, and he used the land of the Centaur Hills to enlist the support of the Knights of the Gods, suppress the ambitions of the Emperor Rand, and stabilize the political situation in Gambis. Use the prestige of resolving the crisis to win over local lords and royal nobles, compete with Catherine for control of the kingdom, and then use the angry queen to suppress the aggressive House of York.

Ant-Man invaded the Centaur Hills, and the York family lost the objective conditions to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. Under pressure, Williams and Catherine turned from fighting to cooperating, and he became the regent of Gambis.

The regent acts as the king, and if Edward wants to govern himself, he must at least become a silver-level knight before he is qualified to argue with the regent. By that time, Williams might have stepped into the gold realm. Of course, Williams wouldn't mind assisting his brother's son if Edward showed great political prowess.

However, the inflated mentality brought on by the House of York's Divine Knights has always been a destabilizing factor.

Williams, on the other hand, believes that as long as he can deal with it, there is nothing to worry about. The swaggering House of York can instead prompt the major lords to bow down to the kite.

The hills are rich in refined iron resources, and the York family is reluctant to sell refined iron ore to the outside world before completing the reserve of refined iron resources. Williams took this as an opportunity to secretly ask the major lords to raise prices to limit the flow of goods into the hills, forcing the York family to sell fine iron at a low price, and the kite castle was a strong backing for the lords.

This was in the interest of the lords, and the heads of the major families certainly followed Williams's instructions.

Drain every gold coin from the Yorks' pockets, guide the homeless hired laborers into the Centaur Hills, and build forts and infrastructure to keep the Yorks' supplies low. The underfed and starving Yorkist family, which is heavily dependent on the royal family economically and politically, can only obediently become the Gambis's shield against the ant colony.

Although there is a 20-year tax holiday in the hills, the think tank of Kite Castle believes that if this policy is implemented, the York family will not be able to turn around for 30 years.

In fact, it was a surprise that the York family was self-sufficient in just four years by herding pigs, promoting potatoes and cultivating potatoes. They also invented giant brick kilns, dug earth to make bricks, used bricks to raise canals, and built unprecedented water conservancy projects. They seized the opportunity to create a Buryat business domain, introduced spiny kidney beans, and the Wellington family immediately raised the white flag. The Church applauded the Yorkist family's water conservancy project by providing 1 million gold soles, and Williams's lockdown policy was declared bankrupt.

Sylvia also alluded to Williams' mastermind Austin's murder of Viscount Randall, causing Williams to fall into political passivity. Roland seized the opportunity and lightly broke the deadlock between the Grand Duke and the Queen and put Edward on the throne. The Marquis of Gronn also had to give up the idea of forcing Roland to succeed to the throne, because he and Williams were both to blame for this incident.

More than three years ago, the heir of the Peter family, Raymond, sent the "Throat Cutter" to assassinate the elven blood nobles, Williams wanted to take the opportunity to murder Victor, although the Marquis of Golon stopped the Night Stalker's assassination, but did not alert Sylvia, but chose to sit back and watch the change, and he also wished that Viscount Randall was killed by the "Throat Slitter".

Ostensibly, Williams was trying to claim the title of Marquis for Sauron Wimbledon, but in fact, he and Goron knew very well that it was just an excuse.

The self-sufficiency of the Centaur Hills and the failure of the economic blockade strategy were only minor setbacks for the Auguste family. If you think about it from a different perspective, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

After the end of the tax holiday, 20 million acres of the more than 100 million acres of arable land developed by the York family were owned by the royal family, and the more pigs, cattle, sheep and horses raised by the York family, the greater the income of the kite. As for strategic materials such as purple cane wine, jaber, and refined iron ore, the August family also accounts for 20%. The Centaur Hills can also absorb the surplus population of the Gambis.

On top of that, the Yorks had a fatal flaw.

The bloodline of the Divine Knight cannot be transmitted, and the strength of the York family can only be maintained for a hundred years at most. The family lacks centripetal force without noble blood, and the York family does not have a golden bloodline, which is not enough to occupy such a rich territory. Williams can foresee that after the fall of Sylvia, it will be difficult for the Duke of Embiter and his family to subdue the vassal family whose strength has skyrocketed, and no matter whether they adopt soft or strong measures, they will not be able to solve the internal contradictions of the family. Because they have the same bloodline, regardless of their primary and secondary ranks, the suzerain's family is no longer attractive to vassal lords.

At that time, with a slight push from the Auguste family, the York family will be beaten back to the prototype. That's why Sylvia is particularly fond of Sophia, and she hopes that Sophia's purple-eyed bloodline can keep a part of her inheritance.

Williams scoffed at this, what could Sophia do even if she was promoted to the Golden Knight? The Purple Eye Bloodline strengthens the paternal bloodline, which itself has limited potential.

The Eleano family is beautiful on the surface, but in essence it is the fertility tool of the six duke families. Queen Eleano dreamed of replacing the main bloodline, but the six Dukes of Seuss family did not allow it, otherwise why did Queen Cynthia delay in giving birth to an elven blood lover? Otherwise, why would her lover be assassinated? If the six dukes' families did not secretly intervene, Williams would never believe it.

The York family had a Golden Knight hundreds of years ago, but how many patrilineal bloodlines are there now?

Williams can not care about the purple-eyed bloodline, but he can't not care about the ancient bloodline of Wimbledon. The Night Owl detects that Victor is a popular shooter, and both Williams and Marquis Goron have murdered him, the difference is that Williams does not hesitate to take risks, while Marquis Goron is more stable.

No one expected that Victor, the new popular archer, would actually be friendly with the fire elemental, and he might be the second Sword Saint! On behalf of the Knights of Radiance and the Cardinal, Archbishop Lazarus warned the Ibis Castle: The Church does not want to see any force assassinate Viscount Randall.

The reason is simple, Victor has a very good relationship with Father Miller, and if he can really become a sword master, the church may be able to ask him to deal with the orc leaders of the northern wilderness in the future.

Whether or not Victor becomes the second Draven, his bloodline is no different from the golden bloodline. It can be said that Victor has made up for the biggest flaw of the York family. Just look at Sylvia's changing form to know how happy she is.

The Kite Castle Squire that Catherine had trained was now a core member of the York family. Williams's depression can be imagined.

Fortunately, the Roland siblings and Victor have been close since childhood, and Williams immediately changed his attitude and tried to make Victor the link between the Auguste family and the York family. In fact, the political landscape of Gambis has stabilized because of Victor.

The kingdom of Borui made it a condition for the formulation of the bloodthirsty potion to want Gambis to announce Sophia's death. Williams refused even if he thought about it. If Victor is granted the freedom to marry, it means that his legal connection with the Kite Castle is broken, which will definitely upset the existing balance and be extremely detrimental to the Auguste family.

As for the recipe for the bloodthirsty potion, Wizard Tofwen had already deduced it with the potion's samples. What qualifications does the Borui Kingdom have to propose to the Kite Castle?

Williams and the Marquis of Goron agreed that Sophia could not be deprived of her marquisate title, but that her transferred wealth should be confiscated.

However, things took another major turn.

On the eve of Williams greeting Sophia and the Barbarians, Queen Catherine reveals a surprising secret.

Victor is a test subject for the chief wizard of the Kite Castle, Toferwen, to recreate the bloodline of the Juggernaut, whose human bloodline has been locked by potions and can only reproduce after the age of 65, or a female knight who takes a specific potion helps him activate the human bloodline in advance. And Catherine herself was the knightess who took the potion of fertility.

When Williams heard this, he was surprised and delighted.

What is surprising is that Catherine's scheming is so deep, she still hides such a hole card! When she uses this hole card, the Grand Dukes will only lose and have no chance of turning the tables.

Catherine had a shallow foundation, Edward's succession to the throne was unjustifiable, and most people were not optimistic about Edward except for Roland and the Wellington family. If the Marquis of Gronn had given up on Roland and had switched to the Grand Duke, Catherine would have persuaded Sylvia to change her position and support Prince Edward to inherit the throne on Victor's terms, and she herself would be able to obtain a strong-blooded offspring for the Tyrells. This child not only elevates the political status of the Tyrells, but also ties to Victor. This was Sylvia's long-term support for Edward.

Happily, Victor will eventually return to the arms of the Augustian family by rearranging this secret. The York family has lost Victor, and it is a pipe dream to fight against the Auguste family.

Williams was pleasantly surprised, and immediately asked Wizard Tofferwen to verify the matter. The patriarch of the family revealed more details to him.

Little Victor manifests the Moon Elf bloodline, and his father wants to sell him to the Seuss royal family for a high price. But the northern counties have always been the territory of the Augustian family, and Minsk has produced a young elven nobleman, how can he hide the eyes and ears of the night owl. Just as Sylvia's identity as a god knight was revealed, the outer lords of the House of York were ready to move. Toferwen decided to train a Juggernaut to deal with the onslaught of the Divine Knights. If it succeeds, it's always the best. If that fails, send an elven nobleman to soothe the lonely god knight.

The elven blood nobles are the best companions of high-ranking female knights, and placing Victor next to Sylvia can affect at least the three silver female knights of the York family. However, it can't be sent explicitly, otherwise Sylvia will definitely kill Victor. Tofowen set his sights on Sophia. So, the old wizard and Ryan took advantage of Catherine and gave Victor to Sophia as her husband first.

When the experiment didn't work out as expected, Tofowen decided to implement a second plan, and Night Stalker agent Amy May followed his instructions and suggested that Sophia give Victor to Sylvia.

Things are going well, and the Night Stalker will use the Fertility Potion to activate the chess piece of Victor at the right time, allowing him to continue to influence the high-ranking female knights of the York family. Tofowen didn't expect that Victor's Moon Elf bloodline would awaken further.

Toffowen emphasized that Victor now has a lot of potential and is a pivotal role, and the family must change their strategy and try to win his favor. If necessary, cooperate with Sylvia to strip Sophia of her marquis title and return her to Victor's side. In this way, it can both deflect the pressure of the Radiant Knight's diplomacy against the barbarians, and also show goodwill to Sylvia. If one day, Victor returns to the Kite Castle, Sylvia and Sophia, as long as their relationship between husband and wife is still there, even if Sylvia learns the truth, she will not turn against the August family.

Williams admired the foresight of the patriarch of the family, and Catherine's scheming was nothing compared to Toferwen.

Now, Victor is in front of him, and all Williams has to do is plant a seed in his heart in advance!