Marie Mancini was awakened by a strange cry.

The first thing that jumped to her mind was the siren, a human-faced bird that flew over the sea, and was her favorite bird when she was a child, a common bird near Fort Mancini on the island of Gayola. Later, because one of her cousins was constantly attacked by the bird for no apparent reason, the wizards of Gayola Island rounded up the bird, but for a few years, she could only see the bird in the potion raw material storage room or the specimen room, or on the hat of the mad wizard.

She sat up in amazement that she wasn't dead, or badly injured, cursed, or unconscious, and realized that it wasn't her room in the Bastille, no, to be exact, it was what she thought she had forgotten—it belonged to her, on the island of Gayola, in Fort Mancini...... And so on, she jumped out of bed, walked barefoot to the window, and the statue of Merlin, made of thin strips of lead and small pieces of colored glass, moved when she saw her approaching the window, giving way to a large piece of transparent vision, so that she could see outside.

Marie stiffened, and she remembered where this was, the room that belonged to her father, or more accurately, to the head of the Mancini family. As a daughter, she has only been here a few times, even if she has received the most affection from her father, but the impression left on her is so deep that she can recall every detail immediately.

There was a warm and fluffy touch under her feet, and without looking down, Marie remembered that her father had made a carpet out of griffin fur, and when the magic was cast, it would emit a soft heat on a winter day, and her toes curled up between the fur, and at the same time, the voices that had awakened her were fading away, and black shadows swept across the glass? Mancini's daughter looked up? Hordes of Nightmares are seen descending.

It's not surprising that a family like Mancini has nightmares, but in Marie's mind? The self-contained father and uncles never ride the nightmare directly? When traveling, you will only choose the carriage pulled by the Nightmare - there is also the reason why the wizards of Mancini no longer have the confidence to control the Nightmare - Nightmare is a monster with a violent temperament, strong magical powers, and a penchant for flesh (especially wizard flesh)? Just riding in a carriage, wizards can use puppets or hire someone else to act as a coachman? At the same time, the carriage is also a strong barrier? But riding directly...... If the nightmares sense the weakness or timidity of the rider, they will throw him off his horse, trample on his chest, and tear his throat open? Feast on it.

When one of the strongest and richest harnesses hovers down a grassy slope? Mary subconsciously grasped the bag and wand used to cast the spell, she didn't know when they appeared, but she could clearly sense that it was not her father, uncle, or cousin, but for some reason, another slight joy and anticipation rose in her heart? Prompting her to lean towards the window and lean her face against the cold glass.

Did she see it? Come......

It was her husband, Gaiola Highway Yi Dieudone Bourbon.

——————

Grand Duke Gayola jumping off a nightmare? The Nightmare was supposed to be taller than a normal horse, and this Nightmare was almost as tall as Louis at the shoulders? The wizard skilfully grabbed some rum-soaked fish from the cloth bag hanging from the saddle and stuffed it into the mount's fanged mouth? Nightmare chewing on satisfaction? Let the frightened retinue take it away.

Before Louis ruled Gayola, wizards preferred to feed nightmares with mortal flesh - puppets and soulless corpses that had died of exhaustion in order to intimidate their enemies and satisfy their ulterior desires, but Louis didn't like these tricks, and in fact nightmares didn't like mortal flesh and blood very much - they only liked wizards, and if there were no wizards, then those magical beasts or fish and fish of the deep sea would do - Once upon a time, when the islands were still full of monsters, they were able to feed themselves, but as the wilderness untouched by humans became less and less, and magic faded and left, they had fewer and fewer prey, and eventually had to rely on wizards for sustainment.

Louis also had a headache for their feed for a while, until a huge deep-sea fish was swept up in the island.

Nightmares eat fish, or rather, all magical flesh and blood they like, but they can't hunt in the depths, wizards can, and the deep sea has more magical remnants than on land, and there are more magical creatures. Louis had a thousand wizards hunting day and night in the lightless depths, giving the Bourbon family of Gayola an army of air cavalry that no other family in the inner world could resist.

It is said that the ambitious latecomer is still preparing to build a Chimera's army that gallops on land, but the Chimera has three times the appetite of griffons or nightmares, and is not very interested in fish and meat, so this is still an idea for the time being - but if Grand Duke Gayola can find a way, he can always find a way, and the inner world is about to usher in another catastrophe.

His enemies were full of hatred and jealousy of him, but on the island of Gayola, Grand Duke Gayola was as revered and loved as Merlin. He has the guts, resourcefulness, and strength to change the once hierarchical island where mortals are treated as livestock, vampires and werewolves are treated as animals, ordinary wizards are regarded as cornerstones, and the things that are feared by large families and councils are not taken into account.

The patriarch of the Mancini family had probably never had such a crazy speculation - it took less than twenty years for Louis to go from a mortal who knew little about the inner world to Gayola, or the uncrowned king of a third of the inner worlds, even if he had been a king. At that time, the wizards of Mancini still didn't think he could be anything to be feared - perhaps because he was dying at the time.

The Mancini family was in collusion with Bishop Mazarin, who really controlled France, and out of selfishness, they did not want to see a hard-tempered king sitting on the throne, and they concealed the fact that the king was able to heal from a fatal curse, and managed to put Louis's brother Philippe on the throne, which is now Philip VII.

They soon regretted that, although his brother Philippe was the new king, his brotherhood with the former king Louis XIV was not broken, and Louis Dueudonnay Bourbon was not overwhelmed by the loss of his earthly throne and the strange and ill-intentioned environment, and he quickly found his place—at first, people were not wary of him— Of course, it is also because a wizard like Louie who awakens very late and is catalyzed by foreign objects rarely shows powerful magic. Blood discrimination among wizards is much stronger than among mortals.

In the first few years, Louie seemed to prove this, he lacked a wizard, they meant that wizards born and raised in the inner world had an innate understanding and trust in magic, and his clumsy spell casting made people laugh...... However, the Mancini family gave him a parliamentary seat and a huge mansion, and in any case, he was the brother of the King of France, and Philip VII had to ensure that the Mancini family had an undoubted prominent position in his court and court, even for his own brother.

No one knows when Louis Dieudonnay Bourbon became the object of worship and submission of the young, sensitive, and enthusiastic wizards, who served Bourbon as if they were subjects serving the king, and the great and dangerous magic that this outsider revealed at the last moment became a weight that completely toppled the situation.

Philip VII, who was in Paris at the same time, and his brother waged a war against the Casteran at the same time, and all the members of the Mancini family and their vassals in Paris were sent to the Inquisition, and those who were in Gayola were either devoured by the fiery dragon that Louis incarnated incarnate, or killed or arrested by his sorcerers' attendants - but even if they were captured, they would eventually die—and the only thing they could be thankful for was that the use of sorcerers to build walls had been stopped since Louis came to power.

The only members of the Mancini family who are safe and sound are Marie Mancini, and her and Louie's children.

But it was not surprising, for Marie Mancini sat on the bed and thought that she was Louis's wife, his general and agent, and that she had never been confused or hesitant - from the moment Louis had stayed in the inner world for her, she had sworn to give him everything she had, and that she would give him back if he lost a crown.

She remembered it all.

Louis ruled for twenty years, as a just and strict ruler, and with the support of Philip VII, he not only succeeded in replacing the dominance of the Great Family and the Magical Council among ordinary wizards, but also challenged the inner world beyond Gayola, much to the embarrassment and dissatisfaction of some of the old conformists- Unlike the usual conservative approach of wizards, Louis has a more open and bold personality, he strives to get each wizard to go out, instead of being trapped in Gayola and falling into each other's hands, and the wizards who go out are welcomed and tolerated by Philip VII, the resources of the world, the magic of the inner world are like a stream of water, and the rules and laws that were once unknown but cannot be violated have become a dead letter in front of the two brothers.

Of course, not to mention the big families of the Inner World, even the Church of Rome was furious because of this, and they even threatened Philip VII with expulsion from the Church not long ago - but the sword of Louis, the Grand Duke of Gayola (although this title has not yet been recognized in the World of Tables) immediately pointed at Rome - the Church of Rome does control part of the power of the Inner World, and has dealings and transactions with wizards, but I don't know when the Grand Duke of Gayola secretly made a covenant with the Grand Inquisitors of the three Inquisitors- There are also a few Inquisitions that maintain a wait-and-see and neutral attitude...... Most troublesomely, unlike Philip VII and Archduke Gayola, the Church of Rome was reluctant to let their congregation know and have access to the real inner world.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that their upper echelons, from the Pope to the Cardinals, were almost all mortals—how could they be allowed to take it back so easily, after they had managed to take power away from the wizards? Their hesitation eventually reached a delicate balance, and they negotiated with Archduke Gayola to get everything back to the way it was, but knew on their knees that it was impossible.

The inner world is indeed rich and special, but it is real, that is, resources cannot never be scarce, and after the wizarding population swells to the limit, the inner world cannot maintain its original peace and isolation.

First to be hurt, persecuted and banished were the monsters who had been here, then the families of priests such as the Inquisition (surprisingly, but they did coexist with their enemies), then werewolves, vampires, and finally ordinary wizards, and as the hierarchy became more distinct, everyone had less and less to share...... At the same time, the big families of wizards are trying their best to find a way out (and when they are the only ones, they are also suppressing and restricting the connection between ordinary wizards and the outside world - because the latter is their fuel and bargaining chips, without them, those who rise high in the projectile land are nothing more than dispensable gadgets).

The reason why the Grand Duke of Gayola was adored and embraced by ordinary wizards was also because he was less greedy and less short-sighted, and he never confined himself to one island of Gayola - he was as good at making necessary and proper sacrifices as every great king, and he was also a king, so he had no strong vanity, had no interest in titles or glory, and valued substantial interests above all else, which made all the tricks played by the Roman Church difficult to succeed in......

Mary did not know what concessions the Roman Church had made, but she remembered that she was pregnant, so she stayed on the island to recuperate, rather than go on an expedition to the lowlands with her husband and master.

It took a few minutes for Louis to be surrounded by a crowd of people who needed his wisdom, his guidance, his patronage and his surname—not Mancini, but Bourbon. At such times, however, Louis would gently dismiss them, and he would always be very careful about personal space, and would not bring flattery and hypocrisy into his and Mary's room.

"Mary. ”

When Grand Duke Gayola entered the room, Marie suddenly remembered that she had a husband who loved her very much, and that they had not been separated from each other as was customary, but had always been up and down together, even when Louis had become Grand Duke Gayola.

"Lucy...... "What about Lucy?" asked Marley, "and she vaguely remembered that her eldest son with Louis should have another name, but finally she remembered that their eldest son was Luciano, who was an adult and had gone on an expedition with Louis before.

"He stays with Philip VII," Louis stroked her hair, "rest assured, everything is fine, and the king's side is always safest." ”