The cold wind is bitter, the snow is flying, and the back garden of the Count's Palace is covered with snow, and the villa borrowed by the Randall family seems to stand in a snow-white and crystal fairy tale world.

A bonfire lit up in the fireplace in the master bedroom of the villa, the room was warm, Natalia held her chin, staring at Victor opposite without blinking, her obsessive eyes were joyful and lost, sad and pleading, affectionate and pitiful.

Victor was quite surprised, he didn't expect that an ordinary female knight could convey such complex emotions with just her eyes.

If this is not a supernatural talent, it only shows that Natalia has a deep affection for him.

Using X-3 to sort out Natalia's past, Victor discovers that his knowledge of her is very limited, and in the memory of the little baron Wimbledon, Natalia is a dispensable character, and even a little disgusted. At that time, the little baron was fascinated by Sophia, and his wife was alone, and he followed Sophia's will and established a partnership with her oath guardian knight Natalia, but Natalia's enthusiasm always evoked the humiliation of the little baron being carefully trained by the high-ranking female knight, and naturally wanted to escape from the other party.

In fact, Natalia was born very beautiful, with light blonde hair, light blue eyes, and delicate and beautiful facial features, leaving a gentle and charming first impression, fair and smooth complexion, tall and plump, a little older, but full of mature and moving charm between gestures.

If you go back 25 years, and then put aside the factor of self-improvement of the transcendent female knight, Natalia's beauty is probably still above Sylvia, not to mention Sophia, when the Marquess of Wimbledon was still an ugly duckling.

As far as Victor knows, Natalia was born in a noble family in the Seuss Kingdom, and is a female probationary knight of natural awakening, who left the family alone because of her escape from marriage, and later met Sophia in the Eastern Alliance, and the two became friends and joined the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce together. From Natalia's body, it can be seen that the Souss nobles are fanatical in their pursuit of beauty.

Natalia uses energy potions to promote junior knights, if she takes the golden potion, resonates with 24 elemental bits, is infinitely close to transcendental, and her physiological state is constant at about 45 years old, and then she uses expensive beauty potions to carefully maintain, her appearance and figure will not look more than 35 years old.

However, the beauty of mortals is becoming less and less attractive to Victor, and the huge difference in life levels and the reality of not being able to have offspring all show that Victor and Natalia are no longer the same kind.

However, Natalia and Sophia have a close relationship, the two are born and die, rescue each other, trust each other, develop a deep friendship, share a common upbringing, share wealth and power, and even share the same intimate partner. Moreover, Natalia has rich experience in the management of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a very rare business talent, and will definitely hold an important position in the Golden Group in the future.

From the perspective of the family's interests, Victor should continue to be an intimate partner with Natalia.

Victor looked at Natalia with a scrutinizing gaze and asked with a grim expression, "We haven't seen each other for more than a year...... Have you carried me behind my back to find another man?"

Natalia was stunned at first, then radiated and said in surprise, "Victor baby, are you jealous of me?" said as she stretched out her hands to knead Victor's face.

Victor grabbed Natalia's hand and said displeasedly, "You haven't answered my question yet." ”

Natalia didn't care, sat in Victor's arms, put her arms around his neck, showed the ring on his finger, and said with a smile: "Of course not! I abide by the principle of companionship, it belongs to you alone, I don't take the initiative to leave you, and you can't do without me." ”

There is overlap between the partnership and the marriage relationship of knights, but the principles are different. When it comes to knightly partnerships, the principle is that strength must be respected, and the lover is not a vassal.

Victor, as a powerful party, can enter into a partnership with other female knights without Natalia's consent. But he must first ask Sylvia's opinion, otherwise Sylvia has the right to propose a duel to the other side. If the female knight wants to fight Victor's idea, she must also get Sylvia's tacit approval.

Natalia, as a woman, cannot step on two boats at the same time, but has the right to propose to Victor to break up and unilaterally dissolve the relationship between lovers.

The principle of knight's companionship protects women's rights to the greatest extent. They decide when to start or end a partnership, and the children belong to the mother, and if they do not mention the breakup, the man cannot end the partnership, but must respect the other, shelter the other and provide treatment commensurate with his status. Their only obligation is to remain faithful to their partners.

Men's rights lie in the initial refusal or consent, and once agreed, there is no right to renege. Unless Natalia has another lover behind Victor's back....... it's almost impossible, and she only needs to write a handwritten letter to Victor to end the relationship and start a new relationship. Otherwise, Victor has the right to challenge his rival and use the blood of the other party to wash away his own shame.

Before a male nobleman pursues a female knight, he must first check whether the other party has a companion ring on his hand, and it is best to go to the church to find out if she is currently single, a one-night stand or something, and don't even think about it, if you accidentally fall into a death trap, it will be troublesome. In fact, the lovers of knight lords are generally arranged and appointed by the lord's wife.

The Church and the Senate jointly endorsed the principle of companionship, mainly because female knights were responsible for reproducing blood and raising children, while male knights might have died on the battlefield that day. Protecting the rights and interests of female knights is equivalent to protecting the continuation of the knightly bloodline, and the duty of loyalty of female knights helps to maintain order in the kingdom, so that young knights do not kill each other for a little trouble between men and women. The higher the status of the aristocracy, the stronger the binding force, and it is almost impossible to have an excuse to provoke disputes due to emotional entanglements.

That's why, the little Baron of Wimbledon married Sophia, and the high knights of Kite Castle stopped looking for him. After Catherine's relationship with Victor was approved by Sylvia, Baroness Ariel relaxed her surveillance of the two. Like the Chebman family and the Buryat family, they all asked Sylvia's opinion in advance, but Victor didn't know about it at the time.

No one can steal Sylvia's things, especially when it comes to ancient noble bloodlines.

Of course, eating alone is not a good habit. The nobles of Neville and Seuss also greeted Sylvia for Victor's bloodline, hoping that she would allow the high-ranking female knights to freely pursue Victor. Sylvia didn't want to offend her allies and directly used Catherine as a shield. Although Victor was on the stronger side in front of Catherine, he was never willing to provoke any high-ranking female knights.

The knight's lover can't get rid of it when he gets his hands on it, it doesn't do any good, it will only cause a lot of trouble. Assuming that the lover's family is facing ruin, Victor is morally responsible to provide her with refuge and try to help her rebuild the family.

Love is linked to political interests, and the great nobles must be very cautious in the matter of the relationship between men and women.

Natalia and Victor's partnership was appointed by Sophia, and the church was well documented, and even Sylvia could not overturn it.

Regardless of whether Victor has true feelings for Natalia or not, at this moment, he should show his demeanor and respect for his knightly companion. Reunited with a lover after a long absence, the business must be put aside first, the ordinary hush and warmth seem to be indifferent to the relationship between the two parties, and the unreasonable "stingy jealousy" can just right to express closeness and attention.

The two of them made love for a while, and the strangeness brought about by the long-term separation gradually faded, as if returning to the past, Natalia leaned on Victor's shoulder, and said with a chuckle: "When we were in the Marquis's Palace, I always held you, and you were still unhappy...... I'm a little unaccustomed to you holding me now...... But I'm happy. ”

Victor said sincerely: "At that time, I was seduced by the purple eyes and blood, and Sophia was the only one in my eyes, and after leaving her, I found myself again, and I also remembered many people and things that I ignored...... Dear Natalia, I apologize to you on behalf of the former Little Baron of Wimbledon. ”

Natalia was silent for a moment, suppressed her tremble, and said, "Whether it's true or not, I'm touched by you...... But I am in no way jealous of your passion for Sophia, without whom I would not have had a lovely and beautiful little husband...... Sophia fulfilled all my fantasies about life. ”

"Well, Sophia is your best sister. ”

Victor smacked his lips, picked up Natalia's pale blonde hair, and asked, "What was your dream?

The mature and beautiful female knight puffed out her cheeks, and her delicate demeanor exposed her girlish nature, and she said angrily: "I don't need to mention the name of my blood family, I am a distant relative of the Mackenzie family......"

"Duke of the Southlands of Mackenzie Seuss, the Red Eagle family?"

Natalia nodded and said, "Yes." I naturally awakened my fighting spirit at the age of 15, and at the age of 19, I resonated with 6 elemental bits. According to the rules of the family, before the age of 20, noblewomen who cannot be promoted to knights must serve high-ranking knights. At that time, the family arranged for me to be the youngest son of Duke Mackenzie...... I was ready to get married, but my cousin whispered to me that the female cadet knight served the high knights, and that her own knighthood would be cut off. ”

"Well, I'm still a little unwilling...... My cousin encouraged me to run away from marriage, and also helped me cover up, and I ran away as soon as my brain was hot......" Natalia said hatefully: "I later learned that that slut married the young son of Duke Mackenzie for me and became the personal maid of the Silver Knight." ”

Victor was dumbfounded, this is simply a bloody story of a silly white sweet aristocratic girl who was designed by her cousin and replaced. The most tragic thing is that she did not go to the peak of her life from then on, she still took an energy potion and cut off the path of a high-ranking knight, and her cousin has a family, children, and a noble and powerful husband, if nothing else, she may be a female knight now.

Victor asked curiously, "Why do you have to take the Energy Potion when you have sacrificed and suffered?"

Natalia sighed, "I didn't understand anything back then, and reality was much crueler than fantasy...... I left the family and couldn't get enough to eat, I met Sophia, and we two apprentice knights still had to rely on Aunt Helen to support us, and then we couldn't help it, so we gave up our Ranger profession and joined the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce together...... Sophia has the audacity to carry Mithril in the Twilight Forest, only to be noticed by the Medin family. If we are caught, the consequences will be unimaginable. So we ran away from the wilderness, and on the way we were dropped out by the gnolls. At that time, the situation was critical, Sophia would rather die than take the energy potion, I was really scared, and I took the potion to promote to knight...... And so it became. ”

Victor couldn't help but laugh, and Natalia said coquettishly, "Don't laugh." ”

It's okay not to say it, but as soon as she said it, Victor laughed louder, and in the end, even Natalia laughed.

Laughing and laughing, the story of Natalia and Sophia hides too much bitterness and hardship, and Victor admires their resilience and friendship, and says, "If there is a chance in the future, I will take a bad breath for you." ”

"You mean my cousin?" Natalia smiled softly, "It's not necessary, I'm much better than her now...... Sophia and I once dreamed of becoming famous, leading a group of followers, and starting our own family. It's a pity that the ranger's path didn't go through...... We joined the Chamber of Commerce, and dreamed of becoming a business nobleman, raising a beautiful and obedient little husband, just like Queen Seuss. Look, isn't our dream come true? Queen Seuss's lover is not as good as you...... Now, the nobles of Sassan and Dordor are talking about the glorious deeds and scholarly achievements of Viscount Randall, and they all say that you are a natural wise man worthy of the nobles of Arya...... My dear, you are now famous, and Sophia and I are proud of you. ”

Victor touched his smooth chin and said solemnly: "This statement is very correct. There are almost no female knight rangers who pioneer the wilderness and establish families. As long as they marry a good man, they can realize their ideals. Obviously, you and Sophia are the most successful examples. ”

Natalia laughed and fell into Victor's arms for a moment before looking up and saying, "Dear Victor, I am convinced of this. ”

Victor nodded and said, "On a snowy day, you ran from the Kingdom of Duo to Neville to meet me, Sophia must have encountered a problem. ”

"Yes. ”

Natalia pulled up her blonde hair, straightened her dress, sat down next to Victor, and said, "Have you heard that Sophia has made a new trade deal with the barbarians?"

"I want to hear about it. ”

"Actually, the new trade deal is a covenant based on bounties and supplemented by trade...... Natalia frowned.

Last year, during the Season of Water, Sophia arrived at the fortress of Harlotus with the clergy of the Knights of Radiance, but the old barbarian elders did not welcome outsiders into the Holy Land, blocked them from the fortress, and asked Sofia Urusa to take all the clergy away. It was useless for the Barbarian Great Elder to intervene, because the Barbarian Elders of the old school were the vast majority. Therefore, the Great Elder of the Barbarians proposed a way for the clergy to accept the trial of the barbarians and hunt a powerful beast alone, so that the successful ones could enter the fortress and the defeated ones would be buried in the belly of the beast.

The Barbarian Trials were more powerful than their own, and the Golden Paladin, who led the team, was assigned to hunt down an Earth Dragon. However, the Arret Plateau is a forbidden place, and paladins and priests cannot use divine magic, and the holy warriors who reside in the divine body can only use holy power alone. Without the blessing of divine magic, how could a priest hunt the Earth Walking Dragon and the Snow Monster alone?

The Golden Paladin Clark Testier proposes to the Barbarians that they enter the underground pits of the Mountain Dwarves and hunt a goat queen en masse. The Barbarian Elder agreed to his request.

Sophia, Argre, and Wallace lead six Silver Rank Judgment Warriors into the Dwarven Tunnels and successfully complete the mission of hunting the Goat Queen. But 9 people went in, 4 people came out, and 5 of the ruling samurai died in the underground pits.

The Barbarian Elder accepted the clergy of the Church of Radiance and made a covenant with Sophia and the others at the Harlotus Fortress. In addition to the normal exchange of goods, the barbarians can exchange the head of the queen of the Guerrero sheep monster for 50 pairs of iron weapons and 100 reindeer, and the heads of the Guerrero warriors can be exchanged for 10 weapons and 20 reindeer, and humans must sell at least 800 live beasts of strong beasts to the barbarians every year to help the barbarians perform the newborn ceremony.

The bravery of the clergy was recognized by the Barbarian Elders, but they were not able to complete the Barbarian Trial alone, and Harlotus did not recognize their identity as Urusa, only that they were followers of Sophia Urusa, and that the covenant was made for Sophia alone, and that she was responsible for honoring all bounties and transactions.

Hearing this, Victor's expression was solemn, and he asked in a deep voice, "The content of the covenant was also proposed by Deputy Head Clark Testier?"

"It seems like yes. Natalia replied, adding, "Sophia won't tell me the details......

Victor got up and walked to the window, looked at the snow outside the house through the crystal window, and said slowly, "The situation may be worse than imagined...... The specifics do need to be kept secret. ”

The Guerrero Goat Monster is a species of monster that lives in the Arret Plateau. They are omnivorous, cannibalistic, and reproductive and expanding. The sheep monster queen can give birth to a sheep monster group;The little sheep monster eats all kinds of plants, grows rapidly, and eats itself for the sheep monster queen and the sheep monster warriors, similar to the survival mechanism of food collection and food transformation; ordinary sheep monsters kill each other, eat the same kind of meat, and quickly evolve into male warriors, whose strength and physique are comparable to ogres; when the sheep monster group reproduces to a certain extent, a new queen will be produced, and it will split and expand outward.

The Sheep Monster Race has a very efficient expansion pattern, and if it weren't for the Barbarians and Mountain Dwarves to slaughter the Sheep Monsters, they might have spread from the Arret Plateau to the Northern Wilderness, and even into the human realm.

The mountain dwarves moved away from the Arrete Plateau, and the ecological balance of Arrete was also broken. Sheep monsters invade the dwarves' underground pits, thrive inside, and continue to expand outward. The tall barbarians had no way to deal with the sheep monster tribe in the pit, and the tribes in the mountains lived in a difficult situation and were declining day by day. Humanity must be wary of two possible events in the future: the Barbarians descend the mountain, and then the Gurello Sheep Monster descends the mountain.

Either way, it would be a disaster for the human nation.

Of course, the Knights of Radiance wanted to bypass Sophia and establish direct diplomatic contact with the barbarians. So, what did the deputy head of the Radiant Knights see in the dwarven pit and make a bounty trade pact with the fortress of Harlots?

Obviously, Arrett's ecological imbalance has become a strategic imbalance, and Clark Testier would rather give Sophia a temporary monopoly on barbarian diplomacy and trade, rather than quickly build a new Arret strategic balance.

Victor's heart was heavy, he had always suspected that the Grero Goats had something to do with the enemies who had invaded the Alchemy Empire. Because the Alchemy Tower creates alchemy creatures by consuming natural resources. And the Guerrero sheep monsters multiplied rapidly, destroying the environment, they devoured all the renewable animal and plant resources, and the alchemy tower could only stop functioning.

Does the abnormality of the sheep monster in the dwarven pit mean that the Great Turret Rift patrolled by the barbarians will also change?

No, I'll need to get Sophia the details of the dwarven pit as soon as possible...... Victor turned around and asked, "Where is Sophia now?"

Natalia thought for a moment and replied, "At this time, she and the Stag Caravan should take refuge in the snow in the Marquis of Dwemick in the Kingdom of Dodor, and in two months, she will be able to return to the capital of Gambis." After a pause, he asked again: "My dear, do you remember Princess Angel of the Sasang Empire?"

"Angel, that blue-haired high-ranking female knight?"

Victor bowed his head and said, "I saw her at the jousting tournament in the Centaur Hills, and I remember that she had the royal blood of Sassan, was born in the Moon Bear family of the Teutonic Principality, and is now married to the heir of the Bronze Halberd City, and is the guardian of the next generation of the Bronze Halberd City. ”

Natalia said, "She's still Sophia's friend...... Sophia wants to pull her into the Golden Regiment, so as to open up the Golden Regiment's trade routes in the Sassan Empire...... But Princess Angel refused. She said that Sophia would not agree to any form of cooperation unless she disbanded the mercenary group of the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce. ”

"In addition, the kingdom of Dodor began to develop the Wraith Forest, the Dwemick family was excluded, and the trade in Ascending Rock City became sluggish. According to the original plan, Sophia tried to win over the Dwemick family and open up the trade routes of the Golden Order in the southern border of the Kingdom of Dodor. However, the Marquis de Vermick and the guardians of Ascending Rock refused to meet Sophia......"

Natalia looked at Victor, pursed her lips, and said aggrievedly: "The reason is very simple, your bear group infiltrated the Marquis of Dwemick and successfully assassinated Count Jinlique...... This account was recorded on Sophia's head, and it also aroused the jealousy of the great nobles. They demanded that Sophia give up her mercenary arms and ensure that her private merchant group passed through the territory without harm before they could negotiate cooperation. ”

Victor was silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"

Natalia got up from the sofa, swayed her willow waist slightly, walked to Victor's side gracefully, held his hand, and said softly: "My dear, Sophia hopes that you can agree to separate the bear group and the cottage stronghold from the golden group, so that she can negotiate with the Dwemick family." She asked me to ask your opinion......"

"Innocent!"

Victor suppressed the displeasure in his heart, took a deep breath, picked up the mature and beautiful female knight, and said with a smile:

"My dear, I was supposed to be with you for a few days, but so much has happened, I can only go back to Gangbis as soon as possible and meet Sophia. I'll leave tomorrow morning for the county of Decaeser to finish my final work. Tomorrow you will make a trip to Rock City, and tell Sophia to take the caravan back to Gangbys, and then go to the Centaur Hills and settle down at Sylvia's Rose Manor...... I'll talk about anything when I get back. ”

Natalia's cheeks were hot, she put her arms around her little husband's neck, and said dizzily: "Well, I listen to your ......"

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