Costholm.

The poet often said that the prosperity of Swadia was concentrated in Palaubun, and as soon as it stepped out of its walls, it was desolate. 、

But once I got to Costowe, as far as I could see, the affluent area of Swadia didn't just exist in the city of Paraven. Cities with more than a thousand people were everywhere, and there were many ships waiting to dock in every port, and mules, horses, and carts carrying goods walked on the stone avenues of the Empire, and in a day and a half, they could cover many parts of Vecchia in three or four days. It is said that there is a joke about a Nord soldier who took a small raft and betrayed the Nord kingdom and paddled to Swadia to pay allegiance, and when he landed in Costaoi, he thought he had arrived in Paraven, so he scolded the Nord king on the beach and announced that he had defected to free Swadia. The inhabitants of Svadia by the sea, when the Nord soldier was tired of shouting, said to him, "Parabun? Please continue a hundred miles south. ”

The city of Coston has two parallel streets, densely packed with hundreds of large houses, and in a small castle built on a hill, the Baron of Costismo lives. After he ascended the throne as emperor, Frederick's father and grandfather had the title of Earl of Costholm, which aroused the resentment of the then Duke of Reporette, and because of the question of direct jurisdiction, he destroyed the title and turned the county into a barony and three free cities. In this way, from a legal point of view, the Duke of Reboret can no longer simply discuss the question of the ownership of the Costholm region by arguing the jurisprudence of a county. If Duke Ripolet wants to get his hands on the entire Costholm region, he needs to directly or indirectly control more than half of the lands in Costholm. to re-establish the title of Earl of Costholm, if he wants to do so. You need to control a baron and a free city, or two free cities. in order to meet the requirements of the law, which undoubtedly added obstacles to the Duke of Reporette.

The mayors of free cities are not for life, and after the previous mayor leaves office, a new mayor is appointed by the royal family, which prevents the loss of territory due to political marriages. However, the only remaining Barony of Costholm still has such a situation, if the Baron marries another nobleman, then once the Baron's family is extinct, the land may pass through the last woman of his family. He was taken to other noble realms. It is precisely because of the special circumstances of the Barony of Costholm that when there are several female inheritances, the royal family will directly intervene in the marriage, protect the inheritance rights of those women, and arrange for the noble heirs to join the baron's family, so that the baron can continue to be under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family.

Duke Reperlet is familiar with this situation, and in order to take back the Eartal of Costholm, the easiest breakthrough point for him is the Barony of Coston. It was difficult to take the Barony of Coston under the nose of the royal family, so Duke Reboret arranged the marriage of his youngest son to the eldest daughter of Baron Coston. At the time of the conclusion of the marriage. The royal family knew that Baron Costamore had three sons in addition to his daughter, and that the eldest daughter was the fourth in line of succession, so they allowed the marriage. Accidents arose in the midst of the plague. Baron Coston's eldest son died of the plague, and the heir became his second son. Soon after, rumors were widespread in the Reporette area that the third son of the Earl of Costholm liked men. and often harassed the aristocratic youth, which made Baron Coston unbearable. Out of anger and confession, the youngest son resolutely entered the monastery. He became a monk and lost his inheritance.

At this point, the problem has already arisen. It's just that at that time, Duke Reboret did not make his own claim, so people generally did not notice that the daughter of Baron Costo Costaure, who married into Duke Reporette's family, has risen to the second place in the line of succession, and she has given birth to male heirs, but her second brother is still childless.

Last month, there was an assassination of Baron Costa's second son: the baron's heir was throwing a snake in his bed while he was celebrating Easter with two girls in his arms in his arms. Fortunately, the snake was not too venomous, except that the third leg of the baron's heir was swollen like the other two, and the color became like that of a Crelian slave. After examination, the physician asserted that the baron's second son had lost the ability to bear children. Such a bad incident naturally makes people suspect that it was the Duke of Repalet.

The old but not confused Baron Coston immediately reported to the royal family and asked the emperor to investigate the matter thoroughly.

Now, the assassination has intensified the struggle between the Duke and the Emperor to a semi-public level: once the baron dies and the new baron has no chance of giving birth to an heir, many years later, the Barony of Costholm will flow into the House of Reporette because of marriage. Duke Ripolet only needs to give his youngest son the title of Baron or above to legally annex Baron Coston, thus throwing the influence of the Repolet family into the Coston region.

I was ordered to go to Costholm, and it was the Emperor who arranged for me to solve this problem out of concern for the current situation.

While studying the inheritance laws of Swadia on the ship, I was distraught that I could not fully grasp the various inheritance rules and exceptions. An old man with me knew all about it. His father was the Lord of the Seals to Frederick's great-grandfather, and his brothers were mostly members of the royal family, but he was too dissolute in his youth to make noble friendships and win the favor of the emperor. The heirs of such aristocratic families, though they may be of little merit elsewhere, speak of the complicated threads between those families, and they pay close attention to the mysteries behind each marriage, trying to find out who has the best chance of profiting and who is more likely to be harmed by the current inheritance law. Through the efforts of the family, this old man was successfully appointed as an envoy by Haraus to go to the Barony of Costholm to help the Baron's family.

"Who is the most dangerous person today?" When I arrived in Costholm, I couldn't help but ask as the old man looked down at the genealogy of Baron Coston.

"What do you think?" The old man asked me instead.

The old man was holding a girl who was not yet sixteen years old, and her face was smeared with red Salander powder, which looked bright and moving. The smell of perfume on her body was extremely strong, and it seemed to be a bargain imported by Rhodok. At this time, the room was filled with the smell of this woman. It is said that she is the old man's newest concubine. After the old man got the commission of the envoy. Immediately spent half of the money on this woman and took her with him. While the old man's hand groped up and down, the woman looked at me with an extremely seductive expression, and I was very uncomfortable to see.

"Heir to the Baron." I said to him, "The second son of the baron." ”

"Hah! Stupidity! The old man snorted disdainfully, "That guy is infertile, unless he marries an unscrupulous woman, and then holds back a shameful smile and admits that the woman's belly crawls out of his own species, otherwise he will be disqualified from competition." The Duke of Reboret just had to wait for him to die with peace of mind. But the baron himself was different. A man can still have children when he is seventy years old. As long as he divorces his shriveled wife, marries a rich and prolific woman, and has a son before he dies. Now the most dangerous thing is the baron himself. ”

"Duke Reboret still dares to threaten the Baron himself?"

"The baron is in his last years, and it is said that he has grown mad with old age, and is tired of being with his wife, who can no longer give birth, all day long. If you want me to say that I don't have more than three sons around, but one of them is married to someone else's daughter, and this situation is to put on me, I don't think even a woman will want to. I was thinking about how to have more boys. This baron is good, he is usually not in a hurry, but now he is crying and looking for the emperor's protection, which is really stupid. ”

"What are you going to do?"

"You can do what we said first." The old man said. He put his hand inside the girl's skirt. "Tell the Baron that this is what His Majesty meant."

I walked out with an unlucky face.

The Valan soldiers on duty on both sides of the door grimaced at me, and I told them to be on guard. Protect the security of the envoy.

We only arrived in Costholm last night, and we haven't officially met with Lord Baron. Seeing that we are not coming. Early this morning, the baron sent a gift. The old man looked at it, and saw that it was some saddle, whip, boots, and the like, and he was not very interested, so he gave it to me.

Coming out of the old man's chamber, I immediately rode to the castle of Lord Coston Small.

The old man was very clever, and after analyzing a lot of problems for me, he gave me the most difficult task: to persuade the baron to divorce and marry another, preferably to a woman who already had a baby in her belly.

Crusedel was not at all interested in the inheritance laws of the Swadians, and he did not understand why he could feed a large number of idlers who ate white food just by studying genealogies. When I rode with him to the Baron's Castle, I said that it was disgusting to do, and I didn't know how to say it.

"If you go and buy a ewe, and someone else gives you a lamb for free, you're going to be happy." ”

"Man is not a sheep."

"What's the difference?"

"I can't tell. Not the same thing anyway. ”

At this point, it dawned on me why this old man would bring a girl with him at such an important juncture, and although he was very debauched, he was the kind of person who would not mess around. It seems that this girl is likely to be the future Baroness of Costsmo.

I was followed by thirty-two Varan soldiers, and there were more than a dozen by the old man's side. This time, on His Majesty's mission, I took almost half of the men with me, and I handed over all the Valan soldiers left behind in Paraven to Eric to train them.

When they saw a bunch of soldiers in gorgeous and strange armor arriving, the soldiers of the Baron family opened their eyes wide, blew their horns, lowered the drawbridge, and gathered around to see what was going on. After I entered the courtyard of the castle, I called the castle guard.

The garrison was a fierce Swadia, and when I took off my helmet, he looked at me for a moment, and the soldiers around me laughed. It turned out that the garrison had a deep scar on his face, and the scar had passed through his eye, similar to the wound on my eye.

I looked at him and saw that he wasn't smiling, so I pointed to his eyes and said, "A Nord guard did it." What about yours? ”

"A Kugit bandit." The garrison said in a monotone voice, "In order to save the corpse of his accomplice, he whipped me." ”

"Did you kill him?"

"Told him to run. You killed the Nord who hurt your eye? ”

"He ran away, too." I looked up at the high walls of the castle. Speaking of high walls, the castle here is richly decorated. The vertical and horizontal wooden beams are inlaid with brass decorations, and iron candlesticks are inserted on each wall. It's even richer than the prince's family. "Alright, the greetings are over. Now I'll take care of the precautions here, and your men will go to the outer city of Costholm first. ”

"What?!" "What is this for?" "Who are you?"

The soldiers of the garrison asked questions because they were dissatisfied.

I threw out the mark of service to the royal family and threw it into the hands of the garrison to show him.

"Your Majesty's order, I am fully responsible for the safety of the Baron from today." I rolled over and dismounted, "You let the baron's heir be assassinated in the city, it seems that the law and order there is not very good, go there and do your duty." Garrison Officer, you can stay. ”

Half an hour later. The riotous castle soldiers withdrew from the castle, leaving only the garrison with three soldiers to take command from the Valans.

The soldiers of the Valan Guard quickly cleared the wine tables and benches at the head of the castle building, and threw all the chests and barrels in the castle aisles into the patio, and there were finally no more obstacles behind the castle's guards. Then, at all the gates of the castle, two Valan soldiers stood on the left and right, and the vegetables and food and the wine that were transported outside could henceforth be handed over to the Baron through our hands.

From time to time, the baron's butler reported what he had seen to the Baron, who was waiting for me. But he didn't dare to say a word to me.

After taking over the castle completely, I walked with a few Valan soldiers to the baron's long hall.

"Envoy" Your Excellency." When the baron saw me, he was amazed at my youth, and he bit out the last two words with great difficulty.

"Lord Baron Coston." I nodded in greeting. "I am Your Majesty's boyar. Ordered to come and solve your family's problems. ”

"Bo'''' Jarr?" The baron said curiously.

"What the viscount means." I replied to him, "I'm from Wiki. ”

"Your Majesty sent a Wikian?!" The Baroness was surprised and said, "Let him go." My lord! Your Majesty, please come with someone else! I see this person feeling scared. ”

"Is this your wife?" I asked the baron.

For my rudeness, the baron was a little angry. His beard was trembling slightly, "yes." Lord Boyar! This is exactly the lady below. ”

"Not anymore." I said to the baron, "In view of the crisis in your family, and the loyalty of your family to the royal family. Your Majesty persuades you to end this awkward marriage. ”

The baroness screamed, and the woman in her fifties clutched the two handles of the high-backed chair excitedly, "Your Majesty does not think he would insult his subjects so much!" You must have been sent by Reporette, and you and the Duke of Repolet have bewitched Your Majesty! ”

Lord Baron's face turned pale, "Lord Boyar, this matter is too sensational. ”

"Sensational?" I said, "It's not sensational at all. The sensational thing is to come, and as soon as the baroness enters the convent, you will be consummated with a beautiful young woman. She will give birth to healthy children. I'll help you train a real Guard, not like the bale soldiers before you, who will take care of your son and grow up healthy. ”

"Enough!" The baroness called, "There is nothing wrong with my family! It's just that someone is taking advantage of our family's misfortune," she said, with tears streaming down her eyes with emotion, "my poor Alice, she shouldn't have believed that Riblet boy's proposal." Special Envoy "Your Excellency, you can't ask me to leave Your Excellency." There is no problem with my family. Alice'''s also an adult's child.''' The adult has told me about the issue of inheritance, and you can't ask the adult to abandon me'''"

If the Baroness had not said anything about the question of inheritance, perhaps the Baroness would have really rebelled against His Majesty's will. But now that the question of inheritance was mentioned, the baron's expression immediately became cold. The aristocracy is always calculating the land of other people's families, but when their titles are coveted, when their family members are taken advantage of, they will not sit idly by.

"Calm down, ma'am." The baron said to his wife in a tone of suppressed anger.

Madame sobbed, "Your Excellency," you can't abandon me. ”

It occurred to me that the baron had not made any plans in advance in order to protect his title, and that even his wife had noticed it.

"Your Excellency, Baroness," I said to them, "I have heard before I come here how great your love is. In that case, you should not embarrass each other because of the bondage of marriage, nor should you let the family heirs be ruined because of the blackmail of marriage. Baroness, your daughter's name is Alice, right? She is your child, of course, but her own child is no longer known as the family name of your favorite husband. What do you think is the purpose of Duke Repalet? Is it just for the sake of marrying a baron? He is only trying to keep Costamo under his control, so as to cut off your family from His Majesty. Do you need me to say what your new feudal lord will do to you when that time comes? ”

"Of course, this may be in the future, you will say, thirty years from now, when all the dust settles, the families will naturally merge with each other. But is Duke Reboret such a man? I asked them, "Who spread the rumor about your third son?" Who left the wounds of your second son? Is there such a coincidence in the world? Are all the misfortunes of your family faintly benefiting Duke Ripdock? Baroness, you love your daughter, and maybe your grandson, but do you think of your husband and son? If your husband can't give birth to a healthy offspring, then the next attack, the next attack, maybe it's a glass of poisoned wine, maybe it's a crooked arrow, maybe it's a pillow to cover your mouth and nose in the bedroom, maybe it's a stone falling from the city gate, Duke Reborette has the audacity to send someone to bulldoze His Majesty's garden because he doesn't like His Majesty's flowers, what is there he not dare to do? ”

And even if you leave your husband, you can still stay with him. I don't think the new lady would dare to ask about it. If she upsets you, I'll get a new one at once. ”

The Baroness cried out in despair, tears flowing into her gaping mouth, and the Baroness frowned as she listened to my ramblings.

"Ma'am." I said to her, "When it is time to part, for the sake of your majesty's honor, take off your iron crown and give it to your husband, for that is your majesty's will." ”

The baroness grabbed her husband's hand, but did not know what to say.

Two Varan soldiers stepped forward, carrying a frail priest between them, who was very short and was caught by two Valan soldiers and hung in the air. The soldier asked the priest to announce the end of the baroness' marriage, and then left with the baroness in his arms.

As the baroness was dragged past me, she spat in my face, "You and your emperor, die!" You're going to play your game of nobility in Hell! Darn! Harlaus, this thief, you too, Vykia Kid'''"

The baron sat alone in a high-backed chair, he had not yet gotten used to the fact that the woman who had been sitting next to him for decades was taken away.

I walked up to him and said, "Be happy, you'll have a new lady soon." ”

The baron's eyes widened and he roared at me, "Get out! Get out! ”

"I'll get out right away. But I would like to ask you a question. ”

"Hmph." He trembled with anger.

"Do you want revenge?"

"What?" He was slightly surprised.

"The revenge of spreading rumors about your third son, the revenge of assassinating your heir, the revenge of plotting to take advantage of your daughter." I said to him, "I'm sorry, I have to use bad language to get your lady to leave you." To heal this damage, Your Majesty has allowed me to avenge you. ”

The baron looked at me and pursed his lips, his teeth deeply imprinted on his lower lip.

"The youngest son of the Duke of Repalet." Every word of the baron was filled with hatred, "If he did it"

"Yes. If it was your son-in-law who did it. ”

The baron said coldly, "Kill him." (To be continued.) )