Four soldiers of the House of Reboret were hung from the city gates, and they were the ones identified as the ones who killed the Valan soldiers.

Of course, according to the situation in the front yard and in the hall, the two dead Valan soldiers were each fighting to the death with six or seven men before they died, but the Baroness of Costholm offered only four, and she tried to compensate the royal family with twice the number of men, but these were of no avail to the Valan soldiers, and they wanted me to put to death all the Ripollet soldiers on the spot. This was not for me to consider, at least for a short time, for nowadays I was disgraced with the Valan soldiers, the Kujites, and the dejected Jefferson, and when we were expelled from the castle, all the lords threw stones and spat at us with their portraits of their former baroness.

These lords have a natural sense of the family of the lord who has ruled them for a long time, and see them as a symbol of themselves. In their eyes, the lord's family had suffered doom since the arrival of our foreign soldiers, and the return of the lord's youngest daughter was legendary, and they loved such stories. They never pay attention to the intrigues and strife within the lord family.

We boarded the boat back to Parabun in the midst of the scolding of the people, and the sailors paddled wildly and let us whirlpool on the pier, but the navigator refused to guide us, and we were tossed and turned out of the harbor for two hours.

On the way back to Paravon, all the Valan soldiers asked about my plan. But at the moment, I don't have any plans at all other than to report to Harlaus. This was clearly not satisfactory to the Valan soldiers, who angrily drew their swords, slashed at the cabin, and beat any Costustroe sailors who dared to squint at us. The Valans felt that if I could not finally avenge their brother, then the shame of laying down their arms would not be washed away.

The ships were slow, and the sailors were grinding. When we arrived in Parabun, a storm was raging through the city, and as soon as our cabin opened, the rain poured into the cabin like water. After we walked off the dock. After waiting for two hours before a carriage was hired, a few of us crowded into it and slowly entered Parabun. The knees of all the people in the carriage were touching each other. The sound of snorting became the only remaining sound, the sound of wind and rain and thunder outside the carriage was loud, and from time to time the shouts of citizens came into the carriage, and we did not chat all the way, just thinking about the current situation in Costholm and the possible attitude of the emperor.

"The Emperor will not reward us." Jefferson's glory in Costholm had been swept away, as if the majesty of Paraven had been lost in the storm.

All of us fell silent and did not take his words.

"He won't punish us, though."

Jefferson's words finally elicited a response from one of the Varan soldiers.

"Can't you shut up?"

Jefferson sighed, "I've been lucky all my life. But I never took advantage of that luck. ”

"How?" I asked him.

"This time, I knew what the real solution was, but I didn't do it because of some misconceptions." Jefferson looked at me with red eyes, "I ordered the execution." It should be Baron Coston's daughter, she is the key to everything. His Majesty the Emperor wants the nobles to quarrel, and this is certainly the best situation. But the nobles were not as stupid as the emperor thought, nor were they as cowardly as the emperor thought. Sometimes, even if the nobles are faced with the choice of blood, as long as the choice is correct, the family is completely the last to consider. I underestimated the daughter of Baron Costona. ”

"You mean '''''

"You've long understood. Why bother. Jefferson pinched his nose and said, "The Duke of Reporett's family does have a reason to target the Coston family, but since the Costholm region is their de jure territory, he doesn't need to get involved in the affairs of Costamore at all. What he needed was to unite the other dukes so that the emperor would return the land instead of having blood on his hands. Go get a little barony. We underestimate Baron Costamy's daughter, who framed her brother and sent assassins. Never underestimate the ambition of a nobleman, even if she is a woman who marries outside, she is still a nobleman. I was very lucky. With the tacit approval of His Majesty the Emperor and Baron Coston, I did not choose to end the life of Baron Coston's daughter. I''m too old to be stupid enough to believe in proximity between nobles. ”

"you," one of the Varan soldiers spat out, "don't make everyone as calculating as you are. ”

"There are people who love to calculate, but there are people who can make cruel and correct decisions after the calculation is over, but I don't have the ability to do so."

Jefferson silently retreated into his corner, and all of us were pondering his words.

The aristocrats' often boasted of their 'family heritage' were often ridiculed by the commoners as a matter of food and clothing, but behind these pomp and circumstance were the nobles who were mostly extremely cruel and shrewd fighters: they always chose the right decisions. That's the terrible thing about aristocrats.

The new Valan camp was relocated to a satellite city north of the city.

The outskirts of Parabun had a very large restoration plan to connect the small town directly to Parabun after the fires. The large orchards and villas in the middle will be demolished and converted into apartments that can accommodate a large number of poor people. The implementation of the apartment renovation program in Rhodok has been very helpful for the city's population, which often uses only two-thirds of the land to accommodate as many citizens as the city of Swadia. More people meant more taxes and more people to drive, and the expansion of towns meant that every inch of land became more expensive, all of which led to the reappearance of Zen-era buildings such as the apartment building.

However, due to the defeat of Rhodok that year, this restoration plan has been shelved. After a series of steppe invasions and civil wars, Svadia was put on the back burner and no one cared about it. The Valan Guard was moved here, arranged by Emperor Harauth. The population has been recovering from the fire, and the constant movement of residents has turned it into one of the most chaotic ghettos in Parabun. After Fitre's father fixed the tax limit, he handed over the tax to a few small tax collectors, who had many assassins and thugs in their hands, and became almost the actual lords of the area. Each of these tax collectors had an aristocratic background, and they exchanged bribes for their own peace. and through the checks and balances of the nobility in exchange for the emperor's restraint on them. His Majesty the Emperor can get his taxes, but when he wants to meddle in the affairs of this place, he will find himself in a quagmire, and the envoys he sends will either be perfunctory or bribed. At one point, he sent more than 100 soldiers to burn down the slums in an attempt to wipe out the entrenched forces, but only a few months later, Harlaus's influence was once again gone. The royal officials in this region can only sit in their official residences every day and do nothing, and within a few years, they will become part of the local forces here, or they will be transferred to other places.

My Varan regiment is stationed in this small annexed town, far from Paravon. In a letter to me from Copernicus, he said that the population here was only 300 to 400 on paper, but the actual population was close to 1,000. The number of people before the fire has almost been restored. Naturally, tax collectors were reluctant to report changes in the population, and more people meant more taxes they had to pay to the royal family.

Emperor Haraus sent the Valans here, naturally in the hope that the Valans would be able to deal with the nobility here. The nobility of the city of Paraven was different from the nobility of the foreign land, and the dukes and counts of the foreign land, although of high status. But the influence in the city is not even as great as that of some knights. Most of these knights come from ancient and noble families, with many friends and great energy. For a while, they were even able to influence the forces in the palace to decide the succession of the Svadia Emperor. Emperor Harauth hated them, but he was reluctant to confront them directly.

The nobles are like a group of puppet craftsmen, who let their puppets carry out their will through the silk threads tied to their fingers.

After I visited the Royal Palace. I'll head to the Valan camp.

Copernicus said that because of the protection of the Valans, the Vicovian community in the city was considering building a small church of the Eastern Church around the Valan camp and using it as its own meeting place. I did not know if this would upset His Majesty, so I wrote back to Copernicus to take care of the matter, even if the church of the Eastern Church was built. On the outside, too, it must be claimed that this is the church of the Western Church. I didn't want to get in trouble because of my faith, and I warned Anastasia several times when her female companions were interested in the Eastern Church, not to expose their intentions. Otherwise, we could all be expelled.

I waited at the gate of the palace with four Varan soldiers, the Kugits, and Jefferson until dark.

It is said that Emperor Harauth was meeting with King Nord's envoys to discuss the grain trade. This was an excuse for Jefferson to say that Emperor Haraus had not asked about food for many years, and that he was markedly different from Frederick's workaholic fathers in that he was willing to appoint merchants and petty nobles to his service, and to share his own profits with them. Jefferson said that in his heart, Haraus had let go of the condescending mentality of the emperors of the past, and in his heart, he was just a nobleman with the highest status, but he was still one of them, and he was willing to share his interests, but if he could, he would also take their interests. In fact, after the fiefdom system was extended to the entire empire, the position of the emperor was already like this, and Frederick still held the attitude of the emperor above all else, which was the fundamental reason why he lost the support of a large number of nobles. Emperor Haraus's acceptance of this status was a loss of majesty, but it also allowed him to leave behind the burden of the royal family in the past, so as to better participate in the competition between the nobles.

We waited until it was dark, and Count Robert finally came out.

Recently, the relationship between Count Robert's sister and Emperor Haraus suddenly warmed up, which seems to be a silent protest from Emperor Haraus to Countess Albert. Everyone knows that the Emperor fell out of favor with the Countess of Ebron, and the Countess did not invite His Majesty to the Emperor's salons several times, which made Emperor Haraus very sad and angry. The Earl of Alberton had only one indifferent attitude towards this, he was pursuing the younger siblings of the Duke of Reborlet, and had no time to care about his wife's new love. In such a situation, Count Robert introduced his sister to His Majesty, and it is said that although Count Robert's sister was not beautiful, but she was very intelligent, and her two failed marriages made her very cunning and dexterous, and it was easy for the emperor to take interest in her, and soon made the emperor's legs tremble, and he could not get out of bed.

The emperor even wrote several poems, which were publicly presented to the sister of Count Robert. At a banquet, looking at the indifferent Countess of Aberon, His Majesty the Emperor couldn't help but ask his former people how their poems were written. Unexpectedly, the Countess of Alberton ridiculed the emperor, "Your Majesty, you should change to a ghostwriter, the letter you wrote to that little girl, and the letter you wrote to me, there are a few sentences that are completely copied." The courage of the Countess of Alberon made the nobles love her madly, and the ladies of the palace applauded her, except for His Majesty the Emperor Haraus, who was very unhappy, eating the food in front of him, and not bothering to pay attention to the sneering nobles around him.

After Robert came out, he couldn't help but whistle when he looked at us who were drenched in soup, "boyar! I heard that you were bitten hard by a she-wolf. Didn't hit the nail on the head, did you? ”

"No, Lord Count. I wish to report back to Your Majesty. ”

"No need." Robert said, "Cosmoy's she-wolf is in the palace right now, and you're two full days behind her." How did you get it, you were cut off two heads and didn't run back quickly? ”

No wonder the sailors and navigators were grinding along the way, and it looked like the Baroness of Costamo had brought them up. I overestimated myself too much and underestimated this woman, and it was a complete failure.

"My Lord, I'm sorry. Failed His Majesty's entrustment. ”

Robert pinched his beard, "The situation is not in your favor, but it is nothing. The baroness has sworn allegiance to Her Majesty. For now, at least, there is no problem with Duke Repolet in Costholmy. He pulled me aside and asked me in a low voice, "Is the youngest son of the Duke of Repolet a painful death?" ”

"Who told you to ask?"

"Answer me."

"Surrounded by wives and daughters, the pain is abnormal." I replied.

Count Robert snapped his fingers, "That's fine." He pulled out a scroll, "Boyar, you're clumsy like a boar this time. But at least your knife is stained with the blood that makes His Majesty happy, and that's enough. This is your new arrangement. ”

I opened the scroll and read it currily, "What does this mean?" I'm no longer a palace guard? ”

"It looks like you're going to fall out of favor for a while. Your Majesty has appointed you as the Municipality of that den of thieves in the north, and you have been transferred out of Parabun. This is also the request of the she-wolf. ”

"Why did Your Majesty do this to me?"

"Ask yourself first, why did you embarrass Your Majesty? The she-wolf was so meek in her allegiance before His Majesty that she almost put on perfume, stuck a peacock feather in her buttocks, and stuck out her tongue to lick His Majesty's little emperor. The Emperor thinks you are loyal, and he values this. But you lack experience, so go to your little town. ”

"Please beg for me."

Robert smiled, "No problem. You allowed me to associate with Aniah. ”

"You've got someone."

"I'll leave her."

"You should make this public first. But for now, I'm allowing Aniya to join you at the feast. ”

"Okay." He thought for a moment, "My sister and I will have a party, and next month, you bring Aniah." Now you shouldn't please me, but my sister, you know? ”

"I understand, sir."

Robert waved goodbye to me, boarded the carriage and left.

I asked the coachman to take Jefferson home, and then I went with the rest of the men to the small town in the north.

I almost lost my first game of nobility and was kicked out of Paraven, and I had to rely on Annia to have any hope of returning.

But at least, His Majesty the Emperor thinks I am loyal, which is a blessing in misfortune.

Paraven, I'll be back.