The current state of Castel?

Charlotte's heart jumped.

She looked up at the Duke of Boulder standing in front of the map, pondering what the other meant by the question.

The old duke did not wait for her to give an answer.

Or maybe it was the short silence that made him think that the girl was not clear about the current situation, so he took the initiative to say his judgment:

"The county of Castel is located in the northernmost part of the kingdom, separated from the heart of the duchy by three duchies and two counties."

"And among the three principalities, there are pretenders who always want to get Castre, who always want to defeat the feud of Boulder, and there are also loyal supporters of His Majesty the King, who support His Majesty to weaken his vassals, strengthen his authority, and expand the ...... of the royal domain."

"Outside the principality, so to speak...... The situation is quite difficult, and everyone is eyeing the rich Castelle! ”

Speaking of this, the old duke took a deep breath, and his face became a little ugly:

"There is no peace in the principality either."

"Those families who are loyal to Boulder have their own plans and have their own plans!"

As he spoke, as if he remembered something, a trace of anger flashed across the old duke's face, and his voice trembled:

"Especially saw the marriage between Eleanor and the third prince!"

"The third prince is ambitious, Eleanor is cowardly, and Anthony's bastard is not in tune, he spends his mind on divination and astrology all day long, and he is idle, but he doesn't put his mind on the management of the principality!"

"The dignified Boulder family is all rubbish! Shit! ”

The old duke scolded his own family in a huff, not realizing that he was also a member of the Border family, and he was also a piece of shit that could not give birth to a qualified heir.

Charlotte lowered her head slightly, pondering information related to the Boulder family.

She had already studied the information of the Boulder family, and knew that the most annoying thing for the Duke of Boulder was the marriage contract between his only daughter and the third prince.

Back then, the old duke planned to win over the Crescent royal family, and after signing the marriage contract, he bragged everywhere beautifully, but he didn't expect to be poked by the pikemen of the enemy country on the battlefield later, and he couldn't give birth to an heir directly, and finally put the only daughter who instinctively recruited a son-in-law into it, and the whole person was completely dumbfounded.

As for Antony, mentioned by the duke, his full name is Antoni de Boulder, who is less than thirty years old.

He is the half-brother of the old duke, the current designated heir to the principality, and is given the title of Count of Tulip, and the fief is also an enclave, adjacent to the Castell.

This is an old tradition of the Boulder family.

Although the Castel Territory is an enclave, the Duke's Court has always had a small indirect Domain next to the Castel Territory as a fief for the next Duke, in order to strengthen its control over the Castel family.

By the way, Count Tulip is also the only son of Charlotte's aunt Lady Catherine, and is a cousin of the girl, and the relationship between the two families is not bad.

It's just that, although he is the heir of the Duchy of Boulder, Count Tulip is not interested in inheriting and governing the territory, and his interests and skills are all crooked.

He is obsessed with divination and astrology, and has almost zero management ability, making a mess of the little tulip collar, and even being driven back by the rioting lords.

Now he has completely let go of himself, and he either shrinks in the Duke's Palace all day to study divination or goes to the Mage Association to discuss astrological magic, and he doesn't want to care about anything, which makes the old duke quite disappointed.

These things are known to the nobles of the Duchy of Boulder.

Obviously, if the old duke dies, Count Tulip, who has no interest in the territory, will not be able to control the duchy at all, and the entire Duchy of Boulder is likely to be cut off by the Crescent royal family, and the third prince, who is Eleanor's husband, will be the next Duke of Boulder.

At that time, the Duchy of Boulder had changed its surname, and Anthony, the Count of Tulip, might have been excited to get rid of the dukedom, because he had more time to study astromagic......

Anyway, astrological magic is different from other magic, you don't need to burn more money, it's just your own CPU.

The old duke was still scolding and scolding, and the more he talked, the more angry he became:

"These greedy guys...... They all think that the main branch of my Border family is about to die, and the principality may change its surname, and they all want to take the opportunity to bite off a piece of meat from us! cough cough cough ......"

In the end, as if an old wound had been implicated, he coughed violently, and an abnormal flush appeared on his face......

"Lord Duke......"

Charlotte hurriedly got up, but the old duke raised his hand to signal:

"Ahem...... I'm fine. ”

Taking a deep breath, the old duke calmed down a lot, but his majestic voice still suppressed his anger, like a volcano that could erupt at any moment:

"Hijacking, assassination, rumor-mongering......"

"Humph!"

"Look, look what they've done all this time!"

As he spoke, he took out a crossbow from under the table and slammed it on the table in anger:

"These greedy bastards even dare to splash dirty water on my Boulder, do you really think that I can't cure them when I'm old?!"

Looking at the crossbow on the table, Charlotte's eyelids jumped.

She recognized it as the other crossbow carried by the free mercenary who had kidnapped her that night.

Before leaving that night, she asked Ness to look for it, but Ness couldn't find it for a long time.

Combined with Leno, who had left in a hurry at the time, she was now reminiscent.

I'm afraid that Leno would have recognized this as the Duke's Palace at that time, so he hurriedly returned with a crossbow to report the news.

Maybe...... At that time, he may have thought that it was his own hand, which is why he left in such a hurry.

"Looks like you recognize it, it's the same crossbow that the freeform mercenary used to hijack you that night!"

"Even now, they don't forget to stir up the relationship between Castel and Boulder!"

"If I hadn't called them over one by one these days and beaten them hard, they would have turned this Boulder City upside down!"

The old duke said angrily.

As if tired, he sat down in his seat again, and after a long sigh, rubbed his temples.

After a moment, the Duke continued:

"Castel and Boulder are in the same spirit, like brothers, although they are lords and divisions, lords and vassals, but as a feudal lord, I have never regarded Castel as an outsider."

"In the Second Star-Moon War, it was me and your grandfather who fought off the Fallen Star Kingdom army that tried to invade Castel's territory, and it was also me and your father who worked together to thwart the Northern Grand Duchy's plot to overthrow Castel......"

"At the same time, it is also the strong support of the Castel family to the successive dukes that makes these large and small nobles in the duchy keep to themselves and dare not be presumptuous!"

"And now, the hard times are coming again, and it's time for us to stand together again."

Speaking of this, the old duke turned around slowly, his expression majestic and serious:

"Without Boulder, sooner or later Castel will be annexed by the other lords."

"And without Castel, Boulder's strength will be greatly damaged, and he will not be able to withstand the pressure from the royal family and other nobles......"

"We are a family."

Hearing the implicit hint in Duke Boulder's words, Charlotte's heart jumped.

She slowly raised her head, and saw a pair of blue-gray eyes full of determination.

"Your Excellency Charlotte."

Duke Boulder's voice became serious.

After a series of foreshadowing, he finally said what he thought in his heart:

"The two of us...... Let's get married. ”

"Castel will eventually choose a marriage partner to consolidate his rule, but I think you also know that the worms of the duchy will only eat and wipe out the declining Castre......"

"Only the Boulder family has always been the solid backing of Castel."

"Only by joining forces can we get through the difficulties in front of us!"

Charlotte was silent.

What should come will come after all, although she knew that the duke was likely to want to marry her, but when she found out that the other party's will for marriage was so firm and so inevitable, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

She knew that after this banquet, the Castel family would probably break with the Border family.

At the same time, she will completely lose the protection from the Duke's Palace, and face the malice of other nobles......

"Is it Lord Leno?"

Charlotte asked.

A hint of surprise flashed in the duke's eyes, as if he was a little surprised by the girl's composure.

He nodded:

"That's right."

"Although Leno is an illegitimate child and has a bad background, he has already become a knight of the Silver Moon at a young age."

"He didn't even use the seed of source power, but he was also self-awakening like the vast majority of nobles!"

"I can guarantee that his potential on the transcendent path will surpass that of an old man like me!"

"Leno, though lacking some etiquette, is a righteous man, and a true holy knight at heart......"

"With him, you will have no worries, and I believe that he will give you happiness; And with Castel's support, Boulder will continue to be great too! ”

"It's a win-win."

The old duke looked sincere.

He was genuine, at least from Boulder's point of view, because he had already told all the family's problems, which was a very sincere approach in negotiations.

But Charlotte was about to curse.

Ghost win-win! Happiness of the devil!

An ordinary little girl may believe the other person's nonsense, but she doesn't!

It's a nice thing to say, but in the final analysis, isn't it because the Boulder family feels that they can't suppress the nobles below, so they want to strengthen their power with the help of the rich Castel?!

Yes, the situation in the Castel realm is more delicate, but the predicament of the Duke's family is not a secret.

Not only that, but the Ducal Palace is not the only option for Castel, let alone the best.

And she, even if she dies immediately, will never let a man ride on her!

Her fate can only be in her own hands!

Taking a deep breath, Charlotte looked up, intending to decline with the reason she had prepared.

It's just that the old duke suddenly waved his hand to stop:

"You don't have to be in such a hurry to tell me your answer, you can go back and think about it first."

"I know you have concerns, especially Leno's identity, bastard is a stain after all...... This is indeed difficult for the Castel family to accept. ”

"However, don't worry, at today's banquet, I will let you see the sincerity of the Duke's Mansion first......"

……

Charlotte didn't end up saying no on the spot.

The old duke seemed to have a premonition about her choice, and directly blocked her back.

This made Charlotte have some guesses in her heart about the "sincerity" that the other party said......

However, the girl didn't care.

No matter what the alleged sincerity of the Duke's Palace was, her answer would not change.

When she came to this banquet, her biggest purpose was to cut off the thoughts of these greedy nobles.

It's just that an in-depth exchange with the duke also let the girl know how bad the situation of the Castel family is.

It can be said that she is now dancing entirely on a tightrope, with fierce eyes in the abyss on both sides.

Back at the main venue of the banquet, the banquet had not yet begun, and the nobles gathered in twos and threes, chatting in low voices.

The girl picked up the goblet filled with milk from the waiter's tray and sat alone in the corner to rest.

From the carriage to the Duke's Palace, she was inevitably exposed to the sun and was somewhat unwell.

The chat with the Duke further drained her energy, and now the girl just wanted to rest.

The band from Luna Bay plays beautiful music, soothing and catchy.

But Charlotte only heard it noisy.

Especially when they saw her enter, the young nobles who seemed to be in heat became excited again, and before she could react, they surrounded her, showing their demeanor like doping roosters.

Smelling the heavy perfume they were intertwining, Charlotte felt like she was about to suffocate.

She's not in the mood to talk to these peacocks right now.

Looking at the handsome faces that would immediately get excited as soon as she looked at them, the girl squinted her eyes slightly, thinking about how to find something to do for these energetic guys, to pit them well, and at the same time to find some fun for herself to relax.

But at this moment, an elegant and gentle voice abruptly interrupted the courteous flattery of the young nobles:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is not a gentleman's behavior to disturb the lady's rest all the time in front of the lady."

"Don't you see the weariness between the lady's brows?"

Hearing this voice, Charlotte's heart jumped, because she felt that the tone and voice of this were somewhat familiar.

The girl looked up at the source of the sound, and then froze.

I saw that behind the young nobleman, there was a tall, handsome red-haired man in a black tuxedo.

He wears monocles, a faint smile in his scarlet pupils, and a goblet full of red wine in his hand in neat white gloves.

Not someone else.

It was the transcendent she had seen in the dream world of Blood Summoning, Sebas!