The cold winds of the north came faster than anyone could have imagined, as if it had only happened overnight, and the whole city of Turin was transformed from a lush garden to a bleak dead wood. The bustling streets have lost their former liveliness, and people prefer to snuggle up to their homes by the fireplace and drink hot soup while chatting with friends and family for a short winter.

But for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Nafario Brindis, the winter was not so pleasant – the situation in Turin was far more severe than in other seasons, with the supply of charcoal, the operation of grain storage, the quantity of goods on the market...... It seems that everything is extremely scarce, and the price of goods has even reached a very dangerous point, even in the winter of previous years, it has not been so severe.

But the reason is that he has bitterness and cannot say...... The riots of the citizens, the law and order problems caused by various riots against the Dominicans, and the fact that they had previously joined forces to "besiege" the commander of the Garrison Corps of the capital, Greene Tern, all kinds of gangsters and gangs sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and even many large chambers of commerce were reluctant to open easily.

The only good thing is that the southern cargo ships are still unaffected - although it is not known whether Holard Minest was concerned about his position at the side of His Majesty Horace, or whether he was really courting the nobles of Turin, several cargo ships laden with grain arrived at the port of Kings every day, ensuring the capital's most basic supplies.

But it wasn't just that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was really anxious, the head of the emissary called Cosimo Otovic was simply a boneless - he actually took the lead in saying what he originally used to be a killer threat, claiming that as long as Turin was willing to continue to maintain the peace treaty with Dominica, the Otovík family was willing to negotiate with all Dominica chambers of commerce to gradually cancel the debts of all Turin nobles!

This literally cut off Nafario's back path...... Almost all the old nobles, who were heavily in debt, rejoiced, and all began to retreat, even forgetting what they had formed the alliance for in the first place, and completely forgetting the great slogans of "Pure Turin", "Holy People of the Radiant Cross"!

Although he warned the fellows again and again that these Dominicians were all untrustworthy liars, and their so-called "promises" were absolutely unreliable, when the temptation to no longer have to bear the debt was in front of them, everyone began to abandon him, and even accused Nafario of standing and talking without a backache - the Brindis family had never tasted the taste of their ancestral homes being mortgaged!

...... Betrayal, it is simply a naked betrayal, but it is helpless.

At dusk, a tired Nafario walked up the steps of the palace and walked towards the Chancellor's residence, which was not very wealthy, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he had to avoid suspicion in the first place, and the whole family lived in the not very spacious courtyard.

"Watch your step, Lord Nafario. Frece hurriedly walked over from behind and hugged his shoulder, his expression was still so angry: "Those damned traitors are not worth your wounds for them, a group of poor ghosts who only have money in their eyes, they are not at all a noble Turin nobleman!"

"I am honored that the Friess family is willing to stand in this sacred alliance despite such a difficult winter. Nafario glanced at the fat boy behind him, who had just become his clerk through connections half a month ago, and had heard of him inciting the citizens and almost devouring the envoys alive.

"But we would not have succeeded without the nobility of the entire city of Turin - to speak of His Majesty Horace, we must have enough voices. Nafario smiled bitterly, his unconcealed exhaustion made his eyes bloodshot: "It's definitely not for nothing that those Dominiques would make such generous conditions, there must be someone helping them!"

"Edward, Edward Wittwood is definitely this guy!" Frees called out the name almost without hesitation, gritting his teeth, "His Highness Anson trusts him very much, and he will leave everything to this guy - it must have been this guy who leaked the secret to catch you off guard." ”

Edward Witwood...... That's right, this guy was also there that day in the Imperial Council, very likely. Nafario nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly seemed to think of something important, and an extremely gloomy smile appeared on his pale face: "Fris, you go and gather all those who are still willing to come now, I want to discuss something very important with them!"

"If this plan succeeds, not only will Edward, a traitor, be able to die without a place to be buried, but His Majesty Horace will definitely declare war against Dominica immediately!" Nafario trembled with excitement: "That person, that person will be happy, and then we will be able to completely clean up the city, so that those little ones have no place to hide!"

Frés looked even more agitated than Nafario, his fat body rushing down the stairs at an alarming speed, and Nafario's frenzied cries echoed in his ears, "Let those little ones have no place to hide!"

........................ "The flaming goshawk of Marchelus will rise from the south of the earth...... Edward picked up the note with this line written on it from the coffee table with some surprise: "You can really surprise me, you can even get a note that Master Holard wrote in his study!"

"Thanks also to the Honourable Lord Lawrence...... Although he himself may not have known. The silver-haired wizard with the coffee cup was wrapped in a blanket, and he shivered a little when he laughed: "This sentence reveals a lot of information, but the premise is ...... Do you understand what it means?"

“...... Don't understand. Edward smiled and glanced at Marco - he hated the look on the face of the guy when he was going around the bend with himself, "Maybe we know everything, and Wizard Marco Tasker can help me with a trick or two?"

"Uh...... Of course!" The silver-haired wizard couldn't help but shudder again: "This actually involves how our noble Majesty Horace inherited the Kingdom of Turin. ”

"To understand a little more, Sir Leonardo said that this Majesty is the only King who is not a Knights of the Sacred Tree, and that it was impossible to become a king in the first place, but in the end it succeeded. ”

But at that time, His Majesty Horace was not the best candidate for everyone, and at that time more people were more optimistic about his younger brother, His Royal Highness Berrion Marcherus, who was a true knight and was very popular in the city of Turin, his wife came from the oldest family in Turin, while His Majesty Horace chose only one royal knight as his wife. ”

"But it was His Majesty Horace who won in the end, and I am sure that Grand Master Mercer Kane must have contributed a lot, for he was so loyal. Edward nodded knowingly: "So those old Turin nobles must be quite dissatisfied. ”

"Yes, but there is nothing they can do - Berion has been defeated by His Majesty Horace and canonized as the Duke of Hantu - the ancient kingdom of Hantu is the last kingdom to be subjugated by Turin, it is a country of hills and large forests, the area that is actually controlled by the kingdom is actually very small, bandits and bandits are everywhere, and there are many monsters that have gradually disappeared entrenched in the wilderness. ”

Therefore, for this duke, the territory he can really control is only around the "Hantu City", which is indeed extremely shabby - not to mention that he has to be on guard against rebellious bandits and monsters who don't know when they will plague the countryside, these are not just words.

"The city of Turin was built by His Majesty Levy Marcherus three hundred years ago after the conquest of the kingdom of Turin, and many of the rich and bankrupt of Turin moved here, becoming the key to the kingdom's control of this area. Marco said as he compared with Edward on a somewhat worn map at hand: "Since three hundred years ago, the Duke of Hantu City has been one of the titles left to the heir of the kingdom, and now His Majesty Horace has to give it to his younger brother. ”

"Is this title just fictitious, or is it the kind with real power in your hands?"

"Of course, there is real power - the Duke of Hantu City can nominally have ten banner regiments and twice as many auxiliaries, and when fully manned, it is an army of nearly 10,000 people. Marco then spread his hands: "But that's impossible, a city alone can't afford to raise so many soldiers, and one or two thousand people is very powerful - don't compare it with the Knights of the Sacred Tree, that is the kingdom's premier army, which can gather the elite of three thousand people anytime and anywhere, and then double the number in a month!"

"So...... Our Lord Nafario Brindis is not as loyal as he seems?" Edward shook his head amusedly, "What do you think Horace would choose if he told him about this—whether to trust his own brother, or me, an outsider who has not been loyal for long?"

"It's a difficult choice for a king, but what I'm going to tell you has nothing to do with it. Marco smiled, his voice steady, "What I want to tell you is only about you. ”

"Oh...... Tell me about it?"

"Lord Nafario is gathering his men to assassinate His Highness Anson - but you're the real target of the assassination. The silver-haired wizard's gaze was meaningful, "Do you think this has anything to do with you?"