As Tails stumbled past the guards, and with a pair of eyes more fierce than usual, especially the warning from Nicollet, through the old, heavy, curved door, and into the Necajou Library, which he knew so well, the Prince of the Stars was worried about what should have been a casual and relaxed meeting.

Is Thelma aware of the political maelstrom she finds herself in?

Unconsciously, the girl is already in an inescapable chess game, and she is facing old and spicy chess players such as Rumba, Ronnie, and the vassals of Longxiao City.

Tails didn't know how much Lisban had told her, he didn't know what the Grand Duchess was in now, and he didn't know what kind of attitude and position he should use to face Selma.

Face the girl she used to be, the lady she is now.

The library was still the same, the curved corridor filled by rows of tall bookshelves, and his vision was swept by the interweaving of light and shadow: the passages beside the bookshelves were brightly and clearly illuminated by the reflective gems of the braziers and ceilings, and the shelves that cut off the light were only dim and hazy.

Anxiously and anxiously, Tails walked between light and shadow, past rows of bookshelves to the place where he and the two girls had first met six years earlier—the glass case where the first treaty between the two countries was kept.

"You're late. ”

The Grand Duke of Longxiao City sat quietly on a chair, and on her knees lay a thick open book.

Tails looked around hesitantly, and unsurprisingly, at the ends of the cloisters on either side of the cloister, the figures of the Jinx Lady and the two maids, the former looking like statues, clasped hands, gracefully and nobly looking straight ahead.

The prince took a deep breath and walked over to Thelma, lowering his voice.

"Thelma, listen, I'm ......"

The Grand Duke, who didn't raise her head, interrupted him, unable to see her expression clearly, but her voice was calm: "This batch of books was newly collected by merchants from the Dragon Kiss Land, and I heard that many of them are ancient books and manuscripts. ”

Tails raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that Selma had interrupted him.

He hesitated for a moment, then pulled over a wooden chair, turned the back of the chair toward Selma, and sat down with a heavy face, his arms resting on the back of the chair.

At that moment, the prince felt a little parched.

"Hey," he said stiffly in the face of his old friend of more than six years: "I...... I've heard what happened on Politica Day. ”

The girl did not answer, but her hand did not turn the page again.

"I'd say, uh," Tails felt like he had become clumsy after actually meeting Thelma, and he couldn't figure out where to start, so he could only stiffly say, "Thank you for protecting me." ”

The Grand Duchess still didn't look up, but she snorted a little through her nose, and if it weren't for Tails' hearing, she almost thought she was wandering.

"But," Tails sighed, "I've heard about ...... too"

"I've just flipped through the catalogue of these new books," however, the Grand Duchess interrupted him again, "There are a lot of things in them that you care about, such as the Endgame." ”

"And the dragon......"

Selma's face still drooped deeply, almost parallel to the book.

Tails' face tightened.

Her emotions weren't right.

"Thelma. ”

"About Politics Day," Tails gritted his teeth, remembering the two conversations Putile had with him, "you...... I ......"

"Well, marriage. ”

Tails was stunned: "Huh?"

Thelma looked up slowly, revealing a smile with a faint astringency.

"That's what you want to talk to me about when you train today," the Grand Duchess sneered softly, "isn't it?"

Tails couldn't help but notice that there was some red streak in the girl's eyes.

He nodded subconsciously:

"Hmm. ”

Thelma closed the book on her lap and sighed softly.

"So, what do you want to say?"

She put the books on the table next to her and said bluntly, "Recommend a husband to me?"

Thelma raised an eyebrow as she said this, looking rather aggressive.

Tails's words were a little sluggish, his mouth opened and closed, but in the end he could only come out with a few words: "I ......"

"I want to ask ......"

Thelma tilted her head slightly, her blue eyes staring at him motionlessly behind her glasses.

For the first time, Tails found that this little girl's gaze was so difficult to resist.

After a few seconds, the prince, who was still unable to organize his words, had to exhale and pretend to be relaxed: "So, about your marriage...... What they say. ”

"Any candidates?"

This time, Thelma stared at him for ten seconds.

Makes Tails feel worried.

Eventually, Thelma exhaled through her nose and shook her head away.

"It's those people, the counts who are directly subordinate to the vassals, like - Earl Hearst. She said lightly.

"Hearst?" Tails frowned, "The Earl of Ironshire?"

"yes. ”

Selma added expressionlessly, "Among the direct vassals of Longxiao City, he is the same age as me. ”

The prince grabbed the back of his chair and straightened up.

"Age equivalent?"

Tails' eyes widened, and he subconsciously exhaled, and said disdainfully after the initial surprise: "Yes, I'm only twenty years older than you." ”

Thelma gave him an intriguing look:

"Or the son of a nobleman, the Earl of Nagil had a son in his early twenties, who was the heir to the family. ”

"Little Najir?" Tails frowned again:

"Ha, I've heard that his reputation for romance is known from the maid in the city to the sow in the suburbs......"

The Grand Duchess narrowed her eyes in confusion: "How do you know?"

Tails snorted lightly and shook his head: "Grapevine in the back kitchen: during the banquet, the maids have to ...... Forget it, it doesn't matter. ”

Thelma pursed her lips, as if dissatisfied: "If it really doesn't work, there is also Charles......"

This time, Tails interrupted her.

"Lord Regent, Count of Lisbane?"

The prince seemed to have seen the most incredible thing: "My God, that old man even has a grandson!"

"Tails. ”

Thelma seemed to have finally had enough of Tails' tone, and she said coldly:

"I'm talking about Charles's grandson. ”

Tails: "......"

Thelma stared at the ground dissatisfied, and an embarrassed Tails rested her chin on her arm, speechless for a moment.

Finally, the silence between the two was broken by the Grand Duchess: "Tails. ”

I heard her ask in a low voice with a tired voice, "Don't you want to see me get married?"

Tails didn't speak right away.

"Thelma," Tails spoke in a low voice, "Tell me the truth." ”

"Do you really want to get married?"

Thelma jerked her head up, her face tense.

"Does it matter?"

The girl's words sounded like anger to the prince: "You know, I must get married. ”

Tails frowned slightly, straightened up and moved his chair closer.

"We've known each other for six years, you know ......"

The prince had a serious expression: "I don't want to see you unhappy, I don't want to see you forced to do something unwilling." ”

"Because ......"

Thelma looked at him in a daze.

Because I made you the way you are.

Tails closed his mouth and said to himself gloomily.

In front of his eyes, the moment when Little Slipper promised to help him six years ago, and the moment when Little Slipper was announced as the Grand Duchess of Longxiao City.

Tails sighed and leaned his chin back in his chair.

After a few seconds, the Grand Duchess turned her head and looked to the other side.

"Even if I don't want to, so what?" Selma's voice came abruptly:

"What can you do?"

"Can you forbid them to marry me?"

The female archduke still tilted her head, unable to see her expression clearly, but her shoulders were trembling slightly: "It's still possible...... Don't let me marry them?"

Tails lifted his gaze, melancholy.

She didn't like it—he told himself.

Tails sighed: "If you don't want to, then don't marry them." ”

Thelma suddenly turned her head and stared at him coldly.

"Hmph. She scoffed.

"If I don't marry them," the girl's gaze was strange at that moment: "Then who should I marry?"

Tails only felt his eyelids jump.

Before the Grand Duchess could say anything strange, he jerked up from his chair.

"That, I mean ......"

"You're the Grand Duchess," Tails coughed, scratching his head as he remembered as a big vigilante, "as long as you stand up to your will, no one can force you to do what you don't want to do - if you don't want a husband, then you don't have to force yourself to marry." ”

With that, Tails only felt uncomfortable, and he shrugged his shoulders and smiled awkwardly.

Thelma looked at him deeply and didn't say a word.

After a long time, the female archduke spoke softly: "You have also seen today's envoy of the Black Sand Lord...... Charles told me that the Freedom League wasn't that simple......"

"Charles also said that Longxiao City has no choice, if I want to win the support of the vassals and maintain the authority of the Grand Duke......"

"Then you can't just marry someone!"

Tails interrupted her and quickly added, "You can't hope to win support with marriage." ”

"Think about it, you're only one person," the prince took a deep breath and looked at Selma's straight eyes: "And there are six counts in Longxiao City alone, no matter who you marry......"

"Maybe you can calm the storm for a while and get through this crisis. ”

"But at the cost: you'll soon be drawn into a deeper level of infighting in Longxiao City," Tails sighed:

"Because your new husband is one of them, you will no longer be able to stay out of the relationship between your vassals, as the supreme and impartial arbiter, as their vassal...... It's time to rule the land. ”

"Moreover, the grand duke who compromises with the nobles with her own marriage will not be able to exchange her loyalty. ”

This time, Selma stared at him for a long time.

Tails was a little embarrassed.

"You know," the girl's voice drifted slightly:

Charles said the same thing. ”

"Lisban?" Tails said to a spirit, "He's against your marriage?"

Thelma didn't answer him directly, she smirked, "But the vassals will be very upset." ”

She said listlessly, "What should I do?

"They were already dissatisfied with me, saying that I was unstable, not good-looking, immature in dressing and talking......"

"If I still refuse to marry them and have no children......"

The female grand duke sighed slightly, a little depressed and tired: "I know: in the future, whether it is to send troops or decrees, they will not cooperate obediently." ”

Tails let out a sigh.

For some reason, after knowing that Lisban also opposed the lord's marriage, he felt a lot more relieved inexplicably.

But when he turned his head, he saw the counteness with a depressed and bitter expression.

Tails clenched his fists slightly.

He sat back in his chair.

"No, Thelma," said the prince earnestly, "it has nothing to do with your manners and manners, nor with your dress or conversation. ”

"It doesn't even matter if I'm married or not, whether I have children or not. ”

"Your vassals, they have this attitude......"

Thelma looked up and looked at him blankly.

Tails' fists clenched tighter and tighter, and he took a deep breath.

"Because it's because it's ......"

But before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted again by the big girl.

"Because I'm a female archduchess," Selma chuckled, tilting her head back, leaning back in her chair, and looking diagonally at the row of bookshelves in the distance, "It's a woman." ”

"Let them look down on women. ”

Tails froze.

"Yes, I know," Thelma's voice was low, unemotional at first glance, "I always knew that." ”

"They are not used to, and they don't like the rule of a woman, whether it is them or the enemy, they feel that such a dragon city is not safe, they think I am weak and ignorant......"

"So they urged me to get married: the Grand Duchess married the local nobles of Longxiao City, and left a seed in my belly, bearing the name of Walton, and one day handing over the throne to him. Then, Longxiao City was able to settle down. ”

Tails didn't speak, but his hand gripping the back of the chair harder.

"On the day of the government, no matter what I say, all eyes will only be on Charles," Selma's words seem to be unconsciously dreaming: "If you are right, they will cast a look of approval at Charles, and if you are wrong, they will look at him with reproach." ”

"Not only this time, but it was the same before. ”

"It will be the same in the future. ”

Thelma shook her shoulders slightly, and smiled numbly.

"My so-called vassals, no one cares about me," the archduchess's voice was weak, she leaned her whole weight on the back of her chair, as if she had lost all strength to support herself, "All they care about is the title of archduchess and Walton's blood. ”

"And myself, it doesn't matter at all—except my belly, because there's Walton's seed there. ”

Tails gritted his teeth slightly.

Selma took a deep breath and looked at Tails with red eyes.

She suddenly chuckled.

"Maybe they're right, Tails. ”

Thelma bit her lower lip and was expressionless: "Archduchess or something, maybe I can't do it at all." ”

"Maybe I was born weak and should rely on others. ”

The archduchess's voice became more and more ethereal.

In the thick and quaint library, she leaned back in her chair and said quietly: "When I was a child, I leaned on Alex and was an unknown little maid. ”

"When I grow up, I rely on you and Your Majesty Nunn, and rely on your strength to become the Grand Duchess. ”

"Now, I rely on the Charles, who rules Longxiao City for me, and deals with things I can't think of. ”

"In the future, I must also rely on my husband and the blood in my belly to stabilize Longxiao City and live the rest of my life. ”

"What's more, I don't even ...... Walton's blood"

"Bang!"

The prince slapped the back of his chair.

"Thelma!" Tails said sternly, scolding the stunned girl.

"Thelma, little slippery head," the prince took a deep breath and put on the most serious expression he could think of, "Do you know why I'm pulling you to skip class?"

"Especially Ms. Jinx's etiquette class. ”

Without waiting for an answer, Tails spoke.

"Because you are a grand duchess," the boy clenched his fists, "but they taught weaving, sewing, embroidery, playing, singing, dancing, and housekeeping." ”

"They treat you like a duchess. ”

"The Grand Duchess and the Grand Duchess, they are the same word," Tails gritted his teeth, "but there is a world of difference, it is by no means the same!"

(End of chapter)