She raised her head and looked at Duke Bold who was standing in front of the map, thinking about what he meant by raising this question.
The old Duke did not wait for her answer.
Or maybe the brief silence made him think that the girl was not clear about the current situation, so he took the initiative to express his judgment:
"The Earl of Castres is located at the northernmost tip of the Kingdom, separated from the hinterland of the Principality by three principalities and two Counties."
"Among these three principalities, there are those who have always wanted to get Castel, who have always wanted to defeat Bold, and there are also loyal supporters of His Majesty the King, who support His Majesty in weakening his vassals and strengthening his authority.
Expand the royal territory..."
"It can be said that outside the principality... the situation is quite difficult, and everyone is eyeing the rich Castel!"
Having said this, the old Duke took a deep breath and his face became a little ugly:
"There is no peace within the principality either."
"Those families who are loyal to Boulder all have ulterior motives and their own plans!"
As he spoke, he seemed to have remembered something. A trace of anger flashed across the old Duke's face, and his voice trembled:
“Especially seeing the marriage between Eleanor and the third prince!”
"The third prince is ambitious, Eleanor has a cowardly character, and Anthony is a bastard who spends all his time on divination and astrology, doing nothing but not focusing on the management of the principality!"
"The Boulder family is full of trash! Shit!"
The old Duke angrily scolded his own family, not realizing that he was also a member of the Bold family and that he was also a piece of shit who could not produce a qualified heir.
Charlotte lowered her head slightly, thinking about the information related to the Bold family.
She had already studied the information on the Bold family and knew that the Duke of Bold was most annoyed by the marriage contract between his only daughter and the third prince.
At that time, the old Duke planned to win over the Crescent Royal Family and boasted about it happily after signing the marriage contract. However, he did not expect that he would be stabbed by the enemy's spearmen on the battlefield later, which directly prevented him from giving birth to an heir. In the end, he was killed.
The only daughter who had the instinct to recruit a son-in-law got married, and she was completely dumbfounded.
As for the Anthony the Duke mentioned, his full name is Anthony de Pold, and he is less than thirty years old.
He is the half-brother of the old Duke. He is currently the designated heir to the principality and has been named the Earl of Tulip. The fiefdom is also an enclave, adjacent to the Castel Territory.
This is also an old tradition of the Bold family.
Although the Castel Territory is an enclave, the Duke's Palace has always owned a small indirect territory next to the Castel Territory as the fiefdom of the next duke to strengthen its control over the Castel family.
By the way, Earl Tulip is also the only child of Charlotte's aunt Lady Catherine. He is the girl's cousin. The relationship between the two families is not bad. In Charlotte's memory, he even took her to play. He was a very elegant and very good girl.
A gentle and considerate gentleman who makes people feel comfortable to get along with.
However, although he is the heir to the Principality of Boulder, Earl Tulip is not interested in inheriting and managing the territory, and his interests and skills are all wrong.
He was obsessed with divination and astrology, and his management ability was almost zero. He made a mess of the small Tulip Territory, and was even driven back by the rioting territorial residents.
Now he has completely let himself go. He spends all day either huddled in the Duke's Mansion studying divination or going to the Mages Association to discuss astrological magic. He is unwilling to care about anything, which makes the old Duke quite disappointed.
All the nobles of the Principality of Bold know these things.
Obviously, if the old duke dies, Earl Tulip, who has no interest in the territory, will not be able to control the duchy at all. The entire Duchy of Bold is likely to be taken advantage of by the Crescent Royal Family, and the third prince, Eleanor's husband, will be the next one.
The Duke of Boulder.
At that time, the Principality of Bold had changed its surname, and the prodigal Count Anthony of Tulip might be excited about getting rid of his duke status, because he would have more time to study astrological magic...
Anyway, astrology magic is different from other magics. You don't need to burn more money, you only burn your own CPU.
The old Duke was still cursing and talking, getting angrier and angrier:
"These greedy guys... all think that the main branch of my Bold family is about to die out, and the principality may change its surname. They all want to take the opportunity to bite a piece of flesh from us! Cough cough cough..."
At the end of the sentence, it seemed that he was involved in an old injury. He coughed violently, and an abnormal blush appeared on his face...
"Your Majesty the Duke..."
Charlotte stood up quickly, but the old Duke raised his hand to signal:
"Ahem...it's the same old problem, 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 time:
"Hijacking, assassination, spreading rumors..."
"snort!"
"Look, look what they have done during this time!"
As he spoke, he took out a hand crossbow from under the table and threw it on the table angrily:
"These greedy bastards actually dare to pour dirty water on me, Bold. Do you really think that I can't cure them now that I'm old?!"
Looking at the hand crossbow on the table, Charlotte's eyelids jumped.
She recognized it, and it was exactly the other hand crossbow carried by the free mercenary who kidnapped her that night.
Before leaving that night, she specifically asked Nis to search for it and bring it with her, but Nis searched for it for a long time but couldn't find it.
Combined with the fact that Leno left in a hurry at that time, she now has some thoughts.
I'm afraid Lenault had already recognized that this was the Duke's Palace at that time, so he hurried back with a hand crossbow to report the news.
Maybe... at that time, he might have thought that it was his own fault, so he left in such a hurry.
"It seems you recognized it. This is the hand crossbow used by the free mercenary who kidnapped you that night!"
"Even now, they don't forget to drive a wedge between Castel and Bold!"
"If I hadn't called them here one by one these days and beat them hard, they would have turned Boulder City upside down!"
The old Duke said angrily.
As if to say he was tired, he sat down on his seat again, let out a long sigh, and rubbed his temples.
After a while, the Duke continued:
"Castle and Bold are like brothers and brothers. Although they are the main family and branch families, lords and vassals, as a lord, I have never regarded Castel as an outsider."
"During the Second Star-Moon War, it was your grandfather and I who repelled the Fallen Star Kingdom's army who tried to invade Castel territory. It was also your father and I who worked together to defeat the Grand Duchy of the North's attempt to overthrow Castel.
The conspiracy..."
"At the same time, it is the Castel family's strong support for successive dukes that allows these nobles, large and small, in the principality to stay on their own terms and not dare to act arrogantly!"
"And now, difficult times are coming again, and it's time for us to stand together again."
Having said this, the old Duke turned around slowly, his expression majestic and serious:
"Without Bold, Castel will be annexed by other lords sooner or later."
"Without Castel, Bold's strength will be greatly reduced, and he will be unable to withstand the pressure from the royal family and other nobles..."
"We are originally a family."
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat when she heard the hint hidden in Duke Bold's words.
She slowly raised her head and saw a pair of blue-gray eyes full of firm will.
"Your Excellency Charlotte."
Duke Bold's voice became serious.
After a series of preparations, he finally expressed what he was thinking:
"Our two families...let's get married."
"Castle will eventually choose a marriage partner to consolidate his rule, but I think you also know that those bugs in the principality will only eat up the declining Castel..."
"Only the Bold family has always been Castel's solid backing."
"Only by uniting can we overcome the difficulties at hand!"
Charlotte was silent.
What was supposed to come would eventually come. Although she knew that the Duke would most likely want to marry her, she still couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she found out that the other party was so determined to marry and was so determined to win.
She knew that after this banquet, the Castel family might break with the Bold family.
At the same time, she will also completely lose the protection from the Duke's Palace and face the malicious intentions of other nobles...
"Is it Mr. Lenore?"
Charlotte asked.
A trace of surprise flashed in the Duke's eyes, as if he was a little surprised by the girl's calmness.
He nodded:
"That's right."
"Although Leno is an illegitimate child and has a bad background, he has become a Knight of the Silver Moon at a young age."
"He didn't even use the Seed of Source Power, but was self-awakening like most nobles!"
"I can guarantee that his potential on the extraordinary path is even greater than that of an old man like me!"
"Although Leno lacks some etiquette, he is righteous and is a true holy knight deep down..."
"With him here, you will have no worries, and I believe he will definitely give you happiness; and with Castel's support, Bold will continue to be great!"
"It's a win-win."
The old Duke looked sincere.
He is really sincere, at least from Bold's point of view, because he has already told all the family's difficulties, which is indeed a very sincere approach in negotiations.
But Charlotte almost wanted to curse.
Ghost's win-win! Ghost's happiness!
An ordinary little girl might believe the other person's lies, but she didn't!
It sounds nice, but in the final analysis, isn't it because the Bold family feels that it can no longer control the nobles below, so it wants to use the wealthy Castel to strengthen its own power?!
Yes, the situation in the Castel territory is relatively delicate, but the plight of the Duke's family is not a secret.
Not only that, the Duke's Palace is not Castre's only choice, let alone the best choice.
And she, even if she were to die immediately, would never let a man ride on her!
Her destiny can only be controlled by herself!
Taking a deep breath, Charlotte raised her head and planned to decline with the excuse she had prepared.
But the old Duke suddenly waved his hand to stop him:
"You don't have to be so anxious to tell me your answer. You can go back and think about it first."
"I know you have concerns, especially with Leno's identity. An illegitimate child is a stain after all... This is indeed difficult for the Castel family to accept."
"But don't worry, at today's banquet, I will let you see the sincerity of the Duke's Palace first..."
…
In the end, Charlotte was unable to say a polite refusal on the spot.
The old Duke seemed to have a premonition of her choice and blocked her back directly.
This made Charlotte have some guesses about the "sincerity" mentioned by the other party...
However, the girl didn't care.
No matter what the Duke's so-called sincerity is, her answer will not change.
Her biggest purpose in coming to this banquet was to stop the thoughts of these greedy nobles.
However, an in-depth exchange with the Duke also let the girl know how bad the situation of the Castel family really is.
It can be said that she is completely dancing on the tightrope now, and the abyss on both sides are full of eager eyes.
Returning to the main venue of the banquet, the banquet has not yet started, and the nobles gathered together 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.
During the journey from the carriage to the Duke's Palace, she was inevitably exposed to the sun and felt somewhat unwell.
Chatting with the Duke further consumed her energy, and now the girl just wanted to rest.
The band from Luna Bay played beautiful music, soothing and pleasant.
But Charlotte only thought it was noisy.
Especially when they saw her entering, the young nobles who seemed to be in heat became excited again. Before she could react, they surrounded her, showing themselves like cocks on stimulants.
of grace.
Smelling the thick perfume intertwined on their bodies, Charlotte felt like she was about to suffocate.
She was in no mood to talk to these peacocks now.
Looking at the handsome faces that made her excited immediately just by looking at them, the girl squinted her eyes slightly, thinking about how to find something to do for these energetic guys, trick them, and at the same time
Have some fun for yourself and relax.
But at this moment, an elegant and gentle voice suddenly interrupted the young nobles’ attentive flattery:
"Gentlemen, it is not the behavior of a gentleman to always surround a lady and disturb her rest."
"Don't you see the fatigue on the lady's brow?"
Hearing this voice, Charlotte's heart jumped because she felt that the tone and voice of this slut were somewhat familiar.
The girl raised her head and looked towards the source of the sound, then was stunned for a moment.
Behind the young noble, he saw a tall, handsome red-haired man wearing a black tuxedo.
He wore a monocle, with a faint smile in his scarlet pupils, and held a goblet filled with red wine in his neat white-gloved hands.
Not someone else.
It was the extraordinary person she saw in the dream world of Blood Summoning—Sebas!