Marquis Henry turned his head and found that there was no one behind him.
The soft little hand that was originally resting on the shoulder also disappeared.
The call from Penny just now was like a dream.
But his mind and thoughts have changed.
Facing Grand Duke Jonathan's two-pronged intimidation, the fear and worry in his heart disappeared at this moment.
Then he stared at Archduke Jonathan in the projection with sharp eyes and answered word by word.
"The storm is coming, I will protect the Lancaster family!"
"Put away your contempt, my lord the Duke."
"Children born of the storm will never yield!"
Lancaster's family motto begins with storm and ends with protection.
Legend has it that the ancestors of the Lancaster family came from the ocean and once crossed the terrible stormy ocean.
So when Penny proposed to "sell" the giant city and leave the mainland with her entire family to find colonies in the ocean, Marquis Henry did not express any objection.
In fact, the ocean is where the Lancastrians end up.
And the fighting spirit of the Salt People and Iron People still flows in their blood.
Affected by the [Mark of the Rose], Marquis Henry became more evil and timid, and suddenly he no longer feared Archduke Jonathan.
On the surface, his answer seemed like nothing more than an imposing declaration.
But Grand Duke Jonathan listened to the firmness hidden in it.
This performance undoubtedly exceeded his expectations.
It is not the result of a Machiavellian game, but an accident!
Facing Marquis Henry who suddenly changed his attitude, Archduke Jonathan only hesitated for a moment and then changed his expression. His tense face relaxed and became gentle again.
"As expected of a descendant of the storm!"
"In that case, let's talk about the conditions."
"What exactly do you want?"
"More fiefdoms? Money? Resources? Or talents?"
"Henry, tell me what you want."
"I can make it happen for you, as long as you swear on family honor not to hurt Carter."
If the hard one doesn't work, then use the soft one.
Archduke Jonathan has a lot of experience in this matter, and he can fall out of favor faster than turning over a book.
He is not the kind of fool who will follow his anger and ignite everything.
Hearing his words, Marquis Henry slowly raised his lips.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty the Duke!"
"I swear on the honor of the Lancaster family that I will never harm His Highness the Prince."
"As long as he is willing to leave the giant city of Lentax, he can leave at any time."
"The garrison and none of my men will stop him."
Marquis Henry was not completely insane. The throbbing of the inexplicable call just now made him dare to speak out against the Duke. But now that the Duke has taken a step back, he has also wisely changed his mind.
Of course he would not take the initiative to harm Prince Carter, but he could not guarantee what Princess Anna would do.
And he also knew that Prince Carter would not leave the giant city voluntarily.
As expected, this reply made Grand Duke Jonathan's face darken again.
However, having learned from previous lessons, the Grand Duke did not speak harshly again this time.
His expression became extremely cold, and his tone was terrifyingly calm.
"Okay, remember your oath."
After saying this, without waiting for Marquis Henry to reply further, the message constructed by the projection suddenly collapsed and disappeared.
The tense Marquis Henry breathed a long sigh of relief.
He patted his forehead in a daze, the feeling of heart palpitations still not dissipating.
Just when he vaguely figured out some key points, there was a knock on the door outside the study.
"Dong dong dong..."
"Father, are you busy?"
…
Imperial City of San Sebastian, inside the Sunset Hill Castle where Archduke Jonathan lives.
Angry curses echoed back and forth in the spacious and luxurious bedroom.
"Damn Henry!"
"Damn Lancaster!"
"The despicable and smelly blood of the salt people!"
Archduke Jonathan, who had previously maintained his dignity during the distant projection communication, completely lost his composure.
He was smearing and cursing like an angry tiger.
The wall decoration in the bedroom trembled violently as he cursed.
It can be seen that he has strong individual strength.
Just when he was jumping up and down in anger, a petite woman with bare feet and no hair hugged his waist from behind.
This woman has long gray-brown hair that falls directly to her waist.
Her height is less than 1.5 meters, which is in sharp contrast to the Archduke Jonathan, who is nearly 1.9 meters tall.
When hugging, her head was right against Jonathan's broad back.
"Honey, calm down."
"Anger is burning your sanity."
A clear voice like an empty valley appeared slowly.
This young woman's words seemed to have magical power and successfully extinguished Archduke Jonathan's anger.
"call…"
He took a deep breath, and the fluctuations in the Grand Duke's chest gradually calmed down.
His expression also returned to a relatively calm state.
"Thank you, dear Faile."
The woman loosened her arms around him and took two steps back slightly.
She has small and beautiful facial features and a pair of pure blue eyes. She looks like she is only eighteen or nineteen years old, but her demeanor is unexpectedly mature.
This contrast is enough to drive any man crazy when he sees her.
But here, she was the private concubine of Grand Duke Jonathan.
"what happened?"
The woman named Feier asked softly.
She lifted her hair and tied it into a long single ponytail.
When the hair on the back was tied up, a strange tattoo was revealed.
It was a triangle formed by two hands, with a blooming orchid in the middle.
Upon hearing her words, Grand Duke Jonathan sighed.
Then he told her everything about Prince Carter's situation and the changes in Marquis Henry.
After a long time, Mayfair smiled softly.
"There are several solutions to this problem."
"The first is to contact Grand Duke Chloë directly and ask him to give up Prince Carter."
"As a price, you may have to cede part of the kingdom's fiefdom."
"The second is to send experts who have not accepted the blood contract at night to rush to the giant city of Lentax to forcefully bring back His Highness the Prince."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Even if the giant city of Lentax has closed the teleportation node, you can get there quickly with the teleportation scroll."
Neither method is complicated.
How to weigh it depends on Grand Duke Jonathan himself.
The first method is the simplest and crudest, since Marquis Henry has turned to Princess Anna and Grand Duke Chloé.
Then he would directly skip the Marquis link and contact the main messenger behind the scenes.
As long as Grand Duke Chloé is willing to give up targeting Prince Carter, he believes that Henry will have no reason to continue to persist.
But I'm afraid it's impossible to get Grand Duke Chloé to relent and not cede the five or six giant cities under his command!
This will give Grand Duke Chloë a more powerful force in one fell swoop.
In the next battle to win the championship, Jonathan will be completely at a disadvantage.
This makes Carter, who was not very capable in the first place, even less competitive.
It was considered a complete act of flesh-cutting, and it hurt Grand Duke Jonathan’s own vitality, as well as the layout he had devoted decades of effort to!
So he quickly rejected the plan.
You don’t need to think about it to know how the Duke of Chloé would laugh at him when he took the initiative to contact him and ask for the cession of territory!
Thinking of this, he decisively refused.
"No, I don't want to see Chloe's damn proud face!"
"He's just a despicable duke with a different surname!"
"His ancestors are just the ancestors of Pendragon, the knights of the great King Arthur!"
"It's absolutely impossible for me to bow to him!"
"And that guy is extremely greedy. He won't miss the opportunity to cut my flesh and drink my blood!"
Hearing his words, Feier just smiled slightly.
"What about the second option?"
I saw Grand Duke Jonathan looking thoughtful.
There are many legendary masters under his command, but without exception, they all signed the Shadow Dragon Blood Pact.
In other words, those masters like [Glorious Warrior Kaji Mizzit] and the Dabos Gladiator Twins are unable to defy Prince Carter's will and cannot bring him back by force.
At this time, Fei'er smiled brightly and put forward a new suggestion.
"You don't have to worry."
"I can issue the Orchid Order and dispatch experts from the Three Extremes Church for you."
"Of course, in exchange, the church needs the huge city of Zihe Castle under your command."
This suggestion made Archduke Jonathan's eyes light up, and then he sneered.
"Hehehe..."
"Greedy little grab."
"You have exchanged your pure virgin orchid body for the church for a large area of land from the Rainbow Peak Mountains to the giant city of Torruela."
"Do you still want Zihe Castle now?"
"That's a huge city, one of the four battle fortresses in the central region of the kingdom."
Faced with this contemptuous ridicule, Fei'er was not angry, but the smile on her face became more charming.
"You have already experienced the benefits of Orchid Body."
"The church has not put you at a disadvantage."
"Exchanging a Purple River Castle for the church's help is definitely a good deal."
"At least it would be better than if Archduke Shikoi blackmailed you."
Her words silenced Archduke Jonathan again.
Then he struck while the iron was hot and continued.
"And you don't have much time left now."
"It is not difficult to see from your description that Marquis Henry mentioned many athletic competitions."
"In other words, this is the last time left for Prince Carter before the athletic conference is held."
"According to the church's information, the athletic competition will be officially held in the morning the day after tomorrow."
"The Imperial City of San Sebastian is hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the giant city of Lentax."
"Even if we use the teleportation scroll and make a non-stop turnaround along the way, the dispatched experts will not be able to arrive until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."
"You have to think carefully about it."
After finishing speaking, Mayfair stopped saying anything and just played with her ponytail.
After several minutes of meeting, Archduke Jonathan frowned and finally made up his mind.
"Okay, I promise you!"
"Zihe Fort will be handed over to the Three Extremes Church from now on."
"Quickly, issue the Orchid Order!"
"There are also many legendary strong men in the giant city of Lentax, and it is not ruled out that Chloe has sent strong men under her command to support, so your church must send out big enough guys to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"
Grand Duke Jonathan's face turned red as he cut into pieces a giant city-level battle fortress, which would make anyone else feel distressed for a long time.
In particular, Zihe Fort is located in a strategic location, close to a main river.
Since there is a mining area in the upper reaches of the river, the surface of the river in that section appears lavender, and is also called the Purple River. The width of the entire river reaches more than two kilometers, and the draft is very deep.
Legend has it that the Purple Gold Dragon, the ancestor of the Endless Continent, died in the river.
It's just that no one has discovered the remains it left behind for thousands of years.
There are a large number of magic ships on the river, and it is an important river hub in the middle of the kingdom.
The strategic significance of Zihe Fort is self-evident. It was built with the specifications of a border fortress.
During wartime, river sections can be directly closed to assume the important task of regional defense.
This kind of battle fortress city can resist higher-level attacks, and its strategic significance is beyond doubt!
Using a Purple River Castle in exchange for the church's hand still made Duke Jonathan feel distressed.
But this is better than negotiating directly with Grand Duke Chloë.
He knew the strength of the Sanji Church very well, and it was a T1-level church force in the kingdom.
It is far from comparable to the T2 and T3 level Calamity Raven Church.
The full name of the girl Mayfair is Mayfair Black Youlan, and she is the former saint of the Three Extremes Church.
Has a unique physique and divine attributes.
After the new saint appeared, Mayfair became one of the bargaining chips in the deal between the church and the Duke.
She traded her beauty and orchid physique for a huge city.
This has brought many benefits to Grand Duke Jonathan. Not only has his lifespan been extended, but his physical condition has also been significantly improved, not just because of Mayfair's beauty.
And through this relationship, the Sanji Church obtained the qualification to preach on a limited basis in the giant city under the duke's command.
This is a bundle and deal in itself!
Now the Sanji Church has moved to Zihe Fort, and it has finally established a firm foothold in the central part of the kingdom.
But Jonathan no longer cares about so much.
He is very clear about the strength of the Three Extremes Church.
The so-called three poles represent infinity, infinity and no end.
There are many legendary masters in the church, and it also retains a relatively complete sacrificial ceremony and divine prayer inheritance, and has a missionary history of thousands of years.
Therefore, the Sanji Church is fully capable of rescuing Carter.
Seeing that Grand Duke Jonathan agreed, Mayfair rubbed her fingers, and countless light particles condensed.
A black orchid appeared in her hand.
Facing the Grand Duke's instructions, she replied with a chuckle.
"Don't worry."
"I will ask the church to send out the false demon Lilia, as well as at least four legendary middle-level elders and the legendary high-level black-robed bishop responsible for regional affairs."
"This is the fastest expert the church can assemble in this area!"
Her words were like a reassurance, successfully dispelling Grand Duke Jonathan's concerns.
"Pseudo-devil Lilia..."
"She is the terrifying existence in your church that is said to be close to the semi-god level?"
Jonathan couldn't help but ask.
I saw Fei'er nodding proudly.
"Yes, that's Lilia."
"She is the great result of the divine gift!"
As she spoke, Feier took out the black orchid in her hand and watched it fly out of the window and disappear into the night.
And Archduke Jonathan, who had solved a problem on his mind, lazily picked her up.
He walked towards the bed with his head held high.
