What is Castel's current situation
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
She raised her head and looked at Duke Bold who was standing in front of the map, wondering what he meant by this question.
The old prince did not wait for her answer.
Perhaps 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 Earldom of Castel is located at the northernmost tip of the kingdom, and is separated from the heart of the principality by three duchies and two earls."
"Among these three duchies, there are pretenders who have always wanted to obtain Castel, enemies who always want to defeat Bold, and loyal supporters of His Majesty the King who support His Majesty in weakening the vassals, strengthening authority, and expanding the crown..."
"It can be said that outside the Principality... the situation is quite difficult. Everyone is eyeing the wealthy Castel!"
Having said that, the old duke took a deep breath, and his expression turned a little ugly:
"The Principality is not peaceful either."
"Those families who are loyal to Bold have their own plans and ulterior motives!"
As he spoke, as if he 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 is cowardly, and Anthony, that bastard, is out of tune. He spends all his time on divination and astrology, doing nothing, and never paying attention to the management of the principality!"
"The Bold family is full of rubbish! Shit!"
The old duke angrily cursed all his family members, not realizing that he was also a member of the Bold family and that he was a piece of shit who couldn't produce a qualified heir.
Charlotte lowered her head slightly, thinking about the information related to the Bold family.
She had studied the information of the Bold family and knew that what annoyed the Duke of Bold the most was the engagement between his only daughter and the third prince.
At that time, the old duke intended to win over the Crescent Royal Family. After the marriage contract was signed, he boasted about it everywhere happily. However, he did not expect that he would be stabbed by a spearman from the enemy country on the battlefield, which made him unable to produce an heir. In the end, his only daughter, who was chosen to marry a son-in-law into the family, was killed. He was completely dumbfounded.
As for Anthony mentioned by the Duke, his full name is Anthony de Borde and he is less than thirty years old.
He is the old duke's half-brother and the currently designated heir to the duchy. He was granted the title of Count of Tulip, and his fiefdom is also an enclave adjacent to the Territory of Castel.
This is also an old tradition of the Bold family.
Although Castel Territory is an enclave, the Duke's House has always owned a small indirect direct territory next to Castel Territory as the fief of the next Duke in order to strengthen its control over the Castel family.
By the way, Earl Tulip is also the only son of Charlotte's aunt Lady Catherine. He is the girl's cousin and the two families have a good relationship. In Charlotte's memory, he once took her out to play. He is a very elegant, gentle and considerate gentleman who makes people feel comfortable to get along with.
However, although he is the heir to the Duchy of Bold, Earl Tulip is not interested in inheriting and governing the territory, and his interests and skills are all in the wrong place.
He was obsessed with divination and astrology, and had almost no management ability. He made a mess of the small Tulip Territory and was even driven back by the rioting citizens.
Now he has completely let himself go. All day long he either stays in the Duke's Mansion studying divination or goes to the Mage Association to discuss astrology and magic. He doesn't want to take care of anything, which makes the old Duke quite disappointed.
The nobles of the Duchy of Bolder all knew these things.
It is obvious that if the old duke dies, Count Tulip, who has no interest in the territory, will not be able to control the duchy at all. The entire Duchy of Bold may be seized by the Crescent royal family, and the third prince, who is Eleanor's husband, will become the next Duke of Bold.
At that time, the Duchy of Boulder would change its name, and the spendthrift Count Anthony of Tulip might even be excited about getting rid of his dukedom, because he would have more time to study astrology magic...
Anyway, astrological magic is different from other magic. It does not require you to spend more money. You only need to burn your own CPU.
The old duke continued to curse, and became more and more angry:
"These greedy guys... all think that the main branch of our Bold family will soon die out, and the duchy may change its name. They all want to take advantage of the opportunity to bite off a piece of meat from us! Ahem... "
At the end, it seemed that his old injury was involved, and he started coughing violently, with an abnormal blush on his face...
"Your Excellency the Duke..."
Charlotte stood up quickly, but the old duke raised his hand to signal:
"Ahem... It's an old problem. I'm fine."
After 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, rumor-mongering..."
"snort!"
"Look at what they have done during this time!"
As he spoke, he took out a crossbow from under the table and threw it on the table angrily:
"These greedy bastards actually dared to throw dirty water on me, Bold. Do they really think that I can't deal with them just because I'm old?!"
Looking at the crossbow on the table, Charlotte's eyelids jumped.
She recognized it; it was the other crossbow carried by the free mercenary who had kidnapped her that night.
Before leaving that night, she specifically asked Nice to find it and take it with her, but Nice couldn't find it after searching for a long time.
Considering that Lai Nuo left in a hurry at that time, she now came to her senses.
I'm afraid Laino had already recognized that this was from the Duke's Palace, so he hurried back with a crossbow to report the news.
Maybe... at that time he might have thought that it was his own doing that made him leave in such a hurry.
"It seems you recognized it. This is the crossbow used by the free mercenary who kidnapped you that night!"
"Even now, they haven't forgotten to sow discord between Castel and Bold!"
"If I hadn't called them over one by one and beat them up these days, this whole Boulder City would have been turned upside down by them!"
said the old prince angrily.
As if he was tired, he sat down in his seat again, sighed, and rubbed his temple.
After a moment, the Duke continued:
"Castel and Bold are of the same blood and are as close as brothers. Although we are the main family and the branch family, the lord and the vassal, as a feudal lord, I have never treated Castel as an outsider."
"During the Second Star-Moon War, it was your grandfather and I who fought off the Fallen Star Kingdom's army that attempted to invade Castel's territory. It was also your father and I who worked together to defeat the Northern Grand Duchy's conspiracy to overthrow Castel..."
"At the same time, it is the strong support of the Castel family to the Dukes of all generations that has made these nobles of all sizes in the Principality behave themselves and not dare to act recklessly!"
"And now, the hard times are coming again, and it's time for us to stand together again."
Having said this, the old duke slowly turned around, his expression dignified 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 not be able to withstand the pressure from the royal family and other nobles..."
"We are a family."
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat when she heard the implicit hint in Duke Bold's words.
She slowly raised her head and saw a pair of blue-gray eyes full of firm will.
"Lord Charlotte."
Duke Bold's voice became serious.
After a series of preparations, he finally expressed his thoughts:
"Let's... form a marriage."
"Castel will eventually have to choose a marriage partner to consolidate his rule, but I think you also know that those pests in the principality will only eat up the declining Castel..."
"The Bold family is the only one that has always provided Castel with solid support."
"Only by uniting together can we overcome the current difficulties!"
Charlotte was silent.
What is coming will eventually come. Although she knew that the Duke might want to marry her, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she found out that he was so determined to get the marriage.
She knew that after this banquet, the Castel family might break up with the Bold family.
At the same time, she will completely lose the protection of the Duke's Mansion and face the malice of other nobles...
"Is it Lord Lai Nuo?"
Charlotte asked.
There was a hint of surprise in the Duke's eyes, as if he was a little surprised by the girl's calmness.
He nodded.
"That's right."
"Although Lai Nuo is a bastard with a poor family background, he has become a Silver Moon Knight at a young age."
"He didn't even use the Seed of Power, but was self-awakened like most of the nobles!"
"I can guarantee that his potential in the path of transcendence is even greater than that of an old man like me!"
"Although Laino lacks some etiquette, he is a righteous man, and deep down he is a true holy knight..."
"With him here, you will have nothing to worry about. I believe he will bring you happiness. And with Castel's support, Polder will continue to be great!"
“It’s a win-win.”
The old duke looked sincere.
He was really sincere, at least from Bold's perspective, because he had already told him all the difficulties of his family, which was indeed a very sincere approach in the negotiation.
But Charlotte was about to curse.
A win-win situation for ghosts! A happiness for ghosts!
An ordinary little girl might believe the other party’s lies, but she didn’t!
It sounds good, but in the final analysis, isn't it because the Bold family feels that they can no longer control the nobles below, so they want to use the wealthy Castel to strengthen their own power? !
Yes, the situation in the Castel Territory was rather delicate, but the Duke's plight was no secret.
Not only that, the Duke's Palace is not Castel's only choice, nor is it the best choice.
And even if she were to die immediately, she would never let a man ride on her!
Her destiny can only be controlled by herself!
Taking a deep breath, Charlotte raised her head, intending to decline with the reason 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 carefully first."
"I know you have concerns, especially regarding Lai Nuo'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 Mansion first..."
…
In the end, Charlotte was unable to say no on the spot.
The old duke seemed to have a premonition of her choice and blocked her directly.
This made Charlotte wonder a little about the other party's "sincerity"...
However, the girl didn't care.
No matter what the so-called sincerity of the Duke's Mansion was, her answer would not change.
Her biggest purpose in attending this banquet was to put an end to the thoughts of these greedy nobles.
However, an in-depth exchange with the Duke also made the girl realize how bad the situation of the Castel family is.
It can be said that she is now dancing on a tightrope, with greedy eyes staring at her in the abyss on both sides.
Back at the main venue of the banquet, the banquet had not yet begun. The nobles gathered in twos and threes, chatting in low voices.
The girl picked up the glass filled with milk from the waiter's tray and sat alone in the corner to rest.
On the way from getting off the carriage to entering the Duke's Palace, she was inevitably exposed to the sun and felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Chatting with the Duke further drained her energy, and now the girl just wanted to take a rest.
The band from Luna Bay played beautiful music, soothing and pleasant to the ears.
But Charlotte just thought it was noisy.
Especially after seeing her enter, those young nobles who seemed to be in heat became excited again. Before she could react, they surrounded her, and each of them showed off his grace like a rooster on stimulants.
Charlotte felt like she was suffocating as she smelled the heavy perfumes that intertwined on their bodies.
She was in no mood to talk to these peacocks.
Looking at those handsome faces that would make her immediately excited as soon as she looked at them, the girl narrowed her eyes slightly, thinking about how to find something for these energetic guys to do, to trick them, and at the same time to have some fun and relax herself.
But at this moment, an elegant and gentle voice abruptly interrupted the young nobles' attentive flattery:
"Gentlemen, it is not gentlemanly behavior to keep surrounding a lady and disturb her rest."
"Don't you see the fatigue between the lady's brows?"
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat when she heard the voice, because she felt that the tone and voice of this show-off 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 stood a tall, handsome, red-haired man wearing a black tuxedo.
He was wearing a monocle, with a faint smile in his scarlet eyes, and holding a goblet filled with red wine in his neatly gloved hands.
Not someone else.
It was the extraordinary person she saw in the dream world of Blood Summoning—Sebastian!