After the queen signed the special letter of appointment, which was destined to be kept forever in the Royal Museum of the Roland Empire, the deputy head of court affairs once again conveyed to the queen the news that the ambassador of the free commercial city in Roland requested an audience.
This is not the first time the emissary of the self-owned commercial city has requested an audience with the Queen.
The first time, was when their fleet left the port of Zaragoza. The second time was when the Queen threw Governor Sarago on the guillotine. This is the third time now.
Baron Lavari, the envoy of the Free Commercial City to Roland, stood in the waiting room warmed by the burning stove, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The Minister of Finance at the side looked at him coldly, remembering how gorgeously this guy was dressed and how arrogant he was when he asked to see the Queen for the first time. The second time, he was much more honest, and there was unconcealable worry on that fat round face. And this time... Ha! The way he looks anxious is really comforting.
Baron Lavari could not help but break out in a cold sweat.
For Baron Lavari, who was elected as the agent for negotiating with the Roland Empire, coming to Roland was originally a good job.
He knew the Governor of Zarago Port in Roland Port. The Governor and his subordinates were greedy. Through intimidation and bribery, they were enough to let the caravans leave intact. The worst result was that their ships were detained, and the governing hall and the Roland Empire began lengthy negotiations on this.
What Baron Lavari never expected was that Queen Roland would act so fast.
She sank their merchant ships, captured their sailors, and confiscated all their cargo. Isn't she afraid of the joint revenge of the pope and the free commercial city? You know, King Jager wanted to bribe the Pope to issue an excommunication order against Queen Roland for a long time!
No matter what the Queen thought, for Baron Lavari, what he thought was a good job turned into a ball of fire thrown into his hands in a blink of an eye.
If the queen cannot be persuaded to release the sailor and return the sacred object, when he returns to the free commercial city, the thirteen-member ruling committee will definitely push him out as a scapegoat, and what awaits him will be the fate of being exiled.
"My lord," Baron Lavari pushed a big and bright diamond brooch into the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, "When will I be able to meet Her Majesty the Queen?"
The Minister of Finance naturally put away the expensive diamond brooch, and then said slowly: "Wait here."
After he went out, it took a long time, and finally an attendant came to lead Baron Lavari to the room that temporarily served as the audience room.
…………………
The Queen's team stopped today at the town of Ithel, which needs to pass through Rose Strait.
The queen herself and her courtiers are resting in a monastery-turned-residence — thanks to the "cleansing" in August and September. All the properties of the Saint Lorraine monastery were confiscated, which naturally included the monastery building itself, and the royal family suddenly acquired a lot of real estate.
This is how the monastery mansion, where the parade temporarily resides, came about.
Before stepping into the audience room, the envoy of the free commercial city imagined many possibilities, about what the image of Queen Roland he saw would be—is she a cold and evil fairy queen? Or the God-blessed God's Chosen One? A witch or a saint
nothing.
He saw a king.
Roland's young ruler was sitting on a chair not far from the fireplace. Her dark red dress was covered with round pearls. Like all kings, she wore a shoulder belt that symbolized the right to rule over the army. Simply fasten with a rose pin in ruby and gold. The crown was pressed heavily and firmly on the moonlight-colored long curly hair that surpassed all silks and satins, announcing her authority and rule.
Baron Lavari had no choice but to restrain all his previous contempt, and knelt down with a bit of fear.
The queen stretched out her hand, he kissed the ring on it, and then let it go quickly - he felt a stern look from Archbishop Rodri standing beside the queen.
"Your Majesty the Queen," said Baron Ravari, "I am here on behalf of the executive government of the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities. The Alliance has a long-standing friendship with your country. We signed the "Thirty Treaty of Commerce and Trade" with your father. Since then, we have all kept this treaty in mind. The coalition government hopes to continue this friendship with your country, no matter from which side, we believe that this is a harmless choice for both parties.”
"Sir," the Queen said unhurriedly, "yesterday's laws are suitable for yesterday, and today's laws should be in place today."
Baron Lavari's heart sank. Although the queen's words were soft, she clearly expressed her insistence on the two regulations—this is not a good thing.
After the Roland Empire's "Port Regulations" and "Ocean Regulations" were promulgated, they quickly caused a huge reaction in the free commercial city.
At the beginning, the merchants in the Free Commercial City didn't really believe that the Roland Empire could carry out these two regulations.
Nearly one-third of the Roland Empire's commercial trade is associated with free commercial cities. Once they are determined to implement the regulations, where should they go to find a market to sell the Roland Empire's wool, red wine, and other commodities? When the United Government Hall of the Free Commercial City held a meeting, a member of the council said arrogantly: "As long as we close the door to Roland, they should be eager to crawl."
That being said, if these two new regulations of the Roland Empire are followed, free commercial cities that rely on entrepot trade will lose nearly 30% of their profits at sea, and it will also affect free commercial cities from the Red Sea to the Kingdom of Heaven. trade between seas. For an alliance region whose flesh and blood is made up of commerce, this will make it difficult for their merchants to turn around.
Arrogance is arrogance. After deliberation, the United Government Office decided to conduct the first test of the Roland Empire. Baron Lavari got the answer to this temptation from the queen's first sentence-the regulations will never be changed.
"Then," Baron Lavari weighed quickly, without indifference on this issue, "We are willing to make up the ransom, but I hope you can return the sacred objects confiscated by your country."
"Holy thing? Where did the holy thing come from?" The queen showed a look of surprise on her face, her expression was very real, although everyone present knew it well, "Sir, I am sorry for your encounter with the executive government of the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities I deeply sympathize with the pirates, but you should go to the pirates to recover the sacred objects."
"His Majesty!"
Baron Lavari was so angry that he almost forgot the proper etiquette.
He really wanted to find a bard to record the queen's words, so that those fools who regarded her as the "chosen one of the gods" could see how shameless their queen was!
"Have you forgotten the pirates you sent? Aren't our goods destined for your port?"
"I have already said," the queen said calmly, "I am very sorry for your encounter with the caravan, but the unfortunate fact of encountering pirates is luck. If you can hunt down these pirates for Roland, the Empire wishes I will award you corresponding medals. If you have nothing else to do, please recover the damage as soon as possible."
"You...you..." Baron Lavari was dumbfounded, and finally he had to use the card he prepared in advance, "Aren't you afraid of the Holy Father's excommunication?"
The free city of commerce came prepared.
Over the years, merchants have transfused a lot of blood to the Pope, thus gaining the asylum from the Holy Father and being able to bypass the Pope's state and go to Siul for trade. For the sake of the golden treasure, the governors believed that in the event of a conflict with the Roland Empire, the Holy Father would extend his merciful hand to the free commercial city—you must know that the Holy Father had also wanted to intervene in the internal affairs of the Roland Empire for a long time.
Baron Lavari originally thought that Queen Roland would be angry, or at least give in.
"Excommunication order" is no less than an order for monarchs. If excommunicated, their subjects and armies would have every reason to take up arms against them, and every nation has no shortage of ambitious men peeking at the throne. What's more, Adele Roland is a queen who has been criticized all over her body, and she experienced a mutiny not long ago.
Unexpectedly, an incomprehensible smile appeared on the queen's face.
She looked down at the messenger from a high position, tapped the armrest with her fingertips unhurriedly, making a chilling light sound.
"Oh," she said contemptuously, "then go to your Holy Father."
……………
Baron Lavari walked away in a daze, annoyed and depressed.
He couldn't figure out why Queen Roland could treat the threat of the "excommunication order" with such a contemptuous attitude, let alone the meaning of the queen's last smile.
After he left, the queen turned to look at Archbishop Rodrik beside her, with that subtle smile on her face: "This is really interesting news, Mr. Bishop."
Even Archbishop Rodri couldn't help showing strange sympathy to the League of Free Commercial Cities. If Baron Lavari had come earlier, he would have seen the queen writing secret letters and different warrants quickly. Soon, the messengers will carry those letters and set off, either to the Papal State, or to the Root Empire, or to the Kingdom of Tuva...
Just today, Dalton's letter brought a piece of news that could stir the whole world.
The emperor of people's spiritual world, the father of all believers.
Pope, died of illness.
How should the dead Pope "excommunicate" Queen Roland? Not to mention, the pope election that will be staged next. That was an invisible war...
Different countries will stand behind different candidates to play games.
Even if the Roland Empire does not intend to expose its relationship with Cardinal Luvis on the bright side, nor does it intend to invest a lot of money in this battle between the Holy Fathers, it has to participate in this invisible war and accept some people's An olive branch, expressing friendship to some people, and adopting a vague attitude to some people... If Roland is like this, let alone a free commercial city that relies heavily on the blessing of the Pope and the trade between East and West Ule.
They'd better go worry about the pope election first!
The Queen turned her head to Mrs. Kelly and said, "Pour me a glass of wine...and our Archbishop Rodriguez."
The bright and lustrous ouzo was poured into the carved silver cup, and Adele took the lead in raising the cup to the northeast—the direction of the spiritual empire—and briskly saluted: "Return to the Kingdom of God for the Holy Father!"
Archbishop Rodri followed suit, tacitly paying homage to the Northeast:
"Return to the Kingdom of God for the Father."