Imperial Crown

When there was a knock on the door in Fox Castle, someone also knocked on Raven's door in Eagle City.

Raven was reading the letters from the nobles at this time, and then personally formulated a rough reply idea for each letter.

This is for Jonathan.

Old Gordon is busy with warehousing and allocating supplies. Fiona is not only responsible for assisting her grandfather, but also taking care of the affairs of the college.

Nowadays, Junnasheng is the only clerk who has some experience in official documents.

But Raven didn't completely trust his abilities, so he had to set a general direction first.

Pulling a letter aside, Raven said without raising his head: "Come in."

Immediately, the door opened slightly, and a woman wearing a black burqa walked in.

As soon as you enter the door, there is a fragrant fragrance of flowers, which refreshes your spirit.

Under the burqa, the figure is swaying like a lotus in the wind, charming and charming.

But Raven still subconsciously moved his chair back and covered his nose with his hands: "Stop, just stand there and don't come any closer."

"Master..." The palm with long black nails reached out of the burqa and lifted the hat on her head, revealing Margaret's sprouting potato-like head: "I am here this time..."

"Take it." Without giving Margaret a chance to speak, Raven threw a crystal bottle to her: "If you don't have enough, come back to me."

It has been a year since Margaret returned from serious injury.

In fact, her injury was basically healed half a year ago - at least she no longer needs to hold her head while walking every day.

Her strength has not yet fully recovered. Even with the rotten soul essence, she has only just returned to the third level of five stars, which is still far behind the third level of nine stars in her heyday.

However, the stench emanating from her body became more and more like when Raven first met her.

"I have to remind you that you can't cover up your smell by spraying perfume. Take more showers!"

“I won’t care about you and William’s affairs.”

Catching the crystal bottle filled with rotten soul essence, Margaret put it away and rubbed her palms: "Master, I was taking a bath, but I am already very old after all, and the witch is older. , it will be like this..."

At this point, Margaret's tone became a little sour: "Of course, except for the divine blood witch like Annuo."

Raven was silent, which meant that he had no time to chat now, and he didn't want to be disturbed by the witch anymore.

Margaret did not leave, but lowered her head and cautiously tested: "Master, you are about to attack the Principality of Eivor."

"War does not only happen on the battlefield. A beautiful and loyal woman can also play a considerable role."

"I hope you can give me a beautiful enough skin, so that I can help you accomplish many things!"

Stopping his movements, Raven looked at Margaret: "So, you already have a goal in mind?"

"Yes, Master, you really have eyes that can see through people's hearts!" Margaret swallowed, with a greedy look in her eyes:

"I hope it can be Patty. She is very beautiful, but she is just an alchemist. I can completely replace her role!"

"Or Jenny, she is also very beautiful, and I swear, she will never let anyone see her flaws, and she can inherit her identity and help you win over Simon!"

After saying that, she looked at Raven expectantly, wanting to get a positive answer.

"Petty, Jenny..." Raven sneered, nodded repeatedly, and uttered one word:

"roll!"

Margaret still wanted to plead, but as Raven frowned, a scarlet curse light began to shine on her chest.

With a scream, the witch bowed quickly and rushed out of the door.

Raven narrowed her eyelids and focused on the letter again.

If the witch provided an unfamiliar name, Raven would not punish her, nor would he reject it so quickly. He might even agree after reviewing it.

Although the witch asked for the skin out of selfish motives, her words made sense.

A beautiful woman who knows how to please a man can do things that men cannot.

But her hand stretched too far, and she must be taught a lesson to get rid of her boundless greed.

If she was let off lightly today, maybe she would dare to take advantage of Fiona, or even Denise or Nancy next time.

Meanwhile, Fox Castle.

Anthony was kneeling naked on the bed, and beneath him was a delicate girl.

The girl lay on her back, clutching the sheets tightly with her hands, her skin flushed.

Behind Anthony, there was a woman massaging his back.

Anthony, who was enjoying himself, heard the knock on the door, but he didn't want to pay attention to it - what could happen in the Nord province today?

Last year, Anthony was the first governor of the four affected provinces to suggest that tax relief was not needed.

With him as an example, the other three provinces had to follow suit.

Of course Anthony knew that he would be hated by others, but so what?

It is enough for His Majesty the King to be happy.

In order to consolidate this, at the beginning of this year, he imposed another "spear tax".

If it can make His Majesty the King happy and the province of Nord live a good life, then he doesn't mind being a good person.

But, it can't be done.

Antony was a court noble whose authority came from the king and the king alone.

When the interests of the king and the interests of the Nord province conflict, which side to take is naturally not an option.

Anthony's efforts also paid off.

His Majesty the King granted him a manor on the outskirts of the capital and made his eldest son a viscount.

Although he had no fiefdom, at the beginning of the year, his eldest son had entered the cabinet as a clerk, and it was very likely that he would inherit his father's business in the future.

This certainly needed to be celebrated.

Following the high-pitched scream of the girl on the bed, Anthony smiled, pecked her on the face, then stood up and cleaned himself with the help of the young woman beside him.

After putting on his clothes slowly, Anthony walked out of the room refreshed and saw Akorui with a bitter face on the side.

"Finally not as irritable as before, but it's still not enough." Anthony adjusted his collar: "Next time, if you are not sure what I am doing, just wait at the door for a while, don't rush to knock on the door."

"One or two hours, it won't kill anyone."

Akorui looked at Anthony's legs that were shaking a little while standing there, and he was about to say something, but he stopped talking.

Anthony had already started: "Tell me, what's the matter? Don't delay the evening reception."

"It's... the news from Eagle City." Akori followed in small steps and handed over the document in his arms.

"Just read it." Anthony didn't care.

"This..." Akori hesitated slightly, but still started reading.

Just after reading the third line, Anthony suddenly stopped and snatched the document from his hand.

Reading line by line, Anthony rubbed his eyes and read it again carefully.

He finally confirmed that he was not wrong. Raven really wanted to mobilize soldiers from the five counties in the northwest to attack the Principality of Eivor.

"Why did you send it to me now?" Anthony said dryly: "This has been released for 4 days!"

"...Raven did not use mercenaries, but issued an announcement through the Imperial Post System, so it was just sent." Akori said.

"The evening reception is cancelled." Anthony turned around expressionlessly: "I have official business to do, no one should disturb me."

Without waiting for Akori to respond, Anthony left quickly.

He tried to maintain his walking posture, hoping that others would not notice anything unusual, but his steps became faster and faster, attracting the attention of the servants on the road.

In the end, Anthony almost threw open the door of the study.

Throwing the statement on the table, Anthony rushed to the desk, opened the drawer, took out a bottle of medicine, bit the stopper with his teeth and drank it whole.

Sitting on the chair with a plop, his body slid down halfway, Anthony stroked his chest with his hand, and it took a long time to slowly recover.

He picked up the document that he had just dropped on the table, read it again, and the corners of his mouth could not help but twitch, and he threw it out suddenly.

The parchment shook in the air and fell to the ground like a feather.

"Raven, how dare you!!!"

This action did not take his authority as the governor into consideration at all!

Who is he?

It is Anthony Vanya Edwards!

The Marquis of the Empire! The Governor of the Nord Province!

Wanting to crush Raven to death is like crushing an ant.

But now, this ant dared to mobilize the army without his permission, and even threatened to go to war with other countries.

Anthony grabbed a feather pen and crushed it, but he couldn't vent his anger.

Because he knew clearly that he had no way to deal with Raven at this time.

Raven was able to mobilize the army because Anthony gave him the power.

"Shameless bastard, scum from the lower class, ungrateful bastard!"

In the history of the empire, the governor and even His Majesty the King have done some things to temporarily divide power.

Some are for war, some are for financial and tax issues, and some are to deal with sudden natural disasters.

Although there are a few times, those temporarily divided powers and responsibilities will become a fixed position.

For example, the governor of a province.

But in most cases, this power will expire, which is something that all nobles know.

The same should be true for setting up a warning zone.

But Raven shamelessly broke this unspoken rule.

Throwing the crumpled feather pen into the trash can, Anthony slapped the broken feathers on the table with his palm, and suddenly saw a document he had never seen before.

It should have been delivered this morning, not an emergency.

Opening it casually and glancing at it, Anthony smiled bitterly, crumpled it into a ball, and let it follow the footsteps of the feather pen with a flip of his wrist.

That was a statement from Viscount John.

It was mentioned above that Viscount John fully supported Raven's decision.

At the time when the empire was in danger, Viscount John believed that Raven's move was driven by justice and worthy of learning and imitation by all nobles in the province.

Therefore, Viscount John decided to "ruin his family to help the distress". As long as the knights who followed Raven to conquer the Principality of Eivor won merit, he would provide them with a key material for promotion to the second level.

"Just doing this kind of superficial work." Anthony sneered viciously: "You are so lively, why don't you go, old thing!"

But Anthony also knew that this was just a rant.

Viscount John could not personally join Raven's army.

With his title, he cannot become Raven's subordinate. If he joins, he can only be Raven's superior, which is something this good man will not do.

And not only John, but other barons and viscounts will not personally participate.

Barons will not lower their status.

If the viscount enters with a high profile, he can indeed steal Raven's limelight, but if he does so, he must shout louder and do it more thoroughly than Raven.

If Raven still has the possibility of putting on a show, then if a viscount really takes over Raven's position, he must fight hard and even sacrifice his life.

On the other hand, Viscount John's attitude is only a corner of the whole incident.

You don't need to look to know that now the entire Nord Province, anyone who knows the news of Raven's dispatch of troops, no matter what they think in their hearts, must support Raven verbally.

Because Raven's move seems crazy, but his motives are impeccable.

This is also the reason why Anthony was furious at the beginning.

Indeed, Raven did not have the power to provoke a war without authorization. This requires the authorization of His Majesty the King. Raven's move did not comply with the procedure.

But Raven was only 26 years old.

In the eyes of outsiders, Raven was a reckless young man full of blood who wanted to maintain the empire, and no one would find fault with him in this regard.

Raven gained great reputation, but the final responsibility would only fall on Anthony.

If this war really started and Raven lost, it would be Anthony's incompetence in governance and lack of discipline.

If Raven wins - he can't win!

Thinking of the future when he would be held accountable by the cabinet and scolded by His Majesty the King, Anthony felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

Because he really had no way to deal with Raven.

Anthony had no doubt that if he took back the power from Raven, it would not only be useless, but would also attract extremely fierce attacks.

Public opinion in the province would be in an uproar, and maybe that old man John would write to scold him again.

Moreover, neither his political enemies nor the governors of the other three provinces who had been coerced by him and had to declare that they did not need tax exemption would let him go.

The reason was also very simple.

Raven had already responded to His Majesty's call for "full support for this war", and it was clear that he was a loyal and passionate nobleman. What was your intention to suppress him at this time?

Are you going to go against His Majesty the King?

Anthony knew his Majesty.

This young and strong, narrow-minded king might protect him, but that would only be for the purpose of maintaining the king's own authority.

Anthony would be regarded as a troublemaker to His Majesty, and even if he was safe for a while, he would be held accountable later.

His Majesty hated trouble the most.

"..."

Anthony's face became paler and paler, and he felt a headache.

He began to regret writing the letter recommending Raven to become a viscount.

Now, he couldn't suppress Raven; and with that letter, His Majesty might think that Raven's move was at his instruction.

That would bring a series of diplomatic storms!

Taking out a brand new feather pen, Anthony took a deep breath, frowned, and began to write a letter.

A letter to Raven.

In this letter, there was no more condescending tone, but a soft and euphemistic tone to discuss with Raven.

The core idea was that no matter what Raven wanted, he could talk.

To this end, Anthony used both coercion and inducement.

Coercion was to warn Raven that the title of viscount was on the way, and he should not go against his own future and the future of the Griffith family.

The bribe was to hint to Raven that if they really wanted to fight, he could provide some soldiers who were not on the record to help Raven fake a great victory.

As long as they didn't really fight in Eivor, everything would be fine.

After writing, Anthony checked it again, confirmed that there was no problem, and copied it again.

This attitude was more serious than writing a letter to His Majesty the King.

"Huh..." Anthony breathed a sigh of relief, put the letter into the letter with a bitter face, stamped it with wax, and said loudly:

"Come here!"

"Let Akori deliver this letter to Eagle City, ride my mount, the faster the better."

"It must be delivered to Baron Raven in person!"

...