Imperial Crown

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Raven's army has set off, but the capital of the Principality of Eivor, Blue Castle, is still a scene of peace and prosperity.

This city with a population of more than 700,000 is located on a vast plain in the north-central part of the Principality of Eivor, spanning both sides of the Hailan River.

When it was built, it used the local unique "fluorescent fluorite", which made the city wall present a deep blue like the sea in a dream.

This is also the origin of the name "Blue Castle".

As the art capital among the Feyton city-states, Blue Castle not only has the only officially run bard academy on the Middles continent, but also the city construction is full of beauty.

Here, art is the most ubiquitous thing.

Fountains, statues, graffiti, and various reliefs are engraved on the walls of street shops.

Even street lights and drainage channels have to be decorated a little.

The moon and the ditch accompany each other, and roast chickens and swans fly together.

Originally, although the Blue Castle is also full of artistic atmosphere, it is not so exaggerated.

The story begins after Eivor VIII came to power.

This heir, who was born in the side branch family of Eivor, has been addicted to artistic creation since he was a child. After becoming the Grand Duke, he required that all buildings in the Blue Castle must be "full of artistic atmosphere".

He hopes to live in a world like a work of art.

In order to implement his plan, he did not hesitate to issue a decree to impose an "ugly tax" on all buildings that did not meet the standards, and the amount was enough to bankrupt anyone.

So how can it be considered to meet the standards?

Of course, it must be approved by the Duke of the Principality, Earl Quentin, the brother-in-law of the Grand Duke - and to get approval, naturally, you have to pay a price.

Although the decree was eventually withdrawn, many people have lost a lot of money because of it, and there are also people who have lost their families because of it.

Anyone who passes the certification will have a bunch of vanilla inserted at the door as a mark.

This is also the origin of the name "Grand Duke of Vanilla".

Even so, Eivor VIII was still unsatisfied - if it weren't for the pressure from Prime Minister Gatugen, he would even plan to make the city walls hollow.

The palace where the Grand Duke lived was called "Posa Palace", located in the east of the city, upstream of the Hailan River.

At this time, Eivor VIII was standing upright in the garden.

He was tall, thin, pale, and clean-shaven. At first glance, he looked only in his early 30s, and could be considered a classical handsome man.

He wore a wide-brimmed soft hat commonly seen among bards, his light red hair was scattered on his shoulders, and he wore a green banquet robe dotted with red flowers. The collar was wide open, revealing a loose white cotton shirt.

His straight legs, wrapped in tight white stockings and high heels, fully revealed his figure.

Opposite him, a painter was depicting his figure.

"Your Highness." A court attendant hurried over and stood aside to salute: "The Prime Minister wants to see you."

Eivor VIII frowned slightly, showing a bit of impatience: "Then let him wait a little longer."

As an artist, Eivor VIII has undergone professional vocal training, and his voice is soft and pleasant.

"This..." The waiter hesitated, but still said: "...The Prime Minister said that if you don't go to see him, he will come to you."

"Damn it." Eivor VIII muttered, took off his hat and threw it on the ground, then turned to the painter and said: "Oh, don't worry, I'm not talking about you, you leave first, we will continue tomorrow."

As he said, he tore off his robe and threw it on the ground, then stretched out his hand, and the magic power outlined runes in the air, and the dress that was originally on the railing not far away flew into his hands.

Yes, Eivor VIII is a magician, and a second-level magician.

It's a pity that he has no pursuit of magic, and learning magic is just to better complete artistic creation.

After changing into formal clothes with the help of the waiter, Eivor VIII asked, "What's the matter with Gatugen?"

The waiter whispered, "Your Highness, what's the matter with the Prime Minister? Why would he tell us servants?"

"Waste..." Eivor VIII scolded in a low voice.

He really didn't want to see this Prime Minister.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he was actually a little afraid of Gatugen.

Since he ascended the throne 13 years ago, Gatugen has been the Prime Minister of the Principality. At that time, Gatugen hoped that Eivor VIII would become a great ruler.

Eivor VIII was also willing to cooperate.

Therefore, the two had a honeymoon period that lasted for 2 years. During that time, the court of the Principality was harmonious, and the monarch and his subjects got along well. It was a harmonious scene.

Gatugen also began to be willing to slowly return power to Eivor VIII.

But as time went on, Eivor VIII's true nature gradually exposed.

Until the "Grand Duke of Vanilla" incident, the originally harmonious situation disappeared.

Thinking of that incident now, Eivor VIII still feels angry -

Yes, I may have done something a bit too much at that time, but I am the head of the principality, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke!

Gatugen is just a minister, a court noble without land!

He Gatugen threatened to dissolve the cabinet and asked Eivor VIII to take back his order.

What's more hateful is that Eivor VIII found that he really couldn't manage the principality without Gatugen.

So he had to swallow his anger, withdraw his order, and personally invite Gatugen back.

Then began a tug-of-war between the monarch and his ministers that lasted for 11 years.

Eivor VIII has been trying to get his people into the cabinet, while Gatugen has been trying to avoid it.

Since the previous finance minister died four months ago, this vacant position has become the focus of the struggle between the monarch and his ministers, and everyone wants to get their people in.

But Eivor VIII's candidate was caught with a handle, so he had to exile him.

So Eivor VIII played with his willful power as a monarch, refusing to approve the appointment of a new finance minister, and trying his best to avoid meeting Gatugen.

"You, Gatugen, are capable, so you should also take up the burden of the finance minister!"

However, this kind of talk is only said in private. No matter how willful he is, as a grand duke, he cannot avoid meeting his prime minister.

Crossing the garden and coming to the meeting room, Gatugen has been waiting here for a long time.

As an old minister who served as prime minister during the previous grand duke's period, Gatugen is not arrogant at all. Although he is over 50 years old, he is still standing in the meeting room waiting.

By the standards of a civil servant, his physique is considered strong, even if he is covered in a robe, he still gives people a sense of robustness.

In fact, Gatugen is indeed a warrior.

As the heir of a knight family, he was favored by the former Grand Duke for his meritorious service in fighting against the horse thieves in the Bloody Highlands when he was young. With a relatively humble background, he climbed all the way to the high position of Prime Minister of the Principality.

Seeing Eivor VIII coming, Gatugen immediately stepped forward and saluted: "Your Highness the Grand Duke!"

Gatugen has six fingers on his left hand.

Unlike ordinary people with extra fingers, who grow an extra finger from the knuckle, he actually has six metacarpal bones and phalanges.

This also makes his left hand look much wider than ordinary people.

Every time he saw this hand, Eivor VIII would instinctively feel disgust. He frowned and then relaxed: "No need to be polite, Prime Minister, please sit down."

"Today is a day off. Why are you so anxious to come here?"

Gatugan held out a document with both hands: "Your Highness, urgent military information."

The document was handed over to Eivor VIII by the court eunuch. The latter took it and took a closer look, and his brows became tighter and tighter.

He knew all the words written on it, but reading them together was a bit confusing.

The key point in this document was Raven Ota Griffith.

Eivor VIII had also heard of the name Raven.

After all, the Angel's Tears he drank daily, the Angel's Embrace he used for washing, and the Angel's Gift he had to take more than a dozen times a day were all invented by Raven.

But it was just such a person, a small baron, who wanted to raise an army to attack the Principality of Eivor?

Was he dreaming or was I dreaming?

I didn't eat the fairyland mushrooms this morning.

"Is this the urgent military information you mentioned?" Eivor VIII looked very strange: "Are you sure there is nothing wrong with it?"

Gattugen said: "Yes, Your Highness."

Looked at Gattugen, then looked at the document in his hand, and even turned to the back to see if he had missed anything.

After confirming that there was nothing missing, Eivor VIII asked: "Okay, then I would like to ask..."

"Who is Raven?"

Gattugen said: "I have written the content in the document. He is a descendant of the Griffith family that has been passed down for thousands of years. He is the Baron of the Keynes Empire and leads..."

Before he finished speaking, Eivor VIII raised his hand to interrupt him: "I am sure my eyes can see clearly, and I have read everything in the document."

"What I mean is, he is a baron who has gone crazy for a while and came to attack my country. Can it be considered important military information?"

"Has the Sigh Wall collapsed?"

"Or is there something wrong with my common sense? He, the baron, has hundreds of thousands of troops under his command?"

"Are you kidding?"

Gattugen remained calm. He had already expected Eivor VIII's reaction.

After all, even he himself could not believe it when he first received the news, and he dared to report it only after multiple verifications.

"I am not kidding, Your Highness."

"This matter seems absurd, but it is very likely a trick used by the Keynes Empire to make us relax our vigilance."

These words calmed Eivor VIII down slightly.

A conspiracy by the Keynes Empire to paralyze me? Is that really the case?

However, the Keynes Empire was fighting with the Insa people on their northeastern border, and they were losing ground. They were already a little overwhelmed. How could they have the spare energy to open up a second battlefield?

Gatugen came prepared. Before Eivor VIII could ask, he said:

"Although the Keynes Empire has retreated again and again on the front battlefield, the northeastern provinces are not their core territory. Even if they are all destroyed, as long as the city of Majik is not lost, it will not be a serious injury."

"But the Langqing Province, which is adjacent to our Principality of Eivor, is the financial and tax center of Insa. It is the only ice-free port of Insa in the western part of the continent, and it is very close to its capital. Its strategic value is more important than the northeastern provinces of Keynes."

"Once we are defeated, we can directly threaten the core interests of Insa and strive for the possibility of peace talks in the northeast battlefield."

"That's why I think that Raven's high-profile military deployment is a means for the Keynes Empire to paralyze us!"

These words are reasonable, so that Eivor VIII didn't know how to refute for a while.

But he still instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of it in a hurry.

Gatugen was not prepared to give Eivor VIII time to think:

"Your Highness, I also know that this matter is incredible."

"But it is impossible for a baron to have the guts to do such a thing. Even if it is not as I guessed, there must be a huge conspiracy behind it."

"Keynes is, after all, the most powerful empire, and we must deal with it carefully."

"Therefore, I suggest that we immediately send more troops to the Wall of Sighs to prepare for any eventuality."

Eivor VIII was about to agree when his eyes caught sight of the six fingers on Gatugen's hand, and he was immediately excited.

He realized what he had overlooked.

It is clear that the focus of the recent dispute between the two is the appointment of the Minister of Finance, and once the war starts, the position of Minister of Finance will not remain vacant.

But Gatugen obviously thought of everything, why didn't he mention this?

"War is not a child's play, it must be dealt with carefully." Eivor VIII said solemnly:

"But if our great Principality of Eivor feels like facing a powerful enemy because of the arrogance of a little baron, it will not only be disrespectful to the country, but also really ridiculous."

Gatuggen wanted to persuade again: "But Your Highness, if there is really any conspiracy here, it may be too late for us to respond."

Seeing that Gatugen was a little impatient, Eivor felt quite proud. He felt that he had seen through Gatugen's intentions, and he became calmer:

"Prime Minister, don't worry. I'm not saying there won't be a response to this war."

"Didn't your document also say that Raven has assembled more than 40,000 troops, and the march will take a long time."

"What I mean is that it's not too late to send people out to investigate first and learn more about the details. When the information is sufficient, we can respond."

"Sigh. High walls are not made of mud after all."

With that said, without waiting for Gatugen to continue his argument, Eivor VIII stood up and walked out:

"Let's stop this topic for now. You lead the cabinet to formulate a strategy, and I will think about it carefully."

Gatugen opened his mouth, but in the end he could only salute helplessly: "Best farewell to Your Highness!"

Eivor VIII, who felt that he had won a victory, returned to his palace with happy steps.

As soon as I sat down, I heard a crisp ringing.

The subtle fragrance hits your nose.

As petals spread on the ground, a beautiful woman walked gracefully.

Her dress was extremely inappropriate by court standards.

There is a pale pink dancer's veil on her head, with long hair like a distant green mountain underneath, and a bright red dot decorated with gold on her forehead.

He has deep facial features, slender eyebrows, charming almond-shaped eyes, and plump lips with a charming smile.

With a different kind of charm that is not like the human race.

There are only two cloth straps on the upper body, which go around the shoulders and high collarbone, firmly covering the hidden parts, but vividly revealing the curve of the waist that is less than a grasp.

There is also a gem inlaid on the small belly button.

The waistcoat line is clear and hidden into the lower abdomen. There are only two pieces of crotch-like cloth tied around the waist with a thin rope. As the steps sway, the tight thighs are exposed from them.

There is a string of bells hanging on the tender lotus root-like wrist, which is where the crisp ringing of the bells comes from.

She walked up to Eivor VIII, and even though she was so thinly dressed, she still performed a skirt-lifting ceremony:

"Your Highness!"

The beautiful scenery is revealed.

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