Imperial Crown

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…

"Get up quickly."

Eivor VIII grabbed the woman's wrist and pulled her into his arms:

"My wife is still so considerate."

That's right, the woman who dresses like the meanest dancer is the wife of Eivor VIII, Mrs. Cuiqi.

It is really beneath the status of the mother of a country to dress like this.

But this is the request of Eivor VIII, who likes his wife to dress in various revealing ways - of course, only in the inner court.

Cuiqi leaned lazily in the arms of Eivor VIII: "Why did your Highness come back so early today?"

Originally, Eivor VIII didn't like to talk about serious matters in the harem, but he was really in a good mood today, so he told the story about the confrontation between himself and Gatugen in a ostentatious manner.

"That six-fingered bastard always looks selfless. What happened? Didn't I catch his selfishness?"

"To try to make me lose my footing and obey his words with an illusory war is too disrespectful to me."

Cuiqi smiled and said: "Your Highness is really wise. It seems that my worries are overblown."

Eivor VIII was a little curious: "Worried? What are you worried about?"

"Actually, my brother came here earlier." Cuiqi said, "He also told me about the war."

"Quentin." Eivor VIII nodded slowly: "What did he tell you?"

Eivor VIII still had great trust in his brother-in-law.

After fighting against Gatugen for more than ten years, the only major achievement Eivor VIII achieved was to make Quentin the Marshal of the Principality, with the power to command the Forbidden Army and the armies in various places.

And the most important thing is that as long as it is the order of Eivor VIII, Quentin will carry it out to the letter and will never give up until the predetermined results are achieved.

Of course, Eivor VIII also knew that Quentin himself would inevitably get some benefits from it, but he didn't care - this is the selfishness that people should have. Who would behave like a saint like Gatugen? ?

Cuiqi pretended to be dissatisfied and turned her head to the side: "Huh, you men, you use me as a mouthpiece all day long, but none of you really want to see me. If you have any questions, you can ask him yourself."

Eivor VIII liked this little fun very much. He said in Cuiqi's ear: "Okay, then I will go to his manor tonight and come back tomorrow."

Quentin is not only greedy, but also extremely lustful.

In his manor, there are always beauties from all over the continent and of all races, and it has almost become the most famous sensual scene in the entire principality.

"Don't go." Cuiqi showed full jealousy.

"I just want to go, what can you do to me?" Eivor VIII said with a smile.

Cuiqi turned back, put her fingers on Eivor VIII's chest, unbuttoned and reached inside:

"Don't go!"

Eivor VIII trembled and took a breath of cold air: "Okay, I won't go, I won't go, let's talk about business first."

With a smile of victory flashing in her eyes, Cuiqi stopped delaying and began to relay Quentin's opinions.

As the marshal of the principality, Quentin may not be so qualified, but he also received news that Raven was about to attack the principality of Eivor.

In Quentin's view, this is purely a joke and has no value in reporting upwards at all.

But out of duty, he still sent the news to the cabinet.

Gatugen's reaction aroused Quentin's vigilance.

He actually rushed to the Whispering Palace immediately after receiving the news.

As the brother-in-law of Eivor VIII, Quentin knew very well that he did not have the talent to serve as the Imperial Marshal. The reason why he was able to secure this position was only the result of the balance between Gatugen and Eivor VIII.

Quentin also knows that Gatugen has always disliked him.

So it would be natural to use the excuse of the outbreak of war to coerce the public opinion of the nobles, take off the title of Marshal of the Principality, and replace it with one of Gatugen's own people.

That's why Quentin came to find his sister, hoping that Cuiqi could remind Eivor VIII not to fall into Gatugen's "treacherous scheme".

Cuiqi also did not tell the complete truth, such as the part where Quentin calculated for himself, but changed the way of expression:

"Your Highness, Quentin is the most powerful card in our hand. You must be careful not to be deceived by Gatugen."

After listening to Cuiqi's words, Eivor VIII's face immediately darkened.

Since he succeeded to the throne, he has never been able to grasp complete power, so he is very sensitive in this regard.

"You have to be considerate of yourself." Eivor VIII stroked Cuiqi's back and said: "This Gatugen always looks like he is doing it for the principality. I will be deceived by him."

"He actually used such despicable means to try to cut off my wings."

"I even want to touch the military power!"

"Sooner or later I will chop off all six of his fingers one by one!"

Cuiqi quickly picked up a glass of wine and handed it to Eivor VIII: "Your Highness, don't be angry. It's not worth getting your body hurt because of his popularity."

"Anyway, we have already been vigilant, and we will be fine if we don't allow any of Gatugen's requests from now on."

Eivor VIII drank the wine in the glass and breathed a sigh of relief: "Well...it's the Tears of an Angel."

A smile appeared on his lips, and he thought about Raven actually coming to attack him.

If Raven really did this, Eivor VIII would not want to kill him.

"It will be a pleasure to castrate him and keep him in the palace. It will be a pleasure to invent something for me."

At the same time, in the Prime Minister's residence.

Gatugan untied his robe and hung it on the hanger at the door, and teased the black-haired old dog lying by the door, who had been with him for 11 years.

Walking to the desk, taking off his leather boots and changing into a pair of slippers, Gatugan stretched his swollen feet and fell into deep thought.

Gatugan had his own ideas about this war.

As the actual ruler of the principality, Gatugan was well aware of the embarrassing situation of the Fiton city-states sandwiched between the two empires, so he had always been aware of the surrounding situation.

He knew Raven's entire life.

Raven Ota Griffith was born in 1173 and was adopted by the Orphanage of Mon'en City in the same year.

In 1188, he was expelled from the orphanage and wandered the streets. He was extremely lustful and was called "Little Bee".

In 1193, Donald died suddenly, and Raven inherited the title of the Griffith family.

In just three years, Raven not only took back all the territories of the Griffith family, but also started from scratch and became a third-level magician.

He can be called a young genius.

Now, in 1199, at the age of 27, he is already the governor of Snow Maple County, and owns three territories, Eagle Territory, Snow Maple Territory, and Holo Territory. His power is as great as that of a viscount.

Thinking of this, Gatugen sighed:

"Alas... In comparison, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke is too immature."

In Gatugen's view, although Raven's reasons are high-sounding, it seems reasonable to open up a second battlefield for the empire.

But looking at Raven's growth trajectory, Gatugen does not think that this is a person who will go crazy and take risks. There must be a deeper secret behind this.

And now in the entire Nord Province, there is only one person who can instruct Raven to do this-

Anthony Vanya Edwards.

As the confidant of Keynes XVI, this governor will definitely try his best to please his majesty.

What is the most lacking in the Keynes Empire now?

It is the food for the front line.

The Nord Province had just experienced a locust plague and could not squeeze out food.

The Principality of Eivor is located in a basin and surrounded by mountains. It has always been rich in products and has basically not been affected by locust plagues, so it is not short of food.

Anthony instructed Raven to be the first bird, which should be just an early pressure, just to ask for food from the Principality of Eivor.

In fact, as a member of the Fiton city-states, the national policy of the Principality of Eivor has always been to support the weak and attack the strong.

Now that the Keynes Empire is weak, as long as Anthony asks, Gatugen can also send him a batch of food.

The reason why he didn't do this may be that Anthony didn't want to be accused of having a private relationship with ministers of other countries.

"Hmm..."

After stretching his muscles, Gatugen took out a pen and paper, put on a special six-finger glove on his left hand that liked to sweat, and began to draft a private letter.

The general idea is that he already knew why Anthony did this, there was no need to really fight, and he just asked how much food he wanted.

The letter was quickly written and put into an envelope.

After stamping his own seal, Gatugen's expression became a little complicated.

The reason why he held on to the seal representing power was not because he was greedy for power, but because Eivor VIII was really disappointing.

The former Grand Duke entrusted the future of the principality to Gatugen. He did not want to watch Eivor VIII ruin the entire principality while he was alive.

Gatugen tried to give Eivor VIII a chance again and again, but he was only disappointed again and again.

This time, Eivor VIII's reaction made him extremely disappointed.

In fact, during the meeting, Gatugen hinted to Eivor VIII more than once about the tricks behind this matter.

If Eivor VIII could think about the problem from the perspective of the principality, Gatugen would feel relieved whether the answer was right or wrong.

But this Grand Duke focused entirely on the power struggle.

"Whether it is a loyal minister or a powerful minister..."

"Everything is for the principality."

Having made up his mind, Gatugen began to draft another private letter again.

This letter was sent to Earl Wanda, the defender of the Sighing Wall.

In the letter, Gatugen said that there was no need to take Raven too seriously, as he could not cause any trouble, and if nothing unexpected happened, there would not be a real war.

But Wanda had to pass on some false intelligence, and it would be best to pretend that the Sighing Wall was in danger.

Gatugen would take this opportunity to put pressure on Eivor VIII to select the Minister of Finance.

But on the other hand, Gatugen also said that if his judgment was wrong and Raven really dared to invade the border of the Principality of Eivor, then Wanda could take the lead.

Take the initiative to destroy Raven's troops and let Anthony remember it well.

The Principality of Eivor is not easy to mess with!

As for the diplomatic level, the Fitun city-states have always advanced and retreated together, so Wanda does not have to worry about it.

Maybe the Keynes Empire is really capable of fighting on two fronts, but facing the Fitun city-states and the Insa Empire at the same time is definitely not the situation they want to see.

After writing these two letters, Gatugen called his confidant and asked him to send the letter through a secret route.

Going to the top floor of his mansion, Gatugen looked at the sky, but his mood was not cheerful.

Suddenly, a black dot rose from somewhere in the city and flew into the sky.

…

Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was already late April.

It had been nearly 20 days since Raven left Xuefeng County.

Gatugen did not receive Anthony's reply.

On the other side, Raven led the troops from Xuefeng County, passing through Hippok County and Derby County, and arrived outside Munn City in Hodges County.

About 150 kilometers further north, you will enter the territory of the Principality of Eivor.

Raven's marching speed was not very fast, about 30 kilometers per day.

But even so, with the exception of the 1st and 2nd Legions of the Eagle Army, the five legions in the five northwest counties all showed signs of falling behind more or less.

So Raven decided to take a detour outside Men'n City for a while.

On the one hand, he was waiting for those who were left behind; on the other hand, there were some people he had to meet before he actually attacked the Principality of Eivor.

After tidying up his clothes, Raven left the army and entered Meng'en City with only a few guards including hyenas.

Eric originally wanted to follow him to protect Raven's safety, but Raven refused.

First, someone in the military still needs to stabilize the overall situation.

Secondly, if there were really people who didn't want Raven to set out, then Raven wouldn't have gotten here alive.

Akori also chose to go with Raven.

Looking at the streets of Men'en City, Raven suddenly felt like times had changed.

The last time he came here, he still solved the vampire incident, and now William has become his slave.

Pedestrians on the street avoided Raven's horse's hooves, not daring to have any visual contact with him. Only after he passed by did they start talking fiercely.

After being strengthened by the magic core, Raven's hearing is far beyond that of ordinary people, and he can hear all these discussions.

Keywords such as "madman", "little bee" and "show" appear frequently.

The most mainstream discussion is to see when Lei Wen will be so confident that he will not be able to step down.

Some people also said that maybe Raven came to Meng'en City just to find a place under the stairs.

Raven did not take these discussions to heart, and devoted more attention to the changes in the lower city.

Although the streets are still inevitably filled with stench, which is a common problem in big cities in this era, at least the streets seem to be much tidier, and many public restrooms have been built.

Raven even saw street lights, which were exclusive to the uptown area in the past.

It seems that Denise has done a lot of things here.

Whenever the security forces patrolling the streets encounter Raven, they will take the initiative to bow to him.

Webber, the former leader of the "Bloody Harpoon" and the current commander of the security forces, also stood by the roadside and saluted Raven respectfully.

Seeing this scene, Raven was a little tempted and wanted to pull the security forces out as well - although they were not as good as the Eagle Army, they were at least much stronger than the five miscellaneous legions.

Of course, this is just thinking about it, Earl Tyrone will not allow Raven to cut flesh from under his hands.

All the way to Snake Castle, Earl Tyrone's youngest son, Viscount Hyde, greeted him: "Hey, my brother, long-awaited greetings!"

Raven dismounted and gave Hyde a big hug: "I heard that your wedding is scheduled for next month. Did you do it on purpose?"

At Raven's wedding, Hyde drank a lot of wine to him, but now it seems that he will not go back for revenge.

"The time has been set a long time ago, and we are ready to send you an invitation." Hyde and Raven walked in side by side: "But who would have thought that you would make such a big splash - I can't wait for you. Let’s get married after the fight.”

"However, if you are just bluffing this time, then I can't find an excuse to postpone it."

"Have you ever seen someone bluffing with an army of 40,000?" Raven laughed dumbly: "What is your father's attitude?"

"Go and ask him yourself. Archbishop Thomas is here."

As he spoke, Hyde lowered his voice and glanced at Akori who was following behind:

"Let me warn you in advance, Anthony is here too."

…