Imperial Crown

Raven followed Lux ​​all the way to the outside of the study with the creaking sound of wooden boards.

Pushing open the door, Lux gently tapped the wall.

Suddenly, lines lit up from all four walls, and then went out one after another. With a low hum, the crystal lamps hanging from the ceiling, shaped like a flower, suddenly lit up.

The blazing white light fell, illuminating the entire room like daylight.

Although he had long known that Lux was of extraordinary origin and wealthy, Raven was still stunned by this scene.

Magic lamps!

This kind of thing, let alone ordinary people, even most noble families can't afford it.

A magic lamp itself costs at least a thousand gold coins. If you count the labor and the process of burying the magic array in the building, one thousand six hundred or seven hundred is reasonable.

It's more than the annual tax revenue of many baron families!

At this moment, Raven only wants to say one thing.

Rich woman, please support me!

Lux was tidying up her desk. When she looked up at Raven, she asked in confusion, "Come in, what are you thinking about standing there?"

Raven came back to his senses and walked into the room while helping her tidy up the desk, saying, "I was just thinking, you didn't want to come to Eagle Castle to tutor me in Elvish. Do you think the candlelight in Eagle Castle is too dim?"

"Yes, it hurts the eyes." Lux nodded, looked carefully at the cover of the book in her hand, turned around and stuffed it into the empty space on the bookshelf.

Raven didn't expect Lux to be so straightforward. Instead, he was stunned for a moment: "Then why didn't you tell me directly?"

"Even if I told you, you can't afford it." Lux answered as a matter of course.

Raven could hear that Lux's words were indeed just about the matter, without any other meaning.

But because of this, Raven was even more depressed.

Lies don't hurt people, the truth is the sharpest knife.

Is this the gap between the nobles in the border areas and the real upper class?

"You don't have to worry about it." Seeing Raven's depression, Lux comforted him softly, "Most nobles can't afford it anyway."

Raven almost got internal injuries.

This is not comfort, it's clearly a finishing blow!

Who knows what Lux will say next. For the sake of his mental health, Raven coughed and decided to change the subject:

"I have invented a new product recently. Do you want to help me take a look?"

Sure enough, Lux's attention was immediately diverted, with a hint of expectation in her eyes: "Is it the same as Angel's Tears, a new wine?"

"It's not wine, it's this." Raven touched his waist with his hand and held a glass bottle in his palm: "My new invention, Angel's Kiss."

"Angel's Kiss?" Holding the bottle in his hand, Lux looked left and right against the light, with a hint of novelty in his eyes.

Under the illumination of the magic lamp, the liquid in the bottle showed a noble golden luster, as charming as a flowing gem.

"Open the bottle and apply a little on your wrist." Raven persuaded.

Even under the bright light of the magic lamp, Lacus was still dazzlingly white.

Her long golden hair was casually scattered behind her head, and under her willow-like thin eyebrows, her blue eyes were as calm and charming as the lake.

Her nose was straight, her nose was small, and her lips were pink and thin, slightly pursed, revealing a bit of the unique youth and cuteness of a girl.

Her slender fingers evenly applied the perfume on her delicate and smooth wrists, and immediately a fresh and elegant jasmine fragrance spread. She put her nose close and raised her eyebrows slightly.

"What a nice smell, it's jasmine." There was a smile in her eyes, and then she seemed to suddenly think of something, her expression became serious, she capped the bottle, and put it aside.

Raven was a little confused about this sudden change: "Why, you don't like this smell?"

"No, I like it very much." Lacus opened her eyes wide and shook her head gently.

Raven wanted to ask more, but Lux said, "We've wasted enough time. Don't you want to learn Elvish? Let's get started."

As she said that, she opened the "Sacred Words" and said in a teacher's tone of testing students: "In the second section of the first chapter, which Elvish word is the most easily confused?"

At first, Lux would work hard on the details. After discovering that Raven had a good memory for words, she began to focus on sentence patterns and grammar.

The two of them talked one sentence after another, and the atmosphere became more and more harmonious.

But people's attention is always limited.

Gradually, Raven began to be distracted. Even though he reminded himself to concentrate several times, his mind became more and more confused.

The voice of Lux in his ears began to distort and disappear, and his thoughts diverged in an uncontrollable direction.

Just like every social animal who slacks off at work and every student who is distracted in class.

The content is wild and irrelevant.

In a trance, he seemed to have returned to the classroom in his previous life.

The fashionably dressed English teacher stood on the podium, with a pair of snow-white feet stepping on high heels. The smooth lines of the instep flowed smoothly. Through the white and almost transparent skin, the traces of blue blood vessels could be seen, revealing a vivid sexy taste.

"Raven!" Lux's voice suddenly became louder: "What are you doing?"

"Ah?" Raven shuddered and answered reflexively: "I'm... thinking about the answer."

Lux's voice was filled with anger: "Then why are you looking at my feet? Is there an answer there?"

Raven finally came to his senses.

What he was looking at was not the English teacher's feet, but Lux's!

"It's not that I can't try, but I can't see clearly from this distance." Raven scratched his head and asked half-jokingly: "Otherwise... put your feet there and I'll get closer to see?"

This sentence was indeed a bit too much. Lux's pretty face turned red with anger. She closed the book with a snap and pouted: "Anyway, it's getting late. You should go back to the castle quickly. I also need to rest."

"Oh, it's really getting late." Looking at the completely dark Eagle Town, Raven stood up and stretched: "Well, can I ask you for a favor?"

Lux Lacus blinked and asked with caution: "What's the matter?"

"Well... I'm a little afraid of the dark." Raven rubbed his hands and asked tentatively: "How about letting me stay for one night today, and I'll leave tomorrow morning before dawn."

"Oh... So that's how it is, you're afraid of the dark." Lacus nodded and walked to the corner, suddenly picked up a broom, and walked towards Raven step by step:

"You won't be afraid if you faint."

Today, many years later, Raven once again remembered the afternoon when he was kicked out of the orphanage, and shuddered immediately.

This posture is quite similar to the old dean's charm.

"Just a joke."

"Hey, are you really going to hit me?"

"Stop, stop, stop, I'm leaving now, please spare me, priest!"

Under Lacus's "coercion", Raven ran out of the church.

Looking at his receding back, Lacus's expression changed from serious to gentle, and finally laughed out loud, closed the corner door, and turned to the study.

Recalling the funny look when Raven left, the smile on her face became more and more intense, until she returned to the study and gradually restrained it.

Her eyes fell on the Angel's Kiss, and Lux ​​walked to the desk and grabbed it in her hand.

The air was still filled with a faint scent of jasmine, Lux's eyes lit up slightly, but the corners of her mouth pursed.

"Humph, Denise has been using it for so long, and she just remembered to give it to me."

During this period, she occasionally went in and out of Eagle Castle, and she could always smell the rich floral fragrance from Denise. She didn't know why, but today this bottle of Angel's Kiss gave her the answer.

However, Denise's body smelled of roses, while Raven gave her the scent of jasmine.

This made Lux feel better again.

"Since you are still attentive, I will let you go this time."

As she said, she smiled, held the Angel's Kiss to her chest, and walked briskly towards the bedroom.

Raven certainly didn't know Lux's mental activities.

Even if he knew, he could only sigh:

Women's minds are so hard to guess!

As soon as he returned to the study in Eagle Castle, Raven heard a hissing sound.

Then, a flame rose in the corner, illuminating an old and wrinkled face.

"Oh my god!" Raven almost threw the "Holy Words" out, and only after seeing the man's face clearly did he breathe a sigh of relief: "Mr. Gordon, what are you doing?"

"If it weren't for my good psychological quality, at least one of us would have to go to see the Lord of Light today!"

A copy of the "Holy Words" weighs six or seven pounds. If it is thrown out here, old Gordon will not be able to speak for at least 10 months.

Or if Raven can't catch his breath, he will also take a breath after 10 months.

Old Gordon's face was full of heaviness. He placed the candlestick on the windowsill and said in a deep voice: "Baron, there is something I can't help but say!"

"Although my eyes are blurry, Baron, based on my 40 years of experience serving the Griffith family, you handed over the financial power to Denise, which is indeed a complete failure!"

Raven raised his eyebrows slightly.

It was indeed because of this matter.

He thought that old Gordon could keep his temper, but he didn't expect that less than half a month had passed and he couldn't help it.

Throwing the "Sacred Words" on the table, Raven took a bottle of Angel's Tears and poured himself a glass. He turned his chair and looked at Old Gordon: "Tell me more about it?"

"Baron, Denise is not a suitable candidate." Old Gordon gritted his teeth and said: "Although she is nominally a member of the Griffith family, she does not have the family bloodline, nor has she given birth to a child for the Griffith family. She is not trustworthy!"

"Moreover, she is a lowly, treacherous, and desperate profiteer!"

"Yeah." Raven nodded slightly to show his approval.

This somewhat careless attitude made Old Gordon even more distressed:

"She has long exposed her cunning nature!"

"Oh?" Raven crossed his legs, as if he was in the mood.

Old Gordon seemed to be inspired and said loudly: "In order to please you, she specially bought the temperature control array in your name, completely ignoring the financial constraints. That's 647 gold coins! The tax revenue of Shimmering Gold Town this year is only 617.65 gold coins!"

"And just last month, she spent 200 gold coins from the account without knowing where they went. Maybe she embezzled them!"

"So, I hope you can take back her financial power immediately, otherwise, the Griffith family, which has been gradually rising with great difficulty, will fall into her hands!"

"Well said!" Raven poured another glass of Angel Tears and put it in front of him: "Have you been holding these words for a long time? Come on, drink a glass to moisten your throat."

"Thank you for your consideration, Lord Baron." Old Gordon took the wine glass but did not drink it: "So, you agreed to my request?"

Raven did not answer immediately. He walked to a wooden board standing in the corner of the study room: "This is the map of our Eagle Territory."

He raised the candlestick to illuminate the map: "Did you find anything, Mr. Gordon?"

Old Gordon stepped forward and pushed up his monocle: "Eagle Town is too small, no bigger than a fingernail."

Raven nodded and asked further: "Why? Why did Eagle Town, which is located in the hinterland of Eagle Territory with fertile land and abundant water, end up in this situation?"

Old Gordon sighed heavily: "Please allow me to say something disrespectful. This is all because of Baron Donald's wrong decision."

"He was too obsessed with 'magic experiments'. During the middle and late periods of his rule, Eagle Town lost many of its citizens every year. At most, one year would result in many people running away and dying. Eagle Town lost a total of 332 people!"

"No, it's not just because of this." Raven said decisively: "In the final analysis, the positioning of Eagle Town is still too unclear."

"Positioning?" Old Gordon asked in confusion.

"Yes, positioning!" Raven's finger fell on the map: "From a topographic point of view, Eagle Town is located in the center of the Eagle Territory, with Eagle Castle to the north, Jinsha River to the south, and natural mountain barriers on the east and west sides. , is a wealthy place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.”

"But the successive generations of Griffith family owners only regarded it as a food production area and never really wanted to operate it. Instead, they regarded Goldsmith Town as the economic center of gravity!"

"If Eagle Town was once prosperous, how could it be abandoned so easily by Uncle Donald?"

There was a gleam in Old Gordon's eyes, and he asked with a little expectancy:

"Lord Baron, do you mean to build Eagle Town?"

"That's right!" Lei Wen said loudly: "The distance between Gold Flash Town and Eagle Town is only 6.4 kilometers. The advantages of Gold Flash Town can be transferred to Eagle Town!"

"Those who can travel across thousands of mountains and rivers to Goldsmith Town won't mind walking another hour to Eagle Town."

"I understand!" Old Gordon swallowed and said excitedly: "The reason why you want to rebuild the road is to prepare for this!?"

"Oh oh oh, Mr. Gordon, you finally understand." Raven clapped his hands happily: "Transportation is only the first step, what is really important is industry!"

"Restaurants, pubs, grocery stores, equipment stores, casinos, dueling arenas...and so on!"

"Only when all these are built, Eagle Town can be as brightly lit as the current Goldsmith Town, or even replace Goldflake Town and become the veritable center of the Eagle Territory!"

Old Gordon has been serving the Griffith family for 40 years. He has always dreamed of seeing Eagle Town prosper. At this moment, he was also moved by the vision described by Raven. He swallowed and was very excited: "Sir, you are really ...It’s amazing!”

"As early as when your great-uncle, Baron Eivor, the father of Baron Donald, was still alive, he had thought about building a dueling ground in Eagle Town. This is an important place to enhance the family's reputation and cultivate the martial ethics of the people. ”

"It's a pity that he was unable to fulfill this wish when he was in power, and he still regretted it until his death."

"If Eagle Town can be built as you said, it will definitely bring the entire Eagle Territory to a higher level!"

Having said this, he took a deep breath and said from the bottom of his heart:

“That’s why it’s even more important for you to take the power back from Denise.”

"She is a businessman and will never realize the importance of Eagle Town."

Old Gordon's outlook was detailed and reliable, but in the end, his vision was too limited.

Moreover, Raven did not agree with his evaluation of Denise.

"I know." Raven showed a meaningful smile: "Isn't this also you?"

Old Gordon was stunned for a moment, and then he heard what Raven meant: "Sir, what do you mean...?"

Raven said slowly: "As you said, Denise is an outsider. She does not realize the important role of Eagle Town, so I never thought of handing over Eagle Town to her."

"But you are different, Mr. Gordon."

"You have sent away three family heads in a row!"

"We are truly a family."

Having said this, Raven patted Old Gordon heavily on the shoulder:

"I am going to leave you fully responsible for the construction of Eagle Town!"

Old Gordon's breathing became heavier than ever.

Being fully responsible for the construction of Eagle Town will be an extremely important task, but now it falls on his shoulders!

This meant Raven's unreserved trust in him.

It is both an affirmation of his ability and a reward for his loyalty.

"Lord Baron, don't worry, I will definitely build Eagle Town into the most prosperous town in the entire Nord Province!"

"Step by step." Raven raised his glass with a smile: "Why not set a small goal first."

"Beyond Goldshire within three years!"

Old Gordon also raised his glass: "I will definitely not disappoint the Baron's expectations!"

Wine glasses clinked together.

It made a crisp, sweet and beautiful sound, just like Gordon's mood at this moment.

After finishing the glass of wine, Old Gordon saluted with light in his eyes and said, "Sir, then I won't disturb your rest."

"Go." Raven nodded.

Old Gordon retired respectfully, and as soon as he walked to the door of the study, he heard Raven's voice from behind:

"Mr. Gordon."

"Don't let others know what you really think, ever."

A look of surprise slipped through Gordon's eyes. He paused slightly and paused for a moment:

"I will obey your teachings, Lord Baron!"

After saying that, he opened the door and walked out.

At this time, Old Gordon's steps were more brisk than ever before. He had his hands behind his back, his originally stooped spine straightened up, and he was humming a cheerful tune.

Lord Baron is really far-sighted!

Looking back now, building the workshop near Eagle Town instead of the more prosperous Goldsmith Town may have paved the way for the development of Eagle Town.

In Old Gordon's view, territorial development is the foundation, and foreign trade can only bring quick money.

Now that the goal of developing Eagle Town has been set, no matter how much power Denise holds, she cannot control the future of the Griffith family!

"My lord's arrangement is really clever. Denise was clearly used, but she thought she had taken advantage."

The more he thought about Raven's recent arrangements, the more Gordon Lao admired Raven and felt more gratified.

After several generations of decline, the Griffith family finally welcomed a wise lord.

A smile appeared at the corner of his dry mouth: "It seems it's time to call Fiona back..."

In the blink of an eye, another 9 days passed, and the time came to October 12th.

This morning, as soon as Raven finished his meditation, he heard hurried footsteps: "Lord Baron, there is a greeting card here. You need to read it in person."

Raven said calmly: "Bring it over and let me take a look."

Patty opened the door and handed over the post.

Reaching out to take it and open it, Raven scanned the contents at a glance, his brows furrowed at first, and then he laughed angrily.

This is a greeting from the Fox family.

It said that Nancy was coming to Eagle Castle to stay for a while to "escape the summer heat."

Autumn is almost over, how can we avoid the heat?

This Nancy definitely didn't have any good intentions.

She didn't really think she would let her live in, did she?

Thinking of this, Raven snorted and said: "Tell old Gordon to draft a reply for me. Just say that I am not in good health recently and it is inconvenient to receive him. The wording can be polite, but the attitude must be tough."

Putting the invitation back into Patty's hands and watching her motionless, Raven asked, "Is there anything else?"

"No, sir." Petty said cautiously: "It's just that it's too late to reply now..."

"Not in time? Isn't this the greeting card that just arrived this morning?" Raven was a little confused and looked at the time on it again.

That’s right, it’s October 12th.

According to the etiquette among nobles, greeting cards must be delivered to the door at least 5 days in advance.

"You'll know for yourself..." Patty pointed to the window.

Raven stood up and rushed to the window in a few steps. As soon as he opened the curtains, he was stunned.

There is a long motorcade on the street from Eagle Town to Eagle Fort.

Each carriage was extremely luxurious and bore the coat of arms of the Fox family.

Nancy, the "Fire Rose" of Earl Fox's family, came directly!

…