Blue Sword

"In short, that's probably it." The Duke of Bavaria said at last.

"Hmm." Bruno, the Dragon of Fantasy, pondered.

He used his shallow mind-reading ability and discovered that the Duke did not tell any lies, and His Excellency Feng Luohuo next to him had no expression at all, apparently acquiescing to the Duke's statement.

"So, let me confirm, this is what happened..." The Fantasy Dragon began to recount from the beginning:

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In the year 221 of the Sixth Age, the Principality of Lorraine, the Grand Palace of Aachen.

The Duke of Bavaria is visiting the Emperor to discuss the recent developments in the Wolf family.

Since the founding of the Saxon Dynasty, almost most nobles have known that the two famous families, Wolf and Griffon, have become a serious problem for the Dragon family.

The reason is that they hold too much principality territory.

In the feudal Holy Solomon Empire, how to prevent other families from becoming more powerful is something that the royal family considers all the time.

On the one hand, most emperors only exercised the power of enfeoffment, but rarely used the power to transfer or unconfess. Once used, it would easily cause rebellion among the vassals; on the other hand, even if they did not offend the vassals, when the vassals became more powerful, they would Rebellious thoughts will also begin to arise.

In general, it means that when he becomes stronger, he will rebel. If you weaken him, he will rebel in advance.

Otto I's policy was not to enfeoff the great nobility, but to enfeoff a large number of middle-level nobility and small nobility. As a result, there were various viscounts, barons and knights directly under the royal family, sandwiched like fragments among the territories of the major principalities. between.

In response, the big nobles are also actively annexing the territories of the surrounding small nobles to compete with the emperor's policy of reducing vassals, especially the wolves and griffons.

As a result, by the time of Otto II, the generation of the current emperor, the Griffin family actually had no fiefdom and no heirs, and they were extinct! As a result, one of the two serious troubles was gone, leaving only the Wolf family occupying Lombardy and Burgundy.

In order to deal with them, the Saxon family chose to join forces with the Weisbach family, the feud of the Wolf family, so their relationship has become increasingly close recently.

The Duke of Bavaria has even planned to send his young second son Henry to the Royal Military Academy next year to study. On the one hand, he will act as a proton. On the other hand, after he graduates, he will become His Majesty's Blade Knight and thus serve as the leader of the Weisbach family. A bridge to the Saxon family.

After all, the entire Principality of Bavaria will be inherited by the eldest son Ludwig in the future.

After negotiating Henry's enrollment, the Duke inevitably drank a few more drinks with the Emperor at the family banquet, and began to happily discuss the long history of the alliance between the Swan and Dragon families.

Gradually, we talked about how the ancestor of the Weisbach family, the Forge Fire, followed Emperor Henry I, the ancestor of the Saxony family, to defeat the rebellious Lion Duke of the Wolf family.

As a result, the revolutionary friendship between the two families became much stronger. After all, their ancestors once carried guns together.

The Duke of Bavaria was also a little drunk. After he was too drunk, he said goodbye to the emperor and walked slowly back to his room.

As a result, I met Queen Theofano at the door of the room.

Theofano, the former princess of the Eastern Solomon Empire. According to the royal family pedigree, she should be regarded as Theodora's grandfather's niece, which is equivalent to little Sheila's distant aunt. But this one married young, and Sheila had never actually met her.

The Weisbach family is famous for being rich in artists, and the Duke of Bavaria is also quite obsessed with the culture of Shiris, which has developed art and culture. There are even rumors in the empire that the Duke also has an interest in Queen Theofano from Donluo. Unreasonable thoughts...

Of course it's just a rumor.

Although the Duke had a good impression of the queen from Donluo, he was already married after all, and he was also a decent person, let alone having an affair with the queen. When he was in the Grand Palace of Aachen, he even deliberately avoided being with Dio. Queen Fano had any form of contact...mainly eye contact.

So he had no idea why the Queen appeared at his door tonight.

"Your Majesty." The Duke lowered his head cautiously, and then tried to push around her and open the door. In any case, if a maid sees the two of them together here, it will definitely be a heavy blow to the reputation of His Majesty the Emperor.

As for the Duke of Bavaria, as a decent, upright, and loyal Duke of the Empire, he would certainly not let his mistakes cause any stain on the Emperor's reputation.

However, unexpectedly, a delicate hand stretched out from his shoulder and pushed open the door with him.

"Your Majesty?" The Duke was shocked again, but Theofano had already pushed him into the room, then turned around and closed the door.

"Your Majesty the Duke." The queen couldn't hide her sadness and said urgently, "I have always believed that you are a decent, upright, and loyal person. Although they all say that you treat me...but I know that you have never Embarrass me in public.”

"It's just that for this matter... I really don't know who I can turn to. I don't even know who in this palace can be trusted. This thought haunted me like a nightmare until the Lord sent you here... I I beg you, Your Excellency the Duke, whether it is mercy or a deal..."

"...Please help me!"

Seeing that Queen Theophano's eyes were red from crying and she looked extremely pitiful, the Duke couldn't bear it and helped her sit down on the chair:

"Your Majesty, although it is a bit presumptuous to say this, I thank you for your trust in me. As long as it does not harm me personally or my family, I am willing to do my best to help you."

"That's it." Seeing the Duke express his position skillfully, Queen Theofano, who had been sobbing, finally calmed down and showed a grateful expression.

"Your Excellency the Duke..." She unbuttoned her collar, which scared the Duke of Bavaria and quickly closed his eyes - he didn't see anything, because he was an upright and decent man.

However, he soon heard the cry of a baby.

The Duke opened his eyes again and saw that Theophano had put on his clothes again. The little baby in her arms was crying with dissatisfaction, seemingly angry because she had lost her mother's body.

"This is little Sophie, my and His Majesty's daughter." Queen Theofano looked at her reluctantly, then closed her eyes in pain and begged:

"I know this will surprise you and be very abrupt, but this is really the only way I can think of at the moment..."

"Your Excellency, can you adopt her?"

For a moment, the Duke of Bavaria even thought that he heard wrongly, but Queen Theofano quickly handed the baby to him.

The Queen's movement was so determined that the Duke thought that if he did not reach out to catch it, the baby would slip from her loose hands and fall to the ground - so he had no choice but to catch it.

The little baby in his arms gradually stopped crying and opened his big blue eyes curiously, looking at the well-dressed middle-aged man. Queen Theophano stood up and continued:

"She is His Majesty's daughter, but she can no longer stay by my side... Otherwise, if this continues, this child will inevitably go on the road of open confrontation with her father."

"Is this a prophecy? Son of Laius?" the Duke asked in astonishment.

The so-called son of Laius is a myth from ancient Cyrus. It is said that the king of ancient Thebes, Laius, heard an oracle that his son would kill him when he grew up.

So the king cruelly pierced his son's ankles, tied them with iron chains, and ordered a shepherd to abandon him in the forest to feed wolves. However, the shepherd took pity on him and sent him to the palace of the Kingdom of Corinth next door. As a result, when the child grew up, he accidentally killed a stranger passing by in a carriage on the roadside, who happened to be his father, King Laius. .

The prophecies in ancient Xiris myths often have an "inevitable" and "tragic" nature, that is, no matter how you escape, you cannot avoid the destined tragic ending. Of course, although it is just a myth, in this extraordinary world, everything is possible.

"Myth?" Queen Theofano shook her head and said with a tone of struggle, "It's not a myth, it's a devil. It lives in my mind, instigating me to bewitch my husband, and also wants to seduce me. My daughter is also guilty..."

"Ah!!!" She suddenly screamed in a low voice, clutching her head tightly as if in severe pain, and roared through gritted teeth, "From my head..."

"...Get out!"

The Duke of Bavaria stood up in panic. He subconsciously wanted to open the door and go out to call the doctor. However, he soon thought that if someone saw him and the Queen alone in a room with the newborn little Sophie, it would definitely be harmful to His Majesty. serious damage to reputation.

As an upright, decent and loyal earl, he quickly gave up this idea for the sake of His Majesty.

At this time, Queen Theofano stood upright again. The expression on her face was completely different from before. With a kind of elegant and polite smile (even a little polite and indifferent), she extended her hand to the Duke of Bavaria:

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, can you return my Sophie to me?"

The Duke of Bavaria was slightly startled when he saw Queen Theofano's face suddenly turned ferocious again, and she bent down again holding her head:

"No! I will never...will...hand Sophie...to you..."

The queen's expression sometimes turned ferocious and desperate, and sometimes changed back to calm and elegant (even with a certain faint coldness), as if there were two personalities in the body that were in fierce conflict, constantly competing for the dominance of the body.

In the end, it was the original Queen's personality that prevailed. She stood up again holding on to the table, smiled weakly at the Duke and said:

"Your Majesty the Duke...it's time for me to go..."

"I can't suppress that devil for too long, so... please leave the Principality of Lorraine as soon as possible tomorrow..."

"Take my Sophie with you... stay away from me, stay away from here..."

"This is my only plea to you."

She walked tremblingly outside. The Duke of Bavaria stepped forward and tried to help her, but was pushed away by the queen.

"So, what should her name be?" When the queen opened the door, the Duke tentatively asked behind her.

"As...my daughter?"

Queen Theofano turned around and took one last look at her daughter... The Duke was sure he saw some kind of crystal droplets slipping from the corners of her eyes.

Then she slowly turned around, as if she had made up her mind, and said in a trembling voice:

"Just call her 'Eleanor'."

"Eleanor..." the Duke of Bavaria repeated the name, knowing that its original meaning was "as bright as the morning sun". However, after Queen Theophano said these words, she walked forward again without looking back and disappeared into the pitch-black night outside.

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"That's right." The Duke of Bavaria nodded, "Your retelling is completely consistent with the facts I just described, Your Majesty the Dragon of Utopia."

"Well, I understand." Bruno, the Dragon of Fantasy, looked down at his notes and nodded thoughtfully.

Although the story glorifies the narrator, there is nothing logically wrong with it.

The Duke of Bavaria has been troubled by rumors for a long time. It is naturally impossible for him to tell His Majesty the Emperor about this matter. Otherwise, given His Majesty's character, he would have to suspect that he had some ulterior relationship with the Queen, which would make the Queen secretly seek help from him. , and entrusted His Highness Sophie to him.

And this kind of anger will even extend to Her Highness Sophie. On the other hand, if Her Royal Highness Sophie could grow up in the Weisbach family, her treatment would not be much worse than that in the Saxony family.

Therefore, whether it was for the sake of the Queen, His Highness, or even the Emperor, the Duke of Bavaria finally chose to secretly adopt the child, and his motives were reasonable.

As for Theofano's mention of "I don't know who in the palace I can trust", there is no doubt that the Duke of Bavaria has a great distrust of everyone in the Saxony family, so he has concealed the matter until now.

Of course, for today's Bruno, he undoubtedly agrees with the Duke of Bavaria's approach. After all, there is a spiritual plague, and it is hard to say how many people in the palace were infected at that time.

If he rashly chooses to betray the Queen, then Her Highness Sophie will definitely stay in the palace. According to the Queen, if His Highness is controlled by the spiritual plague again and assassinates the Emperor...

…For the Saxon family, there was much more than just a scandal.

Well, who knew that even after leaving the Saxon family, Her Highness would go back to the path of confrontation with her father?

The Dragon of Fantasy closed the note, silently lamented that "good fortune plays tricks on people", and then said goodbye to the Duke of Bavaria and the Fire of the Furnace and left.