From Witcher to Lord of the Empire

Chapter 356 The next generation...

This was the fourth time Lane had met Foltest.

The first time was when he asked for help before the Northern Conference. At that time, the two of them did not talk much about each other;

The second time was during the Northern Conference, where Foltest opposed his proposal several times, and finally unified his opinions through the mediation of Queen Meve and Vizmir II;

The third time was when they repelled the Nilfgaardian Central Army outside the capital of Leiria. Foltest unexpectedly brought troops to support him. He didn't even talk to himself, and left after the fight, simply and neatly.

These three times, Foltest was noble and elegant in front of Lan. Even when he was angry occasionally, he was majestic, as if he was waiting for a painter to imprint his profile at any time.

But this time, it's different.

Foltest stared at himself, his upper and lower molars clenched together as if they had hatred for each other, and his cheeks were bulging high.

The look in his eyes could be called sad and angry.

Lann laughed out loud after hearing Foltest's words: "Your Majesty is joking... There is no enmity between us, so how can we talk about revenge?"

[Because I once proposed to let my illegitimate son marry Cirilla, so you take revenge on me! ] Fuertestai roared in his heart.

However, the roar in his heart kept roaring. After questioning out of control at first, the king, who had always been in a high position, quickly adjusted his emotions.

He sneered: "Is that a conspiracy? Have you heard about the news that Radovid of Redania wants to marry Yada? You don't want to see Temeria and Redania unite, so you use This behind-the-scenes dirty trick is destroying our alliance!"

Lan couldn't help but shake his head after hearing this: "If I were really such a wicked person, His Majesty should not discuss matters alone with me in the room."

"Your Majesty, if you have anything to say, just say it directly. To beat around the bush like this is to insult both of us at the same time."

This rude tone made Fuertestai's cheek twitch again. The blond-haired young man had no intention of acknowledging his mistake.

The king took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

He revealed the first purpose of meeting Lan En today: "Yada's child will inherit Cintra."

"Impossible." Lann said without any hesitation.

Fuertestai slapped the armrest hard: "That's your child!"

Lann looked at the king whose chest was swelling with anger, pursed his lips, and said in a matter-of-fact tone: "So I want him - or her - to inherit Temeria."

As expected, King Foltest's chest swelled like a balloon in the next second and was about to burst.

An ear-piercing roar rang out in the conference room. The guards and attendants outside the door tried to come in in panic, but were then driven out even more angrily by Fuertestai.

The sound of heavy breathing was repeated a dozen times.

After Foltest finally calmed down a little, Lan took the initiative to stand up, straighten the overturned wine glass, and fill it up.

It's really unkind to be so harsh in front of a father after doing something like that.

"Your Majesty." Lann thought for a while and tried to comfort him, "The matter has come to this, we should move forward."

Foltest almost thought that the other party wanted to make him angry on the spot and then support Yada to succeed to the throne.

Lann continued: "I know you have some other ideas, but I hope we can skip those previous temptations - if you really love Yada."

Foltest's face turned red again. This man's blood vessels were really flexible.

But he really didn't say anything more about letting Yada's children inherit Cintra.

He drank down the wine glass in one gulp and stared at Lan. Lann calmly refilled his glass.

"Why do you think she can inherit Temeria? Yada is a daughter, and I have another son."

Lan En calmly said: "But Yada is the daughter of your legal queen, and your son is an illegitimate son."

"Illegitimate children can be straightened out."

"But Temeria under his leadership is definitely not as prosperous as Queen Yada's rule."

Fuertestai drank another glass of wine angrily, but this time he felt slightly relieved.

Although Lann's words were not soft, there was a promise between the lines: if Arda succeeds to the throne, then Lannister is willing to support Arda and support the "prosperity" of Temeria under Arda's rule.

What Foltest wanted to win for his daughter was just such a promise.

Does Foltest love his daughter? There is no doubt that, as Lan En said, Yada is the daughter of the queen he loves deeply, and even the name "Yada" is the queen's name.

But as king, Foltest had to consider more. As a princess, Yada was not originally an option for heir, and Fuertestai's original plan was indeed to help his illegitimate son inherit the throne.

But the combination of Yada and Lan En and the resulting crystallization made Yada solidify her hard power.

It was Sintra after all. After the Civil War, the voices of the "Five Powers" have been faintly heard in the north.

I don’t know because I haven’t fought against the other three major countries, but now I am sure that Cintra’s strength exceeds that of Aedirn. Cintra itself is a neighboring country. Such a country will later become an ally of Temeria because of Yada, which is good news for Temeria.

Regardless of whether the current situation is due to Yada's petty thoughts or Lan En's conspiracy, to some extent Fuertestai would rather see this result.

The fire burned in the fireplace, Foltest kept drinking, and Lan kept pouring wine.

Those rages were finally extinguished bit by bit by the wine.

After a long while, Fuertesta asked slowly: "Do you love Yada?"

"You're joking." Lann spoke tactfully, but still without any hesitation.

Before Fuertestai roared again, Lann stopped him first: "Do you think Yada loves me?"

Foltest's body froze.

"We all know what this matter is about. This is a coincidence that caught everyone off guard, but it can solve many of our problems by mistake. At least judging from the results, this is a good thing."

"If you want to soothe our mutual emotions, then I can only say: I will love Yada's child, that's all. And I believe Yada is the same."

This is a conversation that would undoubtedly be hammered to death in modern society. But it’s perfect in this situation.

To be honest, with Yada's background, knowledge, and strong personality, she is destined not to fall in love with anyone in an emotional sense. That night was just a situation that everyone understood.

Things like love are too complicated, and the relationship between Lann and Yada is very pure.

Of course, with the current value of this child, there is no doubt that Yada will love this child in the future, and perhaps Aiwujiwudi will also develop some feelings for Lan En.

But that's all, and this "love" doesn't exist yet.

Even Foltest agrees. So after staring at Lan for a while, his breathing gradually calmed down.

"I heard from Keira before that Cirila announced her engagement to you at the National Restoration Ceremony?"

Lan nodded in admission.

"You are brave!" Foltest snorted coldly, "Everyone helped you Cintra resist Nilfgaard and help you restore the country, but in the end, you set up a trap. Lan, you violated the original agreement in The promise made at the Northern Conference!”

Lan covered his lips with a wine glass: "You have made two mistakes. First, fighting Nilfgaard is not just to help Cintra, but to help the North. This is now a consensus."

"Second, the promise I made at the meeting was that 'the future monarch of Cintra and your heirs are one family.' From a Temerian perspective - I have kept this promise."

Fuertestai slapped the armrest hard and wanted to say something, but suddenly he felt an electric shock in the back of his head, and the anger aroused by the family matter disappeared in an instant.

He looked at Lan's half-smiling expression and narrowed his eyes: "Lannister...what are you planning?"

"Perhaps you have already guessed part of it."

Foltest looked at Lann for a while, and felt that those dark golden lion eyes suddenly became powerful.

Finally he looked away: "Do you know what the cause of this meeting on Thanede Island was?"

Lan nodded.

"With your status, you don't have to go in person. You can let your druid or Triss serve as a representative. So what are you planning?"

Lan smiled half-smilingly: "I have always been curious about the Warlock Brotherhood, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about it."

Although he and Foltest have a connection now, they are far from the level of "real people". Many things should be vague or vague.

Foltest shook his head noncommittally: "This time Temeria will send two representatives. Advisor Keira, you have met, and the other one is my special forces commander Vernon Roche. If If you want to do anything, you can come to them."

"I won't be polite." Lan raised his wine glass towards the king.

Fuertes waved his hand with half interest: "That's it. My order has been given. Just go and meet them."

This is driving people away.

After having finished talking about what should be said, Lan didn't want to bring trouble to the stinky face in front of him.

But before leaving, he suddenly thought of something.

"His Majesty?"

"What's up."

"Now that our relationship has become more...closer." Lann considered the words, "Then you also know that Cintra pays special attention to mysticism now, so it can understand many things that ordinary people don't know."

Foltest had already started to close his eyes to rest, and didn't want to see Lann any more for a moment. Hearing this, he opened his eyes again.

"Do you know [Willen]?"

"You're asking me if I know about the territory of Temeria?" Foltest sneered, "Xenide Island is within the boundaries of Velen. But if you want to get some help from Velen Forget it, there..."

"It's a sparsely populated place with a harsh environment—even more exaggerated than Kaedwen." Lann was the first to avoid talking, "But if I want to tell you, besides natural factors, there are other causes of all this. What’s the reason?”

Foltest sat up straight: "What do you know?"

"I don't know what you think about faith, but nowadays there are always some creatures that have survived from ancient times to the present day and like to give themselves the name of 'god'." Lann shrugged, "There are three of them in Velen. They exist, they call themselves [Ladies of the Forest], and they use bloody methods to hinder the development of Willen."

"Anyway, Velen is also located on an important trade route. If it can be established, it definitely has the potential to become a port city as good as Marpoli; and eliminating those three monsters can liberate Velen to a large extent. ." Lann said sincerely, "You can understand this as a gift from me to... Temeria."

Foltest looked at Lann steadily for a while: "How does [Lady of the Forest] compare with your ice giant or dragon?"

"A well-trained army is enough to deal with them."

The Temerian king nodded noncommittally and waved his hand.

This time Lann really went out. Under the vigilant eyes of the guards, he let out a sigh of relief.

He looked at his palm carefully, but even he didn't know what he was looking at.

At this moment, Lann only had one thought in his mind - I actually have a child.

——

Brochlon City.

Lane's former attendant and now mayor, Levin, put down the pen in his hand and let out a sigh of relief.

The content of the document in front of me is a bit strange. It is about a special day in Brochlon - Arbor Day.

The cause of this festival is the agreement reached between the Duke of Lannister and the dryads of Brochron: which required the dryads to open the forest resources to Cintra and prohibited the use of dryad magic to transform human children; in response, With their dedication, the Brochlon people will help the dryads solve the problem of reproduction.

For the Brochrons, little is given and all is given in return.

Later, the two parties decided on a day when the collective organization would enter the forest. Duke Lannister even named this day with a stroke of his pen - Arbor Day!

Levin always felt that the Duke's smile was very meaningful at that time.

Levin attaches great importance to this festival, because the Duke attaches great importance to his relationship with the tree spirit family. The key point lies in the [Water of Brochlon] owned by the tree spirits. Even now that druids and warlocks have magical potions, the treatment methods of the dryads are unique.

As far as Levin knew, the Duke valued the other mysterious effects of Brochlon's water and always wanted to take it for himself, but he always felt that the time had not come yet and did not take action.

Levin wants to help the Duke get this "opportunity"; but if it doesn't work, he must maintain a good relationship with the tree spirits before the opportunity comes, so that the Duke can act in the future.

"Knock, knock," there was a knock on the door, and the mayor's secretary pushed the door open and entered.

"Has anything happened around the forest recently? Are there any poachers or wood thieves?"

The mayor asked about the situation as usual. Around Arbor Day, there are always people fishing in troubled waters around the forest.

The secretary shook his head: "The patrol team's inspections have been strengthened more than once, and those from the [Lion Order] have also volunteered to help. Outsiders don't need the help of the ladies in the forest to be caught and imprisoned by us first. , we still need to wait for you to attend their trial together."

The secretary handed over a stack of paper with a list of criminals and their interrogations.

Levin looked down silently.

"It's just..." The secretary suddenly hesitated.

"Tell me, I want to know everything about Blochlon Forest, no matter how big or small!"

The secretary immediately lowered his head: "I can't tell whether this matter is important or not. I didn't want to bother the mayor with it."

"Normally, we people don't see green ladies outside of Arbor Day. After all, they are still repulsive to us... But recently, there is news from those medicinal collectors who go into the forest, saying that they can often see three green ladies. There is a little lady outside the forest."

"They don't shy away from our citizens. On several occasions when people were collecting herbs, they saw the three little ladies surrounded by a well-trained team, and it was said that there was [Queen Silver Eyes]'s sister—Ellie among them."

"People who collect medicine think this is abnormal. What kind of little dryad needs the protection of the queen's sister? The queen's child? But doesn't it mean that the queen has long lost her fertility?"

Levin listened to the secretary's report and fell into deep thought.