She Chooses To Destroy the World

A housekeeper found a place for Alice in the castle. He knew Alice's identity, so he arranged her in the area where the duchess' knights went to the castle to live on duty. This place is close to the armory, far away from the kitchen where the underlings usually move, and is completely separate from the area where the duchess usually entertain guests. After she officially becomes a knight, there is a high probability that she will live here often. Several rooms on this side of the castle seem to have fixed owners, but currently only one knight lives here, next to her. The knight had to go on duty every day and rarely stayed in the room. Alice did not see him when she moved in.

No one asked her to tell her where she had to stay or where she couldn't go. This gives Alice a considerable degree of freedom, and can learn a little bit about the castle and nearby villages.

Yunqi Castle is the largest castle in the entire West Felix, and the second largest castle in the country. It is located on a mountain cliff and has a very magnificent appearance. This castle has existed for hundreds of years and is still the most important military installation in this area. It is more or less like a member of the Felix family, standing firm and brave.

This castle is indeed old. Although it is repaired and reinforced almost every year, the living conditions here are actually very bad. In fact, in West Felix, many nobles no longer live in the castle, but build more comfortable houses in the city. However, the Duchess of Felix always adheres to the creed of the Felix family: be prepared for danger in times of peace and never let up. In order to implement this creed, she has to live in this castle for four months every year, spending a whole spring and half a summer here, where she will preside over the training of soldiers and the repair of the castle. In addition, there are several messengers going back and forth between Faerun Mansion and Yunqi Castle every day, sending various documents to the Duchess' desk.

The duchess has many general managers who manage various issues such as the land, finances, appointment and removal of officials, etc. for her territory. But she still has to personally interrogate the progress of many things, sign most documents, and sometimes mediate for some conflicting lords to dispel resentment.

In the evening, she will dine with her knights in the dining room.

Alice is not yet a knight, but she has become a part of the Duchess' table in advance. There she met the Kent knight who lived next door to her. It was a young man of her age who had only been promoted from a waiter to a knight last year. She learned from him that in the next half month, the knights loyal to the Duchess would come from all over the place for regular training every year, and at the same time to participate in the ceremony of her being named a knight.

This new colleague of hers was very nice, did not put on her noble airs, and did not mind that she was a woman very much. This eased Alice's anxiety a little bit. But he also reminded her:

"Those old guys are coming soon. When they come, they won't be so polite to you. But you don't have to be afraid of them. You are a duchess."

The duchess? Aren't all these knights belong to the duchess?

Alice really didn't understand the affairs between these nobles. When she prayed at night, she asked Circelian. He appeared in the air and told her about the plight of the Duchess Felix at this time:

"You have to know that Duchess Felix got the title of duke through marriage. She has no children. After her death, the title and territory of Duchess Felix will be split and handed over to some distant relatives to inherit." Tell her in this way, "Most of the knights under the Duchess came from aristocratic families in West Felix, and only one of them was a cron who she brought from the capital when she got married. When her husband was still alive. , These knights are loyal to him; but the duchess has no foundation in West Felix. For these knights, instead of following the mistress who has no heir, it is better to find ways to fight for more benefits for their family as much as possible. In the chaos after the death of the mistress, I can get as many benefits as possible."

Cecilian's tone was light, but Alice was not so relaxed. This is the first time she has been exposed to politics in her life, and her seventeen-year-old war-only head has never been loaded with such content. Cecilian's prompt made her realize for the first time that besides fighting, becoming a knight must also consider many things. These things are as important as fighting, and maybe even more important. Lovely Lisi can only fight wars. Master Roma taught her **** people, how to avoid danger, how to manage the money in her hands, but she never taught her how to stand in political battles. In fact, he once said to her that getting involved in the affairs of the nobles is a very dangerous thing.

Faced with this situation, Alice didn't even know which direction to think about, so she could only ask bluntly:

"what do I do?"

"Don't worry." Cecilian said, "You just have to follow the Duchess firmly. Since the Duchess decides to make you a knight, she naturally has a way to protect you. After all, she needs you more than you need her. Worse. At her current age, she should be able to govern for at least a dozen years. At that time, even if the situation changes, you can think of a better way."

Cecilian's advice is quite effective, at least at this moment, he successfully relieved Alice's tension. Alice originally thought that she had enough knowledge to be a fearless person. But when she was in it, Alice really felt a little imaginary.

When the knights arrived one by one, Alice felt even more vain.

Everyone is older than her except Kent. They knew that she was about to become a knight, and whenever she sat at the table like them, they still looked at her with a weird look. It seemed that she was a maid who was supposed to work in the kitchen, and she sat at this table full of knights because she didn't know her identity.

They occupied the martial arts training ground, and also occupied other places where Alice usually wandered around. Alice didn't really want to see them all the time, and at the same time, she felt that she shouldn't run into the village every day, so she tried her best to stay with the duchess, watch her do things, and listen to her. The Duchess said nothing about it, and seemed to have acquiesced.

During the time following the Duchess, Alice discovered something else.

She may not be politically sensitive, but she is familiar with death. She knows what kind of breath a person will have when he wants the other person to die. It is not even the look in the eyes, but the one that comes out from the pores. To plant something, a wish from the heart. This kind of breath will appear very strong on the battlefield. But Alice never thought that in the duchess' living room, she would smell the same smell.

She found that the knights here and the occasional knights who came to visit, almost no one wanted the duchess to continue to live. The only ones who were truly loyal to her were Philo, the old knight who followed her from the capital, and the Kent knight who had just been promoted. The old knight Philo is sixty years old. He is too old to do things for the Duchess; Kent is too young, has no strong background, and even no actual combat experience, no matter where he is. .

Alice thought, maybe this is why the Duchess needs her. She needs someone who has truly experienced something and can be completely loyal to her.

She saw those people coming and going in front of the Duchess, like hyenas or crows. Sometimes, they won't even hide their eyes. They hoped that the Duchess would die early, so that they could have a chance to defect to the new owner as soon as possible, and help their chosen new owner to rip off an extra piece of meat from Felix’s house so that they could also be assigned to themselves. Of that. Their attitude is so obvious, the Duchess would not know it. But she never reveals her vulnerability in front of others.

Nevertheless, such an atmosphere is undoubtedly destroying her spirit.

After the end of the day's work, the Duchess is always very tired. She is too lazy to speak, and will make a gesture to let Alice go by herself. A few times Alice walked a little later, and when she turned her head to close the door, she would catch a glimpse of the duchess picking up the box with the beaded crown and sticking it to her heart. Once, she seemed to see something shiny on the face of the Duchess, but when she blinked again, the shiny object was gone.

In this atmosphere, staying in this castle really made Alice feel depressed, but fortunately there was Circillian.

But Alice couldn't talk to Cecilian at all, because there were cracks in the stone walls of the castle, and there was no soundproof. Before most of the knights arrived, the Kent knight next door had reminded her tactfully that in his room, she could be heard talking to people at night.

Alice told him that she was praying, which of course can be regarded as a fact, but from the eyes of the Kent Knights, he did not really believe:

"No matter who you are talking to, I suggest you be cautious. Although there is no one next to you on the other side, Knight Holden will be here in a few days. He has a big mouth. If he hears something, he is definitely not. It may be silent."

Alice thanked the Knights of Kent, and since then, she has only prayed routinely. But Cecilian was still with her, and whenever she prayed to him, he would show up. If he thinks there is nothing to say, he just sits beside her in silence.

For Alice, this feels really strange, no matter how many times she has experienced it, she feels weird. She can touch his body, touch the shape of her fingers, and even hear the sound of breathing-God knows if this body is Really need to breathe. When the light changes, she can sometimes see the shadows in the air flashing, and she can guess his sitting posture through these.

Sometimes she would rest on His lap. The thick red hair is scattered, like red algae in the sea. In order to pretend to be a boy, she used to cut her hair short and kept it long until her gender was previously disclosed. I haven't cut it after that, and it's already very long. His fingers passed through her hair, making it soft. His movements are very light and slow.

When she was about to sleep, He held her hand until she fell asleep.

In this way, half a month passed quickly, and the day when Alice was to be made a knight had arrived.