Chapter 37: The Palace

The castle of Duke Bergend has been built by generations. It not only provides the most perfect defense, but also makes the nobles living in it very comfortable. The spacious courtyard of the castle is planted with flowers and plants from foreign countries. The hard-working gardeners built these plants neatly and beautifully. The duke's daughter and prince Masimirk walked in the courtyard with their hands. They came to a dome pavilion in the courtyard to sit down and rest. The prince met this beautiful princess when he was very young. Therefore, although it was a political marriage between his fathers, they did not feel rejection.

"The princess and princes are such a perfect couple. Their union will be blessed by God." Looking at the princes and princesses in the pavilion, the servants and maids who served them said happily, "The union of noble blood is related to the stability of the entire empire, and the princess and princesses will definitely give birth to the noblest heirs."

When the prince gracefully sent the princess back, he came to the clearings of the castle to practice swordsmanship. He practiced the eldest son of Duke Han Ruowei, the noble heir of the Duke Devire, who studied in the king's court as an apprentice knight and also as the prince's swordsmanship teacher.

"My friend, Devire, you will be defeated by my hands today." The prince took up the wooden sword confidently and waved it flexibly.

"Ah, my noble Highness, this is hard to say." Devire's face was thin, his chin was slightly pointed, his golden beard covered with his chin, his eyes were bright and well-proportioned, and he was familiar with various weapons and combat skills. He was an outstanding knight.

"Then try it." The prince said as he used his sword to hit Devire. The wooden sword stabbed Devire's chest accurately, but it was blocked, and the prince turned his wrist and slashed across.

"You have grown up, Your Highness, but you mainly pay attention to your feet. Yes, your steps are too fast." Devire taught the prince while carefully defending.

"Well, it's really not your opponent." The prince and Devire said sweatingly for a moment. Seeing that they could not win, the prince gave up the attack, he put his sword on the ground and said to Devirere, "I heard that your father had fought a battle with the Ruvere, aren't you worried?"

"Your Highness, everyone has their own responsibilities. My father's responsibilities are to guard the frontiers for the empire, and my responsibilities are to teach you sword skills. We are all serving your noble father." Devire said humbly.

"Ah, I know, but you don't have to worry. Your father fought a very beautiful battle. The people of Ruvid had already evacuated after not getting any advantage." The prince said excitedly, "It must be an amazing battle. I really want to see your father commanding the battle with his own eyes."

"Thank you for your praise." Although Devire said he was not worried, he had been paying attention to the battle situation in the north. He knew the power of the Ruevedes and did not know whether his father could lead the northern vassals to resist the crazy attacks of the pirates. For a while, he tried to ask for help from the king, but the king, who was concerned about the disputes between his interests with his neighbors, did not provide any substantial assistance. Devirere was already a little disappointed with the royal family.

"Your Highness, look at you sweating profusely and go to rest quickly." A plump woman ran to the prince with her wide skirt. She took out her handkerchief and wiped the prince's forehead.

"I'm fine, wet nurse." The prince said to the woman.

"I know, Your Highness, your father is looking for you, go quickly." The prince's wet nurse said to him lovingly.

"Okay, I'll go now." The prince handed the wooden sword to Devire, and left with the company of his attendants.

"Mr. Devire, I have to warn you that the prince is the most noble heir of the empire. Please do not instill any strange theories in the prince." When the prince left, the gentle smile on the wet nurse's face disappeared without a trace. When she faced Devire, her face was like this cold winter, but Devire could not have any dissatisfaction, and could only suppress the anger in her heart, because this enchanting wet nurse was a woman who raised the prince. People said that she often climbed onto the king's bed while the queen was away and instilled vicious lies in the king's ears. Devire, who had lived in the royal palace for a long time, already knew how to protect herself and buried her dissatisfaction deeply in her heart.

"Women are really scary, do you think so? Lord Devier." The wet nurse saw the silent Devier and twisted her hips away with satisfaction, while a man in a wool jacket appeared beside Devier. The man said with a cynical smile.

"Sir, the Bible says that women seduced men to eat forbidden fruit, so women should eat forbidden fruit earlier than men, and men just fell into the trap of women in chaos." Devire took the man's words and continued, "But some men are much more terrible than women. What they are ready to betray their masters at any time is nothing but a tiny amount of money."

"Well, this makes sense, but money can play a lot of roles, not insignificant, you are wrong." The man pointed at Devire with his finger. This cynical man was the king's chief consultant Caron. The nobles all said that this was a guy who would betray the entire kingdom for his own benefit. Devirere did not understand why the king left such a person in the palace.

"What are you plotting about today?" Devire shook the wooden sword in his hand. As a knight who is familiar with combat skills, he should kill the enemy on the battlefield, rather than spend it in the meaningless palace. Seeing these clowns breaking each other and conspiring, Devirere really didn't understand why his father, Duke Han Ruowei, sent him here.

"It's not a conspiracy. It's planning for the prince's wedding. By the way, do you know the king has plans to get you back to your father?" Karon didn't care about Devig's sarcasm. Perhaps he's used to this attitude towards him.

"No, I don't know." Devir was surprised. Since Caron told the king that Duke Hanrowei's property was not as much as he had imagined, the king became much colder towards Devir. He gradually stopped mentioning Devir, but was just idle.

"That's right, that is to say, you may have to return to Han Ruowei." Karon saw that although Devire tried his best to suppress his eager eyes, he curled his appearance and smiled slightly. It seemed that the eldest son of Duke Han Ruowei was still too young. After receiving a report that Duke Han Ruowei suffered a great loss in the battle with the Ruowei people, the king had lost interest in the Duke Han Ruowei family. The king has now completely turned to Duke Baigende, and even wanted his son to marry Duke Baigende's daughter as his wife. The Duke Han Ruowei family completely lost support in the royal court, and the eldest son of Duke Han Ruowei, who was completely interested in the struggle of the court, was looking forward to staying away from here from the heart. Perhaps the Duke Han Ruowei family was about to decline gradually, Karon predicted this from his heart.

"I prefer the cold air in the north than here." The intrigues of the people in the palace made Devire extremely disgusted. The most terrifying sword here is not held in his hands, but in rumors.

Although the wedding of the prince and Duke Bergende's daughter was held in the cold winter, the duke relied on his strong financial resources to host the wedding lively and gorgeously. The satin from the United City-state of Milan and red velvet dressed up the wedding venue. The Archbishop of Brandenburg personally blessed the pair of noble couples. In the sturdy stone church on the dome, the newlyweds were wearing the most gorgeous new clothes. The prince wore tassel berets and clamps.

The short coat with a sleeve is filled with velvet, which makes the entire sleeve part expand. The clothes are popular with seams, revealing the precious fabric inside. This is the most popular dress purchased by the Duke for the prince in the south. His Royal Highness wore a turret hat on his head, embroidered in the tower-shaped turret hat. The embroidery of the tower-shaped turret hat can be seen transparently. The gloves worn by the princess were made of the leather of the cow's fetus, which was the most advanced glove of this era.

They slowly walked across the velvet red carpet and came to the altar to receive the blessings of God and people. Archbishop Brandenburg, who blessed the new people, wore a huge monk crown, which was meticulously embroidered with gold and silver threads. The semicircular shawl also had exquisite embroidery. The bishop wore a barley robe with wide cuffs and a long hem. When picking up the Holy Grail, the bishop usually wrapped it with linen but with tassels at both ends, and then slowly picked up and blessed the new people.

The king and the duke also gave their own gifts to the two newcomers. The king gave several castles and towns to the prince and princess, and the duke gave a large amount of property and a few rich lowland territory as dowry to his daughter. When everything was over, the royal family had already obtained a lot of property, which was enough to deal with the king's war to the neighboring countries. The duke's family also gained great reputation because of this marriage, and both sides were very happy.

"Your Majesty, this marriage is really perfect." Karon walked into the king's side and whispered in the king's ear.

"This is your good planner, Karon, I will not forget your loyal service." The king said to his chief consultant with great satisfaction.

"What should I do if that Devigre? Duke Hanruowei has always hoped to marry his daughter into the royal family." Karon said with some concern.

"Our current war strategy is in the southwest direction, not in the north. Duke of Han Ruowei is not very useful to the royal family. What we need is the power of Duke Bergend. I believe Duke of Han Ruowei can understand it." For Duke of Han Ruowei, who has been weakened, the king at this time not only did not think about the other party's loyal service, but was already considering how to deprive the other party of his property. This is politics.

"Then your majesty, that Devirre is no longer necessary to stay here." Karon knew the king's idea. When Duke Han Ruowei was still strong, leaving his eldest son in the royal court was just a way to control Han Ruowei. However, since Han Ruowei was no longer a concern, he did not keep his eldest son to prevent the other party from exploring the core content of imperial politics.

"Okay, let that kid go back, I don't need his service anymore." The king waved his hand and asked Karon to send Devire away.
Chapter completed!