When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1257 The Death of the Empress Dowager
Spring rain pattered down on the walls of Lone Eagle Fortress, where soldiers wearing conical iron helmets and chainmail patrolled the walls with long spears.

However, compared to before, their complexions were not very good.

Because when you stand on the city wall and look down, beyond the moat and a few sentry posts, you can see a continuous stretch of scarlet camps.

The flag representing vampires is fluttering in the spring rain.

With their auxiliary troops, at least 30,000 soldiers are currently stationed beneath Lone Eagle Fortress.

It should be noted that Golden Fleece Beach is a plain, a large plain with at most a few hills.

If the coastal and river defenses fail to stop the enemy, there will be nowhere in the entire Golden Fleece Beach that can stop them.

As the vampire army invaded, their more efficient and streamlined military system allowed them to defeat a nearly 10,000-strong local army before the Farran army could even assemble.

As for why they abandoned White City, the capital of Golden Fleece Beach, and chose to attack this second-tier castle, it was naturally because the vampires had learned some earth-shattering good news.

The Empress Dowager is here.

When war broke out, she stubbornly followed her usual itinerary and went to the Onsen Palace.

As for Charles, he couldn't stay in the palace forever, constantly monitoring his mother.

If we send someone to monitor her, who can stop the Empress Dowager from doing what she wants?
Moreover, if the vampire makes any move in Changge City, with its fortified defenses and early warning system, it will have ample time to evacuate his mother.

Unfortunately, whether it was because Koniaz was too skilled or the local army was too incompetent, the Queen Mother was besieged in Lone Eagle Fortress before she could even escape.

Fifty thousand royal troops have entered the Golden Fleece Beach in succession, and reinforcements are constantly being added.

Look at the 30,000 troops surrounding Lone Eagle Fortress; they neither attack nor withdraw, they are simply besieging it.

The meaning is quite clear: it's a classic siege and reinforcement tactic, where Koniaz is luring Charlie to attack.

Once they start fighting on the Great Plains, they will inevitably get bogged down in a quagmire of war, completely ruining Fran's war preparations.

There was nothing they could do; the Empress Dowager was unable to retreat to White City and was surrounded at Lone Eagle Fortress.
The atmosphere inside Lone Eagle Fortress was equally gloomy and desolate.

Although the royal army had not yet attacked the city, they all understood that it was only a matter of time.

Some of the new nobles were even desperately thinking that Lorenzo and Charles had long been tired of this foolish woman and would surely abandon them.

Most importantly, this foolish woman was wasting food by holding a dance party at a time like this.

Don't they know that the entire city's citizens wish they could devour his flesh raw?

Inside the largest villa in Lone Eagle Castle, servants dressed in fine silks came and went.

The local nobles either forced smiles or indulged in a life of hedonism, sitting around the table drinking and feasting heartily.

As for the dance floor, only a handful of people were dancing to the sounds of harpsichords and trumpets.

The Empress Dowager, who was nearly fifty but still looked like a woman in her thirties, was sitting at the head of the table, chatting enthusiastically with the noble servants around her.

Like the king, the Queen Mother of France also had her own inner court staff dedicated to serving her.

Although the Queen Mother had only moved into this palace three days prior, the servants still diligently carried out the renovations.

All the tables and chairs here have been smoothed and polished by the servants, with no sharp edges or splinters.

The servants all knew that the Empress Dowager was as fragile as a ripe peach, and that any object with a horn would pierce her delicate skin.

The Empress Dowager was a person who was very afraid of pain. She would cry loudly if she had even the slightest wound.

Crying is nothing to worry about; the real challenge is making her happy again.

It's either a lively dance party, or someone has to tell her a joke to make her happy, or she has to be made to laugh with a huge amount of sugar.

So just in case, the black tea served in the room was always loaded with white sugar to mask the slight bitterness.

Ultimately, the Empress Dowager was the behind-the-scenes protector of the French sugar trade; for her, sugar was something she could use at will.

Fear of pain, hardship, and cold; sometimes irritable, sometimes melancholic; headstrong and unpredictable—this is the image of the Queen Mother of France.

This is why she went to the Golden Fleece Beach hot springs during such a stressful time.

She's going anyway, she doesn't care if it's a vampire or anyone else outside.
This is her habit and tradition. If even the Queen Mother of France cannot do as she pleases, then the prestige of the French royal family is rather low.

In an eerie atmosphere, the ball continued from afternoon until evening.

Finally, one of the barons could no longer bear it and stood up: "Your Highness, with a formidable enemy at hand, do you really still wish to drink and make merry?"

"Be bold!"

"How dare you speak to the Empress Dowager like that?"

The surrounding nobles and servants immediately began to berate the baron, but the Empress Dowager remained unmoved.

She stood up and tapped the glass in her hand.

"I know what you're trying to say, you're just afraid my little Charlie might do something rash and come to save me, right?"

The Empress Dowager's words were indeed unexpected by many nobles.

It seems the Empress Dowager isn't as foolish and naive as I'd imagined. "..."

“Actually, you don’t need to worry at all, boy.” The Queen Mother looked around. “I won’t let little Charlie make such a mistake.”

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

“I thought this moment would come a little later.” The woman put down her white porcelain teacup, opened her small bag, and took out a brass wine glass and a glass tube of liquid.

Amid the bewildered gazes of the servants, the woman filled the wine glass to the brim and then added more liquid.

“My little Charlie, I cannot let him and all the believers in the city suffer such torment; they are all innocent people.” The woman raised her glass to the crowd.

"Your Highness, what are you going to do?"

"Your Highness, that's a golden goblet, isn't it? Tell me it's a golden goblet!"

Upon seeing the green liquor in the brass goblet, everyone belatedly exclaimed in surprise.

As the Queen Mother, she was absolutely forbidden from drinking from brass cups, as those were cups used by commoners.

The only thing the royal family would use to serve in brass cups was poison.

This originated from a rumor that silver turns black when exposed to poison, but later generations, following custom, passed it down as a tradition.

But the Empress Dowager is going to drink poison at this moment? Is this a dream?
Is this still the same Empress Dowager Anne who was afraid of death and pain?

“But you are a devout believer in the Holy Father.”

“For the sake of millions of believers and the fight against vampires, the Holy Father will understand me.” The woman’s voice trembled with fear. “Besides, I’ve lived long enough. Apart from taking care of my Charlie, I have no attachment to the human world.”

Clutching the wine glass tightly, the Empress Dowager's body trembled, yet she still held on tightly, as if afraid someone would snatch it away.

She wasn't sure if she would have the courage to pick up the poisoned wine again if the servants took the glass away from her.

Therefore, she wouldn't allow anyone to take it away.

“I believe that if I were trapped here, Charlie would come to my rescue, just as I would do everything in my power to rescue him if he were trapped.”

In fact, Charlie's father was very much like the cold-blooded monarch Lorenzo had hoped for, even somewhat like someone who would care about the consequences of his own death.

His attitude towards his wife and son was that they were tools for marriage and procreation, and tools for continuing the family line.

Most importantly, he didn't really like women, which meant that the mother and son could only rely on each other for survival in the cold palace.

It's truly laughable that a queen and prince of a country have to rely on each other for survival in the palace.

Even this queen was bullied by the king's eunuch favorite concubine. If it weren't for Lorenzo risking his life to help her, a completely unrelated member of the royal family might have actually ascended to the throne.

At the time, there were even proposals to invite Moria to return to France and succeed to the throne.

“Little Charlie is a smart boy. Sometimes he takes care of me, and sometimes I take care of him.”

"After he became king, his greatest wish was to surpass his father's achievements and not to become like his father."

“I’m a woman, I can’t understand his ambitions. I just want to take good care of him and have some fun at the banquet.”

“I have indeed put Charlie in a difficult position many times, but this time, I really don’t want to put him in a difficult position.”

The Queen Mother brought the wine cup to her lips, then stopped. She looked at the servants and asked, "Is this wine bitter?"

"It's not only bitter, but it will also hurt a lot when you drink it, Your Highness." The servants' eyes were filled with tears.

Empress Dowager Wang nodded, then tilted her head and laughed, "You're lying to me."

After saying that, she drank the poisoned wine in her cup in one gulp.

She swayed for a second, then fell backward, crashing heavily onto the carpet.

"No, Your Highness—"

Compared to the nobles' eyes filled with surprise, it was her commoner servants who rushed forward, crying and embracing the kind, somewhat simple-minded woman.

As she gazed at the ceiling, the Empress Dowager's expression gradually shifted from a smile to a distorted one.

She was afraid of pain her whole life and had never suffered since childhood. Even the eunuchs and concubines only dared to mock her.

Unexpectedly, in the last moments of his life, he experienced all the suffering and pain he had never felt before.

This was the quickest poison she could find to kill her, but the price was suffering and pain.

Tears streamed down her face as the Queen Mother continued to give her final instructions: "My estate will be managed by my only son, Charles, but you will receive all my cash, though it won't be much."

"No...Your Highness..."

"It hurts...it hurts so much..." The Empress Dowager writhed, blood flowing from her nose and ears at the same time. "You didn't lie to me, damn it, it really hurts..."

Her voice gradually lowered as she lay down on the soft carpet, gazing at the velvet ceiling, and slowly closed her eyes.

Charlie, my child, I have cleared away the last obstacle on your path to becoming emperor.

(End of this chapter)