Imperial Crown.

Chapter 356 Seduction
half a month later.

Boland City.

Even if Du Duo was reborn, or Lan Cha came back, they probably wouldn't recognize this city.

The city, which originally accommodated a population of 20, was now crammed with a full 13 troops and twice as many serfs, causing the population to surge to three times its previous size.

The streets were dirty, and the accumulated snow had no time to remain before being trampled into dirty mud by the bustling crowds.

Traces of excrement could be seen everywhere, and the dirty yellow mud in the corners had frozen into ice.

Although it was not realistic to blockade the city of Bolan with Raven's army of more than 1 people, and Raven did not surround the city, the nobles still ordered the city gates to be closed and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving.

Merchants could not come in, and due to the waste of money, the price of food in the city became higher and higher, and a large number of citizens went bankrupt.

But even so, many people could not withstand the double attack of hunger and cold, and naked corpses could be seen everywhere.

The soldiers who were originally responsible for maintaining public order drove the carriages while cursing and carried the bodies one by one, preparing to send them to the incinerator in the church.

If they are sent too late, these bodies may be reduced to bones.

The noble lords in the city were kind-hearted and could not bear to see the tragedy of cannibalism.

Whenever the carriage moved, it would attract a group of "ghosts" - they were a group of half-grown children in dirty clothes, unable to tell whether they were male or female, and some of them were barefoot.

They followed behind the car, staring with green eyes, waiting for something to fall from the bumpy vehicle.

Snapped.

A pile of horse manure fell to the ground, steaming.

The children immediately rushed forward, and the smallest and most agile child rushed to the front, stuck a little foot covered with frostbite in it, with a happy smile on his face.

Then he was pushed to the bottom by a group of children.

Inside the castle, Ernada, who saw all this, closed the curtains and took a deep breath of the incense-filled air to block out the childhood scenes in her mind.

Compared to the cold and dirty outside, the scene inside the castle is completely different.

The air was filled with the aroma of wine, honey and milk, and the melodious music continued for a long time, which was the tunes interwoven by cello and violin.

On the mahogany tables were placed large pieces of smoked meat, roasted meat, as well as whole roasted chickens, whole roasted pigs and roasted lambs.

The nobles had long been tired of eating lavish food, so these things were basically just looked at and not eaten.

But it doesn't matter. A new batch is replaced every 6 hours, day and night.

The nobles came and went, wearing decent formal attire, holding their glasses of wine and chatting and laughing, as if everything in the outside world had nothing to do with them.

Yes, there is a cocktail party going on in the castle.

Half a month ago, after William brought Ernada into the city, it only took them one day to reach the castle.

And with William's almost innate aristocratic temperament and the authentic Godwin family emblem, and of course, a few golden "passes", they successfully sneaked into the castle.

When she worked under Faraday before, Ernada knew how unreliable the nobles of Eivor were, but she had never felt it as deeply as she did now.

After they came in, no one ever doubted their identities and allowed them to come and go freely.

Holding a glass of wine, Ernada walked over to William.

At this time, there were several noble beauties surrounding William, who were being amused by William. When they saw Ernada coming, they all showed William a mischievous smile, then left with a giggle.

"Hey, Ernada, what are you doing?" William frowned, and stroked the sofa where the noble lady had just sat, missing the smell.

"I'm trying to get information."

Ernada snorted coldly and took a sip of wine. "Get information? Among those three, two are knights' daughters, and only one is from a baron's family. What can you get?"

"Ahem!" William's face flashed with embarrassment: "There's nothing we can do about it."

"And it's not my fault..."

Now there are 13 troops in the castle, led by five major forces, including three earls, one marquis, and the grand marshal Quentin.

Their attitude was ambiguous. They seemed to be really immersed in the cocktail party and had no plans for the future war.

This is obviously impossible.

"Logically speaking, you are from a great drow family and you know the unspoken rules among the nobles."

William swung his wine glass and whispered, "Look at this room full of young ladies and young masters. Do you think they are really without airs and are just here to enjoy themselves?"

"too naive."

"The knight's daughter seeks the baron, the baron's daughter seeks the viscount, and the viscount's daughter seeks the earl. They are all trying hard to climb up."

"As for the daughters of earls and marquises, their marriage partners have already been decided by their parents."

"My official identity is just a baron - a baron from a poor family. It's still unclear when I will inherit the title. It's already great if I can win over one or two baron's daughters."

"Do you want me to show my vampire style? That is indeed likely to deceive those young ladies who have never experienced the world, but are you sure we can get out alive?"

Ernada was interrupted and remained silent for a long time before she could say:
"I know that, but we have been out for too long. Let's finish the mission and go back as soon as possible."

Over the past half month, the naked gazes of the men in the castle made her very uncomfortable.

From the earl and marquis to the servants and coachmen, everyone couldn't take their eyes off her when they saw her.

If anyone dared to look at her like this in the dark area, their eyes would have been gouged out long ago!

Ernada was so angry that she wanted to call out the withered thorns and start a massacre on the spot.

"The key point is you, not me."

As soon as these words came out of his mouth, he was met with a murderous look from Ernada.

"It's like this again. Be more restrained. We are here to be spies." William sighed helplessly.

"Do you know that in the past half month, more than a dozen nobles have approached me and asked me to cooperate and send you to their bed."

"If you keep refusing..."

Ernada took a deep breath and twisted her fingers together: "Okay, I can promise, who is the target?"

Seeing Ernada give in, William also breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "Count Frank."

"His territory is located in the Gotsha region. Although it is remote, he was the feudal lord before Quentin became famous, and he knows Quentin best."

"Once we have enough information from him, we will withdraw."

"Got it." Ernada stood up and locked onto Frank's direction.

"Wait, you're being too direct!"

"Just sit still." Ernada snorted and said disdainfully, "I don't need you to teach me how to seduce a man."

She is indeed an expert.

As she walked, the waist of her tight dress was slightly opened, and many wrinkles appeared on her lower back and abdomen, which made people imagine a lot.

Grabbing a wine glass, Ernada walked to the bed, bent down, rested her elbows on the windowsill, and her waist arched into a clear and full curve.

Count Frank was not far away.

He is 42 years old and holds great power. Although his health is not as good as when he was young, his desire is still strong enough. He showed his full attention when Ernada was talking to William.

Now, seeing Ernada's seductive posture, he immediately approached with a wine glass in hand, and used his eyes to drive away several nobles on the way.

Coming to Ernada, Count Frank leaned against the wall. He tilted his head and could see the fabric hanging down from Ernada's chest and her dizzyingly plump figure. "Miss Ernada," Frank said calmly, "You don't seem to be in a good mood."

"How can one get better in a city that is destined to fall?" Ernada did not look up, but maintained her current posture, raised her chin and swallowed a sip of wine.

A drop of wine slid from the corner of the lip, flowing all the way down the swan-like neck and wetting the bra.

"You are not optimistic about this war?" Frank's eyes were attracted.

Ernada's lips curled up with a hint of mockery:
"Yeah, after the Battle of Thorn Ridge, is there anyone who still looks forward to this war?"

The Battle of Thorn Ridge was the battle in which Viscount Fowler led 2000 troops to tie down Raven for two months.

The "Battle of the Wall" in which Raven captured the Wall of Sighs, the "Battle of Boland" in which he defeated Tudor, and the "Battle of the Iron Birch" in which he defeated the coalition forces of Palmer and Faraday, although larger in scale, were far less discussed.

In fact, over the past half month, the topic of the Battle of Thorn Ridge has never stopped throughout the castle.

What people really talked about was their final desperate charge.

Some lamented Fowler's fate, some admired his loyalty, and some hated Raven's abomination.

But no one publicly praised Fowler's courage.

Everyone knew that it was their failure to help that killed Fowler.

So does Frank.

As one of the main people in power in the city, Enada's mention of the Battle of Thorn Ridge at this moment was undoubtedly an irony to him.

And roses with thorns always inspire the desire to conquer.

"Miss Ernada, you are wrong." Frank said arrogantly: "Raven is not invincible, and Viscount Fowler is definitely not the last warrior of Eivor."

"Really?" Ernada stood up and moved closer to Frank, almost to the point where their noses touched.
"I am moved by your courage!"

The red lips moved to Frank's ear and blew gently:
"It's a pity. Everyone can say nice things, but you need to practice your ventriloquism more!"

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Frank's mouth and nose still lingered with the scent of Ernada, which made his heart beat faster and faster, and he almost subconsciously grabbed Ernada's arm.

Resisting the urge to bury his head in the purple hair, Frank whispered, "This is not the place to talk. If Miss Ernada is interested, why not come and talk to me alone?"

"I'll have you know that I'm not talking nonsense."

Ernada struggled hard and shook off Frank's wrist.

Looking at the back, Frank felt lost.

Just when he thought there was no hope, Ernada suddenly turned around and secretly hooked her finger at him.

It almost made his soul fly away.

Frank pretended to be calm, finished the wine in his glass, and immediately followed.

A few minutes later, in Ernada's room.

Ernada was lying on the wide and soft bed, her legs crossed, her shoes and socks taken off, her fingers gently stroking her chest, pulling her collar and looking at Frank.

Count Frank breathed rapidly, untied his tie, and was about to pounce on Ernada, but she rolled over and dodged him.

"Haha." Ernada chuckled: "My Lord Earl, is this how you want to prove your courage?"

"Of course not." Frank turned around and looked at Ernada with burning eyes: "I don't need to prove my courage, because from the beginning, I wanted to go out of the city and fight Raven!"

"What's holding you back?" Ernada stretched out her long legs and deftly hooked Frank's trouser legs with her toes. "Is it your socks?"

"It's that bastard Quentin!" Frank reached out to touch Ernada's silky instep, but missed it. He said in annoyance:
"He is just a scoundrel who relied on his sister to get into the upper-class aristocratic circle. He doesn't even dare to fight against Raven!"

"We have actually held many meetings, but because that scumbag insisted on blocking us, we were forced to decide on the strategic direction of defending to the death."

"If it weren't for the overwhelming public opinion brought about by the Battle of Thorn Ridge, he would have run as far away as possible!"

Ernada showed a hint of shock on her face:
"That's impossible. He is the marshal of the principality! And he looks very strong and powerful."

"He is most powerful in bed." Frank smiled mischievously, raised his upper body, sniffed from Ernada's toes all the way to her chest, then raised his head and said intoxicatedly:
"And I am more talented in this regard—"

puff.

Frank, who suffered a heavy blow to the back of his head, fell on the bed with a smile on his face.

Ernada put away her feigned charming smile, her expression somewhat unpleasant:

"How come you acted so quickly? I still have a lot of questions to ask."

"His patience has reached its limit." William rubbed his wrist and said:
"Don't be fooled by his poor performance. He is a genuine rank 3 transcendent. If he really uses force, you won't be able to resist!"

"But the information is not enough..."

William said calmly: "I have also collected a lot of information these days, but I just lack a real high-level confirmation. Now what he said is basically enough."

"Okay, pack up, and leave immediately after dark."

Ernada nodded and picked out a relatively large piece of clothing from the closet and put it on:

"What about Frank? Kill him?"

"No, there's no need for that." William shook his head. "He has three different warning spells attached to him. Once he's killed, the entire castle will be under martial law."

"And if we don't kill him, the defenders in the city will act on their own. If he dies, under pressure, these guys might really unite as one, which will be detrimental to the overall situation."

As he spoke, blood flashed on William's hands, and a misty blood mist penetrated into Frank's facial features.

Frank's slightly tense body suddenly relaxed, and the smile on his face became unusual -

Obscene.

Ernada curled her lips at the sight.

Night soon arrived, and the two left the castle as if nothing had happened, disappearing into the night.

Later that day, they returned to Raven's tent and told him everything they had seen and heard over the past half month.

"Hmm..." After listening to their words, Raven nodded and suddenly took out a batch of letters and placed them in front of the two people:
"Take a look at this information. Is it credible?"

These are the letters sent from Bolan City in the past half month. They are private letters written to Raven by small and medium-sized nobles.

Some of the information provided was vague, some was accurate, but judging from what Ernada had seen and heard during this period, there was not much falsehood.

In addition to intelligence, the content of these letters is mainly to get closer to Raven, saying that they do not want to be Raven's enemy and hope that Raven can let them go.

Some people even agreed on secret codes to stage a fake fight with the Eagle Army. Different codes and different performance forms amazed Ernada:
"What...what's going on?"

William was quite calm: "The master has won four battles before, and each time he won, he defeated the enemy with overwhelming force. If the nobles don't want to die, of course they have to please him in advance."

"You already knew about this?" Ernada glanced at William, her eyes falling on Raven's calm face: "If that's the case, why did you let us sneak in?"

"The words of the betrayer cannot be trusted." Raven said calmly: "I must have real first-hand information to make a clear judgment."

As he spoke, Raven's gaze fell on the city of Bolan.

"Two months, at most."

"It will fall into our hands without a single blow!"

……

(End of this chapter)