Dear Broom Knight.

Chapter 1097 The Three-Way Standoff of the Icefield Kingdom

However, if the Lord of Ice hadn't truly become a god, the North might have been able to swallow up the Icefield Kingdom.

Travis only intervened to protect his eldest daughter's power and didn't immediately eliminate Rosalind because he was filled with ambition to expand his territory at that time.

Alex and Rosalind must work together to fight the Church of the Frost.

The Queen Mother's influence could at most guarantee Alex's safety; power and status were something Alex had to fight for himself.

But there's not much to say about that.

The Queen Mother from the north was already quite remarkable for managing to control the capital and make it her own domain.

The nobles of the territory would never obey her will.

It's not a true monarchy; it's a country where nobles and royalty share power.

But when the country is in turmoil and the nobles are unable to resist on their own, their first choice will inevitably be the king.

After all, that's the kind of existence that can't be completely defeated... No matter how arrogant the nobles are, they wouldn't dare to sever the royal bloodline.

Everyone knows what the Chaos Zone is like!
No one is foolish enough to follow suit when someone has already traversed countless minefields.

As for the freedom of the nobles in the chaotic zone... don't they already have it? And it's even more secure for them.

Furthermore, as long as the Queen Mother is still alive, no one will dare to take Alex's life, so no one will go too far and completely humiliate the Icefield King.

As for Queen Rosalind, she also had quite a few followers.

One reason is that her subordinates are really good at making money.

Especially that Ms. Sophia, she's qualified to be the Bishop of Wealth!
Even Alex couldn't resist going into the water to make a move on the woman.

Of course, he did do an excellent job.

The two children that Sofia later gave birth to were clearly of royal blood from the Ice Age.

Queen Rosalind has only given birth to one child!

Fortunately, during their initial period of tender affection and treacherous intrigue, the two left behind a legitimate heir for the Icefield royal family.

This way, at least the Empress Dowager wouldn't die with her eyes wide open in dismay.

However... everyone understood that if Rosalind lost the power struggle, her child would likely also be in grave danger.

Alex is very likely to include those two illegitimate children in the list of heirs.

While most royal families have strict requirements regarding bloodlines, the Icefield royal family is, to begin with, quite unusual.

Even though those two children are in a very low order of succession, they are not entirely without a chance.

It's ridiculous that Rosalind's master-servant relationship with Sophia, and her relationship with the Sebefia family behind Sophia, didn't break down because of these two children!
Rumors are circulating that Alex is so skilled that he tricked Rosalind into giving Sophia to him in haste, which led to this situation.

Regardless of whether the two of them continued to flirt afterward, Rosalind herself gave them the opportunity.

As for what Rosalind herself thinks... well, the boys in Sebefia are all beautiful and charming, and they dote on her in every way.

Her attitude towards Sofia wasn't very good, but Sebefia was still her loyal partner!
There are even rumors that she gave birth to a little princess for one of her most beloved darlings!

It is said that she is the most standard violet, and not only is she destined to be an elder of Sebefia, but she is also qualified to become the head of the family.

Then, the Ice Kingdom fell into chaos.

After years of intertwined conflict, the Empress Dowager, who had always strived to maintain her health, could no longer endure it.

Those around the Queen Mother would certainly be loyal while she was alive, but after her death, their loyalty would inevitably waver.

They can no longer return to their home in the North... It's been too long.

Even when they came together with their colleagues who were also from the North, their homes were built on the icy plains.

Interests and human relationships are all intertwined on the icy plains, while old friends from the north may have long since passed away.

Moreover, His Majesty Travis, who sent them to the North, has already abdicated.

His Majesty Leon will certainly not break the promise His Majesty Travis made to them back then... Even if they return to the North, they will be able to live a life of comfort and happiness.

But what about their descendants?

Will children raised on the ice plains be given important positions by the royal family of the North?
Totally impossible.

Everyone understands.

They could only choose to follow either Alex or Rosalind.

Since Rosalind was able to keep the news of the Queen Mother's death a secret for so long and even trap Alex, it's clear that those people ultimately chose Rosalind.

It's somewhat unbelievable.

However, both of them actually have northern blood.

Even excluding the soul, Rosalind's bloodline is even purer!
The royal family must have had some control measures in place to ensure the loyalty of these people when they sent them to accompany the princess.

Bloodline should be the key.

Lowry eventually figured it out.

It's less that those people followed Rosalind, and more that they followed Rosalind herself. She was the one most qualified to be their master.

As for Alex... in order to prevent Rosalind from killing her husband and keeping their child, he will definitely try his best to suppress the power in the hands of their child.

Regardless of what the child thought, for his own life and future, he had no choice but to choose Rosalind.

Generally speaking, children with the same mother are naturally allies, but children with the same father are not necessarily so.

Most importantly, regardless of who wins, the child's life will not be in danger. At worst, he will be granted the status of a nobleman and forced to live independently in some desolate place.

On the contrary, it was more likely to save his life than relying on that crazy couple.

After all, no matter who comes to power, Alex or Rosalind, they would never kill their own son.

As for the others... Travis and Leon may not care about the internal struggles of the royal family, but that doesn't mean they won't interfere with outsiders.

The only thing that could threaten this child's life is those insane lunatics from the Ice Church who don't care about anything.

However, the Lord of Ice suddenly turned to the right path.

Although it is still on the evil side, it is the kind of evil that conforms to the requirements of the law.

His relationship with the gods also deteriorated from hostility to indifference.

His followers cannot make enemies everywhere.

Therefore, the followers of Ice have been busy changing their approach over the years... at the very least, they have to avoid going crazy when they encounter people of other faiths, and listen to human language to some extent.

Travis, to some extent, is a quarter of the friendly units of the Lord of Ice.

To the Church of Ice, this was no different from being an ally... They hadn't been as polite to Travis's subordinates when they were on the same side as the Church of the Tower.

A war where one cannot kill is somewhat unfamiliar to the Ice Cultists; they fight too frustratingly, often falling just short of the goal.

Most importantly, the Lord of Ice should have finally taken complete control of his body and is no longer worried about being affected by the Rain Goddess inside Rosalind's body. Therefore, he will no longer secretly help Alex.

Alex lacked all the advantages of favorable timing, location, and popular support.

In the end, he was just imprisoned; no one really dared to kill him.

Travis... no longer the King of the North, Travis is far more terrifying than before.

If he really disregards everything and rushes over to take revenge on the person who killed his grandson, what's the point of subsequent condemnation?

Not to mention, the current King Leon of the North and his ministers are extremely adventurous... best at shirking responsibility and extricating themselves from a pile of messes.

He had only been in power for a little over a decade when other countries and powers began to miss his predecessor, His Majesty Travis.

Although that person has a bad temper and threatens violence at the drop of a hat... as long as you are obedient, let them hit and scold you, and never fight back, that person can extort a large sum of money and that will be the end of it.

Moreover, because Travis has high aspirations and is very financially well-off, he generally only cares about the total amount of compensation and doesn't care about the specific details.

They were initially quite happy after Leon took over.

His Majesty reacts extremely quickly and will never allow things to escalate to the point of 'taking a heavy blow'.

But then I realized that only a few bits and pieces would get stuck in my teeth!
Those layers of bone-scraping knives were truly excruciating.

As far as Lowry knew, although no one dared to lay a hand on Leon, Yuri's kill order had already been issued in some of the darker places.

Some even offered extremely valuable high-level sacred artifacts as a bounty.

The so-called sacred objects are basically weapons or life-saving accessories modified from large fragments of divine artifacts. Although they are said to be worth millions, they are all priceless and unavailable.

Even the gold coins were capped at 100,000 gold coins.

You should know that the bounties in those places are calculated cumulatively... which means that whoever completes the task gets to take all the benefits.

Travis was the number one bounty on this dark market a century ago... unfortunately, it's rare to see anyone willing to raise the stakes since then.

If this continues, Yuri might be able to leave Travis behind very soon.

After all, he was a scholar, not the scholar from Scroll Mountain.

Even though everyone knows he's quite capable, there will always be people who feel they can take advantage of him.

Lori stood atop the high cliff, looking at the snow-white land to the north... Her neighbor was an ice priest, and his followers were naturally all ice believers.

This meant that these people wouldn't clear the snow from the camp like a normal knightly order.

If Lowry hadn't been able to see the 'spiritual light'... to put it bluntly, the condensed icy energy, he might not have been able to find that border camp.

"Mar, can you see the warriors on the other side?" he asked the still worried fool.

“Oh, yes!” Mal answered honestly. “So that commander taught us how to identify the Snow Base of the Ice Cultists.”

Lowry smiled slightly: "Their camp hasn't been moved for twenty years, has it?"

“Hmm!” Mar nodded. “The old commander said that this guy doesn’t seem to have any ambitions, and he’s never even sent an Ice Dog into the country.”

Lowry sighed helplessly: "Why do you think he would tell you this?"
That's an Ice Priest who rose to power through slaughter!

(End of this chapter)