kingdom of nations

Chapter 371 The Chosen One...

Even as an infant, Lorenz was a very temperamental little girl. As she grew a little older, Portia indulged her in every way, and César never imposed any restrictions on her; she never received any of the discipline that women of that era were supposed to receive.

At first, people would say that Princess Lorenz was just like a boy, but when she turned six, no one used that comparison anymore. Instead, they would say, "What's so strange about that? She is the heir to Cyprus."

Before Cesar left Cyprus, Lorenz protested to her father in her childish voice that she no longer wanted to live with her parents in the Rose Garden. She needed her own garden. However, she was still Cesar's only child and sole heir. If anything happened to Cesar on the battlefield, Lorenz would have to take on the responsibility of continuing the bloodline.

But instead of making a scene, she tried her best to fight for her father's support.

She gave many reasons, some naive, some very reasonable, which made Cesar's lips curl into a smile.

Finally, he agreed to her request, but not to move out of the Rose Garden. Instead, he chose a suitable place on the south side of the Rose Garden and built a small house for his daughter. The house had only two floors and was only for the little princess and her maids, so it was not crowded.

Of course, the building should also be named, and César transferred that right to his daughter.

When asked, Lorenz carefully examined the small building where he would be living for a long time, and said firmly, "Victory Court!"

Those around couldn't help but laugh when they heard this.

Lorenz was born at a perilous time for Cesare, Cyprus, and Portia. At that time, the Byzantine army was outside the city, and the people inside were in a state of panic. Even Portia, who was heavily pregnant and about to give birth, had to climb onto a palanquin and be carried through the streets to persuade the people to defend the city for her husband.

César's previous fairness and commitment came into play at that time, and they were willing to trust him.

Lorenz's birth was more like the final nail driven into this shield.

No one expected that Natia—the girl who had lingered in the Sultan's harem for more than a decade—would do something so audacious. She delivered Portia's baby, took out the child, wrapped it directly in dark purple silk, leaving only the bloody umbilical cord exposed—and then loudly proclaimed that it was a boy!

She called a girl a boy and gave her a boy's name, which was absolutely outrageous. But when César returned, he did not blame his sister. On the contrary, he praised and thanked her to the best of his ability and kept the name.

"Honestly, sometimes I feel that this name is not very good."

A noblewoman whispered that she was a Venetian, and while the Venetian discipline of women was not as strict or heavy as that of the Franks or the Scots, compared to Lorenz's approach—which was almost a complete departure from conventional laissez-faire parenting—the noblewomen couldn't help but have some reservations.

"She released several litters of puppies from the dog pen yesterday, saying she wanted to integrate them for training."

She put a line in front of the dogs and asked them to march in unison at the same speed. Of course, this was impossible; the puppies, though still very young, had already learned to jump. They leaped over the line and ran all over the yard.

The servants and attendants toiled for most of the day before finally managing to bring them all back to their dens, not to mention how loudly the mother dogs barked when they discovered their puppies were gone.

“She’s a good girl,” another noblewoman retorted, “she’s just sometimes too hasty in her actions.”

"You mean, she wanted to make rose oil for her mother, so she ruined all the flowers in the entire Rose Garden?"

“Every child would do this, and she meant well.”

"Good intentions? You mean afterwards, she whipped the rose to pieces?"

“This… is indeed somewhat unusual,” the noblewoman paused awkwardly, “but she only wanted to intimidate the flowers, hoping they would bloom soon and return to their thriving state…”

These conversations were quite interesting—Leila couldn't help but ask curiously, "Has she begun to know how to use a whip now?"
Did she ever whip any servants or attendants?

“Not yet,” the noblewoman sighed. “In this respect, her father is quite strict. The first time she scratched a maid, she was punished with several strokes of the cane, so much so that the maid rushed to plead for her, ignoring her scratched cheek and arm.”

“Even so, her hand was still swollen like a pig’s trotter,” said one of the maids walking beside Leila.

“You can’t use that adjective,” the noblewoman said after careful consideration. “You can say it’s like a ripe peach.”

Leila laughed out loud after hearing that.

"But from then on, she became very sensible and never let anyone else get hurt again."

The noblewoman sighed, “In truth, Your Highness didn’t need to do that at all. She was still very young, only a few years old at the time? Two years old or even younger? At an age when she didn’t understand anything—and it’s quite common for children to scratch people.”

That's somewhat contradictory.

On one hand, they say that he is sensible, but on the other hand, they say that he must be four or five years old to be able to wield a whip. So, has he become more sensible or more irritable?
But Leila didn't seem to be finding fault. He listened with a smile as the maids eagerly told him about the little princess, all the while weighing the weight of this heir.

César certainly loved the child; Lorenz was the only thing in the world that belonged exclusively to him, but he was also quite strict with him.

What were they trying to do by saying these things to him—a knight, an envoy sent by the lord?

“However, Your Highness would be best off having a son as soon as possible,” a noblewoman suddenly said. Her words immediately silenced the surroundings. She realized she had spoken out of turn and unconsciously looked away.

"That will have to wait until the war is over."

Another older noblewoman spoke softly.

Although Lyra has spent a long time in the Eagle's Nest, it doesn't mean she's completely unaware of the emotional entanglements of ordinary people.

Jealous husbands want to kill their wives, wives who have developed ulterior motives want to kill their husbands, and there was even a mother who felt humiliated simply because her son loved his wife too much, and asked Lyra to kill the wife.

He could tell at a glance that the little flame in the hearts of these noble ladies had not been completely extinguished.

Although women in the Holy Land have the right to inherit, how many kings have divorced their wives in order to have a son?

These words could be seen as a reminder or a provocation. Unfortunately, Lorenz's Victory Court was not far from the Rose Court. They hadn't exchanged more than a few words when they arrived at the Victory Court. The head maid asked in a puzzled voice, "Has the little princess not gotten up yet?"

She saw the maids, who were idly swatting birds with flower branches in the corridor in front of the door, scrambling to their feet and bowing to the noble ladies.

"Does the little princess usually get up around this time?"

As far as Leila knew, many noble children had a hard time getting up.

"The little princess is always full of energy. As soon as it's light, she can no longer stay in bed and will immediately jump out and run around with her playmate—you don't know... her playmate is a vulgar peasant's daughter..."

Before Lyra could ask anything, the maidservant timidly approached them and bowed, "The little princess has gone out..."

"What?!" The noblewoman practically screamed. "How come I didn't know?"

“Knights are attending to us! Knights are attending to us!” the maid said urgently. “We were going to inform them, but the council chamber doors were closed… The little princess had gone out earlier—with Laura—to the village… They’d been there before, so…”

The noblewoman slapped her.

Lyra blocked the second slap—she grabbed the noblewoman's hand, "Go tell the lady that I'll take the knights and go after them."

------

Lorenz sat on a thick tree branch, his hands supporting his face, watching with a bored expression as Laura bent over to gather firewood, neatly stacked it together, tied it up, and then carried it back to the hut not far away.

Everyone said that Laura had a stroke of incredible luck. An ordinary farmer's daughter was able to become a maidservant to the daughter of the Cypriot lord. To be honest, given her status, she might not even be qualified to be a maidservant in the governor's palace.

But since she was brought back by the lord and approved by the little princess, people could do nothing but gossip.

She grew up strong and fast like a weed beside Princess Lorenz. Because she had no shortage of food, plenty of sleep and exercise, she even had a similar height and physique to Lorenz. In fact, they even looked somewhat alike.

They both had the same dark hair, only their eyes were different. Like his father, Lorenz had emerald eyes, while Laura's eyes were just ordinary light brown.

Sometimes their clothes were very similar, not intentionally. Portia used to dress Lorenz up like a lady, but Lorenz just loved to run and jump, and would even climb high walls or roofs by grabbing vines and ropes.

The delicate silk was quickly torn to shreds, and she herself disliked the cumbersome embroidery and lace. After a few times, she asked to dress like Laura.

Although Laura was her handmaid, her birth destined her to wear only ordinary linen or cotton unless Lorenz was willing to give her better clothes. Lorenz wasn't a stingy child by nature; Laura did have a few silk clothes in her trunk, but since she was with Lorenz, she couldn't wear those delicate garments. And Lorenz? If Portia refused, he would steal Laura's cotton or linen clothes to wear.

After several attempts, Portia had no choice but to give in, which is why, after they left the Governor's Palace, no one paid any attention to the two children wearing headscarves and dressed simply.

Meanwhile, the knights responsible for protecting the little princess skillfully disguised themselves as a group of merchants and followed them.

A decade or so ago, they might have been robbed and humiliated. But after Lorenz's father ruled Cyprus for several years, bandits around the city had almost disappeared, and slave traders were strictly controlled—they could only trade in fixed locations in a few major cities, could not move freely, and could not buy goods from strangers of unknown origin.

Slave traders have been fooled many times; the lord's inspection teams are capable of sting operations.

After such a blow, even the greediest person would have to think twice before looking at the corpse hanging high on the wooden frame.

So the two children hitched a ride on a water merchant's carriage and leisurely arrived at Laura's home—the village where it was located was not far from Nicosia; otherwise, when laborers were conscripted, their home would not have been the first to be recruited.

After Laura arrived, she simply helped her parents with chores.

Now, her eldest brother has married and had children, but his home is in Nicosia. While her husband was serving in the army, his wife was in Nicosia taking care of his children, leaving only her second son and their parents in the village.

The problem is that the second son has a very strained relationship with his father. Even when they come to help or bring gifts, they are ruthlessly scolded and driven away by Goru.

Over time, the second son also gave up the idea of ​​inheriting his father's big house and began to run his own small family.

He is such a selfish person that if he can't get any benefits from it, he certainly won't continue to fawn over his parents.

Just over a year ago, Goru fell seriously ill, and his health deteriorated rapidly. Although his family could afford to pay the priests because he was the lord's piper, the priests could only prevent him from having a fever or pain, but could not restore his health.

Finally, the priest could only instruct Laura's mother to begin preparing for Laura's father's funeral, saying that it was an old ailment that no one could avoid.

Goru, however, took it all in stride. He felt that he was incredibly lucky not to have died before meeting that venerable saint.

Now that his eldest son has become the lord's soldier, and his second son has land, houses, wives, and noisy children, what more could he possibly want?

He simply couldn't forgive Laura. Laura initially came alone, but after she came a few times, Lorenz followed her. When Goruko first saw Lorenz, he was so frightened that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

Laura also wanted to convince Lorenz that there was nothing interesting about the place, that it was just an ordinary village.

But once Lorenz becomes stubborn, who can change her mind?

Lorenz was curious about the outside world, and also wanted to see what kind of ending would ultimately come for Goru and Laura, this father and daughter.

This might be a kind of keenness and cruelty that belongs to children.

Goru always avoided Laura when she came, but today he unexpectedly stood outside the door. Laura looked at him and said, "Put down the firewood."

Laura put down the firewood, knowing that one day she and her father would have to confront each other.

The reason Goru had been unwilling to talk to her before was because he didn't know what to do.

A three-year-old child might not understand why the lord would suddenly take her away, but seven-year-old Laura would know that if the lord hadn't taken her away, her father would have killed her, though she didn't know what methods he would use.

Because she mistook the lord's daughter for a thief and fought with her—Goroo's reverence for their lord goes without saying; it can be said that his entire fate was completely turned around after meeting such a good lord.

Like many people in Cyprus, he didn't care whether their lord had been excommunicated or converted to the orthodox church. Their thinking was simple: with such a good man, even if he led them to the edge of hell and pointed to the rolling lava and told them to jump down, they would jump down without hesitation.

His daughter had done such a thing, it was simply unforgivable. The fact that he didn't kill her in a cruel way was the last bit of love he had as a father.

Laura knew she shouldn't blame him.

She even remembered that when she was very young, her father praised her, saying that she was a good child because she was strong enough and didn't look like she would die easily.

He had loved her clumsily in his own way, but...

There was no question of forgiveness between her and Goru; this was precisely the bitter fruit of tradition and law at that time.

Has your brother come looking for you?

"Are you referring to the eldest brother or the second eldest brother?"

"Any one will do."

"Yes, brother, it has happened several times."

Did you pay any attention to him?

"No."

“Very well, let it continue like this, but don’t come back.” Goru took a deep breath and looked up at the tree.

When he first discovered Lorenz with Laura, he was utterly terrified. He could hardly imagine what would happen to the lord if something were to happen to his only child here.

No, it should be said that even if he were willing to die, he could not atone for even a fraction of this sin. He wouldn't even need to lift a finger; his son and the surrounding villagers would swarm him and tear him to shreds, and even his children and grandchildren would not be spared.

So, after months of agonizing, he forced himself to speak to Laura.

“I’ll take you back,” he said, leading the harnessed horses over.

Lorenz slid down from the tree without a word, was lifted up by Goru with one hand and placed on the horse's back, and then Laura followed.

Goru did not mount his horse, but instead led it along, striding towards Nicosia.

Looking at the receding village, Lorenz felt an indescribable sadness.

Perhaps it's because she didn't eat breakfast.

Her father had said that skipping breakfast could easily cause fainting, but she shared a piece of honey bread with Laura and ate some dates, or perhaps the horse was just too bumpy.

Laura felt Lorenz's body swaying slightly and quickly grabbed her to prevent her from falling.

But when Laura touched her, she couldn't help but scream. Lorenz was burning up, a fever that was completely beyond her comprehension. It felt like she was touching a boiling pot, not a person.

Lorenz fell, but the first person to catch her was not Goru, nor the knights who were with them, but Lyra.

Goru let out a loud shout, but no one paid him any attention. Lyra, holding Lorenz, saw the knights rushing towards them, and the knights who had come with her were also running towards them: "We're going back to Nicosia right away!"

She abandoned those people to talk to those irresponsible fools, lightly leaped onto her horse, and galloped away.

As she stepped into the Court of Victory, the knights returned, carrying Laura.

Leila looked up and immediately noticed something was wrong: "What's wrong with her?"

"She also has a fever!"

Is it a cold?

"Quickly, call a priest!"

“No,” Lyra cried out, “Don’t call him a priest!”

(End of this chapter)