Rose Empire

"Yes."

Anna obediently followed Hermann Green away.

Charlotte turned to Beatrice Duran on the other side, stared into her eyes, and smiled slightly: "I have fulfilled my promise. Isn't there something you should also say?"

Beatrice Duran was startled at first, then her eyes suddenly became confused. After a few seconds, she seemed to relax again, and then a look of fear appeared on her face again.

Then, she knelt on the ground and said nervously, "Yes, it was the church. Someone from the church contacted my husband and asked him to assassinate you..."

PS: Thank you all for your monthly tickets, blades, and recommendation tickets. Thank you everyone.

PS2: I recommend two books. One is "No News from Scotland Yard", which is very interesting, but the update is a little slow. The other is "People in a Different World, Full of Martial Virtue", which is a new book. @q@q@群①榴⑧217七①溜

Volume 44: Chapter 39 Chapter Experimental Results and the Dark Clouds of the Church

After repeated experiments, Charlotte gradually mastered her own ability of "confusing the mind", and the "experimental subjects" were naturally Dulan's mother and daughter and Renee.

The way "Bewitching Mind" works is to distort the object's thinking. It is not an illusion, nor is it Charlotte's whimsical color (harmony) seduction technique.

The person affected by the "confused mind" has no problems with his or her cognition of the world and past memories. For example, she still sees a glass of water as a glass of water, and she can still remember that she drank water when she was thirsty in the past. However, under the influence of the "confused mind", she may go to eat after she is thirsty, and even if reminded by others, she will feel that she has done nothing wrong.

However, the reason why it is said to be "possible" is because the effect of "confusing the mind" is not absolute, or stable.

Affected by factors such as the warlock's own strength, the mental strength of the object, and the intensity of the object's psychological vigilance towards the warlock, the effect of "confusing the mind" varies greatly.

For example, with Renee's three-wing strength and the blessing of "Goi", Charlotte's "Confusion" had almost no effect on her. After the first night, Charlotte also tried to "sneak attack" Renee without prior notice, but the best result was just to make Renee laugh.

But facing Anna, who had no extraordinary abilities but trusted her very much, "confusing her mind" almost always worked, and it didn't take Charlotte much effort to make her believe that people need to eat when they are thirsty. This kind of distorted thinking is actually much more difficult than directly instilling the idea of ​​loyalty to Anna, because it involves people's common sense and instinct.

After many practices, Charlotte found that common sense, instinct, and logic would constantly correct people's thinking to a more "correct and reasonable" path. For example, when people are thirsty and eat, but find that the food does not quench their thirst, their instinct will urge them to try other more "wet" things to quench their thirst.

The distortion intensity of "Confused Mind" is not permanent, it will weaken over time.

Just like two forces competing, when the force called "distortion" can no longer resist the force called "correction", things will return to their original track. Therefore, Anna only kept the habit of eating when thirsty for less than a day.

However, if this force called "correction" does not exist or is particularly weak, then the effect of "confusing the mind" seems to exist permanently.

For example, Charlotte used "confuse mind" to make Anna report to her what she did every day. Anna seemed to think that this was not a big deal, so she kept doing it. She would not report in person every day, but would write it down with pen and paper before going to bed and present it to Charlotte the next day. The effect of "confuse mind" showed no signs of disappearing.

Compared to the "easy to deal with" Anna, her mother Beatrice is much more difficult. She is extremely wary of Charlotte and has almost no trust in her. But the more this happens, the more Charlotte wants to "conquer" this woman.

Because Beatrice's vigilance just shows that this woman must know some secrets, such as the truth about Marion Touraine's assassination of Charlotte.

Beatrice was just an ordinary person after all. Charlotte could feel that her "confusing mind" was not without effect on Beatrice, but the effect was weaker and lasted for a shorter time.

However, through repeated attempts, Charlotte discovered another feature of "Confusing Mind" - as long as the target is the same, the effect of "Confusing Mind" can be continuously accumulated. For example, Charlotte used "Confusing Mind" to tell Beatrice that she hated eating meat. It didn't work once or twice, but after three, four, and five times, her meat intake decreased significantly.

This way, things become simpler.

Charlotte took a slow approach to Beatrice, using the "Seduction" technique on her once or twice a day. She also took a more appropriate approach.

Directly using "Seduction" to make Beatrice reveal her hidden secrets is undoubtedly against human instinct and will inevitably be resisted by "correction". Therefore, Charlotte chose a twisted perspective, "The master treats you and your daughter well, you should give more and more loyalty in return." This kind of thinking is in line with the universal values ​​of the people in this world, so consistent that it can't be called "distortion", but "guidance", which can avoid most of the "correction" from instinct.

In order to match this distortion, Charlotte gave the mother and daughter a good room to live in, had them eat at the same table with her every day, rode in the same carriage with her, and even bought them gifts when she went to Ambrato.

Sure enough, the effect of "Bewitching Heart" gradually showed up on Beatrice. Until today, Charlotte arranged a teacher for Anna, preparing for Anna to truly inherit her father's knight title. "Bewitching Heart" broke through Beatrice's psychological defenses.

But what Beatrice said surprised Charlotte a little.

"Church?" Charlotte asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Beatrice nodded again.

"This is very interesting..." Charlotte clapped her hands and asked Renee to pack up the bottles and jars, while she took Beatrice back to the study.

Charlotte personally poured Beatrice a cup of black tea, and took the opportunity to give Beatrice another hint of loyalty to her.

After persistent practice, Charlotte was finally no longer a newbie who felt dizzy after using "Confusing Mind" once. She could now use it...twice a day.

If it is in good condition, it can be used three times.

This left Charlotte speechless.

Renee's wing ability is "Fus", which Marion Duran understood as a speed increase. In fact, this word means "extreme speed" in Dragon Language. "Fus" is also an ability that can be stacked multiple times. In the battle with Marion Duran, Renee quickly moved to Charlotte and used it once, and used it twice in front of Marion Duran, stacking "Fus" three times in total, and each stacking can increase her speed by a certain amount.

As far as Charlotte knew, Renee was able to stack "Fus" ten times in a short period of time two years ago.

In comparison, it's really a bit disappointing that I can only use "Confusing Mind" two or three times a day.

However, the good news is that Charlotte discovered that after the first successful "seduction", Beatrice's psychological defenses completely disappeared. This time, the "seduction" encountered almost no resistance. When Beatrice took the tea, there was even an expression of admiration that was difficult to conceal on her face.

“Why did the church want to assassinate me?”

Charlotte asked the biggest question in her mind straight away. She had never had any conflicts with the church, and they even had a good relationship. The church suddenly assassinated her, which made Charlotte feel inexplicable.

wrong……

Charlotte thought of one person - Alan Fehrenbach.

Allen Fehrenbach is a minor diocesan bishop who is responsible for religious affairs in the Principality of Greenfield, so he is usually called the Bishop of Greenfield. His status in the Principality of Greenfield is second only to the Grand Duke of Greenfield.

Before Helen Mellerfield died, Allen Fehrenbach had openly refused Helen Mellerfield's request to enter Greenfield Cathedral for worship on Grace Day. This move almost confirmed the rumor that Helen Mellerfield had committed adultery with the groom on behalf of the church. In forcing Helen Mellerfield to commit suicide, he made a contribution that Charlotte could not ignore.

However, Charlotte quickly rejected this idea, as her hostility towards Allen Fehrenbach was one-sided. Mr. Allen Fehrenbach had never paid much attention to Charlotte, the well-behaved girl who gave him birthday and New Year gifts every year, let alone sent someone to assassinate her.

Unfortunately, Beatrice was unable to resolve Charlotte's doubts. She shook her head and said, "I don't know."

"Then how do you know that it was people from the church who wanted to assassinate me?" Charlotte asked curiously.

"About two years ago, a few strangers found my husband," Beatrice recalled. "They were all dressed in aristocratic clothes and looked a bit like aristocrats. My husband sent me away to have secret talks with them many times. After that, my husband began to secretly plan something. I asked him what he wanted to do, but he refused to tell me. He just told me that if anything happened to him, I should flee from the Green Plains Principality immediately. He also asked me to prepare a suitcase so that I could escape at any time. Then you happened... and then he died."

Charlotte was even more confused: "Do you think those people who wear noble clothes and look like nobles are actually members of the church?"

Beatrice nodded.

"why?"

"Because they don't eat much meat," Beatrice gave a somewhat strange reason. "Marion has asked me to cook for them twice. These people not only eat little meat, but also little other dishes. Their appetites are much smaller than those of the nobles."

Charlotte didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but what Beatrice said made sense.

The nobles Beatrice was referring to were obviously those whose status was above that of the knights.

The upper class nobles of this era, especially the men, were really proud of their ability to eat. When entertaining guests, the host had to provide a lot of food to show respectability, and when the guests were guests, they had to accompany the host to eat a lot. Without a big appetite, it would be impossible. On the contrary, the church did not have such a pig farm-like living habit, and the appetite of the priests was generally smaller, or more normal.

"But just because they have a small appetite doesn't mean they are from the church, right? Nobles are not pigs, how could everyone be a big eater?" Charlotte still had some doubts.

"Although they wear different clothes every time they come, I can always smell the scent of sage on them." Beatrice gave a second reason.

Charlotte's expression gradually became serious. Sage is a very common spice. Its burning aroma is mild and slightly sweet, and it smells refreshing. However, sage in this world is not cheap, because there is a large consumer of sage - the church. Sage has a natural sedative effect after burning. The church believes that it is helpful for assisting spiritual practice and can also enhance the solemnity of the church. They like to mix sage into candles, lamp oil, or simply stick the whole bunch of sage on the wall of the church and light it. Countless sage is consumed every year.

The price of sage, which was not rare to begin with, was forcibly raised to a new level by the church. Common people could not afford it and nobles were too lazy to use it - they could buy better spices for the same price.

It seems that the only people who can fumigate themselves so that they still smell of sage even after changing several sets of clothes are priests who live in churches all day long.

"Any other reasons?" Charlotte asked again.

Beatrice thought for a moment and then added: "Although they speak Oran, they sometimes use very long sentences."

"Tsk..."

Charlotte stood up and walked around the study with her neck tilted back, feeling a little irritated.

"Speaking in very long sentences" may be easily overlooked in other countries, but the people of the Oran Empire are very sensitive to it. This is because very long sentences with many attributives are a language feature of the Edisa people, the thousand-year-old mortal enemy of the Oran Empire.

The holy city of the church, Moyes, is located in the Edisa Empire, or in fact the Eastern Edisa Empire today. Before taking office, the archbishops and senior clergymen at the bishop level in the church must go to Saint Moyes to study the doctrine in depth and listen to the teachings of the Lord. In this way, they must learn the Edisa language, and the Pope also uses the Edisa language when preaching and issuing orders.

So, although the church has never designated any official language, their de facto official language is Edessa.

Because of the long-term war and confrontation, both the Edisa nobles and ordinary Edisa people found it difficult to enter the Oran Empire, but the people of the church were an exception. The Marquis of Blackstone Castle stationed at the border would not prohibit the people of the church from crossing the border between the two countries.

He looks like an aristocrat, eats moderately, smells of sage, and has a habit of speaking Edessa...

The details that Beatrice observed from the perspective of a housewife all pointed the finger at the church.

After walking around twice, Charlotte stopped, stared at Beatrice and asked, "You went to church every day recently. Was it to reconnect with those who ordered your husband to assassinate me?"

Beatrice knelt down hurriedly and said in panic: "Before Marion died, he told me that as long as I escaped from the Green Plains Principality, someone would provide me with shelter... I didn't want to assassinate you again, I just wanted them to provide me with some help..."

Charlotte didn't care whether Beatrice had thought of assassinating her again, but continued to ask: "Did you succeed in getting in touch with them?"

Beatrice shook her head. “I often pray in church, but no one contacts me anymore. I have hinted to Pastor Fado about my identity, but Pastor Fado seems to have no idea who my husband is.”

Charlotte was a little disappointed. After thinking for a long time, she instructed: "From today on, you must continue to go to church every day as before, and each service should be longer."

"Yes." Beatrice agreed without hesitation.

Was the other party willing to contact Marion Duran and secretly plan two years ago just for a simple assassination?

Do those people really have such a deep hatred towards me?

Or... is there another plan?

When the world is about to fall into chaos, doesn’t even the church want to sit still?

Charlotte looked at the gray sky outside the window, silent and pondering, unable to help but sigh that a storm was about to come.

PS: The trial of Martin Kramer mentioned above is based on the Athenian politician Alcibiades. It is said that when Alcibiades was young, he was prosecuted many times for various violations of law and morality, but the citizens of Athens liked to see his maverick and sensational behavior, so they gave him a light sentence many times, or even acquitted him directly. I would like to make a special statement here, so that readers will not feel that it is too absurd and suspect that I am deliberately smearing the city-state's democratic politics.

PS2: I'm asking for a wave of monthly tickets and blade recommendation tickets. If the gentlemen can give me a few cookies, that would be great~~~ Nanzi knocks on the bowl~~~@q@q@group①溜82一7⑦①⑥

Volume 45: Chapter : Harmony

Chapter 37 has been temporarily censored because it involves some erotic content that is not suitable for minors to watch.

Because we are not familiar with the backend, an operational error occurred and duplicate chapters appeared. We have contacted the editor to delete them. Readers who have already subscribed do not need to subscribe again and can read normally. We are very sorry.

(The full content of Chapter 37 can be read in the Reader Group, No. 784678210)

Volume 46: Chapter 40 Chapter The Casino and the Gilt Quill

After two days of trying to mix the holy anointing oil, Charlotte gave up. This was a completely boring and repetitive job. The general working steps were to dissolve different extraordinary materials into whale oil at different temperatures in a specific order, and then shake the small bottle...

There is no technical content, and it does not require the participation of extraordinary people, but it is extremely boring, time-consuming and laborious, and your brain will be numb after a day of work.

So Charlotte gave the job to Beatrice Touraine, who had nothing to do in the castle, and went to the construction site in Elm Village.

The construction timber from the Earldom of Quaker Forest finally arrived, a full 100 carts loaded with fir trees that were over 30 years old. Fir trees have a low oil content, fine and even texture, are tough and light, and do not warp or crack, making them ideal building materials.

Countess Simone said she had some fifty-year-old cedar wood, but Charlotte declined. After all, she was buying on credit, and it was enough to have something that didn't cost money. There was no need to be picky. Besides, the thirty-year-old cedar wood was good enough.

"Is the tavern located here?"

Next to the construction site of Elm Village, Charlotte stood on a high ground and compared the design of the new market with the actual terrain.

"Yes." Cecilia pointed on the map and said, "We can flatten this higher slope and transport the soil and rocks to the west to build a road, or cover the brine, and then we can get the open flat land you requested."

The design of the new market was created by Cecilia and Jonathan Hackman. After starting to work with Jonathan Hackman, Cecilia finally realized why Charlotte wanted to take the credit for seeing through Jonathan Hackman - this was to help her establish her prestige.

Most likely it was because she, the disciple of this all-knowing scholar, easily saw through his lies. During the process of cooperation, Cecilia could feel that Jonathan Hackman was always in awe of her, and he performed his duties as a deputy with trepidation and did not dare to do anything sneaky.

"Moving earth and rocks," Charlotte suddenly asked with great interest, "How about the wheelbarrow I designed for you? Is it useful?"

The "wheelbarrow" that Charlotte mentioned was not the wooden-frame wheelbarrow commonly seen on the Loess Plateau in her previous life, but the bucket cart pushed by workers on construction sites in her previous life to transport cement mortar.

"Well, not bad."

Cecilia nodded and spoke vaguely.

Then, Cecilia inexplicably discovered that Viscount Charlotte Mellerfield was visibly in a good mood.

Of course Charlotte was in a good mood, she finally accomplished something a time traveler should do.

When she first came here, Charlotte tried to use her science and engineering knowledge from her previous life to invent new things and change the world.

First, Charlotte set her sights on the first choice of the protagonist of a time-travel novel - soap. Still in her infancy, she used her underdeveloped little brain to painstakingly recall the chemical formula for making soap. Then, she discovered that this world had its own "soap".

It was an ointment-like substance, the main ingredients of which were also oil and wood ash. It looked more like toothpaste than soap, but its decontamination ability was indeed very strong. Moreover, people in this world would add various spices to the ointment to make a fragrant "soap". High-end "soaps" would also add special drugs to make the "soap" more gentle and delicate, and not hurt the skin.

Young Charlotte gave up her soap business out of disappointment and turned to the second choice of time travelers - glass. Then, she saw walls of stained glass in the church.

The natives of this world have long been able to make glass, and their technology is very mature. What they don't know how to make is large pieces of glass with a smooth surface and complete transparency. But Charlotte also doesn't know how to make this kind of glass.

When she grew up a little more, Charlotte tried to smelt iron, but she found that the metallurgical industry in this world was closely related to supernatural powers that she did not understand. Various rituals and various supernatural materials could give metallurgical products a variety of incredible properties.

It can be said that this wheelbarrow is the first successful invention that has been praised by people since Charlotte traveled through time.

However, what Charlotte didn't know was...

The wheelbarrow she designed was convenient, but its frame required a lot of iron. The copper and iron in the Viscount Lanwan now had to be purchased from outside. Cecilia's managers thought that instead of using a lot of iron to build a small cart, it would be better to make the iron into hoes, shovels and chisels that were urgently needed on the construction site, and let the civilians carry away the soil and rocks in rattan baskets.