Rose Empire

The guards hurried forward, knelt on one knee and saluted, then took the reins of the giant eagle and took it to feed, water and rest.

"Arrange a place for Mrs. Dulan and Miss Dulan to live in, with better conditions, and have their luggage packed and sent over as soon as possible." Charlotte nodded at Beatrice and her daughter.

"Well, don't worry, miss, I won't neglect your guests." Renee replied tacitly.

Beatrice and Anna both thanked Charlotte. Miss Anna was naturally grateful sincerely, but Beatrice was trembling with fear and guessing every word Charlotte said, and couldn't help but think more.

Charlotte didn't care what Beatrice was thinking. After instructing Renee, she walked towards the depths of the castle along the path she remembered.

"I know that kind of suffering is not easy for both of us, but that kind of suffering is only for the sake of sweeter happiness."

"Happiness? What is happiness? For me, happiness is being able to be with Andre often."

When passing by a corner of the stairs, Charlotte accidentally overheard the whispers between a lovelorn man and a resentful woman. Even though she couldn't hear the beginning or the end of it, Charlotte could guess who was talking.

Andre, there is only one Andre in the Riverside Castle, and that is Charlotte's full brother, the eldest son of the Duke of Greenfield, Andre Melfield.

If Andre had not fallen in love with someone else, the woman speaking in such a sweet voice should be Anne Paste, the daughter of the Duke of Bonan.

"Cough cough..."

Charlotte did not intentionally hide herself, and coughed heavily twice as she passed by.

The man and woman were frightened and hurriedly let go of each other. After a moment, they noticed who was coming and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Charlotte!" Anne Paster exclaimed in surprise.

As the two largest principalities in the Oran Empire, the Principality of Greenfield and the Principality of Bonan naturally maintain long-term exchanges. Anne and Charlotte have known each other since childhood and can be considered childhood playmates.

"Charlotte? How come you're back so soon?" Andre's words were filled with a hint of resentment in his surprise, and he was obviously complaining that Charlotte had interrupted the lovemaking between him and his lover. "I just received the news that you were coming home the day before yesterday."

"Because I missed my brother so much, I traveled day and night." Charlotte said with a smile.

Andre got goosebumps from Charlotte's coquettish tone. He quickly waved his hand to urge Charlotte to leave: "Father is in the study dealing with government affairs. You just got home, so you should go to see him first."

"Yeah." Charlotte nodded, waved goodbye to Anne Paster with a smile, and turned and left.

Andre breathed a sigh of relief. He was really a little scared when facing his own sister.

If there are people in this world who are born with bad personalities, Andre thinks Charlotte must be one of them. When Charlotte couldn't speak yet, she knew how to harm her brother. She would deliberately knock her milk bottle over at Andre's feet and then burst into tears. Then Andre, who was at a loss, would be blamed by the adults. That kind of grievance was simply a childhood trauma.

Now that Charlotte has left obediently, giving her brother space to communicate with his lover, Andre is really grateful.

However, before Andre could impatiently hug Anne again, Charlotte, who had just taken two steps, stopped, turned around and said suddenly, "By the way, I met Sir Henry Holloway in Platinum City, and he asked me to say hello to Sister Anne."

The couple who were just immersed in a pink bubble seemed to be poured with a bucket of cold water and no longer had any enthusiasm for hugging each other.

Volume 8: Chapter Chapter : Advice That Cannot Be Heard

Anne Paster was Henry Holloway's fiancée.

Marriage is a necessary means for nobles to form alliances. Emperor Leopold Holloway's grandmother was from the Duke of Bonan family, but that grandmother had passed away for decades. If Leopold Holloway died again, it would be difficult for the Holloway family and the Pastor family to even say they were relatives. Therefore, in order to continue the blood alliance between the two families, it was natural for Leopold Holloway to choose Anne Pastor as Henry Holloway's wife.

The marriage between Anne Paster and Henry Holloway was probably arranged before Charlotte was born, but what happened? Henry Holloway had a great time in Platinum City, and Anne Paster had forgotten that she was already engaged.

Not only Annie Paster, but her brother seemed to have forgotten as well.

How bad it is to forget such an important thing!

Charlotte gave them a reminder.

"Charlotte, why did you bring up that matter? Now Anne must be angry. I don't know how long I have to coax her..."

Andre complained as he followed Charlotte.

The atmosphere was already very lively, and Andre felt that if he tried harder, he would be able to have a more in-depth communication with the girl he had been thinking about.

As a result, Charlotte poured cold water on her, and the atmosphere was gone. Anne Paster, who remembered her marriage, became depressed in the blink of an eye, and she didn't even want to continue talking to Andre, and left him in a hurry.

"By the way," Charlotte interrupted Andre's chatter and asked, "Have you had sex with Anne?"

"You, what are you talking about..." Andrei is already 29 years old, and he won't blush for a little dirty talk, but it is really embarrassing to hear such a question from his own sister. He can't help but stutter when he speaks, "I, of course we don't have it..."

This kind of hesitation is really suspicious.

However, Charlotte was too lazy to find out the truth.

"Andre, I have to warn you," she said as they walked, "Henry Holloway is a very petty person. If he finds out in the future that his new wife has given her virginity to you, he will become like a mad dog and will never stop fighting with you."

"I, I told you, we didn't!"

Andre raised his voice, sounding even more guilty.

"It's better not to." Charlotte stopped in front of a double door with mahogany carvings and exquisite brass handles. "Not only Anne, but you too, Andre. You're going to marry Sister Monica soon, right? Uncle Philip doesn't have a good temper. If you don't restrain yourself before the wedding, be careful that your marriage will be ruined."

Andre's fiancée is named Monica Melefield, and Monica Melefield's father is Philip Melefield. From the last name, we can see that they are originally relatives of Charlotte and Andre. Philip Melefield is Jose Melefield's younger brother, and Monica Melefield is Charlotte's cousin and Andre's cousin. Andre is still unmarried at the age of 29 because he has been waiting for Monica Melefield to grow up.

Nobles usually do not have many choices in marriage. First, they cannot marry people outside the aristocratic group. Second, they have to consider various interests and political relationships. As a result, it is not surprising that various examples of close-kin marriages emerge.

Marrying one's cousin is not common in this world, but it is not rare. Taking the Hollowin royal family as an example, Emperor Leopold Hollowin's father, Joseph Hollowin, married his cousin. At that time, Joseph Hollowin was competing with his younger brother for the right to inherit the throne. By marrying his cousin, he gained the support of other royal family members, consolidated his position, and finally ascended the throne (harmoniously) to become emperor.

"I know, I know." Andre became even more impatient when his marriage was mentioned. He pointed at the door behind Charlotte and said, "You should go see your father as soon as possible."

Tsk, I can’t listen to nice words.

Charlotte didn't want to waste any more time talking to her stupid brother, so she turned around and knocked on the mahogany door.

"Come in."

A deep and heavy voice came from inside the door.

Charlotte put on a bright smile and pushed open the mahogany door.

Behind the door was a study room with luxurious glazed hanging lamps, camphorwood bookshelves, and obsidian desks. There were two people sitting in the study room. One had a beard, calm eyes, and a restrained temperament. He was Charlotte's father, the Duke of Greenfield, Jose Melefield. The other was older, with gray hair, but tall and muscular. He was Anne Paster's father, the Duke of Bonan, Fernandez Paster.

"My lord father, His Excellency the Duke of Bonan."

Charlotte lifted her skirt and saluted, her manner was elegant and noble.

"Charlotte? Has she grown up so much in the blink of an eye? She's already a big beauty." Fernandez Paste was the first to speak.

"Uncle Paster, you are still as dignified and majestic as ever." Charlotte said with a smile.

“Hahaha,” Fernandez Pastor laughed heartily and turned to Jose Melfield and said, “It’s really little Charlotte. She’s still so sweet.”

"Haha," Jose Melfield also laughed, "She only speaks nicely, but she is actually very naughty. I wanted to arrange a marriage for her two years ago, but she hid in Platinum City and never came back."

"Father," Charlotte came to Jose Melefield and held Jose's right arm and shook him, "Are you really looking forward to my getting married soon? I even brought you a gift when I came back this time, but you made me so sad."

"Am I looking forward to you getting married soon? You..." Jose wanted to say a few more words, but was interrupted by Charlotte's groaning. He shook his head helplessly and said, "We will talk about your matter later. I still have some things to discuss with His Excellency the Duke of Bonan. You should go see your mother first."

"Ah."

Charlotte let go of Jose's arm and walked out of the study lightly.

Charlotte could roughly guess what José Melefield and Fernández Pastor wanted to talk about.

Outside the western border of the Orlan Empire is a giant mountain range that runs almost through the entire Eagle Continent - the Campe Mountains. The Green Plains Principality and the Bonan Principality are both located in the west of the Orlan Empire, adjacent to the Campe Mountains, which means that the two principalities have to take on part of the defense mission of the western border of the Orlan Empire.

The border of the Green Plains Principality is relatively good. To the west, the Green Plains Principality is mainly bordered by a country called the "Resare Kingdom". Although the Resare Kingdom has also fought a war with the Orlan Empire, it is a country with a civilization similar to that of the Orlan Empire after all. The Green Plains Principality at least does not have to worry about it attacking it inexplicably.

The situation on the border of Bonan Principality was quite bad. The section of the Campe Mountains to the west of Bonan Principality did not belong to a certain country or a certain lord, but to a group. This group included humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, werewolves, snakemen, winged people, hybrids, etc. These different races formed tribes, and the tribes eventually gathered into a huge group.

This group actually does not have an official name, and the Oran Empire generally calls it the "Tribal Alliance."

The tribal alliance has a bad habit - looting.

The mountainous areas are not suitable for production, and every winter when the tribesmen come, they often have to face the problem of food shortage. In order to have enough food, they would choose to go out of the mountains to plunder, and the first to bear the brunt was the Principality of Bonan, followed by the Principality of Luyuan.

Therefore, before winter every year, Duke Bonan would bring his family to visit the neighboring Principality of Green Plains, nominally to be a guest, but in fact to discuss how to jointly defend against thieves.

The Green Plains Principality only has a small section of the border adjacent to the Tribal Alliance, but in fact the tribesmen can move relatively freely throughout the Campe Mountains. Therefore, they can actually launch an attack at every point along the entire western border between the Green Plains Principality and the Bonan Principality.

The two duchies had to join forces to build a line of defense to guard against the tribal bandits and minimize the losses.

As for taking the initiative?

The two dukes never had such an idea.

The tribal alliance seemed loose, without a specific leader, but they could always maintain unity and advance and retreat together when facing foreign enemies, and they actually controlled the natural barrier of the Campe Mountains. The Orlan Empire had been established for more than a thousand years and had been strong for at least eight hundred years, but it had not been able to eliminate this annoying neighbor, let alone just two principalities joining forces.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to actively eliminate the tribesmen. Strategically, the Principality of Green Plains and the Principality of Bonan can only passively take the beatings.

Volume 9: Chapter Chapter Promise

The "mother" that Jose Melefield mentioned naturally did not refer to the deceased Helen, but Charlotte's stepmother, the current Duchess of Greenfield, Rosie Melefield.

Rosie Melefeld's father's surname is Murat, yes, the Murat from the Kingdom of Koshin. Rosie Murat is the younger sister of Marie Murat (Holowin), the current Queen of the Oran Empire.

The marriage of two sisters linked the royal family of Oran to a kingdom and a principality, which was another typical example of aristocratic marriage and seemed to be a fairly successful one.

Rosie Mellerfield was drinking tea in the garden with Edith Pastor, Duchess of Bonan. When Charlotte entered the garden, Rosie Mellerfield did not notice her presence.

"mom!"

Charlotte took the opportunity to hug Rosie's neck from behind.

Rosie's appearance could be described as beautiful, with a swan-like swan-like neck, delicate skin like egg white, and three-dimensional facial features that were about 60% similar to Queen Mary Holloway, but she did not have Mary Holloway's cold temperament.

In comparison, Mrs. Paster on the side was much less pretty.

"Charlotte? Why are you back so soon?"

Rosie was startled by Charlotte's sudden attack. Her fingers trembled and the tea in her hand almost spilled on her dress. She put down the teacup, patted Charlotte's face in an angry manner, and then asked with a smile.

"Because I missed my mother so much, I gave the gifts to the knights and returned with Renee on the giant eagle."

"You missed me so much that you stayed in Platinum City and refused to go home?"

The truth was exposed by Rosie, but Charlotte didn't feel embarrassed. She rubbed Rosie's neck and said, "How could I? Didn't I come back to visit my mother on Grace Day last year?"

"Is coming back once a year too much? Come on, come on, stop acting like a spoiled brat. Mrs. Paster is right here, so you don't have to worry about being laughed at."

Rosie pushed Charlotte's head away with her slender index finger.

Charlotte also stopped being so frivolous and saluted Edith Pastor with her skirt lifted: "Hello, Mrs. Pastor."

Edith Pastor smiled and nodded to Charlotte. On her knees lay a kitten with blue eyes and black and white fur, which was very eye-catching.

"Sister, sister..."

Charlotte suddenly felt someone pulling her skirt. She turned around and saw a little boy about eight or nine years old.

The little boy who appears here is naturally not an "unrelated person". He is Rosie's son, Charlotte and Andre's half-brother, Sean Mellorfield.

"Sean, how did you get so tall? You grow so fast."

Charlotte smiled and rubbed Sean's face with her hands. It must be said that Sean inherited his father and mother's good looks. He was cute and handsome. At a young age, he showed the potential to be a troublemaker for girls in the future.

However, while Charlotte was rubbing Sean's face, her eyes fell on his left chest, where there was a brooch.

It was a knot-shaped brooch, the knot was woven with gold thread, but the pattern was the same as that of hemp rope, which reflected the excellent craftsmanship of the goldsmith. But what really caught Charlotte's attention was the gemstone around the "knot".

The gemstone is in a perfect teardrop shape, showing a deep blue color under the sunlight, without any flaws. If you look closely, you can see waves rippling in the deep blue...

Charlotte's pupils shrank slightly, but the smile on her face did not diminish, and her hands did not stop moving.

"Wow, sister, please don't rub my face. I'm already grown up."

"Grown up? You're still just a little kid."

Watching Charlotte and Sean playing around, Edith Paster couldn't help but smile and said, "These two kids have such a good relationship."

"Yeah, these two kids have been playing well together since they were young."

Rosie just responded casually, but she didn't expect that this would remind Edith Pastor of her feelings again: "Charlotte is really lively, unlike my daughter who is a dull girl and never plays with her brother."

"The Dumbass" is obviously referring to Annie Paster.

Your taciturn daughter is about to have sex with my brother - or maybe she has already done so. If she wasn't taciturn, she would have given you a grandson in advance, right? Charlotte complained in her heart.

"I envy your Anne. Anne already has a good fiancé like Henry. Unlike mine, she had a well-planned marriage but she ruined it." Rosie said, patting Charlotte's arm.

"Huh? Really?"

"Of course, her father chose Arthur Lexmond for her."

"Lexman? That's a great match."

Mrs. Paster was not familiar with the name "Arthur", but she knew the surname "Lexman" well enough because it was the surname of the Marquis of Blackstone Castle.