Blood Dragon

44 knots twist

Luke moved very quickly, and on the afternoon of his decision, he packed up and left with a small team.

It must be explained that Luke is a person with a wide range of contacts. He already had his own network in St. Jean, and this time he had money as a lubricant. I won a chance to meet Princess Irina.

Princess Irina received him in the drawing room, but she was not alone: ​​in the place of Princess Irina's deputy sat a beautiful girl.After a few minutes, Luke decided that the girl was Rowling Jr. - Court Master, Countess Rowling's daughter, a stupid girl wrapped in a beautiful skin, but with a brain like a ball of paste.The appearance of this girl did surprise Luke a little.

"You are Luke, Ryan's emissary?" Irina spent a minute or two looking at the gift list.But Luke believed that she hadn't read the gift list, but just flipped through a few pages.

"The envoy of 'Duke Ryan'." Luke humbly bowed and replied at the same time.

"I never remember that I canonized a duke!" Irina's voice immediately became severe. "This is naked betrayal! Ryan dared to call himself a duke, and he raised the Liri long sword banner that can only be raised by the Casilos royal family! I will never accept this kind of behavior, if he betrays... "

"Your Highness, please allow me to explain a little bit." Luke waited patiently for the princess to lose her temper before speaking. "Your Highness, please believe me. Lord Ryan has absolutely no intention of betraying Her Highness. The reason why he calls himself a Duke is entirely to serve Her Highness better. The most obvious evidence is: as long as Her Highness is willing, he This self-proclaimed 'Duke' can be removed at any time."

"Lian will do this?" Irina asked with some doubts.In fact, the topic of Lane is a big topic of discussion in the near future.Some ministers thought that this was the most obvious act of betrayal, and when they broke through the Paro defense line, they immediately used all means, including war, to quickly eliminate Ryan and his troops together.Others believe that if such a thing happened, it would be a complete tragedy of cannibalism.After all, Princess Irina is the undisputed owner of the Cassilos throne, and all the Casillas knights should be the princess' servants, and internal slaughter can only make relatives and enemies happy.An experienced diplomat, skilled negotiators, and appropriate appeasement methods are the best way to solve this problem.

Everyone is arguing about this issue.And Irina didn't know what to do for a while.However, Irina stood in her own position, and of course she didn't want the St. Jean army and the Casilos army to have a confrontation on the battlefield.No matter who wins or loses in this kind of battle, those who die are her subjects.

"You can do it anytime you want," Luke replied. "I said that the reason why Ryan did this is to serve you better. You know, in order to get the support of Casillas Cavaliers and gather an army, he must need a righteous name, isn't it ?"

"Is this the opinion of General Thomas?" Irina asked.She still remembered the battle plan described at the meeting before the Thomas expedition, which included this part.Of course, Thomas didn't say anything about the duke at the meeting.And it turns out that Thomas' plan is conservative, or that the Paro people are far less powerful than expected.Thomas didn't need to do that to defeat the Paro.

"General Thomas doesn't have a clear opinion, but he said that he can adapt flexibly according to the actual situation." Luke replied immediately.How long Thomas will live is the only thing he can't be sure of right now.The only thing he can be sure of is that Thomas can no longer return to Loren City, but after all, Irina may still send a Pegasus knight as a messenger to take what he said to Thomas to testify.

Irina didn't speak for a while, but Rowling Jr. spoke instead. "So, the Duke of Lane will give up his title of Duke? What about the knights who follow him?"

The pretty stupid woman laughed, and Luke laughed too.

"As long as the princess sends someone who can replace Ryan in bloodlines and prestige." Luke replied cleverly.If King Lanjier was here, this sentence might directly anger the king.But Princess Irina—as Luke had predicted—hasn't yet understood how real power is to be wielded, when to compromise, and when to be tough.

In fact, when Luke saw Jr. Rowling present, Luke already had a nine-point chance of winning.Among Princess Irina's closest friends, there was no such person at all-the only one, Thomas, was far away in Paro, and he was wounded and sick, and his life was not long.In fact, it was already impossible for Thomas to come back alive—if Thomas had any hope of recovery, Ashuruffat would have sent him back straight away, or at least stayed in Wolf's Mouth Castle to recuperate.Ashrufat continued to attack Paro with the flag of Thomas, which in itself showed that he was squeezing the last bit of value from Thomas.

It doesn't matter, let Ashrufat be proud for the time being, he will find a way to deal with it sooner or later.

Luke noticed that Princess Irina was contemplating, but as far as he knew, Princess Irina's court was too pure, and it was all composed of San Jeans - this should be thanks to Paro - among her direct ministers, There are no suitable candidates.

This is the most dangerous level.Luke knew that as long as Irina acquiesced to Ryan's duke position at this moment, she would not be able to deprive him of it without a good reason in the future.However, if Irina is a decisive and far-sighted person, then she must have one or more prestigious knights in Cassilos as candidates at the moment (after all, the two countries have coexisted harmoniously for a long time).If this happened, Luke could only admit that he was unlucky.

Impossible, our princess is not so far-sighted!It's impossible for a girl to think so much... Luke smiled, not even revealing the unease deep in his heart.

Irina continued to think.

"His Royal Highness Princess Irina." Luke said suddenly.The princess can't be allowed to think about it any longer. A fool who thinks a lot will get something.

"Oh?" Irina froze for a moment.

"I don't know if you have noticed that there are some special gifts among the things Mr. Ryan gave you."

Irina picked up the gift list again.Luke made a "four" gesture with his hand, so Irina turned to the fourth page and read one by one.

Her body trembled, and countless complicated expressions flashed across her face, which finally turned into sadness.

These are the items used by the Casillas royal family selected by Luke.As the saying goes, "Think about people when you see things", Princess Irina and her grandfather don't get along very well, so she will naturally miss other family members.Although she had already accepted the fact that "all her family members died", seeing these things now, she would unconsciously recall the past, the parents and elder brother who lived happily together.

Irina wiped the corner of her eye with her hand.After doing this instinctive action, she realized her gaffe.

"You go down first." She turned her head so that Luke would not see the change in her expression.But in fact Luke had already seen all the subtle changes.

"Then, about Lord Ryan..."

"I'll think about it," Irina replied.

"I am waiting for your reply. Here, on behalf of Lord Ryan, I promise that as long as you send a suitable candidate who can be accepted by Casillas Cavaliers, he will be very happy to hand over all the troops and all the power..." Luke End the meeting with a lavish and humble speech, then exit the room.

Of course, he couldn't just leave. A few minutes later, he saw little Rowling walking out.As he expected, in this case, Princess Irina just wanted to stay alone and mourn her lost family members.

Manipulating people's hearts is a skillful and challenging game, but Luke is a natural player.

Luke followed Jr. Rowling immediately.Because she had just met once, Jr. Rowling did not refuse to work side by side with Luke.Luke used some ingenious and attractive words, as well as some knowledge of the frontline war, to quickly get himself a chance to meet this girl again.

"Then, Lord Luke, see you tonight." The beautiful girl waved goodbye to him.Luke didn't delay for a minute, and immediately returned to his residence as quickly as possible.

"Send for the best shoemaker, jeweler, and tailor in town!" he ordered the servant. "The sooner the better."

"My lord, aren't you scheduled to see Sir Lyme?" his servant reminded. "You have to see the four lords in the afternoon."

"Of course, these people still need to meet. But this matter can't be left behind. Let these people come to see me during lunch time." Luke replied. "Are the gifts for those lords ready?"

"It's all prepared according to your requirements... But my lord, why do you prepare such different gifts for them? Some are big gifts, and some are just small gifts?"

"Those who can be bought are of course generous gifts, and those who cannot be bought can only be expressed. We don't ask them to speak for us, but only ask them not to become obstacles." Luke thought for a while. "I'll write a few notes to give to shoemakers, jewelers and tailors if they come and I'm not there. Remember to make an extra point to them that price is never an issue!"

After a busy day, Luke saw Jr. Rowling again at nightfall.They hadn't had a few words together before Luke immediately announced that he had some presents for "the most beautiful and charming girl he'd ever seen."

Luke clapped his hands, and several servants walked in.One servant held a box in his hand, which contained a set of exquisite diamond gestures, including hair ornaments, necklaces, bracelets and brooches, and the second servant held a pair of shoes, and the moment he saw the shoes, little Rowling He opened his mouth wide, this is the latest trendy style, and the upper is even inlaid with huge rubies, making this pair of shoes look extremely cute.The gift in the hands of the third servant may not be so dazzling, but it can definitely shock people's hearts. It is a silver fox scarf with no stray hairs all over it.

"You...you...you want to give me these precious gifts?" Little Rowling couldn't even speak properly.Her original goal was just to listen to those front-line rumors, but fortunately, she had a good topic when chatting with friends, "For...for...why?"

"Of course it's because only your beauty can match these beautiful things." Luke maintained his usual smile.There was no need for any other reason, just from Rowling's expression, he knew that he would win.He has successfully planted a thread beside Princess Irina, a thread that he is eager to obtain after ten times the effort and cost.