Chapter 180

"You have done well, Litt, don't blame yourself."

"...If I really did well enough, then why did you choose her instead of me, Orson..." Litt said to himself in his heart.

It was evening, and Litt, Virgil and Martin gathered at Judith's house for dinner.

"Ah, thank you very much, Mr. Litt and Mr. Virgil." Judith listened to Martin's talk about Litt's philosophy today, and then she said she would invite the two to her home for dinner.

"These days, the days of the lockdown have not been easy, right?" At the dinner table, Litt talked about the days in Florence.

"Yeah." Judith nodded. "No business is allowed during the day, only stores selling food are allowed to open, and you have to queue up for a long time to buy, and the price is also very expensive. There is also a curfew at night, saying that it is to prevent spies from coming in."

"As a result, it seems that there is no need to do this, right? Look, our army has been here for a few days, and the public security in the city is still good now, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Judith nodded. "To be honest, the current Florence is no different from before the war, and it may even be better, because you are reducing taxes, and the city officials have not joined forces with some shops to oppress our small shops."

"This is what we hope for." Litt nodded.

Today, I came to Judith's house not only because I received an invitation, but also because Litt wanted to see how the general public viewed the coalition's occupation policy.

After seeing Judith's high evaluation of the occupation, Litt was relieved.

It seems that my policy is not wrong, just follow Orson's advice.

"But...how should I put it, I feel...after all, you are the attacking party, so we will still be a little strange..."

"It's okay, you will get used to it slowly after a while when you change the new lord." Litt said.

Several people talked about the topic of flower shops at the table, and finally the topic came to Martin.

"That...Judith, I have something to say to you." Martin said this, his eyes flickered a little.

"Puff." At this time, Litt laughed instead. "You are so straightforward on the battlefield, but why do you become so evasive in front of the person you like?"

When they heard the word "person you like", their cheeks turned red.

But Martin finally spoke.

"Judith, you can see that Master Lit's army is a righteous army, and there are still many people in Naples who are oppressed by Duke Giovanni, so... I plan to help Master Lit and his army to defeat Giovanni."

"Yeah, I know." Judith heard this, and she was not dissatisfied, but nodded in understanding. "After all, you told me before that you would come back after repelling the invaders, but now your position has changed, so it takes more time, right?"

"Yeah." Martin nodded. "Can you understand me?"

"Of course, after all, you have never broken your promise. You said you would appear in front of me, and you finally appeared in front of me, didn't you?"

"Don't worry, I'm not some rich lady who needs you to take care of my daily life." Judith said this, and smiled reluctantly.

What a joke, my man just came back from the gates of hell, how could a normal person bear to let him go there again.

But Martin is just like this, Judith can only choose to understand.

After all, lovers can only go to the end by supporting each other.

Just like when Martin helped me disperse the thugs sent by the hostile merchants to cause trouble when I opened a flower shop before, Martin's family is obviously very rich, and I don't need to run a flower shop after being with him, but he still chose not to ask about this issue and support his hobby.

Then Judith will also support Martin in the same way.

The two said sensational words, which made Virgil and Litt a little embarrassed.

There is no way, the people they care about are not around now, looking at this scene, they can only eat dog food silently.

"Judith... You are really a good girl. I am really sorry for letting you stay at home and worry about me..."

"It's okay, Martin. I believe you will come back, right?"

"Well, Judith, when I come back this time, we will get married..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" At this time, Litt quickly interrupted Martin's death flag.

When chatting with Orson before, Orson reminded Litt that when making an agreement with others, you must not say "After you come back this time, you will definitely..."

Generally, people who say such words basically can't come back.

Orson has also carefully analyzed the principle.

First of all, the things to do after coming back are what you want to do but don't do at other times, maybe you don't dare, maybe you don't have time, but if you keep this feeling on the road, you will be distracted. If you are distracted on the battlefield, it is self-evident what the result will be.

Therefore, when Litt heard Martin's sensational words this time, he quickly interrupted the two people.

"Oh, what are you doing? It's not like we're going to die. Can't we wait until you come back to tell us what's going on? Do you have to tell us here? Can't you just give me a surprise when you come back?"

"That's right..." Martin nodded after hearing that.

"Then let's use a more practical approach?"

Orson once told Li Te that the Naples region is located in the South and its folk customs are relatively open.

Now Leeteuk has finally seen what it means to be open.

Seeing the two people kissing each other, Lite quickly reached out his hand to cover Virgil's eyes.

And he looked at the two people with a blushing face.

It turns out that kissing can still be done like this. I learned from it. Next time I go back, I will see if I can do this with Orson...

"No... Master Li Te, I can't see the food in the bowl clearly with you like this..." Virgil couldn't help but complain.

"I'm not interested in this kind of thing. It's useless for you to cover my eyes."

"Nonsense, I don't believe you don't want to be with Miss Shi..."

"Stop!" When the lion was mentioned, Virgil seemed to be touched by something and shouted stop quickly.

"Okay, I'm sorry, we just caused you trouble..." After the two separated, Judith looked at the two people with exaggerated expressions and said apologetically.

"I forgot that you are foreigners. In our place, intimacy between lovers does not matter the occasion. I am really sorry for causing you trouble." Martin also apologized at this time.

"It's okay, I learned a lot." Lite said with a blush, "By the way, what about the private actions?"

"A private act?" Judith and Martin looked at each other, and then quickly looked away.

"You...what are you talking about..."

"Just... that's right, we haven't developed to that point yet..."

"Besides, that kind of thing cannot be made public anywhere, right?"

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm just talking." Lite saw the two people's reactions and waved his hands.

"Anyway, have you already agreed?"

"Well, I'm ready here. When are you going to leave?"

"You can leave tomorrow." Martin said directly.

"Tomorrow!? Isn't it too early? How about leaving in a few days? After all, you and Judith have just met and it would be too cruel to separate you..."

"It's okay. On the contrary, if you stay here for a few days, you will be even more reluctant to leave." Judith showed a shy smile.

"Oh, it's nice of you to be so honest, unlike me." Leeteuk said and started to complain.

"I also have people I like, but the person I like is always not honest. He is obviously interested in me, but he always says, 'Oh, we can't be like this between us.' It's very annoying anyway. If he could be like you It would be nice if any one of them could be so honest,” Leeteuk couldn’t help but complain.

Virgil next to him heard this and sweat broke out on his forehead.

It seems that Master Orson has never said that he is interested in Master Leeteuk...

"Pfft, from what Young Master Li Te said, the person you like must be very old-fashioned, right?"

"Yes! He's so old-fashioned! What kind of moral bottom line have you always adhered to? Anyway, I don't understand him. Oh, forget it, let's not mention him." Li Te said this and raised his wine glass.

"Come on, cheers, just think it's for our future victory!"

Chapter 84: Pressure

"Orson, what's going on?" Elsa found Orson in the hotel and asked seriously.

Although there have been overt and covert fights within the royal family, they have always maintained a consistent and resolute attitude towards external affairs, that is, localism cannot be allowed to rise.

But now the Duke of Orleans and the other three dukes are putting pressure on the royal family, and even the border has begun to increase troops, forcing the royal family to withdraw its troops from the front line and return to defense.

"You and Olivia are engaged, right? Then why is Prusia still following Orleans to put pressure on the royal family?"

"Your Highness, I think a smart person like you will not understand, right? The person in charge of Prusia now is not Olivia, but her father, Duke William."

"It's true that Olivia and I are engaged, but what can this do? Matters involving the fundamental interests of the duchy are still decided by Duke William himself, and the role of the engagement in it can be said to be minimal. ”

"After all, I have confirmed that I will not be the future heir to the Duchy of Antica, so a marriage is not of that much value, is it?"

When Elsa heard what Orson said, she lowered her head helplessly.

"...Orson, you are right, I was impulsive just now."

Elsa solemnly apologized to Orson, and then left Orson's room.

At this time, you really shouldn't blame someone who has been helping you.

With the current situation, it is obvious that the problem of the royal family is more serious.

When Elsa left the hotel, she ran into Olivia who was about to come over to see Orson.

"Olivia..." Looking at Olivia, Elsa felt awkward.

After all, the forces standing behind her are currently on the opposite side of the royal family, and it is definitely impossible to have a good communication.

"Your Highness Princess, have you just met Orson?" Seeing Elsa stop, Olivia quickly asked about Orson.

"Ah, yes, I just had something to ask Orson, sorry."

"It's okay." Olivia shook her head. "Your Highness, what you want to ask about is Prusia's position, right? On this point, it is indeed not something that Orson can decide. Please understand him."

"It's okay, of course I understand." Elsa nodded. "I still have some things to deal with, so I won't stay here for now."

"Yeah." Olivia glanced at Elsa, said goodbye to her, and walked into the hotel.

"Orson..." Olivia knocked on the door. After opening the door, she looked at the man standing in front of her and murmured.

"What's wrong, Olivia? You look a little unhappy?" Orson looked at Olivia and asked curiously.

"Well, because I couldn't help you... and from my family's perspective, I can't help you with this matter either."

Olivia was talking about taking sides, naturally.

"It's okay. Rather, what Duke William did was exactly what I expected." Orson said this, showing a smile, which made Olivia feel at ease.

"Duke William must have said that with the current situation in the empire, you must stand on the side of the local faction, otherwise a larger-scale war is likely to break out."

"Well, my father did say that, but...then wouldn't Antika have to face Napoli alone?"

"No need to worry about this." Orson shook his head. "The battle situation on the front line is ideal. Even if the imperial army is transferred, Antica's army will still have the upper hand against Naples, so it will be fine."

"On the contrary, under the current situation, the royal family seems to have to

Concessions were made to the dukes, otherwise the royal family could not afford the consequences. "Oson said this and looked at Olivia.

Although the specific cooperation between him and Elsa was not told to Olivia, during this period of time, Olivia obviously also knew that Orson was from Elsa's faction.

The royal family was forced to make concessions, and there were only two possibilities.

One is to release the authority for private investigation and provide the information previously investigated to the Duke of Orleans for free. The other is to directly select someone from the royal family to take the blame.

And that person will most likely be Alsace.

After all, it was the Toulouse family emblem found in private property in Alsace, and after identification, it was obvious that this emblem was genuine.

Even if someone framed him, Alsace's reputation would plummet before the person who framed him was found.

In this way, the resistance to Elsa's rise will be reduced a lot.

Imagine that one is a stubborn conservative. Although he can protect the interests of the nobles, he has a history of murdering the nobles.

Although the other one is a reformist, he has never murdered a nobleman. Even the previous trials in the imperial court were fair judgments based on imperial law.

Although the nobles will still lean towards Alsace, they will definitely have some scruples because the suspicion of Alsace has not been cleared.

In addition, it is rumored that Giovanni, the current traitor to the empire, also had close contacts with Alsace in the past.

Whether Alsace is worthy of everyone's trust or not is a big question mark.

Olivia watched Orson express his thoughts and asked doubtfully: "Oson, don't you also want the influence of the royal family to be too great?"

"Well, after all, I am not a member of the royal family. I can only have some friendship with the people there. The place where I was born and raised is Antika. How could I not consider the interests of Antika?"