Kessel stood in front of the bed, and sighed softly as he watched his father, who was leaning on the head of the bed and urging the servant next to him to peel the nut shells and stuff the broken fruit into his mouth.

Kessel had a document in his hand, which was densely packed with things, but because the document was blank, it was meaningless as long as it was not signed.

"I'm sorry father," Keisel took a fruit from his father's mouth, and looked at the count's seemingly annoyed eyes, he shoved the pen he had prepared into his father's hand, "please sign this." ”

The Count looked at his son angrily, as if he didn't recognize him at first, and then he seemed to wake up and let out an "oh": "Where have you been, Kaisel, I think you have been gone for a long time." ”

"I went on a long trip to my father, and now I signed this, and I need to use your stamp."

"What is this?" The Count looked at the document in a bit of a daze, and then searched back and forth as if he remembered something, and when he did not see the person he was looking for, he shouted angrily, "Where is Jisha, I want to see my daughter, and I will not sign anything if she is not there." ”

Keisel grabbed the Count's dangling shoulders with force, forcing him to look at him.

"Father, Jisha will come in a while, you sign this document first, and then let Jisha read or sing."

"No, I want to see my daughter!" The Earl shouted angrily, "I know that some people are calculating me, you people are calculating me, Kaisel, you have been hoping that I will die soon, and that cheap woman of George Anne, I know that she was a before she married me, she is not worthy of a daughter like Josha, and I will not give her a son when I die." ”

The Count shouted, and he began to rock back and forth, but because he had lost his arm, his upper body kept swinging back and forth, like a large bell with a slender mouth.

Keisel looked at the Count with some annoyance, he didn't expect his father to be so protective of him, and he was still a little guilty before, and he only had resentment in his heart at this time.

And all this was seen by the man in black beside him, which made Kesel worry that he would change his mind because he doubted whether he could control the territory of Cosenza as promised, after all, the Count had other children.

"You've lost enough time," the man in black whispered behind him, "don't forget that maybe your sister is giving us trouble right now." ”

The man in black frowned, if he hadn't been able to replace Kaiser, he would have forced the Count to stamp the document with a badge.

The fact that he thought that he would definitely fall into his hands actually ran away, which was not only completely unexpected by the man in black, but also made him feel as if he was being ridiculed fiercely.

Although the Bohemian named Markush was rescued and led people to the sealed entrance to the secret passage, before they could chase them in, they suddenly heard the news that the guards of Cosenza had returned.

Although he was in control of Kaisel and the Earl, this sudden change still made the man in black a little flustered for a while.

He could only let Kaizer go up to the castle and give orders to the guards to obey orders, until the guards finally quieted down, and as they said for a while, stayed outside the city for the time being, and the man in black asked the Count to sign the document that was so important to him.

"Relinquish the defense of the plains of the Agri River to His Royal Highness, and declare a marriage valid," the man in black told Kesel, without forgetting to appease the heir of the count, "In return, the Duke not only recognizes you as the rightful new Count of Cosenza, but His Highness is willing to be the protector of your domain." ”

After saying this, the man in black did not forget to emphasize: "Don't forget that the king's situation is already very bad now, even if his body does not collapse, how long do you think the Neapolitans will tolerate a king who is getting more and more crazy." But if you agree with His Royal Highness the Duke's suggestion, as long as the Duke inherits the throne, your sister will be the queen of Naples. ”

When he heard this, Kesel's heart was already moved by the helplessness and resentment of being forced to do so.

The man in black was not wrong, if Cosenza and Frederick were married, and when the duke inherited the throne, Jossa would have become the queen instead of the crown princess.

This is because it was not Frederick's son Alfred who was to marry Josha, but Frederick himself.

This is why the man in black must have made Kesel want the Count to sign the documents willingly, whether the Count really knows what they mean, and he must make sure that Keisel is willing to cooperate with him, regardless of whether the Count really knows what they mean.

"All of you are despicable villains, you are staring at each of my florins, and you are staring at my castle, only Josha truly loves me, and I want to see my daughter."

The Earl's shout was unusually harsh in Kesel's ears, and he looked at the Count with a gloomy face, and suddenly reached out and grabbed the Count by the collar and pulled it hard, revealing a large, thick ring that he wore with a gold chain around his neck.

"I'm sorry father." Despite the Count's struggles, Keisel pulled the ring from his neck and looked at the handwritten signature around the ring, and he wiped it on the seal clay beside him.

When it was time to press down, Keisel looked up at the Count, who seemed to be struggling to get up from the bed with the help of the servant, muttered a mutter, and then pressed the ring hard!

The man in black let out a long exhale, and only then did he feel that everything he had done before had finally paid off, and he couldn't help but raise his hand and make a cross on his chest when he thought that although he had encountered some trouble in the middle, he had finally completed the duke's order.

"God forbid, your decision is so correct," the man in black slowly twitched the document from under Kaiser's fingers, and felt that Kaiser still seemed to be unwilling to press the document, and he whispered, "I think the Count is too old, he should go to the monastery to listen to God's teachings and recuperate, so please allow me to congratulate you on becoming the Count of Cosenza." ”

Kesel's hand trembled slightly, and the man in black easily pulled the document from under his pressed fingertips.

"My lord, the only thing to do now is to find Miss Earl as soon as possible, because she is now the fiancée of Lord Duke and the future queen," the man in black bowed slightly to Kaiser, "Please forgive me for being rude to you before, and when your sister marries the Duke, I hope to get your forgiveness and your friendship at the same time." ”

Kesel nodded slowly, he knew that there was no turning back at this point, and from the time he snatched the seal, he had betrayed not only his father, but also his lord.

Only by placing the crown of the Count of Cosenza firmly on his head could he avoid becoming a traitor known as the Kingkiller.

Although, he did not kill his father.

"I must say goodbye to you, my lord," said the man in black suddenly, "allow me to apologize again for the previous faux pas, you know that those bohemians are savage. ”

A hint of anger appeared on Kesel's face, and he couldn't help but whisper after thinking about it, "Tell me the name of that Bohème, I want to know who he is and where I can find him." ”

"Believe me, if I were you, I would definitely give up the idea of revenge," the man in black shook his head disapprovingly, "Those bohemians are the most savage, and you are the lord of Cosenza." It's not worth it for you, and I must remind you that the bohemian is awesome. ”

Kaiser's face turned red, of course he knew that the other party was right, the bohemian's skillful knife skills and ruthless fighting methods made him secretly frightened when he thought about it now, but out of face he really didn't want to admit that he was afraid of that person.

"My lord, if you must know, I will tell you." The man in black smiled again, "His name is Nashan, and he is a wandering Bohemian, but now he should be working in the palace of the Queen of Bohemia." ”

Kaisel nodded, he just wanted to know the name of that person, as for whether he wanted to go to that person for revenge, only he knew.

"Then I take my leave of the adults." The man in black bowed slightly, turned and walked out the door.

"And who are you?" "I know you're the Duke's tax collector, but I don't know your name yet." ”

The man turned to look at the old earl, who was still struggling and noisy on the bed, then took off his hat and bowed again on his chest: "As you know, sir, you just need to know that I am a tax collector." ”

With that, he turned and walked out the door.

After a futile pinprick the Earl was already slumped on the bed with exhaustion, he leaned over and let out a muffled cry, and saliva dripped down the corners of his mouth and became wet on the bed.

"My father is mad, the devil haunts his soul," Kesel looked at the panicked men who had heard the news, all of them were Kosenza vassals, some of them almost as old as the Kosencha family, "I think only the monastery can calm him down, and the gospel of God will help him to get rid of those terrible things." ”

"Are you sending the Earl to the Abbey?" An old man was stunned and asked, he was the old knight who had ordered the gates to be opened, and he now looked like a frightened little girl, completely frightened by Kesel's words.

"It was the saddest decision I made, but it had to be done." Turning and kneeling in front of the bed, Keisel pressed the shoulders of the Count, who was struggling with fright, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Forgive my father, you should not have been so nice to Josa. Originally, I could still refuse that person, but because you were so good to her, you forced me to do it. ”

The Count seemed to be gradually sobering up at this time, and his sluggish gaze finally slowly focused on Kesel's face, and he could only make a muffled sound, but his held shoulder was no longer struggling.

After a long time, the earl spat out a sentence that he could still understand, although he did not know it: "You are so stupid, son. ”

"That's stupid."

On a high slope outside the castle, looking at the guards entering the castle, the man who claimed to be the tax collector muttered to himself, he took out the transfer document from the leather bag beside him, looked at it, and carefully put it away.

"The Count of Cosenza is ultimately to be inherited by Josa." The man shook his head, then took off his hat and waved it slightly into the air, "Greetings, Her Majesty the future Queen of Naples." ”

After saying that, he turned his horse's head and shouted to the people around him: "Let's go, go to the Agri plain!" ”

The Agri River is not very famous in the Apennine Peninsula, neither can it be compared with the Po River, which is the boundary between the whole peninsula and the mainland, nor can it be compared with the famous Tiber River, which gave birth to the city of Rome, and even if it were not for another river that happened to flow through this land at about right angles, and then gradually formed a large plain by the impact of two rivers, many people may not know the name of the Agri River in their lives.

However, the Agri River Plain has now become the largest production area in the south of the peninsula, and compared with the large fertile and rich land of the Lombardy region in the north, although the lofty mountains in the south provided many lords with many easy to defend and difficult to attack, the barrenness and lack of production also caused countless people to suffer a lot.

In this way, the small but productive contiguous arable land of the Agri River Plain became fat in the eyes of many southern lords.

The Neapolitans came, the Taranto came, and more lords came.

In order to compete for this land, the monarchs of the south often tried to drive others away at any cost, and then planted their own flags on it.

As a result, the Agri Plain has been occupied and lost countless times over the years.

Alexander felt the bumps in the mountain road on his horse, he had never walked such a long way on horseback, he felt his legs as if they were filled with water, and it seemed as if the blood in his whole body was going down.

It's not very far since they left Kosenza, but they've been gone for two days.

Because of the pain of riding a horse for a long time, he once again knew how terrible it is to travel in this era.

Compared to him, Josha, who looked quite relaxed in front, made Alexander have to admit that he was really useless.

The mount under his crotch made a slightly cheerful snort, and the footsteps that had been walking towards the mountain were noticeably more cheerful.

Alexander looked up with a sense of emotion and saw the summit that was already clearly visible not far above.

It is a branch of the Apennines that runs through the peninsula, and although the mountain is not very high, it still feels as if you will never reach the top.

"It's over the mountain," said Shosha, turning back to the people behind her, smiling at the sight of Alexander's staggering appearance, "It seems that you are not as great as you say you are, and you said you wanted me to see miracles." ”

"That's what I said to Nashan."

Alexander replied weakly, but at this time he preferred to talk less, because every time he shook it, he felt as if he would vomit out what he had eaten.

Shah pulled his mount and waited for Alexander to come up and walk side by side with him: "But I still have to thank you. ”

As she spoke, she turned her head to look at the Bohemian cavalry following in front of and behind her.

After Alexander promised Nashan the promise of "seeing miracles" and the large honorarium promised by Josa, the royal guards of Bohemia took off their badges and flags and became a real mercenary.

"Don't thank me just yet, I just hope that the production area of the Agri Plains doesn't disappoint me too much." Because he couldn't stop shaking, Alexander couldn't speak.

In fact, he was not very impressed with the plains of the Agri River.

This was because in his memory, the Apennine Peninsula had only large tracts of fertile land in the north, and it was difficult to find such places in the south.

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed."

When Alexander finally reached the summit, he pointed to the bottom of the mountain and said in a proud tone, "Welcome to the plains of Agri." ”

Hearing this, Alexander followed the gesture of Josha and looked down.

Suddenly, a vast expanse of land spread forward from the foot of the mountain!

The greenery is verdant and red.

This is the Agri Plain!

There are abundant fertile fields here!