As a villain, I really don't want to be pursued by the heroine.

This woman is very smart.

She deliberately spared His Highness's life so that she could avoid the consequences...

He had no choice but to choose between the fate of a prince and a pariah.

"If it weren't for His Highness Hal, you would have died today."

"Daughter of the Andrews family, you won't be so lucky next time."

Giving Jon Snow a deep look, the old general grabbed Prince Hal and moved away in a flash. Quickly, quickly.

The rich lady wrapped in a blanket lowered her head with some guilt: "I'm sorry, if it weren't for us, you could have killed Hal..."

Snow shook his head and wrapped the blanket tighter around her.

"This war will last a long time. As long as he still cares about me, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

"Besides, his life isn't that important."

--------------

After days of conflict and argument, Prince Winter invited the Archduchess to negotiate. As expected, the talks proved ineffective in curbing the warring will of both sides, and civil war inevitably erupted.

However, the inland nobles of Winter never expected that the border would be the one to initiate the offensive, and so ferociously.

Jon Snow Andrews, a high-ranking Border Duke, personally led the border troops into a large-scale battle on the plains, and even suppressed the inland army for a time.

Fortunately, no matter how brave and skilled the border soldiers were, a force of less than 100,000 soldiers could not defeat the royal army of 300,000 soldiers. With the help of General [Silver Blade] who suppressed the Border Duke, the battle situation returned to normal.

But in any case, this civil war was far more brutal than the inland nobles had imagined, so much so that they had to leave taverns, casinos, lovers' reports and warm fireplaces and go to the battlefield.

As for the Confederate Expeditionary Force in the South?

The situation is bad enough, who cares about those Yankees?!

Anyway, they were just entrenched on the border and pretending to be in trouble. As the saying goes, trouble comes from comparison. In front of the border troops who were eyeing them covetously, the Southerners who had given them a headache before seemed amiable and insignificant.

Including the Winter Queen, almost no one in the vast Winter Empire cared about the so-called expeditionary force.

However, they didn't know that this was a mistake.

As for the soldiers at the lower levels, they have no idea about the overall situation and all they can do is follow orders.

The vast silver plain was divided into battlefields of various sizes, with border and royal troops fighting each other continuously.

The large-scale battles of the first two weeks had become rare, and the border troops, lacking manpower, were unable to launch large-scale offensives. Meanwhile, the inland nobles, accustomed to extravagance and splendor, were afraid of death, and the lower-class soldiers were even more reluctant to fight their compatriots, resulting in generally low morale.

The situation seemed to have become stalemate, and the imperial civil war that alarmed Viszea did not seem as earth-shattering as it was at the beginning.

But small-scale conflicts never stopped.

It's the same today.

On the southwest side of the Silver Plain, in the nameless coniferous forest.

The border troops escorting the fleeing civilians engaged in a fierce battle with the ambush troops of the inland nobles. The bloody forest was temporarily dyed red with blood.

Soldiers from both sides fell from time to time. The border troops were clearly at a disadvantage, and often ten of them were no match for one of the opposing forces.

After all, the troops escorting the civilians were not elite frontline troops, and the ones ambushing them were the [Winter Guard] who were wearing heavy armor and riding snow brown bears as mounts.

The horses were dead, the wheels of the cart were broken, and the thin noble lady with short pretty hair and a fur coat could not help but smile bitterly at the people hiding there.

She is none other than Remlia, the daughter of a small town noble whom Jon Snow personally rescued.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble for you all. I wanted to escort you to escape, but I didn't expect these royal lackeys to target me..."

"Don't say that, miss!"

"That's right, even for you, we will fight these royal lackeys to the bitter end!"

This wealthy young lady's tireless efforts for the people were seen by all foreigners. Even without the beauty and power of the Ice Rose, she was still worthy of admiration.

The young people were full of vigor and vitality, but the enthusiastic and cheerful girl in Jon Snow's memory couldn't even force out a bitter smile.

She had experienced such a scene in her hometown, and the result was still a nightmare to her.

Chapter 74: The Dog's Howl

Charlotte was in despair when the arrow flew out, but she didn't expect the fire explosion to engulf the bird, giving her a surprise.

Charlotte put away her bow and arrow, pointed in the direction of the falling bird in the distance, and said happily, "I won! I admit defeat. You said it just now!"

She hadn't been this excited since she first shot her prey as a child.

"Ah..." Roy scratched his head, not knowing how to refute.

I'll have to wait until next time to collect the princess' meowing ringtone.

In reality, the competition between Sequence 8 and Sequence 9 was inherently unfair, but they were just playing around and didn't really care.

"It seems that Your Highness is still more skilled." Roy was not one to be trifled with. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Let me think..." Charlotte pinched her chin and looked Roy up and down with a playful look, full of interest.

As a fan of chivalric romance novels, Charlotte had so many ideas about what she wanted Roy to do that she couldn't even list them all.

Wall-dong, massage, princess hug, more intimate names, or something more exciting...

Charlotte's eyes drifted to Roy's lips, then quickly retracted as if burned.

Ah, no, there are too many people here, that kind of thing is really not possible!

Charlotte's cheeks began to feel hotter, and her eyes became increasingly hazy.

Roy didn't quite understand why Charlotte's momentum weakened even before she mentioned going.

Charlotte only hated that there were too many people around her, making it inconvenient to have fun. After thinking it over again and again, she finally caught a glimpse of a butler half-kneeling beside a chair under the awning in the distance, respectfully serving his eldest daughter a drink.

The girl's face almost turned red like an apple when she thought of Roy kneeling in front of her respectfully like a butler, looking so gentle and polite.

Butler x Miss, not bad.

"Go get me a drink! And serve me the drink, understand?" Charlotte ordered in a coquettish tone.

"Understood." Roy accepted the order reluctantly, even a little disappointed.

Charlotte is so kind, isn't she? Just running an errand is a punishment.

...No, what's there to be disappointed about? I'm not a masochist!

Seeing that Roy lost the competition but showed potential far beyond that of an ordinary Sequence 9 Transcendent, many people began to regret not showing enough enthusiasm just now.

As for Charlotte's die-hard fans, they wanted to cheer and celebrate, welcoming Roy to their loser camp.

They never expected that Her Royal Highness the Princess didn't look at him as if he was trash, nor did she humiliate or scold him with harsh, arrogant and biting words. Instead, she asked him to have a drink with her in a shy and timid look that they had never seen before!

There was no more laughter, and instead there was a wail that was so bitter that it made people feel sad.

------------------

The long table beside the pergola was filled with a wide variety of colorful drinks, which made Roy dizzy.

Roy remembered that Charlotte in the original film was a strawberry lover.

He was about to get a drink when a knight suddenly appeared beside him.

"Mr. Ironblood, His Highness wishes to see you."

"Your Highness?"

Roy's expression froze.

He seemed to know where the Fate-Defying Node came from.

At the same time, Charlotte was sitting in a chair next to the hunting ground, looking forward to something, but she saw a knight walking straight towards her. The princess immediately restrained her joy, straightened her body, and returned to her usual elegant and proud demeanor.

She recognized this man; he was her brother's subordinate.

"Your Highness, your brother wishes to speak with you."

"Now? I still need to wait for someone. Let him wait first."

"His Royal Highness said he wants you to see Roy Ironblad's true face. Please do me the honor."

Charlotte's expression changed slightly, and she unconsciously clenched her fists.

--------------

In the very center of the pergola is Prince Leo Reinhardt.

Compared to the lively conversations around, the atmosphere here is much more serious, as if you have come to another world.

The knights stood on both sides, while the second prince Leo, with a solemn and gloomy face, was surrounded in the center.

The name Leo never appears in the original work, so Roy doesn't know his true character.

But from that stiff and solemn expression, one can clearly see the arrogance of the superior looking down on the inferior.

Unlike the bold and rough Rob, Leo is closer to the ruthless king that Roy imagined.

"Roy, I saw your performance just now. A Sequence 9 was able to compete with Charlotte. The Son of Iron and Blood truly lives up to his reputation."

Leo's voice was cold and deep, without a trace of praise in it.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness." Roy bowed neither humbly nor arrogantly, his tone equally numb.

"Compared to Her Royal Highness the Princess, I'm still far behind." Roy said modestly out of courtesy.

"It seems that you know it yourself." Unexpectedly, Leo sneered leisurely.

"Your Highness?" Roy frowned.

Leo crossed his legs, put his hand on his neck, and said leisurely, "Since you have such self-awareness, why are you still so close to Charlotte?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Leo's red eyes suddenly emitted a sharp edge like a sword and attacked Roy.

This is not extraordinary power, but the aura and pressure of a king.

This is enough to deal with a kid who is still wet behind the ears.

No matter how noble the bloodline they inherit, a kid is still a kid and will panic at the slightest pressure.

But to Leo's surprise, Roy didn't shrink back or get angry. Instead, he raised his head, straightened his body, and replied lightly, "I don't understand. What does Charlotte and I's private affairs have to do with His Royal Highness?"

When these words were spoken, the knights around were all stunned.

Leo's brows furrowed.

This guy is actually suggesting that I should not interfere in their private affairs?

Your affair with Charlotte? Who do you think you are?

Smart, but not smart enough.

How arrogant!

At the same time, Roy was also thinking.

Why did this guy leave Charlotte on his own? Is he a German orthopedic surgeon?

That doesn't make sense. If he really was a German orthopedist, why didn't he show up to fight Alice in the original story? So, where did the second prince go in the original story?

But what is certain is that the fate-defying node comes from Leo!

As a prince of a country, he has enough power to threaten himself. As the king's brother, he is indeed related to Charlotte.

Leo sighed: "Do you really have to let me expose your true face?"

"What do you mean?"

"You approach Charlotte simply because you covet her power and beauty." Leo stared at him as if he were a clown and sneered.

"Pretending to be a hypocritical gentleman, using the blind date and the relationship between my parents to constantly pester Charlotte, taking advantage of her budding love, and coaxing her into his arms. Am I wrong?"

Roy's first reaction was absurdity.

You say it is? It's all speculation, there's no real evidence!

But at this moment, a slight tremor came from behind.

"Brother Wang, what are you talking about..."

Looking at the faint sneer on Leo's lips, Roy's mood dropped to freezing point.