The morning after the rain was particularly fresh, and the sunlight was not scorching yet. It was bright and pure.
The specially selected Dragon Scale Horses flashed in silver grey light and carried the knights who were holding their heads high to the Nekso Palace. Their hooves were raised and lowered as gracefully as if they were dancing.
Behind them, Natasha, wearing a gold crown and holding the Sword of Truth, accepted the worship of her subjects. Behind her were the nine dukes, followed by the nobles large and small.
After they reached the Nekso Palace, the nobles dispersed and went to the palace where the Parliament was, waiting for Her Majesty to host her first meeting of nobles.
Natasha returned to the queen's residence calmly. She turned on the divine power circle and blocked the periphery of the Nekso Palace from the central part. Then, with the help of Camille and two maids, she took off her full armor and put on a black dress, with the badge of the Hoffenberg family and a white flower on her chest.
After hinting for the two maids to leave, Natasha seemed rather tired. "I'm under a lot of pressure. I don't know who's my enemy, who's my friend, and who's my supporter. This place is too strange and depressing compared to the familiar Orvarit. When I was outside, I did not even dare to say anything in my heart when the divine power circle was not turned on. Kritonia, the Heart of Time, is responsible for the security of the periphery of the Nekso Palace and the entire Renstadt."
She was implying that she did not trust Kritonia very much.
"In fact, it's not necessary for you to inherit the throne. The situation in Holm is much more complicated than in Orvarit. Also, you are an outsider who lacks practical support. It's easy for you to be involved in schemes and rebellions. It's also easy for you to stand in the wrong place and fall into the abyss." Camille said so much for the first time. There was gentleness and kindness in her eyes. "Whether you side with the Congress of Magic or the Church, or try to balance the two sides, it will bring you great trouble."
Natasha smiled bitterly, "I know that even if I can make up my mind and ignore the existence of Granny Hathaway and the many members of the royal family of Holm and suppress the Congress of Magic together with the Church, we may not be able to resist the Congress. Their strength is expanding too fast. In order to contain them, we need not only the Kingdom of Holm, but also the cooperation of Brianne, Colette and Calais. Also, it will be faced with the opposition and rebellion of the liberal nobles. It may even lead to the division of the kingdom and the serious civil strife, turning Holm into a wasteland. "
"If I lean towards balance, the Church will definitely urge me, and I have to take the Violet family and my father into consideration. They are all in places where the Church's influence is the strongest."
"Why did you make such an unwise choice when you knew it so clearly?" Camille reproached him slightly.
Natasha shook her head and said with a firm expression, "What excuse do you have? If I directly state that I am unwilling to help the Church, it will be a serious' betrayal of faith ', and I will be punished by the Holy City. The Violet family will also be weakened openly and secretly. Therefore, when I heard the news, I was really reluctant to leave my father because of the surging feelings in my heart. Maybe I will go to the Kingdom of Holm in the future, but not now. It's a pity that my father suggested me to come and let me know my mother's regret. "
"Since I can't find an excuse, and the blood of the Hoffenberg family flows in my veins, I will shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the Kingdom of Holm. I don't want to see a civil war in the Kingdom of Holm and my mother's beloved hometown become a hell. Yes, that's exactly what I want to do."
"Besides, I am a devout believer, the leader of the Hoffenberg family, and the Violet Count. The Church will respect my wishes to a certain extent, just like before."
"Natasha, that was before. If the situation in the Kingdom of Holm comes to a critical moment, the Church will not consider your wishes but only ask you to sacrifice yourself for God," Camille felt that Natasha's explanation at the beginning was fine, but her statement at the end was a bit too formal.
Natasha smiled and said firmly, "If it's completely against my will, I'd rather sacrifice myself. The Church cannot interfere with the royal power at will. It's an agreement made in front of God hundreds of years ago. If the Church violates it, they will be heresy and the enemy of all the nobles. "
Camille looked at Natasha and helped her adjust her collar. She asked softly, "Then what are you going to do? What do you want the situation in the Kingdom of Holm to become? What's your future direction? "
"Well, there are a lot of things that I don't know yet. I can't make up my mind yet." Natasha was a bit confused.
Camille looked at her seriously, "Then figure it out as soon as possible. Whether you're leaning toward the Congress of Magic, the Church, or maintaining the balance, you have to make up your mind as soon as possible, so that many things can be arranged and avoided as soon as possible."
She was referring to the situation in the Duchy of Orvarit.
"I understand. The idea of ruling the country must be decided as soon as possible, so that we can issue laws in a planned way and eliminate the opposition step by step. But this requires me to have a deeper understanding of the situation in the Kingdom of Holm. The only thing that I can be sure of is that the most liberal nobles absolutely do not want the Church to be completely eliminated, and the most conservative nobles certainly do not want to return to the situation of the royal power hundreds of years ago. Hehe, except for Gordon who has completely devoted himself to the Church. So, I plan to maintain the balance for the time being. "Natasha nodded in agreement.
Then, she turned around and looked at the purple-haired woman in the black court dress in the mirror. Touching the badge of the Hoffenberg family on her chest, she said to herself, "Before that, what I need to figure out is my faith. What does the Lord mean in my heart? What's the relationship between the Lord and the Church? Only by recognizing myself can I make plans for the future, reach level eight, and pick up the Sword of Truth. I'm no longer a weakling who can't resist legends. Also, it's hard to tell what Grand Cardinal Sardes is thinking and what he wants … "
She did not tell the Grand Duke or Camille that her faith had been shaken. Except for Lucien, only Fernando and Hathaway guessed something from the incident where Lucien summoned the projection of Mountain Paradise. It was the same for Sardes.
"Alright, it's time for you to go to the Parliament of Nobles." Camille opened the gate of her palace.
Natasha looked at the mirror again. Seeing the hesitation and sorrow on the purple-haired woman's face, she suddenly had a feeling. "Now that I've become the queen of Holm, I can't visit Granny Hathaway in the royal magic tower, nor can I go to Aalto to see Granny Hathaway's unique magic tower and the Atom Institution. Any of my actions will be interpreted deeply by the nobles. If I do those two things, it will undoubtedly mean that I'm completely on the side of the Congress of Magic."
"It's impossible for them to visit me beyond Kritonia … The distance in space is closer, but the actual distance is further."
"I hope that his new encryption algorithm can prevent our communication from being cracked …"
… …
In the hall of the Parliament of Nobles, Natasha stood on the podium and accepted the nobles' worship again. Then, she said briefly, "Today, I have two announcements.
Firstly, prepare for the funeral of my grandfather and my uncle. The whole country will mourn for a month. In the meantime, all the meetings of the Parliament of Nobles will be suspended. If there are any decrees or policies that need to be implemented, please bring them up to me directly. "
Since the king and the crown prince were both summoned by the Lord, it was perfectly normal for Natasha to make such a request. So, Rex and the rest of them did not raise any objection.
Natasha continued, "Secondly, because I don't know much about the kingdom yet, and because of my confidence in the decrees issued by my grandfather and my uncle, in the next six months, I will not approve any proposal to change the current decrees, policies, or positions of the ministers unless there is an unexpected and unforeseen situation. Please continue to safeguard the prosperity of the kingdom as before."
"What?" The nobles exclaimed in surprise.
Rex, who was wearing a white wig, stood up and objected, "Your Majesty, there are a lot of hidden problems in the kingdom that need to be addressed in time. Wouldn't it be too extreme not to approve any proposal?"
"Before I came, the kingdom had been thriving and developing with these decrees, policies, and the efforts of the ministers. Is it because they are no longer applicable just because I'm here? In just six months, they will change from something beneficial to something very harmful? "Natasha stood straight and said heroically.
The nobles who were used to the old King Feltis and the weak Prince Patrick were not used to it. They felt a lot of pressure.
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm saying that they may not be able to keep up with the situation right now." Rex argued. He did not want to be accused of slandering the late king in the conservative Kingdom of Holm.
Count Henson was relieved. It seemed that his position was saved. So he stood up and refuted Rex, "Her Majesty has made it very clear. If something unexpected happens, such as a minister being found to be problematic, she will definitely replace him. But before that, continuing the previous decrees, policies, and personnel will help the kingdom tide over the turmoil caused by the two nobles being summoned by Her Majesty one after another. I agree with this proposal."
Although the people with vested interests in the past felt that it was a pity that they could not go further, their interests were not harmed, so they could still accept it. So, both the conservatives and the liberals all agreed. How could anyone who could enter the Parliament of Nobles not have vested interests?
"One more thing. I will give the ten Knight manors, villas, and properties from the property of the royal family. If there are no objections, the meeting is over and we can start to prepare for the funeral." Natasha looked at the nobles with her sharp eyes.
The nobles had no room to express their opinions on how to deal with the property of the royal family. So, they all stood up and saw the queen off.
When they were outside, Camille looked at Natasha carefully. "Well done. The Grand Duke also told me not to let you do anything reckless."
She believed that Natasha had been trained a lot in the past ten years as the Violet Count.
Natasha looked at the garden up ahead with a smile. "The new alternate dimension is abundant in both population and material resources. The focus of the Church and the Congress will continue to be there for now. So, I'll keep it quiet as a certain someone suggested."
What she did not mention was that the Congress had another focus, which was to ask Fernando and Hathaway, the two grand arcanists, to reverse the mysteries of 'fission' and 'fusion' from the legendary magic models such as' Eternal Blaze 'that Lucien provided. Lucien could not tell many of the experimental phenomena because they depended on the discovery and studies of the microscopic particles such as neutrons. Therefore, he simply blamed it on Alterna and explained that they were constructed with the power of the Silver Moon and the feedback of the world. As a result, the two grand arcanists had to devote themselves to the studies in the field. Of course, it was much easier than aimless exploration when there were magic models.
… …
In Allyn, Lucien stepped into the Atom Institution that he had not seen for a long time.
After Fernando confirmed the existence of atomic nuclei by bombarding gold foil with helium particles, and Lucien found protons by bombarding nitrogen with the same particles, establishing his new alchemy system, the elemental sorcerers went crazy, and so did the sorcerers of other schools. More and more qualified arcanists began to bombard all kinds of weird objects with particles, hoping to find something. Therefore, Lucien saw that quite a few similar magic circles and alchemy devices had been added to the Atom Institution, such as the cyclotron that he 'invented'.
"Master, you're here! We were just about to meet you! "Katrina and Layria said in surprise and delight.
"What's up?" Lucien noticed from their faces that it seemed to be something good.
Katrina smiled brilliantly. "Master, we found a strange phenomenon during the ultra-low temperature experiment. When the temperature is lowered to different ultra-low temperatures, the resistance of different metals will disappear!"
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