Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 45: -42- Let’s form a marriage alliance

Chapter 45: -42- Let’s form a marriage alliance

The current situation in the Castel Domain?

Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.

She raised her head to look at Duke Bold, who was standing in front of the map, pondering the meaning behind his question.

The old Duke did not wait for her to answer.

Perhaps the brief silence led him to believe that the young girl was not aware of the current situation, so he went ahead and voiced his judgment:

"The Count Castel Domain is located at the northernmost edge of the Kingdom, separated by no less than three Duchies and two Count Territories from the heartland of the Duchy."

"Among these three Duchies, there is one that has always coveted Castel, one that constantly wishes to defeat Bold—a lifelong enemy—and one that is a loyal supporter of the King, endorsing His Majesty’s efforts to weaken his vassals, strengthen his authority, and expand the directly administered domains..."

"It can be said that, beyond the Duchy... the situation is quite challenging. Everyone is eyeing the wealthy Castel Domain with envy!"

The old Duke took a deep breath at this point, his countenance turning somewhat grim:

"It’s not peaceful within the Duchy, either."

"Those families loyal to Bold each harbor their own ulterior motives, all plotting their own agendas!"

As he spoke, it seemed as if he was reminded of something, anger briefly flitting across his face, making his voice tremble:

"Especially when they saw the marriage alliance between Eleanor and the Third Prince!"

"The Third Prince is ambitious, Eleanor is timid, and that bastard Anthony is all over the place, focused on fortune-telling and astrological magic every day, idle, never paying attention to the management of the Duchy!"

"The grand Bold family has turned out to be bloody useless! Damn it all!"

The old Duke furiously cursed his kin, apparently unaware that he too was a member of the Bold family, that he too was part of the mess for not producing a competent heir.

Charlotte, meanwhile, lowered her head slightly, contemplating the information related to the Bold family.

She had already researched the Bold family and knew that Duke Bold was most annoyed by his only daughter’s betrothal to the Third Prince.

Back then, the old Duke had intended to win the favor of the New Moon Royal Family. After the betrothal was settled, he had boasted about it everywhere. But he had not expected to later be speared by an enemy pikeman on the battlefield, rendering him unable to produce an heir. Ultimately, he had to accept his daughter marrying into another family, which left him completely taken aback.

As for the Anthony the Duke mentioned, his full name was Anthony de Bold, not yet thirty years old.

He was the old Duke’s younger half-brother, the designated heir to the Duchy, granted the title of Tulip Count, and his granted territory was an exclave, adjacent to the Castel Domain.

This was an old tradition of the Bold family.

While the Castel Domain is an exclave, the Duke’s Mansion also has always possessed a small area of indirectly administered land adjacent to the Castel Domain as the fief for the next Duke, in order to strengthen control over the Castel family.

Incidentally, Tulip Count was also the sole heir of Lady Catherine, Charlotte’s aunt, making him the young girl’s cousin. The two families had a good relationship, and Charlotte remembered him as being quite a gentleman—elegant, gentle, considerate, and comfortable to be around.

However, even as the heir to the Bold Duchy, Tulip Count was not interested in inheritance or in governing his lands. His interests and skills were misaligned.

He was obsessed with fortune-telling and astrology, with almost zero management ability, and he had managed to create chaos in the tiny Tulip Domain, even being chased back home by revolting subjects.

Now, he had completely let himself go, spending his days either holed up in the Duke’s Mansion studying divination or heading to the Mage Association to discuss astrological magic, refusing to take care of anything, much to the old Duke’s disappointment.

These affairs were known by all the nobles of the Bold Duchy.

It was clear that if the old Duke passed away, the Tulip Count, who had no interest in the Domain, was simply incapable of controlling the Duchy. The entire Bold Duchy could potentially be usurped by the New Moon Royal Family, with the Third Prince, Eleanor’s husband, becoming the next Bold Duke.

Then, the Bold Duchy would change its surname, and Tulip Count Anthony, the profligate, might even be excited to be rid of the Duke’s title, for he would have even more time to research astrological magic...

After all, astrological magic is different from other magic; it doesn’t require much money to burn, only one’s own "CPU."

The old Duke continued to curse and swear, growing angrier as he spoke:

"These greedy fellows... they all think the main line of my Bold family is about to become extinct, and the Duchy might change its surname. Each one of them wants to bite off a chunk of flesh from us while they can! Cough, cough, cough..."

Speaking to the point where he seemed to aggravate an old injury, he began to cough violently, a hint of abnormal redness appearing on his face...

"Duke..."

Charlotte quickly rose to her feet but was stopped by the old Duke raising his hand:

"Cough, cough... It’s an old ailment, I’m fine."

Taking a deep breath, the old Duke calmed down somewhat, but his authoritative voice was still suppressing a fury, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment:

"Kidnappings, assassinations, spreading rumors..."

"Hmph!"

"Look, look at what they’ve all done during this time!"

With that, he took out a hand crossbow from under the table and slammed it angrily onto the table:

"These greedy bastards, even daring to splatter mud on Bold, do they really think I’m too old to deal with them?!"

Looking at the hand crossbow on the table, Charlotte’s eyelids twitched.