It seems that the villain is targeting me.

Gwyneth was struck by what she said, but she didn't understand why Xiaoniao brought this up at this time.

Gwen looked at her somewhat bewilderedly.

"But unfortunately, Your Highness, I have to tell you that you can't protect your family like this."

Xiao Niao spoke calmly, without any intense tone.

"You try to be humble, to be patient, to use tolerance and sacrifice to win the understanding of those in power—but will someone like Charles understand your sacrifice? You might as well expect a pig to climb a tree."

Gwyneth's whole body tensed unconsciously.

She didn't speak. A huge confusion enveloped her mind, making her unable to say anything.

Xiao Niao looked at Gwyneth's pale face and said, "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just that you need something else, not sacrifice and patience."

Gwyneth's heart trembled, as if she vaguely realized something, and her hand instinctively touched the weapon hanging at her waist.

Xiao Niao noticed this action and silently lowered her eyes.

"There's no point in doing this," the system's cold words seemed to still echo in my ears. "Even if you change her fate, if she becomes a butcher with blood on her hands in the future, she may not be grateful to you."

I'm not doing this to be appreciated, Xiao Niao gritted his teeth, I'm not.

"Your Highness, the more people you wish to protect, the greater the price you will have to pay. All heroes in this world are murderous devils. If you don't have a knife in your hand, others will think you're speaking too softly. If you want everyone to see you, you must pile up the corpses of others at your feet."

"But being a ghost is also good," Xiao Niao said softly, "Being a ghost is better than losing the people you cherish, better than watching them being killed, watching them being driven away to become lowly slaves."

She paused, her voice a little awkward.

"We are very similar... Your Highness."

Perhaps it is because of this similarity, Xiao Niao thought.

She saw her standing in the middle of the dance floor in a disheveled and dejected manner, as if she saw her former helpless self.

Perhaps it was because of this that she couldn't help but reach out to Gwyneth.

"We are very similar. We are both extremely greedy and have too many things to protect. People like us are born to be evil spirits."

Xiao Bird looks at

Gwyneth's eyes, the girl's pupils trembling in the sunlight, reminded the bird of a gem lost in a stream.

She suddenly didn't dare to look into those eyes.

"...Go and be this evil ghost," Xiao Niao's voice lowered. "I'll help you this time, I just hope you won't blame me in the future."

Xiao Niao looked away, she had finished speaking.

She turned around and prepared to leave.

"you--"

The voice came from behind the bird, with an urgency as if it was about to fall into a deep valley.

Gwyneth didn't know why she spoke out. It was something that was beyond her reason and thinking, as if the gods in the dark had given her a revelation and made her say those words.

For the first time in her life, she felt a bitter pain in her heart.

"—What about you?" Gwyneth could hardly suppress the trembling in her voice. "What do you want?"

Xiao Niao slowly stopped.

She turned around and looked at Gwen with a slightly confused look on her face.

Gwyneth suddenly realized that she had accidentally said the right thing.

This sentence was like a key, briefly opening the tightly closed door in the bird's heart.

The door was now ajar.

"I want it? I want..."

She looked a little dull, like a clumsy child who had just learned to speak.

She stood there alone.

“…I want to go home.”

Chapter 32 Waiting and Confrontation

The army marched towards the border of the empire, and along the way they could see changes in the natural landscape: the tall trees and bushes gradually became sparse, while the weeds beside the road gradually grew taller than their calves. Occasionally, the horses' steps would go astray and they would step into clusters of peonies.

Like the soldiers around him, Xiao Niao wore standard chain mail and a coarse linen scarf around his neck to protect his skin from being scratched by the sharp edges of the armor.

She rode a beautiful chestnut mare, marching silently in the middle of the team, with the Red Moon Knight next to her.

When outside, Hongyue has always been the one responsible for protecting Xiaoniao's personal safety. In every sense, she is the most suitable candidate.

In the entire capital, there is almost no one with more superb martial arts than the Red Moon Knight. Countless assassins who came to assassinate him have been defeated by this taciturn knight - Red Moon has an almost beast-like intuition and can keenly perceive the malicious gazes of others.

For the sensitive Hongyue, the days of marching and traveling in recent days seemed particularly difficult.

It is worth mentioning that during the march over the past few days, the eldest prince seemed to have suddenly grown a brain and did not cause any trouble.

He did not have the bad temper of a prince or nobleman, was not picky about food or accommodation, and basically obeyed the orders given by the general. However, he seemed a little gloomy and stayed with the knights he commanded all day long.

Prince Charles seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally ignoring the two Tudor siblings. The eldest prince and Tudor's eldest son were generals of the same level, but unless they really had to communicate, Charles would not even glance at them when they met.

Not to mention Gwyneth, the eldest prince had contempt and indifference written all over his face. After several days of marching, he acted as if he didn't know her and didn't say a word to her.

As for Charles Xiao Xiaoniao, the news that the eldest prince and the prime minister were at odds with each other had already spread, and people in the circle basically knew it. They knew that the two of them disliked each other and were always trying to show off their abilities to each other.

The current situation is three losses and no wins, and the eldest prince has not yet regained his status.

The Red Moon Knight was originally very wary of Charles. Relying on a simple intuition, she realized that this person must have bad intentions towards the bird she was supposed to protect.

But what surprised Hongyue was that the prying gaze that made her nervous did not come from the gloomy eldest prince.

The Red Moon Knight noticed that occasionally a vague gaze would quickly pass through the crowd and fall on the bird, lingering briefly before moving away as if nothing had happened.

This action was very secretive, and Xiao Niao, who was being spied on, was completely unaware of it. If it weren't for the Red Moon Knight's extraordinary senses, he really wouldn't have been able to discover it.

At first, Hongyue was alert for a while after noticing this prying gaze, but she soon discovered the source of this gaze - it was the Tudor girl, Gwyneth Tudor.

Red Moon Knight remembered that his master seemed to have a pretty good relationship with her. After careful consideration, Red Moon did not feel that there was any malice in this gaze.

Sometimes she just happened to see it, and sometimes she deliberately looked for it for a while. In short, it seemed that she just... would glance at the bird occasionally.

The loyal Red Moon Knight couldn't help but feel troubled: she didn't know whether she should report this situation to the Prime Minister.

Xiao Niao only told her to be careful of assassins and be wary of people with bad intentions - but Lord Butcher didn't say anything about how to deal with this situation!

...Woo.

Hongyue thought aggrievedly that she had done something wrong a few days ago, and Xiaoniao had ruthlessly deducted her field allowance. She also had to follow the university scholar to learn Latin for several hours in a daze.

I've learned so much that my head is about to become a big one.

Since there's no malicious intent, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? The Red Moon Knight pondered this question with difficulty. Hmm, if I bother the adults with such a small matter, I might be punished later...

Just pretend you didn’t see it, thought the Red Moon Knight.

Xiao Niao was riding the horse well, but suddenly his back tightened and he shivered inexplicably.

It felt like someone had betrayed me severely.

She muttered something and tightened her cloak around her shoulders.

.

--------

.

After several days of boring marching, the army finally arrived at the border with Jialan, where there were still steep slopes and changing terrain.

If you go deeper, you will see an endless wilderness. In such terrain, the Jialan cavalry is like a meat grinder harvester. General Banur has rich combat experience and he will not set the battlefield in such terrain.

Two days before the army was about to arrive here, the scouts had already conveyed information to the general: King Jialan had noticed the movements of the imperial army, and they had also begun to gather troops on the border.

As usual, this group of people first crossed the border and stole a lot of food.

Then they retreated to the middle of the mountain slope, occupied the advantageous terrain, set up camp and rested, quietly waiting for the arrival of the imperial army.

For this battle, King Jialan drove almost all the cavalrymen who could still breathe to the border. His army had about 20,000 people (claiming to be 50,000), of which 8,000 were elite cavalrymen, and most of the infantry were horse slaves who were driven to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

These infantry phalanxes, mostly composed of slaves, had very poor combat awareness and could only fight battles with favorable winds. The main threat still came from the cavalry and King Jialan's personal guards.

The Jialan cavalry were skilled in using bows. They could shoot continuously while driving their horses to gallop. Ordinary soldiers often had no chance to rush to them before they were pierced like hedgehogs and fell down covered in blood.

Only heavily armored knights could withstand this cold rain of arrows and resolutely launch a pursuit.

But the number of knights is very small. The number of imperial troops is almost twice that of King Jialan, but there are only about 4,000 cavalry, of which there are no more than 1,000 heavy armored knights.

When the general arrived at the border, he saw the Jialan cavalry all over the mountains. They were all dressed in black armor and hoisted wolf-head flags as black as ink. For a moment, the entire hillside was infected with black, as if it was shrouded in dark clouds that could not be dispelled.

The mounts of these Galan people are of mixed wild horse bloodline and are two heads taller than the horses domesticated by the Imperial Army. They don't look like horses at all, but more like some kind of hideous monsters.

Pairs of hawk-like eyes pierced down from above, cautiously watching the movements of the imperial army.

General Banur realized with concern that this might be a tough battle.

He ordered to set up camp a little further away so that his soldiers could rest. The two armies faced each other from a distance and neither side was willing to launch an attack first.

The main generals of both sides did not act rashly. They knew their own strengths and weaknesses. The side that took action first would easily be caught by the opponent.

Both the general and King Jialan were waiting for the right opportunity.

The battle situation was at a stalemate for a while.

Chapter 33: Paw Patrol performs great service!

For several days, the armies of both sides confronted each other silently. No one could find the other's weakness, and no one dared to act rashly.

The soldiers had already set up tents and preliminary fortifications to prevent the Galan people from launching a sudden cavalry charge.

The chevaux de frise was set up in front of the camp, and the imperial army's own cavalry was always on alert. As long as the general gave the order, they could quickly assemble in just a few minutes.

The Imperial Army's logistical supply lines were secure, and the barracks were well-stocked with food and fodder, so the soldiers maintained a good morale - many of them were soldiers once led by the Duke of Tudor, and therefore had great faith in the general's command.

General Banur had dealt with the Jialan people many times before. He knew that night attacks and surprise raids were common tactics used by these nomadic peoples. To deal with their sneak attacks, he had to be on high alert.

In order to prevent enemy attacks, the general made very careful arrangements. There was a guard post every five steps and a sentry every three steps in the camp. Except for the main force of heavy armored knights, all soldiers had to take turns to lie down and patrol around the camp, and the number of people on duty at night would be doubled.

Light cavalry is the army's most mobile combat force. When an enemy attack occurs, they can rush to the battlefield to provide support the fastest. Therefore, General Banur arranged cavalry in each patrol column.

The Duke of Tudor was very strict with his children in such matters.

His eldest son Eric belonged to the Heavy Knights, but he still required Eric to participate in daily patrols, and Gwen, a light cavalryman, did not allow exceptions.

Knowing how to observe the enemy's movements is a necessary condition for becoming a famous general. This requires accumulation bit by bit on the battlefield, which cannot be conveyed through military books or oral instruction.

Banur did not require his children to become famous generals, but at least they should be down-to-earth generals who could lead by example and set an example for the soldiers, rather than those who could only talk about military affairs on paper.

Only in this way could the Duke of Tudor dare to let the other party inherit his throne.

territory.

Eric had no complaints about this. He knew his father did this for his own good, but he felt sorry for his sister, so he volunteered to work the night shift and transferred Gwyneth to the daytime patrol.

She would hand over her shift to the night patrol at four or five in the morning, and would not work until around noon when it was time to start cooking, and then she could have some time to rest.

The weather was gradually getting cooler, and Gwyneth felt the sweat-soaked lining sticking to her skin after being blown by the wind, making her feel a little cold.

She jumped off the horse, patted its back gently, took it to drink some water, added a mixture of oats and black beans to the trough, and checked the horseshoes on its four paws while the horse lowered its head to eat.

There are actually special people in the camp who are responsible for this kind of thing. Only the very poor civilian knights will take care of the mounts themselves because they often cannot afford to hire servants.

But Gwyneth loved her mount very much. She was not confident in leaving such matters to her subordinates, nor did she think that doing such things herself would damage the reputation of the Duke's family.

She spent more than ten minutes making sure her beloved horse was alright, then patted its neck affectionately and let it rest for a while in the makeshift stable.

Gwyneth walked out of the stable and saw that smoke was already rising from the camp. The soldiers were taking turns eating, and many of them were already making fires to heat up the food.

When marching and fighting outside, the food naturally cannot be very good. The staple food of the imperial army is a kind of hard bread that has been baked and heated twice. There is nothing added to it except wheat and a little salt. Eating it cold can make your teeth break.

The side dishes are mainly fatty pork wrapped in a lot of salt. Soldiers usually find some edible wild vegetables from the surrounding area, fry the fatty pork and add the vegetables to make a pot of soup.

The soft fat is very easy to eat after heating, providing a lot of calories, and goes perfectly with the hard bread.

In addition, the quartermaster would also give each soldier a fixed amount of drink made of red wine vinegar and water. Depending on the season and environment, various herbs for preventing heatstroke or treating dysentery would be added to it. The taste was hard to describe and received widespread negative reviews.

Gwyneth adapted to the military food quite well. She was not a picky eater and didn't care much about the taste of the food.

She was already very satisfied as long as she could eat hot food while fighting outside.

She was originally planning to take advantage of the special meal provided by her eldest brother's personal guards, but suddenly she saw a familiar figure near a tent not far away.