Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks

Chapter 837 - 61: Cooperation

The sword tip hovered above Viviana’s brow.

"You’ve lost."

The Crown Prince’s face bore a confident smile, conquering the inner demons of over two decades in a single day, feeling an unparalleled release: "All these years, you’ve remained stagnant, while my strength has long since transformed beyond your imagination."

He never considered Viviana much of a warrior; her disposition was soft and gentle, like the setting sun at dusk, whereas a warrior needed a heart of steel.

Yet the smile on his face quickly froze.

Before him, Viviana burst into an illusion with a bang, and simultaneously, from all directions, countless afterimages flashed by, each resembling Viviana.

Behind a group of Candle Knights stood the one Candle Knight holding a candlestick.

The candlestick was unlit.

But as the Candle Knight’s delicate fingers gently pinched the wick, a vigorous flame suddenly burst to life—it was so vibrant, full of vitality, each flickering motion like the heartbeat of a powerful swordsman.

The Crown Prince didn’t know why he thought of such a poetic analogy, but he immediately realized the rhythm of that flickering flame seemed to entirely coincide with his heartbeat.

"This is your flame of life, you and I."

"During our clash, taking advantage of your arrogance, I’ve gathered enough of your breath and assembled this flame."

The candle flickered, dimming and brightening.

As long as this candlestick extinguished, Ruprecht’s life would also vanish with it.

She softly said, "You had a chance to win, but you underestimated me, or perhaps you didn’t want to take advantage of my ’injury’, but regardless of the reason, now, your life is in my hands."

Ruprecht took a deep breath, lowering his sword powerlessly; with his overpowering strength over her, he should not have lost: "It seems I was too full of myself."

"I took advantage of your injury to challenge you, only to end up with such results, truly... laughable."

Viviana waved, dissipating the candlestick condensed in front of her: "If it were a real life-and-death battle, you would be the true winner."

"Heh, no need to comfort me, I’m not that fragile."

The Crown Prince sneered, raising his eyebrows: "If facing an opponent is only about raw power, does it mean anyone with more energy and stronger spirituality can easily subdue their foe? Win or lose, ultimately, it must be battled out, with results to conclude it."

"You won, Anna. But this duel didn’t satisfy me, I hope next time we can let go and give it our all."

The darkness receded, the domain dispersed.

Losa looked toward the two of them; Viviana remained calm, but His Highness the Crown Prince’s face bore an unmistakable defeat—there was no need to ask the result.

"Your Highness, are you alright!"

An attendant rushed forward, fumbling over Ruprecht’s body, and he hastily batted him away, gruffly saying, "I’m fine, bring the letter His Majesty wants to give to Her Highness Anna."

The attendant quickly took out an envelope, sealed with wax and stamped with the imprint of the double-headed eagle.

Viviana received the envelope somewhat dazedly.

The Crown Prince snorted, "His Majesty said, if you don’t wish to return with me, that’s fine, but the letters still need to be sent."

He thought for a moment, unable to resist adding, "I must say, you are quite heartless. You’ve resided in the Vienna Court for nearly a decade, surely you are aware of how His Majesty has treated you, at least write a few letters to hear the grumblings of His Majesty."

She didn’t respond, only slowly opening the envelope, as if it weighed a thousand pounds.

Losa glanced with the corner of his eye, seeing only the last line of the letter: Anna, since you’ve chosen to leave the cage, fly freely.

He exhaled a sigh of relief, quickly stepping forward: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, now that the battle has ended, would you care to visit New Basilicata?"

The Crown Prince shook his head, "Better not, if the British discover I’m here, it would indeed cause a diplomatic incident. I’ll wait at the foot of the mountain, Anna, you could write a letter, and I’ll take it back for you."

Viviana softly "mm"ed, turning away, her eyes already welling with tears.

"Mr. Losa, you’re not part of the Wolf Race, are you? Although I don’t understand why you’re helping the Texans, I hope that one day, we won’t be on opposing sides."

Everyone knew, there was bound to be a battle between the Anglo-French and German-French; in the eyes of the Crown Prince, Texas has already stood on the opposite side of the United Kingdom, the only way to break the stalemate is to turn to the French.

"I fear not... I actually have a feeling in the future we will have times when we fight side by side."

Losa smiled, since the battle was over, and their own side won, he didn’t have to put on a dour face.

Besides, he actually needed something from the other side—it was the issue of immigration; he hoped to gain the support of Ruprecht, and the Germany he represented.

Though Habsburg had retreated from the Northern Apennine Peninsula, they still maintained considerable influence over the area, the old Habsburgian nobles hadn’t been purged and retained a certain cooperative relationship with the Wolf Race.

With the two behemoths of French and German so close by, the most Germany could achieve was to turn Italy into its economic colony, while France’s grand Latinism sought to revive the Pope and return to the old capital.

At that time, for the old Wolf Race, it would be a calamity of annihilation, at this moment, the Wolf Lord obviously couldn’t afford to make consecutive offenses.

"Bavaria is a landlocked country, afraid it can’t help."

"Moreover, we can’t find any reason to assist you."

"There is certainly a reason, Your Highness Ruprecht, you must have also realized, your country’s armament has long lagged behind those of the Brits, right?"

"Do you want to exchange for British weapons and equipment?"

The Crown Prince internally sneered, feeling the other side was quite naive; as an important ally of the British,

"Of course not, Your Highness, aren’t you curious why the Brits are taking drastic actions against Texas?"

Among the traditional four major powers of Europe, the Germans are the most lacking in white crystal and magic stone ore.

Though Tsarist Russia’s annual production of magic stone and white crystal isn’t extravagant, first, their weak industrial base means a lower demand for such rare minerals, and second, under the vast Siberian permafrost, the reserves of magic stone and white crystal ore are actually quite abundant, just difficult to excavate.

Therefore, within the Federation Government, the voice of the overseas expansionists is so strong; otherwise, for old Emperor Franz, expanding in the Balkan region right at their doorstep is much more convenient than scrambling for colonial territories overseas with Britain and France.

Therefore, within the Federation Government, the voice of the overseas expansionists is so strong; otherwise, for old Emperor Franz, expanding in the Balkan region right at their doorstep is much more convenient than scrambling for colonial territories overseas with Britain and France.