May 7th.

Warm sea breezes whipped up waves that crashed onto the golden beaches of the Roman Islands, while the fleet anchored in the harbor slowly sailed away from the dock with the sound of loud whistles. Then, with sails billowing and steam engines running at full power, they sped back along the route they had come from.

Today is the start of summer, which is also the day Qin Ze decided to return to China.

Since he set sail with his fleet last summer, it will be a full year in three months. During this time, although he has fought several battles with various countries, communication with his homeland has always relied on the constant transmission of warships. Therefore, Qin Ze is also aware of domestic affairs.

The most recent letter, however, was delivered to the Roman Islands in early May and handed to Qin Ze.

Unlike the previous letters, this letter, still written by Zhang Li himself, no longer contained information about the various domestic reforms and the resulting changes and other complicated matters.

Instead, it was two extremely important events, one joyful and one sorrowful.

Having learned of these two matters, and with the matter settled here, Qin Ze, who had long desired to return home, decided to set sail today to embark on his journey home.

Yesterday, Lucat successfully brought the treaty personally signed by Emperor Figueres. At the same time, the recent movements of the Sassa Kingdom were also under control. A few days ago, they successively dispatched a large number of transport ships from their homeland to the colonies they had previously occupied. The meaning was very clear: they wanted to bring the troops in the colonies back to their homeland to fulfill the provisions of the treaty.

Qin Ze was not surprised by the statement made by the Sheng Lu people, but he was still somewhat surprised by how decisively and quickly the Sa Ri Kingdom began to fulfill the agreement.

After all, this is a major event that will seriously damage the nation. Qin Ze thought they would cause some trouble in this matter, but it seems that they haven't done so so far.

Although Isabella spoke with great conviction during the previous meeting, Qin Ze remained skeptical and even prepared to resort to force if they failed to fulfill their promises. However, things progressed surprisingly smoothly, so much so that even now, on his returning flagship, the Yanhuang, Qin Ze still left a large number of warships near the Roman Islands out of concern.

This will serve as a deterrent and warning to the Kingdom of Sassa.

However, it seems that there is no need for further serious negotiations with the Kingdom of Sassa. Isabella seems to be actively fulfilling the convention as she promised.

Furthermore, just the evening before last, Isabella sent an envoy with a secret letter from the Queen. The letter still concerned the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In the letter, she adopted a very humble attitude and even seemed to be racking her brains to curry favor, hoping that the two countries could establish diplomatic relations as soon as possible, enhance mutual trust, and work together to achieve common prosperity in the future.

To this end, she even went to great lengths to offer a number of preferential policies. For example, in terms of trade, Isabella hoped that the Yan people would actively come to Sa Ri Kingdom to do business in the future. In this regard, she would reduce tariff barriers to the minimum and was even willing to build a trading city specifically for the Yan people to do business in a geographically advantageous location.

The generous and beneficial policies left Qin Ze speechless, and at the same time, he couldn't help but sincerely praise Isabella as a very capable woman.

Whether she was genuinely expressing friendliness or was cunningly calculating for the distant future, her friendly attitude in the present moment was impeccable.

From another perspective, if she wants to achieve these beneficial policies, she must first reach an agreement with her officials, and she must also take into account the feelings of the people. Getting everyone to listen is by no means a simple matter, and can even be described as difficult.

If her political skills are not strong enough and she goes against public opinion, then her actions will inevitably earn her the stigma of being "obsequious and seeking personal gain by currying favor with foreigners."

Therefore, without extraordinary courage, outstanding leadership, and foresight, what she is doing now will lead to her utter ruin, and her name may be nailed to the pillar of shame in the history of Sassa, where she will be scorned by all.

However, in Qin Ze's view, if she maintains her current "friendliness" from beginning to end, then in the future, the great achievements of Queen Isabella in the history of the Kingdom of Sas will probably be unmatched by any other monarch.

Isabella should be well aware that her current actions are a double-edged sword, so she also included a gift with the letter that was sent.

It was an exquisite golden box containing a magnificent sun brooch set with a large pink diamond, a shimmering gold violet, and a private letter.

The private message in the box didn't contain much; the first sentence was:

May our peace last as long as diamonds.

And then it says:

Please forgive me for not bringing you a gift during our first meeting; it was truly impolite.

To ask for your forgiveness and to express my gratitude, I am presenting you with this historically valuable and extremely precious Eternal Sunflower Brooch, as well as my family crest of gold and violet. I hope that upon receiving them, you will feel my respect for you.

Our first meeting was far too brief, and I was caught off guard and unprepared. That's why I'm already looking forward to seeing you again.

So what about in the fall?

In our Sauri Kingdom, autumn is the most beautiful season; I imagine it is the same in your country.

Therefore, I sincerely hope to meet you again in this beautiful season of autumn.

Especially in your country, a place of unparalleled beauty that I have never seen or imagined. In fact, I am overjoyed whenever I think about the day we will meet again. I wish time would pass quickly; I am so looking forward to it.

However, before that, I sincerely hope that you can have more correspondence with me, so I hope you can make some arrangements and allow me to send an envoy to your country first, so that we can maintain close contact in the future.

I eagerly await your reply, and even more so, I look forward to the day we meet again.

This is the entire contents of this short, private letter. At the end of the formal letter, Isabella left a long message of blessing, but this letter does not, making it more straightforward and concise.

Furthermore, Isabella did not leave her name at the end of the letter, but only a deep red mark next to "the day of reunion".

Qin Ze immediately recognized it as a lip print, and even felt a tingling sensation on his scalp as he thought that it might be Isabella's own.

On the back of that golden violet was a row of beautiful gilded lettering, engraved with Isabella's full name.

Isabella Jescia Abella.