"Your Excellency the Duke has been waiting in there for a long time."

At the door, Ens bowed slightly to the two people in front of him, fulfilling his responsibility as a guide.

When facing foreign guests, he used official titles for Lan.

Philippa held her chin high and nodded imperceptibly at Ens.

She was accompanied by Prince Radovid of Redania.

The prince seemed unwilling to get along with his own court sorcerer, and tried his best to keep a distance between himself and Philippa at the narrow doorway.

Suddenly, the prince seemed to have discovered something and started shouting loudly.

"What do you mean Cintra? Is this how your guards treat Redania?"

Everyone looked in the direction of his voice, and saw a man dressed as a guard not far away in the corridor with his hand on the lion-headed sword at his waist, his eyes fixed in the direction of Redania.

Even if one is not proficient in martial arts, one can sense the hostility coming from this posture.

But Prince Radovid was fearless and only felt offended.

He wanted to continue shouting something, but Philippa put her hand on his shoulder first.

The prince suddenly froze and could not say anything.

"Your Highness, Cintra has just emerged from the quagmire of war, and there are brave knights everywhere." Philippa smiled meaningfully.

She was clearly speaking to the prince, but her eyes were in the direction of the guards: "This is something to be praised, isn't it?"

Prince Radovid lowered his head and tensed the shoulder that held the warlock's hand.

"Let's go in. The mission His Majesty has assigned us should always come first."

The gate opened and then closed again, and the Prince of Redania and his advisor disappeared from sight.

Ens sighed slightly and patted House's hand which was still pressed tightly on the hilt of the sword.

"Didn't I specifically tell you to stay away from the Redanian delegation?"

House took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Enns. I wanted to report the situation to His Excellency the Duke..."

"I didn't expect to run into that sorceress..."

…

Lan, who had just returned from the dungeon, was resting with his eyes closed.

His mind was thinking about his conversation with Fringilla Vigo.

After being stamped by the system's [Follower] system, Fringilla's favorability towards Lann was directly raised to the maximum.

But in her heart, she might only feel that she was convinced by the future described by Lann and the benefits he promised.

In short, we finally reach a state where we know everything and say it all.

During the conversation, Lane was surprised to find that Fringilla had already established contact with Philippa.

They even discussed their identities as the Ancient Blood.

Fringilla is also quite a heretic among the warlocks in the south: on the one hand, she has an extremely powerful uncle, Artorios Vigo; on the other hand, she is the cousin of the Duchess of Toussaint, and in terms of bloodline, she is even a distant relative of Emperor Emhyr.

This provided a certain political guarantee for Fringilla's eccentricity. As long as she did not commit treason, the emperor would generally tolerate her.

In this environment, Fringilla formed the idea that "magic is above all else" and thus established a connection with Philippa.

What is Philippa's intention in contacting the sorcerer in the south as an individual?

Lann thought he would find out today.

If his guess was correct, he might have to wait for the long-awaited opportunity - the opportunity to integrate the North.

There was the sound of the door opening.

When Lan looked up, he saw Philippa and Radovid approaching closely.

There are reports that Vizimir II has appointed Philippa as the prince's full-time teacher.

"Greetings, Lord Lannister."

"May His Majesty Vizimir II be in good health." Lann also returned the gift.

No matter what the two sides think in their hearts, they have to put on a good show at this moment.

To Lane's surprise, it was not Philippa but Radovid who spoke first during the meeting.

Redania seemed to be interested in training the prince who would be called "Radovid the Iron-Hearted" in this diplomacy.

"I am here to bring my father's congratulations. Lord Lannister's achievements are now known to everyone in the North, and Redania also hopes to achieve a closer and more intimate cooperation with Cintra."

This little prince is a little younger than Ciri, but he speaks official language very well.

In the future, after he ascends the throne, he will become a cruel king beyond anyone's expectation, but now does not seem to be the time to let himself go - at least the court education he received is still good.

Although there is a stiff feeling of memorizing a script.

Lann did not have a good face towards Radovid.

"I am grateful for the blessings from His Royal Highness the Prince and His Majesty Vizimir, but why can't Cintra sense any closeness from Redania now?"

"As far as I know, all the port towns in Redania have increased commercial taxes on Cintra and closed the main canals." Lann said coldly, "Is this a manifestation of your 'intimacy'?"

Lann's accusation is not groundless. Redania has indeed caused Cintra a lot of trouble now.

Basically, except for Novigrad, which is controlled by the Cult of the Eternal Flame, the officials of the entire Redania have shown an exclusionary attitude towards Cintra.

Even though the merchants of Redania were flocking to Cintra, which was now in a state of disrepair, they were hampered by the existence of such objective factors. The transportation speed of various materials and commercial activities were greatly slowed down, reducing the speed of Sintra's recovery.

Lan could vaguely guess the reason.

He knew that after Nilfgaard was driven out, the attitudes of the four northern countries towards Cintra would definitely change.

The alliance is fragile.

But I didn't expect that the first place to change would be Redania, and the change would be so fast and so drastic.

Prince Radovid stopped reciting at this time. He began to look unhappy: "Lord Lannister, we are just restoring the policy to its previous state. The relationship between Queen Calanthe and Redania was like this now. I think you want to explain your accusation to me..."

Philippa coughed lightly behind the prince, preventing him from saying anything rash that would have followed his nature.

The displeasure on Radovid's face suddenly turned into an even more embarrassing and aggrieved look.

Because his back was facing Philippa, Lan could clearly see the anger that was being suppressed in the young prince's eyes.

What’s even more interesting is that the prince was stuck because of his emotions, but the royal adviser Philippa had no intention of taking over the prince’s conversation with the Duke of Cintra.

The sorceress even raised the corners of her mouth slightly to reveal a satisfied expression, as if she enjoyed seeing the prince's embarrassment.

So Lann admired it leisurely for a while, and then took the initiative to say, "In this case, I wonder what opinions His Royal Highness the Prince has brought to His Majesty Vizimir?"

This answer must have been taught to Radovid by the staff in advance, so the little prince began to recite it stiffly again.

"Does Lord Lannister remember the meeting he had with my father and the other Lords at Pontar?"

[Sure enough.] Lan En thought to himself.

He frowned.

"you mean?"

Radovid said in a clear voice: "Father, His Majesty Foltestai, His Majesty Henselt, and His Majesty Demave agreed to help Cintra's recovery, and Princess Cirilla will be engaged to one of the royal families of the four major countries in the future."

"Among the four great nations today, I am the only one from Redania who has the status and the right age to be the partner of Princess Cirilla."

"Cintra also needs a strong ally to support it and stand with it."

Radovid showed a reserved expression.

"I wonder if Lord Lannister knows that Queen Calanthe once promised me marriage with Princess Cirilla. Princess Cirilla and I have a bond that goes beyond the ordinary."

"Father hopes that I can clear up the misunderstanding between me and Cintra this time and re-establish my marriage with Princess Cirilla."

"This is what we call a 'closer, closer' friendship. And it will surely allow Redania and Cintra to establish an alliance in the North that no one can covet!"

Lann remembered that before the invasion of Nilfgaard, Queen Calanthe had indeed betrothed Ciri to Radovid. However, Vizimir II did not want to get involved in the battle between Cintra and Nilfgaard at the time, so he broke off the engagement.

Queen Calanthe then betrothed Ciri to the prince of the Kingdom of Verden, which led to Ciri escaping the marriage and hiding in the Brokilon Forest of the dryads.

Now Redania wants to bring up the past?

Lan's face turned cold.

That’s good. The pace of integrating the North can be accelerated.

…

At night, Lann soaked in the bathtub to relax his tired body.

But his mind was working rapidly.

He had long known that the so-called "alliance" between Cintra and the northern countries was riddled with holes, and had long been prepared for the four major countries to take advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack.

He already had plans in mind for dealing with various countries.

"I just didn't expect Redania to be the first one." Lann muttered to himself, "I originally thought that Temeria would be the first to be affected. I was already prepared to support Adda to take the throne..."

"I wonder what the Temerian delegation will ask for tomorrow..."

The window was open, letting the cool evening air into Lane's bedroom.

This level of temperature is almost unnoticeable to Lann's current physical condition.

But Lann didn't have any hobby of taking a bath with cold air blowing.

He is waiting for someone.

"Flutter..."

Lan did not have to wait long in disappointment, as the sound of flapping wings soon rang out on the balcony.

A huge owl and Lan stared at each other.

With a twist of chaotic energy, the raptor's body began to expand and outline, eventually transforming into the appearance of a sorceress.

It was the Redanian royal advisor who had just met with Lann with Radovid, and now one of the top ten senior warlocks in the North - Philippa Eilhart.

"Long time no see, Lan."

Philippa walked slowly forward and glanced at Lane's bedroom.

After a while, she fixed her eyes on Lan's upper body that was exposed above the water, and looked at Lan's well-defined muscles with admiration.

"Our last meeting was not pleasant." Lann did not give Philippa a good look, "and you should call me 'Lord Lannister' like you do during the day."

The last time they met was in Niuburgh, and at that time Philippa left a deep impression on the entire Lane team.

Philippa's face turned cold.

But she soon forced a smile again, because their identities had indeed been reversed.

Otherwise she wouldn't have to make so much preparation for today's meeting.

"Those of great power and high status deserve the respect that comes with it." She bowed to Lann. "Please forgive my intrusion, Lord Lannister."

"You seemed to expect me to come?"

"Radovid is a child who doesn't know what he's talking about." Lann sneered, "But you seem to have deliberately made him into a bad-tempered fool."

"A normal prince teacher should have taken over the conversation long ago during the day, but you allowed him to lead the conversation in a direction that got out of control."

"You deliberately let the prince disgust me, and your purpose is to use my dislike for the prince to achieve your goal." Lan En moved his body upwards to make his posture more comfortable. "So you will definitely talk to me again in private."

"I'm just curious, how can you be so sure that I won't just chop you down with my sword this time?"

Philippa raised her chin slightly.

"I know you are still upset about the unpleasantness we had last time. But now that you have become the actual ruler of Cintra, I believe you will put the interests of Cintra first." The sorceress said, "The benefits I bring to you are enough to offset all the unpleasantness."

Lann said nothing.

Philippa gritted her teeth. Compared with the last meeting, Lann's sudden increase in strength made her unable to find a suitable way to deal with it. And this indifferent attitude made it difficult for her to take the initiative in speaking.

After a long silence, she took the initiative to speak:

"I will bring you Redania's help, wholehearted help. Redania will become Cintra's strongest ally, just as Mahakam and even Skellige are today."

"And the price is..." Philippa looked at Lann, whose expression remained unchanged, and gritted her teeth to calm her emotions.

"I want you to help me—to seize power in Redania?"

This is absolutely heretical and has shaken the entire legal system of the continent.

Even though there are many cases of loving fathers and filial sons, friendly brothers and respectful younger brothers, and harmonious families among the royal families, it is still the royal family members with royal blood who sit on the throne.

At most, the royal family of a country usurped the royal family of another country. In any case, it was still a game between the upper class, and the grassroots class had never come to power.

There has never been a warlock.

Lann looked puzzled: "You want to be a queen? A... warlock queen?"

"No, Lann... Lord Lannister." Philippa shook her head, "I never thought of taking such a big step."

She slowly told her plan: "Lord Lannister, your performance in the battle against Nilfgaard was too amazing. To some extent, this changed the pattern of the continent and gave the kings and warlocks new ideas."

When she said this, Philippa became uncontrollably excited.

"I am a member of the Warlock Council in the Warlock Brotherhood, so I know some inside information. Not long ago, the kings of the North conveyed their goodwill to the Brotherhood through their royal advisors, hoping to restructure the domestic spellcaster system."

"We are planning a meeting on Thanedd Island later to discuss this issue."

"And the key to my control of Redania lies in this meeting on Thanedd Island - and I also need your support, Lord Lannister."