Chapter 145 The Spreading Weeds Andra did not ask the girl's name...
Mysella—undoubtedly failed.
She failed again and again, until Eleanor was numb with her defeats.
Time passed quickly, and Coral was politically married to a lord of her country, while Manju and Thorn also got married one after another.
Their life trajectories were no different from those of other noble ladies.
In timelines where Eleanor doesn't exist, productivity hasn't developed significantly; it's an ancient era where a single technology can sustain three generations.
A few years later, Dasha and Eva both died of illness.
Thanks to the butterfly effect, Andra was not trapped in Enlin or the capital this time.
She and her followers thrived in the Norlana civil war, fighting, plundering, and laughing heartily on various battlefields.
It was also in this year that Eleanor realized she didn't care about Myrcella at all.
As the civil war in Norlana intensifies, the Crown Prince is naturally the first to be affected.
Mysella has been fighting with people frequently over the years, and her one-on-one combat ability is not bad.
She's surrounded by a bunch of opportunists who're all eager to get ahead, lack political vision, and are only interested in friendships—she's really built quite a team.
Faced with such a formidable enemy, Ophelia didn't even bother to use a slow-acting poison.
She directly dispatched the secret guards left behind by Eva to launch a series of assassination attempts against Mysella.
The reckless princess should have died from a betrayal on the battlefield, but instead, Andra's people were on a rampage.
They rescued the unfortunate Myrcella and won the princess's trust.
So Myrcella made a decision that went against her ancestors' wishes but would never harm herself: she would release Nolanara—referring to the border.
It's alright. Let the common people of Norlan suffer a bit. Let the Hertuyas dispel the shadow of civil war. That way, she will surely survive.
The border cities, including Enlin, were wide open, attracting the Hetuya cavalry to march south, surging across the land like a tide.
Seeing her sister slide to her knees, Eleanor clutched her heart the whole time: Wait, is this even possible??
Myrcella's actions were utterly ugly, but highly effective.
Under the trampling of the Hetuya cavalry, Ophelia did not last long before sliding to her knees.
Generally speaking, kneeling alone is not as good as kneeling in a crowd. With Ophelia's sliding kneeling, regardless of how it is recorded in history books, at least for now, there are fewer people criticizing Mysella.
However, the struggle for the throne could not accommodate two princesses. The Hetuyas did not need to get their hands dirty and simply handed the knife to Mysera, letting them handle it internally.
The two queens fought like chickens, and in the end, Ophelia led a group of people to ask for help from Belai, strategically occupying several cities bordering Belai.
As for Mysera... she was introduced to Hetuya and appointed as the leader of the No tribe by King Aguno of Hetuya. From then on, she was on equal footing with the leaders of other tribes, drinking wine from large bowls and eating meat with them.
"What kind of Hetuya student is this?" Eleanor stared in disbelief.
But even more outrageous plot twists are yet to come.
Attila in this life didn't let Aguno live for long either. Andra's return made her very uneasy, so she initiated the assassination plan ahead of schedule.
Aguno survived a little longer this time. With Andra's help, she discovered Attila's disloyalty, but she still died on the battlefield a few months later.
The three Hetuya princesses were locked in a fierce battle. Andra, who had no need to protect anyone, decisively used a decapitation tactic, using power beyond human comprehension to kill Attila and Alisa, and utterly defeating the combined forces of the two queens.
...Compared to the same period in the original timeline, Andra, without Eleanor, is exceptionally powerful in terms of personal combat strength.
After donning the crown, she couldn't wait to wage war everywhere, killing! Killing! Killing—!!
The cities of Norlana submitted one after another, followed by the leaders of the surrounding scattered nations and Hetuya itself... Belai was ultimately too far away, and Andra was temporarily unable to reach it.
Moreover, she discovered that destroying a country is easy, but governing one is extremely difficult.
In order to sustainably exploit resources, Andra temporarily restrained himself.
She usually only engaged in hunting and gladiatorial games in the grasslands and forests, causing trouble for nobles everywhere, while letting commoners and slaves, who outnumbered her by several times, rest and recuperate in the fields.
Andra was actually quite clever; she mastered the tax farming system without any formal instruction.
She assigned taxes to the city lords below her, collecting the same tax regardless of whether it was a year of famine or a year of plenty. If the taxes couldn't be collected, she would only cause trouble for the city lords.
This way, there's no need to assign someone to monitor the accounts, saving a lot of trouble.
She could understand reports but disliked ruling from within the palace, frequently leading her entourage out on "hunting" and play.
The severe cold weather arrived as expected.
This world has neither Eleanor nor high-yield crops.
The wars, large and small, never ended; there were no trained doctors, no cotton or wool thread, no honeycomb briquettes...
Even without these, humanity still has to survive.
Fortunately, the people of the Moonlit Continent are physically strong enough to withstand the boundless cold. There is only one problem: food.
People will die if they don't eat.
Andra and her freezing companions were dragged back by anxious ministers who asked them for a solution.
At this time, Andra had just ascended to the throne and was still very young. He couldn't bring himself to say something as blunt and lacking in emotional intelligence as "There are still too many people. If half of them died, we would have enough food to eat."
After thinking it over, she offered a solution.
Eleanor's assessment of it was: It's awful.
But there was nothing they could do; people of this era had no choice. The ministers adopted Andra's suggestion to let the king decide everything.
So, under the banner of "unifying the world," they began to recklessly consume the population, and people fought each other like in the oldest tribal wars.
They had no intention of conquering or resisting anyone; the fighting was merely for survival, to exhaust the "excess" population, and to obtain enough food to fill their stomachs amidst the overwhelming snow and ice.
Fortunately, Andra is really strong.
She defeated the scattered city lords one by one, and with her soldiers, swept away the accumulated wealth from the various underground fortresses like autumn leaves in the wind, leading the strongest and noblest group out of the vast, cold night.
There's not much to say about the years that followed. The survivors, having endured several years of chaos, cherished the "good" times that came their way.
As the weather warmed, no internal strife occurred in the Belai royal family in this lifetime, because their royal family had all died out and been replaced by a more obedient group.
Andra is like a merciless iron plow in this chaotic world, ruthlessly crushing the noble bloodline.
She didn't waste any words; it was simply a matter of "those who obey me prosper, those who defy me perish!"
So how do you demonstrate "compliance"?
Naturally, it involves continuous dedication.
The most devoted slaves, cattle, sheep, gold, the most promising daughters, and... tools for marriage alliances.
The young king was at the height of his power, shining brightly above all people.
Clearly, she has decades more to rule the world, and who would dare to challenge her?
They surrounded Andra, searching for her weakness—perhaps love?
The nobles hoped that she would fall at the feet of some beautiful woman, so that they could share more benefits and glory.
Andra accepted any offer of a princess.
They were all princesses, but there were so many that they filled the royal tents, turning the palaces into chicken coops.
Wang Cai didn't care about these trivial matters, but the arrogant general took the initiative to share the king's burdens.
She told the nobles that every princess must bring a rich dowry when she marries, and even the palace must be built by herself.
And Andra, the child symbolizing the alliance, became stingy in this life.
She regarded "children" as a high-level blessing, a special honor.
She stood high above, allowing the concubines to unleash their charm, ingenuity, and courage, implying that their families should offer more sincerity.
The figure on the throne smiled and said, "If there isn't enough 'love,' she'll be troubled too."
Andra did not indulge in a life of comfort; on the contrary, she still preferred to run around outside.
This era lacks many board games and card games, and there are no novels as a result of the popularization of paper. The king's interests, whether hunting or "hunting," are too dangerous.
After enduring this for several years, the nobles could no longer tolerate it and approached Andra, using various roundabout methods to pressure her into marriage.
They tried every means to make the consequences of "delaying the appointment of a queen" sound extremely serious—Andra probably didn't believe them, but was too lazy to argue.
The king sighed and promised to appoint a queen, but on one condition.
She wants the best queen.
Her queen must be the most beautiful, gentlest, most intelligent, noblest, and most interesting person.
What kind of person is considered noble? How intelligent must one be?
What are the specific manifestations of gentleness? What kind of appearance does Wang consider beautiful?
Don't worry, the king has detailed annotations for every element, and his words are full of imperial "naiveté".
It's obvious that no human can meet all the conditions. Even a god descending to earth would have to take on multiple incarnations to fit together.
As for the most subjective aspect of fun...
“She had to make me fall in love at first sight, genuinely—from the depths of my soul,” Wang said.
After hearing her lengthy description, which resembled a pie chart, her ministers anxiously begged the king to provide an example chart. But Andra bluntly laughed and said, "No, I have never seen anyone like this."
You haven't seen it in thirty years, what are we supposed to find? How about we bring down all the statues from the major temples and marry them to you?
Eleanor stood behind the curtain, watching with a wry smile the expressions of her familiar courtiers who seemed to want to curse but couldn't.
Andra treated the selection of a queen as a game, and even gave a time limit: she had to find her within a year, otherwise she would be out of luck and have to play the next round of the game.
The nobles didn't know if this counted as a gamble, but they didn't want to lose—everyone had seen the tragic end of those rejected by the king.
There are many intelligent people in this world, and when intelligent people don't want to die, they will unleash tremendous drive.
Noble birth can be fabricated; they can casually claim the titles of princesses from a dozen or so small kingdoms. But only those of noble blood can marry the king.
All noblewomen aged 15 to under 50 from across the country gathered together.
Eleanor believes that if they weren't afraid of angering Andra, they would have wanted to drag the 90-year-old along for the selection process.
It must be said that the nobles were somewhat lucky.
They truly found a beautiful young woman among countless noble ladies.
The eighteen-year-old girl was the daughter of a minor noble family, with long, soft, golden-fleeced curly hair.
Her features were exquisite, her skin was silky smooth and radiant, her lips were small and lovely, and every smile and frown exuded gentleness, like a goddess slowly descending from a painting.
Everyone—even Eleanor—was momentarily stunned upon first seeing her, secretly marveling at her pure charm.
This girl is of average intelligence. She is so beautiful that if she works hard to develop one or two strengths, she will appear very clever.
The nobles gathered the wisest scholars and most knowledgeable bards from all over the country to teach her all kinds of knowledge, tell her about exotic customs, and teach her to remember all kinds of stories and jokes.
A year has passed like flowing water.
The stunningly beautiful young woman, dressed in a magnificent gown crafted by hundreds of tailors, made her promise to meet the king in what was once the Sky Garden of Nolana.
The nobles perfected the set design, and the servants meticulously adjusted even the shape of each rose.
The goal is to create a warm and sweet scene on the day of the date to highlight the girl's beauty and seal the tyrannical King Andra in the bedroom so he can never rise again.
Finally—the appointed day arrived, and Andra's figure appeared in the twilight.
The king held a blood-stained longsword, but the scabbard at his waist was nowhere to be found.
Bloodstains remained at the corner of the king's mouth!
The beautiful girl trembled: if Wang Zuo hadn't been dragging a deer he'd hunted from the back mountain, she would have been so frightened that she would have knelt down and begged for mercy.
They gazed at each other from across the long bridge.
Andra did not ask the girl's name, but simply put aside the deer and carefully examined her face.
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Author's Note: Cupid: Hey, I have a great idea! [Glasses][Clapping]
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