Facts have proved that the world will continue to turn around without anyone, and people's ability to adapt is also extremely strong.
Ever since King Louis V launched a great purge and harshly deprived many of his vassal titles, people in the royal capital were in a state of panic. The nobles were worried about the consequences, and the civilians were worried about being treated as cultists by the wanton city guards and local judicial forces.
However, less than a week after the purge, the whole of Lutecia has returned to its former peace. It seems that the previous great purge and the previous great censorship covering the whole city were all an illusion.
The reaction of the civilians is understandable.
After all, Louis V tried his best to avoid affecting the civilians during the Great Purge, and only targeted the chess pieces belonging to the Blood Demon Order in the slums.
However, the nobles were somewhat beyond Charlotte's expectations.
She originally thought that the dissatisfaction and resistance of the nobles against the king would last for a long time, and that they would even unite because of Louis V's pressing step by step, but the fact was that after Louis V used part of the recovered wealth of the nobles to appease him, , almost all the other nobles calmed down.
Salon banquets and singing and dancing continued. Although talk about the Great Purge was still common, it also evolved into talk and complaints after wine and dinner.
The laziness and shortsightedness of the Crescent Nobles are even more outrageous than Charlotte imagined.
Charlotte could probably guess what the nobles were thinking. They just felt that it was very difficult for His Majesty the King to strengthen centralization of power. Even depriving some nobles of their titles would not affect the overall situation.
As long as the fire does not burn him, as long as the king remembers to distribute profits and benefits to the nobles, in the eyes of many nobles, the king's centralization of power is just an intermittent strengthening of the power of the royal family.
It has always been the political tradition of the kingdom to stop the government after death, and Louis V did not have an heir as strong as him. They may be frightened now, but considering the age of Louis V, the nobles are more or less worried.
"It will be fine when the new king comes to power. As for now, just endure it for a while."
This is something even Charlotte has heard before.
However, Charlotte did not think that everything would go according to the wishes of the nobles.
Louis V was indeed old, but his determination to strengthen centralization was firm, not only for the sake of the royal family, but also in response to Holy Advent.
To be able to build such a luxurious palace as the Crescent Palace, Louis V's belief in strengthening centralization was by no means a whim, but a long-term consideration. Charlotte believed that what the nobles thought of, they also wanted.
And...Charlotte believes that the other party must have a way to deal with it.
But that has nothing to do with Charlotte.
Now that she knows about the Holy Arrival, she should shift her focus to strengthening her own power and strength. As for the Crescent Kingdom, there is no need to participate.
Her royal contract with Louis V and her declaration of celibacy were enough to buy her enough time.
As for the future...
If it really comes to the moment when the gods come, the old order will definitely be broken. How to rise in the turbulent continent will depend on each person's ability.
Charlotte chose to go to the Royal Library for the same reason.
Knowledge is also power. She may not need some knowledge, but Northland needs it and believers need it.
The carriage slowly stopped, and Charlotte put away her thoughts.
"Master, we are here."
Sebastian's respectful voice came from the car window.
Charlotte nodded slightly, signaled the maid Shirley to open the door, and then stepped out of the carriage.
She raised her head and saw a towering tower.
This high tower is made of some kind of black boulder, with ancient and complex magic patterns faintly visible on it, and the mottled traces show the vicissitudes of time.
This is the Royal Library of the Crescent Kingdom.
The Royal Library is the oldest library in the Crescent Kingdom, dating back to the Yunet Empire. Its predecessor was the library of the Yunet Royal Mage Tower.
After the demise of the Yunet Empire, the Royal Mage Tower was inherited by the Valva family. The Valva family banned some forbidden books and transformed the Mage Tower into a library.
The library's collection is said to exceed 200,000 volumes, ranging from extraordinary materials, to various histories and biographies of the mainland, to various literature, art, and alchemical knowledge.
The most attractive thing about the collection of books here is the various extraordinary classics collected by noble families.
That is a classic that records how to awaken the power of blood and how to develop extraordinary power.
This is also the biggest purpose of Charlotte's trip besides historical information.
Extraordinary power comes from blood. Although the Castel family also has many extraordinary books, the quality is not very high, and most of them are mainly adapted to the Castel bloodline and are not suitable for widespread promotion.
Since Charlotte intends to build her own power, it is imperative to develop extraordinary power. Granting divine grace to believers is one aspect, but it is impossible for her to completely rely on divine grace to enhance the power of her followers and provide all kinds of followers. This kind of "cheats" is also one of the ways.
The channels for extraordinary promotion are controlled by nobles, so...providing believers with channels for extraordinary promotion is also a "divine grace", which will help more people step into the path of extraordinary and enhance the strength of the North.
Charlotte does not have that much time, and it is impossible to carefully select believers who are adapted to the divine power to develop into priests like the Holy Royal Court, so the best way is to fully bloom and enhance the power of all believers as much as possible. In this way, he also uses the power of believers to increase his own strength.
The gods are a group of "parasites", and Charlotte is actually one of them. Since she is a "parasite", she should find more "hosts".
Perhaps the benefits brought by the increase in the power of non-blood "host" believers are not as high as those of blood believers, but the advantage is that there are more people, and the small amount adds up to a lot, which is also a considerable amount of divine power.
As for whether this kind of pure power without blood power will cause other problems because it is too complicated...
Charlotte wasn't too worried.
As the True Ancestor of Blood, it is her ability to devour bloodline power. No matter who the source of the bloodline power of her believers is, as long as the enhanced power is distributed by her through the belief network, she can successfully absorb it.
This is also a cheat on her "mythical level".
Thinking of this, Charlotte took a deep breath and walked to the library.
The Royal Library is currently managed by the royal family's mage group. When the Castel family's carriage stopped at the door, the mage apprentices who managed the library were alerted.
When Charlotte came to the entrance of the library, the library director wearing a mage's robe had already greeted her warmly:
"Your Majesty Count Castells, welcome to the Royal Library."
This is the dignity of a great noble.
Although the Castel family is not a duke, as the first person under the duke, it is enough to make many nobles of the kingdom look up to them.
Even when you come to the Wang Family Library, you are considered a distinguished guest.
Seeing the library director, Charlotte smiled slightly. She motioned to Sebas to take out the library VIP pass given to her by Louis V and said:
"Hello, Mr. Curator, I came here today to borrow some extraordinary books."
Seeing the VIP pass, the library director became even more respectful:
"Your Majesty, please come with me."
Following the librarian, Charlotte entered the Royal Library.
The space inside the library looks larger than the outside, as if some space magic has been used, and the collection of books is extremely large, arranged in an ascending spiral.
There are many people in the library who come to borrow books. Most of them are dressed as nobles, but a few who are not nobles are also wearing uniforms.
Charlotte took a look and recognized that he was a student from the Royal Academy of Magic, the highest school in the Crescent Kingdom.
The Royal Library is only open to two types of people, one is the nobles, and the other is the students of the Magic Academy.
When Charlotte entered the library, she naturally attracted everyone's curious eyes.
Especially when everyone saw the director of the library and his subordinate Master Wang following enthusiastically:
"Who is that? Alarmed the director of the library? Are there so many Wang family mages accompanying you?"
"I don't have any formal attire, so I'm not a student of the academy. Judging from the clothes and temperament, I think he should be a noble with a high status."
"Could it be...which country's princess she is?"
However, some people recognized Charlotte’s identity:
"She is Charlotte of Castells, the pearl of the North, the saint of the royal court, the richest and youngest countess in the Crescent Kingdom."
"Hiss... Is she the girl who is said to have made the third prince smitten with her just by looking at her, and even started a war to win?"
"Silence! This is all nonsense. Stop listening to gossipy news from pubs in the outer city!"
"But...she is really beautiful. If it were me, I would probably be willing to start a war for her."
"I told you not to go to the tavern and listen to those fabricated stories!"
Charlotte:…
Although the talkers deliberately lowered their voices, Charlotte still heard everything clearly thanks to the vampire's super spiritual sense.
Thanks to a series of recent events, she is indeed a celebrity in the capital.
Eyes fell on her one after another, either curious, admiring, awe, or hostile...
Um?
Hostile?
Charlotte was a little surprised. She didn't expect that someone would be hostile to her when she went to the library. And when her spiritual sense extended to the library, she was suddenly surprised.
The eyes that were hostile to her were not those of aristocrats.
Instead, they were students in uniforms belonging to the Royal Academy of Magic.
"She is the Earl of Northland?"
"I heard that she acted rebelliously in the North, persecuted many extraordinary people, and even forced the people to rebel. The third prince dared to start a war, and it was the internal chaos in the North that first broke out."
"What a crime. These nobles are all pursuing their own selfish desires and have no regard for the lives of common people!"
"Weak on the outside, but a devil on the inside."
"I heard that she declined the appointment as a saint..."
"Are you feeling guilty? The church is also rotten."
"What's the use of being beautiful? In the end, this world still depends on extraordinary strength. Without strength, even a noble cannot maintain his status. If he is so cruel, he will suffer backlash in the future."
"You don't know this. Even though she is so young and weak, it is said that she is already a Silver Moon Mage."
"It's already Silver Moon? Wouldn't that be even worse? The people of the Northland are so pitiful."
"Isn't it? Despite her pure appearance, I heard she is quite corrupt in private. The so-called declaration of celibacy is said to be just a cover to cover up her private life."
"Sure enough, no noble...no one is good!"
Charlotte:…
She never expected to hear so many outrageous rumors.
One person cannot satisfy everyone.
Although Charlotte knew that as long as she continued to strengthen her rule over the North and develop her own power, all kinds of rumors would not stop and those potential enemies would always exist, but she did not expect that there would still be rumors about the North. Such an outrageous level.
This level can no longer be explained by simple "rumors". There is no one behind to add fuel to the fire, so Charlotte doesn't believe it.
Sebastian glanced at the group of students calmly.
His eyes were very calm, but the moment he looked at those students, the students of the Magic Academy felt a thrill that made their hair stand on end. The pressure from their souls made them subconsciously stop talking.
"Ahem, Sir Sebastian, this is the Royal Library."
The library director coughed lightly and reminded.
"Sorry, Mr. Curator, I usually hate the rumors of other artificial masters."
Sebastian replied with a smile.
However, that smile was a little cold.
The library director said helplessly:
"I'm really sorry, but please don't get to know them. They are just ordinary students. They must have heard some random rumors from somewhere."
"As you know, many of the students in the Magic Academy are from civilian backgrounds and are naturally distrustful of nobles. They will think the worst about anything about nobles. If someone spreads rumors secretly at this time, it will be easy to win over them. recognition.”
After hearing what the library director said, Sebastian nodded slightly:
"What you said makes sense. It seems that I should check carefully to find out who is spreading rumors and saying bad things about the master behind his back. I heard that you are also a teacher at the Magic Academy. Please also restrain the students in your academy. , after all...the honor of the nobility cannot be offended."
After that, he withdrew his gaze, and the students in the distance also breathed a sigh of relief.
They looked at each other, looking at Charlotte and the others with increasing hostility and disgust, and then started whispering cautiously.
"Let's go, don't forget the purpose of our coming."
Charlotte shook her head and said.
Although she was very unhappy with this inexplicable rumor, she also knew that these students who were used as shooters were not the real rumor makers. Attacking these people would not make these civilian students who thought she was a bad person sincerely Reflection will only make them more hostile and follow the whims of certain people.
As for how to deal with rumors, just leave it to Sebastian, he is professional in this regard.
However, such one-sided malicious remarks made her feel complicated.
Charlotte felt that she was not a good person, but after going to the Northland, she felt that she cared most about the civilians in the territory, and she also formulated many policies to benefit the civilians.
But I didn't expect that it would be spread like this by the rumor makers.
Charlotte stepped out of the front hall of the library and entered deeper into the inner hall.
However, just as she was about to enter the inner hall, she heard an angry voice coming from behind:
"That's enough! What bastard started this rumor? Slander! It's all slander!"
"I am a student from the North! I have witnessed with my own eyes how the Earl dealt with those evil nobles! The Earl is a good lord. Over the past year, he has punished evil and promoted good, stabilized the territory, and even spent his own money to build a good reputation in the North. How many nobles can build schools, subsidize the poor, and expand roads on their own land?!"
"The lord has decided to dedicate his life to the territory, and has sworn not to marry for the rest of his life. The lord is a good lord and will not be blasphemed by you!"
Hearing these words, Charlotte froze.
She looked back and saw several students in Magic Academy uniforms angrily confronting the students who were talking about her behind her back.
That was a student from the North who came to the royal capital to study.
Seeing the angry looks of those students, Charlotte felt a little warm in her heart.
At this moment, the unhappiness in her heart suddenly disappeared.
