flstandardbreds Chapter 155 Illegitimate Daughter
Chapter 155 Illegitimate Daughter
"I hope you can abide by the etiquette of the nobility and protect the safety of me and my family. As for the ransom, I will write to my relatives in the royal capital to raise the money." When Earl Nilan was brought before John, he no longer had his previous earl's airs. For the safety of his family, he could only pay the ransom humbly.
"Of course, as a noble, I will treat the honorable Earl Niland according to aristocratic etiquette." John also responded politely. After all, there are not many nobles who can pay the ransom so readily these days.
"Someone! Take Earl Niland and his family downstairs to rest." After getting the promise, John no longer made things difficult for Earl Niland. After ordering people to arrange rooms for them, he prepared to leave.
Just as he was about to walk out of the room, the voice of Earl Nilan came from behind:
"Count John, please prepare a separate room for this young lady. I have something to ask of you."
"Oh, what's the matter?" John did not refuse Earl Niland's request. In his opinion, since he had agreed to such a big thing as the ransom, the rest of the matter would probably be just a small matter.
"It's like this. This is Miss Matilda. She used to live in the capital of Yoda. Now her father is caught in a political crisis. For the safety of his family, he entrusted me to send Miss Matilda to the border between Yoda and Midland and escort her to Wendam. As you can see, I'm afraid I can't complete the rest of the task in my current state. I hope you can help me send Miss Matilda back to Wendam."
After reading this passage, John thought carefully for a while and got several pieces of information from it: First, the Yoda Empire is not a monolithic entity, and they also have internal struggles; second, the internal struggles in Yoda are more brutal than those in Mitlan. After all, John has never heard that the factional struggles in Mitlan will endanger the safety of his family. Count Milo once told him that the factional struggles in Mitlan have only resulted in the deaths of civilians. As a noble, at most you will be kept away from the political center of Windham and return to the territory.
Third, and most importantly, some nobles in Mitlan and Yoda have close ties and correspondence with each other, which makes John very alert. After all, if he deals with these nobles, they will pass his information to Yoda as soon as he leaves, or they will send assassins to kill him when he is not prepared. Although the latter possibility is very small, he still has to be on guard.
After a brief thought, John responded generously:
"Since Earl Nilan has entrusted me, as a noble, I will of course agree to this insignificant request. Besides, protecting the Mitlan people is also the job of the Mitlan army."
"Then I'll leave Miss Matilda in your care. I wish you all the best in your future career." After getting John's promise, Earl Niland admired John's open-minded behavior and, led by the soldiers, went to the room where he and his family were accommodated, leaving only John and the girl named Matilda.
After they sat down, John began to observe Miss Matilda: She was about 1.7 meters tall, only a few centimeters shorter than John. Although her simple skirt was covered with mud from running around, it still couldn't cover her pretty face and her black and shiny hair. Of course, what caught John's attention the most was her purple eyes. Pretty and dignified were the only words that came to John's mind.
While John was observing her, Matilda was also observing John. The two looked at each other for a long time until John realized it and apologized:
"I'm so sorry. This is the first time I've seen someone with purple pupils. Now I have some questions for you. Earl Nilan has just entrusted me to send you to Windham safely, so I need to know some information to contact your family."
"No problem, just ask." Matilda, who was sitting opposite, responded in a soft and a little nervous voice. Her white hands kept grabbing the skirt in front of her, like a child who had made a mistake.
"May I ask you, what is your last name?"
"Duck."
"Dake?" John couldn't help but frown when he heard this last name. It didn't sound like a last name for a noble daughter.
Although John quickly returned to his original calm, Matilda still caught the moment. After a brief mental struggle, she said to John:
“I took my mother’s last name.”
"Oh, so that's how it is." John replied. He already knew what was going on.
In the Middle Ages, it was normal for the dignitaries to have multiple wives or multiple husbands. As long as people had power, their desires would be magnified. However, this was contrary to the teachings of the French King's Office, so the French kings of all generations issued decrees on monogamy.
But every policy has its countermeasures. Not to mention the nobles and wealthy businessmen in the secular world, even some bishops in the Palace of the King of Popes, the center of faith, cannot fully follow these doctrines that have been passed down for who knows how many years. They may even be more extravagant than others.
In order to cover up their actions, the more ruthless nobles would directly destroy the children born to their mistresses in various ways, including but not limited to killing the mistresses or the babies.
Those who are soft-hearted will give money to their mistresses so that their children can have enough food and clothing. These children may become successful among the common people in the future and be given titles by their fathers when the time is right. Of course, this is only an ideal situation. Many illegitimate children will never know who their fathers are in their entire lives.
In order to ensure that their secrets would not be discovered, these children could only use their mother's surname or a random commoner's surname to conceal their relationship with their father. This was a common knowledge in the entire aristocratic circle, so some experienced aristocrats knew all kinds of information about a person, including identity, status, and wealth, just by his surname.
Obviously, the Miss Matilda in front of him was most likely the illegitimate daughter of a Yoda noble. According to what Earl Niland said before, her father was probably also a great Yoda noble. This Yoda noble might be in trouble or fail in the power struggle, and was afraid that his family would be implicated, so he sent his illegitimate daughter to take refuge in Midland.
"Then the second question is, how are you going to get to Wendam next?"
"Lord Nilan said he would send someone to escort me back to Midland, but as you can see, I'm afraid I can only go back by myself."
"Don't worry about that. I will send someone to escort you to Wendam safely. After all, I have promised Earl Niland about this matter. If anything goes wrong, it will damage my reputation."
Hearing John's reply, Matilda thanked him gratefully:
"Thank you so much for helping me."
"It is the duty of us, the soldiers of Midland, to protect the people of Midland. This is what I should do."
The conversation between the two began to revolve around their respective identities. When Matilda heard that the man in front of her was John, known as the Spear of Midland, she couldn't help but exclaimed:
"Oh my God, it's really you. My father often mentioned you when he was teaching my eldest brother a lesson, saying that if he had any of your talents, he would be several times better than he is now."
"Haha, is that so." John smiled bitterly after hearing this. It seems that all parents in the world are the same. However, he was also wary of his popularity abroad. It seemed that he had caught the attention of Yoda's top leaders. This time they had forcibly occupied an earldom of Yoda. If these Yoda people didn't do something, they would probably not have the face to dominate the continent.
"It will be late then. I will have you taken to your room to rest. Tomorrow you will return to Franche-Comté with my army, and I will send someone to take you to Vendam."
"That's very much appreciated," Matilda responded and gave John a smile before leaving the room.