Pello didn't expect to revisit the old place so soon.

He originally didn't want to leave his warm residence in such a cold winter, especially when evil beasts were rampant, but Duke Lyne specifically requested him to deliver this hot potato to the Fourth Prince.

He certainly knew the content of the letter—in fact, the entire upper aristocracy of Graycastle was discussing this shocking news: the King of Graycastle had fallen due to a murder, and the murderer was Goron Wimbledon, the King's eldest son. Subsequently, the second son rushed to the capital and announced that the country could not be without a ruler for a day, and he would ascend the throne as the second in line to the throne.

However, this behavior was not accepted by everyone. Some claimed that Goron's trial was very suspicious. Throughout the interrogation, he only showed up a few times, and he was unable to speak, with his hands tightly bound. They hoped to wait until the matter was thoroughly investigated before deciding on the ownership of the throne.

There were also rumors that this was just a play directed and acted by the second son, Tyfico Wimbledon, and that the real murderer was the Second Prince, who was putting on a sad face while eagerly waiting to ascend the throne.

Regardless of who was right and who was wrong in this dispute, the Second Prince, with the strong support of the Prime Minister, temporarily seized the power of the supreme ruler of Graycastle in the capacity of acting King. At the same time, he issued a recall order to all competitors—the battle for the throne was over, and all princes and princesses, after receiving the decree, should return to the capital before the end of winter. The new King would formally confer territories and titles based on the six months of governance.

Pello could of course see the urgency in this order.

Whether Tyfico Wimbledon could sit firmly on the throne depended entirely on the reaction of the other princes and princesses. If they all obediently gave up the battle for the throne and returned to the royal city, then he would naturally become the undisputed Wimbledon IV.

The letter sent to Border Town would first be transferred to Longsong Stronghold, and Duke Lyne himself sneered at this recall order. When the King was alive, he still had a high degree of control over the lords of various regions, but as for the Second Prince, just this forced ascension to the throne was extremely awkward. Coupled with the precedent of Goron being sent to the guillotine, it was feared that no one would be willing to return to the royal capital alone.

However, in the eyes of the six families of the stronghold, this was a timely order.

More than two months ago, the Earl of Elk's unauthorized plan had greatly displeased the Duke, especially since it had failed. The prince's reaction was also very fierce, directly sentencing Hills Mede to hanging. As a result, the two sides could be considered to have openly broken face.

Originally, the Duke planned to wait until the Months of Demons ended before freeing up his hands to solve this trouble, but now with this official document, he could do it more legitimately. Roland Wimbledon returned to the royal capital, and Border Town would naturally belong to Duke Lyne. If he didn't return to the royal capital, then he could force him with force—under the banner of the new King.

As for who the crown would ultimately fall to, the Duke didn't care much.

As for Pello, the ambassador, he was obviously not very comfortable. Last time, he had confidently said that he would bring a new trade agreement, but what came was the black hand of the Elk family. Now he was here again, bringing the same bad news—whether it was the news of the death of Wimbledon III or the recall order of the new King, Pello believed that the Fourth Prince would not want to see either.

The voyage along the way was smooth. Graycastle was a country in the southern part of the continent, and even in winter, the rivers would not freeze.

Pello occasionally looked out of the window towards the riverbank. Along the way, he saw neither starving people who had died nor refugees, which indicated that Border Town had not yet fallen.

This surprised him a little. After all, the last time he visited the city wall, he had personally witnessed how the other party had built it. He really didn't have much confidence in these stone walls plastered with mud.

Then, something even more surprising happened to him. A sailboat with the flag of Willow Town slowly sailed past from the right side of the river—this scene was familiar, but now it was the Months of Demons! They actually had the leisure to do business while fighting evil beasts? How could they resist those brutal monsters without transferring all the mining workers to the defense line!

Three days later, the ship arrived at the Border Town pier.

It was still the dilapidated wooden pier, but there was a simple wooden shed next to the pier. After the ship docked, two guards walked out of the wooden shed, staring at the every move of the boatmen.

Pello immediately understood Roland's intention to set up a post here.

The Fourth Prince obviously didn't want anyone to secretly leave the town by water.

He jumped off the ship's side and explained his identity to the guards. Then one of them led a horse and accompanied him to the castle.

As with the previous procedure, Prince Roland Wimbledon received him in the reception room. Not only that, even though it was not mealtime, the Prince still ordered the servants to set out a rich meal.

Roasted pork knuckle, sliced dried fish, a pot of cold wild vegetables of unknown name, as well as butter bread and vegetable soup that could be seen at any banquet.

It seemed that this Prince liked to eat before talking about business.

Pello thought so, but his hands didn't stop for a moment. After all, opportunities to have a full meal were rare. Even the Honeysuckle family basically ate potato bread with salted dried meat when they didn't have guests to entertain.

After finishing the main course, when the dessert was brought up, Pello respectfully handed over the document.

Roland took it, cut open the seal with a dining knife, quickly glanced at the scroll, and then froze.

The King is dead?

Roland had no feelings for this nominal father. When he transmigrated, he was already in Border Town and had never even met him, let alone that the Fourth Prince's memory was full of complaints and dissatisfaction with his father. Because of this, he felt that he had fallen into a strange embarrassment—should he show sadness and grief?

And the content below made him smell a hint of conspiracy. Wimbledon III died in the eldest son's murder? The Second Prince, in the capacity of the new King, announced the end of the battle for the throne and ordered himself to return to Graycastle Royal Capital from now on?

Roland coughed twice, raised his head, and happened to see Pello's apologetic eyes.

So that's how it is, he thought. The Duke of Stronghold was probably happy to see this happen. Whether he obeyed the new King's order or not, it was a dilemma for him.

He didn't bring the promised contract, but brought bad news like a death warrant. He was probably feeling uneasy. Roland smiled to himself, folded the document again, "I see."

"Uh, Your Highness, then you intend to..."

"Even if I want to leave, I have to wait until the Months of Demons are over. Now that it's freezing, what will happen to the people of Border Town if I leave?"

If it were someone else, Pello would definitely say perfunctory words like "Don't worry, the stronghold will handle it properly for you," or other diplomatic platitudes. But in front of this Fourth Prince, whom he had only met twice, he couldn't easily open his mouth. For the first time, Pello felt disgusted with his identity as an ambassador. In the end, he just nodded, "I understand. Do you need me to send a reply for you?"

Roland asked the servant to bring pen and paper, quickly wrote a reply, stamped his yinzhang on the seal, and handed it to Pello. The latter glanced at the envelope. The envelope clearly stated: To Tyfico Wimbledon, the Second Prince of Graycastle, not King Wimbledon IV.

He had made his attitude clear, Pello thought.