Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Arsinoe set an example. After eating a few mouthfuls of food, Cleopatra was willing to let her servants serve her to eat. At this time, she still seemed cautious. She was only willing to follow what Arsinoe had eaten. Take a second bite.

Arsinoe complained mercilessly: "So you have also seen that I am living a good life here, but you are obviously very wary of me. If you have anything to say, just tell me quickly, and then finish this After dinner, we can all go about our own business. I still have a play I want to watch today. Medea is a classic by a famous artist. A famous actor will perform today. I like Pasiphae's performance and singing very much. If If you want to talk to me about drama, I'd love to stay with you for a while."

Seeing Arsinoe's attitude of asking her to speak quickly, Cleopatra simply stated her purpose: "Then let me tell you directly. Has Mithridates contacted you recently?"

Mithridates is a relatively common name, meaning "Mithras' blessing". This is very common in Greek areas influenced by Iranian culture, and many nobles can be called this name.

But it was now clear to both of them that Cleopatra was talking about Mithridates of Pontus, a recently popular figure who was famous for his radical anti-Roman political views.

"You have lived in Ephesus for a while. I believe you will not live here without knowing it. Ephesus is not very far from the land of Pontus. You should know a lot of things that I should know. Intelligence, this is one of the reasons why I’m looking for you.”

"What happened~" Arsinoe suddenly realized, "When I moved here it was quiet, but I don't know who leaked the news, so now many people actually know that I live here. This is also true. It’s about finding a way, I’m not a nobody, I’m the princess of the Ptolemaic family, so many people know me.”

Seeing the other party's deliberately artificial look, Cleopatra understood what the other party meant - she spread the news herself because she didn't want to hide her existence. In her opinion, this was an unnecessary thing. things.

Cleopatra did not pursue this point, but continued: "So is anyone looking for you?"

"Of course there is, and there are quite a few. As for Mithridates you mentioned, he also found me, hoping that I could endorse him and support him behind his back. To be fair, he is quite charming. Man, if I were thirteen or fourteen years old, I might have had a romantic interest and would have half-heartedly chosen to help the other party resist the power like Medea did.”

"So what did you end up doing?"

Arsinoe's eyes turned cold: "A mixed-race man with Armenian ancestry who came from some remote country dared to falsely claim that he was the successor of Alexander, and even shamelessly asked the real successors to bow to him. It's a beautiful thought. .

Even a loser like his father would definitely get angry after hearing such remarks. "

There was no respect for his father in his words, because Arsinoe thought that he was a man without the integrity of a king, and there was also no respect for Mithridates, because Arsinoe thought that the other man was not worthy of being called a successor.

"Is there something I need to know?"

"Many people in the local area do this because they have objections to the emperor. I don't know the specific list, but I can tell you a few places. Just listen carefully - Bosporus, Athens, Rhodes Island, Smyrna”

In Arsinoe's view, the other party has the awareness of counter-reconnaissance, but his methods are too unfamiliar and his actions are too rough, so he will easily be caught. Although she didn't get any shocking inside information, the basic situation was that she had already touched everything.

Arsinoe named several cities intermittently, and Cleopatra took this information to heart.

She nodded to Arsinoe: "Thank you for your cooperation. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"I said I don't need to repay you, but I have something to ask you. You seem to have some thoughts about His Royal Highness. According to my observation, he is obviously not very interested in women. I even suspect that he is interested in men. are more interested in women than in women.

And it is said that he is henpecked, and his wife happens to be that general. From a sister's point of view, I am not optimistic about you this time. Even if your face has been kissed by Aphrodite (goddess of beauty) and your brain has been soothed by Athena (god of civilization and wisdom). "

Arsinoe once had this thought, but soon found that no matter how much she tried to show off, it was useless, so she simply lowered herself to do meaningless things.

Cleopatra answered the other party succinctly: "I am observing and thinking, you can just wait and see what happens. I will send you some specialties and letters from time to time in Egypt. In the future, we will be separated as two people." Let’s get along with our sisters.”

After confirming that the other party posed no great threat to her, Cleopatra finally let down some of her guard.

"Of course, I have no objection." Arsinoe replied seemingly sincerely. I don't know if she had any other plans behind her back. Cleopatra didn't intend to delve into this for the time being, so that was fine.

——

His eyes turned to Orville, where he was negotiating business with the locals. It was also going smoothly, and no one would refuse the much cheaper paper.

He even had enough time to organize a local bidding meeting. In the end, the wealthy businessmen with the highest bids won the right to cooperate with Orville and would be supplied with paper for a period of time.

After doing all this, he even went to listen to Cleopatra's speech in the city center. The content of the speech was not new as expected. It was nothing more than using various benefits to lure local people to move to Egypt. This kind of thing has been done many times by the Ptolemaic Dynasty for hundreds of years. The locals don't think it's new. Of course, what should be done must be done.

Her move also meant to report safety to the locals. She wanted to show that her country has now escaped danger and returned to normal operation. A speech and a simple question and answer session after the speech is an effective method. At least people in this era still believe in this set of things. After all, personal experience is somewhat convincing.

After doing this, at Orville's own request, they went to the Temple of Artemis again. After all, it is the so-called Seven Wonders of the Mediterranean World. If he doesn't go there, Orville always feels that he is a bit of a loss.