The Golden Palace was, in essence, the palace where King Gedelin and his ancestors had resided, which meant that, according to usual protocols, Prince Dexter and Princess Elizabeth weren’t supposed to stay in the Golden Palace for long, except during festivals or family dinners.
According to the previous rules, princes and princesses would receive their own land to live on in the royal territories outside the palace after they reached adulthood, while the younger princes and princesses needed to stay in the Golden Palace for education and supervision, similar to Isabella, who would return to the Golden Palace after weekends away at Saint Nali University.
But, after all, the situation in the Golden Palace had changed. Seeing that King Gedelin IX’s health was deteriorating day by day, with no energy to worry about state affairs, let alone the education of princes and princesses.
Nowadays, almost all state affairs were entrusted to Prince Dexter, the eldest, who, along with Lunxis, took turns handling state matters and caring for the King’s health, making it necessary for them to frequently enter and leave the Golden Palace.
As for Elizabeth, sometimes she resided within the Golden Palace, and sometimes she stayed in her own courtyard in the suburbs, depending on whether she had official duties. But in reality, Elizabeth preferred living in the Western-style mansion allocated to her, finding it more comfortable.
Elizabeth’s Western-style mansion was located on the private lands of the Royal Family to the east of Saint Nali, neither too large nor too small, but exquisitely decorated.
The entire mansion was primarily coated in milky white pearl paint, three stories high, though the actual footprint of the house wasn’t large. What took up more space was the back courtyard behind her mansion, with its extensive grounds covering a small hilltop, perfect for sports or strolling. In previous years, she had even ridden horses there with Isabella.
Today was no different. Without official duties to attend to, Elizabeth took rest within her mansion.
It was just past ten in the morning, and in the courtyard behind the mansion, under a large sun umbrella placed with tables and chairs, Elizabeth sat gracefully on a chair dressed in a home-fitted long dress, holding a feather pen, writing something. Lines of elegant cursive Nali text neatly appeared on the letter paper.
The mansion was very quiet, save for a maid standing behind Elizabeth, it seemed that only the dogs running around at the hilltop in the courtyard were making barking noises.
Looking more closely, there were about eight or nine dogs on that hill, all of different breeds and sizes, running around seemingly joyfully in the distance, competing and tugging at toys on the ground.
Elizabeth loved dogs, and she kept various breeds. A purebred Nali Golden Dog, valued at over a hundred thousand Narliou, gifted by King Gedelin IX on her eighteenth birthday, was one of her favorites, and it was the tallest and most handsome one among the group.
Not long after Elizabeth had graduated from the Royal College, she took over the command of the Royal Army, and after thirty-three battles with Schwali and Kado, both large and small, she finally stabilized the external disputes plaguing Nali.
Her exceptional military command and combat capabilities confirmed her place in the army. Eventually, the Royal Navy and the Guard Army, too, were placed under her leadership by an increasingly weakened King Gedelin IX. Thus, Elizabeth became the Vice Commander of the Nali Royal Army, with King Gedelin IX still holding the title of the main commander.
In her travels over the years, whenever she heard of a local dog breed, she would bring one back to keep. When the Queen of Schwali had an audience with her, she even gifted Elizabeth a small dog, showing just how much she favored these pet dogs.
The group of dogs included the Holy Temple Fine Dog from Kado, the Dragon Fighting Dog from Schwali, the Kamura Long-haired Dog from the Northern Realm, and of course, the three distinctive dog breeds from Nali. Over the years, without realising it, she had ended up raising eight or nine dogs at home.
While the little dogs frolicked in the distance, Elizabeth quietly continued writing her letter. Beneath her letter was one from Fisher, describing his recent meeting with Dexter and the various intelligence reports emerging these days.
Clearly, Elizabeth was in the process of writing a reply to Fisher.
"Your Highness, Prince Dexter has arrived..."
As Elizabeth was writing her letter, another maid, head bowed, came out from the mansion, quietly reporting to her. After Elizabeth nodded, the maid placed her hand on her abdomen and slowly withdrew from the back courtyard. At that moment, an handsome prince in a pure white Royal outfit, Dexter, walked toward her.
Elizabeth dipped her feather pen into the inkpot next to her, then slowly stood up and respectfully greeted her elder brother,
Dexter waved his hand and naturally sat down at another corner under the sun umbrella. He glanced at the letters spread out on the table. Elizabeth hadn’t tried to hide them, so he easily noticed the name written on them.
After peering at it, Dexter looked up at Elizabeth with a smile,
"It seems that your relationship is better than I had imagined. Do you correspond with letters often?"
"Not often, just a bit more these days."
"That’s some progress, though it’s rather presumptuous of that young man to expect a princess to take the initiative. I did mention it to him when we met, and I hope he takes it to heart."