"Today was truly exhausting."
Inside the Rostov castle, after his personal guards withdrew, Rostislav finally removed his serious mask.
The Prince changed into a nightgown and immediately flopped onto the large bed in the room, his face showing the liveliness and aversion to complicated matters typical of his age.
Many people, when faced with Rostislav's stern expression, forgot that their Prince was only 17 years old this year.
Today's messy judgments only gave Rostislav a headache; he also had to listen to those trivial domestic disputes, which was truly bitter.
"It will be better in the future; today was mainly about dealing with the accumulated matters from this period."
In front of the dressing table on the other side of the room, Zoe, also in a white nightgown, said.
Compared to her husband, she was more accustomed to such audiences; this was her first time in such a setting, and she listened with great interest.
Zoe's tone held a hint of disdain for her husband's current performance, which Rostislav naturally noticed. He understood the teasing in her words and replied grumpily,
"You find it interesting now, but you won't later. I've attended my father's audiences since I was little; these things have long made me sick to my stomach."
As the son of the Novgorod Prince, Rostislav had participated in various political events with his father since childhood.
Attending the Prince's audiences was a must. Initially, like Zoe, he found it quite interesting, but he quickly became numb to it.
"Alright, alright, you're right."
Zoe agreed with her husband while coming to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Are these people planning something? I suspect today's purchase was just a test."
Zoe then settled onto the bed, continuing to speak to her husband. She always felt that the Bulgar envoy's smile held ill intentions.
"Hmm, perhaps. The Bulgars might indeed do something. Ever since my ancestors defeated them, the Bulgars have always been at a disadvantage against Rus'. Now, seeing Rus' divided, they might want to take this opportunity to clash with me."
What Rostislav thought was similar to his wife's. He was very clear about the Bulgars' ultimate goal; their small actions for this purpose had never ceased.
The Prince recalled that when his grandfather handled state affairs in Novgorod, he had ordered Rostov to strengthen its defenses against the Bulgars. At that time, news of Bulgar unrest had already arrived, with Bulgar raiding parties crossing the border and invading the Rus' traditional tribute-paying areas. However, Yaroslav's order for the Northeast Rus' cities to unite and deliver a strong counterattack made the Bulgars behave.
"So, there's going to be another war?"
Disappointment appeared on Zoe's face. Whenever war broke out, it was when her husband left her. Although life in Northeast Rus' was hard, being with her husband made it bearable.
But if war broke out, her husband would leave her again, and she would have to worry about his safety.
Rostislav didn't say much about this, only holding Zoe's head and stroking her black hair, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
"If war is coming, let it come. I will ultimately achieve final victory. I will not perish. The Estonians couldn't take my life, and the Polovtsy couldn't take my life. Saint George will watch over me on the battlefield."
Although she knew it was comfort, the Prince's words still made Zoe feel much better. However, Rostislav suddenly flipped over, pinned her beneath him, and rolled up her nightgown.
"But for now, let's not worry about distant matters, my lady. Everyone is hoping for us to have a child soon."
Although Rostislav was still young, everyone hoped he would have a child. On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes; to prepare for the worst possible scenario, the Prince leaving an heir would put everyone at ease.
"Mm."
Zoe replied, her face flushed.
——————
While Rostislav was establishing his authority in Rostov, in Tver—a city that didn't yet exist—Rostislav's standard-bearer, Yang, was supervising a mining site, watching people busy at work.
Yang was currently clad in armor, fully armed like an iron can.
Their camp was at the foot of a large mountain, and the miners were striking the rocks on the hillside with their picks.
In this mining camp, even the miners carried weapons, and the warriors on duty were even more fully armed. The reason for their extreme vigilance was that attacks could occur at any time.
Yes, they could occur at any time. Although the Vesi were weak and ineffective when a real fight broke out, their harassment was still very annoying. An arrow shot today, a person killed tomorrow, it made everyone incredibly frustrated.
When will this damned life end?
Yang couldn't help but think that even though he trusted Rostislav, he was now beginning to doubt whether his Prince was correct.
Yang's team consisted of fifty personal guards and over a hundred miners. Most of these miners were recruited by the Prince at great expense in Kiev, and the leader was even an engineer who had worked in the imperial capital.
They formed a mining exploration team, coming here to search for the Kashen Silver Mine that Rostislav remembered.
Since Rostislav only knew that it was in the Kashin region of Tver but not its exact location, Yang's team, after finally learning the location of the Kashin region from locals, had to explore it piece by piece.
Wherever a potential mine was found, exploration would begin, but so far, all results had been a waste, yielding nothing but a pile of rocks.
The local Rus' people were relatively gentle towards them, and due to shared interests, they could stand together. However, the Vesi, a branch of the Finn people living there, were different.
They constantly attacked Yang's team. Although they couldn't cause any significant casualties to Yang's team, the continuous harassment was very disgusting.
Later, Yang learned that a few years ago, the local Rus' and Vesi had engaged in several large-scale armed conflicts over resources, and their relationship had always been very bad. Now, the arrival of Yang's team was perceived by them as the Rus' wanting to further colonize this land.
Therefore, they constantly harassed Yang's team, making Yang's team suffer immensely.
Fortunately, because of this, Yang's team could easily gain support from Rus' villages, which was the reason for the shared interests mentioned earlier.
The people in these villages were happy to provide Yang with supplies and manpower, and some even considered nominating Yang as a local lord to lead them in defeating the Vesi.
However, Yang had no such intention. What was important now was Rostislav's mission; as for other matters, they could wait until the mission was completed.