"I have a question to ask you, Lord Bantic, can you answer me?" Justinian asked calmly at the Genoese in front of him, and he was still holding an invitation letter in his hand.

"What are you doing so serious suddenly? If you want to ask me something, just ask me, Justinian, I know everything." Bantik, who was a little uncomfortable staring at the young man in front of him, smiled and answered, still calming down.

"This invitation letter should have been written to me by Andrea, right? You should be more familiar with the handwriting on it than me. After all, he ordered you so many times that it was impossible for him not to leave a handwritten letter." Justinian asked bluntly, but caught Bantik off guard.

"This... this, I'm a little confused when you say this, Your Excellency Justinian." He stammered. Bantic's reaction made Justinian more convinced his inference at the beginning.

He had already been a little suspicious from the beginning. It was not the Emperor Mikhail Ducas who invited him to the meeting in Rusnina. Then it was only the Doria who had not appeared since Constantinople left. Because in Igumenica not long ago, Justinian asked General Himion and learned that the invitation letter in his hand was extraordinary, and it was a certificate to attend the banquet for the Genoa delegation soon after, and all the people who could get it were

Epirus's prominent noble family, Justinian, really didn't think that those nobles who were proud of their identities could give them a picture so kindly. After all, in their eyes, although he was the governor of Molia, he was just a nouveau riche from the army and was not qualified to be on par with them at all. Therefore, only that person has the ability to get this invitation letter. After all, it was originally used to welcome the Genoese, so it would be easy to make one more as Doria.

But the only thing that made Justinian curious is what was the reason for doing this...

This made Justinian feel very uncomfortable. Whether it was Arslan and his willingness to be loyal to him before or the timely appearance of the Genoa fleet in the battle of Fort Wiscarry, the shadow of that person was always inseparable from behind. Even Justinian himself sometimes had a sense of habit. But he understood that everything that person did was by no means without reason, which is why Justinian should have been grateful, but he always had a deep fear. His every move was paid attention to, like a puppet, which was really unhappy.

But this time, Andrea Doria invited him here, and he would definitely attend the banquet... It seems that they will finally meet again. At that time, these questions may be solved by meeting everything.

Seeing that Bantik was a little busy and had achieved his goal, Justinian was not ready to make things difficult for this man anymore. After all, he was just a pawn. Then he said:

"If possible, can I tell him? I am very grateful for his help to me before. I will definitely go to the meeting on time and look forward to meeting him." After saying that, Justinian was not ready to stay any longer and turned around and ordered his subordinates to clean up the spoils on the battlefield and returned to the ship to return to Epirus. After all, if he stayed in Corfu for too long, he would be at risk of being targeted by the Venetians. When the Corfu defenders requested face-to-face negotiations, Justinian refused without hesitation and directly asked the Genoese to deal with the surrender, without choosing to expose his true identity.

At present, the most important thing for them to enter Epirus is to keep a low profile and never make the opponent alert before giving the enemy the most fatal blow.

...

...

...

"Sir Justinian, you already knew it before!" On the way back to Igumenica, Arslan stood on the deck and looked at Justinian with his back facing him, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

As Justinian said, on the night when the Croatian pirates returned to Fort Ilovan, they accepted Doria's employment and kept protecting Justinian's safety.

Feeling the cold sea breeze, Justinian shrugged and said, "At that time, your father Murad was always ready to escape from Prince Theodor's control, but I guessed it when he suddenly changed his mind. But I didn't doubt you. You and I have fought side by side so many times. If you didn't even have this little trust, I think you would no longer want to follow me."

"Sorry, Lord Justinian, I lied to you." Seeing this scene, Arslan felt even more guilty and knelt down to apologize. The Turkic man regretted that he had not confessed this matter to Justinian earlier. He had made up his mind to assist this man now. But in his opinion, he was loyal to a new lord. The reason for this was too disgraceful. He thought he could just forget it, but he didn't expect Justinian to know it clearly.

"I never blame you. Aarslan, the abstract thing like loyalty is never proved by a simple oath, but requires every word and action at all times, and you have already proved it to me. With this, there is no need to blame yourself." Justinian turned around and helped the Turkic man who was blaming himself and said.

This action made Arslan even more moved, and his loyalty to Justinian further deepened in his heart, which was exactly the effect Justinian needed. Every word he said to Arslan was true, but the most important thing was the effect, which would only seem redundant in normal times, but at this moment, its usefulness was enhanced by more than a thousand times.

Of course, he regarded Arslan in front of him as a friend, but because of this relationship, he wanted to strengthen the consciousness of the master and servant between them, which was also to prevent the friendship between the two sides from breaking down in the future, so that it was uncontrollable. At that time, Emperor Manuel and Rom Sultan Kilij Arslan II were friends who were sympathetic to each other, but in the end, they had to take the step of fighting for the hegemony of the empire. Justinian really didn't want him and his comrades in front of him to repeat the tragedy in the future.
Chapter completed!