On July 8, 1917, the Entente forces captured Eggenfelden in Germany. But before Dante-Christophe could celebrate, Germans came knocking.
A young officer stepped before Dante-Christophe and said, "Commander, soldiers at the front have just found a German major general. He specifically demanded to see you, saying he has something very important to tell you. He also said that if you are a true noble, then you must see him!"
Dante-Christophe was slightly taken aback. Could the Germans on the other side be seeking negotiations? That did not seem right either—if it were negotiations, they would not make such a grand spectacle of it, would they?
Could it be surrender? That was even less likely. They had held up the allied forces for over twenty days and suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. Who would believe they would simply give up now?
That phrase—"a true noble"—made his blood boil even more. Well, what could he do? He was a noble who had risen from nothing. Put bluntly, without a century of heritage, how could you have the nerve to call yourself a true noble?
In all of Bulgaria, only King Ferdinand counted as a true noble. Everyone else was essentially nouveau riche!
There was no helping it. Bulgaria had only been independent for a few decades—where were they supposed to find nobles with inherited lineage? If there truly had been any, how could it have been Ferdinand's turn to become king?
Besides, under Ottoman Empire rule, even if there had been nobles, they would have been nobles of the Ottoman Empire. European society would never recognize them!
But Dante-Christophe absolutely refused to admit that he was nouveau riche. Forcefully suppressing the anger in his heart, he said, "Bring that German major general here."
At the same time, faraway Ferdinand in