Kingdom’s Bloodline

The second prince of Xingchen looked at the old king in surprise.

"But I'm here now." King Nuen turned his head to look at him, his tone was flat but his eyes were complicated: "I bet the future of the family on you, a Prince of Stars."

Thales suppressed the anxiety in his heart and let out a long sigh.

"My two sons," King Nun said with a gloomy face, "their fates, or their misfortunes, are surprisingly similar—but I still want to stand here, play with the chips, and win the future for Walton. "

Hearing King Nun's words, Thales shook his head secretly: "Nobles and rulers are another kind of creature, living by power—this is what Putillai told me."

"So you'd better get used to it as soon as possible." King Nuen put away his sad expression, and showed that tough and indifferent face again: "For your own good."

Thales closed his eyes gently.

King Nun's expression suddenly changed.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Thales mysteriously.

"Speaking of which, they didn't tell you, did they?" The old king clasped his hands together: "About your 'Year of Blood'... the truth?"

Thales opened his eyes in surprise and looked at King Nuen.

What he recalled from his mind was Queen Keya's hysteria first, followed by the names of Sariton and Shadow Shield.

Finally, there is the Canxing tomb in the Fuxing Palace.

The second prince shook his head slowly: "They don't talk much."

King Nun snorted softly.

"Then maybe I shouldn't talk too much." King Nuen turned his head back: "It's best not to interfere in the Canxing family's education."

Did you meddle too little? Thales secretly slandered.

but.

The Kingdom of Exeter was a direct participant in the Bloody Year - these invaders from the north.

Thales thought to himself: Maybe he knows something?

"Do you have any special news to tell me, Your Majesty?" Thales carefully used the honorific,

He shrugged: "Well, if you really think of me as your future grandson-in-law..."

Hearing his address and words, King Nun showed intriguing eyes, and then the old king laughed a few times.

"Look," the old king winked at him, "Actually, you will get used to it very quickly."

Thales responded with an ugly smile.

"Everything else, you will know from your teacher, from the country of the stars, and from your father," King Nuen stretched his elbows, with a delicate expression: "But I can tell you one thing - as a gift One of the allies' bargaining chips."

"Things that even your kingdom's secret department doesn't know."

Thales' expression changed.

The secret department doesn't know either?

His breathing began to quicken.

"Who do you think is the person who would kill the Canxing royal family like this?" King Nuen smiled mysteriously: "The real murderer behind the scenes."

Thales was puzzled in his heart.

The real... murderer?

That mysterious assassin organization, the "Shadow Shield" that just appeared in Peifit's mouth?

Gilbert once raised the possibility with him, but only said that King Kessel V had "revenged all that could be done."

Thales shook his head slowly.

"The reason is actually very simple, so simple that you can't believe it." King Nuen looked at him fixedly: "The members of the Canxing royal family were assassinated in a well-planned process almost at the same time, except for one person."

"I may not be sure about the others, but if the plan goes well, it seems that he is the one who will benefit from the Bloody Year?" King Nuen said in a strange tone.

Members of the Canxing royal family, except for one person?

Thales' heart moved, but he reacted immediately.

"You're not the first person to accuse my father in front of me and try to drive a wedge between us." Thales snorted softly.

King Nun just continued to stare at him with strange colors in his eyes.

Staring at him made him feel hairy.

"Use your brain, the future 'Dragon Clouds City Asylum'." A few seconds later, King Nuen sarcastically said, "I'm not referring to your father."

Thales frowned, and he sneered from his nose: "Then who else are you referring to? Can Xing who has not been assassinated..."

Suddenly, Thales was shocked and froze.

etc.

Can Xing, who was not assassinated...

Can Xing did not die because of an assassination...

Thales recalled Gilbert's words.

In the tragedy of the bloody year, there was only one prince who didn't die directly from assassination.

Nope.

Thales felt his heart beating faster.

The pale prince raised his head and looked at King Nuen in disbelief.

"Twelve years ago, when we broke through the Broken Dragon Fortress, we captured Rudolph Nantrest." King Nun put his hand on 'Triumph' and said silently.

Rudolph Nantrest?

Information related to him immediately appeared in Thales' brain, which was...

"He was the Duke of Yaland at that time." King Nun rubbed his ring, said lightly: "That guy is very tough, but the people in the Northland despised him for refusing to send troops in the fortress, watching Prince Horace fall cowardly act."

Thales recalled the conversation between Putillai and him when he paid homage to the former second prince, Horace Canstar, at Leman Pass.

One of the commanders of the Broken Dragon Fortress, who watched the second prince fall under the fortress, was the previous Duke of the Cliff Land, and was also the elder brother of the Duke of "One-Eyed Dragon", Kosd Nantryster.

According to Puttilai, he was captured by Exeter and later died in prison.

"We threw him in the dungeon, ignored him, and waited for the spring to continue south to the hinterland of the stars." Sure enough, King Nun's description was similar to Putilei's.

until the king's next words.

"But when the news of Canxing's royal family's assassination came, Rudolph, who was still half alive, struggled to see me at that time." King Nuen's expression became more and more serious: "In the fortress, he With tears in my eyes, it brought me a secret beyond my expectations."

Thales clenched his fists and listened quietly to the king's narration.

"During the days when Rudolph and Horace were defending the Broken Dragon Fortress, your Duke of the Yaland Territory discovered something that made him sleepless."

King Nun's eyes became sharper and sharper.

"Horace Canxing, the second prince of the Star Kingdom, the Light Tracing Sword you are proud of, once secretly recruited, organized, and trained a special mercenary team from various countries and regions— —Because he is outside the establishment of the Royal Guard and Canxing's private soldiers, and Prince Horace has always liked to make friends with all kinds of experts and brave men, so the stars have not been able to detect it for many years."

"It wasn't until the day that Horace officially activated that team," King Nun said softly, "Rudolph discovered some clues."

Thales couldn't help becoming nervous.

"Rudolph discovered that that team was given a task during that year," King Nunn's tone became very indifferent, and he bit out a sentence word by word: "How can people not be aware of it?" Land, lurking, hiding, infiltrating and even intruding, a fortress with the most airtight structure, the most heavily guarded, the most perfect defense, and the least likely to be broken through."

"Ah?" Thales said in surprise.

fortress?

The doubts in his heart deepened.

"When Horace took the risk of leading troops to attack and harass our supply line," King Nunn nodded, his brows were gloomy: "Rudolph Nantroist, who had been suspicious for a long time, found it from Prince Horace's bedroom. Quite a few things—from coded communications to secret ledgers."

King Nuen pulled his robe, took out a folded piece of cardboard from the inside pocket, and said coldly: "There is this stuff."

Trembling, Thales finished the folded paper and unfolded it flat.

That is a map.

On the map is a square building, plan view and side view.

Soon, Thales saw that this was a top view of that building, clearly marking the thick walls, the ubiquitous sentry towers, the terrifying city defense crossbow, a few narrow entrances, and the important entrances and exits in the building , passage, room...

Thales' pupils shrank suddenly!

This is……

Thales put his face close to the map with a face full of shock, staring at every inch of it, not letting go of every detail.

Next to the map are dense numbers, patterns, and action arrows—from the front door of the building to the interior.

He read the words above in disbelief,

Guard shifts, number of guards, places to hide, available entrances, patrol times for front and back doors, evacuation routes...

Thales was stunned.

No.

No way.

A few minutes later.

Xingchen's second prince gently put down the map, the astonishment and shock on his face hadn't dissipated.

King Nunn took in all his expressions.

"In view of the war with Xingchen at that time... I hid this secret and sent Rudolph back to Dragon Clouds City for secret custody—until he died in prison." King Nuen, who had just revealed the shocking secret, sighed.

"You can use this news as a bargaining chip and use it when you need it," King Nunn said softly to Thales: "The coward who has been reviled all the time, the Duke of Yadi who will not be saved, Rudolf Nan Trieste, I have been misunderstood for too long..."

"He is the one who is truly loyal to Eddie II from the beginning to the end."

Thales grabbed the map in his hand and squeezed it tighter and tighter.

"I don't think you forged this map." He said in a daze.

"What do you think?" King Nuen said dismissively, and then drank the wine in his glass.

"That mercenary team formed by Horace," Thales raised his head and murmured, "Who exactly are they?"

"I don't know, Rudolph didn't go into details." King Nuen looked at his empty cup, "He only mentioned that the leader of that mercenary army has strange skills..."

"And with a strange long sword."

Thales sat blankly on the steps, panting unconsciously.

He unconsciously returned the paper in his hand to King Nunn.

"You keep it, that thing is too ominous," the old king of Exeter shook his head, pushed back his hand, and said lightly: "And,"

"It's you after all..."

"The map of Fuxing Palace."

————

Dragon Clouds City, four thirty in the morning.

Under the dark night, in a shop on Xichi Avenue.

"Just pretend that the doctor you're looking for is really in the Palace of Heroes—God knows how he's going to sneak in," Gu, the butcher shop owner from the Far East, looked gloomy under the light of a faint unextinguishable lamp He said to the man in front of him, "But do you understand the price of saving someone from the Palace of Heroes?"

But the man in front of him just lowered his head, carefully, earnestly, almost critically, and wiped the weird long sword with strange shape and black body on his leg for the last time.

Gu let out a breath, and using his common tongue with a northern retroflex, he patiently emphasized to the man in front of him: "You have to climb the hill all the way, avoid the night order officers and patrols on the street, and pass through Two private soldiers guarded the aristocratic area, and then crossed the towers and sentry posts, and rushed to the area separating the city and the Palace of Heroes before being discovered and pierced by crossbow arrows and hard bows, or hacked to death by hundreds of people with swords and axes The gates of..."

The man stood up, threw down the rag to wipe the weapon, raised the strange black sword in his hand, and pointed it at the ceiling.

Gu's words continued: "Then climb over the ten-meter-high gate..."

"Tonight is the banquet night at the Palace of Heroes," the man raised his head, squinting his eyes at his sword, as if he was observing the arc of the sword. It will open, I don't have to climb the wall, the chances are better than usual."

"How to do it? From inside and outside the gate, even between the palace guards on the gate, under the moonlight and firelight, and walk under their eyes that are bigger than fists?" Gu suppressed his breathing, but couldn't help raising his voice. up the volume:

"Even if you break through the gate, you have to face countless guards of the Palace of Heroes who are patrolling in groups—all of them are strictly selected from the local conscripts and trained by the instructors of the White Blade Guard. They are fierce, loyal, Brave, alert, sharp-eyed..."

The man hung the cleaned strange sword back to the sword belt around his waist, and tightened the wrapped weapon behind his back.

But Gu is still trying to stop him.

"We assume that you can not disturb them, but what about after sneaking into the Palace of Heroes? You have to face the White Blade Guard, the Dragon Guard! There may only be two or three hundred people on duty, scattered in the palace, but every Everyone is a veteran with rich front-line experience, there are countless super-level experts, and there are even meteorites who have the 'soul-breaking blade' in the extreme..."

The man moved his joints, turned his head and walked towards the door.

Gu followed behind him, speaking earnestly: "Do you know what a 'veteran' is? It's not as simple as having seen blood in battle, according to Exeter's standards... Once you are entangled by one of them... ..."

The man didn't listen to Gu's words, he pressed his hand on the door, and a strange force surged up.

In an instant, everything on the street outside the door, from the patrols in the distance to the hounds nearby, the man knew everything in his mind.

"Even if it's you, you actually want to sneak into a heavily guarded and impeccable palace alone without any response... and even get someone out..." After talking for a long time, Gu sighed deeply and stroked himself. forehead: "You are really crazy."

The man didn't answer, he stood up, looked at the frowning Gu, and nodded.

"Gu," he said calmly, "Next time you want to lie to me, find some other reason—at least don't use a sensory magician."

Gu Yi was taken aback, showing a puzzled expression.

"Um?"

Only Gu himself knows that at this moment his heart has already set off a stormy sea.

"What did you say?" The man from the Far East used what he believed to be a flawless reaction, and asked with doubts on his face: "What reason?"

The man patted Gu on the shoulder.

Gu frowned.

"I don't understand sensory magicians," the man showed a stiff smile, "but I understand you, Gu."

Gu Weiwei was taken aback.

"You are good at hiding all kinds of emotions, but I can recognize them..." The man pressed his black sword and shook his head slightly: "People who live with masks also live with pain."

Under his sleeves, Gu silently clenched his fists.

"Also," the man turned around, pushed open the door, and left the last sentence:

"Say hello to Morat for me - I haven't seen him for twelve years, really miss him."

At that moment, Gu's smile froze on his face.

Gu Dai froze in place, watching the man disappear outside the door, into the deep darkness.

Just like him in the past.

The next minute, a man's figure appeared on the roof of a low house.

In the vast expanse of falling snow, he raised his head and looked at the dark moon shrouded in clouds and mists in the sky.

Then, his gaze skipped far away from the districts of Longxiao City that stretched up the mountainside, passed through several city gates, and reached the majestic and magnificent palace at the very top.

That was the Walton family, the residence of the Grand Dukes of Dragon Clouds City for generations.

It is also the seat of the current King of Exeter.

Palace of Heroes.

The man remembered Gu's words just now:

Skip the guards and sneak into a heavily guarded and impenetrable palace?

He patted the strange black sword on his waist lightly, with a smile on his lips.

well.

In this respect, I can be regarded as... The man gently closed his eyes.

You have a lot of experience.

The next moment, the figure of the man disappeared into the snow.