Kingdom’s Bloodline

In the dead silence, Thales quietly looked at the helpless guard on the ground who had nowhere to go.

Looking at this group of men who are in despair and are about to fall apart.

I have many thoughts.

"Why."

Little Barney knelt on the ground, stiff and lifeless.

"Father?"

He stared blankly at Naki, but as if looking at a stranger:

"Why?"

"Why did he do this to me?"

Except for Naki, almost everyone turned their faces away, only Belletti and Nai were left speechless in astonishment.

"You really don't know?"

Naki asked a question, sneered and sarcastically said:

"So you live like a child in Fuxing Palace, you don't know anything, you don't care about anything, you just want to be a loyal and stupid pawn?"

No one spoke.

Only the fast rope whispered in Thales's ear: "The situation is not good... I think they all forgot to run for their lives, and forgot to find a way out..."

Thales shook his head deeply, thoughtfully:

"It's not that they forgot to run for their lives, they just... don't care anymore."

Quick Rope was taken aback:

"What about us?"

But Thales still just shook his head seriously and ignored him.

Kuaisheng, anxious to look forward and backward, scratched his head and scratched his head.

"Why, father."

But little Barney is still expressionless like a puppet, as if speaking into the air:

"Why did he do that?"

Naki looked at little Barney bitterly, and snorted softly.

Samir looked at little Barney with a heavy expression, and lightly clenched his fist.

"You're really an outlier, Barney," Naki looked at the broken little Barney, with a look of relief after revenge on his face, but his voice was still sad:

"You are a noble person who is born in a noble family, but abandons your family and blood like a shoe, Quill Barney."

"But in fact, if it wasn't for him, if you weren't from the Barney family, one of the Seven Star Attendants, you wouldn't even have the chance to join the guard."

Naki said coldly:

"Like all of us."

A noble existence who abandons family and lineage like a shoe...

Little Barney's lips trembled.

As soon as this remark was made, Belletti, Nai, Taldin and Bree, who looked downcast, and even Cannon, who was trembling, all lowered their heads.

Only Samir, he still stared at Naki motionlessly.

But Thales felt something, and he took a step forward subconsciously.

"Why?"

The boy's sudden words attracted everyone's attention:

"If you don't want to tell him, tell me."

"Tell Canxing the last bloodline."

Thales' words floated in the dungeon, and even the fast rope was taken aback.

This sentence made Naki stunned for a moment, as if he had reacquainted with the young man in front of him, he looked at him steadily.

As if to recognize something from the dignified face of the other party.

"Hey, these lunatics are enough to cause headaches," Quick Rope held Thales' shoulders and whispered anxiously: "We should concentrate on finding a way out now..."

"What else do you want to do?"

But Thales just took a breath, and firmly grabbed the fast rope's hand:

"Like you said, looking for our way of life."

Quick Rope was taken aback.

Thales looked at Naki again, his eyes turned around on the keys in his hand.

"Tell me, why did Barney's father and you, even Sackel, do that?"

Thales frowned tightly:

"In other words, the King of Changzhi back then, Eddie II, what else did he do besides what Sackel said, the so-called Three Disasters Alliance?"

Naki's eyes gradually became confused.

Little Barney raised his head blankly, but just repeated that sentence:

"Why, father."

Naki looked at everyone in a daze, but found that many people looked away, only Samir stared at him closely.

Finally, he figured out something, and chuckled in relief:

"you're right,

Your Highness, the tragedy of that year was far more than just the struggle between His Majesty and the traitor, not just the game between loyalty and betrayal, not just the hostility between the stars and the world. "

"Whether it's natural disasters or rebels, the kingdom's chaos back then, of course, happened for a reason."

Thales' brows became tighter and tighter.

"The punishment knight thought that the former king was confused by some legendary monster, and that some people were conspiring to bring disaster to the kingdom, but that was all his wishful thinking."

Naki returned to the state of no one else, as if seeing the past:

"Because Sackel is just an antique surname that has been in decline for a thousand years, and he doesn't even have a castle fief, so he is too naive and he doesn't feel it."

"We don't feel our despair."

When he said this, Naki trembled all over.

Tardin on the other side let out a soft sigh.

Taylor's heart moved:

"despair?"

Naki took a breath, recalled those most unbearable years, and said with a desolate smile:

"Back then, there were countless rumors circulating in the Fuxing Palace. Not everyone knew about the taboos of the former king and disasters, but there was one thing that everyone was very clear about."

Many people's breathing became disordered.

The kneeling little Barney slowly focused his eyes.

"What's that?" Thales listened solemnly.

I saw Naki turned his head and said in a daze:

"During those years, His Majesty wanted to do something: he gave a lot of orders."

make a difference.

A lot of commands.

Thales' heart tightened.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered the old crow's class.

"So we...whether it's Belletti, Tardin, Barney, the upstart 'Seven Stars' who are directly under the royal family and have risen for a hundred years since the era of the wise king, or the so-called thirteen royal servants such as Tarun, Karabiyan, etc. We have seen and experienced all the famous families, up to the founding six giants such as Aaronde and Tebak.”

Little Barney recovered from the blow, and stared at Naki in a daze.

I saw Naji sweeping over every guard brother, and quietly said:

"Following every move of His Majesty..."

"The days are getting sadder, the future is getting more hopeless, and our future as nobles is even more bleak."

Thales was taken aback.

Tardin's face changed slightly, he hesitated to speak.

But before he could say anything, Thales, who had already had a premonition, hurriedly urged:

"what happened?"

Naki raised his dull eyes, shook his head with a half-smile, his tone was full of sourness: "I don't know..."

"First of all, the land measurement order has drastically reduced my family's land..."

"Farm households on arable land moved to the city because of the household registration order..."

He spoke eloquently, eyes fascinated.

"The lord's bureaucrats lost their prestige after the order to clean up officials..."

"Our lives are bankrupted by tax orders..."

"In the territory and the castle, we had to disband the army of servants to reduce expenses, and mothers and sisters had to sell jewelry to make ends meet..."

The faces of the guard prisoners went from bad to worse.

Naki sneered:

"The irony is that the mud-legged upstarts can live in a position comparable to ours with money, but it is illegal for us to raise taxes on our own fiefs to tide over the difficulties..."

"There is also the damn naming order, which clearly divides our titles and duties..."

"And finally, the relocation order that came with the general edict..."

Just listen to Naki shaking his head sarcastically:

"The six wealthy families and the thirteen noble families, maybe their families have a great career, can withstand setbacks and losses, and can withstand the king's sanction, but for our families who are neither high nor low..."

He stared at the void obsessively:

"It's like overnight, the whole world has changed—the happiness and stability you used to take for granted have all turned into disaster and turmoil."

"Can you imagine?"

"At this time, being born in a noble family doesn't sound so good anymore."

The usual happiness and stability turned into disaster and turmoil...

Thales was stunned.

Naki spoke slowly, but no one interrupted him.

His tone was rather self-defeating and exhausted, and Thales' face darkened every time he said a word.

Assassination, foreign enemies, war, conspiracy...

At one time, he thought that this was all that the Bloody Year would reveal, but now it seems...

Thales thought of the old crow Heather.

And a lesson he had taught himself.

Win and lose.

Enemy and friend.

[Don’t underestimate the war itself—it’s far from being as simple as you think. It’s not a game of winning or losing, benefit or cost, and survival or death. 】

[The Year of Blood. 】

[In addition to victory and defeat, from what angle and to what extent should we evaluate this tragic year full of wars? 】

At this moment, the boy was suddenly touched by it,

The Bloody Year is not just a war, a conflict, a contradiction, and it is not just the grievances between the two emperors and the disasters.

Everything is fused in the melting pot of the Star Kingdom back then, and there is no way to escape.

Kings, countries, nobles, disasters, politics, they are all twisted together, influencing each other in this melting pot, entangled with each other, and it is difficult to disassemble.

Thales thought of the star "virtuous king" who made Lunba very wary.

Mindis III.

A strange conjecture came to Thales' mind, but he was quickly shaken out of his mind.

"I used to wonder why, when people's hearts were scattered and chaos was about to occur, why were they as prominent and powerful as the six guardian dukes, and as powerful as the thirteen noble families, they all swallowed their majesty's orders and accepted them in silence."

"But after listening to what Sackel said, I seem to understand," Naki curled the corner of his mouth, showing a bitter and hopeless smile to Thales:

"When you see standing behind His Majesty is a terrible disaster passed down from generation to generation in the family, maybe you don't have much choice."

Naki's expression dimmed, making Thales feel even more uncomfortable.

"I dare not and cannot judge His Majesty. After all, he is the king of the stars. I must obey whatever he says, not to mention that he possesses such irresistible power..."

The more he went on, the lower his mood became, and the more painful his tone became.

This made Thales lower his head subconsciously.

"However, when I returned to my dilapidated home, I saw my wife selling her dowry, my son suffering from hunger and hunger, my sister who was waiting to be married was sallow and emaciated, and the lord's father on the hospital bed borrowing money from merchants while clinging to the family for no reason. The last piece of aristocratic dignity..."

Naki's words were full of sorrow, which made many guard prisoners look strange.

Thales didn't speak.

Naki came back to his senses, and looked at Thales again, with vicissitudes in his eyes.

"Since I was sensible, my father taught me this way: The Naki family has been fief since the time of the Xianjun, and we are loyal to the Canxing family because we know that our status comes from the power of the royal family. Being together is a symbol of our loyalty, but..."

Like a drowning man looking at the last straw, Naki looked at Thales eagerly and longingly, the color in his eyes was like the grayness before dying:

"Tell me, Your Highness, shouldn't the king protect the interests and dignity of his vassals, shouldn't he protect the abundance and happiness of his subjects? Why is the more loyal we are to His Majesty and the kingdom, the more... ..."

Naki's tone faltered, he paused, confused and puzzled:

"Are I not loving my kingdom enough, or is my kingdom not loving me enough?"

At that moment, Thales, who was in a sour mood, opened his mouth to speak.

But he couldn't say anything.

At that moment, all guard members in the dungeon fell silent.

Naki snorted, and his whole body was filled with the relief of abandoning everything:

"So, in the day-to-day confusion and increasingly heavy despair, when someone promises us hope, someone tells us that all this is just a momentary stupor of the king, but the obsession of the princes in the court, and we need What I did was just a moment of silent waiting..."

He didn't say any more.

On the other side, Cannon started to sob again, Bree stopped humming, Tardin was in a daze, and Belletti and Nye, who were unaware, were in a daze.

Only Barney Jr. and Samuel, one obsessively whispering words he could understand, and the other holding a weapon through gritted teeth.

"Tell me, Your Highness, on one side is a beautiful wife and weak son full of hope, on the other side is the gentle and benevolent His Majesty the King, on the other side is the gentle and benevolent King, the cruel and ruthless King's decree, the life-engraving The oath of the guard..."

Naki twisted his face, his eyes were moist:

"Who should I be loyal to, and whom should I betray?"

Thales gently closed his eyes.

"Father," Little Barney pressed his head in pain, "Father..."

"No, you...no, all of this is too unfair..."

Little Barney's groan was low in the air.

thump.

On the other side, Tardin knelt down on the ground, covering his face, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Naki laughed nervously, and raised the key in his hand:

"If you are loyal to His Majesty and the stars, it means betraying the family you came from and the wife and children you love..."

"Tell me, Your Highness, what should I do to be counted as betrayal, what should be done to be considered as loyalty?"

Thales exhaled with difficulty.

He was speechless.

Naki looked at the prince's appearance and smiled.

"It's okay, because I finally understand, look at what we are now..."

He glanced at everyone, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

"Whether it's Jenny, Luna, my beloved wife and children..."

"And my Majesty, my oath..."

Naki stared at the empty void with bewilderment:

"Whether loyal or betrayal..."

"We all have nothing."

At this moment, Thales felt that the air in the dungeon was stagnant and solemn like never before.

With a thick dead air.

At this moment, an empty and dull voice, with the same pain and hesitation, sounded out of thin air.

"enough."

The sound echoed in the dimly lit room.

Everyone trembled.

In the other direction, the penalty knight Sackel was weakly leaning on the wall, struggling to keep his unsteady footsteps, standing in the shadow outside the storage room, his eyes were illusory, and his voice was intermittent:

"Nake, that's enough."

He said painfully:

"Don't...say any more."

??Calm down, I went on a long trip more than a week ago, that's all.

?

????