The "Swamp and the Stag" tavern never closes, and for a hundred years it has stood in the easternmost alley of the Temple of Dionysus. Although the tall building slanted to the south like a drunken maniac, Brant had no doubt that it would continue to stand for another hundred years. Ale, cider, wine and fermented mare's milk from the Sand Riding Kingdom were sold to passers-by, and sailors and singers, monks and princes, apprentices and thieves were all regulars.

There was a short distance from the palace to the tavern, and the roads were so narrow and winding that even a beggar who knew the road well would get lost and make several rounds.

Running so far to drink, they probably won't find me. Branthegan ducked in the shadow of the corner candle and gulped down the hard cider.

The lobby of the tavern was bustling with activity, with monks in coarse linen robes sitting around a table, talking about God and women; The blacksmith master, with his hair lost and his beard luxuriant, sat a young prostitute on each leg, boasting to his table mates about how brave the rune weapons he had made were on the battlefield; Diagonally opposite the table were two mercenary knights talking in a low voice, their hands secretly touching under the table, and a deal had just been negotiated; A young singer at the bar was plucking the harp and playing an explicit ballad while touching the chest of a passing waitress; The table farther away had been overturned, and a drunken homeless man had fallen asleep on the ground by a drunken fellow. "Long live the King!" I don't know who mentioned yì, but there was a chorus in the lobby, and even Brant in the corner raised his wine glass, smiled and shouted: "Long live the king!" ”

At this moment the door opened, and the cool night breeze poured in from outside, and Brant finally saw the man who had entered the tavern—a short man in a gray linen cloak, with a hood on his head covering most of his face, no armor or a sword, and all that could be identified was the swinging waist of walking—a woman under the gray robe.

The woman walked straight to the bar. There sat an old man, dressed in a speckled deerskin tunic with a tie tightly tied over his big belly, and a tousled red beard that covered his cheeks and chin like a dirty mess of straw. The old man was alone, drinking the ale in his cup with a sad expression, and it was not until the gray-robed woman approached that he raised his cloudy eyes: "Sir? Or is it a lady? ”

"I'm not a lady," a wuffled voice came from the gray robe, "I'm here to apologize to you. My brother is Florian Lucas. ”

As soon as the old man heard the name Florian, he immediately became excited, and with a wave of his hand, he pushed the woman to her feet, "Get out of here!" He pointed at the gray-robed woman and scolded, "Your brother ** my daughter, and also discounted her three ribs!" You moths who only eat and don't work, noble lords! It's not enough to whip us during the day, but at night we climb into our beds and insult our women! His words caught the attention of the others, and all eyes turned to the gray-robed woman, who had been pushed by the old man and was now facing in the direction of Brant.

A red light shone in Brant's eyes, directing his gaze to the woman's breast—it was the light of a ruby, and looking up down the woman's neck, hidden between the collar was a ruby necklace, on which the gems were full and brightly colored, the largest of which was the size of a pigeon's egg, set on a sterling silver tray, and decorated with an iris in each of the four directions.

It turned out to be Miss Castina, her brother's new favorite. There was always no shortage of beautiful women around Clio, and he had taken this Miss Castina to a royal dinner or twice, and he didn't remember anything else, but the string of rubies on her chest impressed Brandt. Drinking and meeting his brother's mistress, Brant suddenly lost interest, drank the cider in his glass in one gulp, and prepared to leave.

"I sincerely apologize to you and your daughter, and ask you to drop the charges against my brother, I assure you, Florian is not a cruel child, he must have drunk too much or listened to the instigation of bad companions, you know, boys love face," Castina's voice sounded extremely sad, she grabbed the old man's arm and begged for his forgiveness, "Please, Uncle Jason, if you don't drop the charges, Florian's life will be over." ”

"Don't mention that name again!" Old Jason glared at her, "What about my Lola?" Will she be better off in this life? What decent gentleman would marry her, and which lord's castle would take her as a maid? When she walked down the street, people would stone her and say that she was a shameless prostitute, and that her final destination was to marry an old and ugly farmer with a disability, or to work as a secret prostitute with some Scambrai theater troupe, until she was sold into an unknown brothel! ”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry......" Castina lowered her head and then untied the ruby necklace around her neck, "I'll make it up to you, it's the only thing I've got on me, and my parents will bring more compensation later, so please take back the charge anyway." ”

Old Jason was so angry that he blushed as much as his beard, and he waved away Kastyna again, along with the necklace she handed over, "You self-proclaimed nobles, do you think you can do whatever you want if you have money?" Ran to someone else's house to steal jianyin, and after the incident, he threw down a few copper plates and patted his ass and left? He clenched the ivory glass in his hand and gurgled, "You will have retribution!" Your souls will be dragged into hell by Kerberus, where there is a spiky ground and a boulder that crushes you, and the blood you shed with every step is a sin you have done in this world! With that, he ignored Kastina's pestering and threw his glass away.

Brant stooped down to pick up the ruby choker at his feet, looked at it for a moment, and then looked at the dejected Kastina, whose hood was swept back by old Jason in the struggle, revealing a beautiful face and long golden waterfall hair.

"Oh! Such a deep and beautiful chick! Faced with Castina's beauty, the people in the tavern began to whisper, and one table even laughed out loud, "Old Jason is a big loss this time, people raped his daughter, he can rape other people's sisters!" "Hehe, this girl is much more punctual than his Lola!" "Why don't we go up and get justice for poor little Lola!" Three ill-intentioned men leaned over from the table, and Kastina ducked back, her back to the bar, unable to retreat. The tavern owner, a middle-aged man chewing tobacco leaves, looked at this qiē with a smile and said nothing.

Look, malicious commoners and cruel aristocrats, all virtuous.

The night was perfect, though—Brandt tucked the ruby choker around his waist, stood up and punched the three rookies.

I'm the dividing line*******

Satisfied, Brant got up from the ground, looked around the smashed tavern, threw a silver coin at the counter, and said to the boss, "Sorry for smashing your rosewood chair, I'm sitting comfortably." But you'll have to pack up here and I'll be back tomorrow. Then he pulled the stunned beauty Castina out of the "Swamp and the Stag" tavern.

"Damn, this tavern lives up to its name!" Brandt staggered, and his mouth did not forget to admire, "These people fight like stags, and the ground is really like a swamp." ”

"That's because you're drunk, Your Highness." From the moment he struck, Castina recognized Branthegan, the second son of the King of Winevalley.

"Who?" Brandt pulled out the ruby choker from his belt and shook it in front of his eyes, "Which prince would get drunk?" ”

Kastina angrily snatched the chain and remained silent. The two men walked silently in the dark night, following the direction of the alley in the direction of the Temple of Wine.

I don't know how long I walked, until the lights of the Temple of Dionysus appeared in front of them, and the two of them stopped in unison. "I thought I'd get a kiss, or at least a 'thank you'." Brant shrugged his shoulders in the darkness, "But it doesn't matter, thank you for walking so far with me, goodbye, Miss Kastina." With that, Brant turned and walked in the other direction.

"I should hate you." Ice and fire clashed in Castina's eyes, and finally, she finally sighed, took the initiative to walk up to Brant, and said, "You heard it all, my brother and he...... He went to prison. This is a big mistake! Although our Lucas family is rich, we are all decent people, and we never oppress the good......" She also wanted to defend her brother, but from Brandt's gradually cold eyes, she still saw the need to change direction, so she said, "Florian came to enlist in the royal guard of His Royal Highness the Prince, and I, because of my playfulness, ran out secretly, we left the poor town of our hometown and came to a metropolis like the Temple of Wine, where we had crazy fun and tried all kinds of novelties and excitement until——"

"Until your brother made the same mistake that all noble sons love to make?" Brandt smiled contemptuously.

Kastyna nodded, "Yes, he committed a crime, and I didn't have time to stop him. I was so anxious that I didn't dare to inform my family, and I spent all the money I had and didn't see my brother. So I turned to God and prayed that He would give me a chance," Kastina's eyes sparkled in the darkness, "My God must have heard my prayers!" Someone told me that as long as the prince of Creon was engaged to the princess of the Land of Midsummer, the king would grant amnesty to the whole world, and my brother would be acquitted at that time! But who knows, who knows......" She looked at Brant, her eyes mixed with gratitude and resentment.

"Who knew that it was the second son who was engaged." Brant pointed out clearly. In fact, this is also the reason why Brandt hid from the palace, he was an idler, hoping to have a good relationship with his bastard brother, and when he became king, he could give himself a small castle. However, a palace coup d'état in the country of Midsummer completely changed his leisurely life - his father originally sent an envoy to propose marriage to his eldest son Creon, but it was temporarily changed by the new Queen of Midsummer to marry the second son, and even the princess is not that princess anymore, the second son is right for the second daughter, ha, just right. Brandt was suddenly caught in the crosshairs, he was afraid of the questioning and whispering of the people in the court, and he didn't know how to face his father and brother, so he could only choose to escape.

"When the news came from the palace guards, I realized what a cruel joke Heaven had played on me, it gave me hope, but it was ruthlessly taken away, and I had no choice but to turn around and beg the victims, begging them to drop the charges. But as you can see, no matter how much I ask them, it won't work. I'm hopeless, am I? Kastina wiped her tears and sobbed, "No matter how hard I try, I can't do it, can I?" ”

"But you know Creon," you're his mistress, and Brandt finally couldn't hold back his words, and put it mildly, "You can use the prince's power." To put it bluntly, this is also Brother Childe's disorderly sex after drinking too much, it's not a big deal. ”

"The prince is an upright man!" "Do you think if he knew that my brother was flawed, he would have asked him to be his royal guard?" ”

"A man of integrity." Brandt played with the word, no, no one who knew Creon would ever say that about him. "Forgive me for taking the liberty of taking the liberty of it, where have you and my brother been?"

Castina didn't expect Brant to ask such a question, and for a moment she stomped her foot, turned her head back, and glared at him in the dark, but finally answered his question, "Anyway, we didn't cross the line!" ”

Brant shrugged his eyebrows and smiled, "That means I haven't gotten laid yet." "It makes sense, Creon treats women like prey, always playing a few rounds of cat and mouse before pounce and swallow it, believing that he has not yet reached the point where he will reveal his true face to Castina. He continued to ask, "Do you love him?" ”

Castina didn't understand why he was asking such explicit questions, but her instincts told her that Brant could be trusted—he asked questions because he wanted to help himself; If he kept his mouth shut, it would be hopeless. So she thought for a while and replied to him seriously: "I don't know if I'm in love with him, but I'm fascinated by him." ”

"Hah!" Brandt smiled sharply, "All the girls are fascinated by him." ”

That sounds a little off.

By the light of the fire from the temple of Dionysus, Kastina raised her head and looked carefully at the second son of Sakatani in front of her. For a prince, Brant was not rough, and even in the darkness Castina could feel the stubble on his face. The prince had hard edges, deep-set eyes, a straight nose, and because he liked to shrug his brows, his broad forehead was always flat with three folds, which made him seem to care nothing; And once he tightens his eyebrows and his eyes become serious, you will find that he is actually very handsome. But at the moment his expression was not so pleasing to the eye, because he raised his eyebrows again, and a muddy smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if to say, "I didn't take it seriously".

"You've asked so much, can you help me?" Kastyna was running out of patience, she felt like a fool, being played around by Brandt.

"It depends on whether your brother is really a boy with a good nature, as you said." Brant reached for Castina's ruby necklace, "I'll go to the prison to take a look, I'll take this first, the second son never helps others for free." ”

Kastyna felt a burst of ecstasy in her heart, and the man in front of her gave her hope, God, I hope that this time I will not let my hope be disappointed again! "Thank you! Thank you! Your Highness! ”

"Wait for me here at the same time tomorrow." Brandt raised the necklace in his hand and walked towards the Temple of Dionysus

(l~1`x*>+``+