The banquet at the palace had come to an end amid the noise, and Ying Li dragged me out into a garden outside the hall.

The garden is built on a hillside recess, like a platform carved out of the mountain wall halfway up the mountain, and the garden is covered with turquoise vines, ivy, grapevines, and creepers, which give the stone wall a deep green.

There were hardly any people here, and the two palace guards were guarding the gate of the garden, and two lazy palace maids were hiding in the garden, and when they saw our group suddenly break in, they were so frightened that they didn't even bother to salute us and ran away from the side door.

I took two steps forward, holding the fence with both hands and looking down, from here I could see the mountains on the west side of the crater of Mount Majaro, a red sun was gradually disappearing in the mountains, and the shadows between the mountains spread from the foot of the west side to the east with the momentum of thousands of horses, this black and white shadow dividing line was like a curtain pulling the imperial capital into the dusk.

I hesitated, took a deep breath and said to Ying Li: "I'm sorry, I haven't been able to confess to you before, but I actually ......"

Before I could finish my sentence, Ying Li was interrupted: "Widow of the Marquis de Colin Babington, I know her, the matter between you and the Duke of Ryan is in an uproar, and the whole imperial capital is talking about you at that time, of course I will not be unaware. ”

Ying Li turned to look at me and said, "Of course I mind, but I don't think her presence will be the relationship between us, am I right? Look into my eyes......

"What?"

Ying Li suddenly stepped forward, stretched out his hands from my left and right sides, and hugged me tightly, putting his chin on my shoulder.

I put my arms around her slender waist, the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the mountain wall golden from behind her, and she and I stood quietly on the vine-covered terrace, and a group of Gripen knights passed in front of us, and the Gripen rider at the head couldn't help but whistle loudly when he saw this scene on the garden alcove.

When Ying Li and I came out of the hidden garden, we happened to see Ernestine holding Zack's arm and standing in the courtyard talking to a group of young nobles.

The recent war in the Hiero plane ended, and the Duke of Samoyed sent several Constructed Knights to follow Zack deep into the desert depths of Salta Province to exterminate several arrogant sand bandit gangs.

Many of the lords in the banquet hall wanted to make sure of you, the heir of the province of Durva, the upstart in the eyes of His Majesty Charles, and they looked at Zack from time to time, trying to find a gap to talk to Zack, and when they saw Zack leave a group of friends around him, someone immediately greeted them, but they were whispered by Zack and refused, until the two of them walked in front of me and Yingli, and they didn't stop.

Zach stretched out his hand and punched me in the shoulder, and said to me cordially: "Jijia, I heard that you went to the Haiyuan City of the Kana Sea Clan, and I thought that I would not see you during the harvest festival, but I didn't expect you to come back from Haiyuan City so soon, how is it, is this trip to Kana going well?"

"Okay, I'm done with things on the Hiero plane?" I asked, looking at Zack, who had some greenish skin.

"The Knights have returned to Durva to recuperate, and will be idle until next spring. Zach laughed and seemed in a good mood.

"What are your plans for the near future?" I asked Ernestine, saying that the lady in front of me had the final say in many things.

"What's the plan...... When the Constructed Knights are finished, they may return to the Hiero plane and extend the battle line to the hot sand dam of the Swamp Sea, and this time it is best to drive the Nibru into the Great Rift Valley. Ernestine thought for a moment and said to me.

I think she gave me this information to wonder if I would be interested in participating, after all, the southern forests of the Black Forest are in the hands of the War Ancient Tree, and even if there is a war with the Nibru Spider Clan, the Constructed Knight Legion of Dulwa Province will have to obtain a pass from the War Ancient Tree if they want to enter the swamp sea.

At this time, His Majesty Charles stood on the high platform of the open-air garden in front of the palace, stretched out his hand and made an inviting gesture to the Empress, who put one hand on the palm of His Majesty's hand, lifted the hem of the court dress with the other, saluted His Majesty, and then walked down the steps with His Majesty Charles and stepped onto the dance floor.

The royal band played soothing music on the side, His Majesty Charles danced on the dance floor with the queen in his arms, and all the princes and ministers and new nobles and royal relatives gathered around the dance floor to enjoy the first dance of His Majesty Charles and the queen, His Majesty Charles is the kind of person who is exceptionally burly, although the steps on the dance floor are not so light, but there is a killing atmosphere on the battlefield between the steps, and it can be seen that His Majesty Charles is also a strong man who has come down from the battlefield,

In contrast, the queen's dance steps are a little more old-fashioned, and her delicate face has little expression, she straightens her waist, and every step is just right, and she has an aristocratic demeanor all the time.

The opening song of the ball was very short, and after His Majesty Charles and the Queen only took a few turns on the dance floor, the music stopped for a while, and His Majesty Charles stopped and waved to the surrounding crowd, and suddenly a large group of noble lords led their female companions down the dance floor, and the music sounded again.

I walked around the dance floor with Ying Li in my arms, and when I turned to the edge of the dance floor, I happened to see a handsome young nobleman on the edge of the dance floor inviting Le Die, but Le Die's face had the arrogance of an elf, and he didn't give the young nobleman any good looks, and the two of them were also very cold when they talked.

The young nobleman bowed and bent down and stretched out his hand, Le Die actually turned around and left, ran to the rest area and sat down, causing the young nobleman to stand in place with an embarrassed face.

Ying Li smiled and asked me, "Do you want to try to invite her, I don't think she doesn't want to dance." ”

I quickly shook my head and said, "I don't want to be rejected in front of so many people, it's too embarrassing." ”

The music of this dance stopped, I pulled Ying Li to the edge of the dance floor, and was just about to pull Helena off the dance floor together, when I saw Zach come over, smiled at me and Ying Li, he was very gentlemanly to Ying Li invitation, Ying Li looked up at me, saw that I had no objection, so he readily agreed to Zack's invitation.

At this time, Ernestine stood in front of me with his hands on his chest, she was wearing a black and purple evening dress and long skirt, her toned figure was extremely well-proportioned due to her height of nearly one meter nine, especially a long leg looming under the long skirt, I didn't expect Ernestine to have such a woman's side, I smiled at her and nodded, took Helena's hand and wanted to walk in front of her, but she stretched out her hand to stop her.

Just as I looked at her in amazement, she savagely dragged me onto the dance floor, leaving Helena standing there with a stunned face, and the music played......

Ernestine stood in front of me, a head taller than me, I had to tilt my head to meet her eyes, reach out and put my arm around her waist, and with every step I could feel the muscles around the waistcoat line, the feeling was not very good, but Ernestine looked very proud, and when I looked at eye level, I just saw her evening dress high, the towering chest, the scar that looked a little shocking, the center of the bear's sternum extended down into the V-shape of the evening dress, and the fine needle eye on the scar was still from my craft.

I looked up just in time to meet her gaze, and Ernestine smiled smirkedly at me.

Ernestine had the smell of walking down from the battlefield, it was condensed with the blood of the enemy, whether it was her eyes or the momentum with which she walked, she looked at me calmly, she stared at me and asked, "Do you want to cross the swamp sea with us to see the Great Rift Valley behind the hot sand dam." ”

I'm still curious about the land south of the Black Forest in the Hiero plane, across the swamp sea is the Great Rift Valley, the real birthplace of the ancient tree clan, and now the base camp of the Nebru people has been established there, and the sea of spores on the other side of the Great Rift Valley, it can be said that the Black Forest is only a part of the Hiero plane, and there is still a large area of the Hiero plane that is completely unknown to us.

Hearing Ernestine's invitation, I agreed, "Of course, but that will be after I return from the wild swamps of Strange Rock City." ”

Ernestine looked at me in surprise and asked, "You're going to Strange Rock City?"

I nodded and said, "Well, I've been planning for a long time, and I'm going to take a walk in the wild swamp south of Strange Rock City this winter. ”

Hearing me say this, Ernestine stared at me very seriously and said to me: "If you need help, don't forget that Zack and I, the constructed knights of Dulva need to return to their territory and lead the herders into the cols to escape the blizzard and find winter pastures, and the knights will not be reconstituted until at least after the spring blossoms, so Zack and I will be idle until then." ”

With that, she turned her head to look for Zach on the dance floor, and Zach happened to pass us with Ying Li.

I said to Ernestine, "The situation is a bit complicated on the other side of the Wild Swamp, which is the territory of the Lizard tribe. ”

"Lizardmen...... So what?" said Ernestine, speaking in a relaxed tone.

In fact, as far as I know, the lizardmen known as jungle hunters in the Wild Swamp are not simple, and if they were really that easy to deal with, the Captain of Ex in Strange Rock City would have already incorporated the Wild Swamp south of Strange Rock City into the territory of the Grimm Empire.

I said, "We went to the Savage Swamp to find an ancient relic hidden deep in the forest, where there are countless tribes of lizardmen, and in addition to that, the jungle is inhabited by a group of dragons. ”

Ernestine asked me, "Do you want to go dragon hunting over there?"

I pursed my lips and asked Ernestine rhetorically, "You think I'm going to do that dangerous thing?"

Ernestine nodded affirmatively......

The dance ended quickly in small talk, I gave Ernestine a very polite salute, and then walked out of the dance floor with her, and joined the pretty red-faced Ying Li outside the dance floor, after two dances in a row, Ying Li was a little panting, and her forehead was a little sweaty, so I pulled her to Le Die's place, and Helena sat next to Le Die and waved to us.

Several young nobles surrounded Zack and Ernes, it seems that both of them are very popular with young nobles in the emperor, after all, the two of them have the aura of victory in the plane war, and they also have great military exploits, almost all the nobles in the imperial capital know that Zack and Ernestin led their Knights to destroy the Nebru spiders in the Hierro plane.

A handsome young nobleman gestured to Ernestine to invite, Ernestine generously extended his hand, and the two walked onto the dance floor laughing and laughing when the music started again, and Zach was not to be outdone by pulling an aristocratic lady onto the dance floor.

Ying Li and I walked to the rest area, about to dance with Helena, when a court attendant came over, wearing a pair of robes, walked towards me and Ying Li with unhurried steps, he fell on me, walked in front of Ying Li, saluted the princess respectfully, and then said to me: "Marquis of Jijia, Your Majesty summons! Please follow me." ”

I didn't expect His Majesty Charles to summon me at the ball, so I glanced at Ying Li in some surprise, and then nodded to the court attendant and said, "Okay, please lead the way." ”

Ying Li saw that I was going to see His Majesty Charles, and wanted to go with me, and the court attendant said to Ying Li and Le Die: "Princess Ying Li, Princess Le Die, the queen invites you two to come and ......."

So I followed the court attendant through the crowds, out of the bustling dance hall, through a long cloister, into a splendid palace.

The walls of the palace were lit with bright magic sconces, and every few meters away stood a palace attendant, who led me to a stop in front of a round arched door, and the swordsman who had been in His Majesty's carriage in the morning sat on the ornate chair in the doorway and closed his eyes again.

The court attendant stood respectfully in front of the arched door, and said through the door: "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Giga is waiting at the door. ”

"Let him in. A loud voice came from the room.

When the court attendant heard this, he stretched out his hand and pushed the arch in front of him open, signaling that I could enter.

Walking into this room, the first thing that catches your eye is a complete map of Grimm hanging on the wall, this map covers the entire wall opposite, His Majesty Charles is standing in front of this map at this time, there are several sand tables in the room, he is holding the edge of a sand table with both hands, is looking at the sand table intently