In the countryside, where the war has not yet reached.

Where the corruption of the empire could not spread either.

Children always have all kinds of fantasies about the future.

"Teacher Lan, can I become a rich man?" The cute Shota asked the smiling young male teacher with big eyes in the wink.

"Teacher Lan, can I become a great official of the empire?" Another child asked.

"Teacher Lan......"

"Teacher Lan......"

The children's problems came and went, and many of them were unrealistic, but the young male teacher just smiled.

"Yes." He said, with an unmistakable affirmation in his tone.

"As long as you have a dream, don't give it up, you will definitely be able to achieve it."

"Oh yes!" "Great!"

Children are always easy to cajole, and this kind of white lie may be the only way to keep them pure in this gloomy age, right?

"But don't be like me." Lan's head lowered slightly, thinking silently in his heart, but the past echoed in his heart.

Once a dark-haired teenager had set up a near-impossible dream on him, and he shook his head and rejected the seemingly ridiculous idea.

Empires, while in need of change, should not be so thoroughly structured, and the backlash may even bury the nascent empire.

However, even after being dissuaded by Ran, the black-haired boy still stubbornly insisted on his opinion, and now the two of them have long since parted ways.

If two people with different ideologies are forced to be combined, it will be an unspeakable harm to both of them.

It's been about 7 years since that day, right?

The black-haired boy never showed up again, even though he knew that Lan had stayed here all this time and never left.

Lan knew that he was waiting for a change in his concept, but he still couldn't express his helplessness.

By this day, Lan had long known that the adjustments he had thought would be useful were useless for the empire, that the decay of the empire had penetrated deep into the marrow, and that the imperial capital's lavish vassals and the abuse of power by the nobles had seriously hindered the empire's recovery. Even a cunning, no, it should be said that a genius as wise as the minister of Earnest could not punish these nobles who used their power to make profits.

The collusion of the aristocracy has seriously undermined the reorganization of the country by Earnest, who was the minister of the first emperor. In desperation, Minister Earnest had no choice but to challenge his position by wantonly slaughtering the so-called "conscience" officials, sometimes deliberately omitting a few exterminators to make them stronger.

In the process of those people becoming stronger, they will inevitably collide with the interests of the rest of the nobility.

The interests are like a big cake, the total amount is constant, but those shares of the exterminated nobles will be jointly swallowed up by the rest of the nobles. Those members of the aristocracy who escaped death had to regain their share, or even more of it, if they wanted to take revenge on Chancellor Earnest, which led to mutual fire among the nobles. After all, it's not realistic to have someone who has already swallowed the cake spit it out.

As a result, the overall strength of the nobility has been greatly weakened, and at the same time, under the deliberate propaganda of the nobles, it is extremely simple to fool the commoners, and Minister Earnest has become an imperial bully.

When a country sees its heroes as enemies, it is not far from perishing.

Lan knew what was at stake, and as a smart man, he was one of the few people who could understand Ornest, and he understood Chancellor Ornest's isolation, so he decided to help Chancellor Ornest.

At least eliminate the aristocratic rule that disturbs the peaceful order of the Empire.

Lan looked out the window at the unchanged sky, although it was still a blue color, it always made people feel slightly uncomfortable, as if the sky was no longer the sky it once was.

In the smoke of the Empire, the sky was covered with a faint yellow smoke screen.

Lan pondered, his previous concept was indeed wrong, but the other party's concept may also be wrong, the two of them just argued with each other over those things that were wrong, until they became strangers, it was indeed a little ridiculous, right?

Smiling self-deprecatingly, Lan buried her bitterness in the bottom of her heart.

Perhaps, that dark-haired teenager also experienced the same setback?

"Teacher Lan, what's wrong with you?" A cute girl seems to notice Ran's depressed mood.

"No, nothing." Lan smiled and looked at the schoolgirl in front of her, hiding her sense of loss.

"Really?" The girl chased after her.

Her name, Ia, was an abandoned baby that Lan had found from a garbage dump and had been raising her for more than ten years, and for Ran, she was a bit heavier than the other students.

After all, Lan is not a cold-blooded animal without feelings, and after living together for more than ten years, no matter how cold the ice will melt. Although Lan vaguely felt the other party's intentions, he was still not sure, so he didn't talk about any response.

Moreover, Lan's dream of improving the empire also made him have little time to fall in love at this time.

The decay of the empire has deepened, and the further back it goes, the faster the decaying foundation will collapse the edifice, and the crumbling empire will have no time.

Looking at the sadness in Lan's eyes, Iya also seemed to be a little sad.

She really loves Lan and admires her, but this admiration has long been beyond a girl's fatherly admiration.

She loves Lan as a man, and she can see that there is a deep remembrance of the past in Lan's cover-up. She only knew a little about what happened in Lan's past, but at that time she was still young, and her memories were a little blurry, so she didn't have anything to say about what she knew about Lan.

But it was this kind of Lan that attracted her gaze like a magnet and made her unable to take her eyes off.

Smart men are handsome, and melancholy men are attractive.

At this moment, Lan has a kind of arrogance and cleanliness that does not match this turbid world.

His clear eyes are like a sword piercing the night, bringing light to those who are struggling.

Iya was not stunned, and a large flush visible to the naked eye began to glow from her ears.

"Ia?" Ran's voice woke the girl from her fantasy.

Looking at Lan's handsome face, the girl's face flushed even more.

"Lan ...... Teacher Lan ...... "In a panic, the girl stammered a little when she spoke, "What...... What's wrong? ”

"Nothing." An unfathomable smile that shines brightly.

Looking at the back of Lan as she turned to leave, Iya stomped her foot angrily, expressing her resentment at Lan's expression.

Who do you think you can know me?

Don't think that a high IQ is great!

Then she seemed to think of something again, and her eyes were sly and sly.

Hmph, it won't make you feel better!

Hopping out of the classroom, he followed the route Lan had taken towards the so-called "home".

The so-called "home" is a place where the girl and Lan live together.

Although the girl is intelligent, she is a mess when it comes to cooking, and the food she makes is comparable to the legendary dark cuisine in terms of taste and appearance.

In desperation, Lan had to take her with her, and had to serve her from time to time, living like a little princess, not an abandoned orphan.

Lan also looked for families for her to adopt, but she rejected them one by one.

The reason is that she is afraid of life! She didn't dare to live with other men she didn't know.

Of course, this is just a girl's excuse, and it is unknown how true and how false it is.

Lan returned home and cooked the meal, and the girl ate happily.

There weren't too many words between the two, but the atmosphere at home was so strong.

In fact, it's not just the girl who is reluctant to Lan, Lan is already reluctant to be a girl.

The girl's innocence and liveliness made Lan treat her as a sister-like existence, holding her in the palm of her hand for fear that she would melt.

The so-called search for other families who adopted her was just a means for Lan to test her attitude, since her attitude was very clear, Lan would not force it, and even be happy to see such a scene, after all, who would want to send away an existence like his own sister?

The lives of the two of them went on like this.

But a peaceful life is not destined to last long, and in this darkening empire, disaster has already begun to fall, how many people have been displaced, and how many people have wept...... All this will also spread to this beautiful village in the countryside.

This is a trend that cannot be avoided by anyone's efforts.

Lan is well aware of this, and he sees the future very clearly, and in the increasingly acute contradictions of the parties, there is no place that is immune to the disaster of war.

The power of the individual is too small in front of the state apparatus, even Lan is no exception.

When night falls, only the light of the crowd can illuminate the avenue beside the street.

But if it's just an insignificant firefly, it's just useless.

The peaceful life will eventually be shattered.

Because that day is coming.