The conversation between father and son continued.

“…… You didn't say anything about your island, and I didn't ask about it. But now that this situation has arisen, for whatever reason, you should not meddle in this matter again. ”

The aged and crumpled hand reached steadily into the wooden plate and slowly opened the lid.

On the black velvet cushion in the box is a slender tulip silver bracelet, elegant and atmospheric, but the luster on it is dull, as if the original brilliance has been suppressed by some force.

Emperor Alabham also sighed when he saw his eldest son staring at the bracelet, silent, and his gray brows furrowed slightly.

"In the past few years, you have supported most of the expenses of the Guards, and it is difficult for you."

"That's what I'm supposed to do." Odin's face was calm.

As the head of the Ten Legions of Merlin, although the number is the smallest, the amount of military spending is the highest among the ten legions.

The state treasury has spent a huge amount of money in recent years, and even if it has accumulated over many years, it is being consumed at a rate that is devouring the gold mountain, so the army that has not been on the battlefield for the time being has to be financially tight.

Even so, during the reign of Alabham the Great, there were still eight chancellors of the exchequer, the most diligent change of chancellor in 500 years, and the trend is continuing.

As for his private actions, including the preservation of Paradise Island, Odin did not think that he could completely hide it from the emperor.

The father and son maintained a tacit understanding, and financially reduced their military spending on the Royal Guard step by step, while Odin borrowed sufficient financial resources to increase his control over the Royal Guard little by little.

The loss of the gold source support of Paradise Island has an impact on Odin that speaks for itself.

He never expected that the things in that bracelet would still be stored in Zài, and sending the sealed bracelet to Master Van Gogh was actually a temptation.

After all, Yokjardan appeared in the "Strings of the Gods" and Paradise Island, and it was precisely because of the emperor's assignment that something happened that caught him off guard.

It's hard for Odin not to associate with it. Is it that the father has a change in his attitude towards himself?

Now that his dear fifth brother has made a new move, Odin has already felt the undercurrent in his face, but before he can distract himself from solving his brother's little tricks, it is important to determine his father's intentions.

However, the matter of Paradise Island actually involves a legendary powerhouse, so I am afraid that it has already been out of its original grasp.

"There is a legendary powerhouse intervening, could it be that a certain strong man from our Merlin came to the rescue?" Odin's brow furrowed slightly. "Father, how is Yokyadan's injury?"

"According to Archmage Rice's summons, it is stricter than expected." Seeing Odin ask about his brother's injury. The emperor's face softened slightly, and when he thought of his youngest son, his face sank again.

Odin's brows condensed slightly, remembering something, and said, "My son saw the list of survivors." There is no Kress name on it. ”

The Emperor's brows moved slightly, "Don't bother, Truman's summons just arrived today, and Kress's bloodline tree withered two days ago. ”

Odin had already guessed the answer, his expression remained unchanged, but the corners of his eyes jumped. A grieve of pain crossed his eyes.

"Ninety percent of the people on the island survived."

He said lightly.

When this sentence was heard in the emperor's ears, how could it smell of sarcasm.

"Presumptuous! Are you suspicious of me? Or do you suspect your brother?! ”

The Emperor slapped the table and stood up, grabbing the box on the table. Raise your hand and smash it.

Although he was old, his strength did not fade, and the sharp corners of the box swished, smashing into Odin's forehead, and Odin did not dodge or dodge. It also inhibits the automatic resistance of the fighting spirit, and the forehead is immediately bruised. Bleeding slightly.

The bracelet in the box also fell off with a bang and rolled onto the thick carpet.

"Odin didn't dare."

Odin said calmly, staring at the emperor with a blank face against the wound.

In fact, if the emperor had no doubts about Yokyadan's injury, where would he be so sensitive?

And Yorkiadan has to inch in, not long ago was hit, just loosened and immediately made a new move, relying on nothing more than the emperor's connivance and favor.

In fact, if the emperor's own mind is resolute and he is determined to determine the candidate, then if there are any more storms below, it will not shake Odin's position, let alone lead the struggle and impatience of the younger brothers behind him.

Therefore, the emperor was dissatisfied with Odin's suspicion of Yokyadan, after all, this situation was not created by him?

The emperor knew that Odin was expressing dissatisfaction, and his chest rose and fell a few times, then calmed down again, and coldly glared at his son, who had high hopes in front of him.

This son has the ability to have a heart, suppressed his brothers and subordinates, is the best candidate to inherit his great cause, in recent years, as the emperor has become declining, sometimes it is inevitable that the emperor feels pressure, but fortunately he did not give birth to any rebellious heart, but sometimes it is too annoying.

However, it is better for the father and son to communicate and lose their temper in private than to let things be known to everyone, they both have the same concept, that is, Merlin must be stable now, and this stable dìng must be done by them.

"Get out!"

"Yes, Father."

Seeing that the emperor was angry in front of him, Odin saluted the emperor, took out the medicine and wiped it on his forehead, the bleeding wound on the forehead quickly healed, the bruise disappeared, and then he bent down and picked up the bracelet that rolled down at his feet, and walked out.

The emperor watched the back of seventy percent similar to his youth disappear from sight, and then sat down slowly, his annoyed expression faded, he shook his head, the corners of his mouth curled slightly, and then he wrinkled his eyebrows.

"Yokjartan...... York Yadan ......"

……

Salt Lake City is opposite Onda City, a four-day water journey from Imperial Capital.

With Archmage Rice here, of course Yokyadan would not have been on the road for so long, returning one step ahead of the others on the return journey, and the rest of the nobles who were recalled to the imperial capital would be left behind and slow down.

Lin An was originally among the latter group of people, but before he set off, he was summoned by Archmage Rice, saying that he was short of manpower and needed Lin An's help to be an assistant temporarily.

Lin An estimated that the situation of his strength recovery was almost exposed, at least he couldn't hide it in front of these old foxes, so he didn't make excuses and agreed obediently.

She thought to herself that at this time, this old fellow was not concentrating on York's plans, and he still had the heart to share it with his side, and he didn't know what strange things to do.

However, in fact, Lin An found that she was thinking too much, and Archmage Rice only wanted her, and did not call Salin Andre with him, and let Andre leave. And slowly set off in the latter group of nobles.

And Lin An was pulled to his side, and what he did was indeed the work of an assistant.

I don't know how they got it, overnight, the poison on Yokyadan's body has spread to every corner of his body, and his dead gray face is not for insiders, anyone can be sure that he will die soon.

His whole body was crawling with protruding blood vessels, like a wriggling nematode, the blue and black blood vessels were hideous and terrifying, and the spread of poison spread all over his body.

When Lin An first saw this situation. I couldn't help but be startled, thinking if I had miscalculated, Yokyadan was not pretending. But really going to die?

Then she remembered the situation when she got off the boat, and was sure that her eyes would not be wrong about Yokjadan's injury at that time, and York's current situation must have been after returning to the city lord's mansion.

But Yorkiatan also made a big deal about it, similar to the toxicity of this blood-borne transmission. Even if he is in a coma now, it is very painful.

And Archmage Rice brought Lin An here, because she took a fancy to her powerful spiritual power, which could accurately control the element, and use the repulsion effect of the light element to temporarily control the spread of toxicity, so as not to be on the way back. Yokyadan's body couldn't stand the jolting and was literally killed.

This treatment must be carried out at all times and is undoubtedly very mentally draining.

Even Archmage Rice's spiritual power. I can't hold out for half a day, so I need to rush back to the imperial capital immediately, after all, only the imperial capital has so many strong people who can save the five princes.

And Lin An, in the eyes of Archmage Rice, is of course just a substitute. The latter was far from imagining that Lin An's spiritual power had reached the materialization level. On the subtlety of the control of the zhì element, it is even better than Rice himself.

Master Rice's means of transportation is also a car, but it is not a ground and water like the Arcane Order, but flies directly in the sky.

In order to speed up, he took only Galileo, Lin An and two apprentices, plus the unconscious Yorkyardan, and boarded the car and took off.

Galileo was in charge of controlling the flying car, and did not have the slightest sideways glance at Lin An's appearance, his bloodshot eyes looked ahead most of the time, and occasionally looked back at the unconscious Yorkydan.

Lin An didn't have time to browse the situation of the flying car in the air, and sat outside the magic circle, intently observing the way Archmage Rice controlled the light element to heal Yorkiyadan.

When Archmage Rice is not mentally strong, she will need to play as a substitute.

This treatment method was very exhausting, the sweat on Archmage Rice's forehead oozed little by little, and an apprentice on the side wiped him with a cloth towel from time to time, and the whole carriage was silent and the atmosphere was oppressive and heavy.

Of course, Lin An also had a solemn expression, putting on a solemn posture, as if he was participating in a funeral ceremony.

But in her heart, she was very bored, this kind of treatment, she had used it when she was just promoted to a full-fledged mage, but that time it was to expel the elemental erosion, and this time it was to expel the toxicity in the blood, but in terms of essence, it was actually the same.

Because what is in Yokyadan is an elemental poison, which manifests itself in the form of elemental erosion inside the body, and cannot be detoxified in a normal way, so it can only be expelled by means of rejection, and then can find a way to repair the failed organs, just like Lin An, who suffered from elemental erosion when he was promoted.

However, Lin An at the beginning was due to the special circumstances at the beginning of his promotion, and if he hadn't taken the risk of using the magic circle taught by the Warden, he almost fell, and Master Rice was able to make the originally intact Yorkyadan look like this in just half a day, which is indeed magical:

At least if Lin An had to recreate an elemental erosion that was as strict as last time, Lin An couldn't do it, this was not something that ordinary means and poisons could do.

However, Lin An would not be stupid enough to recommend himself and hand over the magic circle used at that time to save Cheng Dù, otherwise it would ruin York's plan, and they might hate her in secret.

Therefore, whatever Master Rice told her to do, she did whatever she wanted, and she did not expose the level of mental power that controlled the subtleties, and the pinch time was just half shorter than that of the master, so she asked for a rotation.

After two or three rotations, the flying car arrived in the imperial capital.

There was no one to greet him at the city gate, and the speeding car landed outside the city, only a foot above the ground, and galloped towards the palace through the side gate.

The streets along the way were cleared, and there were always guards who passed the bulletin, and without waiting for the carriage to come to the door, from the outer city, the inner city, and the palace city. The gates of the inner courtyard of the palace have been gradually opened, and the flying cars are unimpeded.

Lin An was secretly surprised, as if he was noticed by Master Rice, and said lightly:

"Don't say you haven't seen it, even if it's me, it's the first time I've been treated like this - Your Majesty is concerned about the safety of His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince."

This was the first gossip that Archmage Rice said after getting into the car, in addition to rotating and explaining how to heal.

As if arriving at the palace, he also relaxed a little. The concentration and tension along the way is not completely disguised, of course. If it was all a dangerous situation, Master Rice probably wouldn't be able to hide it from so many people.

Lin An glanced at him sideways.

Master Rice was different from what she had imagined, a middle-aged man in his mid-forties, with a black robe buttoned to the neckline and a slender face with no beard. It can also be seen that the delicate Sven when he was young is a middle-aged man who is rigorous and slightly gentle.

He gives people the feeling that he is somewhat similar to the temperament of a university professor, and he also has the invisible coercion unique to a strong man, and once he is silent, he will give people a feeling of sternness and breathlessness, no wonder the two apprentices next to him are also trembling when they wipe their sweat. Don't dare to say a word.

One of the apprentices saw Master Rice say something to Lin An, and there was a slight envy in his eyes.

The car flew straight into the square in front of the main hall, and the empty square was filled with no but guards. Only the emperor and his wife and the two black-robed archmages were there.

When the apprentice opened the door, a black-robed master stood in front of the door, shocked on the spot.

The black-robed mage ignored it, went in and took a look, and understood what Master Rice was doing. Knowing that he can't be distracted now, the staff pointed. Yokjardan's body flew flat.

Master Rice followed the car without leaving the car.

Since Lin An entered the Imperial Capital, he had not felt the pressure peculiar to the Imperial Capital's forbidden magic array, and immediately knew that there was a kind of passage in the car, which should be on Master Rice, and it seemed that it was still ranged.

As soon as the first couple under the car saw York Yadan, the noble lady with a graceful and noble temperament immediately whispered, her voice trembled, and she hurriedly shook off the emperor's hand and stepped forward a few steps, and followed York Yadan into the palace closely.

The emperor was dressed in a plain robe, without the solemnity and majesty of the award ceremony, his white eyebrows were frowned, his eyes followed York Yadan, and then he glanced at Lin An and the two apprentices who got off the car and saluted, and also followed into the hall quickly.

In Lin An's lowered gaze, he only saw the hand of the Supreme hanging by his side clenched, and there were a few aging brown spots on it.

The other black-robed mage who greeted him didn't follow closely and left, and glanced at Lin An, "Get up, you assisted Rice along the way, right?" ”

Lin An was not modest and nodded calmly.

She can no longer hide her spiritual power, and the outgoing spiritual power is already obviously at the level of an archmage.

The black-robed master bowed his head and said in appreciation, "Very good." ”

Then he didn't say anything, and walked towards the people who were about to enter the main hall.

The black-robed master was wearing a black robe full of embroidered gold patterns, and the emblem of the crown and staff crossed on the placket revealed the identity of the court mage group.

These palace masters seemed to have forbidden passages, and as soon as the master walked away more than ten zhang, Lin An immediately felt that the pressure of the prohibition was coming suddenly, and suppressed his powerful spiritual power into the spiritual sea, and the spiritual sea shook slightly.

Only Lin An and two apprentices were left next to the car.

The two apprentices were at a loss, standing in place, not knowing whether they wanted to follow, but Lin An stayed here and did not move, and they couldn't go past Lin An himself.

Just as he was hesitating, a well-dressed middle-aged court servant walked out of the side.

Looking at the trim of his collar, he is actually an earl like Lin An, his appearance is not very handsome, but his smile and demeanor have the most suitable demeanor for this scene.

He took two waiters, a man and a woman, to Lin An, bowed slightly, drew an elegant and beautiful arc on his hand, and said softly to Lin An:

"The Purple Rose Lady has worked hard, and His Majesty has instructed you to go to another side hall to rest,"

He paused, "I'm Alvin. Jafa. ”

Lin An also heard about this court earl, who was said to be the most trusted by the emperor.

He is the first court courtier beside the emperor, his status is hot, and the treatment and respect he receives on many occasions is not lower than that of the patriarch of the Blue Lion family, of course, such a status can only last for one generation at most, or even only a few years.

However, at this time, no one can snub him, just looking at his presence here on such an occasion, it already shows his status.

Lin An took a step back. smiled, "Don't dare, just ask Count Jerfa to borrow a waiter for the time being and show us the way." ”

Count Jiefa did not refuse Lin An's suggestion, he took out the gold watch from his arms, glanced at it slightly, and frowned, "Time is indeed a little tight. ”

He nodded slightly to Lin An, and the maid behind him immediately stepped forward and raised the corner of her skirt on her knees.

"Please rest in the palace."

Count Jerfa said goodbye to Lin An. Lin An didn't ask him why he left the palace, and left the palace with the maid.

"It seems that in a day or two, I won't be able to leave here for the time being." Lin Anxin thought.

The path of the palace is complicated and confusing. The maid led them through the gates and corridors, and came to a side palace with all kinds of twists and turns, and said to Lin An:

"The palace attendants are all ready, please rest assured."

Lin An nodded, "Where is this?" ”

The maid stared. Lower your eyes.

"Back to Your Excellency the Ladyess, this side palace has no name, it is dedicated to the placement of the lady and lady who stay for the time being, because there are many roses planted in it, and we maids also call it the Rose Palace in private."

"Oh? Doesn't that happen to be the same as my knighthood? ”

Lin An was slightly surprised, and his eyes swept over the doorpost in the hall of this partial palace. "There are often ladies and ladies in the palace who stay overnight?"

"Her Majesty the Empress and the princesses often summon some ladies and ladies to the palace for parties." The maid showed no impatience.

"Oh."

Lin An nodded, it seems that the name of this palace coincides with his own title. It's a coincidence.

She was a little strange just now, the direction of the maid leading the way seemed to be from the main hall of the palace all the way to the remote periphery, and when she walked to this side palace, although the area was slightly smaller, it was very exquisite. Unlike the palace that gradually became desolate along the road, I listened to the lady's explanation. I learned that there was a side palace in the palace that was dedicated to female nobles.

Lin An didn't have any doubts, nodded, and looked at the two apprentices who followed along the way, "Then what about these two?" ”

"Aren't the two of you the Baroness's apprentices?" The maid's demure and gentle face finally showed surprise.

Lin An shook his head, and the two apprentices also looked embarrassed.

They are actually Galileo's apprentices temporarily borrowed from the mage enshrined by the lord of Salt Lake City, who has been taking care of the five princes for the past two days, and they have long been panicked in their hearts, and after coming to the palace, they are even more afraid that a little person like himself will be wiped out at some point, so after Galileo left them, he had to follow Lin An step by step.

The maid thought for a moment and said:

"There is also a vacant side palace behind the Rose Palace, which was originally inhabited by palace attendants, if the two of you don't mind, please live temporarily, as for the arrangements of the two, I'm afraid you have to ask Lord Jiefa."

The two apprentices hurriedly agreed.

If they want to live in a partial palace for ladies, they don't have the guts, but they don't want to be too far away from Lin An, so of course they have no opinion.

The maid nodded, summoned the maid guards from the Rose Palace to give instructions, and sent a few to the two apprentices, so that Lin An and the three of them were settled.

Lin An lived in a room in the Rose Palace.

There are no people living in the Rose Palace at present, and with her status, there are not many female nobles with a status above her, according to common sense, of course, she can live in the main room the size of the banquet hall in the east, but Lin An chose the most remote room in the northwest corner.

Fortunately, not long after the celebration, the Rose Palace had been cleaned from the inside out, and the room was clean and spotless.

After dinner, I was not called again until it was time to fall asleep.

Lin An asked the maid to bring water from a hot spring in the Rose Palace into the room, and after taking a bath, she dismissed the maid who was serving, and then began to cultivate.

Since it is already within the scope of the inner palace of the palace, the prohibition pressure is much greater than that of the palace city, and Lin An can still maintain the spiritual power of the official mage level outside the palace, but he has been completely suppressed back into the spiritual sea in the palace, so this cultivation is extremely difficult, just like the difficulty of more than a dozen cultivations is superimposed together, and of course, the harvest is also extraordinarily huge.

After completing a physical meditation, Lin An immediately felt that the essence of his spiritual power had increased significantly.

The spiritual power that was completely suppressed before cultivation actually felt that the external pressure seemed to have decreased, although the spiritual power still could not resist the pressure and release the spiritual power, but the pressure was reduced a little, which was already a significant progress.

However, Lin An's cultivation tonight also ended here, and every time he practiced physical arts, he needed to consume a lot of energy.

Lin An hungrily took out the prepared food to fill his stomach, took another bath, thought about it before going to bed, took out a square spice from the space, put it in the incense burner in the corner of the room and lit it, and then took an antidote before falling asleep.

As the night deepened, the shadows of the ghostly trees swayed and stretched on the windowsill, and suddenly, the moonlight was obscured.

(To be continued)

ps：

Regarding the relationship between the emperor's father and son and the role building, I thought about it for a long time, and finally chose the one with more flesh and blood feelings, otherwise if it is the kind of pure war for the sake of conquest and blind conquest for the sake of nihilistic ambition, it seems to be a tyrant, not an image of a king who can be respected and admired by the courtiers, and the image shaping will be weak and thin.

The emperor's father and son do things for a purpose and a reason, but in their position, their vision and practices are different from ordinary people, and of course their values are different, even if they are villains, it only shows that their positions are opposite and their values conflict, not that they are inherently evil.

Hey, what do I want to express, in short, after creating their image characters, as the characters gradually plump up, their role settings begin to become complicated......

Well, I don't know why today, I just feel so sleepy...... \(\)