Amid an uproar of amazement and agitation, the first day of the Round Table finally came to an end, leaving only a few hundred incredible knights outside the gates, bewildered, still unable to believe what they had heard.

According to some "old saying", the coronation of the new duke must begin at dawn and end at noon, and at the same time the feast must be declared open to all the guests present.

So to a certain "deserter" it sounded like the knights were saying - get this trouble done, and then let us drink until we die and sleep again, and we can survive tomorrow.

The crowd gathered on the stairs began to disperse, and the twelve knight lords with complicated expressions also left in turn, almost everyone's eyes lingering on the black-haired wizard for a long time.

Serious, respectful, angry, sighing, hateful, disdainful, embarrassed, melancholy...... Various.

And Loren, who has not fully figured out the situation so far, can only smile awkwardly.

It wasn't until the stairs were sparsely populated that he couldn't help but sigh.

"How does it feel?"

Charlotte stood on the stairs, looking at the black-haired wizard with an embarrassed face, and her smile became more and more triumphant: "A guy who used to call himself 'uninterested' is now the Duke of Byrne;

Oops, hey, all of a sudden, I've gone from a high-minded wizard to a muddy layman!"

Sighing and shaking his head, the black-haired wizard couldn't help but ask more: "Let me be the duke, this is your brilliant plan to win a big victory?"

"Yes, I have to thank you for coming up with this plan. ”

"Thank me?" There were so many shocks that the black-haired wizard didn't bother to roll his eyes.

"Do whatever you can, do whatever it takes, even betray someone you trust at a critical moment... Someone's words, aren't they?"

With her hands folded behind her back, Charlotte smacked on the soles of her feet and jumped down the stairs, her starry eyes staring at the black-haired wizard face to face with deep meaning:

"Betraying the people I trust the most at a critical moment... Who is the person I trust the most?"

An expressionless Loren looked into her eyes, his throat twitched, and he didn't speak.

"Speak... Let me ask you a question. ”

"Sorry, I thought it was a question... The kind of self-questioning. ”

“...... Hum. ”

In the blink of an eye, the countess had disappeared from him, and when she turned back, her footsteps were ten paces away.

"Loren. Charlotte, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs with her back to the black-haired wizard, suddenly muttered in a low voice, as if there was a bit of guilt in her voice:

"I know you didn't want to be the duke, but I don't have a choice, I can only choose to believe you, unconditionally... Trust you. ”

The black-haired wizard raised an eyebrow, pretending not to look at her leisurely.

"So, don't let me down in you. Charlotte suddenly laughed: "The adults of Byrne all regard you as an outsider, and maybe a few of them may not take you seriously, so ......"

"Give them something awesome and see!"

In the next second, the flustered countess walked away quickly.

It wasn't until the countess was far away that Andrew McAfee, who had been standing aside, leaned forward and asked tentatively, "That, Duke......"

"You can just call me Loren. The black-haired wizard's expression twitched, and he had a headache at the thought of this.

"That's... Lord Loren, shall we go back?"

Looking at his guard, the black-haired wizard hesitated.

"Wait... No, forget it. Loren shook his head: "You go back first, if little Yod is still there, tell him that he doesn't have to wait, I still have to go and see someone." ”

See a person?

McAfee was a little confused, but turned around and walked away - this was a good habit he had left over from his years as a mercenary, and he shouldn't have asked.

The black-haired wizard strolled down the corridor, following the route he had taken for his last "chance encounter" with Ayton Grenwell.

Really... At the end of the corridor, a familiar figure was sitting there, staring silently at the oil paintings on the wall, motionless.

"Why are you sitting here alone?"

"Loren?" Charles looked up in astonishment, barely squeezing out a smile on his tired face:

"Congratulations yet, Lord Duke Loren Turin, the second man in hundreds of years who can become Lord of Byrne without being an earl. ”

Compared with the high-spirited butler of the Red Blood Castle during the day, he looks a little decadent now.

The black-haired wizard didn't answer him, just sat silently next to Charles.

Quiet night, silent corridor, old oil paintings...... The silent two sat together, as if tacitly, enjoying this moment of peace.

"Are you particularly lost right now?"

The black-haired wizard spoke suddenly, his gaze turning to his side.

"Lost... Why?"

"Because the situation is not what you want it to be. Loren said word by word: "If I were Charles Grenwell, I would immediately pull out the dagger in my arms and give this damn wizard a cold heart!"

Charles was stunned, and his right hand subconsciously pressed his chest, but in the next second, he saw that those dark eyes were watching him, calm as water.

His right hand fell, and Charles, who sighed gloomily, showed a bitter smile: "When did you find out?"

"I didn't find out. Loren shook his head, took out the envelope that little Yod had given him with his right hand, and handed it over: "You told me yourself." ”

"Me—myself?"

"You and your brother have planned very cleverly, and the Yode Chamber of Commerce is my blind spot...... But alas, I have someone close to me who knows the Yode Chamber of Commerce and can dig up clues from a messy pile of bills. ”

Charles lowered his head and stared at the envelope in his hand: "I should have thought of it... Little Yod. ”

"No, this only lets me know that someone is cheating in the Round Table Council, but it can't tell me who did it. Loren turned his gaze to her, staring into his eyes:

"It's impossible to know that you're the mastermind of the plan, and even Ayton Grenwell probably didn't realize that he was being used by his younger brother, whom he despised did. ”

Charles pursed the corners of his mouth, his shoulders loose.

"Ayton Grenwell is your first step, you let me 'meet' him in the corridor, and borrow my hand to completely ruin the Grenwell family's marriage plan;"

"You know very well that I, representing Brandon's interests, can't just watch this happen. ”

"The Round Table is your second step, and the Counts, led by Count Angit, who are so passionate and hateful to the Empire, will surely kick me out, and if I am not in the hall, I can't do anything I want;"

"Finally... I don't know how you managed to do it, but it didn't happen that the letter arrived in the middle of the meeting, and you withheld the distress letter from the Duchy of Boi, so that the Council of the Round Table had no choice but to elect a new Duke immediately. ”

"Moreover, this duke could never be Charlotte Turin. Loren said in a deep voice:

"You know her too well, Charlotte values dignity as everything - if she rejects Ayton's proposal, she won't be able to agree to a second one, and she knows very well that if she agrees, she will eventually cause a civil war between the counts because of the fat of the Red Blood Castle!"

"So, she's just going to give up the dukeship, that's what you're for, right?"

Charles, who was silent, looked at him, neither admitting nor denying it.

"This... It's also what confuses me the most. ”

The black-haired wizard moved his gaze to the oil painting on the wall and sighed: "I don't understand; the conflict between you and Ayton Grenwell is not fake, you have lived in the Red Blood Castle since you were a child, and your feelings for the Turin family must be higher than those for the Grenwell family, and you do care a lot about Charlotte's feelings." ”

"So why...... I really wonder why you are so desperate to break her only wish in life? You should know better than anyone how much she sacrificed for this ideal. ”

Pursing the corners of his mouth, Charles didn't say a word.

Loren stared at him, staring intently, waiting for him to give an answer.

“...... There is no why. ”

Charles's voice trembled a little, and his throat twitched:

"I just... I just want to protect her well. ”