Charlotte, who looked a little cramped, did not seem to have fully reacted from the "panic" of being discovered, and she entered the room with a kind of "caution" that completely disagreed with the usual, and sat down on the chair next to the sickbed with some uneasiness under the gaze of Loren and Ashamai.

“... Master Ashamai, I ......"

"You don't have to be inhibited, you don't have to be nervous. The old man leaning on the sickbed noticed the countess's strange appearance, and squeezed out a weak smile on his ravine-covered face: "This is not a flood beast, nor is it a person worthy of awe... It's just an old man who is about to go to the ground, but he refuses to go to hell... Ha ha. ”

Harlevan Asha's bellows-like chest was filled with a whimpering cough.

"No, no... It's not like that!"

Charlotte, whose cherry lips were lightly opened, didn't seem to have come back to her senses, and grabbed the old man's withered arm, and couldn't help but tremble slightly:

"Loren... The Duke and the others, they all told me - it was you who stepped forward without fear of sacrifice and dealt a fatal blow to the monster named Chakar, giving us a chance to destroy it and win this centaur war. ”

"Otherwise, long before the arrival of the Empire's reinforcements, tens of thousands of Byrboi coalition troops and the dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain will be wiped out... You are their savior and the well-deserved hero of this war!"

Charlotte pursed the corners of her mouth, her pupils were more fluorescent, and she tried to hold her nose - as if she was stimulated and couldn't hold back her crying:

"I'm sorry... I should have come to see you earlier, and an elder like you, who deserves the respect of all Byrne, should not be quietly condescended to such a ......."

The old man shook his hand slightly, interrupting the countess, who still wanted to continue to "admit his mistake".

"In fact, I am very touched by your willingness to visit me, an old man who is not worth mentioning except for his age and experience. ”

Haringvan Ashamai took a deep breath, his monotonous voice seemed very weak, but he was still trying to laugh: "But since you've been standing outside for so long, you don't need me to make up any more words... Repeat the opening line, right?"

Charlotte, who was slightly choked, nodded, but her gaze wandered a little.

The black-haired wizard who subconsciously twisted his head over immediately felt the gaze of someone who was constantly glancing at him.

"So... Your Excellency the Countess of the Red Blood Castle, what do you want to know from the mouth of an old man like me?"

The old man, who was blind to the "small movements" of the two, asked in a very soft tone.

"I ......"

In the quiet atmosphere, the originally rich and strange flavor seemed to become less noteworthy under the calm and inescapable gaze of Ashamai.

In the next second, Charlotte, who took a long deep breath, raised her head decisively and looked at the old man with a very resolute gaze: "I just heard that you seem to be interested in the Black Duke and the Dragon Empress... Do you know a lot?"

The old man's dim eyes blinked slightly, and he looked at the countess, who was still a little nervous, as if he was asking the apprentice of the mentor.

"yes. ”

Ashamai bowed slightly, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared, like an old man caught in a memory:

"It couldn't be more familiar. ”

Loren and Charlotte looked at Ashamai at the same time.

"Even now, they are still very real in my mind, and death is just a different way of being for them. The old man's pupils shone with a different kind of brilliance:

"Roland and Charlotte, and ......"

He paused suddenly, smiled and looked at the two with serious expressions with those bright eyes:

"Charlotte and Loren. ”

Their expressions froze at the same time.

What do you mean?

What did he want to say?

The black-haired wizard raised an eyebrow and looked at the smiling Ashamai, his throat rolling.

The atmosphere seems to have become a little inexplicable......

"Charlotte de Salion, the Supreme Emperor of the Tenth Generation of the Empire, the Dragon Empress, a ......woman who is obsessed with art, fanatical about war, obsessed with rebellion against fate, and hysterical about love," the old man whispered, turning his calm gaze to Charlotte:

"So... Venerable Countess of Crimson Castle, do you hate her?"

The ward, which was filled with the smell of medicine, was quiet again.

"I... When、Of course I hate her!"

Charlotte, whose voice trembled slightly, puffed up her chest with all her strength before she said these words: "If it weren't for her, Byrne would not have fallen into three lifetimes, for nearly a hundred years! The Turin family would not have been bullied; if it weren't for her betrayal, the Black Duke would not have ended up like this!"

"She relied on the sacrifice of the Black Duke Roland Turin to win the monster invasion, but in the end, she still put Roland into another book in the name of 'apostasy', so that the Turin family will always bear the indelible shame, and the original glorious history will become an eternal shadow. ”

"She's a capricious villain, traitor!"

"Duchy, family, honor... I can't even forgive her!"

The old man didn't speak immediately, his eyes glanced at the black-haired wizard who was about to speak, and then bowed slightly.

"Yes, you have every reason to hate the culprit who has brought Turin to ruin. Asha nodded matter-of-factly, his gaze never taking off the countess's body: "You hate her so much that you want to change your name to hers, so that you will never forget this hatred." ”

Loren couldn't help but glance at Charlotte in shock.

The countess, with an embarrassed expression, stammered for a while, as if she wanted to explain her reasons, but she never said a word.

"I'm just an old man, and whether it's love or hate, these feelings have left me. The frail old man looked at her with a smile:

"But it seems that the name of the enemy has become his own... Not a good way to get revenge. ”

"Master Ashamai, you, you must have misunderstood!" the countess hurriedly defended herself, "Charlotte is just a very ordinary Byrne name, and it has no special meaning! Because ......"

The old man shook his head, and a smile on the corner of his mouth "interrupted" her words.

"Yes, you hate her... Because you have so many reasons to hate her. Master Ashamai said softly, "But the reason why you are who you are today is precisely because of the result of this hatred. ”

"Fighting hard for the sake of the family, mediating at banquets and meetings, taking risks alone to turn the situation around, and being able to make decisions at the right time......"

"I'm almost... I saw a living dragon empress, standing proudly and gracefully in front of me!"

Loren nodded approvingly.

I saw Harleen Van Ashamai sigh with emotion, and there was undoubted power in his calm tone:

"yes, you hate her... It is because of hatred that you worship her—a woman who is bold and uninhibited, who can rule the empire on her own, and whose subjects all bow their heads and submit. ”

Charlotte didn't try to refute it again.

The old man didn't continue to force her to admit anything, but shifted the conversation to the Dragon Empress.

In fact, such a woman could not be ignored and admired—in fact, even the nobles who had been enemies of the Empress in those years admired the Empress's convictions. Ashmai silently recalled:

"She was the guardian of artists and writers, and a whole tenth generation produced more literary works and movements than the previous nine generations combined, and was no longer confined to religious and orthodox subjects;"

"She signed the first waiver for wizards, giving all wizards in the empire full civil rights, and she handed over the ocean-going fleet to Ebolden, giving the two countries of Sakrand and Azul finally the opportunity to communicate;"

"It is precisely because of her absolute trust that the Black Duke Roland Turin can shine in the tenth generation, instead of falling into the struggle and confrontation with the Heavenly Dome like the previous generations of Duke Byrne;"

Ashmai's eyes flickered, and he said faintly, "It may seem ridiculous to you today, but before the tenth generation, Byrne's relationship with the Heavenly Dome Palace... It's not as good as it seems. ”

"Countless courtiers warned Her Majesty Charlotte de Salion that the overindulgence of Roland Turin would divide the empire between the North and the South - but she didn't listen to them, and the legend of the 'Black Duke' was born. ”

The old man sighed softly.

"Since that's the case......" Loren frowned slightly: "Then why did Charlotte in the end... Her Majesty the Dragon Empress, or did you 'betray' the Black Duke?"

"What is it that makes the 'Black Duke' bear the name of apostasy?"

Charlotte silently stared at the black-haired wizard and said nothing.

"Lord Duke, you asked two questions. Master Asami looked at him meaningfully in a tired voice, "But I think I only need to answer your first question. ”

Loren was stunned, subconsciously retracted his right hand to his back, and laughed awkwardly.

Underneath that garment was the "Mark of the Evil God" that Asrael had given him.

"The situation was very complicated, and I was not a party to it, so I could only explain it from the perspective of a bystander, and the cause of the whole thing, if summed up, was ......"

Ashamai's expression was serious:

“...... Because of love. ”

Well?!

Both of them were stunned at the same time.

Because... Love?

No, you won't grieve easily?

Loren almost sang it.

"Master Ashmai, you... What does this mean?"

In an embarrassed atmosphere, Charlotte, who was slightly drunk, forced her mouth to ask calmly.

To this day, I believe no one doubts that the two of them once loved each other dearly—even then, and everyone believed that their marriage would completely eliminate the hidden danger of the Empire's civil war and unite the two powerful families. ”

The old man did not answer, but continued: "But it is clear that even in those days this thought was only wishful thinking—for neither of the two proud families could bow to each other. ”

"Got the Heavenly Dome Palace... More precisely, Roland, who had Charlotte's tacit approval, continued to crusade in the east and south of the empire, leading the knights of Byrne and the legions of Sackland to march into the ice and snow at Broken Mountains, fighting again and again, triumphant again and again......"

"Do you know what these triumphs and victories bring, apart from glory?"

The two frowned slightly at the same time.

"To the Heavenly Dome Palace... No, it's pressure on Charlotte?"

Loren said tentatively.

"Exactly!"

Ashamai nodded approvingly: "The more extraordinary the Black Duke's performance, the more brilliant his achievements are, the more it highlights the powerlessness and incompetence of the empire, and the more it overshadows the Dragon King family. ”

The pressure to acquiesce, and even condone, his dragon empress increased, to the point that at last she had to compromise with her vassals and marry the nobles of Saklan, who feared that the union of the two families would allow the nobles of Byrne to divide their power. ”

"I don't know when the rift began between the two of them, but it was definitely the first fuse. The old man's tone became heavy, recalling the scene in front of him back then:

"And Roland Turin... He still didn't seem to realize the seriousness of the problem, or maybe it was because he felt it that he didn't stop—because he understood that it was too late. ”

"But these are the same as... What does it have to do with 'love'?"

With doubts in her bright eyes, Charlotte couldn't help but ask.

The old man coughed lightly and couldn't help laughing.

The dark-haired wizard narrowed his eyes slightly... Thinking of the "some and not" that the old man said before, seemingly unrelated memories and whispers......

He seems to have the answer.

It is precisely because of their feelings for each other that they are reluctant to confide in each other openly and honestly about the burden they are carrying. The exhausted Ashamai's voice was soft, and his whimpering became thicker and thicker:

"In order to protect Charlotte, Roland, who gradually 'rebelled against his relatives', chose to embark on the road of saving the empire alone;"

"In the midst of blind protection again and again, Charlotte, who has become completely unable to understand the Black Duke, has no choice, she must bear the responsibility of a supreme emperor - no matter what means, she must protect her country, her family. ”

"The premise of betraying each other... It was once deeply loved. ”

The atmosphere in the ward is so quiet.

The old man with emotion looked at a man and a woman with different expressions with a meaningful gaze.

“...... Therefore, if the Black Duke chose to be honest with the Dragon Empress in the first place, instead of choosing to hide everything in order to protect her, he would have betrayed her trust in him......" Charlotte looked sour:

"Originally, all this could have been avoided, right?"

"I don't know, I'm just an old man who has seen too much, and all I can tell you is my own personal experience. Ashamai's expression became more and more tired, as if he was drowsy:

"But there's one thing I can tell you with great confidence......"

The two of them quickly pricked up their ears and paid full attention.

"Whew...... Call...... Whew......"

Haringvan Ashamai, he ......

Fell asleep.