West Sackland, Imperial Capital Golovin, Sky Dome Palace.

In the middle of the scorching summer day, in the leisurely sound of the cathedral's bells, a group of tired nobles are rushing out of the stairs in front of the gate of the Heavenly Dome Palace, walking without forgetting to whisper something to each other, with nervous, excited, or ambitious expressions on their faces.

Everything looks like it's the same as at the end of the weekly Imperial Council of the Heavenly Dome... But only the participants really know that everything will be very different after today's meeting.

Especially some people who have the "inside story......

On a balcony somewhere in the palace, the leisurely "disgraced prince" Brandon de Salion was playing chess with the eldest princess, while looking at the aristocratic councilors who were rushing out below, with an uninhibited smile on the corner of his mouth.

The left hand that lifts the chess piece hangs over the chessboard, and the right hand holding the letterhead is behind his back, stamped with the letter of a certain "wizard advisor".

"Hey, it's your turn. The expressionless female knight "kindly" reminded.

"Don't worry, don't worry, sister-in-law should take a look at it more... You can't go back on your mistakes. Brandon grinned, playing the wargames in his hand.

Playing chess with Sister-in-law Phillonay is for Brandon... It's a very special feeling.

Although the sword is extremely superb and has the quality of seeing through other people's thoughts at a glance, Her Royal Highness the eldest princess's chess skills... But it's unexpectedly rotten, and after many years of practice, there is still no change, it has always been straightforward, and the "naïve and simple" ones seem to come out of a four- or five-year-old child.

Therefore, playing chess with Fittronay has become a tireless entertainment for Brandon - from defeating his sister-in-law easily at the beginning, to deliberately releasing water, and finally winning if he wants to win, he will lose if he wants to lose, and even wantonly teasing his sister-in-law with simple chess skills on the chessboard, staging various "Jedi counter-kills...... It has become the daily routine of the two recently.

The corner of his eye stole a glance at the meditative sister-in-law Fitronay, the curvature of the corners of Brandon's mouth deepened a little, and he unhurriedly sent the wargame to the sister-in-law's knight.

Within three moves, the sister-in-law will definitely capture the piece, and after five moves, she will attack... Twenty steps later, her Wang Qi will take the initiative to send it to her, waiting to be eaten without realizing it.

Oh, it's a real hesitation, is it better to eat it right away, or to tease her for a while? If you continue to play like this, there seems to be a risk of being noticed......

"Your saliva is dripping onto the chessboard. ”

"Hmm, is there one?!"

The "disgraced prince" who was in a hurry was shocked, and hurriedly wiped a few handfuls on his face, but found nothing except dimples that were almost stiff in laughter.

"I mean...'quick' drips onto the board. Her voice was calm and indifferent, unwavering and full of quiet power: "Is there anything happy about seeing you smile so happily?"

"Happy? no, no, no... As a member of my father's cabinet and the presiding officer of the House of Nobles, I am devastated!"

As he spoke, Brandon, who couldn't open his eyes and grin at the corners of his mouth, pretended to sigh and said in a lamented voice: "Today's meeting is full of Byrne's Red Blood Castle from beginning to end, which is really worrying." ”

"Oh, is it?" Fitlonay glanced at him sarcastically, "Some people really have empires in their hearts, and they are not at all unfortunate. ”

"Of course, after all, I am also the second in line to the throne of the Empire, and it is a matter of course to think about the future of the Empire. Brandon immediately showed a serious expression:

"As a symbol of the empire in Byrne, and a great nobleman of West Sakland, and even more representative of the authority of the Heavenly Dome Palace, His Excellency Gaspar Vane, the governor of Byrne, turned out to be a heretic who secretly believed in evil gods!"

"Not only that, but he also instigated the nobles in the local area of the Red Blood Castle, secretly formed a large-scale heresy with the Governor's Mansion of Byrne as the center, set up the Earl of the Red Blood Castle, wantonly killed and persecuted the local civilians and churches, and did not forget to block the information while doing evil, relying on the remoteness of Byrne and the imperial capital, he thought that no one could know what he did. ”

Brandon shook his head disdainfully, looking worried: "If there is still room for recovery at this point, then the matter of him leading the heresy to raid Byrne Cathedral is really a certainty!"

"The cathedral was destroyed, the archbishop himself was brutally murdered at the altar, more than three figures of the church were persecuted to death... This is simply irreparably devastating damage to the prestige and reputation of the Empire and the Heavenly Dome Palace!"

"As the son of my father, I must stand up and salvage the credibility of the Empire at such times, at least not let the nobles of Byrne be completely disappointed in the Empire. Putting down the chess pieces in his hand, His Royal Highness leaned forward, and said in a "righteous and strict" manner:

"Aunt Fitronay, now is the time to test whether we are united enough!"

Her Royal Highness, the expressionless eldest princess, looked sideways slightly, indicating that she didn't want to pay attention to him at all.

"I'm serious, really. Brandon shrugged lazily, helpless at the unmoved eldest princess: "And my tongue is almost dry, is my sister-in-law going to do it?"

"That's right, look how long a smug guy can be proud. ”

Fitronay stopped the chess game in his hand and looked up without any waves: "I guess these are all told to you by your wizard advisor, does he even know how to deal with the Imperial Cabinet and the Imperial Brother... Your father told you everything?"

"On the contrary, except for a vigorous complaint, he threw everything to me. Brandon rolled his eyes, and the expression of his mouth crooked was very annoyed:

"I asked him to go to the Red Blood Castle to solve the trouble for me, not to create more trouble for me!"

Fitlonai was still staring at him intently: "So?"

"So the troubles of the Red Blood Castle and the Duchy of Byrne must be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise the Grand Dukes will all ask the Heavenly Dome Palace to give them an explanation - for now, we only need to deal with one thunderous countess, not six Duchies ready to attack it en masse!"

"Really, but how much does this matter have to do with you?"

"No one is an island, no one can live alone, so don't ask for whom the bell is ringing... These are the exact words of my dear wizard advisor, though I think he must have copied them from somewhere, as it doesn't quite sound like what he would say. ”

Brandon, who snorted softly, sighed: "If I'm going to stay out of it, this death knell is for me!"

Fitlonay's eyes flickered slightly, and his smoky eyes seemed to have seen through Brandon's thoughts.

"You're going to meddle in Byrne's affairs?"

"That's right, it's been ready for a long time. His hands and fingers intersected, and an abrupt smile appeared on the face of the disgraced prince: "Although I don't know who did the good deeds, it did give me a great opportunity." ”

"As we all know, Gaspar Vane is the loyal dog leg of the Imperial Brother Conrad, and his loss of power in Byrne means that the Imperial Brother's prestige is greatly damaged - and most importantly, because of this incident, I am afraid that the Empire will no longer be able to install another governor in Byrne, and the counts will definitely attack him en masse. ”

"The most important thing at this time is to stabilize the situation in Byrne, so that the counts of the duchy can restore their confidence in the empire as soon as possible, and at the same time elect a duke who is loyal and trusting enough to the empire to ensure that there will be no rebellion and terrible civil war!"

Brandon smiled brightly: "There is no doubt that the person who can solve this matter needs enough prestige and status - the father must not come forward, because he cannot make His Majesty the Emperor responsible, and the imperial brother is even more not, because it is known that Gaspar is his man." ”

"So at this time, who else in the Heavenly Dome Palace and the Empire can solve this kind of trouble? Who else can raise their arms and let the Duchy of Byrne rise again and become a loyal help to the Empire?"

"You're so confident that the Imperial Cabinet will pick you?" Fitlonay looked at him contemptuously.

"It's not that they have faith, but they don't have a choice, and isn't it a good choice for me to be the savior of the empire?" Brandon smiled triumphantly, picked up his knight casually, and tapped lightly on the chessboard:

"General——!