On the outskirts of Alexandria, the capital of the Rocal Empire, there is a small lake with beautiful scenery, and on the shore of the lake stands a luxurious and magnificent villa. But very little of the city's inhabitants knew about the villa's existence, because the small lake and the large tract of land around the lake had been bought by a powerful man who held a great position in the empire's political territory, the Grand Duke Rousseau. This villa was also built by the Grand Duke Rousseau for the recuperation and treatment of his frail wife.

A perimeter wall was built around the perimeter of the villa to enclose the villa on the shores of the lake. There are two sentry posts on the perimeter wall, and soldiers patrol the perimeter.

Those soldiers were not emperors, but mercenaries from foreign countries. "Red Flying Snake" is the name of the mercenary group to which these mercenaries belong. The mercenary group signed a long-term contract with the Grand Duke of Rousseau, who paid a handsome honorarium, and the mercenary group sent the best warriors as personal bodyguards for the employer's wife. The biggest reason why the "Red Flying Snake" was favored by Grand Duke Rousseau was that although the members of this mercenary group came from all over the world, none of them were from the Rocard Empire or the vassal states of the Empire.

It is a great irony that a powerful man in the political arena of the empire would not dare to use his own soldiers, but should let foreign mercenaries protect his family. But this is also an extremely helpless thing, in the process of climbing to the peak of power, this man has made too many enemies, especially as a civilian official, he has great contradictions with many high-level military officials, so he is quite vigilant about coming to the military.

First of all, it is important to say that the Rocal Empire is very different from the other eleven secular powers of the Holy Light Cult, that is, this ancient empire does not practice a universally accepted system of feudalism, but a centralized system. Of course, the centralization of power in the Rocard Empire was not as high as that of the true kingdoms in the Far East, and the princes and nobles of various places also had the right to acquire territories and establish rule in their own domains, but there were two powers that they did not have, one was the right to collect taxes and the other was the right to levy soldiers. In other words, all the lords, candidates, principalities, and city-states under the Rocal Empire have neither the power nor the financial resources to establish their own local armed forces or family soldiers, and the only people in the empire who have the right to levy taxes and recruit troops are the royal family and the central government. As for the local finances and defense, as well as the income and personal safety of the powerful ministers, the royal family distributed them from the central government according to the proportion of tax revenues in each region, and the military generals stationed in the army to protect them.

Because of this, the Grand Duke Rousseau, who had always been at odds with the military, was naturally wary of the guards stationed by the military, preferring to trust mercenaries who worked for their lives.

Today, in the fierce battles in the city and in the woods during the day, although the emperor ** did not have the right to mobilize these mercenaries, they were also told that the gangsters pursued by the emperor ** were operating near the villa they were guarding, which was likely to pose a threat to the safety of the old lady, so the number of guards on the sentry increased from one person to two people, and even the number of patrols on the periphery was more frequent than before.

Figures were numerous in the darkness, hidden in the outer jungle before entering the guards' field of vision.

No matter how tight the guard is, there are times when we let our guard down. One of the sentries yawned, but suddenly felt a gust of wind blowing around him, and the sentry immediately sensed that something was wrong, and by the time he turned around, he had already received a heavy knife in the back of the neck.

The second sentry who stayed in the same sentry post as him was watching the movement in the other direction, and suddenly he heard a "porphyr" sound from behind him, he turned around, only to see his companion falling to the ground, and a man in the uniform of an emperor ** soldier was standing beside his companion. The sentry was startled, but before he could resist or scream, he was knocked unconscious by a steel gun coming from behind in the head. At the same time, the other two sentries on the other sentry on the opposite side also fell silently under the sneak attack of the anesthetic arrows of the Shadow Leopard and the "Riversider".

Owen and Ray, who were at the sentry, looked at the two dark shadows below, slipped in through the crack in the door that had been secretly opened, and then quickly disappeared into the darkness. Ray asked Owen puzzled, "This is where Julian's mother lives, right? Why are you so sneaky when you go home?"

"It's Julian's family business, and we don't care about it, and we don't understand it. Owen replied.

"I really don't understand, is there really such a contradiction between father and son? No matter what, it is a close relative whose blood melts into water. Ray sighed. Speaking of which, Ray couldn't help but think of his parents who were killed by robbers many years ago.

Hearing Ray's emotion, Owen couldn't help but sigh. This is not so much a remembrance of his deceased parents and mentor, but a concern for Julian's friend. An hour earlier, when Julian had reluctantly agreed to allow Ipea to take refuge in his mother's villa in Victoria's retreat, he had also made a precondition that his father, Mikoyan, must not know. That's why Julian asked everyone to help him sneak in, instead of revealing himself to the mercenaries guarding the villa and entering openly. Owen vaguely felt that Julian's misfortunes and sorrows did not come from the Central Church alone. Although Owen and Julian had fought each other before, Owen knew that it was not Julian's intention, but now Owen has more and more premonitions that irreversible fate is pushing the two friends to the opposite side of no return.

The future could not be foreseen, and Julian at this time did not know what Owen was worried about, there were already too many things to worry about, and he tried not to let himself think about it, but to focus on what he wanted to do in front of him.

There are only about 30 mercenary bodyguards guarding the villa, and the consequence of strengthening the perimeter security is that the internal defense is relatively empty. Julian in his childhood, often went to the villa to play, familiar with the villa's bricks and tiles, grass and trees, and was also quite familiar with the deployment and movement rules of the mercenary bodyguards, now even though more than ten years have passed, but the change is not much, so Julian was able to take another person around him, with memory and skills, successfully avoided all the guards, and came to the final destination.

Duchess Victoria, her condition has not improved because of the reunion with her son who has been away from home for many years some time ago, the gap between father and son, which cast a shadow on the reunion that should have been very joyful, the son's determination, her husband's toughness, so that Victoria, who was caught in the middle, was in a dilemma, and the recent turbulent situation in the imperial capital made her worry about the safety of her husband and son, so that the old lady who was not in good health almost lost sleep every night, and her condition was further aggravated.

During the day, the atmosphere in the villa changed suddenly, and the mercenaries were more nervous than usual, although the old lady had never been involved in politics, she could clearly feel the subtle changes. For the sake of the old lady's health, the mercenaries and the maids did not tell her about the battle that happened in the city and in the woods, but perhaps it was the relationship between mother and son, Victoria more or less sensed that what was happening outside might have something to do with his son, and that she could not do anything at all, and the only thing she could do was to pray silently for Julian all day, until late at night, under the good words of the maids, she went to bed.

But how could she sleep peacefully?

The tossing and turning old lady had just turned over on the bed, and she was surprised to find two black shadows standing beside her bed.

"Ah!" exclaimed the old lady reflexively.

One of the shadows quickly reached out to cover the old lady's mouth before her screams widened.

"Mother, don't be afraid, it's me. ”

Where did this very magnetic voice seem to have been heard? The frightened old lady settled down a little. At this time, the other party also slowly let go of his hand and lit a candle. Through the faint flame of the candle, Victoria saw that the man standing by her bedside was none other than her longing son.

"Julian......! Is it a dream?" the old lady wept with joy. Even if she had a nightmare, she was very happy to see her son in her dreams.

"Mother, you are not dreaming, I am standing in front of you. Julian replied truthfully.

Thank you, God of Light, for finally hearing my prayers. ”

With tears in her eyes, Victoria reached out her hand that had been shriveled by illness to caress Julian's face, and she wanted to make sure that Julian was real or phantom standing in front of her through skin-to-skin contact.

"Mother, please forgive me. Julian simply knelt beside the old lady's bed, and grabbed her hand rubbing his face, "Actually, I came back this time in the hope that my mother could do me a favor." ”

"Help?"

It was only then that the old lady noticed that beside her son stood a woman in a cloak, and she turned her curious gaze to her.

Did he want me to convince his father to marry the man he loved? Because when Victoria was young, when she married Julian's father Mikoyan, it was completely a political marriage between the two families, although after so many years, Victoria had long been accustomed to this kind of life, and there was nothing to complain about. But the pursuit of free love when she was young has always been hidden in her heart. When Mikoyan made the decision to marry Julian and the young lady of the Roman family, Victoria did not approve of it, but because her husband had absolute authority in the family, Victoria did not have any right to raise objections, but she still sincerely hoped that her son would pursue a free love vigorously than to repeat the old path of his political marriage. So when she heard that Julian already had a fiancée outside, she was very happy, and her son was able to bravely pursue the loss of her youth, which was also a kind of consolation for herself.

So when Julian offered to ask for her help, Victoria naturally thought about it. After all, Mikoyan still hoped that Julian would marry a powerful aristocratic lady to strengthen his power in the court, rather than marry an unknown woman who appeared out of nowhere.

"No problem, Julian, I will certainly convince your father that he will agree to marry this young lady. For the first time, Victoria had the idea of rebelling against her husband.

"Poof!" the woman next to Julian laughed.

As for Julian's face, it was extremely ugly and embarrassed: "Mother, you are talking nonsense. If this kind of thing can cause misunderstanding, don't say it again. ”

"Don't be embarrassed, I know my son has grown up. The old lady understood Julian's reaction as shyness.

At this moment, the woman slowly pulled down the hood on her head. Naturally scattered flowing hair, blue crystal starry eyes, flawless face, and a beautiful mole at the corner of the left eye. Such a stunning beauty, even a woman like Victoria, who has experienced the vicissitudes of time, can't help but be fascinated by it.

No, this face is so familiar, like I've seen it somewhere......

"Ahh......h

Victoria had accompanied her husband to court banquets at the palace on many occasions, and had several encounters with Empress Ipeia, and although she had never spoken to the Empress, the old lady was deeply impressed by the nobility that could not be described in the language of the world.

"I took the liberty of interrupting. Madame Rousseau. ”

Ipeia nodded to Victoria and smiled