"Since... So, then I take my leave. ”

After a few words of incomprehensible conversation, Roddy didn't want to continue, knowing that the other party didn't seem to have the intention of burning him at the stake as a heretic, so he simply got up and prepared to leave.

Benjamin's face did not change, and he continued to say a few words, and then looked at Roddy who walked out of the room, and his eyes couldn't help but have a little "satisfaction" in his eyes.

Scold... After all, he's just a young man who doesn't know anything about the world.

And Roddy, who successfully handed in the task, was in a terrible mood. In the empty church, the sound of his heavy footsteps echoed slightly, and the cold atmosphere made his figure look unusually gloomy.

Roddy tried to suppress the anger in his heart, but then he felt a kind of dull sleepiness - he wanted to save the Roussifron family, save the old duke, save Sally, and plan to kill Francis, but in the end, it ended up like this, speaking of which. It's really uncomfortable in my heart.

Between the rows of seats in the empty gear, Roddy took a few deep breaths and stopped, his originally energetic body as if it had been filled with lead. He closed his eyes, one hand on the back of the chair, the other suddenly raised, and tugged at the bandage on his shoulder, the pain of the electric shock made Roddy frown, he tried to get rid of the bad mood that was enveloping him - but then he realized... This method that worked well in the past did not work at this time.

After thinking about it for a long time, he understood...... In fact, Sally is no longer a simple "bargaining chip" in his heart.

That smiling Qianying has long been rooted in her heart, although Roddy has not had "other" thoughts about her, but they have experienced so many things together, and their trust in her has long been far beyond that of others. And it was precisely because he cared too much that he felt even more unbearable for her "betrayal" at this time.

His mind is very chaotic, but Roddy is still trying to analyze his current situation: now that his identity has been exposed from the state of "complete hiding", he may have to face the danger of being discovered by Francis in the future...

What a hassle.

The pain in his shoulder gradually subsided, and Roddy sighed, and walked towards the outside of the church—but then there was the sound of hurried footsteps behind him, and he frowned, but did not look back, and continued to walk forward.

When Sally rushed into the church out of breath, the first thing she saw was the figure who was leaving.

Passing through the door and through the foyer, the cold stone floor made it seem as if things were going worse than she thought - and when she got behind Roddy, the two were already standing in front of the steps outside the church door.

"Wait, wait..."

Finally, Sally stopped Roddy, she looked at the familiar back in front of her, but felt that there seemed to be something invisible between the other party and herself.

The indifference in Roddy's body almost turned into substance, making the sensitive Sally feel that her heart was sinking little by little.

It shouldn't be like this... It shouldn't be like this...

Her lips twitched as she tried to say something, but she noticed that blood was oozing from Roddy's shoulders - a discovery that made Sally's heart hurt even more like she had been pricked by a needle.

"Your wounds..."

Roddy stopped, but didn't look back. He was already shrouded in anger, and he actually wanted to turn around and yell and ask everything, but when Sally really appeared, he suddenly felt that there was no point in doing so.

"You don't have to care. ”

After a long silence, Roddy finally uttered such a sentence, and then strode out of the convent, never looking back, not even making eye contact with Sally.

Sally wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, she felt her throat dry and tears blurred her vision... The feeling of her heart being twisted like a knife made her even cover her chest.

"Why—is that...?"

The crowd blocked the view, and the distance between the two grew farther and farther away, and finally Roddy's figure was drowned out at the end of the field of vision, while the figure standing in front of the monastery did not leave for a long time.

September 8th.

Moria Manor is no longer as laid-back as it once was, on the contrary, it is like a fortress headquarters ready to fight, and the atmosphere is extremely tense.

Heavily armed guards abounded, every carriage that entered was strictly checked and inspected, and the subordinates who hurried into the manor had a gloomy face, trying to compile and report the information of Hollier City to the current owner, Count Francis.

Since the failed assassination of Sally, Francis hasn't stepped out of the manor for a long time. The continuous setbacks have had a lot of impact on his psychological state, which has always been arrogant, but he was not crushed by failure, but forced himself to gradually come out of the shadow of frustration with his own series of measures.

The temperature is gradually dropping, and the manor far from the city is already getting a slight chill at night. As the sun sets, the fireplace in the main hall burns up, and the orange glow from the flame brings warmth to the deserted living room.

The young Earl, sitting in his armchair, was staring at the red-hot charcoal.

The estate was once a favorite visit of his father, the Duke of Angmar. Because of the proximity and beautiful scenery to the city of Hollier, there is a hunting ground behind it to hunt, so every year after autumn, the old duke will invite a few nobles in the city to come here for hunting and entertainment.

As far back as I can remember, the last time I hunted here was seven years ago. At that time, Francis was only a young boy who could just ride a horse, and he only knew how to run back and forth in the jungle with his father - I remember the first hunt, he shot a few arrows, and did not even touch a rabbit hair, and in the end it was the knight named Titus who deliberately shot and wounded a hare, so that he could catch up with it and make up for the arrow.

Francis remembers his father smiling happily.

In the evening, when the nobles enjoyed the game they had hunted, the knights praised him for his young age, saying that if Francis succeeded the duke in the future, the territory of Everta would definitely rise to a higher level.

Scold. It's been a long time since I've heard such words.

The firelight shone on Francis's face, and the mature face had long since lost its original childishness, and his brows frowned slightly, and he seemed to have a little bit of his father's aura. But after all, he is a young man who has never walked out of the territory of Ivota at this time, and it is still early for him to say "aura", and if there is, it is just the momentum brought by the "resentment".

In the past few days, Francis has been in a magic obstacle several times in order to plan how to deal with Sally, and the lack of sleep for days has caused the circles under his eyes to darken, and the slightly swollen bags under his eyes have made his face look extremely gloomy - so when his subordinate Willy asked to see him at the door, he didn't even bother to answer anything, and waved his hand directly to signal the other party to come over, not even wanting to turn his eyes more.

"Master, we have confirmed the intentions of those infidels. They were preparing to attack while Bishop Rubens was giving a lecture. ”

"Confirmed, how did you confirm it? You confirmed the news like that, Rubens didn't know? Benjamin didn't know?"

Francis's figure was still half-seated and half-lying in the armchair, and his words were low and full of majesty that he had not seen before, "Tell the point." ”

"Master, there are quite a few heretics in the city of the 'Viper Cross', probably more than forty or more. Although they tried their best to hide, some of them were easy to identify, and I sent someone to follow them, and found that at least four teams had specially surveyed the terrain in the city square, and they were doing a drill. ”

Willy whispered the information he had received—"Bishop Rubens' team is on the way, but we have received information that he has two teams of knights hidden in the shadows, and that the abbey has brought in a large number of guards from elsewhere these days. Apparently already prepared, it looks like the 'Rosicrucifer' already knows this, and wants to plot to wipe out all these infidels!"

When these words were finished, Francis did not respond, but sat quietly looking at the fire. He squinted his eyes slightly and thought for a moment before he snorted in a low voice: "This group of god sticks is quite beautiful. ”

After a pause, he turned his head slightly, and asked in a low voice with awe-inspiring eyes, "So, another news has also been confirmed?"

"Lord Earl, it has been confirmed that Miss Sally will be in the procession of the sect. ”

It seemed that the days of waiting were for this sentence, and when Willy said this, Francis breathed a sigh of relief without disguise, and then sat up sharply from the sunken armchair, and continued: "So--gather all the men!"

"Yes, master!"

Willie knelt down on one knee to show his loyalty and obedience—and Francis nodded in satisfaction and exclaimed, "If you have enough men, then the next thing to do is simple." ”

Having already figured out what to do, Francis began to talk to his subordinate about his plan in a flat tone. Willy, who was kneeling in front of him, kept nodding his head, but at one moment, as if because what Francis said was too amazing, he suddenly raised his head and shook his head to refute something, but Francis raised his hand to stop him.

The two had a rare moment of arguing, but in the end it was because of Francis's strength and persistence that Willy compromised, and when he finished speaking, Francis breathed a sigh of relief again and said softly: "There is still time, be sure to prepare everything." ”

Willy nodded yes, then remembered something, and said, "Lord Earl, the person who came back from the border probably determined the identity of 'that guy'. ”

"That guy" was like a thorn in the throat to Francis, and all the failures over this time had to do with the damn bastard, so Willy's words immediately made him raise an eyebrow - "Say!"

"He's the captain of the Nolan Village Scout, and his name is Roddy. Willy paused for a moment and continued: "When our people went to investigate before, the scouts in Nolan Village disappeared en masse, saying that... They said they were going to the orc kingdom, but apparently they were lying, because there were quite a few scouts during the second investigation. And our third investigation was some time ago, when the captain named Roddy came to Hollier City. ”

Needless to say, it was clear that Willy had more evidence to prove that Roddy was the one who thwarted Francis's plan, so at this time he stopped his mouth and waited for the response of the earl in front of him.

"Can you confirm where he is now?"

"Master, because he has to order the concentration of manpower, although he has sent people to search for him, his whereabouts have not yet been confirmed. ”

Mighty bowed his head in response, a little drumming in his heart, and was thinking about whether he would be scolded, but found that the earl's reaction was beyond his expectations - Francis looked at the jumping fire, and said, "Huh." Just know who it is, this kind of ant, a little character who can be pinched to death at any time, there is nothing to be careful about except for playing some tricks, and when I solve all this, let alone clean him up alone..."

Immediately, a trace of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes, "All those scouts who have a relationship with him, don't even think about running!"

"Yes!"

Willie nodded and was about to leave, but unexpectedly, Francis turned around slightly, hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is there any news from the Duke's Palace lately?"

"Everything was normal, nothing out of the ordinary, hosts. Willy thought for a moment and added, "But the knights of Titus and the knights of Wellington are both coming towards Hollier, and I don't know why. ”

Francis frowned slightly, Titus and Wellington are the two most trusted knights under his father, in the past, when his father was not sick, these two powerful "guardian knights" have always been inseparable from their father, and then their father's condition was difficult to improve, so they went to their own estate, and now they suddenly returned... What does that mean?

It's almost time to pay the taxes, so I guess they're here to pay the taxes and visit my father.

Francis thought of not having much doubt about the arrival of the two uncle-knights, and waved Willy to stand aside, while he himself was once again deeply immersed in the armchair, pondering all the details of his next plan.