Laurie stood in front of the drawbridge that connected the royal court to the outside world. As a small and narrow country, although it has fertile land and abundant production, it also means that their kings and lords have a hard time finding a place to build their fortress - the royal court of Tara can only stand on a huge hill with a gentle slope, surrounded by a moat. The drawbridge was guarded by pylons at both ends, and when they saw him walking towards it, the soldiers raised their spears vigilantly.

"I am Laurie," said wearily the first heir to the kingdom, who had abandoned his father, "the eldest son of King Tara...... I am back. ”

The soldiers only looked confused, none of them had seen the noble man who had disappeared for nearly twenty years, and even if they did, it would have been difficult for them to connect the unruly but still handsome boy with the man who looked like a barrel with an activation spell, but they quickly restrained their hostility as they saw the priest of Rosada, who was following behind the uninvited guest.

The senior priest and chief disciple of Rosada are dead, but every soldier here has gone to the sanctuary to drink and pray, and the priests are no strangers to them, and they know the faces of the priests, "Let him in," said one of the priests, "We guarantee him." "There are some speculations about the king, and they don't want these ordinary soldiers to know about it, so as not to cause even more panic.

The soldiers hesitated, but soon more powerful patrons came, two of the closest lords and ministers of the king, and although their family had lost the trust and blue eyes of the king in recent years, everyone knew that they were upright and strong-tempered, and would never lie for the sake of an assassin or a thief—Adel glanced at their coats and cloaks, and was not so surprised to see that they were all tattooed with laurel flowers or peacocks, which meant that they were also devout followers of Rosada. They dismounted about a hundred paces away—as a sign of respect for a possible heir to the throne—and walked briskly, one of the older of them looking intently at Laurie's face, and after a moment of hesitation, his thick eyebrows furrowed, "Did you be blown by someone?" Laurie," he said cheerfully, "I almost don't recognize you! But I still say, welcome back!"

"I'm just a little fatter," said Laurie unceremoniously, "and you, old friend, look like crumpled parchment." ”

The visitor laughed, he reached out and slapped Laurie on the shoulder, causing a wave of fat to rise, and he smacked his tongue exaggeratedly as he looked at the other companion, who was obviously much calmer than this fellow, and bowed to Laurie, "Welcome back, Your Highness." ”

"I'm not Your Highness anymore," Laurie said gloomily, glancing around, "Where's Drew?"

"He has gone and asked," said the elder of his companions, "that he has been urgently summoned by the king." He paused, because maybe Laurie didn't like what he was going to say: "Laurie, maybe you should know - I mean, over the years, people have always changed a little bit......

"I know," Laurie interrupted him calmly, "there should be seven people who have received my letter, but you are the only ones who have arrived. ”

This time, both the older and the younger ones couldn't help but turn their heads away to hide their pity—although their Highness was expelled with heavy charges and deprived of their family name and inheritance, they had sworn in front of the icon in Rosada, and they even wanted to travel with His Highness, but His Highness refused.

"Don't show that expression," said Laurie, "and seriously, it's quite comforting that you didn't come with the soldiers and knights who wanted me...... We're all no longer children, remember, I said that to you twenty years ago. ”

The soldiers guarding the drawbridge could not allow them to step on the drawbridge, but they were at least enough for one of them to go and report to the knight on duty and ask the king if he would accept their audience, but as soon as the soldier walked onto the drawbridge, a knight appeared on the arrow tower and shouted, "Pull up the drawbridge!" At the same time, on the other side of the moat, the outermost iron gate was falling rapidly, making a loud noise against the hearts of the people.

But before the soldiers could rush to their place and turn around, the knight's mind suddenly became disturbed for a moment, and another voice suddenly appeared in his heart, and this voice obviously had a different idea from him, and he heard himself once again shout the order, "Open the door, lower the drawbridge!" The soldiers were stunned for a moment, and they couldn't help but look at each other, and no one knew that the order should be carried out.

"I'm sorry. A priest from Rosada said softly, and then the soldiers guarding the end of the drawbridge suddenly found themselves unable to move, and he could only watch as the group of people swept swiftly past him.

The otherworldly soul made a gesture, and the iron gate of about a thousand pounds and the heavy oak door behind it were gently lifted by the two priests as if they had suddenly lost their weight, and they walked through the horrified gaze of the soldiers and the subconsciously raised spear tips, the king's guards wanted to warn and threaten, but before that, a cold force swept through, and the mortals who had no reason for magic suddenly lost the strength and will to resist.

The two mages stood on the way to the royal court, smiling slightly wryly when they saw the priest of Rosada, while one of the priests of Rosada next to the black-haired dragonborn held out a hand and shook his head, the two spellcasters were not members of Ciric's party, although they belonged to the king: "May the morning light shine on you and me, gentlemen." "I know you have a duty, but I also have an obligation to do it—and now I can tell you that our mentor, the senior pastor of Radiant Rosada, has been killed, and not only that, but there are people who have desecrated his body in an attempt to spread the poison throughout the sanctuary and the temple...... And we don't even know now whether his soul has returned safely to the knees of my God. ”

The mages looked at each other, "So," one of the mages asked with a bit of luck, "do you want to appeal to the king?" When the priest of Rosada was silent, his expression immediately changed: "You ...... is to think, is the king ......"

"I don't want to know this," said another mage, "the king has summoned dozens of ministers today out of the blue—we can't allow anyone to go in and disturb them. This sentence seems to be a rejection, but in fact it says a lot. He looked at the priest of Rosada whom he knew, and knew that the priest of Rosada had always been known for his neat and splendid clothes, smooth skin, and elegant countenance, but now he saw only a poor man who could only be said to be passable—look at the red and swollen eyes, and the fingers with scorched earth in the nails, and the hair that could be seen to have only been arranged with his fingers. And they were not unaware of the king's many oddities, and if they were just hired mages, they might not care about the rights and wrongs, but fortunately, they were born in Tara, and they were clearly more loyal to their country than the king, and for hundreds of years, the god who had generously sheltered Tara was none other than Rosada, the glorious god of the morning light.

So, when they were suddenly struck by a force from nowhere, they fell to the ground as a matter of course, and when Laurie and his party crossed over them, a mage was just in time to pull back his leg that had been placed in a very bad place.

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Laurie was even in a trance when he pushed open the double doors, for what he saw was almost exactly the same as he remembered—it was the same when he was expelled, in a confined space, crowded with people, and a hazy mist of spices in the air, and when he appeared, everyone turned their heads to stare at him, even those present had similar or identical faces.

His titular mother, the Queen, sat in her seat, and the King's seat was vacant, but Laurie immediately saw the crown and scepter on one side.

"Who let this sinner in?" asked one of the ministers coldly, "what about the soldiers?!"

Laurie was not surprised why he was questioned, this minister was the queen's master, knew a little about his background, and was very dissatisfied with this man who had no queen's blood but had tried to kill the queen, and if the king had not banished him, he might have asked the king to imprison the eldest son forever in a high tower, and seal the doors and windows of the room, leaving only a small window for food and water, all the nobles who committed unforgivable crimes, but whose blood or status could not be executed, always ended their lives。

But the king did not agree, and the queen did not agree, and to the minister's surprise, the queen even had a little pity and shame, or avoidance, she was too tolerant of this illegitimate child, but the minister did not delve into it, but at this critical moment, Laurie's appearance was too unwelcome.

"What about Your Majesty?" Laurie didn't pay attention to the strange gazes of these people: "What about my father?"

"The king has left us forever. Another minister said, "Your Highness, though I may not be able to continue to address you like that, and that you have been punished by him, I hope that you will bear with me, and whatever it may be, I hope you will not be ...... at this time."

"Where's my father!?" Laurie interrupted, "Where is he?"

He slept in the side court. Wait!" the minister shouted, and then Laurie was blocked by a group of ministers, "You can go to see your father, but I would prefer you to wait until the ceremony is over." ”

"Ritual?"

"The enthronement ceremony of your brother, Tara's only, official, noble heir to the throne. The Queen's people said, "If you really think that you are still a member of the royal family of Tara, then please stand aside so that this sacred ceremony does not become funny because of your impudence." Then he curled his lips slightly: "And the people behind you...... Priest of Rosada, why are you here? Don't tell me, the glorious god of dawn thinks that an illegitimate child can also occupy the status of an orthodox legitimate child. ”

"The king is dead?" asked Adel rhetorically, "why?"

"He was assassinated. To their surprise, it was the queen who sat on the throne who gave the answer, "very suddenly." Before he died......" she said with a sad look on her face, "it was hope...... I'm sorry, Laurie, I didn't know you were coming back, but it was your brother who your father wanted to succeed Tara...... And I, I don't want to rebel against him, especially since this is his last wish. ”

"We also support him," said the Queen's people, "and although the prince is in relatively weak health, he has improved lately, and I am sure he will be a good king." ”

"I think so......" said Laurie, staring at the queen intensely, "I have no interest in the throne, but I don't think my father was assassinated—at this moment." ”

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed one of the ministers. But the queen immediately held out her hand to stop him: "All right," she said, "if you insist on that, then you can go and see your father...... You should also go and see him......"

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Such a father was strange to Laurie, his body lying on a low couch, still wearing his usual robes, the blood on his chest had congealed, and Laurie only flipped it lightly to know that it was a slender and sharp dagger pierced the old man's chest and pierced his heart, one of the most useful things he had learned in his nearly twenty years of wandering. The king's expression was very serene, and he did not look like a man who had been assassinated.

"An Assassin ......" Rosada's priest glanced at him, was it a follower of Ciric?, but it was impossible, even if the king could not escape the investigation of the temple of Rosada, he would not be an ordinary outcast—if he really gave up on himself and declared that he had converted to Shirek, then the priests of Rosada could not do anything to the mortal rulers except to evacuate Tara- Although he may be banished by the people of Rosada and the lords in a few days, it has become an invisible iron law that the spokesmen of the gods cannot directly control the mundane government.

But he did die. Although the senior priest of Rosada would never have thought so if he were standing here, the unfortunate priest knew very well what their king had been pursuing, and that he had not received it from Rosada, but from Ciric, and that his faith had never been strong.