() Same night, different regions. Ice @ Fire! Chinese

Rocard Empire, imperial capital Alexandria.

In front of a small nondescript inn, an equally inconspicuous carriage was parked. Two men in cloaks carried four heavy bags of hemp into the car one by one. As they carried the last sack up, the rope that tied the mouth of the sack suddenly snapped, revealing the face of a young girl.

It's hard to associate this bloodstained, frightened and resentful face with the beauty of her life. She did not blink to death, her round eyes and wide mouth froze the moment of pain she endured when she died.

Julian and the female corpse looked at each other, and the movements of their hands gradually slowed down.

Noticing the subtle change in Julian's expression, Dante picked up the broken rope in succession, and tightened the open pouch again, causing the female corpse to disappear from Julian's field of vision.

"Sure enough, I should have done it just now. Dante carried the sack containing the body into the trunk.

"My sins are deep enough to add to them. Julian replied calmly.

But Dante knew that Julian's calmness was faked. I obviously didn't want to have anything to do with any killing, but in the end, I still ......

"Master, can the empress really believe it? Knowing that it might be ineffective, the cautious Dante still offered his advice.

"Less nonsense. Julian succinctly cut off any squire's words.

Although he said this, Julian's heart was more shaken than ever at this time.

The qiē all stems from the conversation he had had in his hotel room an hour earlier with Empress Ipeia II, who ruled the empire......

"Mr. Envoy, the concubine begs you to help me get rid of someone. He was the Prince of Fort Thurley: Libernan Drurgen. ”

"What, Your Majesty, you're kidding. Isn't the Prince of Fort Thurry your own brother?"

"It's this person. ”

"You're mistaken. Whatever your entanglements, I, Julian, have no intention of getting involved in the imperial court struggles. ”

"No, you will. It's about the success or failure of your mission. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"You told the concubine that the mission was to recover the relics of the former head of the Templar Order, Putnnin McMahon, and the concubine knew that this was nothing more than a pretext. Your true purpose is a sword. ”

"What!"

"Don't be surprised. Twenty years ago, Putnnin McMahon secretly came to the Imperial Palace and secretly met with the emperor of the year: the concubine's father, Emperor Mascoon. He solemnly handed over a thing to his father and entrusted him with safekeeping. And this thing is a sword that is sealed in a special box. ”

"How can you be sure that the sword that Paternin gave to the Emperor for safekeeping is what Julian was looking for?"

"The concubine can't be confirmed, but that's the closest conjecture. As for Putnnin McMahon, the concubine has also heard of him, he was sent by the Pope to carry out a secret mission to the Demon Continent, and after his return, he became the head of the Templar Order, but he mysteriously disappeared the day after taking office, and after four years of disappearance, he suddenly visited his father and entrusted a sword to his father for safekeeping. This chain of events is a mystery. And the key to solving the mystery may lie in the sword. In this regard, the concubine dared to guess that Pathenin was sent to the Demon Continent by the Pope to find the sword, and when he found it, he did not want to give it to the Pope, so he did not hesitate to abandon the position of the head of the Templar Order and a bright future to live in seclusion, but he was worried that he would eventually be found, so he deposited the sword in the safest place that the Central Curia could not imagine: the royal family of the Rocard Empire. ”

"Empress, since you know that I am from the Central Sect, why do you want to tell me? Aren't you afraid that the matter of hiding the sword back then will be exposed?"

"It was the father who helped Puternin hide the sword, and the concubine had no obligation to keep it a secret. And the concubine can see that you are different. ”

"Different?"

"You put aside the people of the Holy Court, secretly disembarked, secretly visited the palace, and just treated those church priests and your own parents, the concubine can see that you are a maverick, you have your own principles and beliefs, and you will never follow the crowd, unlike those who obey their lives and lose their souls. Although you work for the Central Church, your heart is no longer there. ”

"Alas. Could it be that Your Majesty the Empress really has the ability to read minds? I am as if I were completely transparent in front of you. Thanks for the compliment, but I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. I don't want to hide it, I, Julian, have indeed come to find the sword that was hidden by Paternin back then, but it would be a big mistake for Her Majesty to use this as a bargaining chip to lure me into the palace infighting. ”

"Why don't you listen to what the concubine has to say before you come to a conclusion? You have helped the concubine, and you have received not only the sword, but also the retrial and rehabilitation of the Duke of Leglis. ”

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"Anyone does things for a reason. The concubine body is like this, and so are you. You are not related to the Duke of Leglis, and they are your father's political enemies, so why would you be obsessed with rehabilitating them? Just now, after the concubine heard the quarrel between you and your parents outside the door, she probably understood the reason. Although Duke Legliss was killed by his family, in fact, the two granddaughters and a nanny of four and two years old escaped and were not executed. The Empire has been hunting for years and has never been able to catch these fish. If the two young girls hadn't died, they would have been young girls by now. The girl named 'Frey' that you mentioned to your father reminded the concubine of the name of the eldest granddaughter of Leglis' who had escaped: 'Frey Leglis'. If these two girls are the same person, then you have entered into a marriage contract with the orphans of the Leglis family, so that you can find a reason to dare to risk the world and rehabilitate the Legliss family. ”

"I have to admire, Your Majesty the Empress is really powerful. ”

"You're admitting it. However, the concubine can remind you that the bereaved family members of the Legliss family are still fugitives, and anyone associated with them is suspected of harboring them. If Mr. Exception really entered into a marriage contract with the daughter of the Legliss family, then ......"

"Can I understand that this is a threat?"

"Please don't be angry. The concubine doesn't think that this alone can threaten Mr. Special Case, and she doesn't mean to threaten you. Just put forward the possibility of a win-win situation after you and I form an alliance. If Mr. Exception disagrees, please forget about tonight. ”

"Why? As the king of a country, if you want to assassinate a person, you can recruit many killers to work for you, and as far as I know, the empire also has its own assassination team. Why pretend to be a stranger in your life?"

"The king of a country, it would be great if the concubine was really the king of a country. To tell the truth, the empress of the concubine is in name only, just a puppet who has been manipulated and pushed in the foreground. The real power of the empire is held by the three elder brothers of the concubine: the eldest royal brother Prince of Mercadenburg-Yulie, the third imperial brother Prince of Fort Busu-Genio, and the sixth royal brother Prince of Fort Huley-Libernan. These three people controlled the government and government, acted arbitrarily, expropriated tyranny, and persecuted the virtuous, which made the government and the opposition complain, but they dared not speak out. Although the concubine is named the empress, she has no real power, and her daily words and deeds are always monitored by the ears and eyes arranged by them, like a bird in a cage, there is no half of the person around who can rely on it, otherwise she would not have come to imitate it late at night and ask for help from Mr. Envoy. ”

“......”

"The concubine knows that you are hesitant at the moment. But if the concubine can't really take power for a day, it is impossible to find a sword and overturn the case. ”

"It seems that you chose me because you were observant of me. It sounds ridiculous, but in retrospect it makes sense, who would have guessed that a prince was assassinated in his own capital, and that the assassin was an envoy of the Central Church?

"No, you don't. The three princes pushed their concubines as empresses, and they managed the government behind the scenes, not that there was no problem between them, but because the three of them were evenly matched, and no one could swallow anyone. Among them, Yulie and Jenio are at odds and have long been on the same page, while Libernan, although slightly weaker than the two, plays a role in buffering the relationship between the two. ”

Thus a triangular alliance was formed, which was to be temporarily stable, and if one of the corners of the balance was removed, the other two corners would inevitably be suspicious of each other, and the contradictions would grow larger and larger without reconciliation, and finally the queen would sit on the mountain and watch the tiger's head in order to reap the benefits of the fisherman. ”

"That's right, Mr. Special Envoy, you are really no ordinary person. ”

"It's just common sense, I've seen more sinister conspiracies than this, and I'm no stranger to it. ”

"Then Mr. Special Envoy, what ......is your wish?"

"No more beating around the bush. How are you going to get started?"

"First things first: ask Mr. Special Envoy to get rid of the four female soldiers brought by the concubine first. ”

"What! aren't they your close guards?"

"No, they're eyeliner sent by Libnan. ”

......

This concludes the conversation.

Julian remembered that the female soldier who poked her head out of the sack was the one who had turned back and given a mocking look when she had left the room, and Julian finally understood the meaning of that look.

A woman in a cloak spun out from behind the carriage and walked up to Julian and Dante.

"Empress, there are still a few hours until dawn, and I'll get rid of Libernan now. Julian said to the mysterious woman.

"Now, it's too hasty, and the concubine thinks you should make a plan first. "Empress Ipeia was surprised by Julian's monkey urgency.

"Soldier Gui is quick, since these four girls are all from Libernan, and the next day you find out that they are missing, you will definitely be suspicious. In this way, the suddenness of the action is lost. Julian picked up an envelope with a faint fragrance in his hand, "If there is no mistake in the plan of the Prince's Palace at Fort Sulli, given to me by the Empress, now is the best time." ”

"But the guards of the Prince's Mansion are very strict, and you can't imagine it, and there is a knight of the guard stationed day and night. Too risky?" The Empress deliberately accentuated the words "Knight of the Guard" to remind Julian that this opponent was superior to the Knight of Blessing.

But Julian, who had fought with the paladin, could not be stopped by a knight of the guard: "I don't think about it?

"This ......" The empress was shocked, last year, the mysterious disappearance of the Fayele Emperor Charlotte I, this incident caused a sensation in the three continents of Olopa, as the empress, how could she not have heard of it?

"Having said that, Your Majesty, cooperating with you is a dangerous gamble, and I am taking great risks to participate in your plans. The corners of Julian's mouth curled into a playful smile, "Before dawn, please stay with Dante and wait for news." ”

Quiet as a virgin, moving like a rabbit - this is the true portrayal of Julian at this time, as soon as the words fell, Empress Ipeia only felt a gust of wind blowing towards her, blowing up the hem of her cloak, and by the time she came to her senses, Julian had long since disappeared.

Looking in the direction of Julian's disappearance, Ipeia fell into deep thought: Risk?