Having just finished the Council of Ice, Balvo Mace walked back to his room tiredly and sat down in his armchair: he had managed to convince the legionnaires to reach a consensus...... It's really exhausting.

Looking at the clock with the hour hand pointing to six o'clock, the lord gasped and felt a puff of thirst. Pqueezing his aching shoulder, Mace shouted to his wife at the door, "Elena, make me some tea to drink—add more chillwood, Dr. Ennis has it." ”

Elena answered, and after a few moments pushed open the door and brought in a pot of tea. As if noticing Mace's tired countenance, she poured him a cup of tea and asked with concern, "You look bad, dear." Did anything happen at the meeting?"

"It's not because of that Odyss?" Seeing that there were only his wife and the taciturn guard Elton in the room, Mace finally couldn't hold back his anger and complained: "It's just that his head is in the ice! He wants to go to war, go to war, and he disagrees with me from the beginning to the end! He didn't think about the consequences of rash attack?!"

"Talking so loudly, aren't you afraid that the guards outside will hear you?" the wife sighed and walked behind Mace, "Okay, there's no need to be angry. Odyssey is that temperamental, you don't know it. If the anger of being a lord is so great, it is not conducive to rule. ”

"I know that. Taking a sip of hot tea, Mace leaned back: "That Odyss, left not long after the meeting began. I was worried that he would lead the army out on his own, so I sent Edus and Deerno to find it - but it had been three hours, why hadn't there been any movement? If that guy wasn't in the barracks, Deerno should have come back and report to me as soon as possible......

"Derenor, just that little man. Putting her hand on Mace's shoulder, the wife began to massage her husband considerately: "Don't worry, I think the young man is quite reliable." ”

"I hope so. With a wry smile, Mace relaxed and let out a long breath of comfort: Elena's massage technique seemed to have improved again. In the past, she couldn't grasp the strength well, and the strength of her fingertips was either too light or too heavy.

The feeling of soreness in his shoulders kept coming back, and Mace gradually dissipated the anger that had accumulated in the afternoon, and began to think about another matter: his own heir had not yet been found.

As a city lord of Eternal Winter City, he is forty-three years old and has no children...... Turning to look at his thirty-eight-year-old wife, who was also no longer young, Mace felt a pang of chagrin: he was his father's only child, and had no siblings. Otherwise, they can pass the throne to them after death, or they can succeed a child.

But the facts cannot be changed, and he is a lone seedling. Feeling a headache at the thought of this, the city lord frowned: for some reason, he and Elena were unable to conceive offspring.

Although people, including his wife, persuaded him to marry another side room, he just didn't want to accept it...... Feeling more and more conflicted, Mace closed his eyes and tried not to think about this: if he couldn't survive the breath of winter, what was the use of thinking so much?

Speaking of which, Odysse is ten years older than me...... With a wry smile, Mace shook his head: every time something involving the Ice Rock People was involved, he became extremely irrational. I still can't figure out why that guy hates the Frost Child so much. Maybe there's something you haven't told the inside story about?

The lord's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of noisy, approaching footsteps. Straightening up, he nervously responded to the knock on the door: "Come in." ”

As he expected, it was Deerno. To his surprise, however, he was followed by a number of heavily armed guards.

"What's going on?" Shocked in his heart, Mace stared at the little man uneasily: "You came back alone, which means that Odes led the army to leave ......"

"Yes. The captain had mounted his horse and tried his best to catch up. Deerno looked anxious: "I was supposed to be back soon...... As a result, a suspicious guy was spotted on the road. It took quite a while to catch him. ”

"Where? Show me. Hearing the word "suspicious", Mace immediately had a bad thought: Could it be the Corruptor?

"That's it!" the guards blocking the door of the room made a gap, and a black-haired guard dragged a sack into the house and threw it viciously to the ground: "He is hiding by the wall of the central barracks, sneaking in!"

"We've talked to him before. Another guard picked up the conversation and said in an equally annoyed tone, "He has no evidence that he is a resident of Neverwinter, and his way of speaking is slurred. I think he's definitely an Ice Rock Spy, and he's just stealing information about Winterfell's forces!"

The Ice Rock Spy frowned, and Mace stared at the wriggling sack: "Why are you putting people here? What should you do if you suffocate him to death so roughly?"

"It's just a spy, and it's slaughtered after asking. The black-haired guard muttered something, leaned over and tore open the sack: "I left a vent, he is a little hypoxic at most - get out!"

He kicked the sack roughly, and a young man scrambled out of it, clutching his throat and breathing heavily: look at his pained expression. Obviously stuffy.

"You're still gasping!" the guard looked furious and kicked the captive over, "The lord of Neverwinter is right in front of you!

Just as he wanted to reprimand the guard for not being so bad, Deerno stepped closer and whispered in the lord's ear, "Don't blame him too much, sir. The guard's name was Vicole Bloom, and he only learned at noon today that his brother had died in a night attack. This time, almost all of the spies were captured by him. ”

It seems that the Bloom brothers used to be quite famous hunters...... Glancing sympathetically at the soldier, Mace understood his feelings: no wonder he wanted to discourage the Ice Rock Man.

"Vicor. Mace slowed down: "I heard everything Derno said. You've done a great job in this arrest. Take your guard brothers to rest, you are honored guests of the Cold Snow Castle tonight, and you will have a dinner and the most comfortable room, Elena, and take them to the butler to receive the reward. ”

The wife nodded knowingly and beckoned the soldiers to leave. Seeing Vicol turn away with a sullen expression, Mace lowered his voice and said the moment before the door closed, "I will avenge him, Vicor...... I'm sorry about your brother. ”

The guard shuddered and turned back in disbelief. Met with a determined look in response, he lowered his head and slowly closed the door.

Alright, it's just the four of us in the house now...... Looking at Deirno and the guard Elton, Mace stood up and stared at the shivering young man, "Tell me, where are you from? If it's from somewhere else, just let me know. ”

He didn't make a sound for a long time, but he was still shaking. Observing his ice-slapping tall figure, Mace frowned and crouched down in front of him.

Looking directly into the man's eyes, the lord asked tentatively again, "How long have you been in Eternal Winter?"

However, he still didn't react, looking straight ahead into the pupils and not even avoiding Mace's eyes.

After asking a few more questions and still not getting answers, Mace stood up and stared at the ice rock man with full confidence in his heart: "Okay, don't act." Say, why pretend to be a spy?"

Drawing her scabbard, the girl fiddled with the ice blade in her hand.

It was a long sword made of ice condensation, and it slowly emitted a formidable chill.

The palm gradually frostbitten, and the girl with dull pupils slowly lifted it up and stabbed it into her heart.

There are still seventeen years and two hundred and two days left at the end of the world.

Volume 1: Winter's Breath Section D: Hidden Killing Intent (End)