Manfred slowly stepped off the podium amid the cheers of the students. Although these students came from real aristocratic families, and although they never regarded themselves as equal to those commoners, even if they still did not believe in equality in their hearts, it did not prevent them from holding this banner and shouting the slogan of equality, just like those ancestors of the revolutionary era more than a hundred years ago. As long as this is respected by people at the moment, they will be at the forefront of everyone as the vanguard of the times.

And when Manfred walked backstage, Count Hecate, who had been listening, immediately came to him, and he was almost angry when he saw Manfred, and with his face red from the weather, it looked like a volcano about to erupt.

"Manfred!" cried out Count Hecate, tapping his cane, "do you know what you were talking about? you are denying the founder of the Empire, denying the royal family!"

"I'm just telling the truth. Manfred smiled, completely unconcerned about Count Hecate's nervousness and anger, "Every truth shouldn't be obscured, shouldn't it, Earl?"

The corners of Count Hecate's mouth trembled with anger, and he could scarcely restrain himself any longer, and the grace he had always maintained was about to be thrown away by him.

In the end, though, he held back and didn't fully erupt.

"Listen," he said, staring at Manfred solemnly, his tone serious to the extreme, "you were an employee of our Thirteenth Class before you became a biology professor, and you were a contractor of our Hecate family. Your recklessness will cause us great trouble, and I don't want that to happen. Please keep in mind your obligations, okay?"

Manfred lowered his head slightly, of course his real thoughts in his heart were to say no, but as Count Hecate said, an ancient and powerful contract had locked him in the qualification to say no, and in front of Count Hecate, he could only bow down to orders.

"As you wish, Your Excellency. ”

Count Hecate breathed a sigh of relief, if Manfred really wanted to resist the order, then he could only consider using a contract to force Manfred to obey, or even seal Manfred again. Although Manfred was ostensibly loyal to the Hecate family, the Earl of Hecate knew very well how terrible this man was.

"Let's go, go back to Govélenburg. Count Hecate turned and walked towards the exit, "I've prepared the carriage outside, so don't show up outside for a while, and leave those tasks to Yang to do." ”

Manfred stared at Count Hecate, and from his tone, Manfred could tell that his strategy had worked.

"Is the surveillance of Count Jericho too?"

"Don't worry about Jericho," Count Hecate waved his hand, one foot already out the door, "Your Excellency the Count is now in the custody of His Highness Beria in the Ministry of the Interior, and there is no need for us to have any more conflicts with the Ministry of the Interior. ”

Manfred immediately understood what Count Hecate meant, the so-called not to have a conflict with the Ministry of the Interior, in fact, he didn't want to have any conflict with Beria, even if Crown Prince Alexander was about to succeed to the throne, Count Hecate did not dare to despise this royal brother.

"You mean, you don't want to get involved in the dispute between His Royal Highness Beria and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander, do you?"

Count Hecate frowned, he didn't want to say it directly, but Manfred was really a little uninteresting today.

"That's right, Manfred, contact between you and His Highness Alexander can be stopped. Thirteen lessons are thirteen lessons, we don't need any special treatment, just stay in the position we should be treated. ”

Manfred bowed his head deeply, so low that Earl Hecate couldn't even see his expression. In fact, there was no look of shame and embarrassment on his face, but a smile that he tried to suppress.

"Yes, I see, Your Excellency. ”

Count Hecate glanced at Manfred suspiciously, he sensed that something was really not quite right with Manfred today, or rather, Manfred had been getting strange all this time, unlike the Manfred Schneider that Count Hecate used to know. Today's Manfred, from time to time, will contradict Count Hecate and disobey his will, but then he will die down and not insist at all, which makes Count Hecate not understand what Manfred is thinking.

"Then let's go. In the end, Count Hecate did not insist on asking the question, and in his heart, there was always some faint jealousy of Manfred.

The two of them quickly crossed the campus of Astrad I College, returning to the carriage that had stopped at the school gate before Count Hecate. As soon as he got into the car, the Count of Hecate ordered the coachman to go to the outpost of the Thirteenth Division in the imperial capital.

With the help of this communication post, Count Heckat and Manfred quickly returned to Govélenburg, just as Artemis had just gotten up. She walked out of the room with her hair tousled up, sleepy-eyed at her father and Manfred.

"Ahh Artemis yawned and casually greeted his father.

Seeing his daughter like this, Count Hecate sighed helplessly, in the morning Artmis looked tired, he didn't expect to ask her to go back to sleep for a while, and slept until noon.

"It's not too early, Artmis. Count Hecate looked at Artemis as seriously as he could, but then he remembered what Manfred had said to him earlier, and his expression quickly softened again.

"Huh?" Attmis turned his head, his messy hair covering the side of her face as her head turned. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already noon.

"It's so late. Although there was some surprise in his tone, Attmis's expression didn't seem to be very concerned, and he scratched his hair a little vulgarly, "Ah, it seems that breakfast has just been finished, and it will be ready for lunch soon, which is good." ”

Count Hecate's facial muscles twitched, but he restrained himself and did not blame Artmis.

"Manfred, what have you been doing lately?" Artemis turned his gaze back to Manfred, seeing the familiar face, Artemis suddenly felt that he hadn't seen it in days, "There is always a noise in the castle at night, did you make it?"

Hearing Atmis's question, Count Hecate also looked curiously at Manfred, who was standing behind him, and he also wanted to know what Artmis's voice was saying in the morning.

"Noise?" Manfred smiled slightly, just like he used to smile, "I haven't heard that, maybe you've been too stressed lately, too tired and a little dreamy, right?"

"Really?" Artemis nodded incredulously, if it was Yang, then he would definitely believe in his feelings, but Artemis would not dwell too much on such a thing.

And Count Hecate couldn't help but squint his eyes when he heard Manfred's answer. Now, he was even more suspicious of Manfred.

"Manfred," Count Hecate turned to look at Manfred, "wait a minute, I'll talk to you about ...... when you come to my office."

Before Count Hecate could finish his sentence, Yang suddenly came over and interrupted their conversation.

"Your Excellency," he said, bowing first to Count Hecate, "a telegram has been sent from the Ministry of the Interior. ”

Hearing "Ministry of the Interior", Count Hecate's heart couldn't help but skip a beat, and it was this word that he was most afraid of hearing now. "What's wrong?" Although there was uneasiness in his heart, Count Hecate's face remained calm, "Which department sent it?"

"It's in the name of His Highness Beria himself," Jan bent over and kept a bowing posture, now he didn't have to look to know that Manfred standing in the shadows behind Count Hecate must be smirking, "He asked us to have Manfred go to the Ministry of the Interior immediately for questioning. ”

The last thing Count Hecate wanted to see happened, no matter what Beria wanted to do, he personally summoned Manfred, which means that he must have known what Manfred was doing in private.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Manfred, and Artmish, who didn't know what was going on, looked at Manfred with a confused expression, not understanding why Beria suddenly knew Manfred's name.

"Your Excellency," Manfred looked at Count Hecate, without any expression on his face, neither a smile nor a nervousness, "what do you mean?"

"Tell me, Manfred," Count Hecate looked at Manfred solemnly, in addition to the majesty, Yang also saw the uneasiness hidden in his expression, "What have you done, everything related to His Royal Highness Beria and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander, tell me everything, don't hide it, this is my order to you as the current head of the Hecate family!"

Under the effect of the contract, even Manfred had to bend in the face of the harsh questioning of the Count of Hecate. However, the moment before he opened his lips, Yang spoke in time: "Your Excellency, His Highness Beria's request is urgent, he has asked to see Manfred appear in the Ministry of the Interior before one o'clock this afternoon, otherwise, he will conduct a comprehensive loyalty investigation of the Thirteen Lessons. ”

"Loyalty investigation?" exclaimed Artmis, "what qualifications does he have! Our Thirteenth Lesson has always been only responsible to the Emperor, even if he is the Minister of the Interior, even if he is the second son of the former Emperor, he does not have this qualification—he is not the Emperor!"

Count Hecate was also surprised and even angry at Beria's request, even a person like Count Hecate would give up his demeanor before a certain bottom line.

"You go and reply to him, I refuse his unreasonable request!" said Count Hecate in a loud voice, and even his eyes became fierce, "We have thirteen lessons, and we have no obligation to listen to his orders, and he does not have this authority!"

Young lowered his head, but did not comply with Count Hecate's request, and immediately went to telegraph back to Beria.

"What's wrong?do you think there's anything wrong with my order?" Seeing the motionless Young, Count Hecate frowned. He wasn't going to be angry at Yang for not following his orders—Yang had disobeyed him many times before, but he hadn't punished Yang once.

"Our thirteenth lesson is responsible to His Majesty the Emperor, which is good. Yang slowly raised his head and looked at Count Hecate, "However, there is no living Emperor His Majesty in this empire now. ”

Young's words made Count Hecatet stagnant, and although Count Hecate wanted to refute Young's words, he could not find the right words.

"Before one o'clock in the afternoon...... How is this time enough to get from Glamorgan to Déville?" Finally, the Earl of Hecate, who had nothing to say, had to reluctantly reply with this reason, and when he said this, it meant that he had bowed to Beria's pressure.

Count Hecate did not say anything about the imminent accession of Crown Prince Alexander to the throne of His Majesty the Emperor, because that would mean that the Thirteen Lessons would be completely directed to Alexander's side, which would also be contrary to his principle of not choosing a side between the two sides.

However, even though Count Hecate showed his relenting intentions, Yang still said unrelentingly: "But, Your Excellency, this point is more worthy of our worries - why does His Highness Beria give such a time, which is absolutely impossible for ordinary people to do?"

Young's words made Count Hecate's heart cold, which he had already thought of just now, but he didn't want to admit it. Obviously, Beria had gradually discovered the details of the thirteen lessons.

The Earl of Hecate, who was in a dilemma, had no choice but to look at Manfred helplessly, and he almost said to his subordinate: "You decide for yourself, if you think you can handle that highness, go ahead, but don't get me into any trouble!"

Looking at the back of Count Hecate, who turned around and went upstairs alone, Manfred smiled.

"Do as you command, my lord. ”