"In that case...... Pomeles gritted his teeth, stood up and walked towards the door, while Herlopert followed him, "then we have nothing to talk about, let's see you again on the battlefield in Silesia!"

He walked briskly towards the door, but halfway through it was stopped by Sven's outstretched arm.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Pomiles, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Sven.

"Do you think that's the end of it?"

"What more do you want?" Pomeles clenched his fists, he didn't want to stay in this place for another second. Pomeles was completely unable to get what he wanted from his conversation with Swain, not because Swain's diplomacy was very good, but because Swain was not a person who could sit down and negotiate well, he and the Marquis of Metternich were not at all the same kind of people, and the minister's diplomatic skills were completely incapable of being used in the face of a person who would break the negotiation process by means other than the rules at any time.

"We haven't finished talking about Silesia. ”

"Didn't you finish talking?" Pomeles laughed angrily, "Didn't you just refuse to negotiate with us and prepare to fight us on the battlefield?"

Swain's warm eyes stared at Pomeles, making Minister Hadrian's heart tremble inexplicably.

"War is a non-trivial thing, you will all lose anyway, so what I want to talk about is what kind of war reparations you will pay. ”

"War reparations? Ha, are you serious? Or are you joking? It can't be a joke!" Pomeles laughed even louder, but under that smile was the anger in his eyes that had been endured to the extreme, "Don't be kidding! Have you figured out that it is you Siliurians who are at stake right now, and you want us to obediently admit defeat and send war reparations, are you crazy!"

"You think you can't lose?" Swain's mouth twitched as if he were smiling, "That's naïve, that's why I said that Hadrians are just a thing of the past." ”

Pomeles couldn't take it any longer, and reached out and grabbed Swain by the collar, he was now completely out of the woods of a diplomatic envoy.

"Enough! Jericho, you're already insulting our country! If you want the two countries to officially go to war like this, then come on, and when you lose, you'll know how we treat those who are arrogant but not self-aware!"

"I'm waiting. Sven's expression was still so calm, and at the same time he reached out and made a "please" gesture, "I'll wait, your declaration of war." ”

"Hmph!" Pomeles shook off his hand, and then left with Herlopert with a look of rage.

Swain watched the two men leave and said nothing.

Caterina walked out of the hidden secret room in the living room.

"Why did you deliberately provoke him?" Caterina tilted her neck, looking at Swain with doubts in her eyes, but there was no suspicion, "It's dangerous for us to go to war with the Hadrians at this time, right?"

"No, quite the opposite, actually, now Hadrians are about to lose their own life. Sven sat back on the couch and took a sip from his black teacup, but after all this time, the tea was already a little cold.

"Why?" Caterina sat sideways on the back of the couch behind Swain, her hands on Swain's shoulders, "Anyway, the Hadrians are in a much better position than we are now." ”

"Do you think so?" Swain put down his teacup, "Remember that Seresi Dakosda from before?"

"The guy who instigated Sinjid's rebellion and then left out of nowhere and now?" Caterina frowned, and Thressi's appearance slowly came to her mind, "Is there any connection between this?"

"Yes. That night, Thresy said a lot of important information, perhaps deliberately to me, but there was a very important piece of information in it. ”

"What?" Caterina's brow tightened, "It's about Atropos?"

"That's right. Sven nodded, "Remember what I told you before, in that time when there was no history even recorded, my ancestors and Trajan sealed Atropos, to be precise, the thirteen archmages including my ancestors and Trajan. ”

Sven's eyes became a little more serious, thinking about those legends, even Swain felt the weight of the burden on his body.

"They are also known as ...... Thirteen Knights. ”

"Thirteen Knights...... "Caterina chewed on the term, "that is, there are thirteen of them?"

"Yes. Swain nodded, "Most of the people's names have not been handed down, and they are not even found in legends, and my ancestors are examples of this. The price of sealing Atropos was enormous, not in life or in strength, but in ...... The price of existence. ”

"The price of existence?"

"Exist in ......," Sven pursed his lips, squeezing the words out of his teeth, "the cost of human society." ”

Caterina was silent.

"But this is not happening to everyone, such as Trajan, whose name is preserved in our memories of Jericho, though few know about it—and we can't even remember the names of Jericho's ancestors who also participated in the sealing of Atropos. ”

"And why?" said Caterina very carefully, "what does he ...... Something special?"

"I don't know. Swain shook his head, "That's all I know about him. However, I do know that there is one of the Thirteen Horsemen who, like Trajan, has retained his existence. ”

"Who?" asked Caterina subconsciously.

Sven's eyes were fixed on the black teacup, and in the reflection of the tea, he looked at himself, and Caterina leaning against his back.

"The last emperor of the Mauds, the legendary tyrant, 'Caesar'. ”

Caterina opened her lips slightly, looking surprised.

Caesar...... I thought it was just a legend, didn't it mean that the existence of the Maude people itself could not be determined?"

"They were real, and that's all in Jericho's memory. Swain affirmed, and at the same time, he remembered Manfred and the Franconians, who had disappeared in every sense of the word.

"Caesar himself was an archmagister, and he was as proficient in the use of magic as he was at the play of power. His so-called 'tyrant' is actually the full name of 'magical tyrant'. ”

"Magic...... Tyrant?" Catalina muttered the title, and from the mere word she could feel Caesar's power and fear, "what the hell is this...... What kind of character is it?"

"As the name suggests, Caesar used his power and magic to brutally rule the Maud Empire, turning everyone into his slaves, and paying endless hard labor and even his life for his personal desires. It was because of this brutal rule that he was eventually overthrown by the people, and because of his terrible magic, the remaining Maud even avoided mentioning the Maude and formed a new people, the Polys, to avoid the resurrection of the magical tyrant. ”

"So, why did he participate in sealing Atropos?" asked Caterina puzzled, "I thought that the Thirteen Knights were all noble people, so they were willing to pay that price for the benefit of mankind. ”

"I don't know, it's a time when time can't even be recorded clearly, and I can't have a deep understanding of Caesar as a person. Swain sighed, although his expression did not change, the heaviness emanating from his eyebrows could still be clearly felt by Katarina.

"I can only guess that perhaps Caesar didn't want to have a god on his head, so he wanted to seal Atropos. For a tyrant like him, there should never be a will higher than his. ”

Caterina was silent for a long time.

"So, what does this have to do with what you just said about Hadrian's own insecurity?"

"Don't forget, Hadrian's empire was built on the wreckage of what was once Maude's empire. Swain stood up and walked to the window, looking at Pomeles and Herlopert in the outer courtyard of Tiamat's Palace, "Originally, I thought that there was no one in this world who knew of the existence of Atropos except for us Jericho, but the appearance of Thresy completely broke that. This is a very special sign, perhaps, after countless years of sealing, even Atropos himself began to germinate the idea of leaving the Great Library. ”

"Atropos wants to ...... Leaving the Great Library?" Caterina remembered the voice she had spoken to in the basement of Castle Midnight, at least at the time, Atropos didn't give her that feeling.

"I'm not sure, it's just a guess. Regardless, the appearance of this person is proof that the secret that our Jericho family has held for countless generations may be about to be unstable, especially when he mentions the Thirteen Horsemen. It seems to me that the master behind Thressi is most likely Caesar, and at least to the best of my knowledge, Caesar had a reason for doing so. Moreover, as the birthplace of human civilization, the homeland of the Maude Empire will definitely be the center of the beginning of this turmoil. ”

"Because it was there that Atropos was sealed. ”

Caterina took a deep breath, she had thought that once they were in power, they would have nothing to worry about, but she didn't expect that the threat had already come.

"So what are you going to do? Didn't you want to be freed from that bondage and no longer be burdened with that cursed responsibility?"

"Yes, but that's going to be my way......" Swain turned and looked at Katarina, "I don't allow myself to make a wedding dress for someone like Seresi, and if that were the case, I'm afraid it would have been even worse." ”

"So ......"

Caterina looked down and thought carefully.

"That guy named Thresy Dakosda is the only clue we have now, and whatever we want to do in the future, we have to start with this person. ”

"He took Alexei and Paul with him, and he left the palace of Tiamat at that time, probably planning something else. ”

"Took Alexei and Paul...... Katerina frowned, but not because she was worried about her two younger brothers, "Is Seresi trying to use their identities to make a fuss?"

"Generally speaking, this is the only possibility. If he wanted to do this, he wouldn't be able to win out two princes in his own name, at least not in his own name. ”

"In other words......" Caterina felt her thoughts gradually clear, "he will definitely go to those who have been removed from the cabinet ministers to help him." ”

"They need each other, and it's a perfect fit. ”

"Do you want to go out for a walk?" Caterina laughed suddenly, looking at Swain with a little more playfulness in her eyes, "Go to the homes of the former ministers." ”