Hearing Swain's question, Manfred lowered his eyes and said slowly, "Seeing that Madame has been depressed, His Excellency the Earl is of course very distressed. To cheer his wife up, he took her on vacation to Green Island on the south coast of Pritown, twelve years ago, the year of the Tsunami in the Bay of Beas. ”

In the year 116 of the Iron Age, a tsunami struck the Bay of Beas, which spread widely, from the port of Leon at the westernmost tip of Pritown to the Gallinites in the northwest corner of the Badajoz Peninsula, and the circular coast around the Bay of Bes suffered this catastrophe, a large number of people were killed or missing in the tsunami, and most of the coastal cities facing the Bay of Bes were destroyed. At the time of that natural disaster, the empire was provoked by Hadrian in Silesia, and a lot of energy was involved in the eastern border, and because the main disaster area was a semi-independent territory in the south, Nicholas I and his cabinet did not give much support to the disaster area, but only let Michel VII, Prince of Pritton, coordinate the southern lords to help the disaster themselves. It was also on that occasion that Michel VII, who had not been given the post of governor of Orknis, was given the opportunity to command the southern nobility for the first time, and discontent with the empire took root in the hearts of the Ocs and South Cyliuls in the south.

"When I heard that Lady Lisa arrived on Green Island, she was happy at first, but because of the root cause of childbirth, she had too much energy to enjoy the beach and the sun. At the time of the tsunami, Madame was staying at the inn where she was staying, while His Excellency the Count was away and was not with her. After the disaster, His Excellency the Count did not even find the body of his wife, and that time hit him hard. And out of nostalgia and loyalty to his wife, he never remarried. ”

After listening to this unfortunate story, Swain remained silent for a long time. The Earl of Hecate is indeed a model of a gentleman, and his affection for his wife is truly touching.

It's just that Swain, of course, is not among them. For this touching love tragedy, he didn't touch too much. His silence was partly to show respect for Count Hecate and condolences to the deceased, but more to consider why Manfred said these words to him.

Manfred's confession surprised Swain, and although the topic was brought up by Swain first, Manfred confided in something far beyond Swain's expectations, especially now that the relationship between the two sides is not friendly. Not only did he show Swain around the tunnels of Fort Govélen, but he also told him so many stories about the Hecate family. Although it is not a secret, the attitude and meaning in it are worth pondering.

There was silence for a long time before Sven spoke again: "You seem to be intent on letting me know more about the Hecate family, although you didn't take the initiative to speak, but your attitude towards me seems to be different from that of Miss Hecate?"

"My attitude?" the sadness on Manfred's face just now quickly dissipated, and his expression always changed quickly, "I don't think our Hecate family and the Thirteenth Class should have any special attitude towards you, you are not our enemy, are you?"

Perhaps this is indeed the case with the Hecate family, and they are not suitable for the Jericho family, so they can still sit down with Swain to discuss the possibility of cooperation after Count Hecate and Yang were injured by Swain. But thirteen lessons, that's not easy to say. Maybe this department can not be an enemy of Jericho, but they will definitely not have friends, and they can't have friends.

"But I don't think Miss Heckat thinks so. ”

"With all due respect, you should not have such a prejudice against Miss. Manfred's eyes became more serious, "Didn't you just make that request to His Excellency the Earl?"

Manfred's words made Swain frown slightly, he could certainly hear what Manfred meant, and at the same time knew what he hadn't noticed before.

Manfred wasn't surprised to see Swain's appearance, in fact, he didn't intend to hide it when he said it. "I beg your pardon to hear your last conversation with the Count while I was waiting in front of the Earl's bedroom. ”

Although Manfred lowered his head in apology, Swain didn't think there would be much apology in Manfred's drooping eyes. Apparently, Manfred not only heard, but probably saw what was going on in the room. Swain was still careless, when he was in Count Hecate's room, his attention was focused on the conversation with the Earl, and he didn't pay attention to the magic fluctuations, otherwise he would have discovered Manfred's trick long ago.

However, Swain finally understood why Manfred had told him so much about the Hecate family. At least, judging from his attitude just now, this person did not have an emotional liking or dislike for Swain, he was purely judging whether Swain could be their partner based on interests. And judging from the courtesy he had just shown to Swain, it was clear that he was in favor of Swain's proposal to Count Heckat.

Furrowing his brows, Swain's face was no longer clear. "I don't care about it, because there's more important things ahead of us. Your advice I will keep in mind. ”

"Thank you very much. Manfred bowed slightly, "After talking for so long, I guess you're hungry too, so please let us entertain you." ”

After thinking about it for a moment, Sven finally nodded. There are as many concessions as there are in such trivial matters, not to mention that now that Sophia is not in the mansion, there is no need for Sven to rush back.

At Manfred's persuasion, Artemis accompanied Swain to a silent dinner. Naturally, Manfred was not at the table, as he said, he was not fit to be present at dinner, and there was no place for him at the table.

Manfred, who was free, went to Yang's room, Yang was not seriously injured, and Manfred did not take much effort to erase his pain, mainly because the fever made his body too weak. Yang fell asleep after taking the medicine, and Manfred calculated the time, and the patient should have had a good dream by this time.

Silently walked into the room, because it was already dark, and Yang's room was also dark at this time. However, when Manfred entered the door, his bright eyes immediately opened.

"Looks like you're in pretty good spirits. Manfred sat down on the edge of Young's bed and reached out to touch his forehead. The fever has subsided, and with Yang's physique, it won't be long before he can do things normally again.

Being pressed to his forehead by those cold hands, Yang was not disgusted, although Manfred's hands were stained with blood, but Yang did not feel that he had any qualifications to dislike it.

"What conditions did Jericho offer?"

"You may ask your sister or the Earl later, I just showed Count Jericho around the castle. Manfred retracted his gentle expression and showed a serious look, "You were defeated by him? you also have remnants of his magic in your body, and it seems that Count Jericho's magic is very corrosive and destructive." It's not as serious as His Excellency the Earl, but it's best for you not to use magic during this time, I'll give you some medicine. ”

Yang remembered the dark green magic ball that Swin had forced into his body, and he still couldn't help but feel palpitations when he thought of the pain now. "I hit him in the throat, I'm pretty sure he didn't magicalize his throat at the time, but I still couldn't kill him. I saw with my own eyes that his wounds were bleeding and then slowly healing, leaving no trace of all the wounds on his body at the end. I simply doubt that this man could really be killed. ”

Manfred frowned, the information Yang had brought with him that he had to take it seriously. "Has Count Jericho been able to make it this far......" he muttered, a pensive look.

"You let me test it, but almost let me die at his hands, is it really worth the information that I got at this level of price?" Yang's eyes were a little dissatisfied, "That Jericho, is it really worth our attention?"

Manfred glanced at Young, the youthful pride hidden on his face. Although he taught the child single-handedly, and Yang learned it very well, but the young man is a young man after all, impatient and easy to despise others. Manfred remembered Swain's face again, and the young man was different.

"Whether he ends up being our enemy or an ally, first and foremost, we need to get to know him. I admit to underestimating the danger of this operation, and I think the Earl will ask you the reason for this later. ”

Yang turned his gaze away, and that was exactly what annoyed him. In the face of Count Hecate's questioning, he needs to use his brain well to come up with a suitable reason that can not make the Count suspect.

Looking at the silent Yang, Manfred suddenly said, "You should not only be tempted this time, but also really have the intention of killing Count Jericho." ”

Young paused as he turned his head, and then he simply turned his head away from Manfred. "I don't understand why you think that Jericho could be our ally. We don't know the details of him, isn't it too dangerous?"

"It's because you don't know the details that you need to be tempted. And, I had a feeling, a feeling that I always had, from the first time I met Swain Noe Jericht. ”

"What does it feel?" Yang asked subconsciously.

Manfred stood up and walked to the window, his head tilted, the newly rising crescent moon reflected in his reddish eyes.

"He's the same person as I am. ”

Young looked at Manfred's back suspiciously. He frowned, wondering what Manfred meant.

"What a good night!" Manfred suddenly opened his arms and exclaimed, "Good night, good, really good." On nights like these, it makes you want to indulge yourself. It's a pity, it's a pity......"

Young couldn't understand what Manfred was saying, he just thought the guy was going crazy again.

——————————————

Swain and Artmis's dinner did not last long, neither of them had anything to say, and the atmosphere was always awkward, and neither the host nor the guest had any intention of alleviating this embarrassment.

Sven didn't care about the atmosphere, he maintained his aristocratic demeanor, and slowly enjoyed the food in front of him. And Artemis seems to have sprinkled all his anger on the veal in front of him, not only does he look very unelegant, but even the amount of food is very unladylike.

After dinner, Swain took his leave. Of course, Artemis would not hold back, and she recruited Manfred and asked him to open the door for Swain to return to Deweide, hoping that this guy would disappear from her face immediately.

After seeing off the guests, Artemis glanced at Manfred and asked, "Is Yang awake?"

"If you're going to see him, there's no problem right now. ”

After thinking about it, Artemis still couldn't bear to go to his younger brother Xingshi, who was lying on the bed, to ask for his guilt. After Swain left the room, Count Hecatet asked about the reason why Young had attacked Swain, which Artmis, of course, did not know. When she saw Yang, she only cared about her brother's physical condition, where could she take care of those.

She could fully imagine how Count Hecate would question Yang in the future, although Artemis felt that his father would not punish his brother too harshly, but a punishment was inevitable, after all, now the Earl had to pay attention to the relationship between the Hecate family and Count Jericht, if he didn't do this, he probably wouldn't be able to give Swain an explanation.

At the thought of this, Artmis's heart became angry. Where did Swain confess when she hurt her father, and this apology was also insincere, and now she hurt her brother like that, but in turn, they had to give someone Jericho an explanation.

Annoyed, Artemis casually sent Manfred away, intending to go back to his room to vent his anger.

However, when she went upstairs, she saw Count Hecate standing at the top of the stairs, and the pale Count beckoned to his daughter.

"Dad!" the startled Artemis hurriedly ran over and held Count Hecate, "What are you doing when you get up, it doesn't matter if you are in your body?"

Count Hecate shook his head and said, "Help me to my office." ”

Looking at his father suspiciously, Artemis didn't know what his father was trying to do. However, since he had to get up despite his body, Artemis had no choice but to do so.

Helped by his daughter to sit down in a chair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Count Hecate's eyes turned to the glass window, the night of Govélenburg. After watching this night scene for a long time, he sighed and said faintly: "Artmis, do you think you can be the master of this family and the leader of the thirteen lessons?"

Hearing this, Artemis turned his head a little impatiently. "I don't want to do it either. ”

"But there are some things that you can't do if you don't want to. ”

Artemis was silent, if it was ordinary, she would definitely say a few words that were angry with her father, but now that the earl's body was like this, and he said such vicissitudes, she couldn't be ruthless.

"Do you know what Count Jericho meant by the last words he said?"

Artemis turned his head again, looking at his father. She had asked him before, but the Count had not answered, but now she had suddenly spoken of it, which made Artemis a little curious.

"The 300,000 Imperial Geer is the meaning of gift money. ”

"Gift money, what gift money?" Atemis still didn't understand for a moment.

"When he said I don't have to pay anything, he meant that I didn't have to pay a dowry. ”

"What!" Artemis understood. She really didn't expect that these people's words could be said so secretly.

"What a joke!" "After figuring out what was going on, Artemis burst into rage, "He still wants to marry me? Why did he! Did he hurt my father or my brother? That shameless Jericho, he's a bastard who doesn't know what to do!"

Artemis slammed his fist into Count Hecate's desk, and the papers piled up on the desk trembled. The Earl was not surprised by his daughter's reaction, how could he not understand his daughter's temperament.

"But girls have to get married after all. ”

"Whoever I marry will not be with him!"

"And who do you want to marry?"

Count Hecate's question made Atmiss unable to answer for a while, and Atmis, who could not come up with a suitable answer, simply turned around and threw down the sentence "I don't want to get married".

With a long sigh, Count Hecate said earnestly: "At least what Count Jericho said makes sense, and the title of Earl of Glamorgan is still too frightening. Marriage with the Jericho family, we can get rid of the trouble of this title, even if we return the fief to His Majesty the Emperor, it doesn't matter, in this era, even if we have a fief, we can't collect any taxes, and it's not as good as those southern nobles. ”

Perhaps moved by her father's tone, Artemis slowly calmed down and stopped playing the unreasonable temper of the eldest lady, but she still wouldn't agree to marry Swain. "This marriage is impossible, and the emperor will not agree. She calmly analyzed, "The Hecate family has thirteen lessons in charge and is responsible for monitoring the Jericho family, if we merge with the Jericho family, then the Jericho family will be completely unwatched." If it were another family, it would have been fine, but it was Jericho, the family that had hidden so many secrets, and marrying them might have led us into unexpected trouble. Dad, don't you think, the emperor's attitude towards Jericho is very strange, he wants to suppress that family, but he seems to be scrupling about something, that is the emperor, what else can he scruple about?"

After listening to Artmis's words, Count Hecate fell silent. What Artemis said was not that he didn't think that the reason why he was able to marry his wife in the first place was because the Dareth family was weak enough not to make the Hecate family biased, so this unsuitable marriage was not substantially hindered. However, the reason why he wants to tell his daughter about this matter now is naturally his consideration.

"If Hecate is still the same Hecate, I will naturally agree with you. However, the current Hecate is already the Earl of Hecate, not the young baron at the beginning. ”

Artemis couldn't help but clench her fists, her father's words made her feel bad.

"If the Emperor already thinks that we are a threat, then who can keep us?

"So......" Atmis, turning to his father in disappointment, "you want to sell me to that hateful Jericho, our enemy?"