"Isn't that why I'm going to follow you? Oh, that's it, it's not like this, we who are bathed in shadow and filth, where there is no innocence to speak of, are the most vile and cruel villains. "Your Excellency, when did you become so afraid of the Empire, didn't you just kill a Gyan and stretch out your gloved, furry claws to the Empire?"

"That's the way you talk to me?" Sinjid just stood up and was kicked down by Swain, "Mock me, alchemist, you don't have the qualifications yet. ”

"No, how dare I!" Sinjid lay on the ground, the corners of his mouth still smiling, "I am just reminding you to do my duty, and at the same time I hope you will not forget to promise me a reward." ”

"Reward?" Sven stared coldly at Sinjid for two seconds, then at the strange man, "I promised you that there was no such thing in your reward. ”

As he spoke, Swain raised his hand and aimed it at the strange Sir Willy, and a raven leapt into his palm.

"Damn, I'm not your dog, you can't ruin my hard work!" Seeing that Swain was going to destroy his work, Singid immediately barked, and he didn't care about the master-slave relationship with Swain, and shouted at Sir Willy, "Fight back, fight back!"

Ser Willy, who received the order, immediately drew his sword, and before Sven could summon enough crows, he took advantage of the close distance and stabbed Sven in the throat first.

The crow in Swain's palm opened its sharp beak and tried to block the blade, but Sir Willy was a veteran of the sword after all, even if it was now made into such a thing by Sinjid, so that the skill of the sword still remained in the memory of his muscles, and the direction of the stabbing sword turned around, bypassing the crow's beak and cutting off its head with his backhand.

Swain stared coldly at Sir Willy, who had killed his demon, and when the other man stabbed his sword at him, Sven did not move, but just reached out and grabbed the other party's sword.

Although the sword was grasped by Swain, Sir Wiley's attack did not stop, and he pulled the sword horizontally, and the sharp blade brought a burst of blood, cutting off four of Sven's fingers.

Looking at the hand that had lost four fingers, Sven didn't care, the injury was nothing to him, and he had even broken his neck during the fight with Manfred.

"No matter how exquisite the swordsmanship is, you are just a dead man, and a dead man cannot kill the living. Swain held out his four-fingered hand and pointed it at Sir Willy, the magic already condensed in his palm, "Let the dust return to dust, and the dust to the earth." ”

Neither Sir Willy nor Sinjid were magicians, and they couldn't sense magic, even if Sir Willy had a premonition of something with the swordsman's intuition, he still couldn't dodge the blow, and was hit in the chest by Sven's majestic magic and flew out a long distance.

Sinjid looked at Sir Willy lying in the garbage heap at the end of the alley, his face twitched, he could feel the blow just now, he was afraid that this work of his was going to be scrapped.

"The price to bleed me is heavy. Swain shook the hand that had just recovered his four fingers and looked at Sinjid with cold eyes, "Put away your careful thoughts, don't be too presumptuous." In my eyes, you're just a dog. ”

With that, Swain left Sinjid and left the alley.

And Sinjid, who was lying on the ground, hung his head down, and his eyes were fierce and terrifying.

————————————————

Caterina leaned on the balcony with a sense of relief, the banquet in the Hall of Glory behind her was reaching its climax, the interested nobles took their dance partners and danced on the dance floor, her father, the new emperor of the empire, Alexander, also took Princess Anna to dance, it seemed that the haze caused by the previous war had been swept away, and the empire was still the most prosperous and unrivaled power in the world.

It wasn't that no one had come to invite Caterina to dance, but she really couldn't be interested, and after returning to the Tiamat Palace, Alexander's attitude towards his daughter was noticeably colder, although he did not reprimand him in person as before, but this indifferent attitude made Caterina even more concerned.

"You look unhappy?"

Katerina's face trembled slightly, and the sound made her depressed mood fluctuate a little, but then, she took a deep breath, calmed down, and retracted her countenance.

"Why am I not happy that my father, His Majesty Alexander II, has finally ascended the throne today?"

Swain held his martini glass and looked at the princess who was alone on the balcony blowing the night breeze.

"I thought this would be a reason for your upset. ”

Caterina shook her head, an insincere smile on her face. "If you want to be unhappy, I think you're more like you, Lord Jericho, no," he took two steps forward, came to Swain, lifted his skirt and saluted, "Your Excellency Lord Swain I, Duke Midnight, I should say." ”

Sven stared at Katarina, if it was someone else, he would definitely be upset by these unemotional eyes, and even angry. But Caterina didn't, she just smiled and responded to Swain with her gaze.

"It's a pity. After looking at it for a long time, Swain suddenly shook his head and let out a breath from his mouth, "It looks like you've really given up, and I'm really disappointed." ”

"I thought you'd be happy. Caterina turned, "We don't have anything to do with it anymore, do we, so I won't haunt you anymore, and you can go on with your great deeds, and I ......"

Caterina couldn't help but have a sour look in her eyes as she looked at the night sky. "Wait, like the princesses of the past, get married. ”

Swain was silent for a moment, then walked over to the railing and stood side by side with Katarina.

Caterina glanced at Swain, then snatched the glass from his hand and drank it down.

"What about your sister, aren't you inseparable and have a very good relationship, why, she didn't come today?" Caterina showed a hint of drunkenness on her reddened face, "Did you take care of me and deliberately didn't bring her here?"

"Why should I be concerned about you?" asked Swain rhetorically.

"Ha, you're actually, embarrassed to say that?" Caterina twisted her face to the other side, hiding the sadness and sadness on her face, "You're not for her, and you're ...... me"

"She didn't attend today's ceremony and dinner because she wasn't feeling well. Swain interrupted Katarina.

The eldest princess snorted, and there was a bit of sadness in her laughter. "Look, that's how you spoil her, and you speak for her all the time. I hope you can be enlightened. ”

Sven's eyes narrowed into a line, looking at the bright stars in the sky. The politicians in the Reichstag are nothing more than cowardly chameleons, and they can eat the draft amendment to the Imperial Succession Procedure, or I can tell them to eat the so-called 'Wallace Act.'" ”

"......What if," the gleam in Caterina's eyes flowed, and out of the corner of her eye came Swain's arm leaning on the railing, "what if this bill is passed? Those councillors may not be so afraid of you, even if you kill Sir Wallace in public, but for them, it is my father who cannot be offended the most, is it?"

"If you want to support them, so be it. Swain picked up Caterina's words, "Don't forget, no one can control Jericho in Midnight's Castle, not even your father, who can't do anything to me on my territory. ”

Caterina froze, and Swain's words were so presumptuous that she couldn't listen to them anymore.

However, before Caterina could retort, Swain continued, "If you want to report my disrespect to His Majesty the Emperor, I have no reason to stop you, you are his daughter after all. If you want to give up, please be thorough, and if you still hold on to it at this point, it will be too ugly. ”

Katerina's face turned extremely ugly, as Swain had said.

"However, after all I have been through, I am willing to consider this as a master-slave game. So, I have prepared a gift for you, just because this thing is not suitable for today's occasion, and I will have someone pass it on to you later. ”

"No need. Caterina flicked the hair hanging from her ear, "I still keep the gift you gave me in Konue, you don't need to give me anything more, you don't owe me." I'm not going to tell anyone anything about it, because I don't want to owe you anything. ”

Swain remembered the long white dress and sun hat he had bought for Princess Celestia in Konue, which were nothing more than gifts for an imperial princess, but he didn't expect Caterina to keep them until now.

"I'll have someone bring me a gift tomorrow, and I ask you to take it anyway. Swain's tone was non-negotiable, as he always was, "I don't think we should have a chance to meet in the future." It's better not to have. ”

With that, Swain turned away, leaving Katerina alone on the balcony.

"Bastard......" Caterina gritted her teeth and took the glass to her mouth, but when she put it to her mouth, she realized that there was no more wine in the glass.

"Bastard!" Princess Celestia scolded again.

Back in the Hall of Glory, Swain looked so out of place with the nobles who were enjoying the banquet, and there was no expression on his face, as if it was the same for him whether he was at the banquet or in prison.

"Count Jericho. ”

Sven heard a familiar greeting, and he followed the voice, and sure enough, it was Prime Minister Pitt, whom he had only met today, calling him.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister. Swain walked over, "See you again." ”

"yes. Prime Minister Pitt smiled and raised his glass slightly in salute, "Why don't you have some at the reception? ”

Swain took a glass of wine from the passing waiter and took a sip. "Actually, I'm not very good at wine tasting, and in Midnight Castle, a leisurely life doesn't require much socializing and socializing, so I never learned these luxurious but troublesome tricks from my grandfather. ”

"Really?" said Prime Minister Pitt laughed louder, "I was younger than you are when your grandfather came to Dwit, but by that time I was able to talk to him about the wines of Cathon at the wine table—of course, that's all I could talk to your grandfather about at that time, and when I was young, my father always scolded me for not being a good learner. ”

"So, the old Prime Minister Pitt's unlearned and unskilled words are 'compliments'?"

Prime Minister Pitt looked at Swain's face, there was still no expression on his young face, and the old Prime Minister could not see any trace of Winston on Swain's face.

"Very interesting words. Prime Minister Pitt raised his glass and touched it lightly with Swain's hand, "If only you could smile." ”

Sven didn't answer, just took another sip of wine.

"I saw you talking to Her Highness Caterina just now. Prime Minister Pitt looked at the balcony, which was so cool compared to the glittering and brightly lit Hall of Glory, "You two are the same age, you must be able to talk about it, right?"

Swain stared into Prime Minister Pitt's eyes, and although it was rude, it was clear that Swain didn't have any scruples, even if he was in front of the Prime Minister of the Empire, an elder who was the same age as his grandfather.

"It doesn't matter about my age, in most people's eyes, I'm not a good person to talk to. ”

You're pretty self-aware. Prime Minister Pitt pouted inwardly, but the smile on his face remained the same.

"Well, it looks like Her Highness Caterina shouldn't be among the 'majority'. Prime Minister Pitt didn't pay attention to Swain's rude eyes, and continued to smile and said, "Actually, I was pushed out by His Majesty and asked me to ask you a question. He knew that you had a good relationship with Her Royal Highness Katarina, and that he was now planning to promote you to duke, so His Majesty thought, since you are the same age and the right family, why don't you think about it?"

The old man raised his wine glass, and the kind smile on his face was like that of a cute old man on the Starry Night Festival.

"The problem of marriage. ”