The Count of Manon looked with great interest at the men and women soaring on the dance floor, and from time to time looked eagerly at the steel regent Yalusel on the main seat, who today did not wear armor or light men's clothes, but wore a very rare white lace floor-length dress, with slightly modified eyebrows, which looked very charming.

The young earl looked at the gold-trimmed gown robe he was wearing, and he couldn't make up his mind whether to invite His Royal Highness the Regent to dance, the earl looked at the Duke of Katyn who was sitting next to the steel regent with some hesitation, and felt the earl's gaze, and the Duke of Katyn, who was talking to the steel regent in a low voice, turned sideways slightly, nodded to the earl, and the earl hurriedly responded.

Five hereditary dukes, and more than a dozen marquises sat on the throne with the Iron Regent, both the opposition led by the Duke of Katyn, who ambitiously tried to gain greater power, and the conservative nobles who adhered to tradition and supported the Steel Regent.

The earl looked at the big nobles on the main seat carefully, and they were the top people in the Cormier Kingdom to be able to do that position, although they had the title of earl, but the gap between themselves and these big nobles was too big, these big nobles who had been operating for hundreds of years had a deep background, from the ancestral magic items, to the loyal mages cultivated since childhood, as well as the army that had been privately raised before the orc tide, the wealth accumulated over the generations, the various secret methods of personal inheritance, and the complicated in-law relationship between the nobles.

Observing the expressions of the big nobles, the supporters of Duke Katyn were all excited and quite reserved, and the supporters of the steel regent, who were much smaller, looked dull, and a few people also looked at the steel regent from time to time, the steel regent and the Duke of Katyn were both unfazed, and several marquis who supported the Duke of Katyn next to them talked about the cabinet after the duke became prime minister, and both of them just paid attention to the cheerful dance floor as if they hadn't heard.

The hall is very large, with a large number of lanolin candles and magic lamps cast by the inextinguishable flame spell, a giant crystal chandelier with enhanced light applied to the top of the hall, the silver plates on the oak tables are even brighter, the floor is mosaic made of precious wood, the columns around it are carved in vivid relief, and the bands in tuxedos play on the lute, harp, and flute.

The men and women danced happily on the dance floor, and while receiving the drinks from the burly waiters, they secretly laughed at the unprofessionalism of the royal band, which was probably not as good as the level of the tavern in Sussar, and could not even play a simple waltz, which disappointed some of the aristocratic men and women who were looking forward to the royal banquet.

Although it was in a period of war, it was a banquet held by the royal family after all, so the banquet still maintained a considerable level, and it was difficult to sit down in a step-by-step manner like a main meal, and the order of appetizer, main course, and dessert was eaten, and the buffet drinking party was more suitable for the needs of the nobles to socialize.

The royal chefs prepared a wide variety of dishes, including venison pie from King's Forest, stuffed with carrots, bacon and fresh mushrooms, crispy roast duck coated with cloves and honey, peppered wild boar, roast goose, creamy cod from Pterodactyl Lake, charcoal-grilled lamprey, and many more desserts, honey cakes, butter pastries, puff pastry pies, cream swans, rose unicorns, white wines imported from Waterdeep, and local dry red from Susale, as well as freshly squeezed juices for ladies to enjoy.

These aristocrats who are dancing on the dance floor, the men are basically nobles and noble children from the north, the women are basically the noble ladies of the south, these people are basically opponents of the steel regency, and those nobles who support the steel regency, few of them participate in this banquet, even if they do, they don't bring their own female dependents, they just randomly find a courtesan to fill up, which looks very undignified.

Some of the second sons of the nobles who were co-opted by the steel regent before attended this banquet in a grand manner, these have no inheritance rights, can only get the title of the palace knighthood, and a few guys from the manor and workshop, like most noble children, did not join the nobles' private army, or manage the territory, and help their brothers, but colluded with the steel regent, in a vain attempt to win the last game, trying to inherit the title of the elder brother after the failure of the brother's rebellion, and now these guys participated in this banquet in a grand manner.

"The boat is sinking, and the rats are in a hurry to jump ship. The opposition aristocrats scoffed

On the contrary, some nobles were not busy dancing, but hesitated: "There will be no problem, right? Why do I feel so strange?"

"What's the problem? we've already eaten the bread and salt that Yalusail gave us outside the city, so she can't do anything to us, not to mention that the Ghost Man invasion is imminent, and that girl doesn't want to see Cormier finished, so she can only follow Master Katyn's wishes. Another nobleman was relieved.

"We still have a large army outside the city, and there are also a large number of guards brought over outside the hall, so there is no problem. Another nobleman added.

The first nobleman to speak said rather disappointedly, "I don't know what the situation is in the north, why did an orc legion suddenly appear, as well as the mercenaries of the Sambians, and even more terrible, the Yin Prince Revaran!

Several nobles were silent together, even if they could successfully integrate the army and eliminate each other's hostility, but whether they could deal with the Yin Soul army led by a high-level legendary mage, everyone still didn't know whether they could deal with it.

Not paying attention to the few nobles who were talking in a low voice, the Count wandered absentmindedly on the dance floor, and almost bumped into a sturdy waiter, smelling the fox smell on the waiter, the count almost vomited, and hurriedly stopped the waiter from apologizing in fear, and walked into the distance.

The Earl avoided a few waiters who passed by with wine plates, and the sturdy waiter surprised the Earl, and at the same time wondered whether to invite the Steel Regent to dance a dance, although the Steel Regent had expressed his willingness to delegate power, but after all, she was the daughter of the former king, the regent of the kingdom, and the gap between her identity was too far, and it was almost impossible for herself and her to come together.

And the Earl can't be sure of Duke Katyn's attitude towards the Steel Regent, the Iron Regent has great prestige in the Purple Dragon Legion, the Earl doesn't know if Duke Katyn can tolerate the Steel Regent to maintain this influence, if he shows favor to the Steel Regent, or even shows love, will he anger the Duke and let himself be marginalized, although Duke Katyn has a knowing grace for himself, but Duke Katyn has always been a rather deep person, and he has never been sure what the Duke is thinking.

The soft music has been echoing, the nobles of the north are dressed in gowns and robes inlaid with gold and silver, wearing all kinds of expensive jewelry and medals, ribbons, rubbing oil on their heads, and powdering their faces, courting the delicate noble ladies of the south in lace dresses, inviting each other to dance with them, smelling the aroma of incense and food in the air, Count Manon sneezed fiercely, frightened a noble lady next to him, and hurriedly held a perfumed silk fan to hide his face and fled.

Count Manon looked at the noble lady with disdain, and couldn't help but look at the steel regent on the throne, even if he was not wearing armor or men's clothes, Yalucel still looked heroic, and those delicate southern noble ladies were completely different types, Count Manon clenched his palm.

After Duke Katyn became prime minister, Yalusel's life was sad, I am afraid that he will take away all Yalusel's power and gradually marginalize, and it is unlikely that he will be killed, after all, the rule of the royal family has lasted for a thousand years, and it is also dishonorable for Duke Katyn to kill a member of the royal family who has relinquished power.

Yalusail had been adventuring in the rocks for a long time before, and even formed a small adventure team, few people knew that she was once a member of Yalusail's adventure team, and it was also a good choice to become an adventurer with her, she should still remember herself, but what about her status?

Count Manon thought of his own family, the expectations of his parents, the hardships of his childhood, the trembling of his first killing, the grief and indignation of the decline of his family, the ecstasy of being appreciated by the Duke of Katyn, and finally looked up and saw the light smile on the corner of Jalucell's mouth, and everything melted like winter snow in spring.

Just as Count Manon was about to abandon everything and pluck up the courage to step forward, the Steel Regent took out his pocket watch, glanced down, and tapped his glass with a spoon with a light smile on his lips.

The band stopped playing, the men and women stopped dancing, the nobles on the throne looked at the steel regent, and the Duke of Katyn's unfazed face was filled with doubt.

The Steel Regent looked around, paused at Count Manon, and finally took a deep look at Duke Katyn beside him, and said in a loud voice, "Well, so be it." ”

Everyone was very surprised by the steel regent's stunned words, and some people even thought that the steel regent was not stimulated by something and said nonsense.

Count Manon keenly felt that something was wrong, when the banquet began, the Queen Mother and the babbling King only made a brief appearance and left, and the supporters of the steel regent had been leaving the table under the pretext of not knowing when, and the door was closed at some point, and these sturdy waiters, Manon looked around, and met one of the waiters, and saw more in the waiter's determined gaze, Manon subconsciously stepped forward and held the waiter's arm.

The temperature in the hall was very pleasant, the waiters were all wearing thin silk white shirts, and Manon was cold to the touch of iron armor.

"There is a deception-" As soon as Manon shouted, the magic illusion on the waiter's body was shattered, the royal guard wearing the cuirass threw down the dim sum plate in his hand, drew the long sword at his waist and rushed towards Manon, more waiters also returned to their original appearance, and rushed to their target according to the plan, and some of the nobles' second sons drew out the quenched thin sword on their waists, and killed the northern nobles who were caught off guard, and the broken band threw down the instrument, picked up the repeating heavy crossbow equipped with demon-breaking crossbow arrows, and began to shoot at the mages among the northern nobles.

The wails, the scolding, the screams of the women echoed throughout the hall, and the northern nobles only had the silver-plated swords for ceremonies, and according to the requirements of the royal guards who were responsible for guarding the palace, they did not carry dimensional bags, wore thin dresses, and did not even carry bottles of healing potions.

With the shield ring and defensive talisman on his body, Count Manon resisted the attacks of several royal guards, but in despair saw the steel regent take a long sword and cut off the arm of the Duke of Katyn wearing a magic ring, and the talisman on the duke's body was destroyed by the current chief war mage Kaladenay who suddenly appeared.

"How dare you! Are you without dignity! We are your guests! Without us, how would you resist the hordes of the Shadows?" the Duke of Katyn's voice echoed through the halls.

"You are the enemies of the country, anyway, my heart is already made of steel, what do you want dignity for? There is no army of the Shade people at all, the orc army is led by my future Earl of Rockland, the Shadow Men are going to stop fighting, and I have made an agreement with the Sambians. In reply, Jaluthel cut off the duke's head.

Despite the injuries inflicted by a few of the Praetorian guards, the Earl of Manon rushed to Alousel, my lord!

Several powerful nobles broke the blockade of the royal guards, broke the heavy oak door, and planned to join the guards who were waiting in the side hall, but out of the gate ushered in the royal guard brigade that had just annihilated the nobles, these guards were wearing plate armor, holding long-handled axes and guns, and there were crossbowmen in light armor behind them, and after a while, several powerful nobles were killed, and one of the high-level mages did not wait to release the chain lightning spell in his hand, and was shot into a sieve by a large number of demon-breaking crossbow arrows to break the magic shield, and the teleportation technique that should have been triggered was also blocked by the mystery lock in the palace, and it was not triggered in time。

The Iron Regent, dressed in a long dress, lightly lifted Count Manon's ceremonial sword away and knocked him to the ground, and Count Manon covered the wound in his chest and fell into a dying state.

In the barracks outside Susar, the quartermasters of the Purple Dragon Legion took out a large amount of mead and ale, whole cattle and sheep, barrels of flour and large jars of butter, and also recruited more prostitutes, and rewarded the noble coalition army in the name of the new prime minister.

When the aristocratic alliance was rising, the 3,000 Purple Dragon Legion, together with the 2,000 Nadal army, and hundreds of war mages, with the cooperation of some of the coalition Sambian mercenaries, began to slaughter the aristocratic coalition army.

As he was dying, Count Manon looked up at the glamorous Yalusel, and saw an officer hurrying up to her and whispering something, and Count Manon vaguely heard the words vampire, exiled nobleman, pirate, flaming dagger, and Tambian betrayal amid the sobs of the southern aristocratic ladies.

Count Manon fell to the ground, looking at Alousel, watching the white hem of her dress mopping the floor for a long time, and as she walked, it was about to stain a spot of blood on the ground, Count Manon used the last of his strength to straighten the hem of her skirt, so that the white hem of the dress was not stained with blood, she paused slightly, but did not look back.

"Well, so be it. Finally, the earl Nan Nan muttered to himself.