1045 Namul calendar. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Kenny Dalton, Lord of the North, gripped the stone window on the heights, and suddenly felt like he had become light, as if a gust of wind could easily take him away. There was a pinprick pain on his scalp, and then, as if something terrifying had burst into his eyes, its brightness almost rivaling that of the sun. This made him unsteady on his feet, and he almost fell headlong.

"My lord?" said the squire John's voice, sincere and worried. He had served Kenny for nearly fifteen years, was an honest man with purple eyes, and was the longest-serving servant in all of Fort Horn.

Eighteen years ago, Kenny was separated from his wife in the chaos of war and was reunited the following spring, but his wife, Nina, brought good news and bad news. They had a child of their own, born on the shores of Lake Mochizuki in late autumn, and named Horn, after which North Castle was named. But the bad news is that Marven, the most loyal and reliable servant in his life, was killed in the war and buried in the red oak forest outside the Beicheng Bridge.

"It's okay, get me a bar, old man. Kenny shook his head and sat back in the oak chair closest to him.

"Two slices of lemon, four mulberries, a drop of fish-man tears, and the temperature of the wine, my lord," John recounted the lord's habits over the years. With little time left in autumn and a long winter approaching, he could not figure out the lord's requirements for the temperature of the wine during the alternating season.

"You can do it, don't let me burn my tongue, just cold my teeth. Kenny waved his hand.

What the hell is wrong with me? After the door closed, he sat down in his chair and thought that if he had just fallen, he would have broken into a patty.

He was really worried about whether his knees would hold up and return to this chair. So he sat there for a while, taking several deep breaths, and gently stroking the ivory patterns on the oak armrests with his fingers. Eventually, he staggered to his feet, walked over to the basin, and put some cold water on his face.

In the mirror, the drenched face stared at him as well. The beard of the year is long gone, replaced by a neat and graceful curly short mustache, but like the hair, it has unconsciously mixed in with some silver strands. His eyes were badly swollen, his skin was earthy gray, and the wrinkles on his forehead were even deeper.

When did I get so old? he asked himself. He was only forty-three years old, and he had seen someone who was forty years older than him, but who looked younger—the elder Eugene, the dean, who had been seriously ill several times, but had repeatedly escaped from the clutches of death.

After wiping his face with an old linen towel, he summoned the guards on duty at the door. "Ask your captain, where are Sersi and Mike?" he sat back in his oak chair, his sloppy honey-colored eyes full of tiredness.

"Your wine, my lord. Half an hour later, John placed a glass of blood-red wine on the small round table next to Kenny.

With a fingertip touching the rim of the glass, Kenny knew that John hadn't gambled with the guards all night last night. The temperature of the wine was just right, and after tasting it, the fragrance of lemon and mulberry rolled on his taste buds, the tip of his tongue was thick and mellow, and when it slid down his throat, it was the coolness of fish-man's tears, and everything was as usual, and he felt alive again.

"Wait. Kenny put the glass down. John's stopped in the doorway and then turned around. "Old man, frankly, I've been plagued by nightmares lately. Last night, too, I don't know what it was like, or some kind of horror, even after the defeat, I never felt that way. To make matters worse, the feeling became more frequent as the plan approached, and I wanted to talk to Eugene, but the old guy was sick again, and worse than the last time, damn it....."

"I'm sorry, sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Kenny thought for a moment, his honey-colored eyes sweeping over the old servant's body. "I'm afraid it's hard. Anyway, thank you. ”

John nodded and was about to leave, but the door had just been closed and he turned back. "My lord," he bowed to his knees, then lifted up, "I may not be able to comprehend your feelings, but it is certainly a fear, an indescribable fear, the same as the panic of falling, but ..... My lord, don't care about the crazy words of the outside world, in the final analysis, the entire North City is the people of the First Continent, even the Nipur people back then are also descendants of the Marshall King's army, if the other territories are unwilling to send troops, then we will fight back ourselves. He dared to glance at the lord's eyes, lowered his head, and added in a very small voice, "Eighteen years, my lord, we want to go home, and the people of the entire northern city want to." ”

Kenny stared at him for a moment and laughed, "May the god Namu bless us, John." ”

"I only wish that the god Namu would bless you, and the Alliance Army. ”

"Go down, let Grandma help me change my clothes. Kenny kept a smile on his face.

"Madame, she ....."

"Don't wake her up for these things, let alone for such trivial matters. Kenny picked up his glass again, watching the old servant's back disappear from sight along with the crack in the door.

After a while, A, a young man with an authentic Assyrian accent, walked in.

Before that, Kenny spends a glass of time thinking about his relationship with his wife. They only have one child, he loves the child who was lost in the war, the little one inherited his mother's chestnut hair color, and his honey-colored eyes, except for the naughty and mischievous North City when he was young, and his swordsmanship and brain are extraordinarily talented.

But what about the wife. He thought that their reunion would be like a newlywed, and that at the end of his life she would have a pair of children for him, after all, they were not yet thirty. But he couldn't forget Mira Kelline, it was an unacceptable fact, but it was as real as a pig that couldn't fly and a bird that couldn't swim. Even though he has never been ashamed of Nina over the years, and has never met Mira alone except for political necessity, whenever he sleeps with his wife, he always closes his eyes with the smile of a white dove, and that long song about longing.....

"My lord?" the wine in the cup bottomed out, and the lingua franca of the Assyrian accent interrupted the thoughts.

"Don't dress formally," Kenny told him, "find something comfortable, I'm going to see an old friend today." Then he put down the cup, stood up, and stretched out his arms for them to serve.

They dressed him in a dark blue woollen tunic with a vertical collar, gold wolf stripes sewn with gold thread on the chest, and his preferred black cashmere trousers, then black deerskin boots, and a black mink smock. While buttoning his coat, the newly appointed deputy captain of the Guards knocked on the door. "Your Excellency, Mistress Selcy and Mike are already waiting outside. ”

"Onion bacon pie for breakfast and carrot cheese soup, which was Sersi's favourite. Mike is as free as he pleases, as long as there is enough bread, I'll ....." he looked at the gold buttons on his sleeve, "and let John bring me another hot glass of wine, the wine is mild and spiced, he knows, bring everything to the study, and we'll eat and talk here." ”

"Yes, sir. The deputy captain of the Guards said with Ah Wan.