Ever since Pertheus was attacked by the plague beasts, he has been recuperating in the intensive care unit, and for the first time he has recovered well, and everything is going well.

But since one day Yuanwen began to visit at night, Percius's temperament suddenly changed drastically, he punished the medical staff at every turn, refused to see anyone, and his irritable mood also made his wounds difficult to heal, and later evolved into a stubborn disease, and the whole person was also languished due to long-term infection and inflammation, and even fell into a coma from time to time.

During the period when Persius was unable to rule, the affairs of the kingdom were carried out by the ministers below, the decrees were delivered as usual, the magistrates carried out as before, the people lived as before, and the huge state apparatus of Doguland seemed to be still in operation, and nothing had changed.

However, those who are at the center of the power vortex know that with Perseus's current state, it is probably not a question of how long it will take to heal, the old king dies of illness, the crown changes hands... I'm afraid it's only in the middle of a day.

The royal city is now like a powder keg, and when a ray of spark appears, it may explode a thunderbolt that will turn the whole territory upside down.

Sting also lost a lot of weight during this time, on the one hand, his daughter was missing, and his whereabouts were not found for a long time, and on the other hand, Perseus was in a bad state, he had a heavy burden on his shoulders, and he had to go back and forth between the ministers every day, which can be described as haggard.

At the last meeting, Perseus had made his intentions very clear, Bolton did not have the talent of a king, André was in a disorderly party, both of them had been excluded, and the future "Dorguland XXV" could only be the remaining candidate, Solandale.

In order to achieve a smooth transition of power, the coronation of the new king must have the support of ministers on the one hand, and firmly grasp the military power on the other hand, both of which are indispensable.

Unfortunately, Solandelle's roots were too shallow, and she lacked supporters among the civil servants, and all but those who had fought alongside her in the north were either loyal to Bolton or André's protégés, and could not be used by her.

All Sting could do was to win over the wavering ministers or generals to help Solandel expand his influence, and in addition to that, he was doing his best to deal with the affairs of the Helsing family.

The Helsings are openly on Solandale's side, but Chino is under house arrest and in the middle of nowhere, and Sting is trying to coordinate with him in the hope of transferring Chino back to Twilight City, or sending him to Cold Hollow, so that he can be freed.

However, the Troyin family on the side of Fengyun Pass bit to death, obviously trying to detain Chino to his side.

And the strange thing is that Chino himself is not active in the transfer, and he has a posture of retiring in Fengyunguan, which makes it impossible to understand his inner thoughts.

...

The wind and rain had been beating the royal city for several days, and the air was a little stuffy.

Late that night, Sting returned to his lodging after his official duties, he looked at the clock and found that it was almost 4 o'clock in the morning, and he had made an appointment to talk about things at 6 o'clock in the morning.

"Dongdong, Dongdong!"

Sting had just been lying down for a while when there was a dull knock on the door, and when he opened the door, he saw that it was the imperial guard standing outside.

The imperial guard at the head of the group said silently: "Lord Sting, please come with us, Your Majesty will summon you." ”

Sting looked at these imperial guards, they were all armed for some reason, wearing heavy helmets and swords that they only wore in battle, and it could be seen from those sharp eyes that they were the most elite group of imperial guards, there were 17 of them.

"What are you?" Sting couldn't help but be a little puzzled.

The imperial guard at the head didn't say anything, just made a cold "please" gesture.

Sting didn't say much, and boarded the carriage parked outside.

On the way to Pertheus's infirmary, Sting lifted the curtain and looked out a few times, always feeling that some kind of gaze was watching him in the dark.

At first, he thought it was a delusion, but later he realized that it was not, and in addition to the imperial guards who followed the carriage with him, there were many hidden guards hidden in the shadows along the way, watching him the whole time.

All kinds of strange behaviors made Sting feel uneasy in his heart.

When I arrived at the medical hall, the security here was more strict than before, and there were more than 100 people on duty in the surrounding sentry posts alone, and I don't know how many masters were hidden in the secret.

When Sting arrived in the intensive care unit, Pertheus was in a state of awakening, he was sitting on the bed with a pillow, his face was blue-gray from repeated long-term inflammation and heavy medication, and his lips were shriveled and atrophied, like rotten dead tree bark.

Seeing his former good brother become like this, Sting couldn't help but feel sad, and he said with concern: "Your Majesty, if there is anything, lie down and talk about it." ”

Perseus didn't respond, just looked at the heavy rain outside the window, and his eyes were a little dazed: "I had a dream last night, and I dreamed of something a long time ago... At that time, we were both very young, studying together at the academy. ”

"Sulla was a little girl and a classmate of ours. The three of us often secretly go out to drink, copy each other's homework to cope with the teacher, and talk about life together under the moon. ”

"Do you remember? When you chased after Sula, the three of us made an appointment, and when you have children, no matter boys or girls, you will recognize me as your father-in-law, and I will treat your children as my own children. ”

Speaking of this, Pertheus smiled helplessly: "Later, I became a king, and out of etiquette, I couldn't get Lorna to call me a father-in-law." However, I still treated her as my own, crowned her as a prince with a different surname, and gave her everything I could, which can be regarded as fulfilling the promise of the year. ”

The past is vivid, and there seems to be laughter and laughter in my ears, but now things are wrong, my wife has passed away for fifteen years, and my daughter has disappeared recently.

Pertheus retracted his gaze, looked at the brother in front of him who had grown up together, and said deeply: "Sting, whether you admit it in your heart or not, you should be able to see that I may not live long." ”

"Since I became the king, you have always been known to me as 'Your Majesty', and you have never relied on the personal relationship between you and me to overstep the position, I am honored to have a brother like you."

"There are some words, some things, I know that there is a difference between kings and ministers, and I should not say them. But I'm also a dying person now, if I can't listen to my brother's heart before I die, if I die like this, I'm afraid I won't be willing to die after death. ”

The topic of life and death made Sting even more sad, and he secretly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve: "What do you have to say... Please speak up, Your Majesty..."

Pertheus stared into Sting's eyes, Tong Kong was slightly out of focus, and his next words were like a big hand, grabbing Sting's heart: "You, have you ever thought about avenging Sulla?" ”