The beautiful head rolled on the ground until it touched d'Artagnan's foot, and d'Artagnan watched as it turned to black ashes at the edge of his boot.

The monsters that surrounded them were similarly seized by the darkness, which they had once glad to see, for it symbolized the fat of blood, but now it had become their shroud, and the monsters that had terrified d'Artagnan and Colbert had died in agony without even a howl, and disappeared without leaving a trace, and d'Artagnan swore that he had heard a strange word, similar to the English "coward" or "coward" , but there is a slight difference, or because the pronunciation of the person who utters the word is really elegant and gentle, not like a rude Englishman.

This conjecture was corroborated in the next moment, because the man who came out of the darkness ...... No, he's not even human, he's a vampire, his red eyes say who he is like a business card, he doesn't show his fangs, he doesn't show his teeth and claws, but he brings d'Artagnan a sense of oppression far more than that of the enthusiastic proprietress .

"Good evening, gentlemen. He said, looking at the sky, "It's a great day for swimming." ”

"You're right, sir. D'Artagnan said that he admired himself: "It wasn't what we wanted, but it was quite comfortable to swim in the river in this weather – do you think we should go down for a while? or no, or should we thank you?"

The vampire glanced at d'Artagnan, and he realized that not only the young king, but also many wonderful people around him: "No, my dear friend, I don't need to see you go down to swim, nor do you need to do what you think, but I want you to thank me." ”

"As long as I can do it. ”

"You can. The vampire said, "I want you to apologize on my behalf to your Majesty the King." ”

"What have you done that the king needs to forgive you?"

"An overly reckless visit. The vampire said, "I admit I was too impulsive at the time, but luckily someone stopped me." ”

"I can only tell you on my behalf. D'Artagnan said, "Only the king can decide whether he can forgive you or not." ”

"Bold child!" said the vampire, surprised and delighted, "I almost like you." Before d'Artagnan could comprehend the words, a pair of cold hands were placed on his neck, and he immediately remembered how easily this hand had broken the neck that seemed to be wrapped in thick cowhide—d'Artagnan remembered how hard it took him to plunge his short sword into the opponent's chest, and he immediately froze: "Tell your king, Amun greets him," the vampire's voice sounded in his ears," Allow me to express my sincere apologies to him, and to tell him that your Majesty, Amun, and the House of Tsmich are ready to call him. ”

With that, he let go of d'Artagnan's neck, as if in a split second, the vampire was back in his original position, as if he had never left, he stood straight, his collar fluttering up and down like a moth's wings in the black night wind, this was the last image he left in d'Artagnan's eyes, and then he disappeared.

D'Artagnan and Kirtagel stayed where they were for a while before they could move, what a colorful night, they all thought, but since they were still alive, it was a good thing, d'Artagnan found a vine to tie his shirt, so that at least he could not walk in front of people in some places that would be shielded, and Colbert, who was relatively neatly dressed, tightened his clothes— He also only had a pair of trousers, and he had to grieve d'Artagnan, they were all soaked, and they were even cooler when the wind blew, and Colbert sneezed incessantly, thinking that the next day he would have a fever.

——————

Amon didn't go too far.

He could even watch d'Artagnan and Corbel slowly leave, the moon pushing away the clouds and casting a silvery white light, but it was quickly blocked by a dense group of small black shadows, and the bats landed in front of Amun, incarnating into three vampires, who respectfully saluted Amun, their prince, "Do you know which tribe?" he asked, "Revno or Assamee?"

"Levno. The vampire added, "Once Remno." ”

"I think so, Assameh disdains to deal with a mortal. "And even Raffno wouldn't make offspring so casually, it's so close to Paris, and tell Theoderick that there are vampires who are creating untouchables, and that's a matter of his jurisdiction." ”

As a member of the Demon Party of the Bloodline, Amon never cared if there were vampires who created untouchables on a large scale - but Theoderick, the leader of the Secret Order, must have been very concerned about this, as untouchables are often extremely intractable beings.

In the Bloodline, a Dalit is a vampire who does not belong to any clan, who have either been expelled by their own clan, or created without the permission of the Prince, or who have just been created, and their "father" or "mother" have been accidental, or deliberately abandoned them (this is often done by members of the Demon Party), and sometimes they will take revenge- For example, if a priest who has hurt a Bloodline or its descendants, a clergyman's relatives and lovers, etc., the Bloodline will deliberately kiss them and then watch them fall into a painful dilemma - but in any case, they are beasts who have not been taught anything, like the Assassin tonight, who is a pariahs from Levno.

She didn't even know the right way to kiss, and most likely, she just made people drink her own blood, which is why she had these monsters, but these monsters were just some useless maggots - Amon thought, "Do you know who hired her?"

"Duke Gaston of Orleans. Said the prince's servants.

"I think so. Amon clapped his hands happily, "It's wonderful, it's worth all my time with them, now we're going to start waiting for ......"

"To Paris?" said one of the servants boldly.

"Perhaps, for the time being...... Don't go. Amon said regretfully: "Theoderick will definitely try to clean up the whole Paris basin when he knows about this, it will get very noisy, I hate noise, so we ......" His finger circled in the air and paused: "Oh no, wait, I think...... I think we should go to Paris!" he giggled and screamed, "Yes, Paris!"

His minions had become accustomed to Amon's neurotic change of day, and were even more surprised that he had changed his mind in just a few seconds, so they just cheered—of course they preferred Paris!

The clouds swept past the moon, perhaps only for a moment, but in an instant, the shadows turned into thousands of bats, flapping their wings, and rushing into the air, towards Paris.

————————

The people of Paris are also waiting.

They waited for the Queen of Sweden, or rather, the Queen of Sweden who had abdicated, Christina Augusta, but she could still be called Madame, because she also owned Norrköping, Gotland and Ursel, Pomerania and other places, and the Swedish king, her cousin, still had to provide for her, so she was still a rich and powerful woman except that she no longer owned Sweden.

But for some people in Paris, Christina's arrival has another deep purpose, because for the king and the bishop of Mazarin, their three greatest enemies, the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Gaston and the High Court have all submitted to their throne, the king has reached adulthood, but the bishop is also in his prime, so now the question arises, is the bishop willing to give up his authority, and the king is willing to keep his authority in the hands of others?

The arrival of the former Queen of Sweden has become a touchstone, if Christina arrives in Paris and the first person she meets the king, then it shows that the king has won the war, if she goes to see Mr. Bishop first, then it shows that Mr. Bishop is still unshakable, then their wind will also turn around.

This is what bothers Christina Augusta, or rather, Christina Alexandra (who changed her surname after converting from Protestantism to Catholicism), who, according to etiquette and tradition, should have been the first to meet the king when she came to Paris, but the letter written to her by Mr. protagonist said that he intended to make her queen of Naples, which made Cristina hesitate- Of course, as a woman who worshipped Alexander the Great, and even took his surname as her surname, Christina's abdication of the Swedish throne was not intended, but forced under the triple oppression of the Protestant church, bankers and merchants, and lords in her country, and the fire of her ambition did not go out, but burned more and more.

The problem was that she also needed the support of the King of France, and given that she had only been away from Sweden for a short time, the income from the territory had been reduced to a terrible extent from what the current King of Sweden had promised, her attendants had to even split wooden doors to keep warm, and she herself had a rather embarrassing life, and she needed the mediation of the King of France - and if she wanted to become Queen of Naples, she would also need to pay bribes to the nobles, to raise officials, and to prepare an army, all of which required money, and a lot of money.

In the end, it was Mr. Bishop who helped her solve the problem, and a messenger arrived before she entered Paris, Pegasus, and delivered a letter from Mr. Bishop in his own handwriting.

Bishop Mazaran told her to go to the king first.