Long Xingtian passed away in his sleep in the early morning of December 20. After noon, the white flames on the beacon tower spread throughout all the provinces of the Xianglong Kingdom. Long Xingtian's twenty-three years in power came to an end. The only prince died earlier than Long Jun, and according to the legal code, the first heir in line to the throne was the turn of the eldest princess Long Dailan, but she was married to Jinbao and had no deep roots in the court.

After the death of her father, Long Dailan immediately gathered her sisters and cabinet members to arrange her father's funeral, and the first thing was the arrangement of the kneeling day.

In the tradition of the boxers, the children of the deceased bow down to the spirits of the deceased for five days, and if there are no children, other immediate family members bow on their behalf. Long Xingtian happened to have five children, and one of the dead princes was removed, and the completion of the kneeling task fell on the four daughters, and although the second princess Long Suyun was disabled, her husband was in good health. The little princess Long Biyue insisted on being the first to kneel down, Long Dailan knew her character, not to mention that there was no mandatory rule on the order of the eldest and youngest in the tradition of kneeling spirits, so there was no obstruction. The subsequent order of kneeling spirits is Long Dailan, Long Suyun's husband Menke, and Long Qinglian. In terms of the arrangement of the fifth day, Long Dailan originally planned to kneel for another day, but the general returned triumphantly during the day and offered to kneel for Long Zixing, no one could refuse, he was the younger brother of the first prince.

The mourning hall is located in the southeast corner of the inner palace of the royal palace and is divided into a main hall and two side halls. The entire façade is striped in white and gold, and the closed white wooden doors are covered with thick gold-encrusted iron sheets, and a pair of large golden circular knockers hang over them, each with a coiling dragon on the curved surface of the knockers. There was a row of Dragon Monarch guards standing outside the gate, and Yu Jian and Yan Ji took turns with the guards on duty, looking from a distance like a row of statues that had stood for thousands of years, even if the wind and rain were blowing, they would not move at all.

Inside the hall, white silk curtains hang down in front of the coffin, long white banners with eulogies are hung on the four walls, and the monks of the Iron Fist Temple dressed in white linen recite scriptures and prayers, asking the dragon god to bless the kingdom and protect the descendants of the previous kings. During the day, Xun Zhou, the great elder of the Iron Fist Temple, personally presided over it, and at night only one elder remained. A gentle yellow glow shone from the crystal lampshade, shining over the monks' shiny heads. There was no wind, and the smoke from the burning of incense and candles rose straight up and spread out throughout the main hall. The smoke was also slightly yellow, and through this layer of mist, the monks' white linen clothes looked like they were dyed yellow, and their heads were all yellow spots, which made the spiritual hall full of an oppressive atmosphere.

On the night of the thunderstorm when Long Dailan returned from Jinju Province, she met her sisters once. At that time, her father had not yet died, and she specially instructed Long Biyue to be careful in everything, rarely see people, especially not to go out. The little princess did have such a habit, she liked to tame the fierce horses, and then go to the countryside to gallop to her heart's content, she enjoyed the feeling of being caressed by the wind, and liked to be fast and faster.

At the end of the night, Long Dailan wore a pure white white linen dress, her shoulders and waist were connected by golden silk threads, and her sleeves hanging down her knees were long and light. The entire skirt is lined with a thick wool to provide the necessary protection from the cold. The white silk shoulders are embroidered with simple and intricate lilies and chrysanthemums, the hair is coiled into a high bun, with white gold needles, a white pearl hairnet, a white linen hood, white socks are put on the feet, and white linen shoes are engraved, and the shoes are engraved with the pattern of dragons and clouds. Hands clasped together, caged in large sleeves. This is a kneeling costume specially created for her by the tailor in the palace, and there is a similar set of filial piety clothes in addition to the kneeling spirit.

She led Yingshu into the spirit hall, and saw the thin back of the little princess in a white linen dress and kneeling on a flannel futon from a distance. She had heard that her sister had been kneeling all day and night, without eating or dripping water, and that no matter how much her maid Minzhen and the others tried to persuade her, she would not let her sisters take over and go to eat and rest.

Long Dailan walked lightly and walked behind her sister, and Minzhen saw her and hurriedly got up to salute.

"Little sister, seeing you like this, my father will also be uncomfortable in the upper realm. Long Dailan squatted down and stroked the little princess's shoulder, and Yingshu, the personal maid, stood beside her. "I'll stay here with my father, and you can go to sleep for a while. You must know that tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, there will be many things. ”

Long Biyue shook her head slightly.

Long Dailan brushed aside the thin white veil hanging in front of her sister's eyes, gently caressed her face, wiped away the two dried tears for her, and said in a very low voice but enough for her to hear: "Listen to my sister, my sister will need her little sister during this time, and she will be healthy and healthy, not sick in bed." ”

Long Biyue raised her head and looked at her and nodded. There are still many people in the Spirit Hall, and there are many people coming in and out. Lots of ears and eyes. The whole royal court had ears and eyes everywhere. Sisters don't need more words to communicate with each other. She seemed to finally sense the onset of sleepiness, opened her arms and hugged her sister, then stood up and left with Minzhen.

Long Dailan began to kneel down. Yingshu, who she regarded as a sister, also insisted on kneeling with her. Since Long Jun's death, Yingshu has always cried non-stop, more than Long Dailan, and as soon as her knees fell on the futon, tears flowed out again.

Long Dailan wished that her husband could be by her side at this moment, but even if her husband's family set off on the fastest horse immediately after seeing the white fire, it would be almost five days before they arrived. She didn't want her husband to stop what he was doing, protecting the borders of the kingdom and keeping the boxers from being disturbed, which was more important than what was in front of her.

She has to get through it on her own these days. She has Yingshu and her sisters, but they can only give her spiritual comfort. She has been away for three years, and the strength she can rely on in the royal court is already a handful except for the sword-wielder.

The long night will be her alone. Even Yingshu can't share her mood at the moment. Not long ago, she was still immersed in the joy of being a new mother and the eagerness of anticipation for the future, she was the eldest princess of the kingdom, the future mistress of the golden horse, so pampered and loved that even the prince of Moro became her suitor, and suddenly she became the future heir of this vast kingdom.

Before Zixing was born, her father had asked her to recite the names of the various ranks, provincial capitals, and major cities, memorize the distribution of rivers and mountains on the map, the starting and ending points of the main arterial roads, the areas infested by aliens, and the directions where they lived. She was only six years old at the time. Now she understands that her father is afraid that he will not get a boy. Compared to his grandfather, his father was not very strong in fertility and was not considered a possible illegitimate child, and his grandfather had five sons and three daughters, while his father had only one son. And after the age of thirty, the queen and the princesses were never pregnant.

She recalls when she was six years old, her father told her: "Dai Lan, if your father can't bring you a younger brother, then you will be the future master of the country, you know? This is not what a girl should do, it should be handed over to a boy to do, and of course my father wants your mother to have another brother. But you are the daughter of your father, you are the blood of the dragon, if it is your turn to be the dragon king, you will bravely take the golden scepter of the dragon's head, like a boy, as brave as your father, will you?"

When she was still young and did not understand the seriousness of this matter, she agreed with a smile, just like she promised her father many, many other things, she had always been a good princess, and she had never made her father feel extra hearted. Luckily, the queen mother finally added a younger brother to her, and she will never forget the tears streaming down her father's face when he picked up his brother, and the happy way the queen mother looked when she lay on the bed staring at their father and son. She later understood that that happiness contained a sense of relief and a sense of relief in the end.

When she came to menarche and knew about men and women, she gradually understood that Zixing would be the most important part of her father's life, far better than his other four children. My father was not a man of preference for one over the other, nor did he have the idea of preferring men over women, but he had to be different. Although daughters can also inherit the throne, after all, there has never been a female dragon monarch in history, and the spokesperson of the god of the earth on the ground has always been a man who stands up to the sky. Woman, after all, is not very suitable for such a position, she agrees with this. Zixing will be the heir of the family, the future lord of the country, and those of them who are sisters are destined to become the wives of a prince or an heir of a noble family in the future.

That's fine. She was not disgruntled, she had never coveted anything. That is a bad heart, and it can never exist.

But there was another person in the king's court who harbored that ill-intentioned heart. He is so amazing about the throne and the power of the state, and he is so daring. But she could never have imagined that he was ruthless, even her own loved ones.

He got his hands on it. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. But what other possibilities are there besides such an explanation?

That's what he is. Of all her uncles, he was the most difficult to approach, the most difficult to get along with, and the most powerful and prestigious. He mastered the power of the military pavilion, his father was dead, the military power was in his hands, and 80,000 troops were stationed outside the city, and the tents were connected and piled up far, far away.

Now she may not even be able to control the Wangdu Wuwei Regiment, Xi Yuan's uncle has been dismissed, and she knows very well who nominated Kou Hai to take over. She is simply weak and caught in a snare. Now she has become his biggest obstacle. The code forbade disability and deformity from sitting on the throne, and after her, the next legal heir was the little princess Long Biyue. They would be his next target.

Thinking of this, the hands clenched in the sleeves clenched into fists. At this moment, the swordsman is outside the palace, and the five hundred dragon monarch guards are all strong in martial arts, they are her most loyal, trustworthy, and only barrier in this palace. But before the end of the Kneeling Day, she was not the Dragon Monarch, and they had not sworn an oath to her, not her oath guard.

Since she was not a crown prince, her accession to the throne had to be passed through the Dragon Court Council, where the Cabinet read the code and her qualities were voted on, and if no one could prove that she had committed gross negligence, she would be enthroned at a later date after her father entered the Dragon Palace. These days will decide everything.

A night of trouble, full of sadness, too late to close your eyes. It wasn't until the morning light came through the window that she realized that the second day of the kneeling spirit had passed.

The monks in the temple seemed to be tireless, still chanting the scriptures, as if they didn't need to sleep. But she knew that a group of monks had changed in the middle of the night. The rich scent of burning made her feel sleepy, and when she turned her head, she saw that Yingshu had fallen asleep leaning against the pillar behind her. She didn't plan to wake up this little girl, just let her sleep more, there was still a whole day to kneel during the day.

She beat her spirits, straightened her hair bun, straightened her dress, and adjusted her kneeling posture, kneeling for so long was really hard, and her knees were completely numb. The thought that she had knelt here all night was a little incredible. If it were an ordinary person, I am afraid that they would all be pretentious, kneeling casually, and crawling into bed to rest at night, but in this palace hall, she has to set an example. Look at the daylight, it won't be long before the courtiers will come to meet their former king. Many of the provincial governors from other provinces have already rushed to the royal capital after receiving the news of the prince's death, and they will also arrive in the two days before they arrive, except for Bian Li in Xize Province. In the next few days, foreign envoys will continue to crowd into Dragon City, and the entire king will be overcrowded.

There will be countless pairs of eyes watching her every move, and perhaps many others are waiting to see this big drama with a curtain of sadness.

Most of the rest of the day was spent in silence - except for the eyelid-eyedly murmuring of the monks. The first to enter the palace in the morning were the princesses, then the ministers in charge, then her uncles and aunts, and the governors and their families who had arrived in the capital. She didn't know if Yu Jian was still outside the hall, and if she saw Yuan Dawei.

After noon, she couldn't stay up anymore, so Yingshu replaced her and asked her to go to the side hall to rest, where there was a quiet and elegant bedroom. At present, the only foreign guests are Prince Zaima, and the others who need her to appear in person have not yet arrived.

She woke up around the afternoon sword hour and returned to the main hall, her mind still groggy. Yingshu told her that the little giant and Qin Yu had come to see her in the afternoon, and the fourth prince, Long Shuntian, had also sent someone to bring a message. But it wasn't until the ghost time in the evening that Menke pushed Long Suyun's wheelchair into the hall, and she really waited for the kneeling person to end the extremely tired day.