"Three dances."

"What?"

"You danced three dances in total, first the little girl of the Medici, then Tudot, and finally Her Highness the Princess, and then you went out onto the terrace, even faster than usual." Bethel looked at Thoth's expression in the crimson moonlight, "After dancing with Arista, you looked refreshed, but after dancing with the Vatina, you looked ...... Well, forgive me for thinking of a less sensual metaphor. ”

"It's like being seven times with a witch in one night?" Thoth uttered this popular phrase tiredly.

"That's not what I said." Bethel emphasized.

"Dancing is too much of a test of physical coordination, and it hurts the muscles and bones."

"You talk like an old man who lives for the rest of his life."

"You forgot? I'm an old monster from the Second Age, and although I still maintain a youthful skin, my mind is no longer as active as that of a young person, and I can't keep up with those complicated power games. Thoth rubbed his eyebrows, "But some people just don't want to be considerate of the old man." ”

"You just don't care." Duke Abraham looked at the starry sky with a blank look in his eyes—he enjoyed the silence above his head more than the hustle and bustle behind him, "those splendid palaces, the scorching power, the vast territory, the splendid gowns, the dazzling jewels, the bewitching beauties...... Nothing the country is proud of can't keep your eyes on for long, so you're extremely perfunctory to the drunken Vanity Fair. I even had a feeling—"

The Gate of Ten Thousand Gates used those blue eyes as deep as night to face the voyeuristic eyes of the hidden sage, both of whom had seen infinite mysteries and admired the supreme scenery, and when their eyes met, they both had the illusion of falling into the whirlpool of the universe and not knowing where they were.

"You've seen far more than the empire, you've seen much more than the empire, so you're indifferent to the things that fascinate you. Perhaps it is precisely because of this indifference that His Majesty feels uneasy and wants to tie you up further. ”

Thoth smiled silently, not admitting or denying it, and Bethel changed the subject with amusement.

"I haven't seen Yelena for a long time, and she's still as lively and cheerful as ever."

"yes." The smile on Thoth's face warmed, "Dealing with such a quirky, lively and cute little guy, there is always an illusion that he is also younger. ”

"Perhaps it is precisely because of such a descendant by his side that His Excellency Medici's humanity is extraordinarily strong."

"I think His humanity has always been quite saturated......"

"With all due respect, it may be difficult for you to understand what a newborn by blood can pour into the barren humanity of mythical creatures without personal experience."

"Then I'll listen to you."

"In fact, you should be able to feel that after experiencing wonderful opportunities, enjoying supreme honor, and surviving for a long time, the world has lost much novelty to us, and over time, we have only survived for the sake of survival, and have become boring without knowing it."

"That's why you're fascinated by the mysterious starry sky? Because there's an inexhaustible freshness there? ”

"You can say the same thing." Duke Abraham changed his words, "Also, I like a quote from your holy scriptures. ”

Thoth's face suddenly became very delicate, knowing that Abraham's hypocrisy of the Black Emperor could be said to be an open secret, and that such a person with a heart higher than the sky would deign to read his holy scriptures...... It's a great honor.

"Why be so surprised?" Bethel smiled calmly, "There are many beautiful rhyming sentences in the Book of Hermits, and there are many lively and interesting ideas, even if they are used as grammar textbooks for my younger generation—of course, the parts that have nothing to do with religious beliefs. ”

"Aha, thanks for the compliment......"

"Anyway, the part about religion doesn't seem to come from your pen." Bethel leisurely added the second half of the sentence.

"It's rude to say that, but you didn't spy on me, did you?"

"Oh, isn't it?" After confirming his guesses, the surprise turned into Bethel.

"After all, it is very embarrassing to praise one's own power and love...... Okay, let's get back to the original topic, shall we? What do you say? ”

"A man ought to be like a tree, looking up to the sky and picking up the sun; Root down in the soil and embrace the earth. The Duke recited in a subdued tone: "The former carries the vision of the future, and the latter precipitates the memory of the past...... Oh, memory, for mythical creatures, memory is like a pile of dusty old papers, you know they are piled up in a corner of the brain, but you don't read them much, after all, every day there are countless official documents, balls, banquets waiting to be dealt with, every day there are countless deceitful and open and secret battles staged, people care more about the present and the future than the irrelevant past. ”

But the presence of children breaks down this numbness and mediocrity, and the pomp and circumstance we take for granted will make them elated, the bumps and bumps that we easily overcome will make them anxious, and the trivial things that we have no time to pay attention to will make them worry...... Watching them grow up, even if you don't look back, you will realize that once upon a time you were just as naïve, naïve, and shocked as they were. You'll remember that you've been younger, and you've been human. ”

Halfway through the feast, many young people came to the garden to whisper or do something embarrassing. The two maidens were about to pluck the rose hairpins from the bushes and put them in their buns, when they were startled by the two Abrahams who appeared like marmots, and the quirky apprentices laughed and played hide and seek among the flowers and trees, and the doors opened and closed and opened, startling away the birds resting in the nests—they were a little free, their ancestors shook their heads and sighed, but Thoth could see a smile under the old countenance of the King of Angels.

Well, he probably knows who is used to it.

"The Abrahams are the soil on which I take root. Because of the existence of my family, every journey I have has an end - a journey with an end can be called a journey, and a journey without an end can only be called wandering. ”

The night was as cold as water, but the voice of the king of angels soaked the night with warmth, and in this quiet corner, he was not some high king of angels, not a traveler in the starry sky, but an elder who watched his descendants—he loved them as much as his own body.

"Soil...... Is it? ”

The sigh of the hidden sage melts into the evening breeze, just as his homeland has long since dissipated in the dust of history.

"Although it is a happy thing to have your own bloodline," Bethel turned his head slightly, squeezed his eyes towards the still lively banquet hall, and lowered his voice, "But the mother of the child does not have to be a high-ranking highness—if the marriage itself is not merciless, then the continuation of the bloodline cannot be called a happy one." ”

"Thank you, Bethel."

He smiled the most heartily of the night.

The clock struck twelve o'clock in the night.

In the fairy tales of old, twelve o'clock means the end, and Cinderella will break free from the prince's hand and take off her gorgeous gown; In the upper class society of the Solomon Empire, twelve o'clock means the beginning, and the deep night is suitable for the appearance of ghosts and ghosts, and it is also suitable for showing wolf-like desires.

Heavy sighs and coquettish teasing spilled over the half-covered windows, overlapping shadows reflecting the wind-swept curtains. The Hidden Sage walked through what could be described as a flurry of demons, out of place like a thin shadow, the ink of spirit drawing a rabbit hole on the wall, and he entered a remote and empty room.

An unanimous sculpture of an upside-down hanged man sits in a shrine against the wall, a blood-colored one-eyed staring out the window at the night sky.

"The creator of all, the Lord behind the veil of shadows, the fallen nature of all living beings......"

As the name was uttered, the atmosphere of the room instantly became eerie and gloomy, as if sinking into a bottomless quagmire, the one eye of the statue of the Hanged Man radiated an evil red light, and the undulating whispers emanated from him as the center, filling the room pervasively, but Thoth walked unconsciously to the shrine and sat down, as if approaching not the source of the disaster, but a shady tree.

"Good evening, Alex." He called his fallen friend by a long-ago name, "No...... It's already the early hours of the next day, good morning. ”

"Medici is back, he has won beautifully, the hand of the storm will probably not reach into the borders of the empire for some time, the Medic should tell you the details soon...... What? Already told you? Thoth chuckled, "It's so fast, I think he's coming to see you before his armor is off." ”

Thoth had become accustomed to discerning the message of the true Creator from the unbearable whispers of angels, even listening to every word as if it were a heavenly sound.

"Oh, that's true."

"We? We're fine, the serpent has recently restarted, I'll watch it for Rose of Redemption...... Recently, three young men were about to be promoted to shepherds, because they had never fallen into penance, they were in good spirits, and they had a good chance of success...... Ah, I'm just going to supervise it every day, it won't be hard, don't worry. ”

"You ask me? My denomination is also growing steadily...... Well, I'll tell you the truth, Solomon wants to marry his daughter to me, and I can probably guess what the father and daughter are up to. That little girl is now in sequence three, if she is really promoted to angel, and I really marry her, it is estimated that she will have to be tied to the royal family for 1,800 years, and she will not be able to escape...... I still want to leave a way back for myself. ”

"By the way, remember Yelena? The little girl you named herself, she is already seventeen years old, and she will be eighteen years old in three months, what do you say I should give her a coming-of-age ceremony? ”

"The banquet was still so annoying, but I had a good conversation with Abraham...... He is very strong, and he will definitely be Amon's fierce opponent in the future. Oh, I always remind myself of this, but I can't help but admire Him—His arrogance is the only brilliance, but His light is so soft when it shines on his own juniors. Sounds contradictory, right? But I just love that. We talked about the child today, heh, the child...... Of course, children are cute, but the thought of becoming a father makes me feel uneasy. ”

"Just as a god, I feel that I have no skills, how can I be a good father?"

His chatter faded into a whisper, and his voice was so low that it seemed as if something was choking his throat.

"Well, so be it."

"See you next time."

The rain fell from the sky with exclamations, and the hidden sage leaned against the shrine, his black hair and long sleeves hanging to the ground, his eyes opening and closing with the drops of water that continued to slide from the leaf tops, and finally closed completely.

The white-eyed black crow stood alone in the rain, gazing through the window at His faintly shadowed face.