Priest Miller stepped out onto the balcony, his room at the back of the third floor of the prayer hall, next to a tall hazel tree with leafy foliage that stretched out just enough to block the scorching sun. At the age of sixty, he has long since lost the tall appearance of his youth, and is now just a bald old man with a beer belly.

After presiding over the sunrise celebration of the Nikko Festival in the morning, Priest Miller received a gift from the villagers, which was a curd pudding cake purchased from Qingyuan Castle, and in order to keep the temperature low, he also applied freezing magic to the packaging, which was expensive. Everyone in the village knew that this old priest liked to eat desserts, so such a gift really gave him a big surprise.

On this pleasant afternoon, he plans to taste this sweet memory from his hometown alone, and by the way, reminisce about his glorious years. After all, he used to be the most outstanding priest in Qingyuan City, respected by others, and once had the opportunity to serve in Bai Modi's second largest shrine in the country. But the accident twelve years ago changed his fate.

The old priest's hand was still unpacking the box of cakes, but his eyes couldn't help but drift out to the balcony, and beyond the dense canopy of the hazel trees, he could see the merrily flowing Ribbon River and the wild trees and overgrown clearing by the river. After more than 10 years of wind and rain, only half of the masonry façade of the burned mill remains, and the rest has long since turned to dust and dirt.

This place is taboo in the village, no one dares to mention it, no one dares to stay. Although it is located in the most prosperous part of the village, everyone chooses to ignore it silently.

Today, there was a young man on horseback standing in that position!

Priest Miller's hand shook and tore the exquisite cake packaging with a stab, and the delicate and sweet cake slid out and almost fell to the ground.

As if hearing this small voice, the young man, who was fifty or sixty feet away, suddenly turned around and looked straight at him. At such a distance, Shili, who was injured by the old priest reading under a candle all year round, couldn't see the other party's facial features clearly at all, but for a moment, he felt that he knew that person.

Priest Miller slammed to his feet, not caring for the cake that had been touched and smashing on the new robe he had just worn today. He rushed into the room at the speed of a young man, pushed open the door to his bedroom, and hurried downstairs, fearing that he would miss the young man by the ruins if he was too late.

Diarlando didn't expect that the first acquaintance he met in the village was actually Priest Miller, after all, he should be presiding over the Sunshine Festival celebration in Qingyuan City, dozens of miles away, I don't know how he could appear in such a remote and small place.

"It's you!" said old Miller, who galloped the distance, almost out of breath, and after saying two words, he bent over his knees and could not speak.

Diarlando got off the horse early, and at this moment he greeted him, patted the old priest on the back, helped him calm down, and then said with emotion: "I didn't expect you to recognize me." "Priest Miller actually rushed in front of him and couldn't be too sure who the person in front of him was, after all, he was a fourteen-year-old child when Zuihou first saw him, and now he is a complete adult.

As soon as he thought of the identity of the other party, Priest Miller was about to bend down and salute, but was directly stopped by Diarlando: "No need to be polite, I came here to hide my identity." Priest Miller, will you be invited to preside over the festival of the sun in Garin?"

"You don't know?" the old man, whose breathing had just stabilized, asked in surprise when he heard this question.

Dearlando raised an eyebrow and asked, "What should I know?"

"Hehe, it's normal to not know, it's nothing...... How did you come here?" Priest Miller reacted immediately, quickly shaking his hand to change the subject.

Dearlando picked up his hand, looked at him with a smile, and waited patiently for him to tell the truth. The old priest looked left and right, sighed, and said, "This is not the place, if you go back with me, I will tell you again." ”

There was a frolicking sound in the distance, as if the villagers had returned from arranging the straw offerings to be burned in the evening, and Diarlando nodded, followed Miller's footsteps, and walked towards the Holy Light Prayer Hall.

As soon as he entered the door of the prayer hall, the old priest brought a basin of holy water from behind the door and poured it over, although Diarrando reacted quickly, he didn't expect this trick at all, and was still doused a little. He shook the holy water in his hand, looked at Priest Miller speechlessly, and said, "I'm a living person!

The old man put down the silver basin in his hand, coughed dryly, and said, "Ahem...... No, no, I just suddenly remembered that you seemed to be ...... That one...... It's been a long time. ”

"Have you been dead for a long time?" said Dearlando for him, "Sort of, but for some reason I'm back to life." Can't we get in yet?"

Miller immediately dodged and let Dearlando enter the small door on the side of the prayer hall that he usually used to enter and exit, and led him upstairs. Along the way, he walked and couldn't help but secretly look back at the tall young man, although his body grew taller and stronger, his contours became stiffer and his hair became shorter, but his facial features and temperament were still the same as they were back then, but he wore a skin eye patch that blocked his right eye.

Diarlando looked at the old acquaintance with amusement who wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask, and simply took off the blindfold and said, "It's just to make a show, in order to reduce trouble, this is a secret." ”

As soon as he heard the secret, Miller suddenly knelt down on his feet, and said with a sad face: "God, don't let me know any more secrets, I still want to live the rest of my life." I've been relegated to this place where birds don't lay eggs for more than ten years, and now I won't even be given such a chance to survive!"

When Diarrando heard this, his face changed, and as soon as he lifted the old priest, he walked a flight of stairs in a few steps. He knew where the bedroom of the resident priest was here, so he walked in with Miller, and then gently put the frightened old priest on the chair, took two steps back and asked, "Who is going to kill you?"

Miller's loose cheeks were white from nervousness, and the sweat on his head came out one by one, and he hurriedly shook his head in denial: "No, no, no...... No one wants to extinguish their mouths. ”

Diarlando looked at the frightened old priest speechlessly, sighed and said, "Don't be nervous, I'm here, my father doesn't know." I'm just passing through, and I'll leave tomorrow. If I could, I would like to find out what happened back then, this question has been bothering me for years. Do you understand?"

Miller looked up at Dearlandor's eager and persistent eyes, which were familiar. The person in front of him has been a very assertive child since he was a child, and there is always a ruthlessness that will not give up until the goal is reached. Although I didn't actually have many opportunities to deal with him, Zuihou was particularly impressed when they met. It was to use the opportunity of the pilgrimage to Augustus to help Elena visit, and Dearrando had been at the Knight Academy for two years at that time.

That meeting didn't really work out, as Deirlando was embroiled in factional disputes at the school and was caught chained outside and tortured to confess to the others. Across the courtyard, Miller didn't have a chance to talk to the injured Diarlando, but Diarlandor, who found Miller, smiled and grimaced, and mouthed him not to tell Elena that he had been punished.

That kind of strong look has never changed for so many years.

When Miller heard that Diarrando was actually the king's eldest son who had been missing for many years, he kept trying to find someone to shout, "I knew that kid couldn't be a farmer's son!!" But the ensuing exile and extermination fire made him silently seal everything he knew, put it at the bottom of the chest in the deepest part of his memory, and never dared to mention it again.

But now ......

"Alas, forget it, I've had enough of eating and waiting for death like this. Since you ask, I'll tell you everything. Miller was defeated by Dearlandor's eye attack, sighed, wiped his face, and began to recall the situation.

Dearlandor pulled up the chair next to him and sat next to Miller, looking deaf.

"Back then, it was explosive news that you were discovered, even if you were far away in Qingyuan City, you almost got the news the next day. The first thing in my mind was to wonder. You know, Elena's child was healed by my own hands. After that, old Buck would always invite me to their house to bless and pray, and he would come two or three times a year. You can be regarded as the one I grew up watching, but when was it replaced?"

"Then I immediately took a carriage to the estate of Le Ho, intending to ask your mother. Miller looked up at Diarlandor, and when he saw that he showed a look of nostalgia, he couldn't help but sigh: "Since Lejo Manor burned down, there is no such Haode Sydney wine in this radius of dozens of miles." ”

Dearrando's gaze flickered over and motioned for him to stop talking nonsense.

Miller immediately retracted the divergent memories and concentrated on the main point: "When I arrived, Elena didn't know the news and happily received me. When I heard the truth, I immediately burst into tears, and I comforted her for a long time, and she repeatedly said that it was my child, and that it was mine! Baron Le Ho happened to be away from home that day, so I persuaded her a few words before taking her leave. ”

"So my adoptive mother didn't tell you how I got to her?" asked Deirlando, disappointed.

Miller touched his round belly with his hand, thought for a moment and said his guess: "I came here again later, and asked the servants of the old Buck family, there is a very old grandmother, who seems to be called Dorsey or Moxi......"

"Mama Dorothy. Dearlando corrected his mistake and gestured for him to continue.

"She said that the night after I left to pray for Master Buck, she found that Miss had left the house and left her coat outside by the waterwheel, and her own clothes were wet. But the young lady flatly denied that she had ever gone out, and at that time the young master had just recovered from a serious illness, so soon no one cared about it. ”

Dearlando leaned back in his chair and subconsciously touched the socket of his right eye with his hand, wondering what had happened that night twenty-seven years ago, and after a while he looked back at Miller and asked, "Weishenme, are you going to be relegated here?"

Miller sighed and said: "When you disappeared, there was a carpet search in this area, and some people once suspected that you were the missing eldest prince, and they visited secretly. But I said to them, you are the native born and bred of the sight of my birth. ”

"When I return to Qingyuan City from here, my order will come down. Originally, I was supposed to be transferred to Bai Modi's Golden Dome Palace, but I was demoted here. It must have been because I said the wrong thing and made the wrong promise. At that time, I still wanted to have the opportunity to meet you, please help me say good things, don't ask to go to some prosperous big city and have a fat shortage, just hope to be able to go back to Qingyuan City. ”

"But ......?"

"But by the time I reluctantly packed up my things, and when I arrived, the mill was in ruins. I was scared to death, thinking that I would soon be cleaned up, so I hid in the prayer hall and didn't dare to go out even a single step. It took me a few months to gradually relax, and then I knocked on the side to ask about the fire, only to find that the memories of the people here had been tampered with. ”