As the King stepped into Mindish Hall, Tails breathed hard.

His knees were pressed against the carpet in the Mindish Hall, feeling the coolness.

Many footsteps came from ahead, one steadily taking the lead, and the rest followed.

Tails could hear his own breathing distinctly, and for the first time he noticed how harsh they were.

"Get up, guys. A familiar voice came, as thick as ever.

"It's a banquet, not a royal meeting—those old men are annoying enough. ”

No one dared to answer.

For a moment, Duke Xinghu seemed to have returned to six years ago, when he first arrived at Min Dith Hall.

At that time, King Kessel met him for the first time, and the solemn atmosphere seemed to crack the floor tiles, forcing the little beggar at that time to feel uncomfortable and speechless.

Tails stared intently at the carpet, which should have been devoid of iron spikes underneath, and the Duke bitterly found that, after six years of training and polishing, when the same scene reappeared, the heaviness he had endured had not diminished in the slightest, but had exceeded.

King Nunn, King Chaman, none of the great enemies he feared could give him such feelings.

Why?

Why is this happening.

Tails still kept his head down.

Whether guests or attendants, guards or servants, people saluted in low voices, and the sound of greetings was endless.

But it didn't let Tails' nerves relax in the slightest.

Finally, the quaint but precious boots stopped in front of him.

The bottom of the staff of the stars is set on the carpet and takes root on the ground.

About a century later, a palm appeared in front of Tails.

On it, the bronze ring that signifies the royal power shone slightly.

Tails flickered for a moment, as if he saw the meeting of the kingdom of the year, when the Iron King stepped into the Hall of Stars, the vassals of the kingdom curtsied and kissed the ring on his hand as a sign of loyalty.

Duke Xinghu took a deep breath, he took off his gloves and held the palm, ready to kiss the king's ring according to etiquette.

But to Tails' surprise, the king grabbed his hand and stopped him at the next moment.

Tails looked up in shock, only to see a pair of deep blue eyes, staring at him coldly.

"When you're in the north," King Kessel said slowly, in an ordinary tone, but with a weight as much weight, "when you face King Nunn, when you face the new king, when you face all of Exeter......"

"Are you on your knees?"

Tails was shocked.

He looked at the bottomless blue eyes for a second, felt the fortitude and heaviness hidden inside, and swallowed his throat:

"Nope. ”

The boy added the title with some difficulty:

"Your Majesty. ”

In the next second, Tails only felt a weight on his hand, and the whole person was involuntarily dragged from the ground!

"Then don't have bad habits. ”

Kessel said coldly, and the majestic air seemed to be about to freeze and flow down the wall.

Tails didn't even have time to react and think.

"As a shining star," the king looked at his heir with a blank face, "even if his legs are gone." ”

"Neither will the knee bend. ”

The crowd around them let out a fleeting chatter, and then fell silent.

"Especially in ......"

The Iron Fist King slowly let go of his hand, he looked at the statue of the Three Kings of the Stars on the spiral staircase, paused for a second, and then looked at the chandelier above his head and the decoration in the hall, and no one knew the mood in it:

"Here. ”

Accustomed to the low air pressure that often accompanies each other's bodies, Tails was a little surprised.

He didn't make me kneel or kiss my hands.

The supreme king of the past, who was deep and heavy-footed.

Today this is ......

The people who curtsied still bowed their heads, not knowing what was in their hearts.

Tails stared inquiringly at his father, but replied obediently:

"Yes. ”

He sensed the difference in the atmosphere, and added thoughtfully:

"Father. ”

King Kessel stared at him intensely, not committal, but regaining his grip on the scepter.

The interaction between the king and the prince was like a command, and the people around them got up one after another, and went about their duties around the arrival of the king.

Lord Adrian, the commander of the royal guard who was accompanying King Kessel at his side, saluted Tails with a faint smile and whispered something to Marios.

Tails was still thinking to himself, and King Kessel did not stop or say hello, but walked directly past him.

It seems that what has just happened is just a small episode in the royal family.

Until the king stopped again and faced the only man in the hall who refused to kneel and salute, let alone pretend.

I saw Val Arend like a dazzling pillar, firmly rooted in the floor of the Mindis Hall, and he looked at his old friend coldly, not saying a word.

Tails could smell the faint tension.

King Kessel didn't speak, but stared at the Duke silently, his eyes turning back and forth on the shackles on the other's hands.

The eyes of the two met in the air.

At that moment, there was too much in their gaze.

The tacit silence between the two made the attendants around them anxious and embarrassed.

Until a gentle and pleasant feminine voice broke the silence.

"Unbelievable - this is Little Tails?"

Tails turned slowly, facing the other lady who had come with the king, surrounded by many ladies.

He couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart.

The lady was dressed in a luxurious manner, elegant but not lacking in liveliness, and her eyes were full of surprise when she looked at Tails:

"It's been so many years, look at your size...... Do you remember me?"

Tails looked behind the lady: Ginny was dressed in a standard female dress with a calm expression and nodded imperceptibly to him.

The boy smiled, took his stepmother's hand with a complicated and subtle feeling, and leaned over to salute:

"Your Majesty, your grace is still the same. ”

Queen Koya's eyes lit up, and while looking at Tails, she turned back happily and said to one of the female dependents:

"Look, Elise, he knew me at first sight, considering he was so young......"

The queen was radiant, with a sweet smile, fluent conversation, and natural and cordial, which made the first sight of the person feel good.

If Tails hadn't seen her six years ago.

"Of course," said another lady of good looks among the ladies who accompanied the queen, likewise to Tails:

"Prince Tails was known for his intelligence. ”

The lady was dressed in a dark gown with a velvet shawl, no less elegant, but with a little more serenity:

"Even in the Northland. ”

Tails looked at the velvet in silence.

Kaya took Tails' hand, looked him up and down and sighed, she turned to Ginny, and looked annoyed:

"Oh, Gini, you should have asked me to bring the kids. Maybe Lydia is a little naughty, but at least she should take Luthor and let him learn how to be a prince like his brother......"

Hearing those two names, the smiles of the people around him froze.

The female officer Ji Ni looked embarrassed, and she glanced at the velvet lady, and her tone was slightly urging:

"Koya ......"

The servants who came out of the Fuxing Palace had a tacit understanding, and the two maids stepped forward quietly.

But the queen still grabbed Tails and looked at it, refusing to let go, quite a bit of love for her stepson:

"You know, after all, the two of them are royal children, what can they do when they grow up......"

Right now.

"Koya. ”

A thick voice sounded faintly, like the hinges of the city gate were tightening.

In the next moment, Queen Koya's enthusiastic words came to an abrupt end.

She turned her head with a somewhat timid expression and looked at the king's back.

King Kessel silently stretched out his arm.

The queen gave Tails an apologetic look, and submissively stepped forward and grabbed her husband.

"Vaal," said Koya, looking at the Duke of Vaal who was standing opposite the king, and his eyes lit up, as if he had not seen the shackles in his hands:

"Are you okay?"

The Duke of the North, who had been staring at King Kessel, moved slightly, and he looked at the queen, his eyebrows gathering and scattering.

In the end, Val still spoke silently, disdainful in his words:

"Couldn't have been better. ”

As soon as Duke Arend's voice fell, he turned and went to the banquet hall without looking back, without guidance, but with a clear ride.

With a glance from Marlos, Gray Patterson, who was in charge of the escort, and several members of the guard followed closely, vigilant.

"Let's go," King Kessel said, gazing at the back of his childhood friend, and said in a slightly dull tone:

"Someone must be in a hurry. ”

The king took a step, and without the command of Captain Adrian, the royal guards who accompanied His Majesty faintly followed from the side, their expressions unchanged, their postures natural, and they arrived in time but not conspicuously and obtrusively.

In contrast, even if he is from the same origin, whether it is his bearing or demeanor, he belongs to his Star Lake Guard......

"What is my delusion," D.D. said to Gallop in a whisper after carefully watching the royal greetings, after carefully watching the royal greetings:

"Or is it really getting cold in the Mindis Hall?"

Glancing at the faint sweat spots on the other party's forehead, Glover replied softly:

"Not a delusion. ”

Tails sighed.

In the next second, he suddenly felt a tightness in his left hand.

"Mind lending me an arm?"

Tails turned his head in surprise, and the lady with the velvet on her shoulders smiled and took his arm.

Elise ...... Aunt. ”

Tails looked at the adopted daughter of the former king who had met six years ago with mixed feelings, his eyes stayed on her shoulder, and he felt a faint pain in a scar on his chest.

He said against his will:

"The shawl is beautiful. ”

Elise smiled lightly and clearly:

"Thank you, and you're a man, too—a man. ”

Tails was held by his aunt's arm, and involuntarily kept up with the king and queen, and the attendants at his side followed in unison.

"Don't worry. ”

Compared with Tails's stiffness, Elise walked calmly and smiled decently:

"You'll get used to it. ”

Get used to it slowly.

What are you used to?

Tails sighed in his heart, was he used to his father's own atmosphere killer attributes, or was he used to the intricate aristocratic circles in the royal capital?

They were a few seats behind the king and went to the banquet hall in a crowd.

Elise's voice suddenly became cold:

"Laughs. ”

Tails was stunned.

"If you want to fight, you have to be armed. ”

Elise still showed her friendly smile to her surroundings, but her tone was abrupt:

"And on this battlefield, a smile is the best armor. ”

Tails' eyebrows moved.

Something familiar.

But before he could come up with an answer, Elise turned her head to look at the person who was unconsciously following them.

"Congratulations, Tormond," Elise looked at Marlos gently:

"I'm glad you're the watchman of the guard, and the captain of Tyres' personal guard. ”

Lord Marlos nodded slightly, his face did not wave, and his tone was as calm as ever:

"Her Highness Elise. ”

On the contrary, Elise looked at the watchman and sighed with emotion.

"Your father will be proud," sighed Her Highness the Princess.

"His greatest wish is to see your family return to the Seven Servants......"

Marlos suddenly raised his voice and interrupted Elise:

"Please come in with Your Majesty, Lord Duke. ”

"This is your welcome banquet that you won't want to miss. ”

Marlos nodded to Tails and sped towards Adrian.

Tails followed the princess's steps thoughtfully without hurrying:

"You and my captain of the guard, are old acquaintances?"

Elise looked at Marlos' back and nodded slowly.

"Before the decline, 'Razor' Marios played a pivotal role in the Seven Servants of the Bright Stars of the Central Territory, and there were three baronial titles in the family tree alone, which was comparable to the 'Mustang' Barney family. ”

Elise sighed:

"When the first king was there, the elder Viscount Marios even asked for his eldest son to marry Princess Constance. ”

"Razor" Marios.

Under the command of the royal family, the pivotal seven attendants of the bright stars.

For the first time, Tails knew the meaning of his captain's last name, and he couldn't help but frown.

From crying and hanging to running away from home, Constance made a big fuss, in short, the scene was not good-looking, chickens and dogs jumped...... Before the family affair was completed, the first king felt guilty, so he planned to retreat and ask me if I would like to marry. ”

Tails moved slightly.

"You mean," said Tails, looking at his aunt and then at the back of Marlos, in astonishment.

"You and ...... He?"

Elise showed a flat smile, and at that moment, she looked a little haggard.

Tails managed to retract his surprise.

So, Tormond Marios, his favorite captain of the guard, almost became his uncle?

Tails was mindful that he was going to force D.D to pour out his boss's gossip history when he went back.

"And then?" Tails asked.

"Later, I said yes. The princess said lightly:

But perhaps out of resentment, or perhaps because they felt that a princess without royal blood did not meet their expectations, the old Viscount Marios rejected the former king and instead courted Duke Arende in the north. ”

Tails blinked.

Okay.

The adopted daughter lowered her eyebrows and was obedient to her eyes, and married instead of her willful daughter, but was decisively rejected by the man.

Putting aside this full of ancient sayings, the house fights aside......

The Marlos family was majestic back then?

Tails glanced cautiously at his aunt's face, but noticed that the latter was still smiling kindly, nodding to the guests on either side from time to time, not in the slightest bothered by the humiliation and sadness of the past.

The boy suddenly remembered that Elise's husband had died in Red Square Street six years earlier, and the culprit was none other than ......

Tails looked at his aunt and knew in his heart that her marriage would not be happy afterwards.

Thinking of this, Tails suddenly felt a wave of sympathy.

"But Marios is no longer among the Seven Servants today, so they are...... How did it come to an end?" Tails cleared his throat, trying to say something to make his aunt happy.

But Elise shook her head, and she didn't see joy:

"The Year of Blood. ”

Tails' heart sank.

Speaking of which, Elise was reluctant to say more and diverted the topic:

"Speaking of which, Tails, you've been in the Northland for many years, have you paid attention to any good girl?"

Tails was stunned.

Years of ...... in Northland

"Good girl?"

"Hmm," Elise smiled and nodded:

"When you come back from the Northland, the king has not talked much about it. ”

Tails suddenly remembered the little girl who was stupidly in the library, covered in dirt.

and long after, the Grand Duchess, who held King Nune's ring and roared like a lion cub, roared in the Hall of Heroes.

But as soon as he thought that she was on a bad journey at the moment, and her life and death were uncertain, Tails's mood fell to the bottom.

The girl...... She's going to hold on, right?

He immediately perked up.

"Of course," Tails looked up, his face unchanged:

"Miss Jenny is beautiful, cheerful and funny, and very close to me, and I love to go out with her the most. ”

Princess Elise's footsteps flickered.

The people around were also silent.

"Jenny?"

Elise frowned, repeating the name.

Particularly close to ......

Traveling in a group......

Still a Northland girl......

Doyle threw a look of surprise and then realization at Gloover.

Not surprisingly, it was ignored by the latter.

Princess Elise gave the eavesdroppers around her, who had pricked up their ears, a warning look.

"You shouldn't be answering positively, it has a lot of implications. ”

Servants, guards, guests, the chatter of chattering sounded low like a beep, and spread farther and farther with the footsteps back and forth.

The seriousness of this news is questioned.

His aunt tightened Tails' arm, but she couldn't help but lean over cautiously and lowered her voice:

"So, which family in the Northland...... Jenny?"

At the same time, despite being firmly separated, the surrounding onlookers turned their ears in unison, ignoring the displeased cheers of the royal guards.

But Tails raised his voice, not caring at all, and he didn't mean to hide his history in the north:

"I don't know. ”

He smirked, causing another murmur around him.

"But judging by her posture, the color of her coat, her gait, her appetite, her defecation, and her pickiness with concentrate feed, stable, and groom," Tails replied, recalling Nicolai's riding lessons, and replied earnestly:

"It should be of noble birth. ”

His aunt was stunned for a second.

"Coat color, stable......"

Elise narrowed her eyes and slowly reacted:

Jenny...... Is it a horse?"

Tails turned his head and smiled:

"A good horse. ”

The next moment, the people who were paying attention let out a sigh of disappointment and dispersed.

Tails looked at Elise's strange gaze with satisfaction and the disappointed expressions of those around her.

That's right, Jenny is a good horse......

It's weird.

knew that he broke free from the buckle in the middle of the night and sneaked out to eat the night food of other mangers, which made the entire Valhalla nervous and strictly hunted for thieves, until he was accidentally bumped into by Edda, who came back from stealing chicken legs in the middle of the night, and the truth was revealed......

Fierce and domineering in front of Wyay and Rolf, well-behaved and innocent in front of Tails and Nicollet, groomy with whips and harness in bad temper, groom with fodder brushes and approachable......

Miss Jenny's whole body, is there anything that can be related to the word "good"?

(In a stable in the Northlands, a graceful mare sneezes, and she vigilantly raises her head from the manger, kicks her back lightly, drives the other unwilling horse back into a corner, and then continues to grab its night food.)

After a few seconds, Elise smiled with relief.

"It's good, even if it touches the sore spot, it's also calm, and it's humorous. ”

She stared at her nephew, who was not related by blood:

"...... Now"

"You're fully armed. ”

Strike a nerve......

Tails' heart tightened.

Elise just smiled slightly, didn't break it, just took his arm and continued to walk.

"I miss it," said Elise, retracting her gaze from the statue of the Three Kings of the Stars with affection.

"In the past, your little aunt used to bring me here to play. ”

"Little aunt?" Tails said slightly.

"Constance, what kind of girl is she?"

The two were silent for a moment.

Elise looked at the past with a sad gaze:

"Constance, she is not a quiet girl, and every time I come here, I can only pretend to be sick to avoid her enthusiasm - so much so that the empathetic Brother Midil has specially prepared a special 'ward' for me. ”

Constance, jumping off the building, demolishing the house......

Tails frowned as he remembered the urns of the ashes in the Tomb of the Bright Stars.

"When she refused to marry," Elise chuckled:

"I ran away from home four times, and tried to take me with me, but twice I was captured by Lord Sakerel, once by Geni, and the last time I was even taken by Brother Midil himself...... And His Majesty could not bear to beat her, nor did he dare to beat Lady Edda, who secretly helped her, so he could only let Lord Sakel whip Kessel, who had conspired with her......"

Elise paused at this point, she looked at the king in front of her, then sighed, and continued:

"Now that I think about it, the years of running away from home with her and starving on the streets with her, well, it wasn't that bad. ”

Tails was a little dumbfounded.

"Constance sounds," said Tails quietly:

"She is a very lively and lovely girl. ”

"Lively and cute?" Elise laughed, "You haven't experienced her pranks......"

"Including painting the back of Horace's armor with a cute cat, the whole barracks saw it, and no one dared to speak, or a captive reminded him......"

"Because I was afraid that the third brother would not find a wife, I used the name of Bancroft to hand love letters to all her future sisters-in-law and arrange a date......"

"I think Heyman is too stinky and beautiful, so she secretly replaced his perfume with dog pee when he couldn't smell it when he had a cold......"

"I was interested in adult bed, so I secretly followed Kessel to Hongfang Street, listened to his corner, and came out from under the bed halfway to ask him what he thought......"

Tails couldn't help but laugh when he heard it.

"The only one who can discipline her is Brother Midir," Elise shook her head helplessly:

"But even so, Constance once succeeded in his treacherous scheme, and succeeded in applying Middle's wheelchair with delayed chilli water, and as a result, he attended the Imperial Council for a whole day without changing his face......"

Tails was still laughing, but he realized something, and he was stunned.

"Aunt Elise, you just said ......"

Tails frowned and whispered, "Middil's ...... Wheelchair?"

The atmosphere between the two sank slightly.

After a few seconds, Elise frowned:

"Don't you know?"

Tails narrowed his eyes.

"Yes," Elise sighed slowly.

"It's an old story, and it's about the deceased, and it's normal for you not to know. ”

Duke Xinghu subconsciously turned his head, and he realized that all the stairs in the Min Dith Hall had made a slippery slope of no small proportion.

Seem...... And not just decoration?

"And ......"

Elise opened her mouth faintly, her eyes condensed in the void, and at this moment she seemed to be cut off from the noise of the outside world and immersed in the past.

Although his smile is always the gentlest, caring, tolerant, and caring for everyone, although his shoulders are always the toughest, supporting, supporting, and protecting everyone. ”

"But even though he was so understanding, gentle and considerate, no one could really ......"

"Understand his pain. ”

Tails looked back at her in amazement.

"That's right. ”

"When Brother Midil was young, he was in an accident on a trip," I saw Elise say quietly:

Since then, he has been suffering from a problem in both legs, and he is not able to walk. ”

"A wheelchair for life. ”

What the?

Tails froze.

Midil Bright Star.

Former owner of the Mindis Hall.

The former heir to the Supreme Throne, a wise prince praised by everyone.

It's actually a ......

The crown prince in a wheelchair?

Tails suddenly remembered the scene when Kessel had dragged himself up from the ground.

and his icy words.

[As a bright star, even if your legs are wasted......]

[Nor will I bend my knees.] 】

[Especially in ......]

[here. 】

The next second, without any pause, they followed the king and queen into the banquet hall.

ushered in the crowd of people, the mountains and the sea shouted.