In the rickety carriage, Tails and Raphael sat opposite each other, speechless.

Tails looked at the secret envoy who had lived and died with him in Longxiao City, thinking back to the last time they had been in the tunnel.

Raphael was so peaceful, with a smile in his dark red eyes.

Just like the first time we met, I was confident and wise.

Why is he always so confident?

Then do some messy mess, smash the pot and ask someone else to wipe your ass.

Thinking of this, the young man who had just escaped from Ballard's room felt even more gloomy.

"Aren't you supposed to stay in the north and play hide and seek with the meteors, when will you come back?"

Unable to stand the other party's fascination laughing, Tails was the first to break the silence.

Raphael curled the corners of his mouth and looked out the window:

"Recently. ”

Look, it's been a good latecom.

Is there a more mysterious answer than that?

Tails coughed:

"Those who remain in Longxiao City, Wyaa and Rolf, and Putile......"

"Safe. ”

Raphael's answer was succinct and firm.

Tails frowned.

"Gilbert said that he couldn't find you in the secret department in the past few years......"

"Confidentiality. ”

"You changed your makeup ...... just now at the Imperial Council."

"Hidden. ”

"So why did you take me to the Kingdom Secret Branch?"

"Important. ”

After a few rounds of back and forth, Tails, who felt like he was talking to Yodel, laughed angrily and said angrily:

"Can't you just say a few more words?"

Finally, Raphael turned around, and the red eyes had a profound meaning:

"But it's also what you said, if I talk nonsense again......"

"You're going to marry Miss Miranda?"

Tails choked and sighed after a few seconds, exhausted.

It's stingy.

Tails waved his hand helplessly and quit the game:

"Just kidding, okay?"

Raphael smiled, and he leaned into the carriage with ease.

"I know," he said, with a pleasant expression.

"Me too. ”

Tailskin curled the corners of his mouth with a smile.

"Does it make sense to be so poor?"

"It doesn't make sense," Raphael said, looking at the prince's wordless face:

"It's just kind of fun. ”

Tails didn't know how to reply for a moment, so he sighed wordlessly.

A few minutes later.

"Raphael, have you been to see Miranda in the past six years?"

Raphael raised an eyebrow:

"You want to hear the truth?"

"Of course. ”

"Then I'll have to lie. ”

It took Tails a few seconds to digest the message:

"Oh. ”

The prince nodded:

"That'...... See Cohen?"

"Who is he?"

“......”

The carriage shook for a few more minutes, and Tails let out a sigh.

"Raphael, if you don't plan to leave the secret department for the rest of your life. ”

The prince looked at the Bone Man seriously:

"And what does she mean to you?"

"How are you going to face her?"

Raphael raised his red eyes: "Why do you suddenly ask that?"

"Care about the love life of subordinates. ”

Raphael gave a sarcastic smile.

"What about you?"

He asked rhetorically:

"What does she mean to you, Your Highness?"

Tails leaned into the carriage and sighed:

"I said I wouldn't marry Miranda......"

But Raphael's next sentence stopped Tails:

"But I'm not talking about Miranda. ”

The air was quiet for a moment.

The scenery outside the window changes inch by inch, from a city street to a country road.

Tails was silent.

"When you were in Longxiao City, you had a deep relationship and were intimate. ”

Raphael looked to the north and said in a brisk voice:

"Can you really let go of this feeling?"

"Strange from now on?"

Tails' teeth tightened.

"Don't talk about anything else, Raphael," said the prince displeased.

"I have nothing to do with her. ”

Raphael chuckled, unconcerned.

"If you are destined to become the King of the Stars, Your Highness, plan in the Ballard Chamber......"

To Tails, the Barred Bones' words became extremely sharp:

"How are you going to deal with it...... She?"

"Facing what you like?"

Tails felt a pang of irritability.

"I'll say it only once, Raphael," said the prince, turning his head coldly:

"I'm definitely not in that relationship with her. No!

"What kind of relationship?"

"You don't care what I am. ”

"But ......"

"No but!"

"I just want to say ......"

"Don't say it!"

Back and forth, Raphael had to let out a long sigh and admit defeat and surrender:

"Okay. ”

Tails snorted and clasped his arms.

The barren bone man sighed with emotion:

"It's just a pity that you don't like her......"

Tails twisted his head even more away.

"You know, we finally picked out the grain concentrate for her, and we are ready to welcome her back to China......"

Tails paused for a moment, then turned around.

"Cereals, welcome home? Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Who else?"

Raphael looked back:

"Of course, the secret department has carefully selected you from hundreds of candidates......"

Raphael showed a mouthful of white teeth and smiled brightly:

"Good horse Jenny. ”

Tails was silent for a full ten seconds, clinging to the carriage, swaying in the wind.

Only then did he put out his middle finger with a blank face.

Grass you.

Looking at his face, Raphael laughed heartily.

Tails swore with a dark face that if the joke was repeated, when he became king, the first order he would give was to let Miranda marry Cohen.

Ah, at that moment, God knows how much he misses Cohen.

Raphael sat back in his place:

"Feeling better?"

"Not at all," Tails said listlessly:

"But thank you for livening up the atmosphere. ”

"You're welcome," Raphael was completely unconcerned about the resentment in the prince's words:

"You're only going to get worse later, anyway. ”

Tails' mood for a little improvement collapsed again.

"This time for last night?"

A shadow crossed Raphael's face.

"What else could it be?"

When it comes to getting down to business, it seems that the ease of Fang Cai is gone.

The Bone Man sighed:

"Fourteen hours ago, I was busy compiling the Freedom League's battle report, and then I received the news that something had happened at the royal banquet - you can always get something done anyway, no matter where you are. ”

Raphael shook his head with a snort.

Tails also snorted angrily:

"Then depose my identity and let me change my face and disappear, do you believe that I can be a law-abiding citizen for the rest of my life?"

Raphael glanced at him.

"Are you a law-abiding citizen?"

"Do you believe it yourself?"

Tails was momentarily speechless.

"So last night's affair," Tails tried to get back to the topic of concern:

"Crow's Cry and Mirror River, that is, the feud between Biral and Doyle, what is the truth?"

Raphael was silent for a few seconds.

"Your Majesty has ordered the Court of Judgment and the Court of Noble Affairs to be in charge of the case. ”

"For the sake of neutrality, I advise you not to intervene ......"

Tails yawned heavily.

"Seriously, Raphael, why do you think I didn't dance with the young girls at the banquet until dawn, but smelled your sweat in this broken carriage?"

Raphael changed his posture and sniffed his collar quietly.

"Or do you think I'm as easy to deceive as Cohen, or as tolerant as Miranda?"

Tails gave him a look:

"Just give a point...... Private Insider?"

Raphael frowned.

Tails raised an eyebrow, his eyes falling on Raphael's sleeve, intentionally or unintentionally.

The latter's forearms are as white and perfect as ever.

It's hard to imagine that there used to be ......

The boneless man was silent for a moment, instinctively pulling up his cuffs.

"You shouldn't be involved in personal relationships," his red eyes flashed:

"You are a prince, I am a servant, and we should do business. ”

Hey, who was you talking to him all the way to personal friendship?

"Someone else, maybe. ”

"But you're still different, Raphael," Tails said in a half-sincere, half-routine manner:

"That night in Longxiao City was different. ”

Raphael tilted his head to look at him.

"By the way," Tails added:

"If we are really going to work together in the next fifty or sixty years and meet at the Imperial Council, then we better start now and learn how to get along. ”

Perhaps persuaded by the last sentence, Raphael took a deep breath and straightened himself up in the carriage.

He said:

"Judging from the information available to the Secret Branch, this is an unfortunate tragedy. ”

yes, something I don't know—Tails nodded earnestly and humbly as he swallowed the phrase into his stomach.

Raphael continued:

"Baron Doyle of Mirror River is a complete straw bale, and his greatest strength is shamelessness. ”

"But he was lucky, and his wife was a master of business, and for several years she managed the court, and amassed wealth—or rather, speculated, and amassed wealth everywhere—so that the Doyle family became richer and bolder, and their hands were stretched out longer and longer, and they were unscrupulous......

Tails remembered Baroness Doyle and nodded with apprehension.

Raphael snorted lightly:

"On the other hand, the ruler of Raven Cry is also not a good person, and he is not at ease when he reaches out to borrow money. ”

"Old Bylar doesn't know how to manage money and has no way, but he is a good hand at coercion, intimidation, and blackmail, these aristocratic traditional arts. ”

Tails frowned.

"It's only been a day since the incident, and the secret department has investigated so clearly?"

Raphael shook his head with a smile:

"Of course not. ”

"But we found out that one of the parties in this case had already been registered with the Department of Finance and Taxation: Lord Jucoe Man had been staring at the Doyle family for a long time, staring at their gray income, waiting for the pigs to be fattened and slaughtered. ”

Juke Man, the treasurer, has long been eyeing the Doyle family?

Tails had a slight understanding.

Raphael dismissively said:

"Therefore, where to use the investigation, our people just moved the tracking files and investigation files that had been backlogged for several years overnight - of course, the people in the Finance and Taxation Department may not be very happy if they were cut off. ”

Department of Finance and Taxation, overnight, cut off the beard......

Hearing this, Tails had a strange look on his face.

He recalled the gaffe of Jucole Mann in rejecting the budget at the meeting this morning.

Now think about it, where is the other party's gaffe......

That's simply "Brother Chen dropped a few thousand yuan tonight"!

He didn't lift the table, even if he was well-cultivated.

"So in this way, Doyle, who is rich and greedy, and Bailal, who is arrogant and scoundrel, are so opposed......"

Tails let out a breath and said helplessly:

"It's really a chess opponent and a good talent. ”

Raphael nodded

"It's nothing, after the aristocracy is dumped and makes a fuss, the two stalemates will probably return to the negotiating table as usual......"

Raphael glanced at Tails.

But at this moment, because the Wings of Legend left the camp, the Bladefang camp was attacked by the orcs and the boneless, and the old Bailar in the garrison was unfortunately attacked and died of fear. ”

"The scales are out of balance. ”

Tails slapped his head in frustration.

Why am I again?

But Raphael's words continue:

"In addition, recently, Doyle, the baron of Jinghe, who is becoming inflammatory, has climbed up to a newly returned royal family with his son, and he has a special row in the royal capital, and his waist has hardened. ”

Tails' face grew more and more ugly.

However, Raphael deliberately elongated the words and repeated: "The royal family's—big—people—things." You know?"

Tails sighed:

How or me?

"If that's the case, it's just a win and a loss, one gains, and one declines,"

"Until the eldest son of Old Biral returned from the Tower of the End - as you can see, he was a stunned young man. ”

"My mind was filled with radical ideas that the traditional aristocrats in the country did not have, and I decided to go to a certain banquet to make a big news. ”

Tails cowered in the corner of the carriage and numbly smacked his mouth.

Why is it always me?

Raphael said helplessly:

"So Your Highness, you have to smell my sweat here. ”

As the words fell, the two sighed at the same time and hugged their arms at the same time.

"So, Anker Al Baral, how is he doing now?"

"We are still interrogating according to the process, from the motive process to the mastermind behind it," Raphael said lightly:

"Let me say that among the 'guests' that the secret department has received, that child is considered to be very strong. ”

Interrogate......

Tails' heart darkened.

"What else is there to ask," said the prince angrily, "the mastermind is Jenn Cavendier, who confessed directly to me last night." ”

"He's the one who's supposed to smell your sweat here. ”

Hearing the name, Raphael's face was a little strange.

"I think you should probably know, Your Highness......"

"The guardian duke of the South Bank, Jenn Cavendier, left the royal capital this morning due to urgent family matters and returned to the Emerald City. ”

Tails was startled at first, then realized.

Slip away so fast.

"Of course, as the mastermind behind it, he has to save his own life," Tails sneered with his arms folded:

"Isn't that an urgent priority? ”

If the Grand Duke of Fengzhao City had Jenn's ability to anoint the soles of his feet, maybe he wouldn't have to have his neck broken by King Nunn.

But Raphael's tone sank.

"Before leaving, the Duke of Cavendier sent His Majesty the Petition for the Emerald City Substitute. ”

Tails didn't react for a moment:

"What?"

Raphael glanced at Tails:

He applied to His Majesty that the vassals of Iris could be exempted from military service and servitude by paying new taxes every quarter according to their needs—the Emerald City was prosperous, and there were quite a few lords who were willing to do so—and the Cavendier family would lead by example, and pay taxes to the royal family to make up for it in the form of subsidizing the royal standing army. ”

It took Tails a few seconds to understand what that meant.

What the?

The Cavendier family will lead by example......

Tax......

Substitute ......

Subsidizing the Standing Army of the Crown......

The next second, a startled Tails struggled to his feet from the backrest.

"I just had a quarrel about this at the Imperial Council...... But that's too, too fast, isn't it?"

And it's a matter of lordship over the entire South Coast.

Unless it's pre-emptive......

Raphael shrugged:

"The official announcement will arrive in the afternoon. ”

Afternoon.

Tails suddenly remembered his father's exact words in the Ballard room:

[The meeting will be held again in the afternoon to discuss how to help Qiu Ke solve the budget problem......]

Afternoon.

Budget.

At that moment, some joints were connected at that moment.

"Jenn, he and my father actually ......" Tails couldn't believe it, "it." ”

He cursed unhappily.

The prince then looked at the boneless man, not without disappointment.

"So our Duke of Southbank, he's not going to be held accountable, is he?"

"At least not for the reason of instigating the assassins and harming the Duke of Star Lake?"

Raphael patted him sympathetically on the shoulder

"Not only that, but the secret department has to allocate other people to 'refute the rumors'," Raphael looked unhappy:

"There are always people spreading ignorant rumors like 'Duke of Star Lake accused Cavendier in public last night'. ”

Ignorance and delusion......

It took Tails a moment to put away his incredulous expression.

No way.

Forget about fame and fortune......

Do you want to control the evaluation?

"So...... I've messed up your business again?" Tails said mumu.

"It's okay," Raphael looked like he was broken:

"Anyway, the secret department is used to it. ”

"I've had a special emergency response team under my command for six years, and you're their favorite – it's a huge boost to their presence and budget. ”

"By the way, their nickname is 'The Prince's Little Ass'......"

Tails, who was immersed in depression, frowned:

"What is the prince?"

The barren man lifted his cheek helplessly.

"You know, every time you poop," Raphael gave a particularly smacked look:

"I'm going to wipe it. ”

Tails was dumbfounded, speechless.

Raphael gave him a wicked smile in return.

"Well, Kevendier......"

Thinking of something, the prince exhaled in annoyance, buried his face in the palm of his hand and rubbed it up and down:

"I should have killed him last night......"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Tails pulled his face out of his palm and grimaced:

"Anker Al Baylar, what will happen to him?"

Raphael put away his skeptical face:

"If His Majesty has no other opinion, the Inquisition Chamber will convict him......"

"But judging from the existing facts, he attacked the royal banquet with weapons, injured the nobles, threatened the Duke of Xinghu, assassinated the royal family, and despised the majesty of the royal family......"

Listening to Raphael's count, Tails remembered Anker's desperate eyes, remembered his last conversation with himself, and his heart was heavy.

[What should I do if I let go?]

[I don't know, but I'll do my best.] 】

[I've done my best. 】

[No, you don't. You didn't see me. 】

Tails subconsciously clenched his fists.

"What about his family, what about his relatives?"

Raphael looked at him and didn't speak.

Tails sighed.

But then his eyes sharpened:

"Listen, Raphael. ”

"Is it possible if I say that with your help, Duke Xinghu is going to do something from it and affect some results?"

Raphael's red eyes also flashed with a glimmer of light.

"Depends on what you're going to do," said the Bonesman cautiously:

"Different options, different results. ”

Tails was silent for a moment.

"Alright then, from hard to easy. ”

The prince thought about it for a moment, and tentatively asked three sentences:

"Prison robbery?"

"Release?"

"At least—to avoid death?"

Raphael pondered the three options for a moment, then smiled kindly.

He did not hesitate and answered the corresponding three answers with understanding:

"No way. ”

"No way. ”

"And - it can't be. ”

There was silence in the carriage for a minute, and for a moment only the sound of a wheel.

"Raphael Lindbergh. ”

"Your Highness?"

"What do I want you for!"

"Well, there's one last option. ”

"What?"

"You are crowned king. ”

"It's not funny. ”

"I know. ”