In the empty hall of the knights, only Brandon de sallion, sitting complacent on the throne, with his legs crossed and his head tilted, fell into a chair.
Of course, there is the black haired wizard sitting opposite him, who is also embarrassed.
"Well... Don''t you think you should explain a prince who suddenly appeared?"
A dark haired wizard with a smile mixed with a twist in his expression.
"Explain, explain what? Dear wizard consultant, I''m saving you... Er, to be exact, it''s saving both of us."
The prince leaned back comfortably in his chair, and his royal highness had a natural expression of "why don''t you understand yet": "I came as soon as Edward sent the information - I had to find a way to bypass two dozen guards on the way, plus our old and unlovable seal minister grandpa metney Leopold!"
"I have experienced so many difficulties and dangers, life and death crisis, almost lost my life several times, and lost my face again in front of the Dukes of the whole empire... And my wizard consultant just wants my ''explanation''... It''s too ruthless?"
Watching Brandon curled up in the chair dance and talk nonsense, the black haired wizard sighed and pressed his temples wearily.
Haven''t seen him for so many years, are you losing your immunity to deal with Brandon?
"The information two minutes ago - Nolan Erde, the little gangster, took refuge in connord." Brandon snapped his fingers with a frivolous smile. "These two bad guys are going to sing an oboe at the Knights'' meeting. The purpose is to block all the Dukes'' mouths and let him connord be crowned emperor of the Empire without any hindrance."
"In this way, he Connaught will no longer owe us any favor, and can even pressure us with righteousness in turn - any small move can be kneaded by this guy in the name of ''destroying the sacred war of the empire against invasion''."
The dark haired wizard raised his eyebrows and his eyes were frozen.
Sure enough... As expected.
Seeing Lauren''s thoughtful expression, Brandon was even more proud and muttered to himself: "so... At the moment I got the information, I knew that something bad was going on; when I had a mental calculation but didn''t care, Lauren, of course, you''re not the opponent of the beloved Royal brother Connor."
"So I acted decisively and saved our resourceful and confident wizard adviser and Lord Byrne with my disgrace - and then, most importantly, when I saw Connor''s angry and speechless appearance when I destroyed his plan; that face I told you... Absolutely."
"..." Loren Turin.
But then again, although Brandon''s practice is very excessive, the impact and damage are much more serious - the disgraced Prince''s name has long been heard in the Empire. Now he has blown up the ceiling of this hall, I''m afraid those who hear it will not be surprised.
I have no cards, but if you still want to play your little tricks, I don''t mind playing with you without limits.
You want to block me out of the game table with rules and traditions, and I have some ways to break in; Nothing else, because I have what you don''t have, because I have what you don''t have.
Because you never dare to kill me.
His red hair was in a mess, and his royal highness, who still looked indifferent, sat proudly and comfortably on the throne of the emperor and felt the comfort at the moment:
"I don''t care about Connaught, I don''t even care about the Empire. Anyway, they never cared about my life or death in the past... Only one thing, I have to get what I deserve. In addition... Hey? Aunt phillanai, why are you here?!"
Following Brandon''s surprised eyes, the black haired wizard looked back. In front of the hall of the knights, there was a beautiful figure like a knight, holding a sword and looking at them coldly.
"Wow, what a surprise! Dear sister phillanai, it''s more and more beautiful not to see you for many years... You don''t know. My three years in Boyi have made me think day and night. Every night I stay alone in an empty room, empty, lonely and cold..."
"Loren Turin."
Fillonay de sallion opened his mouth coldly, and turned aside to avoid a disgraced Prince''s unimaginable "swoop in the air" and "poop!" to make him land first with an even more unimaginable face.
"Connord wants to see you now."
She raised her head and stared at the dark haired wizard with calm, emotionless eyes.
"Only Loren? Alas... My dear brother, it''s too much." Brandon, who still lies on the ground and loads the body, didn''t lift his head and made a voice: "I took the initiative to expose myself in order to see him. It''s too much to pretend not to see me..."
"Make a quick decision. This is the last chance." phillanai always has no feelings: "the Empire... Doesn''t have so much time to spare."
Connord... Can''t you sit still at last?
"That is... The empire is on the verge of life and death. At this time, we should unite more; Loren Turin, my best friend, told sister-in-law fillonay that you will never..."
"OK, I''ll go right away, alone."
The dark haired wizard with a calm face nodded and accepted.
Ignoring a disgraced prince who was still lying on the ground and looked like a zombie, Loren resolutely got up and left, and walked out of the front door without looking back.
The expressionless Princess stood in place until the dark haired wizard walked out of the door, then turned and walked away.
"Pa!"
A hand stretched out from the ground squeezed fillonay''s ankle.
"Don''t go, please, please don''t go."
The motionless phillanai neither resisted nor agreed.
"I know how I got in... If sister phillanai hadn''t lifted the blockade of the night watchman in the sky palace, someone would have stopped me just outside the door." Brandon slowly got up from the ground with a smile in his tone:
"In a moment and a half, the Royal brother Connor will certainly notice it, right - in that case, aunt, why do you take such a risk for me?"
"I didn''t risk for you, I just..."
"Don''t explain. Just stay. Just stay for a while." Brandon''s tone became more and more brisk from his ankle to his wrist: "it''s a perfect deal for my dear brother to use sister-in-law phillanai to contain Brandon de sallion."
With a low hum, the royal highness of the princess never spoke again.
……………………………………………
"A quarter of an hour, Loren Turin, I only have a quarter of an hour."
Beside the hall of the knights, in the narrow cloakroom, connord desallion, sitting in the dim candlelight, frowned slightly, his elbows supported on the armrest of the chair, and one of his crossed fingers pointed to the door behind the black haired Wizard:
"Just outside this door, the seal minister and the imperial nobles behind him have been waiting for a long time. From the day I came, I began to urge me to be crowned as soon as possible and promised not to harm their interests;"
"Different voices have begun to appear outside the sky palace, and some people have begun to question why the royal family and the sky palace still did nothing so long after the assassination of the former Emperor;"
"Outside the country, the Azores will invade at any time; as you said, we don''t know when it will start, but it must be soon;"
"Now I have no spare time to continue fooling around with you and Brandon behind you. I don''t want to see it again. You use this way of breaking the rules to strive for your so-called interests, hoping that you can take advantage of this confusion."
"So... I''ll give you a quarter of an hour, the last quarter we have together." Connor, with a solemn look, said in an irrefutable tone:
"In addition, if you have any requirements, please tell me now. I will officially announce it at the meeting of the Royal sword order and will not change it again."
The black haired wizard looked indifferent and stared at the eyes that seemed to want to pierce his heart and cut his whole person open. His expression changed slightly.
"What do I... Want?"
"Don''t pretend to be silly, because I really don''t have time, Loren Turin... Come up with your terms." connord''s voice was very cold: "you tried to suppress me with that imperial declaration and buried spies in my night watchman - don''t think I don''t know, otherwise why did Brandon ''appear'' so soon?"
"In the past, I may still have the energy to play with you and watch you wantonly destroy the traditions and customs of the Empire; but now... I have an empire waiting for me to save; to save this empire, I need Bain''s knights and wealth; I need the dragon to boost the morale of the Empire when necessary!"
Loren was stunned, and the corner of his mouth was quietly raised under his thoughtful expression.
"So... You need us?"
Connor''s face was livid, as if he was trying to hold back his anger.
"We need each other." Conrad said coldly again, "so give me your price and tell me how much it takes to make Byrne''s knights... Swear to be loyal to their emperor to the death?"
"Byrne''s knights will never betray the Empire and their emperor. I think the tenth generation of the ''black Duke'' has proved this." Loren shrugged and smiled meaningfully:
"The question is... Which emperor do they want to be loyal to?"
Looking at the smiling black haired wizard, the crown prince looked more and more fierce.
"Just saying this sentence is enough to be rebellious." connord narrowed his eyes and said in a heavy tone: "so in the eyes of the ''loyal'' Byrne knight, loyalty is also graded?"
"No, it''s the same in their eyes, but it''s different in mine." the black haired wizard, who was staring at him, still looked calm: "and I believe what you want is not only their loyalty, but also mine... By the way, you can threaten others to be loyal to you with the loyalty of Byrne, Arles and Elman."
Yes, I''ve seen through your oboe play with Duke Arles, so save it, we both have no cards now; But the problem is that you have to deal with more than me, and I have another highness Brandon who does everything by any means and has no limit.
But connord''s face remained unchanged, very calm, not even as blue as before, with a look of suppressed anger.
Sure enough, Lina, Brandon, Conrad... The de sallion family are all real actors.
"So... How much do I have to pay to get Duke Byrne''s own loyalty?"
Looking at connord who finally stopped acting, the black haired wizard also restrained his smile.
Since you want to make an offer, of course, you have to open your mouth and test the other party''s bottom line.
"Want my loyalty? It''s simple... Give me absolute freedom and don''t interfere in any military action of Byrne; in addition, Brandon is crowned Prince of East Saxony, and he is the first crown prince of the Empire until you have no heir or the heir is not an adult."
This requirement is so harsh that we almost tell connord directly that we are waiting for you to die and control the whole empire; So no matter what you think, Loren doesn''t think he will accept
"Yes, no problem!" Conrad said decisively without changing his face. "Is there anything else?"
Huh?!
He, he, he... He''s too happy?!
Such harsh conditions, I agree if I don''t want to?!
"Look at your expression, it should be gone, isn''t it? Good." connord narrowed his eyes, with a sharp luster in his red pupils:
"Then in return, I need Byrne to spend a quarter of the tax, including food and logistical supplies, to support the war, and the Empire will not bear the expenses of Byrne''s army."
"In addition, I can crown Brandon as the prince of East Saxony and the first successor in order, and ensure that he will succeed to the throne after my death; but there can be no objection that phillanai must be the second successor in order;"
"In addition, as the last dragon driver of the Empire, Brandon must go to Jufeng mountain again and urge the dragon to join the war and abide by their original commitments." with an indisputable tone, connord said coldly:
"This is his right and duty - we need dragons, otherwise once the northern demons take the opportunity to invade, the Empire will not be able to face two full-scale wars of this scale at the same time."
"If you can agree to these terms for Brandon, then we can reach an agreement that is beneficial to both sides."
The black haired wizard thought for a moment. From the terms of exchange between the two sides, it was not too harsh; Brandon should be willing. As for a quarter of taxes and logistics... Bleeding is necessary to cope with the next war.
After all, Byrne is in the south, and the probability of encountering war is very small. It can be said that it is very cost-effective to pay some price for stability in the north.
"Yes, I''ll convince Brandon." sighed, and Loren raised his eyebrows. "So... When are you going to hold your coronation?"
"Tomorrow."
Huh? Loren was stunned.
"Tomorrow?!"
"Yes, tomorrow... I told Metternich that I can convince all of you today to hold the coronation ceremony tomorrow - there are five minutes left. In five minutes, Archbishop innocent will come to discuss the process of the ceremony with me."
Conrad raised his head, with a natural expression similar to that of Eckhart II and a bit of Brandon''s "rogue spirit":
"As I said, I only have a quarter of an hour."