Chapter 614 Behind the Door
The night is getting dark and the temperature is getting colder.
In the corridor outside Ballard, the Royal Guard arranged as few as possible (for confidentiality) and as many as possible (for sufficient) to form the most efficient and rigorous defense and siege formation, filling the line of sight. Every corner.
The guards in the innermost circle kept absolutely quiet and focused, waiting for them.
They are all elites with both experience and ability drawn from the Six Wings, and they are keeping their eyes on the door of the Imperial Conference Room while pressing their weapons.
It seemed that what was locked behind the door was not something else, but the most mysterious, cruel and terrifying beast in the Fuxing Palace. It was grinding its teeth and licking its claws, hissing and roaring, and might break out of the door at any time and choose someone to eat.
But they cannot be timid, let alone shrink back.
They are the emperor's imperial guard, inherited through the ages, and have their own vows, they will guard this door until the emperor's order reappears.
Or the throne will rest.
The lights flickered and the corridors were lonely.
As time passed by, the anxiety spread in the air, and the fingers pressed on the hilt of the sword became tighter and tighter.
But the heavy Shimen remained motionless, silent.
In the face of countless pairs of increasingly sharp gazes, it is not insulted, fulfilling its duties, and keeping all the beasts firmly behind.
As in the past six hundred years.
Six doctors specializing in trauma and first aid, toxicology and pharmacology, etc., were called by the baron of the palace urgently and ordered to wait outside. They were confused and worried but did not dare to ask more. They could only work in a suffocating atmosphere. Li Qiang beats the spirit, trembling in endless speculation and prayer.
It was also waiting. Behind the third row of guards, several high-ranking officials were calm and calm, and they could even pace leisurely and talk in low voices.
But as time passed, their expressions remained the same, but the pace of their pace became faster and faster, and the interval between conversations became shorter and shorter.
The air is dead and the palace is deep.
The messengers and trusted servants bowed their heads. They kept appearing from corners, infiltrating into the crowd and disappearing in a hurry, coming and going without warning, leaving ghosts in the ears of a few people and on the wall where the light shines. Talking and glimpsing.
Time is probably still moving forward, but it seems to go slower and slower, stopping, admiring the changes it has brought to the surroundings:
In the silence, the guards never felt that their breathing was so heavy that they could even raise the dust two inches in front of their noses.
They have never discovered that their hearing is so sensitive, just the clicking sound of the friction of the bones and joints can make the muscles of soldiers two feet away tense.
And their eyelids are so afraid of loneliness, that every moment, they will touch each other, saying hello to each other, lest they be alone.
As for their hearts, they are so powerful.
So that in the palace, when the heartbeats of hundreds of people gather together, faster and heavier, it feels like a huge monster named Fuxing Palace, just out of the long sleep , Slowly wake up.
And that stone gate—everyone stared at it intently—is its fierce eye about to open.
This makes everyone terrified.
what happens?
what happens?
What should they do if...
Should I swing a sword?
Should we step back?
The political insights brought by guarding the palace all the year round made the royal guards feel uneasy while composing themselves.
They want to turn their heads, look at each other, and exchange emotions.
At least get some comfort in the same doubts, and eliminate confusion and loneliness among the kind led by others.
But the guard's order is clear and clear.
[This sword is only swung for the emperor's order, only for the emperor's edict to break, and it is useless. 】
The habits engraved in their bones and developed through countless training repetitions allow them to restrain themselves and maintain vigilance.
This forced them to dispel distracting thoughts, refocus their gazes that were slightly distracted by waiting, and put them on the heavy stone gate that they had guarded countless times, but not once made them anxious and nervous...
"boom!"
Everyone shook together!
I saw the dark stone door that seemed to never open again, suddenly splitting a gap from the center.
"boom……"
The behemoth opened his eyes.
This is everyone's first thought.
With the mechanical and unpleasant rubbing sound, Shimenruo's dark eyelids slowly separated to the two sides.
A golden-red brilliance radiated from the crack of the door, which looked like a blaze of light, but also a **** red.
But a few seconds, Shimen stopped.
It only opened a gap that only allowed a single person to pass through, revealing a golden red brilliance, just like a half-opened beast eye.
It seems to be sleepy, as if not awake.
It seems that this giant beast is immersed in the nightmare.
The cold wind hits from behind the door, and the royal guards in the first row are extremely vigilant, stepping back together!
"This door of Fuxing Palace... well, it's quite heavy."
I saw the dark beast in front of me open its deep and ominous mouth, jokingly and deeply:
"But it's not about being still."
What emerged from the narrow beast eyes was a darker figure. He held the stone gates on both sides, panting, and sneered in a low voice:
"What do you say?"
The royal guards instinctively stretched out their hands and moved their infantry, the swords were unsheathed, and the array formed!
Seeing this scene, the dark shadow in the middle of the door was silent for a while, and sighed.
"Okay," Sombra turned to his side and squeezed out the narrow door, "Just forget it if you don't help."
"I will do it myself."
The dark shadow gritted his teeth, twisted his cheeks, and forced his way out of the door of Ballard's room, which allowed the light to illuminate his face-Prince Thales came to the corridor pale and looked at the heads surging in front of him. Facing the enemy, all the battles looked at him.
Wow.
In this scene, you said that they are here to hunt the dragon, I believe.
The tired boy looked back at the Ballard room, and then at the impenetrable royal guard in front of him, a little helpless.
Out of the treacherous and sinister hall...
Walk into the heavily guarded encirclement...
This scene, familiar?
After looking at the prince's whole body, the guards in the first row were silent for only a moment, then they all pressed their swords and came forward!
"Stay steady!"
The voice of Lord Adrian, the captain of the general guard, sounded. He pushed aside the crowd and patted his nervous subordinates from time to time to relax them one by one.
"It's okay, relax, relax, it's over."
Adrian's voice seemed to have soothing magic power, and his swords drooped wherever he went.
"Your Highness, it's just a quarter of an hour!"
The captain greeted Thales with ease. While he was talking, he looked at the Ballard room in the crack of the door: "I'm just going in for dessert..."
"No, Lord Adrian, the meal time is over."
Thales exhaled, put Adrian's shoulders without any scruples, and moved forward sideways, squeezing forward in the rigid posture of the people around him, squeezing into the blockade formation of the royal guard.
Adrian saw clearly what was going on in the door, and he frowned and turned back:
"That you……"
"Don't worry," Thales waved his hand indifferently.
"In case you are curious..."
Facing the guards who were vigilant and suspicious, he took a deep breath, spreading his palms to his lips, and shouted at the ceiling:
"Guo, Wang, not yet, dead!"
Thales used the crime of Hell River, and the sound was thunderous, and the whole corridor was clearly up and down.
The lights flickered, and the crowds rushed.
Thales patted the two royal guards with amazement in front of him, and pushed them away tiredly, not forgetting to add a sentence to make the people around them change color again:
"Not dead yet."
Adrian frowned. He glanced at Thales's back, then turned his head and motioned to his men to open the stone gate and enter the Ballard room to ask the king:
"His Majesty……"
On the other side, Thales squeezed past people who were surprised or nervous, no matter if he was a servant doctor or a guard, he said without hesitation:
"If you are waiting for the king to give me an order to arrest or release me, don't think about it!"
"He didn't dare to catch me because I was holding his handle!"
The crowd's suspicion and commotion grew.
"He can't let me go, because he is the king anyway."
Thales squeezed past the third row of guards and was pleased to see them beginning to consciously give way to both sides:
"So please do it well, and be considerate of the king's difficulties!"
"Just... didn't see me?"
The guards were unbelievable, or they exchanged glances, or asked their boss for help, but the captain of the guard was still in the Ballard room, and their efforts were naturally fruitless.
"Borrow light, borrow light!"
Thales stepped forward amidst countless people's surprised and dreaded gazes, he was lethargic while turning the clouds to see the sun:
"The event is over, rush the subway home, I have to go to school and work tomorrow..."
But when he was feeling that this group of sweaty guys didn't know how to give way, Adrian walked out of the Ballard room and solemnly ordered:
"The Royal Guard, everyone present today, report to your immediate superiors, return to their respective offices, and stay overnight to work overtime!"
The guards were stunned, and there was another restlessness.
Adrian glanced at Thales from a distance, with a complex expression:
"We still have... paperwork."
Thales saw with satisfaction that the guards that had filled the corridors finally dispersed. Many people couldn't help but look at Thales before leaving. Their eyes were like looking at a monster, full of surprise, dread and doubt. .
"His Royal Highness, I am glad you are safe."
Thales stopped and looked at the aristocrats in front of him.
"Master Cullen, Prime Minister," the prince sighed, looking at the old prince who smiled with a big belly in front of him, and the imperial court officials who looked complicated and hesitant around him:
"And you, Advisor Sodor, Director Joker, Viscount Connie..."
"You always stay here?"
"of course not!"
Prime Minister Cullen looked elated, and he happily patted his bulging belly:
"I came here after eating!"
("I want to sneak in, but this group... don't leave..."-Joke, annoyed and muttering)
"after all……"
The prime minister rolled his eyes and signaled to the Ballard room:
"The meeting is not over yet."
Thales nodded, his gaze flicked over the prime minister, to the other imperial ministers behind him.
He noticed that Gilbert was not among them.
"Then, it's over now." The boy said calmly.
But the Sodor consultant who has been watching him has an illusion:
The prince said these words, quite indisputable.
"His Majesty," hesitated again and again, and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade Connie who had been paying attention to the Ballard room still spoke: "You and Your Majesty..."
"It's okay, I'm bored, ask him to fight," Thales didn't care, smiling:
"That's it."
I feel bored and quarrel with him...
The subjects looked at each other and saw the doubt in each other's eyes.
"what is it about?"
The Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Viscount Connie, asked:
"Your marriage?"
Thales snorted softly.
"Yeah, I guess, he won't force me to marry someone I don't like anymore."
As soon as this remark came out, military advisor Sodor became more and more confused. Compared with the morning, the young man who had just walked out of Ballard's room made him feel strange.
Except for those who stayed on duty, the surrounding royal guards gradually dispersed, and from time to time looked at these high-ranking central officials.
"So that's it," Viscount Connie said unrelentingly.
"Then let me take the liberty to ask, which lady is the candidate you rejected?"
Thales let out a breath, feeling irritated inexplicably.
"It doesn't matter who he belongs to," but fortunately, the smiling Duke Cullen inserted in time, and personally took over the topic that bored Thales, who was already tired:
"Then you don't mind, consider considering my granddaughters?"
Thales smiled perfunctorily, and saw that everyone around him was almost scattered, so he didn't intend to consume it:
"Your Majesty said, today's Royal Front Meeting ends here, so let's just leave it."
As soon as this remark came out, everyone was surprised.
"Great!"
The sleepy Qiu Ke suddenly opened his eyes. He snapped his fingers happily, tearing down gratefully: "I knew it!"
The Sodor consultant frowned:
"But we still have business..."
"I know," Thales interrupted him with a wave, impatiently:
"There is still something to talk about, right."
Thales looked at the Ballard room, looked at the looming figure, and sneered:
"Regarding the replacement service, paying taxes, the Western Wilderness, the expansion of the standing army, the reduction of levies..."
He was very carefree and did not hide his volume, which greatly changed the expressions of the imperial officials including Shuoduo!
"His Royal Highness speak carefully!"
The military adviser interrupted Thales and looked around nervously:
"This is, this is..."
Thales patted his forehead, as if suddenly awakened.
"Oh, yes, this is a secret of the kingdom," the prince turned his head lazily, and said loudly to the few royal guards who were still present:
"Then what, Kingdom Secrets, guys, you didn't hear anything! Didn't hear anything! Did you hear it? You didn't hear it!"
Several guards turned their heads confused, not knowing why.
The imperial court officials who knew what was at stake looked earthy and looked at each other.
Shuoduo was even more surprised.
"Yeah, you may not believe me," Prime Minister Cullen interrupted the conversation just right, and he was excited:
"This time the chef of Fuxing Palace unexpectedly made a new dish!"
After exhausting for a long time, Thales, who just wanted to find a flat place to lie on the ground, didn’t want to talk to him anymore, smirked and said:
"Very good, Yean."
He stopped looking at the face of the Duke of East China Sea, turned around and left.
"No, the meeting is not over." Behind him, adviser Sodor tried his best to stop the ministers who were about to leave:
"Everyone, with all due respect, today's Royal Conference is very important. Now the kingdom is at a critical moment. The enemy has already taken action. We have to react..."
Thales paused.
"Oh, he wants me to bring you a message, sir."
Thales turned his head and turned his thumb in the direction of Ballard's room, smiling:
"The Kingdom's Secret Division acted in time."
"That letter... safe."
As soon as this statement came out, several adults were taken aback at the same time.
"Believe?" Viscount Connie recalled, suspiciously:
"Oh, you mean the letter just arrived today—"
Consultant Sodor was surprised: "Ann, is it safe?"
"What do you mean?"
Treasurer Qiu Ke rolled his eyes and did not hesitate:
"You mean the person who deliberately leaked Kevin Deere's letter was caught?"
The imperial court officials drew together:
"Juke!"
"Sorry, the mouth is coming soon," Qiu Ke turned his head nonchalantly, "but the secret department just said they can't..."
The master general's expression changed, and he turned and looked around:
"It's weird, what about that scar face? I remember it was here just now! Where is the person?"
"The letter is recovered, that is to say," Viscount Connie said solemnly.
"We still have room for change, as long as we treat that letter does not exist?"
Thales watched the ministers back and forth coldly.
Very strange.
This morning, when he was still listening to the briefing in the royal conference room, he had never felt this way.
This kind of strange, indifferent, indifferent, boring, as if separated by a thick curtain...
A sense of chess.
Yes, a sense of chess.
It's like... the way he uses magic power.
Thales felt a heavy heart.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the controversy among the officials, Duke Cullen was the only one who stayed aside and saw him squinted and smiled:
"Ah, that's good."
"With the power of the Kingdom's Secret Science, naturally you shouldn't be fooled by nights."
Consultant Sodor gritted his teeth in disbelief, and walked to the Ballard room:
"No, it's impossible, I'm going to see your majesty..."
But Thales raised his arm gently, blocking his way.
"Don't do that, Lord Shuduo."
"Ten minutes ago, I tore up the letter in front of him," the prince wrote lightly:
"Your Majesty is in anger at this moment."
Thales' words made the ministers all quiet.
They looked at the teenager in surprise.
"what?"
Suoduo looked back in shock, unable to believe:
"Letter, you, you?"
Thales lowered his arm and nodded blankly:
"Trust me, you don't want to see him now, let alone talk to him about it."
Shuduo was breathing fast and his face flushed. He was silent for a second before rushing to Thales:
"you--"
"Prince! Stay! Stay!" Qiu Ke, who had a premonition, grabbed Shuoduo's waist tightly from the side, and tried his best to stop him from moving forward: "Calm down, that's the prince, the prince! Oh believe it. It’s gone. Anyway, I’m not going to use it. After that, it’s not leaked. We don’t have to worry. What are you rushing..."
The other ministers reacted and quickly gathered around to discourage Shuoduo.
Thales watched this scene coldly.
The Prime Minister hummed a little tune with a smile.
But the Sodor consultant struggled and was extremely angry:
"No, you don't understand, don't understand! You know that it is, that is—"
"Yes," Thales responded calmly:
"That was in exchange for my life-Kevin Deere's confession letter."
Suoduo was taken aback, then paused.
"Oh, yes, that, next time you have to dispatch the standing army, or check the accounts of other people's homes, and engage in such things," Thales slowly turned around, smiling at the military advisers and finances holding them together. Manager:
"Tell me first, okay?"
He helplessly spread his hands:
"Otherwise, I will have to do this again."
The military advisor choked and closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath.
The ministers looked at each other.
"Oh, pay more attention, look, this is an age, and it's easy to have a stomachache after eating new dishes." The Duke of Donghai stretched out his hand to appease.
"Duke Thales, Your Highness Thales," Sodor finally calmed down, his face was puzzled and sad:
"what happens?"
Thales shrugged:
"It's nothing, your majesty changed his mind, nothing more."
"But things shouldn't be like this," So Duo gritted his teeth.
"You are in the middle, what did you do?"
What have you done?
Thales' eyes froze.
"I just saved your lives."
He looked at every imperial minister in front of him, his expression calm, without any waves:
"You're welcome, sirs."
So Duo looked at him in disbelief, but Qiu Ke frowned deeply. There were still people who didn't know, but some were thoughtful.
Instead, Prime Minister Cullen laughed, his fat abdomen fell down, and he bowed:
"Saving grace is greatly appreciated."
Thales ignored him.
"And the right question is, Lord Shudo," the prince looked at the trembling military adviser indifferently:
"You and Your Majesty, maybe there is that scar face."
"What did you do?"
As soon as these words came out, Thales stopped lingering and left.
Behind him, Shuoduo looked at Thales's back solemnly, his eyes getting more serious.
But Thales walked in the brightly lit corridor, but his thoughts floated back.
————
"I know what you want to do."
The king's voice sounded in Ballard's room, without the sharp sharpness of the previous one, but a few more dumb and deep.
"You want to be the bridle of the kingdom."
King Kessel said lightly:
"Holding the galloping horse, but also fastened the heavy car."
War horse, car driving.
Standing at the meeting table, Thales was in a daze.
【The strong horse will not succumb to the iron whip, and the rider will not give up the whip. 】
"You thought you were protecting the carriage," the king shook his head.
"But by doing this, you are both slowing down the horse and interfering with the driving of the car."
So, he knows.
Thales told himself.
Of course, he knew.
He always knew.
He just...don't care.
"As you said, Your Majesty," Thales restrained his emotions and sat down slowly:
"I wandered the top of the cliff, but dreamt of the sky."
The King of Iron Fist snorted, not smiling.
"This road is extremely dangerous, once you make a mistake..."
"I see."
Thales responded to him extremely quickly:
"If people know that I am the king's internal response, then I will be regarded by thousands of vassals as a great traitor to the noble camp.
The king nodded, his expression solemn:
"They will hate you more than me."
Thales rubbed the spoon and was silent for a moment:
"Then we better not play it."
The king shook his head slowly.
"Playing is just the best result."
"But in case you acted so well, hidden deeply, everyone is convinced, and successfully incarnate as the vassal savior and the hope of vassals..."
King Kessel looked at Thales with a cold tone:
"The people who are deceived by you to support you will converge into a billowing wave, using fame, position, camp, interest, relationship, situation, and everything to coerce you forward. You are not allowed to argue, not controlled by you, and you are not allowed to go back."
"They will love you more than they hate me."
Thales' smile slowly disappeared.
The king's words were flat:
"At that time, you can't help yourself, even if you want to get off the bus halfway, it's too late."
Falkenhauser's words rang in his ears again.
[You know, when your vassals and subordinates are in anger, and all the opinions are high, standing in front of the wave, you don't have much choice except to follow the trend. 】
Thales hesitated and stopped.
"In contrast..."
King Kessel looked at the door with a complicated expression:
"When you put up the battle flag against the king's power, you will be united by this, but it is far more than the uncle Feng."
"Under the Fuxing Palace, the thriving kingly party, the ambitious new aristocracy, the speculators who have shown to you, who have shown you to treat you kindly, they will treat you as a political enemy and treat you as a rebellious son. Even embarrassing you to invite you to the rank."
Thales gritted his teeth.
Gilbert, Putila, Sodor, Jok, Viscount Connie... Many faces flashed before Thales' eyes.
Even for a few seconds, the purple mask flashed by.
"From that moment, the honor of the heir will no longer **** you. On the contrary, it will magnify the fear and scrutiny you face, and aggravate the price and pain you pay. In many people's eyes, the day of the crown , When the disaster is imminent."
King Kessel squinted his eyes:
"They will hate you more than they love me."
Thales did not speak.
He looked around and exhaled heavily.
The evening breeze stroked the windowsill, and the two figures interlaced with the lights.
The Ballard room at night was cold and quiet, with portraits of several former ministers on the wall-"The Wisdom" Halva, "The Oracle" Longdong, "Hyena" Amber Tebak, "Lumberjack" Pa Ramata-silently watching this father-son conversation, flickering and flickering in the light.
This makes Thales wonder: In history, the ancestors in this conference room and the decisions they made, are they as cold and harsh as this heavy palace?
"Then I have to pray." Thales said in a daze.
King Kessel said nothing, but stared at the prince faintly.
A few seconds later, Thales looked back at the king with a calm smile: "Pray for them to treat us..."
"Not true love?"
I didn't want to stop here, but... after all, it is the last day of the month.
Btw, some readers may feel from this chapter (actually from the previous chapter) that Thales’ happy and relaxing days are coming to an end.
The tone and color of the book are about to sink and gradually darken.
(End of this chapter)
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