40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 40 40. A Dinner Party (I)

Golden carved vines glittered on the marble columns, and the floor was spotless and shone like glass. No matter from which angle you look at it, this room is as exquisite as a palace.

No, maybe it is.

Khalil stared at the mirror in front of him expressionlessly. The man in the mirror had a handsome face, but the excessive paleness and gloom ruined everything.

If you see him in person, you will not think he is handsome, but only feel that he is gloomy and terrible.

In the soft light around him, he looks like a ghost. And his expressionless face brings a subtle boredom. If you look closely, you can find the disgust hidden in the details.

+You don't seem to like the room I arranged. +

A voice sounded, it did not appear in the air, but appeared in Khalil's heart.

Psychic power.

What a convenient power.

+Don't tell me you like it. +

+I must design everything in this style. This ship represents the status of the Emperor as a symbol in a sense. It could be just a ship, but, in most cases, it is not. +

+Are the considerations political? +

+If I am to become Emperor, I must do this. +

+Does your list of ‘musts’ include speaking to me psychically? +

+Yes. +

+When does the dinner begin? +

+In forty minutes. Get ready as soon as possible, because one of my sons may ask you many questions at the dinner. +

+I can choose not to answer. +

+I also wish you could choose not to answer, or even attend the dinner, but you and I both know that this is impossible. +

Caryl Rohals closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The voice in his ear faded away, it faded and disappeared little by little, but the echo remained.

This was his first time to speak psychically, and it felt strange, but Caryl didn't like it.

He didn't ask the ghost if he would attend the dinner, he already knew the answer.

And since the ghost was attending - no, since Conrad Curze was attending, he must attend.

It had nothing to do with anything else, just for political reasons.

When he saw the religious decorations on the ship and the people's worship of the 'Emperor' along the way, Khalil understood a lot of things.

But, that's all.

"Dinner." He muttered to himself, still looking at the mirror. "I'm going to attend a dinner."

At this point, he smiled. Not for anything else, just because he suddenly realized the identity of Khalil Rohals.

Is there anything wrong with a son of a noble attending a banquet? At most, the nature of this banquet is a little special.

An emperor who is recovering the lost territory of mankind in the Milky Way, bringing his demigod son to attend the banquet

Presumably the dishes will be very rich.

Maybe there will even be someone who specifically records what they all said, what they ate, and draws this scene

But, can I still eat normal food?

With a sigh, he stood up. There is a special changing area in the spacious room. No one explained this to him. It seems that the 'Emperor' had already told him that he didn't need common sense introductions.

He really didn't need it.

He didn't even want this room.

Khalil walked into the dressing area expressionlessly. It was a long corridor with dark carpet on the floor.

The ceiling was a mirror, and there was a huge mirror at the end. There was a small dark wood-grain door on the right, which was opened.

Inside was a magnificent bathing room, with a large bathtub for bathing, and the shower head for washing was hidden on the ceiling.

There was a strange incense smell spreading from inside, which came from some white boxes placed on the wall, which reflected the light of white jade. Thirty towels were hung on the gold hanging table, waiting softly.

Both sides of the corridor were hung with men's clothes of different sizes, ranging from dark robes embroidered with gold thread to tight tops with lace sleeves, and even boots of dozens of styles.

Khalil stayed at the door and did not go in immediately. He looked at the place and took a deep breath again. After that, he walked in expressionlessly.

The sound of bathing started soon and ended soon.

——

"Believe me, Conrad, the dinner will be sumptuous."

"How sumptuous?" Conrad Curze asked in confusion.

Fulgrim couldn't help but smile. He spread his hands and made an exaggerated gesture - this was very unusual.

"Very sumptuous."

He said softly. "There are more than a hundred dishes I have eaten. Today is the day you return. Father should ask those respectable chefs to prepare more. Tonight, you can enjoy it."

"Enjoy?"

"Yes. Look how thin you are."

Leaning against the door of the fitting room, Fulgrim sighed inevitably: "My brother, this is the smallest size of clothes I can find, but it still looks too big on you."

"Is it bad to be too big?" Curze asked.

He stood in front of a fitting mirror with a double-headed eagle carving, wearing a loose black robe and a pendant given by Fulgrim on his chest. His black hair was combed back, and a special fragrance was spreading in his nostrils.

He didn't like this smell very much.

"Clothes that are too baggy will make you appear frivolous and spiritless—and most importantly, disrespectful of etiquette, Conrad. Didn't he teach you that?"

"."

"Conrad?"

".Do we need etiquette when eating?"

"Of course." Fulgrim nodded. "If you indulge yourself and eat and drink a lot, you may lose more things while losing your manners."

But I would rather wear loose clothes or squat in a corner and eat nutritional cream.

Staring at the mirror, Ghost thought.

Loose clothing can hide more weapons, and Khalil likes to wear clothes with wide and long sleeves so that others can't see his knife.

Concealing weapons is necessary. The ghost said to himself in Khalil's voice.

He didn't like the man in the mirror, not at all.

The person in the mirror looked like a god under the decoration of his clothes, and his eyes as dark as agate made this feeling of alienation even stronger than before.

It's not like the ghost has never seen his own appearance before. When climbing up buildings and spires in the cold wind, he would occasionally see his own reflection in the glass. Sometimes I can see my own face in the cloudy mirror formed by the acid rain.

That face was his first understanding of his own appearance. And now this one.

He didn't like the change, and he didn't like it here.

Ghost never thought that he would miss that dark corner.

"Conrad? Are you okay?"

Fulgrim's voice came from far away from the other end of the corridor, with obvious concern, not fake, but genuine. This kind of emotion that has no reason and comes purely from blood makes the ghost unable to resist.

He remembered each of their names.

Rogal Dorn, Fulgrim, Ferrus Manus, Lorgar Aurelion.

And they called him Conrad Coates.

I'd rather be called a midnight ghost. he thinks. The man you call father has not even said a word to me.

".I'm fine." The ghost replied in the voice of Conrad Curze. "Will Khalil come to the dinner?"

"Of course he's going to be there! Oh my gosh, man, do you think we'd be rude enough to not allow him to come? He's—"

Fulgrim stopped talking and shook his head, looking a little apologetic.

"Sorry, Conrad," he said softly.

".Why do you need to apologize?"

"What?"

"Why do you apologize, Fulgrim?"

Konrad Coates repeated, turned around, and pursed his lips tightly: "You have been good enough to me, why do you still need to apologize? Other people who meet for the first time will only use curses and bullets instead of greetings. , why do you want to apologize?"

"I--"

Fulgrim was stunned.

"——Don't apologize. I know the reason, but please don't apologize."

Conrad Curze said calmly. "If you don't let Khalil participate, he won't mind, and neither will I. But I won't participate either."

“Of course we’re going to have him in – no, no, of course we’re going to have him in!”

This was the first time the Chemos people were so panicked since they decided to pursue the glory sown by their father.

He didn't understand why his brother would say something like not attending the dinner when everything was normal, although he soon realized that the problem came from his wording, but...

“Words spoken unintentionally are often true thoughts.”

Conrad Coates said. "Mr. Fulgrim, I actually know that you look down on him."

"Emperor, I did not say so, Konrad!"

“The truth is revealed in the details.”

Conrad Coates answered calmly. "To you, Khalil Lohars is but a mere mortal. I know that."

"So, even if he raised me, it was just his luck. Even if he protected me in Nostramo, it was just a coincidence. I appreciate your love, but I don't think I deserve to have such a heavy thing."

"Brother!" The Chemos man stood there with a pale face. "Please, don't do this."

"I must, Khalil said, if you have any dissatisfaction, you should raise it as soon as possible, instead of letting it take root in each other's hearts and become a bloody barb. So, don't apologize, Mr. Fulgrim."

He was silent for a moment.

"I know you see me as your brother, but have you ever thought about whether I would like to be your brother? The man you see as your father - he has not spoken a word to me."

"And Khalil"

His language became fragmented, seemed a little illogical, and finally looked like a one-and-a-half-year-old child.

"You look down on him."

Ghost pursed his lips, widened his eyes, and his voice trembled.

"You're only apologizing because you accidentally said your true thoughts, because you didn't want to hurt my feelings. Mr. Fulgrim, you're apologizing, not because you are truly sorry for what you said."

Fulgrim finally had nothing to say.

His lips trembled, his noble appearance was a little weak due to his pale face, and his eyes were full of sadness and shame - the sadness came from seeing the truth spoken by Konrad Coates tremblingly, shame, It also comes from the truth he told.

silence.

Unparalleled silence.

"But I will come to the party," Ghost said. "I don't want to break your hearts."

Update one chapter in advance and release the second chapter later