Kingdom’s Bloodline

In the mansion hall of Mike Manor, Thales stopped in front of a portrait facing the porch.

"This is Leinster Cavendeer."

Raphael's voice came from behind.

The man in the painting has a handsome appearance and exquisite clothes. He is sitting on a red leather chair, playing with a slightly unsheathed dagger in his hand - the exposed dagger blade transmits cold light, and the sheath with the tip of the blade is inlaid with gems.

"One of the six knights under King Fuxing's command—the deadly iris."

Hearing the surname and nickname, Thales realized something, and he looked at the tapestry under the picture frame:

[Leinster P. T. Kevin Dill, formerly 27-20]

"Seven hundred years ago, he funded and ran for Prince Tormund, who had not yet become king, recruited and trained the first batch of professional spies and spies, and made great contributions to the end of the war and the establishment of the stars. He was the kingdom's first intelligence officer. Steward."

Raphael stared at the portrait, as if staring at a real person:

"Recognized as the founder of Kingdom Secrets."

The deadly iris described by the artist is only thirty or forty years old, with a focused expression but slightly frowning brows, exuding a gloomy and bewildered temperament, as if there are endless sorrows hidden in his chest, which cannot be resolved.

Let the viewer feel compassion.

Leinster Kevin Dill.

The founder of Secret Division.

The prince was thoughtful:

"He is also the ancestor of the Kevin Dill family, the first Duke of the South Bank?"

"Exactly."

Thales nodded, didn't say anything, and followed Raphael's footsteps.

Stepping into the room and stepping on the star-blue carpet that is common in the Kingdom, the mansion hall in front of Thales is open and bright, which is completely different from the old and barren outside the manor.

Thales looked around:

"It seems bigger than it looks from the outside."

The sun shines through the window, and the silver double cross stars on the wall carpet and hanging flags shine brightly,

Unexpectedly deep and dark.

"That's thanks to the original owner of this manor. The architectural layout is ingenious, and the universe is hidden inside."

Raphael kept his eyes fixed and kept walking.

"It's a pity that the manor fell into bloody bad luck during the Bloody Year and was almost burnt to ruins."

"Otherwise it wouldn't be our headquarters."

Several people in civilian clothes were sitting busy in the hall, some were dealing with documents, some were talking in low voices, turning a blind eye to them.

Almost indistinguishable from an ordinary municipal department.

almost.

Raphael led the boy into a side hall.

Whether it is the shape of the corners, pillars, stair handrails or even the ceiling, Thales can see the luxury and splendor of the place in the past and the precipitation of history, but Raphael's pace is very fast, obviously accustomed to this rhythm, the boy has nothing to do. The meaning of appreciation can only be seen on horseback.

Until he saw another classical bust in a corridor.

[Halva C. M. Karabyan, 14-65 before)

The man in the painting is almost middle-aged, but there is no twilight between his eyebrows. He has a beard and even has a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, looking simple and sincere.

It is in contrast to Leinster, who has a hidden city mansion.

"That's Steward Halwa."

Noticing Thales's footsteps slowed down, Raphael only glanced at him and revealed the identity of the person in the painting:

"Leinster's deputy and successor."

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

Raphael nodded slowly:

"Thanks to his talent and persistence, the intelligence network originally managed by Leinster privately did not become a short-lived accident due to the bad reputation after the death of 'Deadly Iris', but was officially named 'Kingdom Secret Division', Recruiting talents, customizing into rules, has been passed down all the way to this day.”

Thales' eyes moved to the wall carpet under the picture frame. There was a sentence embroidered with gold thread on it. The font was simple and half-literal, half-white, between the modern imperial language and the contemporary lingua franca:

[The king's eyes and ears, the country's night whistle, knowing and keeping secrets, is the responsibility of my department. 】

Raphael continued:

"Of course, in the end, Halwa also rose from the position of chief intelligence officer to a higher rank, and became the prime minister of the kingdom with one person under one man and over ten thousand people. He was known as the 'Wisdom Prime Minister' in history."

"Zhixiang," Thales repeated the nickname while recalling Gilbert's history class:

"'Wisdom' Karabyan?"

He looked strange.

"I know what you're thinking."

Raphael thought of something and sighed:

"Whenever this nickname is put together with this surname..."

"Big contrast, right?"

Thales let out a snort, then resisted the desire to turn the corners of his mouth up, looked serious, and continued on his way.

Their journey was smooth and quiet. They crossed countless corridors and endless halls. Occasionally, someone passed by with a stack of scrolls, appeared from this door, and disappeared from another door. The pace was tight and the state was busy. They only nodded when they met them.

"It seems that there are not many people on duty?" the prince asked curiously.

"Whether it's because of a certain prince's accident in the Western Wilderness, or a certain prince's accident at a banquet, many people have not worked shifts and stayed up for days and nights," Raphael did not care about Thales' face:

"Have pity on them."

Thales could only shrug in embarrassment.

"But why are we here? Since Kevin Dill can't be punished, and you can't do anything about the case."

Raphael glanced at him and was about to answer, but a door behind him suddenly opened, and a man stopped them:

"Raphael, the asses have finished preparing the white gloves, do you want to come and see?"

When the man said this, his eyes kept glancing at Thales, wanting to salute but hesitating.

Raphael was thoughtful, but Thales frowned.

"He said, asses?"

Thales approached Raphael suspiciously, and asked in a low voice:

"Ass?"

Raphael turned his head and spread his hands indifferently, as if he didn't see the prince's face:

"It's a special team under me who told you the full name."

"Need to repeat?"

Thales forced himself to smile.

Raphael raised his eyebrows understandingly, and turned back to the man: "Very well, Dani, let's check the procedure, it won't be long."

"By the way, put the eyes in the normal place."

The man at the door immediately withdrew his sneaky glance at Thales.

Thales was about to follow in, but the skeleton man blocked the door:

"No, I'll be out soon. You wait here for me, don't move."

Raphael gave him a comfortable smile and closed the door.

Thales, who stayed in the corridor, rolled his eyes.

Hmph, wipe your ass.

The corridor was still quiet, Thales was bored, so he simply took a few more steps and looked at the portraits hanging on both sides of the corridor: most of them were men from prime to middle age, either calm and serious, or aggressive.

In contrast, one of the special paintings first caught his attention:

It was a full-length portrait of a woman.

She is lying on the dark sofa in a stretched posture. Her complexion is fair and beautiful, her facial features are deep and shocking, her clothes are full of exotic charm, and she even shows her slender thighs, showing a sexy and seductive figure. Under the artist's wonderful brushwork, she is like Even the curled toes look green and exquisite, which is cute.

But different from the figure that makes the man's blood pumping, the expression on this lady's face is indifferent and mysterious, and she doesn't care about everything around her.

In contrast to the two, Thales looked at her, sometimes seeming to be amorous, sometimes feeling noble and inviolable.

Thales moved his eyes to the bottom of the picture frame:

[Alf Seldu ka Mimo Humble, 39-77]

"This is Alf."

A slightly rough voice came from behind, with Thales' familiar Western accent:

"People call her 'Oriental Beauty,' and this is one of the few portraits of her that have not been burned."

Thales turned his head and was slightly taken aback when he saw the person coming.

"Wait, I recognize you, you are..."

Behind him was a well-groomed man with a slightly darker complexion. He saluted Thales respectfully, just like he did in the Saber Camp:

"My humble Nobu."

"It's a great honor to see you again, and I'm glad that you are now in good health, Your Highness Thales—or should I say, the Duke of Xinghu?"

Thales looked at him in surprise, and finally confirmed the identity of the other party:

The secret department cadre who dared to confront the Legendary Wing face to face in front of thousands of troops in the Saber Camp.

nob.

only……

"Why are you here?"

Thales' eyes subconsciously moved to Nobu's right leg.

There was nothing unusual on the surface, but the prince noticed that Nobu's right hand was holding a crutch, supporting half of his body.

Nobu smiled faintly, remaining as humble as ever:

"I'm coming back to report on my work, because of... the matter of Xihuang."

Thales knew it by heart.

"Really?" Thales hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking after all:

"You, how's your leg?"

Nob froze.

He turned his head slowly, looked at his right leg, and then at his crutch, with a look of loneliness on his face.

"Thank you for your concern."

"The Secret Department has good wound medicine, but..."

Nobu squeezed out a self-deprecating smile, and nodded his right crutch:

"I've got to learn to get used to this stuff."

Thales was silent for a while.

He remembered the scene where Roman broke Nobu's right leg brutally in the desert in order to help him cover up the news, and suddenly felt guilty.

"I'm very sorry."

Nobu shook his head, put away his depressed mood:

"It's not your fault."

"Besides, if it wasn't for this leg," he said with a smile:

"It is estimated that they will not let me come back so easily. It is a blessing in disguise, and I don't know."

Seeing his self-mockery and open-mindedness, Thales didn't know what to say.

Nobu obviously noticed the embarrassment of the atmosphere, he quickly turned around to look at the woman in the painting, and used the topic to drive away the momentary depression:

"Anyway, Alf comes from the Humble dynasty in the Eastern Continent, and it is said that he is the exiled legacy of 'Grand Kadir' Ama Mimo Humble."

Alf.

Thales had doubts:

"So, Alf? She's a foreigner, and she's a woman... and a member of the secret department?"

Strangely, Nobu shook his head first, then nodded again.

"After the Northern Expedition of 'Black Eye' John I failed and deposed 'Wisdom Prime Minister' Halwa, the Kingdom's Secret Division was not trusted, and its future was uncertain for a time, and it was on the verge of collapse."

Nobu looked at the alien woman in the painting with deep eyes:

"Until Kurome decided to give this tasteless little toy to his favorite pillow lover - like a paid job, or simply, a gift - as a reason to persuade the ministers to keep her by their side. "

King's lover?

Thales turned his head subconsciously, wanting to take a closer look at Ms. Alf.

In the painting, she still has an indifferent complexion and a comfortable posture, and she doesn't care about the eyes of outsiders.

"With contempt and hostility from the inside out, Alf resisted the pressure to fight for the budget, reorganized and kept this dying department with low morale."

Nob seems to be sighing:

"That's right, in those years, Dongfang Yanying controlled the flow of information and spread the information network widely. She was the unknown but real head of the secret department and the chief intelligence officer."

He was lost in silence:

"And she did a great job at it."

"It's even too good."

"So after the death of Heimu, she was sent to the guillotine for the crime of murdering the former king, and she was cast aside by thousands of people."

Thales was taken aback:

"What?"

Murder the former king?

Nobu smiled, shook his head and said:

"It wasn't her——the ten great families of Exeter were forced to abandon their former grievances and unite together, and even had to ask the dragon to save the country from subjugation and extinction. How can 'Black Eye' be a person who mistrusts Xiaoxiao and is easy to get along with. "

Nob leaned on a cane, took a few steps forward, and pointed to the sentence embroidered with gold thread under Alf's name:

[The plan is a bitch, don't believe it—even if you give enough money. 】

"But after Heimu's death, his three sons inherited his ambition and ambition, but none of them possessed his father's grand talent."

"I know this part, the end of the first century of the end calendar," Thales took his words:

"The three stars are separated, the brothers fight against the wall, the earth is divided and the king is fought, and the war is raging."

Nobu nodded, his eyes were far-reaching:

"So, when you don't have the corresponding meritorious reputation, but you want to overwhelm the other two and wear the nine-star crown left by your father..."

He looked at Alf and said quietly:

"The fastest way is to avenge the former king, and if you want to avenge..."

When the prince came to his senses, he raised his gaze in a daze, and took over the conversation:

"You have to have a murderer first."

Thales looked at the charming beauty on the wall.

"I've seen this scene before."

"At the same time, he was favored by the former king and feared by everyone, but he was a beautiful foreign spy and a slut with superb skills," the young man understood something, and his voice was low:

"When it comes to murdering the former king, there is no better scapegoat than this."

Nob nodded.

The prince stared at Alf's beautiful figure, imagining that this former foreign beauty was disheveled, covered in shackles and chains, limping under the cold gaze of a schemer, with thousands of people pointing at her and cursing her , the scene of walking to the guillotine alone.

At that moment, her head was probably also held high.

As if guessing Thales' intention, Nobu took a deep breath and smiled.

"Don't worry, when the 'Taiping King' Kessel I was crowned, the separation of the three stars was ended, and the kingdom was reunited, the 'Oriental Beauty' was vindicated."

Thales felt relieved.

Looking at Alf's most beautiful appearance, he felt a little less sad in his heart.

"So I can still be here and see her portrait."

But Nob shook his head in denial.

"Redraw."

Thales turned around in surprise.

"By the time this painting was finished, Dongfang Yanying had passed away," Nobu sighed:

"Painting craftsmen can only rely on a little memory to restore her past style of wandering the pinnacle of power as a woman and ruling the underground world."

"But you can see, no matter how they exhaust their talents and extravagant imagination..."

Looking at Alf who was drawn with sultry curves, Nobu shook his head in disappointment.

Thales and Nobu were silent for a while.

After a while, Nobu reacted:

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes." Thales said not without resentment.

Butts.

The prince looked at the room that Raphael entered, shrugged:

"He... won't come out for a while"

"In that case," Nob said friendlyly, reaching out to the next painting in the corridor:

"You don't mind?"

Thales nodded and followed him forward.

It was much more interesting than Maester Bona's grammar lessons and Raphael's satires.

Nobu raised his hand and stretched to the other side:

"Gumber Turbuck, known as 'Dark Moon.'"

Thales turned his head.

[Gumber W. B. Turbuck, 137-215]

"Terbak? The ruling family of the Blades, the Blood Moon of Blade City?"

Thales thought of the Duchess Lyanna whom she hadn't seen for many years.

The manager Gamper in the painting is a middle-aged man, with a fat body and a dignified face. The poor man put his whole body weight on the cane in front of him, and tried his best to puff out his chest and draw in his abdomen, making his smile a little stiff and funny , coupled with his lost hairline...

In another world, it would probably be "not photogenic".

"He was the chief intelligence officer who served three generations of kings at the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century."

Nob nodded:

"From 'Broken Vein' Sumer I to 'Ascension King' Elam I, and even "Thorn Thorn Slasher" Tormund III, the three kings relied on him as their arm, and they trusted him a lot."

Ascend King.

Hearing the familiar name, Thales couldn't help but compare it with Gilbert's history class, and his face turned slightly cold after thinking of something.

Nobu language with remembrance:

"Don't look at his appearance, but people born in our age may find it difficult to imagine how much Chief Gamper contributed to the kingdom, how meaningful it is, and how deep his influence is."

"Why?"

Nob exhaled:

"Because in the history books, everyone only sees the king and the prime minister, the general and the duke, lamenting their vision and great achievements, but they don't know or turn a blind eye to the filth in the dark night."

"Because it's also hard for us to imagine how terrifying the right to speak and influence the Church of the Sunset once had in the kingdom in the era before Gamber Tebuck - ranging from confinement and defense of the kingdom to succession of rule, as small as weddings and funerals Marry, firewood, rice, oil and salt."

"One order can be changed, one word can be decided."

Thales was thoughtful, while Nobu shook his head:

"At that time, the king's scepter was lighter than the bishop's robe, the loyalty of the people came from the piety of prayer, and the eyes of the gods were the destiny of the world."

The next moment, Nobu raised his head and looked back solemnly:

"However, since Gamper was in charge of the secret department to assist the king, to his honorable old age and death in Renling City, half a century of swords and swords has passed..."

"The believers of the setting sun split into two factions, the church and the temple. There were endless disputes and internal friction declined."

"They can no longer touch the royal family's succession lineage, let alone interfere with the kingdom's major policies, let alone dominate the daily life of the people."

Thales frowned, and Priest Megan, who told about the "battle between the elders and the young" in the theology class, appeared in front of him—well, there was also the nervous little nun.

"In the end, the gods became lofty and ethereal again, and their believers had to bow their prayer heads to the nine-star crown and gradually withdraw from the power center of the stars."

Nobu looked at the plain-looking Gamper with gleaming eyes:

"During this period, Steward Gamper's reputation was hidden, but he made great contributions."

really.

Thales stood in front of Gamper's portrait: You can't judge a person by his appearance.

But it was too early for him to say that.

Because the next painting that Nobu showed him was a hunchbacked little old man with a vicissitudes of life.

[William, 226-306]

[Instead of making people fearful, it is better to make people underestimated. 】

"William the Hunchback," Nobu introduced.

William in the painting is ordinary and well-behaved. Not only is he not outstanding, but he even looks deformed and ugly because of his hunchback.

"The first chief of intelligence who was born as a commoner—as you can see, he has no surname. Since the middle of the third century, he has been in charge of the secret department for fifty years. He is conscientious and diligent."

Nobu's crutch was lightly tapped, he looked at William's hunchback, and seemed to have the same feeling:

"When people talk about the regency legend of the Queen Mother Iron Thorn who survived seven dynasties, they always ignore this low-key servant who was at the same time as her."

Nobu was talking to himself, even ignoring the existence of Thales for a moment.

"But it is also William, the intelligence chief who lacks great achievements and no noble reputation. Together with the Queen Mother Iron Thorn, he managed to support the weakest, darkest, and most dangerous half in the history of the Star Kingdom. century."

Thales lowered his head, remembering the origin of the Ballard room.

"Am I boring you?"

"Of course not," Thales came back to his senses, with a standard demeanor:

"please continue."

Nobu's eyes lit up.

"Ah, I thought of it, you must be more interested in this secret science senior."

He led Thales a few steps forward, passed several secret department chiefs, and stopped next to the most outstanding portrait.

Thales was stunned: Unlike other portraits, this painting is framed in a silver frame, which is very different.

What caught his attention even more was the young woman in the painting.

She is riding on a horse, her armor is complete, her sword is lifted, her expression is confident and calm, as if she is about to rush out of the picture frame in the next moment, and stab the long sword in her hand into the heart of the viewer.

This is the second woman in the painting Thales saw in the secret department besides Alf.

More importantly—Thales squinted at the pattern engraved on the lady's armor, and was amazed:

correct.

That is……

nine-pointed star.

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