Tome of Blood

Boulder City, Duke's Mansion.

"Cough cough cough...cough cough cough cough..."

Severe coughing came intermittently, and the old Duke Andre of Boulder was lying on the bed, looking haggard, completely different from the high-spirited one a year ago.

Lighted incense in the brazier spews light blue smoke, exuding a mixture of spices and medicine.

In the huge bedroom, the windows were closed, and it was deserted. The only one serving the old duke was his personal maid who had been with him for many years.

"My lord, it's time to take your medicine."

The maid held a tray in both hands, respectfully and authentically.

The old prince opened his cloudy eyes and took a hard look, only to see a silverware filled with black powder and a goblet filled with water on the tray.

"Hang, hang... what... what is this?"

He asked hoarsely and weakly, that difficult and slow voice seemed to be dragged out of a carriage that was about to fall apart.

"This is the secret elixir that His Royal Highness Philip consulted from ancient oriental books. It is made by mixing the powder of a thousand-year-old mummy with Coria ointment. It is mixed with the holy water of the church. It should help your condition."

The maid said respectfully.

"Mum... mummy? Cough cough cough cough..."

The old prince's voice raised slightly, and his cough became more intense.

"Your Excellency the Duke..."

The maid put the tray beside the bed, and hurriedly stepped forward to comfort the old prince.

The old prince opened his mouth, took a few breaths with difficulty, and said weakly:

"Help...help me up."

The maid supported the old prince's arm like a dead wood, and helped him up with difficulty.

Through the mercury mirror by the bedside, the old prince's haggard face and gray and disheveled hair were reflected in the cloudy eyes of the old prince, with a somewhat gloomy expression.

He opened his mouth tremblingly, while the maid carefully mixed the black powder with holy water and fed him little by little.

The pasty "elixir" entered the throat, carrying a strong spice, which made the old prince cough violently again, and he couldn't swallow it until he took a few mouthfuls of holy water.

And as the elixir entered his stomach, the old duke soon felt a warm force gradually spreading in his body, nourishing his increasingly decayed body.

After recovering a little strength, the old Duke's increasingly sluggish thinking slowly began to turn:

"You...you just said, who...who brought the prescription?"

"My lord, it is His Royal Highness Philip."

The maid replied respectfully.

"F...Philip...? Has he...already come?"

The old prince was startled.

"My lord, His Royal Highness Philip arrived last night, and now he is waiting outside with Lord Eleanor."

said the maid.

The old prince was silent.

After a long time, he sighed and said in a hoarse voice:

"Let them... come in."

The door of the bedroom was creaked and pushed like rotten dead wood, and the third prince Philip and Eleanor walked into the room hand in hand.

"Master Andre (father)..."

The third prince and his wife came to the bed together and bowed respectfully to the old duke.

The old prince stared blankly at his daughter whom he had not seen for many years.

After not seeing her for so many years, she seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

Her eyes are not as agile as before. I am afraid that the life of the royal family also brings great pressure.

Thinking of this, a trace of guilt welled up in the old Duke's heart.

Maybe...he shouldn't have allowed his daughter to marry the New Moon royal family back then.

If there is no marriage, he can still let his daughter recruit a husband and continue to inherit the territory.

If there is no marriage, the daughter can always be by his side, and he doesn't have to be alone at this last moment.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in this world.

When he learned that he had an illegitimate child, he had already given up his daughter.

Perhaps this is the punishment given to him by the God Lord. His daughter has become a deal for him to consolidate his rule. Now, he not only lost his daughter, but also lost Leno.

The Boulder family, which has been passed down for thousands of years, may be extinct in his generation.

Recalling the tall figure that slammed the door a year ago, a sadness flashed in the depths of the old Duke's eyes.

The old prince didn't know how to describe his current mood.

despair?

sad?

No……

When the fact of the family's extinction was really unfolded in front of him, he suddenly found that he was much calmer than he imagined.

It may also be that I don't have the energy to think so much anymore, or it may be that I am really tired.

Thinking back on my life, when I was fifteen years old, I succeeded to the throne in the precarious state of the kingdom, followed His Majesty the king to fight on the battlefield, and defeated the enemy again and again in the Star-Moon War.

In his life, he did not know how many battles he participated in, and how many enemies he killed.

The army of the Fallen Star Kingdom trembles at his name, and the people of the New Moon Kingdom cheer when they see his army.

He is known as the greatest Duke of Boulder for millennia, Andre the Lion.

He has been high-spirited, and he has been watched by everyone.

He has great power in his hands, and he can never say anything in the principality.

He is so powerful that he is in charge of the kingdom's army, and even His Majesty the King will refer to his opinions in the court.

However, it was also he who, in order to take advantage of the opportunity of the war to make further progress in the kingdom, had excessively consumed the family's resources during successive years of campaigns, consuming all of the Boulder family's millennia-old heritage.

However, it was also him who, in order to win the support of the nobles during the war for many years, continued to delegate power to the nobles, which led to the gradual loss of control over the territory today.

When a lion is young, it may be powerful in all directions.

But, there will be time to grow old.

And when he ended, the huge Boulder... did not even have a loyal accompanying nobleman.

He can even make a fool of a young girl!

The old duke knew that this had something to do with how tight he had been in power over the past few years.

But what can he do?

He just didn't want to leave a precarious Bold to future generations.

Just like when His Majesty the King inherited the Crescent Moon Throne.

Or maybe... he was wrong from the beginning.

Perhaps, he should not have spent most of his life on the battlefield.

Perhaps, he should pay more attention to his territory.

Perhaps, he should care more about his family.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, he should treat the Castel family in a different way, treat the promising earl and his wife, and treat that seemingly young and ignorant little girl who is actually unfathomable...

One year was enough for the Duke of Bold to investigate something, and it was enough for him to understand something.

But, it was too late.

Thinking of this, the old Duke couldn't help but raised his head tremblingly, and looked at his only daughter.

"E... Eleanor."

He stretched out his hand to his daughter with difficulty, and Eleanor quickly reached out to hold it:

"Father……"

Feeling the warmth of his daughter, the old duke felt a lot more at ease.

At this moment, he suddenly felt that everything else seemed to be unimportant.

That's all.

never mind.

Be it the Principality of Boulder or the Castel family.

He's tired, he needs to rest.

As for my daughter...

Even if you don't become a powerful duchess, with the royal family as your backing, at least... you can live happily.

He owed his daughter his whole life.

Now may be the time to pay off the debt.

Thinking of this, the old prince took a deep breath and sat up with difficulty supporting his body.

"Your Excellency the Duke..."

The maid hurriedly came to help him, but he refused.

The old duke sat on the bed out of breath, and it was so difficult for the once tall and powerful blazing sun to get up at this moment.

He looked directly into the eyes of the third prince Philip, and the cloudy eyes seemed to be sharp again at this moment.

"His Royal Highness Philip..."

The old duke took the third prince's hands and used all his strength at this moment:

"I... know your ambitions, and I know... your desire to control Boulder!"

"Everything I have...can be given to you, everything in Boulder...can be given to you!"

The third prince Philip looked at the dying old man in surprise. He didn't seem to have thought that the stubborn and ruthless Bold lion, who was rumored to regard his family as his life, would say such a thing.

"However, I have one condition..."

The old prince changed the subject.

I saw him staring firmly into the eyes of the third prince, as if he wanted to see through his heart:

"I...I want you to treat Eleanor well, I want you...to make her get...happiness!"

After hearing what the old duke said, Eleanor trembled slightly, and a wave seemed to flash through her blue-gray eyes.

The third prince, Philip, lowered his eyelids slightly. When he raised his head and looked at the old duke again, he put on a bright smile:

"Of course, my lord Andre."

"Eleanor is my most beloved wife, and I will give her happiness."

Hearing the third prince's promise, the old duke finally felt a little relieved.

"Ahem... remember what you said."

He coughed violently a few times and said.

After his thoughts were settled, the old prince felt as if his strength had receded all of a sudden.

His body slowly slid down uncontrollably, and his eyes with a little guilt and love stayed on his daughter.

However, when his eyes slipped past his daughter's cuff, he suddenly saw the dense scars under the shadow.

The old duke's breathing stagnated almost instantly.

He suddenly surged with strength again, almost struggling to stretch out his hand towards Eleanor, and then pulled off her sleeve.

I saw bruises and hideous scars all over the arm that should have been white and smooth under the sleeve.

The old prince's expression changed almost instantly.

A corrupt and astonishing coercion suddenly erupted from him, and the extraordinary power that could not be mobilized at this moment unexpectedly boiled again at this moment.

The old duke picked up the collar of the third prince angrily, and shouted angrily:

"Philip! This... what's going on?!"

The third prince Philip looked calm.

He slowly and forcefully pushed the old duke's haggard fingers away from his clothes, then stood up gently, looked down at him, and sighed softly:

"Your Excellency, what you said just now, it would be great if you said it earlier."

The old prince raised his head and looked at him angrily, but suddenly felt a pain in his stomach, and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of black-red blood with a wow.

In an instant, he felt the strength in his body being pulled away rapidly, and the burning pain spread rapidly from his stomach to his surroundings.

The old prince raised his head and looked at the maid standing aside with difficulty, but saw that she slowly moved to the side of the third prince and stood respectfully, looking at him with only indifference.

The old prince's eyes widened:

"you……!"

The third prince sideways blocked his sight, leaned on him slightly, and said with a smile:

"Your Excellency, I have never liked giving alms, nor did I like being forced to trade anything, and I hate being a bargaining chip for others."

"What I want to get, I must get it with my own hands, no matter what method and means I use."

"The Duchy of Boulder, the Earl of Castel, I will get it myself."

"besides……"

He lowered his head, leaned against the ear of the old prince, and said in a low voice:

"You shouldn't have murdered in front of me."

Looking at the third prince's devilish smile, the old duke showed anger.

His gaze was fixed on the other person's eyes, that cannibalistic gaze wished to tear the third prince into pieces...

But soon, he suddenly laughed again:

"Ahem...hehe...haha..."

"Polder... and... Cass... Castel... um..."

"Hehe...hahaha..."

The old prince laughed loudly, the more he laughed, the more wanton, the more insane he became, the more pitiful he became.

Facing the old duke's meaningful smile, the third prince frowned slightly:

"My lord, is there anything funny?"

However, the old prince did not answer.

He still had a wanton smile.

But the eyes lost their final focus.

A stream of muddy tears slowly slid down his old cheeks, and his hands also slid down slowly.

Until the moment he took his last breath, his blue-gray eyes were still wide open.

"Is it dead..."

Looking at the lifeless old duke, the third prince frowned slightly, feeling extremely bored.

However, the old duke's weird smile somehow made him feel irritable.

Intermittent sobbing came from beside him, and the third prince looked at his wife beside him.

His expression turned cold, and he said:

"Did I make you cry?"

Eleanor trembled slightly, lowered her head, her voice trembling:

"Um...woof..."

"Well, good."

The third prince rubbed her head in satisfaction.

Then, he ordered to the maid on the side:

"Let's deal with this. The old Duke died of illness. From now on, Eleanor and I will be the masters of Boulder."

The maid trembled slightly and lowered her head in awe.

The third prince took Eleanor's hand and walked out of the bedroom.

Back in the hall of the Duke's Mansion, he naturally sat down on the main seat.

Soon, the hurried soldiers rushed in from the door, came to him panting, knelt on one knee, and offered a piece of parchment with both hands:

"My lord, there is an urgent message from the north! The little Earl of Castel has returned to his territory!"

Philip frowned, quickly took it, quickly opened it and browsed it.

But looking at it, his face darkened instantly.

He threw the parchment on the ground and cursed:

"Trash, a bunch of trash! They can't even stop a little girl!"

"With this strength, do you still want to return to the Fallen Star Kingdom?"