"Forget it, Lucian." Wade said to himself sarcastically, "Guess what you are now? You are now an abandoned child of the Cecil family. They would like to use your corpse to curry favor with me."
"How flattering were they to you when they thought you were the Son of God? That place is no longer your home, Lucian." He laughed hastily, "In that case..."
In the end, he didn't say what to do if that was the case.
Wade gave up questioning him and carried him back to the room.
Lucian could clearly sense Vader's anxiety - perhaps because of the approaching full moon, or perhaps because of the invitation from the Cecil family. Vader had always hated his family, and it all stemmed from his mother, a commoner woman who was toyed with and then abandoned by the unmarried Duke Cecil.
Vivian.
Vivian was a maid in Cecil Manor. She was pregnant with the son of the second young master, who was famous for his erudition and talent. She couldn't bear to abort him, so she ran away from the manor. In the following years, she supported herself and her child by washing clothes, and finally froze to death in the winter night of the alley. Later, the playboy who loved to raise slaves died of syphilis. His legacy before his death was Lucian, the child born by his favorite slave. Of course, the Cecil family claimed to the outside world that the child was the eldest young master's adopted son.
- Despite the fact that the child was indeed the eldest young master's adopted son, the eldest young master did not know until his death that the child's father was actually the Pope who had come to Cecil Manor when he was young and had an affair with the slave.
After the eldest son died, the second son naturally inherited the title that originally belonged to his elder brother, and his "adopted son" Lucian. He then married a noble lady who was well-matched with him, but unfortunately, she was infertile. In order to prevent his assets from being lost, he remembered the commoner woman he had played with many years ago, and it was at this time that Wade was taken back to Cecil's house.
Wade could not forgive his family. Lucian thought this was normal. Under the glorious appearance, the Cecil family was as dirty as a pile of mud.
However, the above is only what Wade knows about his life experience now. Lucian knows that Wade's real life experience is far more terrifying than this superficial ethical drama.
But this did not prevent Wade from being irritable and unexpected today, so that Lucian was extremely careful when going to sleep - he planned to explore Wade's room in the next two days while Wade was away, so there must not be any accidents that would cause Wade to lose control of his mind and cause injury tonight.
Especially when Wade was young, the name "Lucian" was closely associated with the "Cesare Family". When he first returned to the Cecil Manor, he was a slave that Lucian "capriciously" bought back.
Lucian felt like he was walking on thin ice that night. Because of the sudden incident of returning to Cecil Manor, the relationship between him and Wade, which had finally softened, became tense again.
Moreover, he could clearly guess that after Wade came back, he and Wade would have to fight another tough battle - in the manor, there were traces of his past "framing" Wade everywhere.
Lucian didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the next morning, when Wade's carriage left the palace. Wade was in a bad mood, and he didn't even wake him up when he left.
Wade was gone, and he was the only one left in the castle. If he remembered correctly, Spencer, the butler of the castle, would be busy renovating the garden today, and the guards in the entire palace would be relaxed.
—The time for him to look for the drawings has finally come!
Lucian tried to sneak out of the room carefully. After seeing that there was no one in the corridor, his heart began to beat nervously. Just as he was about to leave the room, his eyes caught sight of the painting outside.
At that moment, he suddenly felt something was wrong, because...
He saw a reflection in the painting that shouldn't be there.
Lucian closed the door carefully. He walked towards the painting. In the painting, Queen Irene was wearing beads. Lucian walked back and forth a few steps to confirm, and indeed saw a strange reflection on one of the beads.
Lucian calculated the time intervals when the maids might come in to check on the situation, and concluded that he had at least four hours to explore. He closed his eyes and carefully placed his index finger on the bead...
Click.
Click.
There was a slight mechanical sound, and the oil painting began to rotate counterclockwise, revealing a dark secret passage!
Lucian's wine-red eyes also lit up.
He discovered one of the secret passages in the emperor's bedroom!
Lucian did not go in immediately. He made sure there was enough oxygen in the secret passage to breathe and mastered the method of opening and closing the oil painting from the inside. Then, he lowered his body and carefully entered the secret passage.
The interior of the secret passage was very dark, but now that he had become a succubus, his eyes had a little more night vision, so it did not hinder his movements. Lucian walked all the way to the end of the long secret passage, and when he saw the secret door leading to his destination, he took a deep breath.
Then he carefully opened the secret door a crack.
The gap he opened was very narrow, but it was enough to see the vague scene outside. After seeing everything in front of him, Lucian was silent.
He closed the secret door and sat in the corridor.
Lucian: …
What kind of perverted king would build a secret passage leading to his own bath?!
What on earth is the point of this?!
He took a deep breath to calm the bulging veins on his head and returned to his bedroom.
The morning passed too quickly. In the remaining time, Lucian only had time to enter a secret passage leading to the queen's bedroom. After Vider took over the magpie's nest, he did not marry the queen, so this room was empty. However, Lucian still silently complained about the custom of the king and queen staying separately, and the significance of building this secret passage.
In the afternoon, the maids entered Wade's room and took Lucian to bask in the sun. From the maids' words, Lucian learned that the housekeeper had taken a break from his busy schedule and asked them to take Lucian to take a bath tomorrow night to welcome Wade's return.
Lucian: ... Actually, there is no need for that.
He had no doubt that in the butler's mind, he and Wade had a negative distance relationship.
But the only good thing worth praising is that after discovering the existence pattern of a secret passage, the rest of the secret passages became easier to discover. After returning to the room in the evening, Lucian soon discovered other secret passages on the remaining portraits, candlesticks, and floor clocks.
They lead to all kinds of strange places. In addition to the one that leads to the queen's room not far away, there are also some that lead to the prince's room, and the third one actually leads to the highest tower in the castle. Considering that the first two secret passages still have the possibility of enhancing communication with family members, the third one seems to have no other use except jumping off the building to commit suicide after the enemy breaks into the palace.
Wade should be back the day after tomorrow morning. He must hurry to find a secret passage that may help him escape, and at the same time, find the anklet drawings in Wade's study.
Time is extremely limited. After this time, God knows when Wade will go out next time.
He even had a bad feeling—there was a good chance that Wade would take him with him when he went to the Forest of Elves.
It was completely dark, and there was finally no more light in the room. Lucian remembered the remaining three reflections he had found before dark, and he had no time to find more.
He planned to walk through the four secret passages one by one throughout the night.
Late at night, Lucian entered the fourth secret passage in the lover's room. The room that the fourth secret passage led to was very large, and it seemed that it had been built not long ago. The owner who built it (the former king) had not had time to enjoy its benefits before he died under Wade's sword. However...
After seeing the various "torture instruments" covering the walls and the room, Lucian quietly closed the door and walked back to Wade's room.
Fortunately, Vader didn't find this room, he thought inexplicably.
And somehow, when he saw that room, his legs went a little weak.
The corridor was long and dark, and Grand Duke Murphy walked beside Butler Spencer.
He came to the palace this time in the name of discussing matters with the Duke of Hall and Percy. In addition to discussing matters, he had another purpose.
That was to ask his men to find out the true identity of the legendary "lover" of Wade. After entering the palace, he asked his servants to wait for an opportunity to find the figure of the "lover".
In the past month, he had made no progress on this path. While feeling that his dignity was challenged, he could not help but become more curious. Moreover, he had recently heard a very strange rumor from the prison.
That is…
Emperor Vader once brought his lover to the prison late at night!
It was said that the lover was carried in. Many prisoners had seen his beautiful long silver hair and his slender legs revealed outside his robe.
Even more shocking is that Vader then takes the lover to interrogate Paladin Bright.
The prisoners who were closer to the interrogation room heard Bright's heart-wrenching screams that night. His voice was vague and his words were unclear, but it was clear that he had a close relationship with the emperor's mysterious "lover" and that he had a deep hatred for the emperor.
The truth cannot be hidden, and what's more, Wade had no intention of covering up the incident in the prison. Soon after, some nobles in the royal city knew about this incredible incident. They whispered and speculated about the identity of the "lover".
Who on earth could make Bright, who has always been a clean-minded person, lose control of his emotions and make Wade bring "him/her" to meet Bright to protest
Because of the legendary silver-white hair, they guessed that the "lover" was a woman... even, the woman Bright loved. After taking power, Wade imprisoned his former enemy, forcibly seized his lover, and brought her to his enemy for demonstration.
This taboo and incestuous scandal soon became a secret topic among the upper class of nobles for the pleasure of prying into their private lives. Although only a few people knew about it due to the pressure from Wade, they were trying to figure out the identity of the man and the relationship between the three. A marquis with a very corrupt private life even said that Wade probably slept with the legendary "lover" in front of Bright, which was why Bright, who had always been a calm and chivalrous man, lost control of his emotions.
That is why the true identity of that "lover" has made people even more curious.
Grand Duke Murphy sat in a soft chair and took a sip of amber tea. He smiled and greeted the emperor's "military advisor" Percy. To deal with a fox like Percy, he had to spend more time on it.