The central area of Wangcheng.
Fire Pattern Square is still bustling under the night sky.
Couples hold hands and stroll in the comfortable evening breeze. An elderly person, dressed in retro yet meticulous clothes, stands quietly by the fountain with his hands behind his back, admiring the statues. Some children gather on the lawn, playing house games.
In a corner of the square, Noah was sitting on a small stool with an easel in front of him, carefully and meticulously depicting the beautiful scene in front of him.
Since returning to the team, he has participated in the team's work with great enthusiasm, and spends almost all his daytime hours in the spirit world, either fighting against pollution sources or receiving requests for assistance from undead strangers and going to help.
Only at night can he have some free time to relax in painting... Previously, he followed Teacher Lutina to travel around the area and visited almost every area, except the royal city. He planned to use this rare time to depict the appearance of every corner of Tourmaline Closter.
"Mr. Jack and Miss Floin should be enjoying the royal dinner... Unfortunately, Teacher Lutina is unwilling to take me to attend."
Noah shook his head regretfully.
Although he was the young master of the Silver Dragon Chamber of Commerce and had experienced banquets and parties of all sizes since childhood, he had never participated in such a top-level banquet hosted by the Sun Royal Family.
"But it's good, this way I can immerse myself more in painting."
He chuckled, dipped his brush in paint, and painted the back of a man in black on the canvas. Somehow, Noah always felt that the silhouette was somewhat similar to Mr. Jack.
However, when he looked up at the square for confirmation, he couldn't help but smile... The man was just similar to Mr. Jack in terms of clothing and figure, and he had recognized the wrong person.
On the lawn of the square.
Five or six children were having fun. An older boy with short hair covered himself with the floral cloth used as a picnic blanket as a cape. He then took out a wide-brimmed straw hat that he might have stolen from a female elder in his family, put it on his head, picked up a dry branch on the ground and said to the other children:
"I am the messenger of the Sun God, Fierce Father! I will fulfill your wishes! Write down your wishes and give them to me!"
"Okay, Mr. Messenger."
The children imitated the adults, the boys touched their chests and bent over, the girls lifted their skirts and saluted. Then, they all crawled on the grass and wrote crooked words on colored cardboard with pencils.
One of the little girls looked up at the golden palace in the distance, which was brightly lit and sparkling at night. She thought, if only she could attend the prince's dinner party. There would be a lot of delicious ice cream, right? Maybe there would also be a magic ball in the fairy tale
She lowered her head again and wrote down her wish on the cardboard.
However, at this moment, a gust of evening breeze blew again and took away the cardboard in the girl's hand.
"Ah! My wish!"
She shouted anxiously, but the strong wind blew and the whereabouts of the cardboard could no longer be seen in the night.
In a corner a hundred meters away.
Noah, who was concentrating on painting, suddenly found his hand touched by a piece of card. He was slightly stunned, then picked up the card and found the words written on it:
"—to attend the prince's dinner."
Noah immediately fell silent.
He looked around but didn't see anyone suspicious. The card seemed to have fallen from the sky and landed in his hands.
Turning his gaze back to the canvas, Noah's eyes shrank.
The man in black clothes that I was just drawing had his entire outline destroyed by the black paint and twisted into a stain because of the interruption of the cardboard.
"Whose reminder is this?"
Noah immediately became alert, but even when he used his Sequence Six Transcendent senses, he did not find any clues.
"Could it be that something unexpected happened at the dinner party? Is Mr. Jack in danger..."
He frowned, thinking about this strange thing.
Suddenly, I heard a dog barking and a woman screaming:
"Oh my sun! What happened to you, Jack?!"
When Noah heard the leader's name, he looked up reflexively and saw a woman in luxurious clothes, leading a springer spaniel, and clashing with several men. The men were protecting a group of children behind them, looking angry.
The leading man was holding a dry branch stained with blood, and the hound had fallen to the ground, whimpering dying. It looked like it had been beaten by the man and could not be saved.
"You are so rude! So cruel! You actually beat my beloved Jack to death! Damn barbarians, I will definitely report this to the police station!"
"Ma'am, it was your dog that tried to attack my child, don't be unreasonable!"
The two sides argued endlessly.
But Noah no longer cared about all that. He dropped his paintbrush and even didn't pack up his easel, and ran straight towards the palace.
Although it was unclear who was directing him, there was a high probability that something unexpected had occurred at the dinner party, and Mr. Jack might really be in danger!
After a moment.
When Noah climbed the long and spacious white marble steps, he suddenly realized a problem, that is, how could he enter the banquet venue if he had not received an invitation...
However, there was not a single Imperial guard to be seen on the entire staircase.
He entered the palace area full of doubt and nervousness, and there was no one to be seen here either... This made Noah even more certain that something must have gone wrong at the dinner!
After many twists and turns, he accidentally saw the door of the banquet hall from afar and heard a cry of surprise from inside.
*
*
*
“How… How could this happen?!”
The chief steward Babaye's face, which already looked sickly pale, became even paler at this moment, like a dead person.
thump!
Babaye knelt on the spot, holding Prince Dazlet's sleeve tightly with trembling hands. The only crown prince was poisoned to death at his birthday dinner, and the princess also died. Such a serious matter happened right in front of him, and as the chief steward, he could not escape the blame.
He seemed to have imagined the rage of André, the Sun King, and seemed to see himself being pushed onto the execution platform and hanged to death in loneliness and fear!
Unspeakable despair enveloped Babaye. It was unclear whether he was devastated by what would happen to him next, or because he had watched the prince grow up and had a deep affection for him, and was heartbroken by his tragic death... The chief steward, who was over 50 years old, actually burst into tears on the spot.
"Ah! Your Highness!
”
In the banquet hall, which was as silent as a cemetery in the middle of the night, there was only hysterical crying.
All the guests present were shocked by this scene.
The son of the Sun King and the beloved princess were both poisoned to death?!
Chen Lun frowned and looked at the scene with a gloomy face. Suddenly, he felt a slightly cool little hand holding him.
He turned his head and saw Fuluo Yin looking at him with concern. She seemed to see Chen Lun's depression and boredom, and wanted to comfort him in such a simple way.
Chen Lun took a deep breath and forced a smile at her.
Princess Anna had never mentioned the assassination plan to him, but she did not expect it to end this way.
However, just when his thoughts were a little confused, he suddenly realized something and quickly turned to look at Princess Anna who was lying on the ground.
"Chief Butler Babaye, Her Highness Anna is still breathing."
He reminded in a deep voice.
Babaye was stunned at first, and then he heard a noise in his ears.
"Well-"
The blonde girl, bleeding from all seven orifices, took a deep breath and shook her body twice in struggle.
Babaye looked surprised, as if he saw hope and regained his sanity... He quickly stood up and called his servant to notify the doctor to come.
At this time, under Babaye's first aid measures, Princess Anna vomited a mouthful of black blood and leaned extremely weakly in the arms of the steward.
"Your Highness, how are you?!"
Anna's eyes were dim and her face was pale, as if she was in danger.
She did not answer Babaye's words, but whispered in Babaye's ear in a faint voice:
"Seal... Seal the banquet hall."
The chief steward then realized that the person who poisoned him was most likely at the scene, so he shouted:
"Seal off the scene! Don't let anyone escape!"
Bang bang bang!
Dozens or even hundreds of imperial guards, wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, surrounded the guests tightly, and even the door of the banquet hall was closed tightly.
When the guests saw this scene, they couldn't help but make a noise in panic.
At this moment, Chen Lun had already stood up from the sofa, holding Fuluoyin's hand. He did not rashly take Fuluoyin away, as that would simply be seeking death. However, he did not dare to act rashly. He just stood there quietly, waiting for things to develop.
Looking at Princess Anna's weak appearance, he suddenly understood something.
"A self-torture tactic... He drank the poisoned wine with the prince, but controlled the amount, or took a small amount of antidote in advance to ensure that he could survive and get rid of a certain suspicion."
At the same time, through a series of actions by the other party, he roughly guessed the ability of Princess Anna's crown.
'It is very likely that it is some kind of rule-based weird thing... First, it took advantage of the prince's enthusiasm for the cross sword and deliberately let him obtain it, so as to meet the conditions, and then he must accept her poisoned wine... Maybe it also has a certain mysterious interference effect. Otherwise, if a high-ranking person who is proficient in divination takes action afterwards, he will definitely be able to restore the course of events. She still cannot escape the crime of killing her brother, and even exposes her relationship with the Prideful Sun Cross.'
Chen Lun took a deep breath and was amazed at Princess Anna's plan.
Although this plan is simple, it is extremely effective.
Just when the atmosphere in the banquet hall was becoming extremely tense and solemn, an accident occurred again!
Prince Dazlet, who was already dead on the ground, suddenly caught fire!
The raging flames engulfed the corpses, and the flames even emitted strange golden rays, swirling and interweaving to form a scorching and fierce pillar of fire.
Everyone present was forced to step back due to the heat wave and raised their hands to block out the blinding flames.
The remnant of a giant flaming bird, carrying an extremely strong sense of power and oppression, spread its wings from the pillar of fire. Dazlet, who had already died, slowly walked out of the flames naked.
"The power of the mythical creature Phoenix..."
Among the guests, a dark-skinned woman frowned and murmured.
This is Camacho, the high priest of the Hailing Group. She recognized the secret of Prince Dazlet's rebirth at a glance.
"I never thought that the Sun King would grant this power to a mere mortal prince."
Princess Anna, lying in Babaye's arms, had a flash of disbelief in her eyes, and then fell into silence, as if foreshadowing her deep reluctance.