The next day, the king's palace.
Sunlight shines through the window and into the bedroom.
On the bed in the bedroom, King Downers was asleep under a thin quilt.
After a while, Downers opened his eyes and looked aimlessly at the ceiling of the bedroom, his eyes twitching occasionally. After a long time of calming down, I regained my consciousness bit by bit. I turned my head and looked to the side. Butler Delong was standing and asked hoarsely: "William... and Richard, are they here?"
"We're all here. We've been waiting outside for a while, Your Majesty." Delong replied softly.
"Yeah." Donnas closed his eyes after hearing this, and seemed to fall asleep again. After a long while, he opened his eyes again, sat up from the bed little by little, and said to Delong: "Ask them to come in."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Delong immediately walked quickly towards the bedroom door and returned after a while, followed by the two princes.
Walking in the front was the eldest prince William, wearing ordinary clothes without any sense of luxury. With sadness in his eyes, he quickly walked a few steps to Downers' bedside, half-knelt down, and greeted aloud: "Father, are you feeling better?"
Richard walked calmly behind, without any fluctuations on his face. He walked closer and took a look at King Downers, and said without any emotion: "Dear father, Your Majesty Downers, hello. "
"Ahem!" Downers coughed a few times, and his expression looked much worse than it was more than a month ago. He first grabbed William's hand and patted it, then looked at Richard and said, "You... you hate me so much. Do you need to remember what happened three years ago for so long?"
"Don't dare."
"Alas." Donnas sighed and said helplessly, "Please pour me a glass of wine, and then stand with your brother William, and I will talk to you two."
Richard's eyes flashed and he said nothing. He walked towards the bedroom, took out a glass and poured half a glass of wine into it. The sun shines in from the window, and some fine black particles in the wine glass swirl and sink to the bottom.
Richard picked up the wine glass and walked towards Downers. He saw the other person stretched out his hand. The skin on his arm was extremely dark in color, as if there was pigmentation, and there were bumps the size of corn kernels in the palm of his hand.
As the hand is raised, the color of the entire hand changes from the original dark color to pale, then purple, then flushing, and finally returns to the original dark color, which is typical of Raynaud's syndrome.
Watching all the black particles in the cup sink to the bottom, Richard handed the wine cup to the other person's hand and said loudly: "It would be better for you to drink less of this wine, my respected father!"
William turned around and said slightly strangely: "Brother, what are you talking about? My father is ill and his whole body is in great pain. He can only rely on wine to relieve it. How can I drink less?"
"Indeed, what William said is right." Donners said, lifting the wine glass to his mouth, taking a big sip, breathing slowly and saying, "Without this wine, I can't bear it all day."
Richard stopped talking and just shook his head slightly.
Donnas picked up the wine glass again and drank up the wine in a big gulp. His complexion improved slightly. Because of the numbness of alcohol, his energy improved a lot. He looked at William and Richard and said, "Originally, I thought I could survive this winter, but my condition is getting worse and worse recently. It is very likely that I will have to see your mothers in advance. I called you here today. I want to tell you something.
Although the Blue Lion Kingdom is not big, with a population of only a few hundred thousand, it is still a country. So, I want to put it in the hands of someone qualified, and that's William. Of course, I don't think you are bad at it, Richard... ahem... but your interest is obviously not in this.
Therefore, when the birch trees outside the city turn yellow this fall, I will leave the city, move there, die there, and be buried there. At that time, William will succeed me as king. Richard, you will be made a grand duke and have a large territory. As long as you don't cause trouble for your brother, you will always live in peace. "
Raising his hand to stop William from speaking, Downers closed his eyes, gathered his energy again, and said slowly: "Don't refuse, this is what I have decided. No matter what, I hope you two After I die, everyone can live well and maintain this country well. In addition... "
…
After a while, the two princes, William and Richard, walked out of the palace after listening to King Donners' last words.
Outside the palace, the guards of the two men waited for a long time and hurriedly followed. The two men immediately became two teams.
"Da da da", footsteps rang in the square in front of the palace. The two groups of people walked in silence until they reached the end and walked in opposite directions to the left and right. Suddenly William stopped, turned his head to look at Richard, and said: "Richard! Brother!"
"Huh?" Richard stopped and showed a questioning look.
At this time, there was still sadness in William's eyes, and he was a little depressed. He said, "My dear brother, with father like this, I think you and I are both in a bad mood. What if my father really passes away that day?" You and I are the only two royal members left in the Lion Kingdom.
We two brothers haven't sat down and talked for a long time. Today I invite you to have dinner with me in my palace. Although recently, in order to find a doctor to treat my father and cut down on expenses, dinner will be a little simple, but I hope you won't find it objectionable. "
"I don't mind." Richard shook his head calmly, and then said calmly, "But I'm not free."
"Um, this..."
"Let's talk about it when we have time. Goodbye, my dear brother, His Royal Highness Prince William." Richard waved his hand, turned and left, followed closely by his bodyguards. As the captain of the personal guard, Edward glanced at William, as if he was a little wary.
William froze in place until he saw Richard and his party leaving far away, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.
"Your Highness!" A voice came from behind William, it was his guard captain. Unlike Edward, he was not a nobleman, but a loyal soldier. At this time, he said slightly angrily: "Your Highness, Your Highness Richard has gone too far. You obviously have good intentions, but he..."
The guard captain's words suddenly stopped because William was staring at him coldly.
"King... Your Highness, you..."
"Remember one thing." William said word by word, "No matter what Richard does or says, he is my brother. Except for my father, only my father can evaluate him, and no one else can! You - Understand?"
"I see… "
"Just understand, go back." William said softly.
"Then your Royal Highness, Your Highness Richard, is not attending the dinner. Will the preparations in the kitchen continue?" the guard captain asked in a low voice.
Recently, William said he would cut down on expenses, and he really did it. He only eats brunch and dinner twice a day, and it is very simple, just a piece of white bread and some jam.
On the other hand, because I wanted to invite Richard today, although I didn't dare to be too extravagant, I still asked the kitchen to prepare some tricks. But obviously Richard is not attending the dinner, most likely because...
But unexpectedly, William said: "Let the kitchen continue to prepare. My dear brother will not attend, but maybe other guests will come."
"Um?"
"Don't ask too many questions."
"Yes." The guard captain said quickly and lowered his head.