"My Knights and I are by no means inferior to Mr. Dalton's Musketeers."
Under the sun, Archbishop Rodri's eyes were like a piece of thinly polished but dark blue glass, and the arch of his eyebrows cast a faint shadow.
"Then let me see."
the queen said softly.
She unfolded a map of the harbor and spread it on the table.
It was a map of Ornan Port in the Strait of Roses. It was full of detailed markings. Some of the handwriting seemed to belong to the queen, and some seemed to belong to other people. The content of this map should be the two people who left the palace. pirate.
Whether it is for the Roland Empire or for merchants from other countries, Ornan Port is a very special port.
It is located in the very center of the Rose Strait, the throat that connects the Sea of Heaven and the Red Sea. For Roland, it is equivalent to one of the two main airways that determine the life of the empire. In the previous life, after the death of Cardinal Luvis, the Luvis family launched revenge against the Roland Empire and tried their best to make the new Pope issue an excommunication order against the Roland royal family. Roland fell into the abyss of the civil war unstoppably.
Just after the new pope issued the order of excommunication, a fleet flying the flag of the Free Chamber of Commerce deceived the warning of the Roland patrol ship. The last of the empire's naval forces suffered heavy losses in ships, men, ammunition, and food.
Not long after the Rose Strait raid, the Kingdom of Yager officially declared war on the Roland Empire, and Rose Strait finally fell into the hands of the Kingdom of Yager.
In the century-old history of the empire obtained by Adele at the moment of her rebirth, this event is called the "fire rose". On the one hand, it refers to the fire that ignited on the sea during that raid, and on the other hand, it also refers to the rose of the Roland Empire that has withered in the flames of war since then.
The person who wrote this history book recorded the time and place of relevant historical events very clearly, and the lines are full of helplessness and sorrow. Adele speculates that the other party should be a remnant of the Roland Empire, and the time since the empire's demise is not too long, and it is very likely that she is not of noble origin—he is not familiar with some undercurrents involving the upper reaches of the empire, and he has deep feelings for her sympathy.
You know, it would be good if historians of noble origin did not identify her as the reason for the subjugation of the country.
"History is full of fog, and a once glorious empire has turned into dust in an instant. The gods have written their destiny with their will, and it is difficult for manpower to change it."
On the last page of the imperial history book, the author wrote so confusedly and sadly.
Adele does not think that the fate written by the gods is difficult to change, but she agrees with the author's first half sentence that "history is full of fog".
Later generations can only find the results of many things in the history books, but they cannot penetrate into its more subtle foreshadowing that was planted earlier. Historians must trace the inevitable side of accidental events by tracing various clues.
History is full of fog, and it is the same for Adele.
Like the "Death of Cardinal Luvis" and "Fire Rose" events.
There is no shadow of spies around Cardinal Luvis in the recorded history books, so latecomers will have many different speculations about his death, such as the Root Empire, such as the own commercial city...
Each possibility leads to a different path.
But once the spy's shadow emerged from the mist, countless cobweb-like connections instantly appeared between the "Death of Cardinal Luvis" and the "Fire Rose Raid". All the other guesses were gone, and the shadow of Yager Kingdom became very clear in the mist.
This history book is a gift from death to her.
It is a double-edged sword that can help her overcome obstacles, and it can also make her die without a place to die again. It's like walking on ice near the abyss, like walking on a rope on a high cliff.
She had to look for clues from the history books very carefully.
In Adele's view, there are other dark clouds hidden in the "Fire Rose Raid" incident in the history books. Rose Strait is of great significance to the Roland Empire. After the failure of the naval battle with the Yager Kingdom, almost all the sea forces of the empire were tightened and gathered in Rose Strait. During the time when her father and short-lived brother were kings, the port defense here underwent many reforms.
Based on Adele's understanding of the Rose Strait's defense arrangements, even if the fleet disguised as the Free Chamber of Commerce fooled the patrol boats, it would still be difficult to do so without assistance from inside the port if it wanted to cause such a large amount of damage in the port.
"What do you want to do?"
Archbishop Rodrik frowned, looking at the map of Rose Strait, vaguely felt that the Queen's conversation with him this time was not that simple.
"Here lies a rotten root," said the queen, murderously. "Find it out, and cut it off."
What is she going to do
——To find the way to return to glory from the end of the thorny empire.
……………
"The nightingale shed her blood for a rose, and it was thrown to the ground with the rose it dyed red."
Prince Arthur adapted the old nursery rhyme of the nightingale and the rose and hummed it. This young prince has a good voice, soft and gorgeous, with a cold and flirtatious voice. The absurd and ironic story sang from his mouth, revealing a strange sadness.
He stood in his own palace studio.
There are piles of large and small paintings here, with him as the center, arranged in a spiral shape one by one, and the protagonist in each painting is the same. The silver-haired woman with a crown stands in bright or dark light and shadow, wearing different clothes and showing different looks. If the earl who accompanied Prince Arthur to Roland were here, he would definitely feel creepy.
Prince Arthur seems to have firmly memorized every image involving Queen Roland.
He took those pictures out of his memory and redrawn them on paper, looking for her hidden emotions behind every expression—either cold or decisive. In this way, he seemed to be communicating with the queen in his memory through paintings one by one, following the footsteps of that queen, looking for the place where her soul settled down.
This terrible fanaticism and astonishing talent are not like gifts of God, but like gifts of the devil.
After painting a few pictures, he tried to paint the scene where she crowned herself in the rainstorm.
"is that so?"
Each time he tried, he murmured an inquiry, to the queen gazing at the canvas in the depths of his thoughts.
No, it's not.
Her shadow answered there.
So he tore up the failed attempt, picked up the pen again, and described all the pictures he remembered again, and traced her footsteps again through those pictures.
Orsis has been here several times, but even the emperor of the Root Empire has not been able to set foot in Prince Arthur's studio—Orsis is relieved, compared to his younger brother who caused a rebellion, he Of course he would prefer his brother to be an art lunatic.
Everyone thought Prince Arthur was crazy.
Prince Arthur seemed to separate himself from the outside world. The torn drawing papers piled up on the ground day by day, and he finally heard what she was chanting over and over in a low voice in the dark—"Roland" "Roland"... her Roland, her rose .
A nightingale loved a rose, and let its thorns pierce her heart. Nightingale's blood stained the rose, and the dyed rose was thrown on the ground together with Nightingale's body, crushed into dust, and only Nightingale's soul sang Roland over and over again in the air.
Roland she loved.
Roland she dyed red.
"A complete tragedy."
Prince Arthur sang, slamming the last strokes on the canvas.
Sunlight slanted down from the window, the beam of light split the darkness, and countless dust particles as fine as gold powder were flying in the beam. The last lightning bolt splits the canvas, and the queen in her linen dress spreads her arms, her shadow casts over the statue, her eyes peering through the storm at Roland's land.
Those who have seen that scene with their own eyes should feel horrified and terrified when they see this painting—a person who has not seen the miracle of the Queen actually reproduced that scene exactly.
God seems to be fair at this moment, as crazy as Prince Arthur is, he is as stunning and talented as he is.
Prince Arthur's cheeks quickly lost weight during this period of obsessive painting, and he was extremely pale, except for an abnormal blush on his cheekbones. He stared at the painting, with the queen's shadow imprinted in his pupils, time seemed to have stopped between his eyes and the painting, and a secret about death and eternity was hidden in the painting.
"Now, it's time for me to ask you for the answer..." Prince Arthur murmured, "Why is the nightingale crushed with its roses? Could it be that you really died once with your empire? "
If not, why is there always suppressed anger and deep scars behind those rose-colored eyes? Even if they are well hidden, they do exist.
But how is this possible
Prince Arthur sealed off his studio.
He finally walked out of the room, and the moment he pushed the door open, the attendants outside almost thought it was a vampire who walked out, or something... In short, it didn't look like a human being.
"Go."
Prince Arthur summons the lunatics hiding in his palace.
"Let's find some fun you like, and go find some trouble for my dear brother Wang."
The lunatics cheered with joy.
Some of these guys are ugly in appearance, some are pale and handsome, some are ordinary, and their hobbies are different, some are addicted to poison, or addicted to human bones... But these lunatics have more or less similarities to Prince Arthur neurotic.
During this period, Prince Arthur was obsessed with painting and insisted that they not cause any "fun" and let his brother interrupt his painting, otherwise they would be plastered layer by layer and become the "lifelike" pile in the prince's garden One of the sculptures. After keeping their own law and order for such a long time, they are almost reaching the breaking point.
"Oh, remember..." Prince Arthur remembered something, "Take that Lord Earl..."
"Wrapped in plaster—make a statue—put in a garden—"
The lunatics laughed and sang in unison, and then left the palace like a group of wild animals rushing out of their cages.
Prince Arthur also boarded a carriage, holding a deep red rose in his pale fingers.
Madmen go after their prey.
He, the nightingale, should also find his rose.