"Can I trouble you to insert it there for me?" The queen asked without reaching out to take the rose, nor did she refuse it. She smiled sweetly.
Prince Arthur blinked his eyes. When he was not crazy, his eyes were as blue as a lamb. This small gesture seemed a little innocent and cute on the young man's pretty face. It's a pity that he was facing the unmoved Queen Roland, so he had to hold the rose stem and turn around, then leaned over, rubbed the queen's shoulder, and inserted the jewel rose on the thin-necked silver vase by the fireplace behind her .
The queen gave him a half-smile.
—She meant for him to put the roses in a vase on the table, not by the fireplace.
"Hope it brings you good luck."
Prince Arthur said with a smile, he took a step back, leaned over and kissed the back of the queen's hand.
When he exited the room, he passed Heinrich. When the two rubbed shoulders, there was a slight, easily overlooked sound of metal clashing. Heinrich turned his wrist, hiding the Hidden Blade under the black cloak the moment Prince Arthur walked by, and Prince Arthur flexed his fingers, retracting the thin blade caught between his fingertips into his sleeve.
Prince Arthur still had a smile on his face, and he threw out a word in a barely audible voice:
"spider".
……………
"The Melvilles have a long history of insanity," Heinrich said. "They've actually been called the 'Cursed Royals.'"
"A cursed royal family?"
Adele was flipping through the documents Heinrich brought—a letter from the governing hall of the Alliance of Free Commercial Cities, a letter from King John VI of the Jager Kingdom, and information conveyed by overseas spies, while listening to Heinrich say.
The rose made of gold and precious stones was placed in the vase next to her, even in a royal palace with many treasures, it was still shining brightly.
"In the history of the Root Empire, there have been seven 'mad kings': Adoni III strangled his queen and children to death; Arsh I ruled the Root Empire for only seven years, but was locked up by his officials because of madness. Tower, and finally hanged himself with iron chains; Arsh VII spent half of the treasury to marry Haiwei, known as the 'White Queen', and pushed her into the lake on the wedding day... "
Heinrich calmly stated the crazy side of the long history of the Root royal family, and he watched the queen and the rose beside her.
"It's not a wise choice to get too close to the madman. There are seven mad kings in the Melville family, and there will be a cursed madman almost every once in a while. These cursed people, even if they You can do everything for you one second, and you can't control your own behavior in the next second, either killing others or killing yourself."
"It does sound like that. But, Mr. Heinrich, please tell me," said Adele, finally looking away from the document and meeting Heinrich's, "to be alive in this day and age. Who is better than a lunatic?"
Heinrich was silent, and neither he nor the queen spoke for a while.
—Who can live in this era better than a lunatic
It was a very calm and gentle question, but Heinrich couldn't answer it.
Like a stone sinking into the deep sea, the pressure of sea water comes from all directions, the sun is separated by tens of millions of tons of sea water, the surroundings are dark and cold, there is no air, and it is impossible to breathe. He seems to have returned to Reef City again, sitting by the window and teaching philosophy to the young princess. That day they mentioned the eternal question "How should a person torture his own soul?".
Philosophy is not an important course in Heinrich's teaching content for Adele. Someone once pointed out that "philosophy is useless and only makes people crazy." Many topics discussed in philosophy, whether for the royal family, nobles, or common people, are too contradictory, and have no other purpose except to increase suffering out of thin air.
The sun was shining in Reef City that day, and some willful princesses spread the book on their knees, sat on the window lattice, swayed their calves slightly, and listened to him talk about the classic debates in the history of philosophy and the evolution of different schools.
"How do we torture our souls?"
Adele spread out the ancient manuscript and read the first sentence on the title page.
She was wearing a pure white linen gauze dress, sitting in the sun and reading a book with her head slightly lowered. The sea breeze blew her silver hair, and the hair refracted dreamlike colors in the light. A thin line of light outlined her cheeks and neck. The gauze skirt was attached to the side of the body, revealing the lines like willow branches.
He turned his head to look at her, only to think that she looked more like an angel than all the paintings.
"There is no point in torturing the soul," said Heinrich. "It is an eternal and unsolvable struggle that has been going on since the birth of man under various names and under different masks at different times. It is The confrontation between the two poles of human nature is about tolerance and intolerance, freedom and freedom, individuality and uniformity, conscience and violence... In fact, the essence is just a final choice—[1]”
Adele raised her head to look at him, waiting for him to continue as she used to listen to lectures.
Looking at those eyes, Heinrich suddenly paused, as if something was blocked in his throat.
"gentlemen?"
The princess tilted her head and called him with some doubts.
"...a choice: In your mind, is human generosity more important, or political matters more important? Is it important to be reasonable, or stick to rigid rules and regulations? Is your personality more important, or is authority more important? Why is it important?[2]" Heinrich moved his eyes away, and his eyes fell on the books on the table, those familiar words were turned into abstract symbols, unable to leave any real meaning in his mind.
"Isn't there an answer to this?" Adele said, "Humanity, understanding and personality are more important."
"Adele..." Heinrich's voice contained a dryness that he didn't even notice, "Many times, we will clearly know what is justice and what is humanity, but what we need to do often requires cooperation. On the contrary. You and I will both give up virtue for the sake of politics."
"Everyone learns this, so there's no point in torturing souls."
"No, sir."
Adele closed the book, and she jumped off the window pane, stepping barefoot on the carpet. She was unusually serious, she had always been a precocious child, and Heinrich always felt that her kindness and tolerance were due to the fact that she hadn't really seen the darkest and most unsightly side, but at this moment he had some Not sure anymore.
"Politics, stereotypes and authority can rely on violence to build a powerful kingdom, but violence can never conquer conscience. There will always be people screaming in the silence of the night, and there will always be someone lighting a fire in the dark and cold."
"Human generosity is more important than political matters, common sense is more important than stereotypes, and personality is more important than authority."
"Truth will always be truth, and justice will always be justice."
The voice of the princess echoed clearly and firmly in the room. The sunlight penetrated through the white linen skirt through her hair, as if through her flesh and bones.
"You will understand later."
Heinrich was silent for a long time, and finally whispered.
"We are all mortal."
She is still young, and still doesn't understand the impermanence of fate, and the involuntary control of mortals. In such an era, if a mortal lives soberly, he is even worse than a lunatic.
—Who can live in this era better than a lunatic
The Queen's voice overlapped with his. It turned out that she didn't understand at that time.
"Sit down, Mr. Heinrich." The Queen waited for him for a while, and when she saw that he was having trouble answering, she looked away, and she motioned for Heinrich to take a seat, "The Confederation of the Free Commercial City is willing not to pursue the matter of the merchant ship, But they hope that the Roland Empire will support the cardinal they choose in the election of the pope. But they still express that it is difficult to accept the two regulations."
Listening to her calmly pointing out the purpose of the free commercial city, Heinrich was no different from all ruthless and shrewd politicians and rulers, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.
Those who want to shout in the long night must first approach the long night. Those who want to hold a salary to light a fire must first return to darkness. A person who upholds humane generosity over politics must first make himself a political animal through and through.
Who can live in this era better than a lunatic
……………
The madman is pulling the strings.
The melody whirls and turns in the room, whispering quietly, like a spider waving its slender legs, crawling on the branches, and weaving a web in the depths of the forest. From here, to there, from there to here... With the elegant movement of Prince Arthur's wrist, the spider's web in the melody is gradually formed.
He just played spontaneously and casually, but was still exquisite enough to make all court musicians stop and tremble.
The firelight of the fireplace was dancing and swaying, and the pale and handsome face in the light and shadow seemed to be just a skin that imprisoned him. Under the skin, there were so many talents that were frighteningly hidden, devil-like talents, with an evil aura talent. While the gods took his sanity and made him mad, they also gave him something else that would make the whole world jealous.
In the field of art, he is the tyrant of this era, and his contemporaries are as eclipsed as gravel meets pearls in front of him.
"The glory of the spider."
Prince Arthur played and gave his piece a new name with a smile.
What an interesting movement, what a hopeless struggle.
The spider weaves a web in the forest, infiltrating the web of venom and conspiracy, according to the nature it has passed down from generation to generation. The spider hides in the shadows, waiting for its prey, day after day. The nets form fine and dense dewdrops in the early morning, and when the morning light falls on them, they are as glorious as diamonds, that is their brilliance.
The spider's web caught the prey, and it also caught the spider.
Accompanied by an air-conditioned high note, the strings of Prince Arthur are raised, and all the spider webs are broken in that note and blown down by the wind. The spiders curled up their slender legs and fell to the dead leaves on the ground, mingling with the shadows. The same return—the morning dew sticking to the spider web is a brilliant phantom, and when the sun rises to the sky at noon, it will dissipate like light smoke.
Prince Arthur bowed gracefully in a room where there was no one else but himself.
"How 'bright', the glory of the spiders."