Sandburg is located on the bank of a small lake called Stroy to the west of Rušta. At the turn of summer and autumn, the lake here reflects the castle and the distant skyline of the snow-capped mountains of Hazel Roy, standing against the backdrop of the snow-capped mountains. The reflection of the forest and the white maple is one of the most famous viewing spots near the imperial capital, but it is also the royal forest garden.
However, the imperial royal family does not live here often, and often only stays here during the long summer. After the silver queen Constance ascended the throne, the castle will be used for a shorter period of time. It may not be once in two or three years. Even if they go, they often only stay. Less than a month.
But even so, there are groups of servants in the castle, and there are permanent guards. As early as half a month ago, a group of mountain servants had been replaced in Sandburg, and the Flame Blade Knights who had exchanged defenses with the Forbidden Army added a lot of popularity here.
Only tonight, this ancient and elegant castle standing by the lake is exceptionally quiet.
The silver moon'Timis' moved slowly over the nearby forest, and Bai Feng's long shadow stretched forward with the movement of the moonlight, over the fence, over the forest road, leaving a shadow on the city wall.
The wind pushed the clouds above the night. After a while, the shadow on the wall squirmed, slowly rising from the ground, and gradually formed a woman dressed as a witch with a veil.
The woman stood by the battlements for a moment, and looked into the courtyard suspiciously. The courtyard was pitch black, there was no light in one of the stables, and there were no dark guards or guards on the wall.
If it is usually at this time, the servants would have already fallen asleep, but at least there is still a minimum of defensive power in the castle, and it will not be as dead as this moment.
She frowned and walked towards the edge of the city wall, and the moonlight pouring down from the clouds at that moment became substantial under her feet, forming a step-by-step ladder, and she stepped down to the courtyard.
A faint silver blossom spread in all directions centering on her body, sweeping across the entire castle in a blink of an eye.
The woman raised her eyebrows, as if she was aware of something, but at this moment, she suddenly glanced in the direction where she came from behind her.
She seemed to hear some movement, and she was about to leave, but at this moment a flash of fright suddenly flashed in her eyes. She raised her right hand, and a palm-sized crystal ball suddenly appeared in her palm, and several pictures were constantly switched on it, like floating light and glimpses. If ordinary people can’t see clearly, but she just blinked one of the pictures on her eyes. inside.
If Brando were here, he would definitely recognize that it was the scene inside the Cat and Beard Inn.
The woman raised her hand, and the crystal ball in her hand instantly turned into a piece of silver light dust. She also shattered, like broken glass, melted into the moonlight in a flash.
As soon as the woman left her forefoot, a few small black shadows lightly landed on the city wall behind her.
Those are a few cats.
The black cat at the front has a big bow tied around its neck. It looked around curiously, and when it opened it was the characteristic sweet voice of the sugar bowl: "Weird, no one, even the Knights The people in the castle are led away by the adults, at least there will be guards in the castle?"
A yellow and white tabby cat behind the black cat suddenly showed nervousness when he heard this, and quickly reminded him softly: "Hush, be quiet, Miss, it's okay that no one is there, do you want to attract everyone?"
"Barbasha, what are you afraid of? Haven't we confirmed that the knights of the flame sword have left long ago, either to support the Lord Lord and their battle, or to deal with the strange guys in the city, anyway, anyway It won't be here. Those guys left are not my opponents."
"Miss, I'm not afraid of ten thousand, just in case, it's better to be more cautious." Barbasha looked around nervously: "This is the empire. Don't forget that Agatrice and the others are here."
"There is no one here," the sugar bowl turned into a black cat indifferently glanced at the castle immersed in darkness. She raised her head, sniffed around with her nose, and said in doubt: "But there is something strange in the air. Taste, it seems that someone of our kind has come here. It’s strange, I’m not sure, is there such a powerful guy under that woman? Is it the king of witches?"
Barbasha was startled: "That woman can't be here, right."
"Well," the sugar bowl nodded: "It's really not her breath, weird, is there such a powerful guy in our generation of witches."
"Let’s do business now, miss..."
The sugar bowl leaped forward, leaped off the city wall lightly, and landed steadily on the meadow in the courtyard, just like a real cat, without making a sound.
Behind her, including Barbasha, three witches who turned into cats also jumped down one by one. Several people strolled around in the courtyard, but none of them found them.
"There is no one here, miss." It was the white cat behind Barbasha. Although it looked the smallest, it was the voice of a middle-aged woman.
"That woman is really unreliable. Be careful, miss, this may be a trap."
Hearing the word "trap", Barbasha's hair stood up, and she subconsciously looked back, but the courtyard was silent.
"Relax, Barbasha, even if there are traps, they are aimed at Lord Lord. The Silver Queen has no interest in you, an old woman."
"Miss," the white cat who had spoken before suddenly said again: "There are still people in the castle."
The sugar bowl nodded, and she also noticed: "Front left, the third room."
She stepped on an elegant catwalk and came to the window of the room. With a slight jump, she jumped onto the window sill. She stretched out her paw and fiddled with it twice, opening a gap in the window, and a strong smell of alcohol suddenly rushed over her face.
"So I hate alcoholics—"
…
Hobbs Balek is indeed an alcoholic. He is a dwarf, from Ambrose, who loves alcohol like his life, but he is also the best horse trainer in the entire empire. The royal family hired him to serve as the equestrian equestrian in Sandburg, and he didn't dare to drink alcohol on weekdays-no matter how careless the dwarves were, they would never take the royal strict rules into consideration, not to mention that he still cherishes the job at the moment.
Not to mention the rich collection of Her Majesty's stables, just being the strongest imperial horse horse master is enough to make him extremely proud.
But today is a special case. The Forbidden Army was replaced by the Knights of the Flame Sword. The servants in the castle were also transferred earlier. He was staying because he wanted to help take care of the horses of the knights. As a result, several The knights had also left a few hours ago.
Now this deserted castle can be regarded as his own master.
He dared not touch the royal wine cellar in the basement, but the large barrels of wine stored in the kitchen were nothing wrong. Although they were not as good as the royal collection, they were enough to make him addicted to alcohol.
He lay dazedly on a few bags of flour, long since he could not remember how much alcohol he had drunk. It seemed that there was a keg of dwarf spirits, then three bottles of Randfield liqueur, one bottle of whiskey, and the alcohol seemed to form one. A thick cloud and mist wrapped him in it.
Hobbes Barek was belching wine. This was the life he pursued. He had a dream in a daze. He dreamed that he had made enough money and he returned to his hometown to build a wine cellar unparalleled in the world. The cellar contains a variety of rare wines, from the Griffon Feather of 36 years old, the Black King of Phyllis, to the famous cold moon wine, which was produced in the cold moon year and was almost destroyed by There was a snow disaster that winter, but it formed a unique cold taste as a result, and it was the top collection of various royal families and aristocratic families.
He dreamed of banqueting guests, full of friends, not only well-known drinkers, but also people from the upper class. On the long table covered with white cloth, there are all kinds of silver plates piled with people from all over the world. The famous wine and brightly colored fruits and vegetables, a black cat tied up in a bow walks around.
Hobbs Barack was taken aback for a moment, and almost thought he was wrong. Why is there a black cat on the table? He couldn't help but rubbed his eyes subconsciously, and found that there was not only one cat on the table, but also two white cats and one tabby cat.
He couldn't help but sat up, subconsciously preparing to be angry with his dream servants, but before he could speak, he saw the black cat talking to him:
"Hobbs Bareck," the black cat stretched out his paw and slapped his nose with a look of disgust: "Damn drunkard, I will give you a few words, otherwise I will send you to hell!"
The dwarf horse trainer opened his eyes wide, and the cat actually started talking. He shook his head, thinking that he was dreaming as expected.
But after a while, he suddenly woke up, everything in his dreams turned into bubbles, the surrounding environment turned into a dark kitchen, and the small space was filled with a strong smell of wine and raw meat.
On the wooden table directly opposite him, no more, no less, four cats happened to stand, among them the black cat headed by, staring at him with gloomy eyes in the dark.
"Ghost!"
The dwarf screamed in fright, kicked his legs backwards and crawled back, hitting the bucket behind with a bang, and a rustle on top of his head. The spice jars of various colors on the shelf suddenly overturned and hit him. A flapping head covered his face.
"Puff," Sugar Bowl couldn't help laughing so stupidly by this guy, but she hurriedly raised her face: "Hobbes Bareck, have you heard me."
The witch is good at manipulating dreams, and has already known each other's name in the dream.
But the dwarf horse trainer was frightened and sweaty. It was not a good sign to meet a black cat in the middle of the night in Vaughan. Some rural legends often think that black cats are like crows as messengers of death, and these bad luck animals often Connecting with witches is even worse.
Hobbs Balek didn’t even know that there were just a few witches in front of him, but he was extremely frightened. If he contacted the black cat before, he would only treat him as the messenger of the god of death and sent him to hell. of.
Is it because you are drunk to death
He couldn't help feeling sad.
The sad thing is that I haven't had enough.
"I'll ask you a question," but Sugar Bowl doesn't care what he thinks, her eyes are fascinating, as if it can be a dream: "Where is the mistress here?"
…
St. Contipe Palace, White Rose Garden—
The two rows of knights slowly stopped outside the gate of the Rose Garden. At this moment, it was very quiet. There was no one on Imperial Avenue. Rows of oak trees stood on both sides of the avenue, casting dark shadows on the ground.
Outside this majestic palace is a large open meadow. There are no other buildings within a few hundred meters. They are all royal gardens. However, the knights who visited late at night still awakened the residents in the distant neighborhoods.
Through the cold light of the moonlit night, the citizens secretly looked from the window in the direction of the Palace of San Contepe, and they could see from a distance these knights in black and black armor—not the Forbidden Army, nor the Flame Knights of the Temple, which duke they were. The guards, why are they visiting so late
In the Palace of San Contepe, there is also a look on this team of knights.
Constance can clearly see the Rose Garden and Empire Avenue from the French arched windows of her study. She is sitting behind her desk. The crystal ball on hand has long lost its previous light, and she can't see it anymore. The forest scenery near the Hanlu Manor became dark, with a hint of moonlight reflecting off the edge.
There was no one in the room at this moment, only the Dragon Queen stood silently in the darkness on the side. She did not speak, and Her Majesty did not speak. Her eyes passed through the glass of the window, watching the tight guard between the two knights. Black carriage.
She watched as the car door was opened by a knight, and a maid walked down from the car first. Her long red hair and bronze skin were typical features of mountain people.
The maid leaned slightly after getting out of the car, and then helped a princess in costume.
That is her countess.
Only then did the Silver Queen show a proud look.
"When will our prince arrive?" she asked.
"On the way, Your Majesty." The Dragon Empress replied in the dark.
"The officials have been waiting in the hall for a long time," she said after a while, "Your Majesty."
"It's okay," the Silver Queen replied, "leave me alone, Gwendolyn."
The dragon queen nodded, but his figure remained unchanged.
"Those mice are making a lot of noise today."
"Yes, I just asked, the city guard was led by the battle over there."
"Then go tell my dear Knight Commander what he should do now."
The Dragon Queen nodded.
"Go, come back before the dinner starts. This is the theme of today's banquet."
The dragon queen's figure retreated into the darkness, and then there was the sound of opening the door, and finally all the noises turned into silence with a'click'.
Constance looked at the night view outside the window silently, without saying a word.
"... You used to be the kindest princess of the Cruz people, if you are still willing to return to the right path."
"I have never been more convinced that I am on the right path than I am now."
"The paranoia has blocked your gaze, Your Majesty."
"On the contrary, it is you who can't see the way forward..."
An illusion stretched out before her eyes.