Tales, who was seriously injured, was carried on the back of a guard member. He was dazed from the shaking, but his speed continued unabated as he marched with the large army.
Pain in his left shoulder and arm awakened his consciousness.
Where am I?
He shook his head vigorously.
It took Tales a while to realize that he was being escorted by the elite Royal Guard headed by the cloaked woman in a daze, moving forward steadily at a march-like pace.
Gilbert and Jinnie walked together with the cloaked woman and seemed to be talking in a low voice.
Tales took a deep breath, dragged his tired spirit, and raised his head to look.
They passed through a thick gray-black palace wall that stretched so far that there seemed to be no end in sight. The wall was mottled and sometimes damaged, as if it had gone through a long and long time.
The guards marched in neat steps to a giant steel noose gate controlled by complex lock cables. Under a dozen giant defensive crossbows on the top of the palace wall, the guards exchanged commands with the closely guarded sentry soldiers before being let in.
Tales opened his mouth blankly, looking at the moonlight Star Kingdom in the sky in a daze.
The ground beneath your feet ranges from muddy wasteland to rough stone ground, to exquisite floor tiles carefully laid with unknown materials. The Eternal Lamp on both sides is getting bigger and bigger, more and more refined, and more and more bright and dazzling.
When a majestic pyramid-like building that looks like a giant slope rises from the ground and appears in front of you, when Royal Guard members are sent out every ten steps, when patrolling soldiers are patrolling in groups, and when servants coming and going nod to them, Tales suddenly wakes up.
They have arrived.
Everstar City is the tallest, largest, most magnificent and most noble building.
Tales's nerves relaxed and he lowered his head again.
When he woke up again, it was already the morning of the next day.
Tales found himself wearing a rough set of pajamas and lying on a cushioned stone bed.
He was startled for a moment, then moved his bandaged left hand and left shoulder. After realizing that nothing was serious, he nimbly jumped off the stone bed and stepped on the ground, which was also made of cold stone.
The cold temperature and rough touch came from the soles of the feet.
Tales frowned.
He took a step forward, touched the equally cold stone wall, and looked at the place.
The ceiling is not high, but it is made of the same stone as the walls, floor and bed, giving off a faint chill.
He walked to the window sill and opened the wooden window. The cold wind poured in and made him shiver.
Fortunately, the winter sunshine shines luxuriously into this pure stone room from the high stone windowsill.
But unlike the warm Mindis Hall, even daylight and sunshine cannot dispel the cold and damp discomfort in this room.
Just like... just like Ruined House.
Tales felt something in his heart, remembering the place where he had stayed for four years.
He glanced out the window.
The boy suddenly took a breath of cold air.
The moment he probed his head, he looked down and saw a crowd as thin as ants, a carriage as big as a fingernail, a house the size of a checkerboard, and a street with fine lines - there was no doubt that this room was at a very high place, overlooking the various Royal Capital scenery below.
Just like the previous life - he said to himself.
At this moment, the only door in the room, made of thick wood, was pushed open.
First-class palace Female Official, Jinnie Bakvi appeared at the door of the room
"Lady Jinnie?" Tales saw an acquaintance and felt relieved.
"It seems that you are recovering well." Jinnie's face was a little pale and she seemed to be in poor spirits, but she still held on to her body.
More than good...
Jinnie thought to himself, the dagger that was shot one day, the next day... this kind of recovery power, even Orc doesn't have it.
She sighed.
"By the way, Jinnie! Uh, Lady Jinnie!" Tales was so anxious that he even forgot to use honorifics. He hurriedly took a step forward:
"Yesterday...Yordel, and Gilbert..."
Jinnie stretched out a hand and interrupted Tales's words, only to hear her say silently:
"Don't worry, Gilbert is with His Majesty, they have important matters to deal with."
"And Yordel, he is still alive..."
Still alive? Tales was shocked, doesn't that mean...
Jinnie also seemed to realize that what she said was a bit too strong, and she immediately corrected it. "He was hit by several crossbow arrows and is currently recovering from his injuries. Yesterday, thanks to his timely notification of another secret guard of His Majesty, Royal Guard arrived in time."
Tales breathed a sigh of relief with mixed emotions.
Fortunately.
That wasn't the last time.
The masked guard.
Survived.
Tales then remembered the conversation he had with Yordel last night.
Thinking of the question Yordel didn't answer, I thought of the many doubts about him.
Tales also thought of those children who died innocently and tragically in Ruined House, and felt sad.
Why.
Why did Yordel refuse to save him?
Could it be...
Tales sighed: No matter what the answer to this question is, after experiencing the thrilling scene last night and Yordel giving up his life to save...
But that incident was like a thorn in Tales's heart, making it difficult for him to forget.
Tales knew that it would never be possible for him to trust Yordel as he did when they first met.
Tales shook his head, and then turned his attention back to Jinnie's words.
Wait, another secret guard?
Tales I think of the young woman in the cloak.
He saved this piece of information, but before he had time to digest it, his brain jumped to another thing.
"Also, those assassins, and that Duke Kevendell..."
Jinnie's eyes became stern, which reminded Tales of those days of hard training. She just heard her say, "That's not a problem you can care about. Everything has been taken care of."
"Those problems will no longer be problems soon... and you have to believe in your father."
My... father?
Tales struggled to recall this unfamiliar word - not that he didn't care, but that after arriving from Hongfang District to the Mindis Hall, he had only met his nominal "father" once, not to mention his weird attitude towards him.
Tales Clenched his fist lightly, another question came to his mind.
"What about you?"
Jinnie was slightly startled.
"Me?"
Tales raised his head, took a deep breath, and looked worried. "Yes, what about you, Lady Jinnie?"
"While on the carriage..."
Tales looked at Jinnie's increasingly ugly face, gritted his teeth and said, "I noticed something unusual about you..."
"Why are you... so abnormal when facing those assassins?"
Tales saw that Jinnie, who was always calm and confident, trembled slightly after hearing these words.
It seemed like the most terrible memory came back to me.
Tales looked at her blankly.
Palace Female Official's face was twisted, as if he was struggling with trembling and paleness.
Tales frowned.
A few seconds later, Jinnie sighed, put down all his composure, and returned to his indifferent Female Official look.
As if everything just now was just an illusion.
This little devil.
Jinnie looked at Tales who was full of confusion in front of him.
So sensitive.
Female Official snorted lightly and returned to his businesslike tone, but his face was full of fatigue and bitterness.
"I asked the servant to prepare hot water and breakfast. Take care of yourself first. We still have important things to do."
It's like nothing happened.
She is deliberately avoiding it.
Tales frowned.
But Jinnie looked at him seriously, as if to warn him.
Tales could only shrug. "Okay, then... wait."
"Servant?" Tales was stunned for a moment, and quickly turned around to look around at this room that looked more like a coffin than a bedroom. "So, we are here..."
Jinnie nodded tiredly:
"Yes, you are in the largest and most important building in Everstar City."
"The royal palace of Supreme King of the Starry Sky throughout the ages."
Jinnie said three words expressionlessly:
"Revival Palace."
Tales opened his mouth and thought of the big pyramid-shaped building he saw last night - no wonder it was located so high.
He immediately frowned and looked at everything around him.
Mottled walls, dark colors, dim lighting, cold temperatures, hard stone slabs, rough floors, and small rooms--compared to the Mindis Hall, this place looks like a slum.
Jinnie saw the look in Tales's eyes.
"What, you're not used to it?" She crossed her arms and looked at Tales's expression with interest.
"No, it's not." Tales quickly waved his hand and shook his head.
He wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed and lowered his head.
In fact, he wanted to say that this was the most sound sleep he had in more than twenty days.
The hard and cold bed and the rough and uneven floor made Tales regain a sense of security that Mindis Hall's soft bed quilt could not give.
It turns out...Tales sadly discovered that... the best time for me to sleep was during the four years when I was a beggar in the harsh and harsh Ruined House.
But obviously, Jinnie took his truth as a hard talk, and she smiled sadly:
"I know what you're thinking, yes."
"Supreme King's palace is not as glorious, luxurious, exquisite and magnificent as imagined."
Jinnie walked to the window and focused his eyes on the countless residents of the kingdom under the tall Revival Palace.
"On the contrary... this so-called Revival Palace in the center of the kingdom is not even as good as an ordinary private house..."
Tales stared blankly at the arrogant, domineering and tough court Female Official, Jinnie Bakvi. At the next moment, he sighed lonely:
"Very narrow."
"Very high."
"Very cold."
Jinnie turned around and looked at Tales with a complicated expression.
"It's still very dark."
Tales followed Jinnie Bakvi, stepping on the Revival Palace's unique hard and rough stone floor, walking through rooms that were equally narrow, cold and dim.
When the guards and servants they met on the road saw Jinnie, they all bowed their heads and saluted.
Inside this semi-pyramid palace, the lighting is so poor that even in broad daylight, lights are used to illuminate some tricky corners.
Because the height is too high, cold wind keeps pouring in through the gaps. The only advantage is that it is often difficult to raise any insects in such a place.
The narrow corridors and low ceilings make the atmosphere in the palace feel depressing and uncomfortable, sometimes even lifeless.
This place...Tales stuck out his tongue and secretly sighed: It really doesn't look like a palace.
Instead, it looks like a mausoleum.
Aren't the Egyptian pyramids in previous lives just the tombs of kings with countless ancient histories buried underground?
"We're here." Jinnie suddenly stopped and said slowly with an indifferent reply.
"Arrived... what?" Tales, who had just been distracted, noticed at this moment that he and Jinnie had walked into an empty and dark stone corridor, with a double stone door in front of it.
"Go in, kid," Jinnie did not answer him, but nodded to Tales with a deep expression. "Be polite."
"What kind of gift..." Before the stunned Tales finished speaking, Jinnie pressed on the stone door and pushed it open!
"Boom!"
Tales looked at the scene in the stone door in surprise: it was a dark room, with only Eternal Lamp lit in a few corners, and the Eternal Lamp in the center was being held in the hand of a woman with her back to him?
While Tales was still surprised, he was pushed into the room by Jinnie.
"Boom!"
The stone gate is closed.
Tales finally found his feet, but found that he had been locked up in this stone house by Jinnie.
"So, it's you, kid?"
At this time, a smooth and charming voice came from the center of the room.
Tales turned his head in confusion and looked at the woman with her back to him.
The woman held Eternal Lamp and slowly turned around.
Tales's eyes lit up.
This is an oval-faced beauty with bright eyes and white teeth. She is in her thirties. Compared with the charming and mature Jinnie, she is less sassy and neat, but more charming and charming.
She wears a dark veil and a robe decorated with half a red sun - wait a minute, half a red sun?
Tales was shocked. "Are you...Sunset Temple's sacrifice?"
"Sunset Temple? Hahaha..." The beauty chuckled, but Tales not only did not feel the slightest tenderness from the laughter, but also tasted a touch of indifference.
"Let me take a closer look at you, kid." The beauty leaned closer to him, but Tales frowned: he couldn't feel any warmth or kindness from her body.
He felt something uncomfortable about this woman.
"Sure enough," the thirty-year-old charming beauty lowered herself in front of him, squinted her eyes, and observed Tales: "You also have gray eyes..."
"Just like your mother."
Tales's pupils shrank!
Mother?
Tales was stunned for a second.
"Do you know... Sorry, madam, do you know my mother?" he asked in surprise. At the same time, he remembered Jinnie's instruction to "be polite" and quickly changed his words to honorifics.
"Of course, your mother, well, she is a ruthless person who is not easy to mess with..." The charming beauty curled her lips and looked coldly. "Kessel didn't tell you?"
Tales's breathing became rapid involuntarily.
"No, ma'am." Tales said with some embarrassment, "Except for her name, father... father didn't tell me anything else."
"I see, okay, you can go out." The charming beauty sneered and shook the Eternal Lamp in her hand, and their figures flashed around the stone house.
"Tell Kessel I'm ready."
Is this the end? Jinnie, or that father asked me to come see her... What does this mean?
But he must know.
Because...Tales took a deep breath: He was almost 100% sure that all the abnormalities in his body were probably related to his suspicious mother.
"Madam," Tales took a deep breath and bowed respectfully using the etiquette he learned from Jinnie: "I would be very grateful if you could tell me the information about my mother."
The charming beauty covered her mouth and chuckled.
But then her face turned cold and her tone was cold:
"Since your father didn't tell you, why should you and I tell you?"
Tales was suddenly speechless.
But he cannot give up easily:
"But... but that's my mother, I have the right to know! And I will repay you!"
The beauty just sneered and turned around.
"But you are not my son, so I have no obligation to tell you. Besides, I don't need your repayment."
Tales was choked again. From Yordel to Gilbert, apart from his own "father", he had never encountered such a person.
This--it's really more awesome than a king.
But a path seemed to be connected in his mind instantly.
More powerful than a king?
Tales's brain is running continuously - he thought of something.
He took a deep breath and looked at the charming beauty.
"That's it."
"I know who you are."
The charming beauty turned her head in surprise
"I heard my father and Gilbert talk about you," Tales frowned tightly, restoring the memory in his mind of when Yordel had just rescued Mindis Hall.
"I remembered." He said slowly.
"You--you are--" Tales took a deep breath, raised his left hand, and looked at the shallow scars on it.
His face hesitated for a while, but then he said decisively, "You are the Bloodline Lamp... the lamp used to find my father's bloodline... the caster of the bloodline Divine Art!"
"You are High Priestess of Sunset Temple...Licia!"
The face of the charming beauty--Licia suddenly turned ugly.
"As expected of your mother's son," she said slowly, "Even her cunning and memory have been inherited exactly."
"Yes, I am Licia·Arendt."
"High Priestess of Sunset Temple."
"Sunset Goddess, the only spokesperson in the world."
"He will also be the one who confirms your royal bloodline identity."
Thanks to "Glory of the Iris Pattern" for the reward!