"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."
A violent fit of coughing rang out, intermittent yet heartrending, making one worry that its owner might simply stop breathing the next second.
Andre, the silver-gray-haired youth, arrived outside the sickroom but did not enter.
Before long, the coughing subsided.
Respectful greetings sounded from the two maids serving the Duke of Borsway.
Then the door opened from within, and a brown-haired young man strode out.
This brown-haired young man had the powerful build of a bull. Every muscle on his body resembled a marble sculpture carved with silver-hook, iron-stroke lines, brimming with a beauty of strength. He had a high-bridged nose, square and handsome features in the style of Ancient Greece, and narrowed brown eyes that inexplicably brought to mind a sleeping lion on the grasslands.
"My lord," Andre said softly.
It should be noted that, in Andre's eyes, the brown-haired Awakened before him looked exactly as he originally did, rather than wearing an appearance transformed by the Spirit Realm Rules.
"It's Andre," the brown-haired young man said lazily. "How many times have I told you? Just call me by my name, Auguste. After all, my alias here is Auguste too, so calling me that won't give us away."
Andre was about to speak, but Auguste's large hand had already settled on his thin shoulder.
"Andre, you're the strategist I value most. In the words of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you're my chief adviser! Our relationship should be as flawless as that between General Sun and Governor Zhou."
A faint smile appeared on Andre's pale face. "I would rather be your Zhuge Kongming."
"Ah, spare me. I don't like being a ruler like Big-Ears Liu."
Auguste cracked a joke, then said, "What new intelligence did you come to bring me?"
Andre's smile faded, and