Mills Count stood up and wanted to go to the window to get some air. The moment he turned around, his arm accidentally touched a delicate bone china tea cup on the edge of the desk.
The porcelain cup tipped over and was about to fall to the ground.
However, at the next moment, a steady hand stretched out from the side, caught the teacup, and handed it back to Earl Mills.
"Thank you."
Mills Count subconsciously thanked him.
Before he finished speaking, his whole body stiffened suddenly, and an icy chill instantly ran from his spine to the top of his head, making his hair stand on end.
His study is an absolutely private and forbidden place. No attendant dares to step into it without his call.
Then here comes the problem.
Whose hand is this?!
Mills Count took a sharp breath, suppressed the exclamation that almost burst out of his throat, and forced himself to calm down as quickly as possible.
He turned around slowly.
Then.
A young face that was extremely familiar to him and extremely handsome came into his eyes.
"Mr. Mills, are you okay?"
Flower Knight Xia'er·Hines's mouth had a bright smile that was no different from the past, but there was no smile in those blue Blue Dragon pupils.
"Xia'er?! So you're okay?!"
After a brief silence, Count Mills had an expression of surprise on his face.
"By the gods! This is so great! I always thought... that something unexpected happened to you in that Evil Dragon territory."
The count said excitedly while extending his hand very naturally.
He wanted to hold Xia'er's hand enthusiastically as usual to express his closeness and care.
This is his usual tactic to win people over.
Through simple physical contact and the condescending gesture of the superior, it is always easy to move those young people who are not familiar with the world and feel good about them.
But this time.
Xia'er·Hines took a step back expressionlessly, avoiding the hand extended by Count Mills.
The hand hovered in mid-air.
Flower Knight looked at the expression of surprise on the count's face that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, and then thought of the other party's indifferent voice in the crystal ball communication, as full of disgust and irritability as discarded garbage - waste with no use value, Albert Family will not pay even a copper plate for it!
The strong contrast made all the count's true feelings at this moment seem extremely hypocritical, artificial, and even disgusting in Xia'er's eyes.
"Mr. Mills."
Xia'er's voice was calm and without waves.
"Before I come back, I have always had a doubt in my mind and I want to ask you for advice in person."
"Oh? What is it that troubles you so much, my boy?"
The count's tone was still gentle.
Xia'er said, "Rod·Albert, Sienna·Albert, Sanchez·Albert... The three of them, as well as many private army leaders and elite soldiers under your command, all have a common characteristic."
"They all have no father or mother, and their life experience is as innocent as a piece of white paper."
"Albert Family can recruit so many warriors with tragic backgrounds but extraordinary talents who are willing to die for their family unconditionally."
"All this is just because of good luck?"
Flower Knight stared at Count Mills, observing his reaction.
"The family has established many charitable orphanages. Rod were indeed once orphaned children who were adopted by the family and given education and warmth."
Mills Count remained calm on the surface.
He asked rhetorically, "They are grateful for the family's upbringing, so they work hard and voluntarily serve the family. Is there any problem with this?"
"Really?"
Flower Knight said slowly, his voice deepening.
"I returned to the south one step ahead of Rod and the others."
"In order to prevent myself from being deceived, instigated and deceived by lies again, I have not been idle in the past time."
Xia'er took a small step forward, and an invisible sense of oppression spread.
"I spent considerable time and energy, like a real detective, not the naive knight you expected, to conduct detailed, in-depth, and even dangerous investigations throughout the territory of the Albert Family."
Mills Count frowned slightly.
"During my investigation, I discovered a rather interesting phenomenon."
"Albert Family generously provides various favors to the civilians of the territory, such as tax exemptions, road repairs, and distribution of cheap medicines."
"But after every act of kindness, if there are young children in the beneficiary family, the family's kindness will go further."
"They will conduct various talent potential tests for those children for free and enthusiastically."
The knight's eyes glanced at the Earl's jawline, which was beginning to tighten slightly, and continued, "What's more interesting is that the security of your family's territory is indeed exemplary on the surface. The patrol team does its duty and the crime rate is extremely low."
"However, the frequency of various accidents is unusually high, especially in families where the children have just been tested and are considered to have fair or excellent talents."
"Fires, landslides, monster attacks, and even simple slipping and falling into the water... These accidents can always create new orphans."
"As a result, the number of orphans on Albert Territory far exceeds the scope of a normal earl territory. It's a pity that no one usually cares about it."
As he spoke, the knight took another step forward.
The distance between him and the count was less than three feet.
"Mr. Mills."
Xia'er asked calmly, "Can you explain to me why this is?"
Mills Count's face finally darkened.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Xia'er, I was very happy to see you back safely, but your baseless and malicious speculations make me feel very unhappy!"
His voice was low and reproachful.
"Albert Family does good deeds for free, adopts orphans, and gives generous favors, but you tarnish this goodwill with such dirty thoughts! Is the chivalry you believe in used to speculate on your benefactor like this?"
While speaking, his fingers very discreetly touched a gemstone ring between his fingers.
That's a magic item that triggers an emergency call.
However, the surroundings were dead silent and nothing happened.
As expected, the guards broke through the door, the flashing alarm light, the activated defense Magic Array... nothing happened.
"No need to waste your efforts, Mr. Mills."
"Whether it is your voice, the magical signal from your ring, or any detection that attempts to penetrate here, it has been blocked."
Xia'er tilted his head slightly and said, "They are trapped in the cage of this space just like you, unable to reach the other shore you expect."
Mills Count's face showed fear for the first time.
"Xia'er!"
The earl held on to the majesty of the nobleman and growled in a stern voice, "You... what on earth do you want to do? Have you forgotten the favor I once gave you?!"
"Who generously gave you money when you were penniless and desperate? Who gave you that antidote worth a thousand gold when you were poisoned and your life was hanging by a thread?! Is your knightly virtue just used to repay your benefactor's betrayal and blade?!"
Clang--!
His excited words were suddenly interrupted by a crisp and cold sound of metal friction.
Flower Knight drew his cross sword.
"I have repaid the kindness you mentioned with my life and freedom. Now we owe nothing to each other."
Xia'er slowly raised the long sword in his hand, and the tip of the sword pointed steadily at the heart of Count Mills.
"What stands before you now is a knight determined to eradicate evil and hypocrisy."
Mills Earl stepped back step by step, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.
"Don't do anything stupid! Xia'er! You must have been bewitched by that Evil Dragon! You have lost your mind!"
"We can have a good talk! I promise that I will give you a perfect and reasonable explanation for all the doubts and doubts in your heart! Trust me!"
Flower Knight turned a deaf ear to his words.
He didn't want to waste any more words with this hypocritical earl, so he stepped forward, the cross sword in his hand turned into an icy cold light, and he held it out.
The sword edge easily tore through several layers of defensive shields that were instantly activated on the Count's body, and accurately pierced the heart under the luxurious velvet dress.
Mills Count's eyes suddenly widened, his face filled with incredible shock and extreme fear of death.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more, but he could only feel that the vitality in his body was rapidly passing away like the ebbing tide. In the end, he could not utter a single word, only the sound of leaking air.
Flower Knight slowly drew out the blood-stained cross sword, looked at the count's limp body, and said the last words.
"By the way, Molten Iron King asked me to say hello to you on his behalf."
Molten Iron King?!
It's that damn Evil Dragon who is behind all this! It's him who bewitched Xia'er!
Boundless anger and regret instantly overwhelmed Mills's consciousness. In the end, his eyes widened with resentment and unwillingness, and he fell heavily on the cold and luxurious floor.
Don't die with peace of mind.
Flower Knight Xia'er·Hines stood quietly.
With a flick of his wrist, he shook off the last few drops of blood stained on the blade, and then calmly put the sword back into its sheath.
The space rippled around him like water waves, and his figure became blurry and transparent, like a shadow blending into the air, and finally disappeared.
But he did not stay away from the Albert Family Manor immediately.
Boundary Walker Pathway wanders in the cracks of space, like a ghost, walking silently through the manor's heavily guarded corridors and courtyards.
He came to Alchemist Sienna's bedroom and came to Warding Mage Sanchez's bedside.
Finally, he stopped at the room of Rune Knight Rod·Albert.
In each room, he left a neatly organized stack of papers bearing the truth.
They were quietly placed beside the pillow within reach of the sleeping person.
After doing all this, Xia'er's figure completely disappeared into the space, as if it had never appeared.
"Who?!"
Rod·Albert opened his eyes suddenly.
Dire Wolf General, who has experienced hundreds of battles and wandered on the edge of life and death countless times, has a perception so keen that it is almost instinctive.
Although he could not clearly see the subtle spatial fluctuations, he was still awakened and instantly jumped up from the bed and sat up.
The room was empty and there were no obvious signs of the intruder.
However, his eyes were instantly attracted by the pile of papers that suddenly appeared on the bedside table.
Rod frowned, picked up the stack of paper vigilantly, and read it carefully.
The night was quiet, with only the faint sound of paper being turned.
Those screening lists for talent tests.
Those investigative reports on accidents.
Secret clues that point to the orders of the family's top brass.
Every name and every date is like a sharp sword, tearing apart those vague childhood fragments deep in Rod's memory.
The accident of losing his parents, being taken in by the family orphanage, being instilled with gratitude and loyalty... As he read more deeply, his pupils suddenly shrank, and the expression on his face began to change violently.
From initial confusion, to shock, to uncontrollable anger.
In the end, his face turned completely livid and twisted, looking as ferocious as a Fierce Wolf that was completely angered.
Just when this emotion was about to explode completely.
Rod·Albert, this Albert Family's Dire Wolf General, suddenly closed his eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, all the violent external reactions just now were finally suppressed bit by bit.
The ferocious greenness on his face slowly faded away, the muscles relaxed, and the distorted expression returned to calm and expressionless.
Nothing more.
Some things that once supported his life and fought bloody battles have completely collapsed like a sand castle and disappeared into thin air, while other completely different, dark and intense things are sprouting silently, growing crazily on the ruins of loyalty.
Predictable.
With the death of the family head, and the defection of the original loyal pillars, Albert Family will exist in name only before long.
It's hard for anyone to believe:
It all started with a Red Iron Dragon thousands of miles away.