November is the month of harsh winter, and the cold winds in Antifleur in the north are steep, and it seems that it will turn into a world of ice and snow at any time.
The clear and light blue Donati River runs through the city, and the garden villa of the Count of Mecklen's family is located on a high ground by the river, backed by the "Saxon Mountain Wall" carved with countless reliefs, overlooking the beautiful river flowing quietly.
This is a villa with a classical columnar structure, which complements the conservative and rigid architectural style of the Holy Helz Empire, but as Lucian walks through the garden full of lilac "ice and snow elf flowers" and steps into the villa hall, he finds that it is extremely luxurious, with wavy curves, broken eaves, unique structures, and exquisite details that together create an exaggerated sense of distance and layering, which is the luxurious and cumbersome architectural form that originated in the Syracuse Kingdom.
The large murals on the surrounding walls and ceilings with the theme of half-naked beautiful women, combined with the stacked statues of strong men, create an unrestrained and glamorous atmosphere.
Lucian was at least half an artist and a rudimentary psychoanalyst, admiring this strange and contradictory architecture that was different from the Duchy of Vaulite, the Kingdom of Holm, and the Empire of Shahran, while secretly assessing: "The younger generation of nobles in the Helz Empire seem to have developed strong dissatisfaction with the old, rigid, conservative and old-fashioned atmosphere of the entire empire, and have begun to yearn for the romantic and depraved luxury life of the neighboring Kingdom of Syracuse."
"Well, this is a big benefit to the council and the Holm Kingdom."
Whether it is cities such as Alinge, where the Magic Council is located, or the affected Kingdom of Holm, the Duchy of Calais and other places, they are currently showing a vigorous development trend, and the popularization of alchemy items will also bring about considerable changes in social structure and humanistic thinking.
Although in this world, it is the high-level and above powerhouses that decide victory, but without a steady stream of reserve power replenishment, high-level and legendary people cannot remain immortal, and one day there will be a power fault.
"Therefore, born in sorrow, die in peace...... Lucian dragged an ancient sentence in his heart, and then walked towards the host of the banquet, Denimeklen, with a polite and elegant smile.
"Dear Boraq, I thought you wouldn't come." The handsome Denis has long blonde hair, and the red formal dress is ingeniously cut and decorated with many cumbersome details, including openwork patterns, mysterious ruby pins, and thin silver chains. Seeing him, Lucian was like seeing a "postmodernist artist".
According to Borlack's description, this Denis is indeed an "artist" who loves oil painting and drawing, jewelry and clothing design, and similarly, he also has many common problems of artists, liking men and like to think of himself as a slender and perfect "woman".
But Lucian understood that he could not underestimate this Dunis, he was the first strong man among the younger generation of nobles in Antifleur to step into the rank of a great knight, and now he is only twenty-seven years old, he is already a fifth-level great knight, and his awakened bloodline is still a very strong "thunder and lightning".
Holding back the discomfort and hugging Deni gently, Lucian smiled and said, "Why didn't I come?"
Denis covered his mouth and smiled "coquettishly": "It's just an intuition, men are rude and fragile guys. I'm worried that you won't be able to help but clash with Alten, but he is always looking forward to such an opportunity, if he can reasonably 'eliminate' you before entering the underground palace, then he will be much more relaxed, and a group of monkeys will only surrender to his feet, the Monkey King."
His stomach twitched a little, and Lucian tried to make his smile look less stiff, and smiled without any "fear": "Monkeys are just monkeys after all."
Deni looked at Lucian with slightly surprised light brown eyes: "Borak, have you gained anything recently? I find that you are completely different from some time ago, and I can feel your confidence."
Lucian smiled and said nothing, trying to make himself "unfathomable".
Denis laughed sharply: "Things seem to be getting interesting, and I'm starting to think about whether to go in with them. Borak, please me, I will help you kill Arten when the time comes."
The reason why Borak accepted the invitation was to win over Dunny, a powerful helper, without stimulating the power of his bloodline.
「…… Maybe Alten will have other helpers." Lucian "expressed" a little joy.
Denis chuckled: "Don't be too happy, I haven't thought about whether to participate or not, whether to help you, my family is very optimistic about Alten."
He looked like he was coming to please me, so Lucian couldn't help but look up at the ceiling, in fact, I really didn't need help......
"Isn't this my dear cousin Borac?" An exaggerated strong voice came from the door.
Lucian, who had already heard this voice while secretly observing, turned around and saw a tall blonde man wearing a gorgeous military uniform walking in with a tall and beautiful brown-haired lady in his arms.
The military uniform is light black as the bottom, with a golden ribbon hanging on the right chest, and a row of medals on the left, covered with a white shirt and a white vest, which sets off the blonde man heroic, tall and handsome, and the lady next to him has exquisite facial features and elegant temperament, and the light blue evening dress exposes the white and tender pink shoulders and a dazzling milky white, seducing the eyes of most men - Denis is also staring there, but his eyes are full of jealousy and envy.
Lucian looked at the blonde man and said with an unchanged smile: "Arten, maintain an elegant and stable aristocratic image, I don't want others to think that members of our Plantagenet family like to shout at banquets without a bit of aristocratic demeanor."
"You ......" Arten's eyes froze, in the face of himself in the past few years, or in the face of cowering or angry and aggrieved, Bolak dared to speak directly and sarcastically, Duda was indeed right, he really changed a lot!
So Arten squeezed out a smile: "Dear cousin, it is useless to have aristocratic demeanor, our glory comes from our bloodline, we cannot stimulate our own bloodline, and we are not even qualified to imitate aristocratic demeanor, and you still can't paint, don't understand music, can't play the piano, can't compose poetry, don't know all the elegant art, what is the difference between this and ordinary citizens on the street? No, there is a big difference, at least many of them know a musical instrument!"
When Bollack was in high spirits, he patronized and contacted other noble children, participated in various banquets, and had no time to learn art, and after being overtaken by Alten, he was completely immersed in knight training.
Lucian participated in the banquet just to maintain Borac's habits, so as not to be seen through by the old guys, and had no interest in this boring "fighting game", and according to the gloomy personality that Borac had developed over the years, he would definitely hide the strength of the knights at this time in order to maximize his interests in the underground palace, so he just smiled and raised his eyebrows: "The one who can go to the end is the winner."
"Really? Dear cousin, I heard that you have been going to the underground black market a lot lately, and you must have gotten some good things, so you seem so confident, but the help of external forces is always just external forces, and there is no way to go further." Alten deliberately leaked that he had mastered Borak's whereabouts, making himself appear confident and imposing.
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and hugged the lady next to him tightly: "And a discerning and wise lady, such as Jocelyn, will choose me without hesitation."
Looking at Jocelyn who was blushing and bowing her head, Lucian suddenly had a strange idea, a truly "wise" lady would probably make herself a strong man, and then knock the man she liked unconscious and drag her back.
While Lucian was thinking about what kind of attitude to face this situation to look like Bollack, the hall suddenly became quiet, and a blonde girl wearing a white lace evening dress, as pure and beautiful as an elf, appeared at the door.
"Welcome to my banquet, Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia." Denis stepped forward to greet him and respectfully kissed his hand.
Her Royal Highness the Princess...... Lucian found that he was very destined to be a princess, meeting the princess of the Duchy of Vaorit, the princess of the Elven Court, and now the princess of the Holy Helz Empire.
Sophia smiled cutely and said, "Dunny, if you don't play one yourself, I don't think you welcome me from the bottom of your heart."
Denis pinched the orchid and pointed: "I hate it, I can't play well, there are so many people watching, I should ask a man to play."
Lucian almost vomited, his eyes raised slightly, and suddenly collided with the old lady's gaze.
Grandma's eyes narrowed, as if she could see Lucian's knightly strength.
"I am very willing to play a song for Your Highness, Your Highness." While Deni and Sophia, the two "good sisters", Alten stood up abruptly, and Jocelyn's face suddenly became slightly ugly.
As we all know, Princess Sophia is an avid piano lover, but because she lacks knightly strength and musical talent, she plays the piano very poorly, and she is also the second heir to the empire, a fifth-level bloodline warlock, and countless noble children are pursuing her.
Denis was stunned, he was just joking, and Sophia's clear and turquoise eyes smiled elegantly without a trace of waves: "I'm looking forward to your performance, Arten."
Alten excitedly walked to the piano in the center of the hall and skillfully played the music.
Lucian couldn't help but rub his forehead, isn't this "Dedicated to Sylvia"?
Although Alten is not good at music, it is still very easy to play a piano piece well with the control ability and special training of a great knight, and whether it can integrate emotions to a high level is another matter.
Seeing Princess Sophia's beautiful smile with satisfaction, her turquoise eyes were crystal clear and dreamy, Alten stood up proudly and bowed, and then looked at Borak defiantly, look, you rude savage, even if you become the Duke of Plantagenet, you are a disgrace to the family!
Lucian thought about the impulsive reaction that Borak should have, stood up with a smile, and saluted Sophia: "Your Highness, can you improvise a song for you?"
"You?" Deni and Alten were surprised at the same time, suspecting that they had been possessed by an illusion.
Sophia's astonished expression flashed away, and she smiled with a royal elegance: "I was really surprised, I didn't expect you to stand up, but if you can also play beautiful piano music, then I will be full of confidence in myself. Can you give confidence?"
Her eyes flowed, her pink lips opened lightly, and the fragrance was slightly revealed, and no one seemed to be able to resist her charm.
"Please listen carefully, Your Highness." Lucian had a sense of belonging, and he didn't feel anything about her amazing charm, so he turned around and walked to the piano with a smile, pressed his hands on the black keys, and then jumped gently.
A beautiful melody that was clearly improvised sounded leisurely, Deni opened his mouth wide, unable to believe that this was a rude savage, and Alten's face was ashen, suspecting that Borak might have benefited from the black market, perhaps with the strength of a knight?
After a few tens of seconds of music, Sophia smiled and applauded gracefully and dignifiedly: "I am full of confidence in myself again, Pollack, I didn't expect you to have excellent musical talent."
Walking up to Sophia, Lucian smiled politely: "I have a secret about this matter."
"Oh? What is it? Can you tell me?" Sophia blinked curiously.
Lucian said gently: "Of course, but I will only tell Your Highness the Princess."
The other nobles around him clearly saw that this bastard was trying to get close to the princess, but they could only watch for the time being, what secret could it be?
Sophia turned her head sideways and smiled sweetly: "I can't wait."
Lucian put his mouth to her ear and whispered: "If you only play the black keys, Your Highness can pretend to be able to play the piano."
"Poof......" Sophia thought carefully, and suddenly burst out laughing, her smile was as beautiful and moving as a hundred flowers blooming, attracting the complicated eyes of Alten and others on Lucian.
Since the black keys are equivalent to a pentatone mode, there are no complex and rugged notes, and a more classical melody will appear when played casually.
It has been changed
(End of this chapter)