......

Hofford Quinn stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his study with a wine glass in his hand, gazing at the city shrouded in night.

It is the center of the morning light and is also known as the city that never sleeps. The lights are centered on the Avenue of the Rising Sun and stretch out to both sides, like a tree of light with lush branches. The apex of the tree is the most famous hypermarket in the kingdom, where countless curiosities flow from all over the world every day, and for the merchants, the night is the beginning of their lives.

In order to maintain this brilliant brilliance, the king's daily consumption of candles, firewood, and lamp oil was a staggering figure, and fish fat from the eastern harbor and firewood from the northern hills were continuously brought into the city by ships. This industry alone is conservatively estimated to feed nearly 10,000 people and more than 100 businessmen.

And this is just the tip of the commercial trade of the royal capital.

One of Hoverd's great pleasures in normal times is to enjoy the night view of the City of Glow City, which has been transformed from a wasteland to a thriving place under the rule of the Moan royal family and three major families, thanks to the continuous efforts of our ancestors.

But today, he was inexplicably tired of it.

The night scene of Glow City looked the same as before, still gorgeous and moving, but outside the range of the light tree, the faint undercurrent could no longer be ignored.

Even in the face of such a brightly lit territory, he felt a strong sense of unease.

I guess I'm really old...... Hoford took a slight sip of wine, and the bitterness in his mouth seemed to be better than sweetness.

"Father," the study door was pushed open, and a young man walked in, "Baron Alphonse of the North Wind City wants to pay a visit to you. ”

"No," said Hoford, without looking back, "I'm sick." ”

"But......" he hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand to the old butler beside him.

The latter nodded knowingly, turned and walked out of the study.

Seeing that there were only the two of them left in the room, the man was a little worried, "Father, this is already the twelfth nobleman you have refused. Even I knew there was something wrong with the one in the palace. The purpose of these foreign nobles entering the city is obvious, and if you do so, I am afraid that they will be mistaken for ......"

"Why?"

"Mistaken for ......," he bit his lip, "you are still on the side of His Majesty Ampein Moya. ”

"Horn......" Count Quinn turned around and looked at the intended successor of the Quinn family with a frown, "Do you think it's a mistake for the three Glowing families to be on the side of the Lord of Dawn!"

"But now Your Majesty doesn't need us anymore," Horn plucked up his courage, "and he hasn't consulted you on politics since the army suffered a crushing defeat at Hermes! Look at the people who are summoned to the castle every day by the king—all he needs now is clowns, servants, and courtesans!"

The Count did not answer, but looked at the glass in silence.

Horn was only eighteen years old now, and even he could see what it meant behind the "influx of nobles from all over the world to the royal capital", and it was impossible for other local nobles not to notice any changes. In fact, when he learned of the defeat of the Great Army, he expected the day to come—an army of more than 10,000 men, with most of the lords of the towns involved, hoping to scrape a piece of flesh from the fallen giant. However, the final result was that not only did everyone not get the slightest share of the property, but they lost all their lives.

If that's all there is to it, the point is that the Lord of Dawn has returned alive, and his knights have been destroyed. When Ampein returned to the royal capital in embarrassment, the news spread almost like a fly. This satisfies two conditions at the same time—someone to be held accountable for the failure and unfulfilled promises—and the power that Ampein has at his disposal that can no longer dissuade the other nobles from making a move.

These nobles who quietly entered the city and came to visit at night were a clear signal. They undoubtedly wanted to see how the three families reacted, and decide whether to cling or unite—but none of the answers would be to maintain the status quo.

Hofford could guess what was in the hearts of those people with his eyes closed, and since he had lost so much in Hermes, he naturally had to find other places to make up for it.

"Father," seeing that he didn't speak, Horn became a little anxious, "It's not ten years ago, and Ampein Moya is no longer that Moya Majesty. Look at the Lotsi family! Now Otto Lossy is still locked up in the palace! You are the former prime minister, and you have a very high prestige among the people, as long as you stand up and pull in the other two families, those nobles will definitely be headed by you!"

"Stand up?" Count Quinn's eyes narrowed, and there was a hint of danger in his tone.

"Uh......" Horn choked, bowing his head in fear, muttering as if replying and defending himself, "you don't really have to be on His Majesty's side of Ampein, do you? If it were an old king, you would have personally persuaded the nobles to put the stability of the kingdom first. ”

Hoford sighed softly when he heard this, he was still a little too young, "Even if it is, do you think Ampein Moya can't see this?"

"What?" Horn froze.

"I bet there are several pairs of eyes staring at us outside the mansion right now, including who I've met and where I've been. The Count returned to his desk and sat down, "Guess what I would do to me if I met those nobles?" From the day Ampein ascended the throne, he began to change his personal guards and castle guards!openly rebelling under the noses of the other party?Do you think those lords will raise their troops to save me when he puts the noose around my neck?" Speaking of indignation, he couldn't help but slap the table suddenly, "Why is it that to this day, it is always the foreign nobles who come to me, not the Rossi family and the Tokat family, do you understand now?"

Horn gasped, "Then why don't you go back to the territory first, at least your knights and mercenaries there, plus the conscripted serfs, even if he wants to disadvantage you......"

The Count shook his head, "The Quinn family has been here for too long. Branch, distant relative, industry, power...... Even if I could sneak out of town, I wouldn't be able to take everyone out. As long as there is any trouble, they will not end well, and I cannot make such a rash move. In fact, my stay in Glow City is a guarantee in itself. Missing the illness is the limit of what I can express, and there is nothing else to do. ”

Closely connected to the royal capital, which was once a place of pride for the family, but now it has become his fatal weakness, which has to be said to be a kind of irony.

"Really...... But I don't think so. At this moment, an unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded outside the door.

Hofud's face changed suddenly, the speaker was obviously not a servant or a guard in the house, otherwise it would not have been possible to do such an offensive act, and the butler should have been guarding the door, why did this person speak without the slightest reaction outside?

"Who!" Horn was equally shocked, and he turned his back in a panic, trying to find a weapon to defend himself, but in the end he could only hold a candlestick.

"It's me," said the door, and a blonde woman who was both strange and familiar to Hoford Quinn appeared, "do you remember me? ”