In the palace garden in the early winter afternoon, the sun is shining on the earth warmly, the temperature is suitable, and the cool breeze is slow.

Todd sitting on the terrace on the second floor, looking at the lady in palace dress opposite the dining table, asked softly: "Snake fruit wine? Juniper tea?"

The bright and charming Queen Mary smiled and nodded and said, "If you have coffee, it will be fine."

Todd was speechless for a moment, and said helplessly: "I have tried to send people to the South to find coffee seeds, but it seems that there is no such thing here?"

Mary shrugged regretfully and said: "Over the years, I have been unable to forget the fragrance between my teeth, and I have always warned myself that I should not indulge in certain things, but when I think of it at night, I always toss and turn. , Can’t sleep."

Mary's words made Todd hear a little overtone, but the latter chose to respond with silence and smile.

Mary stared at Todd's face, saw that the other party did not express any expressions, her face was disappointed, and she looked around and said: "This palace is really deserted. When I came over, I couldn't even see the attendants and maids."

"I have a long holiday for most people." Todd poured some tea into Mary's cup and said calmly: "I live alone here, and there is no point in having too many servants."

Mary stared into Todd's eyes, and a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes: "You are the strangest king I have ever seen."

Todd looked up at the sky, then took another sip of tea, and slowly said: "The palace is cold and windy at night, and the number of servants is small. You might consider the hotel below the mountain..."

Mary interrupted Todd's words displeased: "Since I came to the palace, I have only been sitting for four hours. This is the third time you want me to leave! I don't understand whether my existence makes you feel distressed. , Or is it irritable?"

Todd put down the tea cup in his hand and said slowly: "Mary, believe me, I am doing it for your own good..."

Mary crossed her brows and said angrily: "Take ten thousand steps and say, even if you don't want to see me, facing the queen of the holy Acropolis, is this the holy king's hospitality?!"

Todd said with a wry smile: "Mary, actually..."

"I don't care! I won't leave!"

The angry Mary, that noble and inviolable temperament, gave Todd a brief loss of consciousness.

The latter waited for the woman to calm down and said to her: "Mary, listen to me, this palace under your feet will soon be caught in the flames of war."

Mary, who was angry, turned her head and looked at the scenery below the mountain. Hearing Todd's words, she couldn't help turning her head in surprise: "War?"

"There is a group of enemies that have been lurking in Twilight City, waiting for an opportunity to seize the power of the kingdom. Today may be tomorrow, it is the time for them to do it."

After the astonishment, Mary stood up and said loudly, "Where are those loyal knights? What about the kingdom's army?"

Todd shook his head and said: "To mobilize the army now is equivalent to telling the enemy that I have insight into their actions; besides, the kingdom's army is riddled with defects, and I can't guarantee how many people are still loyal to me."

The wide-eyed Mary was stunned for a while, and then ran to Todd's side, holding the skirt corner with one hand and the latter with the other, and said without hesitation: "I have brought seventy loyal Knights, they are all my most reliable companions in the Holy Acropolis. Walk with me, we will go to the Holy Acropolis, and then gather the army back!"

Todd held Mary's catkin lightly, shook his head lightly and said, "I can't go."

The wise Mary thought for a moment, and quickly guessed Todd's intention: "You...you want to be a bait to induce those rebellious parties?!"

Todd nodded.

"Are you crazy? How can the king take risks himself?!"

Mary tightly tugged on Todd's sleeves, her delicate and gorgeous face like a flower was full of anxiety: "Why do you have to sacrifice yourself every time?! Is this kingdom really worth it? !"

Todd gently took Mary's palm and said firmly: "Because I am sitting on the throne, I must stay."

Mary knelt down on the ground, leaned her head into Todd's arms, and murmured: "Why? Why do you always do this?"

Todd lifted Mary's chin slightly, looked at her and said seriously: "You can leave this city as soon as possible while there is still time, and return to the Holy Acropolis and wait for my news. It will not take a few days. Everything will return to calm..."

Mary shook her head vigorously and whispered: "I won't go. At first it was my father, then my ex-husband, and now it is you. I'm tired of the escape life and don't want to escape like this anymore."

Todd sighed: "You don't need to be like this."

Mary looked up at Todd: "Richel didn't go, did she?"

Todd hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"She is willing to stay in this city to live and die with you. Why don't you believe that I can do the same?"

Mary put her head on Todd's lap and whispered: "In your mind, is Rachel the only person you can trust? No one else can really enter your heart?"

Todd stretched out his hand to Mary's swan-like white and flawless back. He didn't touch it, and his hand stopped halfway. He said to Mary in an unusually vicissitudes of voice: "Being with me is a piece of A hard and boring thing. Even Rachel, she suffered a lot with me and suffered a lot of sins."

Mary retorted irritably: "When Rachel and I talked about you, she looked like that, but she didn't look like a regretful expression at all. She said to me that the greatest fortune in this life is to meet you."

Todd lowered his head, looked at Mary in front of him, and asked curiously: "What did she say to you?"

Mary's voice was inaudible: "Secret."

In the twilight sky of West City, the afterglow of the sun stretched the shadow of the city longer and longer, dyeing the scenery in front of you into golden oil paintings.

The king and queen, sitting side by side on the terrace ~lightnovelpub.net~, talking about each other, as if forgetting the existence of time, until the sun sets and the moon rises.

The night breeze was getting stronger and stronger, and Mary, who was wearing only a palace dress, shivered involuntarily as she felt the slowly lowering temperature.

Todd took off the jacket under him, put it on Mary, and whispered softly: "It's night, go back first. I will arrange for someone to deliver dinner to your room."

Mary nodded, grabbed her coat tightly, and followed Todd towards the inner palace.

Without taking two steps, a harsh explosion suddenly came from behind the two of them.

Todd turned back to the terrace and looked in the direction of Muxicheng.

In the direction of the night west knights' barracks, fire and smoke rose, and fighting and shouts could be faintly heard in the air.

Holding tightly to the railing of the terrace with both hands, Todd said coldly: "Finally, the curtain of the stage is opened."

. m.