Chapter 62: Golden Ouroboros (XII)

◎Arrival◎

Raphael heard the woman's slow and distant singing again in his dream. The waves pushed forward one after another, smashing the foam suspended on the rocks. Raindrops hit the glass windows, providing accompaniment in high and low sounds. The song echoed vaguely and gently, making people sink and sink unconsciously in their dreams, as if they were going to sink into the most primitive beginning of life, into the warm amniotic fluid in the mother's womb, wrapped in silence and eternal security.

All the memories were cut into fragments that floated up and down, forming an illogical ring that circled around Raphael. He hugged his body with his arms, like a baby protecting itself in the mother's womb. He did not open his eyes to see the broken memories, but just kept sinking in the intoxicating and soothing song.

Raphael had a rare good full night's sleep. What this means is that he was not awakened by any nightmares in the middle of the night, nor was he awakened by any sudden events outside. He slept completely from ten o'clock in the evening to six o'clock in the morning, a total of eight hours, which was perfect.

Such sleep was too luxurious for him, so much so that when Raphael woke up, he still had the illusion of being embraced by singing and rocking arms, which made him lazy and not want to move. He buried his face in the quilt and tried to grasp the comfort that was about to slip away, but unfortunately...

, that ethereal song was like quicksand in his fingers, quickly erased from his memory the moment he regained consciousness.

Ten minutes after he woke up completely, he had completely forgotten everything he had heard in his dream.

"It looks like you had a good dream."

Lucresa pushed the door open and came in, carrying a tin kettle that was too big for her, filled with fresh hot milk. The little girl was wearing a cotton skirt that reached her calves, a lace apron around her waist, and her hair was wrapped in a snow-white scarf in a serious manner.

The little girl dressed as a maid placed the milk jug on the carpet, lifted a corner of her skirt and saluted the Pope on the bed. "Good day, Your Majesty. Today, the maid Lucreza is here to serve you."

It was obvious that saying this took all the shy little girl's strength. Her face turned red and her big eyes looked at the ground helplessly until she heard a short laugh from the young man on the bed, who had tried hard to hold his breath but failed.

"Okay, then thank you lovely Miss Lucresa. Who came up with this idea today? Also, I have to say I really like your look yesterday." Raphael lifted the quilt and got out of bed, his smooth robe fluttering around his legs. The young man walked over and touched the little girl's head, picked up the pot of milk and put it on the table which was very high for Lucresa, and at the same time rang the copper bell on the table.

Lucresa did not receive any title, but as a child who followed the Pope, she was tacitly accepted by everyone as His Majesty's adopted daughter. In addition, the little girl herself had a likable personality, so the Pope's Guards and monks and nuns poured a lot of love into her. Then they discovered that the child was too introverted and shy.

This is not a bad thing. For an excellent noble woman, gentleness and obedience are the highest requirements people have for her. However, Raphael does not want Lucresa to be so shy and introverted. At least she has to learn how to show herself in front of others with grace.

I don't know which guy first came up with this idea, but he coaxed Lucresa into playing a role-playing game, under the pretext of letting the naive little girl get in touch with different groups of people, which would naturally make her bolder.

Raphael didn't comment on this joking exercise, but watching Lucresa seriously play different roles every day, he would occasionally feel that it was... quite interesting.

Yesterday it was a female knight, the day before yesterday it was a nun, and today it is a maid. I wonder what surprise tomorrow will bring.

At the age of twenty-three, Raphael had a taste of the joy of being a new father hundreds of years later.

"Yesterday's proposal came from Mr. Redrick," the little girl answered every question and told her respected Majesty everything she knew. "And that sword was also given to me by Mr. Redrick. He said it was once a treasure of Vitalian III and was used to teach children about swordsmanship. It is engraved with the initials of the previous collector, DA. I really like that font."

"Really? Then you can try to learn it. The nobles in Calais are quite fond of innovative fonts. I heard that François IV is an outstanding master of calligraphy. If you have the chance, you can ask him for advice. As Sanxia's fiancé, he should be happy to have a lovely student like you." Raphael said casually. Sanxia liked Lucresa very much. Perhaps because of the regret of not having brothers and sisters, she showed great enthusiasm for the little girl raised by Raphael. She wanted to give all the good things she used in her childhood to Lucresa. Raphael was naturally happy to see this.

They arrived at the Castle of Hosanco three days ago. A message came from Calais that their emperor would not arrive for another two days, so this place became the world of Raphael and Sanxia. However, there was nothing worth lingering about in this border town. As far as the eye could see, there were only forests and fields. The two idle people went out on horseback every day to camp and wander around, killing time in boredom, which made them closer to each other.

After finishing breakfast with Lucreza, Raphael changed into simple and easy-to-walk clothes, buttoned his sleeves, and walked downstairs. Sure enough, Sangxia, wearing riding clothes, was already sitting in the hall waiting for him.

Seeing him coming down, the dashing princess grabbed the whip beside her and waved to him briskly: "Hurry up, you didn't catch anything yesterday, you can't come back empty-handed today."

The Pope, who was not good at hunting, paused for a moment and looked thoughtful.

Seeing that he seemed to be about to turn around and leave in the next second, Sang Xia couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Okay, Your Majesty, let me say one last thing - the teacher who taught you how to shoot should be ordered to leave the education industry from now on. I'm telling you the truth, he is really not suitable for this job."

Raphael glanced at her silently, raised his chin, and walked past her expressionlessly, like a proud big cat with purple eyes, full of confidence and domineering.

Sang Xia giggled and thought this was extremely interesting. It was a huge contrast that the Pope, who seemed to be omnipotent, had such a bad performance in martial arts. However, this contrast was not a big shortcoming in the eyes of those who favored him. Instead, it made people love him even more.

It's like the love that a strong man who can lift a 80-pound hammer with his bare hands has for a weak and helpless baby.

In fact, Sang Xia, who can really lift a saber weighing dozens of kilograms with his bare hands, is now under a strange filter towards the "weak and powerless" His Majesty.

The two men, along with a small team of knights, swept out of the castle like a gust of wind and rushed into the outskirts of the forest along the familiar road. After entering the forest, the light around them suddenly dimmed a lot. There was a newly opened road in the center of the forest. This was the one they had cut when they came here. There was fresh juice oozing out of the broken tree stumps on both sides. Obviously, if there was no subsequent intervention, it would not take long for this place to return to its former lushness.

After entering the forest, their speed slowed down. Raphael lazily rode on his horse and followed Sangxia. The energetic princess was in front, chasing the traces of prey, and the brass spear in her hand was always ready to fire. However, their group of people made a lot of noise, and those sensitive little animals had already run away to other places. Of course, Sangxia could not get rid of all the knights chasing them, so she could only hope to find the lone fool who had not had time to run away.

Then she actually found a lone idiot.

A male deer with shiny fur was tilting its neck to eat the tender leaves on the tree. Sang Xia held her breath, slowly raised her hand to aim, and the finger on the trigger slowly bent. The mechanism in the barrel triggered a chain reaction, and a louder noise drowned out the sound of the deer tearing the leaves.

"Your Highness! Your Majesty!"

Sangxia fired quickly, but it was too late. The agile deer ran away as soon as it heard the noise. Sangxia's bullet deviated from the intended position, leaving a gray-black trail of gunpowder on its back.

"What's wrong?" Sang Xia frowned, looking unhappy. Raphael looked at the reckless man instead of her, "What happened?"

"…The Emperor's convoy sent a letter saying that His Majesty was assassinated on the road last night. Half of the knights were killed in a village sixty miles away from here. They begged us to dispatch personnel to protect His Majesty."

The irritability on Sangxia's face disappeared in an instant, and she and Raphael looked at each other, each showing a meaningful expression.

The assassination at this time...is it because the Duke finally couldn't bear it anymore?

"Then take some people and go save my poor fiancé." The princess rolled the whip in her hand and said with a smile.

They did not return to the castle, but set out directly on the road to the little emperor's residence, waiting for the knights behind to catch up. Raphael was quite proficient in horsemanship. In Julius' words, you may not defeat all the enemies in a head-on battle, but at least you must ensure that you can escape from the encirclement.

The group rushed along the only road towards Calais in a cloud of dust, and finally saw the heavily guarded small village before afternoon tea time. Simple barricades were set up at the intersection, and the lion flag symbolizing the royal family of Calais was fluttering above the barn. Knights and servants came and went with a subtle sense of tension.

Raphael raised his eyebrows slightly. It seemed that Francis IV was injured in the assassination, but the situation should not be too serious, otherwise they would not stay here so quietly waiting for support.

The person guarding the door had already noticed their arrival and let them in after confirming their identities. Raphael noticed that the servants passing by were looking at them covertly and curiously, so he pulled up his hood, revealing only a little bit of his snow-white chin and golden hair. ↙

After he put on the hood, there were indeed fewer eyes on him. Sangxia followed the instructions and moved forward. He saw the tent belonging to Emperor Calais in the open space in the center of the village.

It was indeed the luxurious Calais royal style. The tent could be called a small mobile castle. It was luxurious to the point of being excessive. It was decorated with golden and red flags and ribbons everywhere. There was a pure gold lion statue on the top, and there was even a small garden in front of the tent.

Raphael and Sangxia's eyes were fixed on the small garden for a moment. The flowers in it were crowded together, with fresh dewdrops hanging on them. They were obviously fine products cultivated in the greenhouse. It felt strange to be transplanted in this relatively simple garden.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness," a young attendant came out of the tent and saluted the two men in a formal manner, "His Majesty was very happy to hear of your arrival and sent me to greet you two."

Raphael noticed that he was dressed extremely plainly, with only a golden silk tassel hanging from his chest and a few small medals below.

He came from a good family, had been on the battlefield, and was about the same age as Francis IV. He should be one of the young emperor's confidants.

They followed the young man into the tent and sat down one by one. After taking off his hood, Raphael suddenly frowned slightly - he had the feeling of being watched again. The gazes that came from nowhere fell on him, which were more oppressive than all the previous ones.

Raphael rolled his eyes calmly. There was no one in the tent. The maids poured tea for the guests in an orderly manner and then left. No one behaved impolitely.

The hanging curtain was lifted again, and a young man walked in with his head slightly lowered. He was tall, with thick, fluffy light brown long curly hair like thick sheep's wool, draped softly on his back, making his extremely handsome face look a little more harmless. His light brown eyes were slightly rounded at the ends, like a deer that suddenly turned its head in the woods. Perhaps because he was still young, his face, which was extremely similar to Duke François, did not show much majesty, but instead seemed more approachable, even a little soft and docile.

After seeing Raphael and Sangxia, he smiled, his eyes quickly touched Sangxia's face and then retracted, his cheeks and behind his ears flushed lightly, like a young boy who saw his sweetheart, he didn't know where to put his hands and feet, he could only focus his eyes between Sangxia and Raphael, and stammered: "Welcome, Your Highness Sangxia."

Without waiting for Sang Xia's response, he quickly looked away and fixed his gaze on Raphael's face.

This time he seemed much calmer, his hazel eyes curved, forming two fox-like smiles on his snow-white face, his full lips curled up, and the joy in his eyes was so strong that it made people feel uncomfortable, like a small animal seeing a trustworthy fellow, so they squeezed together and tried to rub against the other's soft fur: "You are welcome too, Your Majesty."

Compared to the nervousness when he greeted Sang Xia just now, his voice was very normal this time, with a soft and lingering ending, showing his good impression of Raphael at a glance.

...A very unsuspecting emperor. Raphael was almost in tears and laughter. The words "I'm easy to understand" were written all over his face. He didn't understand how such a guy grew up in the hands of Duke François.

"Good day, Your Majesty, I hope we are not too late. I heard that you encountered some difficult problems." Raphael continued.

The little emperor focused his eyes on his face. Raphael frowned slightly. He was not particularly

He didn't like being stared at like this, but the little emperor seemed to notice his discomfort and quickly looked away.

"Of course, of course, it's not a big deal," François looked at the pattern on the carpet and felt his heartbeat getting faster and faster. A kind of intoxication and crazy joy rushed into his brain. He had to use all his strength to restrain his disobedient hands and eyes, and restrain himself from laughing weirdly. He pricked up his ears and heard his own voice with a slight tremor, "... You are not late. It's better to say that I am very happy to see you at this moment...you."

The little emperor of Calais lowered his head and showed a greedy smile that only a hungry beast could have.

The author has something to say:

The little emperor [hiding behind the tent and peeping]: Let me take a look at my future wife...wife hehehe...wife...

Raphael: [Who is looking at me] Creepy

Sang Xia: ...Are you serious about planting flowers here? Does he like gardening? Oops, maybe we don't have a common language.