After seeing off his guest ("You're going to make him die miserably, right?" - Belicia's intriguing attitude before leaving), Thales returned to the dungeon and faced a situation that was obviously different from before.

of Lausanne II.

"I heard that you finally relented and wanted to see me again?"

Lausanne II raised his head with difficulty, looking through his messy hair, and first looked at the people around him:

"I only promise to see you."

Beside Thales, Miss Cecilia Cavendill, who looked unhappy because she had lost face ("Well, your method is more effective than the soul bone Jacques, are you satisfied?") crossed her arms.

, frowning and threatening:

"Oh? Are you sure?"

Thales looked around and quickly smoothed things over:

"Well, in this case, Xi Lai, if you are present, he will not be very willing. Does that mean..."

"I stayed."

Hilley was decisive and blocked all possibilities.

Thales raised his eyebrows and quickly changed his words:

"OK."

The prince looked at the killer with an undiminished smile:

"Look, I tried my best."

Lausanne II said disdainfully:

"Try harder."

"Are you sure?" Xi Lai pulled his gloves coldly, "You want me to work harder?"

When Thales put on a smile and prepared for another round of persuasion, the vampire killer smiled sadly.

"You guys should put away this red-faced trick," he turned his head to the side with an indifferent attitude, showing no reaction to Hilley's threats. "I'm tired of it."

His attitude of giving up everything made Thales and Hilley both frown and look at each other.

"It seems that you had a good chat with your old friend?" Thales asked tentatively.

Lausanne II was silent for a while:

"How did you come up with the idea of ​​finding her?"

Very good, if you are willing to talk, then you don't have to think of ways to send the eldest lady away.

"Because I can't catch you - in every sense." Thales sighed.

Both physically and mentally.

Lausanne II looked at him again.

"But fortunately, I began to understand that in my position, there are many things that you don't have to do yourself," Thales shrugged. "If I want to catch you, I just need to find those, well, people who have caught you."

.”

It's just...

He pursed his lips.

The second prince's reputation is probably not big enough.

At least... Black Sword refuses to come?

"As for Belicia, well," Thales speculated, "rather than intimidation, sometimes letting you chat with your old friends and letting things take their own course might lead to better results?"

Miss Hilley on the side took her seat and glared at him angrily.

Lausanne II sneered.

"Then her performance was so good. I can't even tell how much of it was true feelings and how much was intentional."

Thales' expression changed slightly:

"You know she's acting?"

"I wish I didn't know."

"Then you are still willing to see me?"

The vampire killer raised his eyes, expressionless:

"I'm not willing to see you because of her."

Thales' eyebrows jumped.

But after all, you were only willing to let go after meeting her.

But Thales thought so, nodded to himself, and brought the topic back to the key point:

"I understand that you were involved in the change of power in the Emerald City that year. You were betrayed in the battle between the Blood Bottle Gang and the Brotherhood, and suffered a complete defeat. Only then did you return to the Emerald City for revenge many years later. Now I still have the last piece of the puzzle, and I need you...

…”

"Have you ever lost?"

Thales was startled:

"What?"

Lausanne II, who was covered in bruises and in heavy shackles, took a breath and spoke in a daze:

"I mean, Your Highness Thales, have you ever lost in your short life?"

What?

lose?

This topic was too far away from the topic. Thales couldn't react in time and didn't know how to bring the conversation back.

"I told you, you should use my method."

Xi Lai, who was listening in the audience, sighed, with an expression on his face that he had known this for a long time, and shook his head in disdain.

But Thales raised his hand and asked Hilley to wait a moment.

He put himself into the other party's situation and tried to understand Lausanne II's thoughts:

"Have I ever lost...Why do you ask?"

Lausanne II raised his head and looked at him carefully under the dim light.

"From the first time we met, I could see it in your eyes, Your Highness."

The killer narrowed his eyes:

"You are a stubborn and stubborn man, and you may have been called stupid and naive."

Hilley couldn't help but glance at the prince, while Thales remained silent.

"You must have experienced trials, pains, tribulations, setbacks...perhaps unimaginable to ordinary people, but you gritted your teeth, relied on your will to convince yourself, and persisted in overcoming. Every time, every time you became stronger and more tenacious,

Even more unshakable - like all the great heroes of all time."

Lausanne II smiles hard:

"Just like a high-quality ancient imperial sword, it becomes sharper as it is sharpened, and becomes stronger the more it is used in battle. Everyone is in awe, envy, and covet it."

But his smile disappeared immediately, and his words changed:

"Except for one thing."

The killer said coldly:

"You have never experienced failure."

Thales listened to his words carefully and smiled involuntarily.

"Then you are wrong."

Thales looked at the bottomless darkness around him and felt in a trance:

"On the contrary, I have experienced countless failures, as well as many seemingly successful failures, including too many helpless and compromising choices..."

Abandoned House, Mindis Hall, Manor Manor, Fuxing Palace, Palace of Heroes, Dragon Sky City, Blade Tooth Camp, Prison of Bones... and the Kongming Palace in front of you.

"The fault is yours, Your Highness."

As a prisoner, Lausanne II mercilessly criticized the temporary warden in front of him:

"As long as your will has not been broken, it is not a failure."

Thales' eyes moved.

"As long as you still hold on to the hope of 'not giving up' or even 'starting all over again,'" the killer shook his head, "then what you encounter is far from failure."

At that moment, endless gloomy despair appeared in Lausanne II’s eyes:

"The kind of failure that is so complete that it makes you deny everything that belongs to you, your faith is shattered and you are so disheartened that you just want to give up everything, numbly escape, or even end it all."
To be continued...