Cohen's eyes widened and he looked at the prince with a firm tone in astonishment.
Miranda quietly stared at Raphael's right hand with an indifferent expression.
"What?" Huaiya frowned: "This... Your Highness, you are talking about..."
Rolf, who was behind him, grabbed the attendant's shoulder and shook his head at him.
Thales and Raphael's eyes met in the air, one was determined, the other was calm.
After exactly five seconds, Raphael took a deep breath and his eyes became sharp.
He noticed that Thales had moved to the corner of the cell unknowingly just now.
He had planned it.
This distance is quite far, even if you want to knock him unconscious suddenly...
Raphael glanced at Wyatt and Rolf beside him and sighed softly.
"With all due respect, Your Highness," the young man from the secret department said calmly: "But we are in danger now. If we want to drink and talk, we might as well wait until we are out of danger."
The light in the cell flickered slightly.
Thales smiled.
"In the future?" The prince gently took out the dagger in his hand and said slowly: "After I escape from danger, I won't have a chance to know the truth."
"If I don't ask, are you going to never tell me?"
According to the occult habit of cheating on people, now is the only time they can talk, Thales thought silently.
The atmosphere in the venue was somewhat solemn and tense.
Rafi frowned slightly: "Prince Thales, you are known in the stars for being young and mature, but your behavior at this moment is very childish..."
Thales looked cold. He looked at Raphael's calm expression and chuckled softly.
"childish?"
"I still remember Count Gilbert Castle's letter."
Hearing his father's name, Huaiya's face moved slightly.
"He told me that the Black Prophet promised him that the secret department would have full authority to handle the matter of the blood magician." At this point, Thales snorted coldly: "Let me not worry."
Cohen glanced at Raphael who said nothing and couldn't help but want to speak, but Miranda held his hand down.
Thales sighed.
"Look, if I wholeheartedly believe that you are my savior, entrust everything to the secret department, follow you obediently, and be at the mercy of others without any worries," Thales's eyes began to turn cold:
"That's called childishness."
Raphael narrowed his eyes, lowered his head slightly, and was silent for a while.
"I understand how you feel."
"But now is not the time, Your Highness," Raphael raised his head, looked around, and then said silently: "Your request will also affect the safety of everyone in this room."
Cohen frowned slightly, but Miranda had already spoken first.
"No," the female swordsman of the Arend family looked at her former lover and said calmly, "We are also in it, and I also want to know the truth."
Not only that.
I want to know more about you, Raphael.
The young man in the secret department was slightly startled.
Raphael looked back at her calmly, with complicated eyes.
"Raphael," Cohen sighed: "Maybe you should be more honest - just like last night, if you are willing to explain to us, maybe..."
The security officer glanced at the dark cell, sighed and slowly shook his head.
Thales stood in the corner and nodded slightly: "Believe me, to make a long story short - there is no better time than now,"
A wave of irritation suddenly surged into Raphael's heart.
"Are you all crazy? We have to leave as soon as possible," Raphael frowned. He looked around at the people around him and spoke gradually faster: "They take shifts every three hours and patrol once every half hour..."
Huaiya was startled and quickly moved to the door, listening to the sounds outside.
However, Miranda shook her head and interrupted Raphael.
"Anyway, we have to break out unexpectedly - it's only a matter of time before we encounter the enemy." The girl from the Allende family looked coldly and stared at Raphael: "Instead of meeting them halfway, it's better to ambush and patrol here first.
Or people who work shifts, kill them all in one fell swoop."
Raphael's face became increasingly ugly.
"But since you said that, you might as well hurry up," the second prince shook his head and said, "tell the whole story clearly in half an hour?"
"And we don't have to waste so much time."
Raphael looked at Thales blankly.
The young man from the secret department took a deep breath.
"Charmaine Lombard," he turned around with a serious expression and spoke quickly: "Do you know what will happen if you fall into his hands again? Do you know that the Kingdom of Stars will..."
"certainly!"
Thales raised his head without showing any signs of weakness and looked directly into his red eyes: "And I also know that I fell into his hands because of the 'help' of those people!"
Raphael was slightly startled, and Cohen and Miranda looked at each other with different expressions.
"Yes, maybe I will die, and maybe I will be stigmatized and tortured before I die," the second prince said lightly: "But at least I choose to die clearly, rather than in a daze under the knife handed from behind.
Lose your life."
Raphael clenched his fist slightly.
"Is this important? Even at this time, when you are in a dangerous situation and surrounded by powerful enemies," the visitor from the secret department exhaled heavily, feeling a little unstable: "You still have to waste time on this kind of thing that is no longer important.
On the details?”
"Yes, this is very important," Thales narrowed his eyes slightly: "And I am sure that this is by no means an 'insignificant detail'."
If Mi Ke is a collaborator of Rumba...
"I don't know if it's part of your plan to end up in this situation."
"I don't know if I will fall into another trap if I follow you now."
Thales looked at several faces with different expressions and nodded solemnly and seriously.
"A female friend of mine warned me when dealing with family disputes, to be wary of so-called 'allies' who will stab you in the back." Recalling the past, Thales sighed and felt something on his neck.
The area is aching.
"And one of my king friends demonstrated it himself," Thales was not surprised to see the little slippery man trembling slightly, "ignoring those inconspicuous but crucial details will cause you to lose your head for no apparent reason.
"
The cell was quiet for a moment.
Raphael looked at him quietly. After a few seconds, he let out a long sigh: "You have so many friends."
"Ah, I have a lot of experience," Thales said with emotion as he recalled his experiences along the way: "I have learned a lot from each of them."
The cell became quiet again.
Raphael stared into Thales's eyes, his eyes unmoving for a long time, his brows twitching.
Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he nodded slowly.
Thales breathed a sigh of relief.
But Raphael's next words made him frown.
"However, this is confidential information belonging to the secret department. Even if you are a prince and the future king," Raphael said softly, he looked around at the people around him, "I can't leak it to you privately - or to anyone who has nothing to do with it."
people."
Cohen's expression changed, and Miranda sighed.
Thales frowned: "You..."
"So, regarding the relationship between the secret department and Rumba," but Raphael spoke again, only to hear him raise the corners of his mouth and say with a half-smile: "I suggest you ask him - just as it happens, I also have some questions to ask.
he."
Everyone present was slightly stunned.
"Him?" Thales looked suspicious: "Who?"
Only Miranda turned pale as she remembered something.
"Oh," Raphael looked around at the people around him with a mysterious expression: "Of course it's that adult."
Just listen to him slowly opening his mouth and biting out a name:
"Lord Morat Hanson."
The scene was quiet for a second.
A second later, everyone's expressions suddenly changed after they understood the name and reacted.
Thales' breathing stagnated slightly, Cohen's expression simply froze on his face, and Wyatt poked Rolf with a bad look on his face, and even the little slipper covered his mouth.
A few seconds later.
"Black Prophet?"
Thales adjusted his breathing and said doubtfully: "But he's not here..."
"No," Cohen's face changed drastically after he reacted. He held down his sword, turned his head and looked around: "He is here, in Longxiao City?"
Raphael twitched the corners of his mouth slightly, with a subtle expression.
"Yes, he is here."
Everyone frowned together.
"But he is also there," the young man from the secret department said in a relaxed manner:
"The Black Prophet is everywhere."
After finishing speaking, Raphael stopped paying attention to the people who didn't know why.
I saw him take a deep breath.
Raphael stretched out his right hand and spread his palm upward, revealing his white wrist.
He put his left hand on his right arm and grasped the sleeve that had just been split into two pieces.
Raphael frowned slightly.
He raised his head and took a deep look at Miranda among the crowd.
His expression seemed a little hesitant.
Miranda looked back at him quietly, her eyes filled with sadness at first, and then turned to determination.
She nodded slightly towards Raphael.
Cohen, who was very familiar with the two of them, felt an abnormal atmosphere and was slightly startled.
Raphael sighed and decisively pulled back the sleeve on his right arm.
Showing his forearm.
But the moment Raphael opened his sleeves, everyone was stunned.
Raphael's hands were perfect and white—not what a swordsman should have.
But under his wrist, there was something out of place, ugly and unusual.
It ruins the overall look and feel.
Under Raphael's right wrist, there was a horrible red scar with everted flesh - it looked like a burn or brand.
The scar was so large that it started from the wrist and snaked downwards, almost filling half of Raphael's forearm.
What's even weirder is that this scar seems to be very regular, like a meaningful pattern.
Miranda closed her eyes hard and turned her head away, as if she didn't dare to look anymore.
Doubts welled up in Thales's heart, and the little slick guy behind him stretched out half of his face curiously.
"This, this is..." Cohen reached out involuntarily and grabbed Raphael's hand. He looked at the extremely ugly scar on Raphael's hand in shock and exclaimed:
"It's the brand!"
The security officer suddenly raised his head, an expression of disbelief on his face.
"Wait a minute, the mark at this location, and the mark at this depth," Cohen opened his mouth wide, his expression frightened, and his voice even trembled, "I saw it in the Western Wasteland, on the hands of the prisoners in the Prison of Bones.
…”
"This is one of the most severe disciplinary sentences..."
Hearing this, Thales was moved in his heart.
Lafayette sighed and broke away from Cohen: "This is not the key, I want to contact you now..."
But Cohen didn't listen to him. He saw the security officer gritting his teeth, suddenly grabbing Raphael's other arm, and pulling up his sleeve.
Everyone was stunned again.
I saw that on Raphael's left arm, there was also a horrific mark that was almost the same as that on his right arm, lying abruptly under his wrist.
The scars were covered in blood and flesh, almost covering the blood vessels.
Rolf's heart trembled, and he unconsciously reached out and touched his throat under the mask.
That level of scars...
"Your hand, no, no..." Cohen looked at the horrific marks on his friend's wrist, shook his head in disbelief, and said in a trembling voice: "Who, who did this?"
Raphael closed his eyes, took a deep breath from his nose, and frowned slightly.
It seemed like I remembered something.
Thales raised his head, and what came into view was Miranda's pale face and trembling lips.
The female swordsman pursed her lips tightly, looked at the horrific scars on Raphael's hands in a daze, and trembled slightly.
"They, they actually disabled your hand?" Cohen looked at his friend, his eyes full of shock and anger, and he turned pale and murmured:
"Crippling a swordsman's hands?"
Raphael opened his eyes suddenly and threw Cohen away.
"enough!"
Raphael pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, and his expression changed rarely. He scolded Cohen with an angry look on his face: "It doesn't matter - I'm already cured!"
Thales sighed softly in his heart: He knew what it was.
That is a unique punishment.
He once lay under the window sill of the brotherhood house and peeped at the execution of thugs - a self-righteous debt collection leader with little ability.
What leaves this kind of brand is a special branding iron, with a thin standing edge cast outside the branding surface - just like a seal, but even sharper than the bumps on the seal.
Countless times. When the red-hot iron is stamped into the wrist, it will not just leave a burn. The special and protruding sharp blade will burn the skin and flesh, directly cut into the deep tissue and blood vessels, and completely destroy the muscles that control the fingers.
Tendons.
After execution, the victim's muscles, blood vessels, and even nerves and tendons will suffer irreversible and permanent damage.
Of course, these hands were ruined, and they could not help but tremble even in daily life.
Thales still remembers the poor guy who was tortured. From then on, he couldn't even lift a bowl. He sat on the street in a daze every day, fighting wild dogs for food with his mouth, waiting for charity from kindhearted people.
A month later, he died on the dark street.
Thales raised his head and looked at Raphael with some surprise and reluctance.
This guy also received that kind of punishment?
his hand……
Raphael looked unhappy. He held his right forearm and stared at the ugly brand mark. His arm trembled slightly, as if he wanted to see a flower on it.
But Thales's heart moved.
wrong.
That is a permanent disability. How can it be cured?
Also, if he was executed this kind of punishment, he wouldn't even be able to pick up the tableware, but Raphael just...
His thoughts were interrupted by Cohen.
"Miranda, you know that, right?"
Thales turned his head and looked at Cohen, who was trying his best to suppress his emotions, holding Miranda's shoulders and asking urgent questions.
Huaiya anxiously grabbed the security officer's other arm and tried to drag him back.
"That level... is impossible to recover from - you discovered it when you fought last night!" The security officer stared at Miranda who was silent and said angrily: "You knew this from the beginning.
what's going on!"
"Miranda, tell me, both of Rafael's hands are... who did it!"
"Secret science? Or the damn Black Prophet?"
But Miss Allende just closed her eyes tightly with a sad expression, shaking her head without saying a word, with a look of pain on her face.
She completely lacks the cool yet sharp female swordsman demeanor from before.
Thales looked at the brand mark, and his heart suddenly became clear.
He seemed to know the answer.
The brand mark on Raphael's hand has a special pattern faintly visible on the knotted flesh and blood scars.
Those are the marks left by the specially cast branding blade.
In order to identify the family coat of arms and emblems of important nobles, Thales once painfully memorized the Star Kingdom seal album that Gilbert threw to him - from coat of arms to patterns, to emblems to code names, and then to
The seal used to sign a letter to the king.
And on the brand mark under Raphael's wrist - there is a rare engraved ancient imperial script, which is very different from the current alphabet writing, because it is too old to even be used on the lacquer seals of letters.
That's the letter 'a'.
Represents a highly respected aristocratic surname.
A noble family that has been passed down from ancient imperial times to today.
The eagle soaring in the north.
Thinking of this, Thales sighed softly.
"Cohen Karabyan, let her go!"
Raphael's voice came tremblingly.
They turned around and were surprised to see Raphael holding on to the wall with difficulty, his exposed forearms shaking constantly, as if he was undergoing some kind of torture.
"We're still in the cell!"
Raphael's face was distorted, his voice was very scary, and his voice was actually a little thick: "Don't cause trouble!"
Miranda opened her eyes suddenly when she heard the sound.
Boom!
She elbowed Cohen hard in the stomach.
Under the widened eyes of the others, Cohen took a step back with a bitter look on his face, while Miranda rushed to Raphael's side in two or two steps, with a look of panic on her face.
"What's going on?" Miranda trembled and supported Raphael who was in a bad state: "What's going on?"
Thales narrowed his eyes, he felt something was wrong.
"That's enough, that's not the key," Raphael said with a painful look on his face: "Next, no matter what you see, don't make a fuss."
Mutation regeneration.
The next moment, Raphael suddenly twitched, and the bloody mark on his right forearm suddenly arched upward as if it was alive.
A dark wavy line appeared along his forearm.
Then, the brand mark suddenly cracked!
Yes, it's cracked.
And it is regular, from that line, the canine teeth intersect and crack like a jagged shape!
"Tear it... la..." A sound like tearing cloth was heard.
Except for Raphael, who seemed to be enduring the pain, everyone was stunned.
What the hell is this?
If you want to use anything to describe it, it is like a mouth with no lips and only teeth lurking under the skin. It suddenly arches from Raphael's arm, and then opens a large mouth full of sharp teeth, tearing the skin!
Thales felt goosebumps.
The "mouth" covering Raphael's skin was opened halfway, revealing the contents inside.
It was endless darkness, like a black hole.
Nothing can be seen.
It gave Thales a chill in his heart.
The "mouth" seemed to be opening a little unsmoothly, and the speed slowed down.
"Quick, block the light," Raphael almost put all his weight on Miranda. He gritted his teeth tightly, his face was distorted, and he bit out in pain:
"It doesn't like...light..."
Cohen got up from the ground and was startled. He quickly stood up and used his height to block an eternal lamp.
Finally, the terrifying "mouth" parasitic on Raphael's body was fully unfolded in his hand.
Its pitch-black "tines" point outward and tremble slightly.
It's like breathing.
And in the center of that "mouth" is still a bottomless black hole whose depth cannot be seen clearly.
Raphael exhaled hard, his face covered in cold sweat, as if he had just been freed from torture.
"Okay, Mira..." He squeezed out a smile: "It's okay."
Miranda looked at Raphael with a painful expression, and while trembling with fear, she felt extremely heartbroken.
Raphael…
What on earth have you experienced...
Cohen stared with shocked eyes and asked the question in everyone's mind: "What the hell is this?"
Thales looked at Raphael's forearm in astonishment, staring at the black hole that was opening and shrinking as if it was breathing. He also looked at the pitch-black tines attached to Raphael's flesh and blood.
numb.
At this moment, a very familiar voice to Thales came from the terrifying black hole, startling everyone.
It was a cold, hoarse, old, chilling male gloomy voice.
Hearing that voice, Thales thought of past memories and felt the hairs on his body explode.
In the silent cell, the voice of the secret leader of the Kingdom of Stars, the Black Prophet Morat Hansen, with his unique and unpleasant tone, came faintly from the dark side in Raphael's arms.
:
"Tsk, tsk, the third pass-through summons in five hours...how many more did you let that moth eat?"