In the dark cell, faced with the questioning of Barney Jr. and Belletti, Samir's face was gloomy, as if he had been severely wounded.
Looking at this scene of fratricide, Thales suddenly had more and deeper insights into the Royal Guards and the Year of Blood.
No matter who betrayed them, no matter what the truth was, it seemed that the Star Royal Guards' own problems were unmistakable in the face of that thrilling assassination in the Fuxing Palace.
But that's not the point.
Betrayal is far more than just a process of estrangement between like-minded people and close friends. Under the most superficial and superficial triggers, there are often deeper truths hidden.
In the North, Lombard's rebellion stemmed from the fierce backlash after the natural king came to Exeter. The swing in the dark room was actually a rational choice after the decline of Exeter's royal power. The betrayal of the Deathhorn Crow was rooted in the past.
King Nun's manipulative tactics left a legacy.
In Stars, the Duke of the North's conspiracy to usurp the throne always revolves around the game between the Bright Star royal family and the Arlend family against Dragon Broken Fortress and the North of Stars, as well as the collective collusion of the "New Star" noble faction such as Kevin Dill and Nantryster.
express their expectations and ambitions for the distribution of power in this country.
Even in front of Thales, the chaos of the Blade Tooth camp, which facilitated the infiltration of foreign enemies and put him in trouble, was not the result of the Blade Tooth Baron and the Duke of the Western Wilderness, the standing army and the levies, the Bright Star royal family and the Western Wilderness nobles.
, between Yongxing City and Ruins, between the central part of the kingdom and the western frontier, is it a complex and changeable, vaguely hostile, yet interdependent stage of competition in the face of the desert enemy?
So, what about the Year of Blood?
Thinking of this, Thales suddenly came to a realization: the apparent split in the royal guard was not an exception, let alone the main cause. It was just a reflection, reflecting the biggest contradiction of that era.
In the turbulent waves of that era, these poor people could only drift with the waves, unable to recover, even if they always adhered to their true intentions.
Even if he is a peerless master.
Even if he is the king of a country.
Even... a magician.
There was silence in the prison for a long time.
Until Ricky's sneer sounded faintly.
"Just as I thought."
Little Barney, who was immersed in resentment and unwillingness, and Samir, who was lost in sorrow and despair, both turned their eyes.
I saw the leader of the Sword of Disaster slowly stepping forward and standing side by side with Samir.
"Do you understand now, Samir?"
Ricky said as he suddenly raised the torch, illuminating the mark on the latter's face.
Semier, who looked lonely, was stimulated by the light of the fire. He subconsciously raised his hands to cover himself and took a few steps back.
"No matter how much you want to go back to where you started, how much you want to redeem the regrets of the past, and heal the scars of the past."
Ricky said expressionlessly: "No matter how much you want to get rid of that ugly mark on your face."
Samuel put down his palms in embarrassment, straightened his back again, struggled with his face, lowered his head and panted.
Ricky sneered, suddenly withdrew the torch, and turned around to light up the cell on the other side.
"But this is the answer."
The prisoners behind the fence were also embarrassed to avoid the firelight that Ricky deliberately approached. Only Barney, who was breathing rapidly, stood there, only turning his face to the side, and did not retreat at all.
Looking at several prisoners in ragged clothes and desolate expressions, Ricky clicked his tongue and shook his head: "This is the past and yesterday's answer to you."
Samir did not speak, he just looked at his colleagues in the prison who were once high-spirited but now dirty and embarrassed.
The past and yesterday.
He said silently in his heart.
"and who are you?"
Little Barney looked at Ricky with disdain:
"Is he also Shadow Shield, one of those disgusting scum?"
Ricky stared at Little Barney closely, as if he wanted to see something from him, but after a few seconds, he just smiled and shook his head.
"He can't make that oath," Ricky slowly withdrew the torch, making his face that looked like he had gone through many vicissitudes of life shine brighter, and he nuzzled his chin towards Semier:
"Because just an hour ago, he joined us and kidnapped King Kessel's only son."
"The last bloodline of Bright Star."
As soon as these words came out, Thales' breathing suddenly stopped!
Sure enough, the eyes of the prisoners in the Royal Guard all changed.
"Wha-what?"
Little Barney spoke slowly, his doubts revealed in his tone.
"Bright Star?"
Thales immediately felt that several eyes came out of the darkness behind the prison and descended on him in unison.
Marina, who was responsible for taking care of the prince, felt inexplicable pressure and caused the Swords of Disaster around her to surround Thales even tighter.
"You said...kidnapping?" Belletti's voice was slightly trembling.
"When," Naji, who had been humming a tune, had already gotten up from the ground, in disbelief:
"The new king has a son and a new heir?"
Outside the cell, Samir still said nothing, but his face was sad.
"Kidnapping the prince? You? Samir, is what he said true?" Nai opened his big eyes, his cheeks twitched, and looked nervously outside the prison: "That young man with a bad look is the current bright star.
?”
"Hahahaha, it's so funny." Tardin, who had been beaten with his roommate earlier, looked at Samir in front of him, and then at Thales in the distance. His laughter was bleak, and the sarcasm was getting stronger and stronger: "
It’s getting more and more interesting hahaha…”
Outside the cell, Samir lowered his head in despair and gently closed his eyes.
Seeing their different reactions and bearing their gazes from the darkness, Thales was stunned.
The eyes of the former royal guards were very complicated, and the prince could not accurately distinguish their emotions at the moment.
Is it stunned, sighing, regretful, or excited and dejected?
Thales didn't know.
They are clearly looking at themselves now.
But it's like looking at the past.
Ricky, who had just told the truth, looked at Samir beside him and frowned slightly when he saw that he still looked lost.
The silence and surprise inside and outside the cell only lasted for a short period of time.
"So you really can't make an oath, right?"
Naji sat back on the ground, with a calm face and a touch of relief in his voice: "Samuel, I really hope you know what you are doing,"
"Whether it was then or now."
"real."
Samir's expression changed. He raised his head with a slight hope, as if he wanted to find some comfort and understanding:
"Naki..."
But Naji shook his head:
"Don't talk to me. Go talk to Barney. The person with the highest position has the final say."
Samir's words stalled. He closed his mouth in disappointment and looked at the vanguard, Little Quil Barney.
The shock in Barney's eyes was slowly replaced by surprise and indifference.
"So this is the answer," the pioneer officer stared at the depressed Samir with a complicated expression. "No matter whether you betrayed or not... today, so many years later, you have still become a traitor after all."
At that moment, Samir's expression froze.
"So what is this?" Little Barney sneered and leaned against the wall, no longer looking at his old companions:
"Giving up on yourself?"
Samuel took a deep breath and moved his lips, but in the end he couldn't say anything.
Ricky, who watched this scene coldly, smiled softly.
"How's it going, Samir?"
"Tell them this," Ricky gently dropped the torch and let it roll on the dusty ground: "Then defend yourself, tell them you are not a traitor, tell them you are still one
That good brother from back then.”
There was a touch of sarcasm in his tone.
"Does this make you feel better?"
Samir stared quietly at the torch at his feet and the flames trembling on the ground.
"I have fulfilled my promise and given you the opportunity to face the shadow of the past." Ricky looked back at the five cells in front of him and looked at the seven former royal guards coldly: "But the problem is, Samuel,
Is this really the 'reunion' you expected?"
Samir's chest began to rise and fall.
The firelight was reflected in his pupils, weak and dim, like the last light spot in the darkness.
His dark back was projected on the wall through the torches on the ground, dancing back and forth in an erratic way.
Ricky took a step forward and snorted coldly: "How about it? Is it full of flowers and excitement, beauty and hope, forgiveness and understanding?"
Listening to Ricky's razor-sharp questioning, Thales felt quite uncomfortable.
"Now, Samuel," Ricky said coldly:
"Do you understand it?"
Samir watched the flickering light of the fire in a daze, as if unaware.
"I can tell, you are not the Shadow Shield, man," Taldin in the prison sneered, "You sound like a brainwashed cultist."
Cultist?
Ricky was stunned for a moment, then smiled unexpectedly.
He did not respond to Tardin's sarcasm, but continued to look at Samuel.
"The past is gone, and yesterday cannot be repaired. 'Everything is like yesterday' is just an illusion, a kind of escape, because you can never go back to the past, whether it is the people or things in the past."
Ricky seemed to have a profound meaning: "Many times, you can't find the answer if you go back to the starting point."
"Or, the answers you find will only make you more desperate."
The torch on the ground was still struggling, but it was getting darker and darker, and Samir's face became increasingly blurry.
Including that ugly brand.
"We can only create a new path and a new future," Ricky sighed:
"Only in order to transcend that bad past."
Samuel listened blankly to Ricky's words, and the flames in his pupils became smaller and darker.
"But this is our life."
Ricky raised his head and looked at the stone pillar in the center of the hall, looking at the emblem with the same eyes, his eyes slightly blank.
"You can save nothing but yourself."
"You can't control anything except the future."
The next second, the torch at Samir's feet finally went out.
Leave Samir's motionless face and pupils, as well as his confused and painful expression, in the deep darkness.
No longer seen.
"You are dressed like mercenaries," Naki sighed, brightening a simple light in their cell, "but no mercenary has the courage and means to break into the dark cell all the way - Blade
Did something big happen to Camp Ya, so we relaxed enough to let you weirdos sneak in?"
Ricky snorted slightly and didn't answer.
The keen little Barney quickly reacted:
"Why, there's another war up there, so the main force is not here? Who is it this time, the eight tribes of the orcs or the three tribes of the Barren Bones? Or is it the Northlanders, or even a civil war?"
No one answered them.
A few seconds later, the figure belonging to Samir slowly lowered in the darkness, and the sound of a torch being picked up sounded in the air.
With a pop, the extinguished torch was lit again, causing the prisoners to shrink again.
Samir's figure reappeared in the firelight.
It's like returning from the dark hell to the bright world.
"Little Barney," Samuel's voice sounded faintly:
"You know, when you entered the royal guard, many people were saying that you just got in because of your father's relationship."
These words floated out into the air, causing a slight silence in the hall.
Little Barney was startled for a moment, then took a deep breath: "You..."
But Samir suddenly raised his head and said forcefully and briefly: "And I am one of those people."
Little Barney was stunned.
He suddenly noticed that at this moment, Samir no longer had the painful and regretful expression.
Instead, there was coldness and determination.
Even the mark on his face seemed much sharper.
"It seems today that what they said was right, Barney," Samir held up the torch, tutted and shook his head with a cold look:
"You haven't inherited any of Big Barney's qualities."
"The old captain gave up on you and chose Belletti to inherit the position of punishment officer. It is really wise."
Little Barney frowned slightly, while Belletti opposite him turned his head.
"Because after many years of imprisonment, you are still a fool," Samir said softly. The confusion and pain had faded away, and he was like a cold rock, making people feel more stressed: "You can't see things clearly, and you can't see people clearly."
"A madman who has lost his heart."
The guards and prisoners in the prison were all startled.
Ricky looked at Samir like this and smiled silently.
"It's ridiculous," Little Barney took a deep breath, resentment and anger building up again:
"These words actually came from the mouth of a traitor."
But he soon realized that the subject of the conversation had changed.
A second later, Samuel spit out a number coldly: "Thirty-seven."
Little Barney was so stunned:
"What?"
Samir waved the torch, letting the flames burn more fully, illuminating the neat skeletons in the cell: "You said that in eighteen years, you gave a speech for the deaths of thirty-seven guard brothers."
The prisoners frowned.
Samir's face was expressionless: "Back then, there were forty-six people sentenced to the Prison of Bones."
Little Barney's face suddenly tightened!
"Thirty-seven people have unfortunately lost their lives in these years. Seven of you have survived until now. Including me, there are only forty-five." Samir said without any emotion, as if he was telling someone else's story:
"There's still one person missing."
Behind him, Clay and Ricky both laughed.
Thales' eyebrows jumped.
Samir took a step forward, getting closer and closer to Barney.
"It's him, right?"
"He's not here."
Samuel looked at Barney coldly: "I didn't see his name on the sign."
"You came in with him, where is he?"
he?
Thales's heart slowly lifted.
There is another person...who is it?
The hall fell into unprecedented silence.
The prisoners' breathing became increasingly rapid.
"I understand."
Little Barney stared at Samir unkindly.
"You are not here to rescue us, nor are you here to see an old friend, are you, coward, traitor," he gritted his teeth: "As for those people outside..."
But Samuel stretched out his arm, and the torch passed through the gap in the fence and pointed directly at Little Barney!
"Where is he?" Samir asked coldly.
"Bah." Little Barney looked at the flames that were almost burning in front of his eyes, and he groaned angrily.
Samir snorted coldly and turned to the other side.
"Beletti, you took over as punishment officer from him, you should know that."
Belletti just closed her eyes tightly and shook her head.
Samir's expression remained unchanged and he turned his head again.
"Where is he?"
He said coldly: "Brie, tell me..."
But the strong Buri in the cell just kept shaking his head, with a ferocious expression on his face, and made a muffled sound in his throat: "Woooo——"
"Don't look at him," Tardin, who was in the same cell as Bree, crossed his arms and sneered sarcastically:
"Brie can't tell you."
"After breaking Larrey's neck with his own hands, he could no longer speak."
What?
Samir frowned imperceptibly.
The former talkative brie...
He stared at the angry-looking Bree from a distance for several seconds, and finally looked away and stopped asking him.
"You know who I'm talking about!"
Samir turned around and spoke loudly:
"Since Captain Cullen and your father died in the Year of Blood, he is the most important person in the remaining royal guards."
"Anyone among us can die, but he can't!"
Samuel's tone was cold, as if he no longer had any illusions about the meaning of comrades.
Little Barney expressed doubts:
"Year of Blood?"
Samir snorted angrily and looked at him disdainfully:
"Yes, that year, the year of blood - from His Majesty, the Crown Prince, the princes, to the nobles, the common people... that year when all life was devastated and only blood was left."
"That's what they called that year."
The prisoners paused slightly, their expressions changing.
Seeing this scene, Thales felt a little disappointed.
This group of people.
They experienced the horror of the Year of Blood, but for eighteen years, they did not know what history or the outside world called this year.
Samir's voice was slightly sad at first, but soon returned to indifference:
"Tell me now,"
"The top master of the royal guard in the past, the former guard execution officer, and the current guard watchman," Samir looked at the only seven prisoners without compromise and said sternly: