“He is your father! You cannot be an enemy of him! You cannot even...”
Tales smiles and hums:
“Can’t?”
Gilbert suppressed his shock and tried his best to calm down:
“Listen, Your Highness, I have indeed always expected you, trusted you, and been loyal to you, but this was never my intention!”
“What else could it be?”
Thales sarcastically said:
“You made me a prince just to be the mascot at Mindis Hall?”
Gilbert frowned, becoming more and more anxious:
"No, Your Highness, you should be the future that everyone is looking forward to, everyone! And you have always done this. Everything should be natural and fall into place!"
But Thales just looked at the other party's hand on his shoulder silently.
Isn’t it natural that all this is happening now?
teacher?
"You are the heir to the throne. Of course I understand that you feel suffocated and depressed and are dissatisfied with the status quo, but you should at least wait until..."
“Wait until the day I am successfully crowned?” Thales said lightly.
Gilbert hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded:
“Of course, when that time comes, I will fully assist you, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much sacrifice is required, I swear!”
“I, Sodo, Qiu Ke, Connie, Guy, and many wise people in the kingdom, we will help you, but before that”
"help me?"
Thales interrupted him coldly:
“Like you used to do to ‘help me’?”
Gilbert paused.
I saw Thales raising his right hand, slowly but surely pushing away Gilbert's palm:
“Six years ago, I asked you to search for my ‘friends’ in the Lower City.”
“I ask you to help find them, save them, help...me.”
Gilbert was startled and said sadly:
"Your Highness, I, I have failed in this matter, and I cannot absolve myself of the blame..."
“I just came back from the Kingdom’s Secret Department.” Thales said calmly:
“You know, I found that they were not like you said, they refused to help me because they hated me. In fact, the secret department was interested in searching for my childhood friend.”
Gilbert's expression changed slightly.
“Your Highness, the secret department has always had a bad relationship with you. The reason why they are so enthusiastic...”
But Thales interrupted him and said to himself:
"And they also told me: In the past few years, Gilbert, you have used your connections and face to find the chief security officer, mobilize the city hall and police department, gather the teams of security officers and tax officials, and carry out attacks on Xiacheng District and West Ring Road.
The district launched several large-scale sweeps just to find people for me."
The young man looked seriously into the teacher's eyes:
“I’m grateful, Gilbert.”
Gilbert was startled and didn't know how to reply.
“Until the secret science told me more.”
Thales was expressionless:
“For the past few years, City Hall and the Police Department have been making high-profile attacks like this, getting off directly and intervening in the endless dog-eat-dog dog-eat-dog fight between the Black Street Brotherhood and the Blood Bottle Gang.”
"They drove away homeless people and beggars, bringing great misfortune to the powerless people at the bottom. They raided vendors and closed down shops, leaving poor honest people with no means of livelihood. They hunted down petty thieves and extorted places.
Gangs, but let the really damn scum escape. They picked out a few evil models and used them as political achievements to appease people, but turned a blind eye to more and heavier oppression and exploitation. They acted hastily and vigorously, but just happened to let people hide in the corners of the sewers.
The power was reduced to zero."
Thales stared at the other party carefully:
“They are rough and cold, arrogant and conceited, like sweeping the floor with an iron plow, caring about movement rather than neatness.”
“And after they left, the already chaotic downtown only became even worse.”
Hearing this, Gilbert hesitated again and again:
“Your Highness, I, I don’t know, I’m sorry, if I had known the Chief Garrison and the others...”
But Thales did not allow him to finish:
"the most important is."
“Their actions have almost irreparably destroyed all clues,” the prince raised his voice:
“From the abandoned house to Hongfang Street, everyone, things, and places have changed beyond recognition. Now I want to follow the clues to find those beggars from back then..."
"almost impossible."
Tales carefully studied Gilbert's reaction:
“It’s like, like someone did it on purpose.”
“Just to prevent me from finding them.”
At that moment, the Foreign Minister suddenly changed his color!
"Is that so," the young man said softly in the dark palace corridor, "Gilbert? When you asked the police station?"
“Is what the secret science told me the truth?”
The Foreign Secretary did not reply.
The only sound in the air was Gilbert's steady breathing.
The silence lasted for a long, long time.
Tales shook his head and continued to speak.
“Six years ago, when I asked you to find them, you told me you couldn’t because ‘it’s for confidentiality’.”
“I became a prince at the national meeting, but you still told me that I couldn’t do it, “for their safety”.”
“When I went to the Northland again, you wrote a letter saying that you were working on it but the progress was slow and ‘cannot be noticed by anyone who is interested’.”
“Until I returned home, while you told me that you hadn’t found it, you also advised me not to look for it because ‘you can’t go back’.”
Tiles faced his teacher calmly, as if telling someone else's story.
no answer.
The answer to him was still embarrassing silence.
Tales raised his head and chuckled.
“The secret science says that you still haven’t been able to find them after six years.”
“Because you don’t want to find it at all.”
Thales said softly:
“Or is it that the secret department is lying?”
But Gilbert just lowered his head deeply, showing no expression.
This silence lasted for a long time.
"Forget it, Gilbert, no matter whether the secret department has lied or not, or how many lies it has told," the young man turned his head and said in a daze: "It doesn't matter anymore, it doesn't matter anymore."
At this moment, Gilbert suddenly spoke:
“The secret department didn’t tell you anything, right?”
“You are just trying to test my reaction, just like you tested the Duke of Iris.”
Taylors sighed.
The cunning fox of the stars.
"right."
Tales’ eyes were lonely.
“The secret department was afraid of me and didn’t say anything to me.”
“What I know is all inferred from my visits to my hometown in Xiacheng District and Xihuan District and what I saw and heard.”
Gilbert closed his eyes.
In the corridor, neither Thales nor Gilbert spoke. They just looked away in tacit understanding and looked away.
After an unknown amount of time, Gilbert finally spoke.
"sorry."
his tone was tired, and so was the content:
“But you can’t find them.”
With pain and relief, Thales let out a long sigh.
The two fell into silence again.
“You know, I tried to convince myself, Gilbert.”
Thales faced the darkness in the corridor, his tone was normal, even gentle and friendly, like chatting with an old friend.
"Really, I tried, and I tried hard to convince myself: Although Gilbert Castle is known as a cunning fox, he still occupies a high position. He doesn't understand the ways of Lower City. He doesn't know, and he won't deliberately destroy it.
If the clues were dropped, they would not deliberately prevent me from searching for the person, so I used the simplest and most crude method in the world."
“And he is my teacher and one of the people I trust most in the world. I should not and cannot doubt him.”
“I said to myself, as long as you tell me that you haven’t done that, I will believe it.”
Thales’s eyes were dull:
“I tried, really, I tried.”
Gilbert raised his head when he heard this and spoke with difficulty:
“Your Highness, I, I...”
"Why?"
Gilbert was silent for a while, then said haggardly:
"During the bloody year, His Majesty was hastily crowned, surrounded by enemies, and the throne was unstable. The Fuxing Palace had to adopt strange and cunning methods to quell the chaos with heavy rituals."
“Morat Hansen has been a close friend of the late king for many years. He has deep qualifications and has just been trusted in the kingdom’s secret science, allowing him to specialize in arbitrary matters and act outside the law.”
“This approach was very effective at first, simple, crude, neat and direct. But over time, it indulged His Majesty’s aggressive style and blurred the boundaries of the secret department’s authority.”
Thales frowned.
“They have His Majesty’s support now, but what will happen once you succeed and are crowned?”
"It is conceivable that in order to maintain their power, the officials of the secret department will definitely try their best to seize the means to restrict you at any cost, and your past and origin are the most criticized weaknesses. Your old acquaintance
It’s exactly what the secret science is looking for.”
“But you are the future of the Kingdom of Stars and the hope of reforming the government. I cannot let the Black Prophet or any person with ill intentions control you even for an inch.”
Gilbert looked at Thales, his eyes dark:
“So you can’t find them, you can’t.”
“Even if you find it before the secret department, it won’t work. Your...their clues should be buried forever and no one will know.”
The Foreign Secretary's voice fell.
In the corridor, even the eternal lamp was much dimmed.
“So, Gilbert, you deceived me.”
Thales said in a daze:
"From the beginning."
At that moment, Gilbert's face turned pale.
But Thales still gave him a comforting smile.
"It's okay, Gilbert, I understand," Thales said tiredly:
“Just now, do you feel the weight and thickness of this snare?”
“Your subconscious obedience to it, its silent control over you, including its influence on me and my vigilance against it, are all ranked far ahead of our sincerity.”
Gilbert looked bitter and swallowed.
Thales looked at the shadows in the corridor longingly:
"Just like a student facing a teacher, an employee facing a boss, a wife facing her husband, and a courtier facing the king, if they stand on an unequal balance from the beginning and stay in unclean waters, then whoever dominates their relationship will...
It’s definitely not just each other.”
"When we are enveloped in the established power structure, Gilbert, when you have to do your best not to be thrown down by the balance of bias, when you are bound by all the odds, when you are
The only choice left is 'adapt or perish'."
“Before you realize it, you have completely lost the right to choose freely.”
“Unless you reject it, jump out of it, transcend it.”
“Beat it.”
Gilbert's breathing quickened.
“No, Your Highness, I don’t understand!”
Gilbert’s voice was very low, almost subconsciously murmuring:
“All this is for, for, for”
“For my own good?”
Tales took over the conversation gently.
The Foreign Secretary did not reply.
Taylors exhaled with a smile.
“Gilbert, have you ever thought about why Wyatt always doesn’t want to mention you even though he is a father and son?”
Gilbert trembled slightly when he heard his son's name.
“I didn’t ask him the specific reason. But I think I know the deeper reason.”
Thales gradually fell into a trance, his thoughts drifting to the Northland:
“Perhaps you know, Gilbert, that I have a friend in Exeter, or rather, I think I am a friend.”
“When she encounters difficulties, I worry, worry, and consider about her all day and all night.”
Speaking of this, Thales chuckled:
“I’m such a fool. I always think that she relies on me and needs me. I always think that I am protecting her and helping her. I always think that I am..."
Tales’ smile gradually disappeared:
“For her own good.”
“But I was wrong.”
“Because that’s not what she wants.”
Thinking of that familiar face, Thales closed his eyes deeply:
“And I have never regarded her as a friend who treats me as an equal. At most, she is just a ‘person who needs me’.”
Gilbert stared at him blankly and began to tremble.
"Gilbert, since we met, everything you have done so painstakingly is to turn me into a good king. For this, you even sacrifice yourself and risk everything to help me and protect me. I am very grateful, but...
…”
Thales opened his eyes, his vision clear:
“But I am not the wise king you are looking for, Gilbert.”
“Like my father too.”
Gilbert gave him a hard shake.
"You can't make a mold for everyone in your mind, and then use all your means to influence and guide them without you noticing anything unusual. You may even be proud of it, thinking that it's 'for their own good' just to bring them success."
They fit that mold perfectly."
“Because neither I nor Wyatt, nor my father, nor even you, Gilbert, are born for molds.”
Thales said gently and authentically:
“That’s why, I can never become him.”
“No matter how you teach me to be close to him in terms of dressing style, knowledge system and even behavioral style, I will never become the next one..."
“Prince Midir.”
“No matter how good a mold he is.”
Gilbert was shocked when he heard this and lost his voice:
“Your Highness, I...”
But Thales just smiled in a friendly manner, as always.
"You are a good teacher, Gilbert, really. You treat your students meticulously and without any thought of effort. You give everything you have to teach and answer every question. You are considerate and considerate. You are really good, so good that I can't even find any flaws.
"
“But it wasn’t until I met the old crow, and that teacher Xixer who shook his head and murmured, and always relied on the words ‘what do you think’ to get paid during class, that I finally understood.”
Thales took a step forward and looked directly into Gilbert's red and moist eyes:
“Your biggest problem, Gilbert, is that you are too nice.”
“It’s so good that students can completely rely on you and need you, so good that you don’t even leave any room for ‘badness’ for students.”
Gilbert opened his mouth to speak, but his lips trembled, and he could only shed two lines of hot tears.
“But it turns out that my friend can still live well even without me ‘doing her good’.”
“Even better.”
Thales sighed and smiled unconsciously:
“I’m happy for her.”
The next second, Thales opened his arms without hesitation and hugged Gilbert who was speechless.
“And I hope you can be happy for me too, Gilbert.”
Tales pressed his ear against the other person’s ear and said in a trembling voice:
"my friend."
The Foreign Secretary trembled in his arms.
Thales suddenly discovered that Gilbert was so thin under his bright clothes.
But the next moment, the young man restrained his emotions, forced back the moisture in his eyes, and gritted his teeth and said:
“By the way, Count Castle.”
“I don’t like your class schedule.”
Talesson stared at Gilbert blankly, the corners of his mouth raised:
“It’s too full.”
After finishing his words, Thales raised his hands to his chest and bowed to Gilbert respectfully and with complete etiquette.
Just like six years ago, Gilbert saluted him.
The next second, he used the greatest strength in his life to suppress his trembling, straightened his back, picked up his steps, and turned around to leave.
Don’t dare to look at each other again.
eaten.
The sound of a cane falling to the ground was heard behind him.
Tales felt a pain in his heart.
But he still maintained the most perfect smile, took steps, and stepped into the unknown darkness in the corridor.
The palace is deep and dimly lit.
But the absent-minded Thales had not gone very far when he bumped into an acquaintance at the corner.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Highness,” the palace steward, Baron Quentin, who once taught Thales not to waste royal property, rubbed his forehead:
“I, I didn’t see you, it wasn’t intentional.”
Thales also pressed his chin in pain.
“It’s okay, it’s just an accident.”
But he was happy that there was someone to talk to at this moment.
Even if it’s nonsense.
“My Lord Baron.”
Thales forced a smile:
“I heard Captain Adrian say that you are not feeling well?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, I used to pretend to be sick to avoid work.” Quentin tugged on his delicate sleeves and wiped a notebook with a cracked cover, saying indifferently: “Don’t delay things.”
“I’m sorry to trouble you.”
The prince apologized dullly: "Whether it was the glass at the banquet or today..."
But Controller Quentin interrupted him with a wave of his hand.
“You know, the wine glass isn’t really the problem.”
“They are not expensive anyway. I’m sorry, I mean, they are expensive, but there are still many workshops, and businessmen are rushing to send money and rebate them, just so that the royal family and the Renaissance Palace can use the wine glasses they produce.”
Quentin sighed:
“And I have long wanted to replace those glass cups. They are fragile and fragile and always give the kids an excuse to be slow. Now I just hope that the metal and thick wooden cups can be stronger.”
Thales smiled, nodded, and prepared to leave.
“Just...why?”
Tales was stunned upon hearing this.
Baron Quentin looked at him deeply:
“Your Highness, I have always been curious, why do people in the North have to throw their glasses when they drink?”
Smash the wine glass.
Thales was silent for a while:
“You know, even though I was there for six years, I was weird too.”
Baron Quentin said intentionally or unintentionally:
“Exerting force, throwing, smashing, colliding, breaking, crushing, but what can this prove and display? Extravagance? Tyranny? Boldness? Fierceness? Desire for power? Masculinity?”
Quentin stared at him, his tone suddenly softened:
“You know, wouldn’t it be nice to just use a rare, valuable and meaningful cup that has been handed down from history, used by our grandparents and fathers, and let everyone be grateful, drink a glass of wine in peace and contentment, and everyone is happy? Isn’t that good?”
Tales was silent for a while.
"I have no idea."
“But if I don’t smash it in Mindis Hall.”
Thales raised his head and smiled weakly:
“The Fuxing Palace won’t replace the wine glasses with new ones, right?”
Quentin looked at him and thought for a while.
“The new batch of wine glasses may not be better than the old ones.”
“Maybe,” Thales said with mixed emotions:
“But you don’t know.”
“What if I knew,” Baron Quentin replied quickly:
“What if I’ve already seen it?”
Tales looked at him.
“Perhaps you can’t imagine it, Your Highness,” the Baron sighed and rubbed the cracked old notebook under his arm:
“But I’ve been working here for more than thirty years.”
“When I was a little kid, I followed my father with a pen and paper, taking notes and accounting, and providing every shining star with the basic necessities of life.”
The palace steward came to his senses:
"everyone."
Everyone... a shining star.
Tales did not speak.
The baron came back to his senses and looked at Thales, with unspeakable emotion hidden in his eyes:
“So, I have seen every batch of wine glasses.”
“Each batch.”
Thales was silent for a few seconds and nodded:
“You are so lucky.”
Quentin smiled mockingly, noncommittal.
The next second, the prince smiled at the steward:
“But I remember that Hicksel Gilbert’s teacher once said something.”
“Everything is new under the sun.”
After hearing this, Baron Quentin was silent for a while, and then he sighed.
“You know, even if the Bright Star royal family is as rich as any other country,” he looked at Thales with worry in his eyes:
“You still have to pay for the broken wine glasses.”
Pay the bill.
Tales pursed his lips.
"yes."
“As it should be.”
Both of them fell silent.
“Maybe I can keep an account for you, Your Highness?”
Quentin broke the silence, patted his notebook, and said with a little hope:
“You know, maybe when you grow up and are crowned, your creditors will give you... free of charge?”
free.
Thales raised his head and continued to look into the darkness under the distant lights.