Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 689 Losang
Inside the Ghoul Pit, Thales and Golov looked at each other in disbelief.

The others were puzzled.

"You two know each other?" Uncle Hauser asked suspiciously.

“They know each other!” Priest Chadwi breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"You're all called Wyatt?" Dorothy asked curiously.

“They all call him Wyatt!” Hilly said with disdain, her gloves reappearing on her hands.

“Yes, we know each other, and we know each other precisely because we share the same name,” Thales said awkwardly, turning around and waving to the surrounding residents. “It’s okay, it’s alright, we’re all old friends, it’s nothing serious, no need for a crowd to watch…”

But his appeal was clearly limited; no one in the tunnel heeded his call, and people continued to surround the entrance, their eyes filled with hostility as they looked at Golov.

“Alright then, uh, Wyman, how about you put down the knife? You scared them,” Thales looked at the young lady for help, but Hilly just turned her head away with a look of disdain. “And your companions… Sunset, what’s going on?”

Thales stared in astonishment at the woman in Rolf's arms: covered in blood and on the verge of death.

The "ghouls" in the tunnel murmured amongst themselves.

Rolf looked at Thales with a troubled expression, his eyes filled with pleading and guilt.

“This is Teto, Lord Wyman, do you remember him?” Golov said somewhat reluctantly, “my little…brother.”

Thales realized what was happening: "Teto? Oh, of course, Teto! But who are you holding?"

"This is, uh, this is Teto's..."

As Golov, under Rolf's angry glare, hesitated between saying "old flame" or "mother," the injured person in Rolf's arms weakly opened his eyes.

“Is he…is he there?” she coughed painfully. “Zhadvi?”

Everyone was stunned, and the tunnel fell silent.

The surprised Chadwi priest pushed aside the people on either side and stepped forward.

"What? Who? Who's calling my name—"

The priest of Chadvi stopped speaking instantly.

"A small, small knife?"

He stared in shock at the person in Rolf's arms: "How is it you?"

The seriously injured woman rallied and forced a smile:
“Old friend, you really are here. I’ve finally gotten lucky,” she said with a weak smile, clearly trying to suppress her pain. “Please, don’t call me that anymore, at least not today.”

The whispers in the tunnel grew louder.

Chadwi hurriedly rushed forward.

"I don't understand. Shouldn't you be the boss in the capital? What happened—Sunset! What happened to your hand?"

"The price of being the boss... Damn it, go easy on me! It hurts like hell!" Catherine screamed in pain.

"You know each other?" Thales asked warily.

“They know each other,” Golov said with a sneer.

"Is her name also Wyatt?" Dorothy asked, puzzled.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The piercing sound from behind forced everyone to cover their ears and turn around: Granny Gadama was gripping a ladle as tall as herself and fiercely banging on the tin can used for cooking.

"Are you all stupid?! She's in this state, why aren't you putting her down?!"

clang!clang!clang!
Accompanied by the sound of hammering, Gadma's roar echoed through the sewers, his small body seemingly containing boundless energy:

"All irrelevant people, disperse!"

----

"That's probably what happened."

Golov sat by the fireplace, peeling off the blood-stained old bandages inch by inch. Apart from Thales and Rolf, everyone else in the tunnel kept their distance, not daring to approach this blood-covered fellow.

"The female leader pointed out the direction, and we panicked and didn't know if we were going the right way—why was that monster staring at me?"

Thales turned around:
At another fireplace in the distance, Vonniak rubbed the bump on his head and glared at them resentfully. When he saw Golov looking at him, he quickly lowered his head.

Maybe it's because you just knocked him out?

Thales shrugged:

"He's not a monster—how are your injuries?"

Golov's expression shifted, and he rubbed his armpit, as if recalling something unpleasant: "It's nothing."

You don't seem to be like that at all.

Thales turned his head, and Rolf, who was in the corner, saw him looking at him and made a gesture in shame:

【sorry. 】

Thales shook his head in response:

【How are you? 】

Rolf couldn't help but glance into the distance, then hesitated before making a hand gesture:

【Yes. 】

No, he's not good—Thales concluded.

"So, Rolf couldn't help but intervene and save 'Phantom Blade' Catherine?"

“Yes, that sheep-fucked bastard—” Golov was indignant upon hearing this, but he stammered halfway through his sentence, “Uh, um, Rolf suggested that the female leader is from the Blood Bottle Gang, and she knows all the tricks of the trade in Emerald City… Also, she works for Iris, so she knows a lot of inside information, which is very valuable… And we are currently clueless and desperately need such resources… Oh, right, she might also know the identity of the man in black… Also, she was betrayed by her own people and is very likely to be used by us, I mean, used by you… So, after careful discussion, we decided to act decisively, although it is risky, it is worth it.”

Seeing Golov racking his brains, Thales narrowed his eyes:

"Rolf, offering suggestions? Is that so? He 'discussed' so much with you?"

Golov was taken aback and turned his head:

"Well, you know what, he can actually read."

“Oh… so he can read.” Thales’s gaze was intriguing.

Golov, sweating profusely under the prince's gaze, quickly changed the subject:
"Oh, right! I didn't have a chance to ask, but what are you doing here? In this..."

Looking out into the seemingly endless tunnel and smelling the nauseating stench, Golov managed to swallow the word "shithole" with great difficulty.

Strange, it's the same in the lower city of the capital.

Why does Your Highness always seem to prefer going to dilapidated and remote places?

“It’s a long story,” Thales said, no longer dwelling on the previous topic. He looked at Slimani, who was uneasy because of the stranger. “To put it simply, I’m helping someone escape—this great apologizer knows something he shouldn’t know, and for that, the Void Palace wants to shut him up.”

"Just like they shut up the wine merchants and wool traders before?"

Thales nodded.

“You should have sent someone else,” Golov hesitated slightly. “If it’s that assassin in black who’s here to silence you, then you’re in danger…”

“It’s a good thing he didn’t come,” another person—Miss Hilly Kevindeer—appeared beside them, shoving Thales without any politeness to make room for her. “So, according to you, the assassin went to shuffle the deck for the Blood Bottle Gang?”

Golov was startled. Recognizing the young lady, he frowned and gave Thales a questioning look.

“She…she was with me,” Thales replied awkwardly, shifting half a body away.

Together?
Golov's gaze became even more confused.

Hilly sat down by the fireplace without any hesitation or reservation, staring intently at Golov.

"Um, Miss, is there something you need?" The latter felt uncomfortable under her gaze and had to turn his head away.

“Yes, is there anything else?” Hillary asked indignantly.

Golov, who was completely bewildered, was stunned again.

It wasn't until Thales coughed loudly that Golov realized what was happening, and reluctantly got up to leave, squeezing into Rolf's space in the corner.

"According to the information Wyman found out..."

Hilly watched as Golov walked away before turning to Thales: "Whether it was the wine merchant or the wool merchant who was silenced, it was the Blood Bottle Gang who cleaned up the mess for Jenn, disguising it as suicide or revenge killing."

Thales nodded:

"At the same time, the Blood Vial Gang suffered a major blow and was in a mess. I don't think this is a coincidence."

I don't think so either.

"Was it done by the Kingdom's Secret Service? Just because the Blood Bottle Gang was doing dirty work for Jenn?"

Hilla pondered for a moment and said:
"It's possible. If the Blood Bottle Gang is too busy to help the Empty Bright Palace, they won't have the energy to do errands for them, including covering up and concealing these murders."

Thales looked at the worried Slimani:

"This is a good example: the Blood Bottle Gang was in a mess, and their incompetence in covering up the murder of the wool merchant allowed our Mr. Slimani to find a clue."

“So Kongming Palace has one more person to kill,” Hillai sighed. “My dear brother, the mess is getting bigger and bigger.”

“And me,” Thales guessed. “If the Blood Bottle Gang had handled things smoothly and efficiently, the deaths of Dagory and Diop might have been covered up better, and I wouldn’t have been able to easily find loopholes, follow the clues to Slimani, and find anyone who knew the truth.”

Hilly nodded and continued to speculate:

"Then I bet my brother is really unhappy. He thinks the Blood Bottle Gang is holding Kongming Palace back—you're right, the Blood Bottle Gang is the easiest loophole to exploit."

"Therefore, on the very day of Your Majesty's procession, Jenn will reshuffle the Blood Vial Gang, plug the loopholes, and prevent the Kingdom's Secret Service from continuing to exploit any openings?"

“But he didn’t wash it properly,” Hilla sneered, “because you and your Wyaas messed things up, he missed shuffling a card.”

Thales nodded in agreement:
"Yes, and now, this card—"

"Ughhhhhh! Chadwi, you damned bastard!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the tunnel, startling the residents who all turned to look.

Thales and Hilly both stood up and looked towards the other side of the tunnel in the flickering firelight:
"Phantom Blade" Catherine lay dying and covered in blood on a large stone platform, with a bright, glaring crystal chandelier hanging above her head, completely out of place in this tunnel.

"Damn it, Catherine, I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly!"

Chadwi was standing by the stone platform, holding scissors and tweezers, bending over to treat Catherine's abdominal wound, a stark contrast to the usual carefree and irresponsible Sunset Priest in the temple.

Catherine gritted her teeth and raised her head:

"Don't you have a better anesthetic?"

“Look where you are,” Chadwi straightened up, his gloves and apron stained with bright red blood. “Unless you come with me to the temple, where there are proper facilities to treat your injuries…”

"Yes, it also lets my enemies know where I am immediately."

Catherine spat out in excruciating pain:
"Are you trying to kill me already?"

Chadwi gazed at Catherine on the stone platform, sighed after a moment, and bent down again: "Alright, I understand, but I must warn you, this will hurt."

"No problem, back in the day, I was a pro—fuck! Aa ...

Catherine's screams were deafening, and Thales and Hilly exchanged bewildered glances.

“I can’t operate it like this—stop shaking, little knife!” Chadwi, wearing an apron and holding the tool, looked anxious.

"Ughhh—stop calling me that!"

"Someone help me, hold her down so she doesn't move!" The priest Chadwi had no other choice but to ask others for help.

Grandma Gadama looked around, put down the pot that seemed a bit too big for her, and rolled up her sleeves:
"Okay, I'll do it!"

"Come on, darling," Uncle Hauser said, shaking his head as he sterilized surgical instruments by the fireplace. "What about our size?"

Grandma Gadamer's expression changed.

"Nobody's talking to you, you old shorty!"

But she seemed to know the problem, so she turned around and called out, "BoBo?"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?"

Bobo—the big guy with an unusually small head—was called by name and excitedly stood up from his huddled corner, knocking over a bucket in the process, before rushing off towards Chadwi.

"Get that monster away from me!" Catherine screamed from the stone platform.

“Thank you, but you should stay there, Bobo,” Chadvier realized Bobo wasn’t the best choice and had to politely decline under the other’s disappointed and aggrieved gaze. “Isn’t there anyone else?”

Amidst the earth-shaking thuds of people falling, Vonniak reluctantly stood up, but after just one glance, he was terrified by the bloodstains covering the stone platform and shrank back.

"Excuse me, Lord Chad, I need to pee!"

Perhaps the intrusion of Golov was too frightening, because at this moment, the residents of the tunnels all retreated to their own territories, and no one was willing to step forward even in the face of Chadwi's request.

“Forget it, Chadwi,” Catherine laughed, exhausted from the pain. “This place is a cesspool, and the monsters you raised are cowards and weaklings…”

Chadwi frowned.

Just then, Rolf struggled to his feet.

With a complicated expression, he limped toward the operating table and raised his hand toward Chadwi.

"You came? Is your leg alright?"

Chadwi was somewhat skeptical; he glanced at Thales, but nodded nonetheless.
"Alright, then it's you. Remember to talk to her a lot, distract her, and don't let her bother me..."

Rolf's steps froze instantly.

what?
Speak, say something?

“Interfering with your Sunset Goddess, damn it!” Catherine’s face contorted in pain, but she still managed to retort.

But Chadwili ignored the patient and urged Rolf:
"Don't just stand there, come here!"

Rolf stood frozen in place, motionless.

Golov looked at Rolf's stiff back and sighed deeply.

Grass.

I guess I'm just unlucky.

He pressed his chest wound, about to stand up and volunteer despite the pain, but another hand reached out and pressed him back down.

“They’re all tired,” Thales said gently. “Let me do it.”

Glov and Rolf were both taken aback.

“Good opportunity. Take advantage of her injury and confusion to force some answers out of her,” Hilly whispered behind him. Thales frowned in response.

“You? I must warn you first, Lord T. Wyah,” Chadwi paused, holding up his blood-soaked hands, “this is not a pretty sight.”

“I know,” Thales said, standing before the stone platform. The sight of the mess on it made him frown immediately, the pungent smell of blood making him grimace. “I’ve seen worse.”

Okay, this scene is indeed not a good look.

"Hahaha," Catherine gasped as she laughed, "I love this kid, holy crap!"

Golov still wants to try:
"But……"

“Go rest, now, Fatty Wyman,” Thales said firmly, “and you too, uh, Teto?”

A minute later, Thales finished cleaning and, following Chadwi's instructions, went to the operating table and tightened the straps binding the injured man.

Without a doubt, Catherine's injuries were extremely serious. Not to mention the missing arm, her abdomen was almost soaked in blood, with more than a dozen small, irregular wounds oozing blood, some of which still had blades protruding. Chadwi could only carefully cut open her clothes to remove the blades with the least possible cost.

"Tighten the restraints a bit, press here, yes, not too hard, just enough to not interfere with my operation... Is your hand steady? I might need you to hold the hemostatic clamp in a moment..."

Chadwi focused intently on a blade, and as Catherine trembled uncontrollably, he peeled back a bit of flesh to remove it.

"This stone platform is engraved with different divine prayer incantations. It is powered by a piece of crystal and performs functions such as cleaning, disinfection, and blood storage. Of course, it is a product scrapped from the temple. It is quite old and does not function well. Therefore, I may have to pray personally every now and then to keep it running..."

"Can you guys stop chatting?" Catherine reminded them, annoyed.

Chadwi shook his head.

Thales, as instructed, held onto the restraints and pressed down on Catherine's thighs, trying his best not to look at the bloody scene, lest he recall the nightmares the Blood Mage had given him:
How badly are her injuries?

“Her arm is alright,” Chadwi tossed a razor blade into the metal tray beside her. “She’s very experienced with external injuries; she stopped the bleeding and disinfected the wound immediately…”

“Not bad?” Catherine’s face twisted in disbelief.

"Sorry, except for one being missing."

The Chadian Uyghur added the finishing touch with a sarcastic tone.

"But as you can see, the most troublesome part is the abdomen. The wounds are small, numerous, and close together... How did these blades get in there? I just hope they're not too deep and don't damage any internal organs..."

“‘Chaos Soldiers’ did it,” Catherine gritted her teeth in hatred. “Remember that Far Eastern superhuman who played puppet shows? The smuggler who kidnapped women and sold them to the countryside?”

“I don’t remember.” Chadwi was intently picking at the blade.

"The one who called Turnbull a slut and said he'd put her in a cage and drown her? Turns out he had a friend who learned the same trade..."

“Not surprising,” Chadwi seemed to particularly dislike these things, “after all, even you have friends.”

The priest began to remove the next blade.

Catherine's face contorted in pain, groaning. Every movement of Chadwi's tweezers and forceps sent chills down her spine, and when it came time to use the scissors...

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

"Hold her down!" Chadwi gritted his teeth. "I'm almost there! Damn it, this area is warped!"

Catherine struggled with astonishing force; Thales used all his strength to barely hold her down until Chadwi managed to remove the blade.

"She's in so much pain, aren't there any more anesthetics?"

“That’s already the maximum dose,” Chadwi shook his head, took the plate Hauser handed him, and changed his tools. “Anesthetics are different from other drugs; there’s only a fine line between anesthesia and murder.”

"Could we use physical anesthesia... I mean, knock her out?"

Thales recalled his journey with the Death Raven and felt a dull ache in the side of his neck and the back of his head.

“Come on, kid,” Catherine said, her spirits lifting and nodding through gritted teeth, “Hurry up and do it!”

“You’ve been reading too many chivalric romance novels—uh, sorry, I wasn’t talking about you.” Chadwi realized his tone was too casual and quickly stopped talking.

Thales shook his head to indicate that he didn't care.

“Coma and fainting are both abnormal manifestations after brain injury, which are closely related to blood pressure and nerves, and vary from person to person,” Chadwi explained cautiously, returning to his timid state. “Given her current state, we are more likely to kill her than knock her unconscious.”

Catherine sneered:
"Nonsense. I've seen some masters at the highest level who can control their strength and safely knock someone out—whether they're an old person or a child."

Chadwi perked up again when facing Catherine:

"Really? Compared to the number of people these experts 'safely knocked out,' has anyone counted how many people they've killed or paralyzed? Besides, do we look like we have any experts of the highest level here?"

After changing his tools, Chadwi started removing a blade again.

“That’s still better than this, ugh ...

“Talk to her,” Chadwi said, feeling sorry for her. “Say anything to distract her.”

Thales was taken aback.

I?
Thales stared at Catherine and nodded with a complicated expression.

Ok.

He loosened one hand slightly and placed it on Phantom Blade's shoulder:

“Hey, lady, look at me. Your name is Catherine, the ‘Phantom Blade’ of the Blood Vial Gang, right?”

Catherine endured the pain:
"I'll call you Dad!"

Thales gave a polite smile.

If your opening remarks don't go well, that's okay.

He can find another breakthrough.

"So, Priest Chadvi, how did you come to know this boss—well, this lady?"

Chadwi didn't even look up:
“We were all orphans adopted by the temple and grew up in the relief center under the Divine Grace.”

He sighed almost imperceptibly:

“But I stayed there until I became a monk, and then a priest. Catherine left much earlier because of…something.”

"Something?"

Catherine burst into laughter, seemingly forgetting some of her pain: "You mean, you bit off some old monk's nose because he liked to 'examine' girls during private confessions?"

Chadwi's expression tightened.

“You should have told Granny Ilshaga instead of resorting to violence…” “Ha! Right! Then that old hag would have gone to find the girl in question!”

Catherine spat fiercely, the pain making her speak faster:
"She spoke with great earnestness, saying things like, 'He didn't really do anything anyway,' 'It's for your own good,' 'If this gets out of hand, your reputation will be ruined,' 'A scandal will affect our budget,' 'What will happen to the orphans if the orphanage closes down?' Then she spoke softly: 'If the girl changes her tone and admits it was a misunderstanding, the old woman will apply to transfer the old monk and even give her a pre-selected spot in the nun selection... Ugh!"

Catherine cried out in pain.

“Very good, this one has been retrieved,” Chadwi nodded to Thales with a clinking sound, thanking him for his efforts. “The headmistress, she… she’s not a bad person. She… she has protected us to the best of her ability…”

“Protect? Hah,” Catherine, bound to the stone platform, laughed sarcastically, her body drenched in sweat. “Then the other male monks in the courtyard, whether feigning ignorance or simply unaware of the truth, all became indignant: ‘If she’s slandering us, why transfer Brother Bomen? Why does her outburst work, and why is there a pre-selected nun position? Just because she’s a girl? What if bad girls follow suit and extort money? What about innocent people? What about the innocence of us male monks? Are we born men destined to be discriminated against?’”

Chadwi was intently picking at the blade in Catherine's wound, but Thales noticed that his brow was trembling.

"Everyone talked about it for a long, long time, and then, the girl who slept in the bunk above you stopped crying every night," Catherine said through gritted teeth, her eyes blazing with fury, perhaps from unbearable pain. "Because she fucking committed suicide! Damn it! Could this thing hurt any more?!"

Catherine arched her back so high that the restraints almost snapped, and Thales had to use all his strength to barely keep her on the operating table.

Chadwi took a deep breath, pulled out the other blade, drawing blood.

“So, Chadwi—ahhh—the most effective method isn’t to have some nanny report him,” Catherine groaned, “but to make that old bastard pay the price directly, to make him suffer terribly, because pain is the only language they understand—fuck!”

Another blade was torn from the flesh. Chadwi rested for a while and wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

"No, little knife, no."

He looked at his childhood playmate with a face full of regret:
“The messenger of the setting sun, Guahar, taught: Pain is meaningless unless it happens to oneself.”

Thales frowned upon hearing this.

Catherine sarcastically remarked, "Is it that same old twisted 'I must suffer to become a saint' asceticism again?"

“No! Mother Ilshaga taught us that what Guajardo meant was: We always despise and ignore the suffering and pain that happens to others.”

Chadwi looked at her with a pained expression:
"It's not just about appealing to cheap sympathy and sentimentality, thus underestimating the significance of the suffering of others."

"It also includes getting lost in the pleasure of revenge and punishment, thus overestimating the significance of inflicting pain on others."

Thales was slightly moved by what he heard.

“For me, perhaps it’s the former; for you, Little Knife, it’s probably the latter,” Chadwi sighed deeply.

Catherine remained silent.

"A small knife."

Chadwi stood up and threw the tools he had used into the metal box.

"You, you really shouldn't have come here."

Chadwi shook his head, his face showing reluctance.

Catherine's breathing quickened.

"Shouldn't I have come?" she said indignantly. "If I hadn't climbed to a high position in the Blood Bottle Gang, you and your monsters wouldn't even have been able to find such a wretched place!"

"But you made a promise!"

Chadwi gritted his teeth and said:

"In front of Sister Ilshaga's grave and the statue of the Sunset Goddess, you told me that you would never bring outside grudges, gang conflicts, or underworld feuds into the tunnels..."

His eyes held a complex expression:
"But look at you now, when you appear covered in blood... You know these children, they've already suffered so much..."

Phantom Blade burst into laughter.

"What a joke, Chadwi? Do you really think this is some paradise, a deformed holy land, a monster park? Aren't you just like me, bringing outside politics and grudges into the tunnels?"

Chadwi was taken aback:
"what?"

But Catherine ignored him and looked at Thales instead.

"Thank you, young man."

Caught off guard, Thales could only smile and reply, "You're welcome."

But Catherine's tone turned somewhat somber:
"No, I mean, thank you—uh—thank you for taking him in."

“Who?” Thales asked, frowning.

Catherine laughed, but then groaned in pain, her expression shifting back and forth.

"But do you think I wouldn't recognize him?"

Phantom Blade coughed painfully.

"Even though he removed his tattoos, changed his hairstyle, changed his fighting style, and even changed his name beyond recognition... uh... how could I not recognize the most capable subordinate I personally trained?"

Catherine weakly looked in another direction within the tunnel:
"The Ghost That Follows the Wind?"

what?
Thales was stunned.

He resisted looking in the direction Catherine was gazing, but he knew it was Rolf's direction.

"Sorry, I didn't understand what you said." He shook his head.

Catherine groaned in pain, then chuckled softly.

“Kid, come on, I know you’re no ordinary person: Rolf and that grumpy Wyatt are both very respectful to you, and as for Chadwi, he just called you ‘sir’.”

Thales looked up at Chadwi, who was cleaning and changing equipment. Chadwi's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't dare to look up.

“Okay, I understand that he doesn’t want to talk to me, but…”

After getting a short rest, Catherine sighed deeply:
"Tell me, how has Rolf been all these years?"

Is Rolf doing well?
Thales recalled his encounter with Rolf in the prison, glanced at Phantom Blade without saying a word, and did not reply.

Catherine understood something and smiled knowingly.

"So, it wasn't a coincidence that Rolf and the others were there, was it? Including the fact that he saved my life."

She stared straight at Thales:
"It was you, or your master, who knew in advance that something was going to happen to the Blood Bottle Gang, so you sent someone to infiltrate Fogg's territory beforehand. And you were just waiting here, waiting for them to bring me back, almost dead, as a pawn—tell me, whose people are you working for? Or who are you going to use me against?"

Thales frowned slightly.

"The Blood Bottle Gang? The Brotherhood? A certain large merchant group? A blood feud? A political enemy? The Empty Palace? Or perhaps that Second Prince from the capital, who is domineering, powerful, and whose every move terrifies the Southern Coast Territory and makes Emerald City afraid to breathe?"

Chadwi couldn't help but glance at the prince.

Thales remained silent for a long time after hearing this.

Overbearing and domineering.

Their power and influence were overwhelming.

The South Bank leader was terrified.

It put so much pressure on Emerald City that it dared not breathe.

Okay, the guy she was talking about...

How come I don't recognize him?
“No, no, no, perhaps I’m oversimplifying things,” Catherine said, her gaze grave. “Was the Blood Bottle Gang’s recent losses and chaos also caused by you?”

Ok.

It seems that there's no end to the imagination.

Thales could only sigh: "No."

Catherine gazed at him for a long time, and finally gave a sad smile:
"Never mind, even if it is, it's meaningless. Like Chadwi said, the suffering of others..."

She shook her head.

Thales looked at her with a complicated expression.

So, this is Rolf's former boss.

The people he risked his life to save.

Thales suddenly felt a little uneasy.

"You know that man in black you encountered in the warehouse, right?" the prince said in a deep voice, "Who is he?"

“An enemy.”

"that's it?"

"if not."

“You know Kevin Deer betrayed you, right?” Thales sighed. “You also know they want you dead?”

Catherine, who was lying on the stone platform, suddenly opened her eyes.

“Good, she’s much better, at least she’s stopped struggling. Keep talking to her, stay calm—what did you say?” Chadwi, who had returned with the utensils and tray, realized what was happening and his expression changed drastically. “Who, who wants her dead?”

“It’s alright, Chadwi,” Thales laughed awkwardly. “I was just, just joking.”

"Really?"

“Continue, Chadvi,” Catherine said coldly.

"but……"

"Go ahead with your surgery!" Catherine roared.

Chadwi trembled slightly, lowered his head, and continued the surgery.

"So, kid? You're going to send me to the Void Palace... ah... in exchange for Kevindir's reward?" Catherine's gaze was provocative.

Thales looked at her.

No, but I want to know why.

Thales' gaze was intense: "What exactly did you do, or rather, what did you do wrong, that made the bigwigs of the Sky Palace decide to replace you, even at the risk of causing chaos and turmoil within the Blood Bottle Gang?"

Chadwi, who had just taken out a razor blade, suddenly looked up, his face ashen.

The two of them glanced at him, which startled him so much that he kept his head down.

Catherine smiled, looking like she knew it.

"Fine, bring your master here to see me, and I'll tell him."

Thales frowned: "My master..."

“He’s a very important person, someone of immeasurable status, and I have no chance to meet him?” Catherine sneered. “I guessed it, but you know, the Kevin Deer family always says the same thing. Most of the time, I only get to see his butler—until I was abandoned by them and ended up like this.”

Catherine's eyes were filled with hatred, her gaze sharp as a knife.

"Your master, no matter how important he is, is he any different from a three-colored iris?"

Thales felt a headache coming on.

He fell silent, as did Catherine, and Chadwi, focused on the surgery, didn't dare to breathe.

For a moment, the only sounds around the stone platform could be the sounds of scissors and tweezers, interspersed with occasional groans and moans of pain.

"He did not change his name."

Thales suddenly spoke, and Catherine struggled to lift her head.

“Teto is just a pseudonym, a code name, like ‘The Ghost of the Wind’,” Thales said with some emotion. “In fact, he has been using the same name from the past to the present.”

"Midira Rolf".

Catherine was slightly taken aback.

But she immediately gave a cold laugh:
"It seems that Rolf has caught up with an even more powerful master."

“Wrong, I am not his master, and no one is,” Thales said in a deep voice.

“That doesn’t seem to be the case,” Catherine said, shaking her head dismissively.

“Well, Rolf did go to Fogg’s territory to gather information,” Thales turned to Rolf’s corner, who was looking at them with a complicated expression. “But in fact, I didn’t know what would happen there, I didn’t know you would go, and I didn’t know you would be betrayed by your own people and suffer a complete defeat.”

Catherine groaned and gritted her teeth in resentment.

"Therefore, I did not order him to rescue you. On the contrary, I instructed him to prioritize his own safety above all else. As for other things, whether it be intelligence or interests, they are not important."

Catherine's eyes flickered.

Thales sighed:
"But he still did it, still chose to risk rushing out to save you, even though Rolf knew that he had no chance of winning against so many enemies, including that man in black."

Catherine snorted coldly and remained silent.

But her eyebrows became increasingly tight.

"To be honest, I don't know why he did it. Was it because he couldn't forget old friendships, or to repay a debt of gratitude, or was it just a pure sense of justice, or was it just a momentary impulse..."

Would you die for me?

“Maybe none of that,” Catherine suddenly said, her voice urgent. “He might just, just, just think I could be useful to you, after all, he used to know about the Blood Bottle Gang.”

Thales silently watched the Phantom Blade, now at its wit's end, and smiled.

“Maybe. But actually I think it’s not bad,” Thales said with a bright smile, “because I believe that at that moment, Rolf made his own choice.”

"Not someone else's."

Chadwi pulled out another razor blade, which made Catherine's eyes tremble.

Thales looked up at the dark tunnel:

"That's his partner, haha, I might want to punch him."

Catherine closed her eyes.

"Of course, as for whether it's worth it for him to do this..."

Thales chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, that's not something I can comment on."

Clang.

Another bloodstained blade fell into the iron pan.

"Young man, you don't actually have a master behind you, do you?"

Thales frowned.

This time, Catherine's voice sounded particularly tired.

"And your age... ah, I understand, because you are him."

Catherine lifted her eyelids, her breath weak.

“That great man who terrifies the Emerald City and makes Janne Kevin Deer wary,” her gaze slowly shifted as she looked at Thales, just as her tone unconsciously changed. “Only you can be so special, so carefree, so magnanimous, because it is a privilege you were born with.”

"Privileges?" Thales asked, puzzled.

Catherine kept her eyes tightly closed, her smile bitter.

"Because the loyalty and affection of others are simply inherited things that are taken for granted by others, readily available and easily obtained."

"They're not like us ants who grew up in stinking ditches and survive by killing each other."

Thales was taken aback.

Loyalty to others...

It's a rightful heirloom...

In that instant, he thought of his Star Lake Guard.

I recall when they bowed to me and addressed me as Your Highness.

But in that instant, looking at Catherine's trembling lips, he seemed to understand something.

He began to understand Rolf's actions.

"You, sir, could you please do me a favor and pass on this message to him?"

Thales looked up.

Catherine stared silently at the dark tunnel ceiling.

“Rolf doesn’t want to talk to me, but, but,” Catherine said wearily, “that day, that day I didn’t let him go to his death in Red Street.”

Hongfang Street.

Thales fell silent.

"I was just...it was...an accident."

Clang.

Another blade, mixed with blood and flesh, fell into the iron pan.

But Catherine only frowned slightly.

A few seconds later, Thales sighed.

"You know what, it's not that he doesn't want to talk to you."

Catherine's eyes flickered.

"In fact, he has already spoken to you, but you haven't learned to listen yet."

Thales said softly:

"Just like before."

The heavily injured Phantom Blade was taken aback.

Thales smiled and shook his head, then tightened the restraints again.

For several minutes, the area around the stone platform was completely silent.

Lausanne.

Catherine's voice came, causing Thales to look up in confusion:
"what?"

Huanren's expression was gloomy, and his tone was weak and powerless.

“The man in black you asked about, no one knows his real name,” she said with a look of fear, “but more than a decade ago, starting with Turnbull, we all called him—Lossan II.”

Thales had an idea:
"Lossan II?"

This nickname is strange, like "The Second Meteor," but...

Catherine's eyes were glazed over.
"He was the most trusted bodyguard, the fiercest thug, the sharpest blade, and the most terrifying assassin of the former Turnbull gang leader, specializing in eliminating traitors and dissidents, and destroying enemies and rivals for Turnbull."

"The strongest Extreme Realm member of the Blood Bottle Gang."

Bodyguards, thugs, blades, assassins...

The ultimate limit.

Thales frowned as he listened:

"What is the background of this Losang?"

Catherine shook her head laboriously.

“Apart from Turnbull himself, no one in the gang knows his background. I guess Turnbull did this on purpose, to maintain Lausanne's mystique and intimidate us, the arrogant and unruly superhuman leaders who hold sway over various factions, but…”

"but what?"

"But he should be dead!"

Catherine's tone became fearful:

"I always thought, I always thought that Lausanne, and the gang leader Turnbull, had died in that abandoned house on that rainy night more than a decade ago..."

Thales' expression changed slightly.

"He died..."

At that moment, a deep fear appeared on Catherine's face:

"...in the hands of the black sword."

Clang.

Chadwi finally took out the last blade and collapsed to the ground, covered in sweat.

(End of this chapter)