Cloud Thinking

"But aren't you living such a good life now?" Vikes asked back. The reason Helia gave was not enough to explain why she must support Eric to take the throne.

"Senior, have you forgotten that I am a princess of the empire? Think carefully about what the final fate of every princess of the empire is?" Helia asked with a wry smile.

It's a marriage.

Helia continued, "You can see that my father is a ruthless capitalist who wants to squeeze all the value out of me. He loves me, but he loves the empire more than me and my brother."

"So, only when my brother takes that position can I live the life I really want. I don't believe in my father, but I believe in my brother."

Vikes was silent for a long time. He had never expected that the royal life that everyone yearned for was not just beautiful on the surface...

He stared at the abrupt and hideous scar on Helia's cheek that ruined her beauty, and said, "Do you need me to help you with anything?"

Obviously, there is a healing magician in the palace who can heal the wound in an instant, but Helia did not choose to do so. Instead, she left the wound and chose to meet him at this time. If you use your brain a little, you will know that Helia must have come to see him with a purpose.

"Please tell me how much you know about Carlisle, senior." Helia smiled with satisfaction. It's so comfortable to chat with smart people.

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles. Although she had some information about Carlisle, it was not comprehensive enough. And as the saying goes, the one who knows you best is your enemy, so Helia chose to come to Vikes to find out the situation.

"Carlisle, born in the Clayton family, is the only promising one among the younger generation."

"His early life was difficult. The Clayton family was declining, and the members of this generation were all useless. Not only did they not contribute anything to the family, but they were also addicted to gambling, sex and alcohol. By the time Carlisle was born, the family was in debt, and he almost died at the hands of creditors several times."

"His rough childhood made him want to climb up the social ladder. As his family fell into decline, his mother couldn't bear to see him rot and fall with the family, so she cruelly sent him to Count Andre's mansion and recognized Count Andre as her adoptive father. Only then did he have the opportunity to learn swordsmanship and magic."

"Carlisle came to prominence during the hunting season not long after you left. He was originally an unknown member of the Royal Knights, but because of his excellent archery skills and good physical skills, he was noticed by His Majesty Claude and was sent out to do some work to hone his skills. He was promoted to the leader of the Knights last year."

"It's such a fast promotion, but no one else has any objections?" Helia interrupted.

"Of course there is. The Royal Knights are a good place for noble children to spend their days. Otherwise, His Majesty would not have asked His Highness Eric to reorganize a knight order, let alone send you to reorganize it."

"Carlisle is ambitious and resourceful. Not long after he came to power, those who disliked him and tried to bring him down were either killed or found evidence against them and presented it to His Majesty, who then confiscated their property."

"It can almost be said that anyone who offended him ended up with a bad ending. His prestige was established, and coupled with his ability, over time no one dared to cause trouble for him anymore."

"How do you think father treats him?" Helia asked again. "Sir Bichiko."

Vikes sighed deeply, "I can only say that Carlisle's ascension to the throne was a coincidence. Chico had just followed you, Belaiyi, out of the imperial capital, and he showed up in front of Your Majesty to demonstrate his skills."

"Your Majesty valued Chico. When Chico left, his position became vacant and many things were delayed. Carlisle took the opportunity to fill the position. It can be seen that he has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time."

"From what I have observed, His Majesty Claude should admire him. His attitude towards Carlisle is like treating an extremely good and sharp knife. He uses it quite smoothly, but he is still on guard."

"But your Majesty has great trust in Chico." At this point, Vikes couldn't help laughing, "Who doesn't know that Chico is the most loyal dog around your Majesty?"

Helia didn't care much about Chico's comments and continued to ask, "Have you investigated Count Andre?"

"Count Andre is a pitiful man. He is the only one of his generation. He is all alone without any brothers or sisters. His parents died early, and he has no close relatives. He is the only one guarding the title and the family property, but he is muddle-headed all day long."

"But after he adopted Carlisle as his adopted son, he gradually cheered up and even founded a chamber of commerce named after Carlisle, which shows how much he values ​​this adopted son."

"I feel that if there were no one else in the Clayton family, Andre would probably want to pass the title to Carlisle. After all, Carlisle is striving for success, isn't he?"

Helia gritted her teeth, recalling the information about Carlisle she had read on the brown paper last night. One of the information was: He desires power, but hates those who are superior to him.

There was even a thoughtful addition after this post: I especially hate people like Helia who hold high positions but make no contribution and even harm others.

From what Vikes said, it seemed that Carlisle’s current achievements were inseparable from Count Andre, but... she saw in the information provided by the Lord God that all the status and power Carlisle had today were obtained through his own hard work, which was a bit strange.

"How did he get into the Royal Knights? Was he selected through a formal process, or did he get in through the back door through connections?" Helia asked puzzled.

"He was selected to get in, so everyone thought he was from a commoner family at first, and many people bullied him." After saying this, Vikes also sensed something was wrong, "That's not right, with Count Andre's power, he could have just pushed people in, why would he let him go through the selection?"

The selection conditions were extremely strict and were specially formulated by Claude. Initially, it was intended to improve the level of the Knights Templar, but he did not expect that in the end it would force the Knights Templar to be filled with children of nobles who entered through the backdoor. The number of those selected through the proper means was so small that they could be counted on one hand.

Moreover, generally, those who went through the selection were either young masters of fallen nobles or commoners. After they came in, they were just doing odd jobs and running errands for the real young masters, and were bullied for fun. Some were even forced to death. Gradually, no one was willing to go through the selection anymore.

Even common people would try to gather money to bribe the examiners and get in through the back door.

Helia scratched her head, "Hiss - is this year's assessment coming up soon?"

Vikes nodded. "In the middle of next month, we will start preparing after your birthday party."

"Tsk, then I'll have to go and see for myself. I want to see which guy is so bold as to continue to accept bribes under my nose."

Helia's eyes seemed to say: I want to see if there is anyone who is not afraid of death and wants to taste the saltiness of the lake water in her back garden.

Helia's pretense lasted only three seconds, and the next second she put on a flattering look, rubbing her hands with a smile, "By the way, senior, are you busy these days?"

Vikes knew that this guy must have bad intentions when he came to him! He knew it!

"Not too busy. I'm helping His Highness Eric with some daily affairs. After all, His Highness is focusing on your birthday party at the end of the month and has no time for anything else." said Wicks.

"Then you should know the people in the Royal Knights well, right?" Helia didn't wait for the other party to answer, and continued to speak: "Anyway, you must know them better than I do. Why don't you accompany me to the Knights during this period of time to get familiar with the environment? What do you think?"

Wicks: I really want to refuse, but I can’t seem to refuse.

And even if this matter was reported to Eric, Eric would support him with both hands and feet to help Helia, and might even be eager to kick him over.

"If you need, I can accompany you..." Weikes agreed reluctantly.

"Well, then you can stay in the Amber Palace for the time being. I haven't moved my hands and feet for a long time, and I feel a little rusty." Helia slapped the table, supported her hands on the table and stood up. "Starting tomorrow, we will practice for two hours like before, how about it?"

Facing Helia's expectant eyes, Vikes could only nod his head and said with a wry smile: "Okay..."

In fact, he didn't like to practice with Helia in school before. There were two reasons. First, Helia was his dear junior schoolmate, weak and a magician. She was not good at close combat. As a senior, he had to let her go, otherwise he would be scolded. But every time he let her go, Helia would take advantage of the opportunity and beat him up. After the beating, he would be dragged away by Mobicius and beaten again. He really became the special punching bag for the master and apprentice.

The second reason was that Helia's moves were too insidious, and she really had no moral principles! He claimed to be a gangster, and compared to other magic swordsmen, he was not as formal and formal, and his moves were a bit wild, but he didn't expect that Helia's moves were even worse than his!

He still remembered the time when Helia attacked his vitals in order to win him over. That night he had a dream that he would have no children or grandchildren! How scary!

It was a coincidence that when Helia was bringing Vikes back to the Amber Palace, they ran into a team that came here to search. The leader was none other than the leader of the Knights Templar, Carlisle, who had been severely fooled by her last night.

He didn't look like he was injured. He must have called a high-level healing magician to treat him last night, and maybe other magicians were called to investigate the scene. Otherwise, they wouldn't have guessed that it was Helia's fault so quickly - although Helia didn't intend to cover up this matter.

"Hello, Her Highness Helia. You are the brightest pearl and the most beautiful rose in the empire."

Carlisle bowed respectfully to Helia, but when he saw the prominent scar on Helia's cheek and her bandaged left hand, he paused involuntarily, and his guess was confirmed at this moment.

"Captain Carlisle, nice to meet you. Hello." Helia deliberately used her bandaged hand to support Carlisle. The smile on her face was superficial, polite yet distant.

Carlisle's eyes quickly swept across Vikes beside him, and then fell on Helia's face. His eyes were obscure and difficult to understand.

Helia leaned over to look at the group of people behind him, and asked knowingly, "What are you doing? Bringing so many people into my palace. If someone doesn't know, they would think I've done something wrong and they're here to arrest me."

"I hope you will forgive me for disturbing you this time." Carlisle apologized immediately, keeping a low profile. "A thief broke into the palace last night and has not been found yet. To protect the peace in the palace and everyone's safety, we need to search the Amber Palace. I hope you will agree."

After hearing this, Helia's mouth curled up even higher. She raised her hands and folded them across her chest, pulling her sleeves upwards as she stretched them, revealing the bandage from her palm to the top of her wrist. If you look carefully, you can vaguely see a hint of blood.

"Thief? This is too scary! What is your Knight Order doing? You can't even catch a small thief, and you want to make it known to everyone! Do you want everyone to know that you are idiots and losers?"

Helia's voice was so loud that everyone in the entire corridor could hear it, and the arrogance and domineering tone came out immediately.

Looking at Carlisle's expression that was almost about to burst, and the faces of the knights behind him that were as ugly as the bottom of an old pot, Helia felt extremely happy.

Even if you guessed that I was the thief last night, what can you do to me? I am standing in front of you, but you still can't do anything to me because there is no direct evidence to prove that she is the thief last night.