Imperial Crown

In the middle of the summer night, insects chirped.

In the Ironforge tower, torches burned fiercely, and the jumping flames crackled from time to time. Sparks accompanied by almost invisible black smoke rose straight up, making the already oily black walls even more scorched.

The stench of burning grease, smoke and sweat mixed in the air, as thick as roasting bacon, making flying insects and mice unwilling to stay here for long.

Even so, there was still a man sitting in front of an old, greasy wooden table. He was still wearing armor on his head, and his black hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his face. Even though his eye sockets were deep, he was still concentrating on reviewing every document.

His eyes swept across a page of parchment, he thought a little, picked up a quill and wanted to write something, but with this action, beads of sweat as big as beans fell from his nose, crackling on the table, leaving a trail of water.

"Huh..." The man opened his mouth to say something, but the dead skin on his upper lip immediately stuck to his lower lip, and a little dark red blood flowed out.

He licked his lips, and then he realized that his mouth was dry. He walked to the wooden barrel filled with clean water in the corner and opened the lid of the barrel.

The inner wall of the old oak barrel was full of moss. After only half a day of filling, the water inside was so smelly that people covered their noses, but the man didn't care. He scooped out a bowl with a wooden spoon and poured the greasy water into his throat.

Dong Dong Dong, there was a knock on the door.

"Lord Judra, there is a letter for you."

After drinking a mouthful of water, Judra put the wooden spoon back to its original place, walked back to the table and sat down, and then said: "Come in."

A knight in full plate armor walked in, holding a document in both hands, and respectfully placed it on the table.

Judra picked up the letter and saw Denise's monogram on it. It was as if she felt the breeze blowing on her face, and her originally tired eyes became much clearer.

Using a letter opener to cut the envelope, he took out the letter paper, put his nose close to it and took a deep sniff, sighing in ecstasy.

When he saw the content, he showed a long-lost happy smile on his face.

This surprised the knight, because even when the young master sent a letter back from Mon'en City a month ago, Judra was not so happy.

"Yarden!" Judra raised his voice.

"Yes, sir!" The knight saluted.

Judra ordered: "Take people to survey [Long-Horde Rock] immediately, and then stay nearby. Unless you encounter danger, you are not allowed to evacuate without authorization before receiving my order. Send someone to report the situation every three hours. If you can't find it here, come to my house to find me!"

"Yes!" Arden took the order and left.

Long-Horde Rock is located on a hill at the junction of Iron Furnace Territory and Eagle Territory. There is an artificial platform halfway up the mountain. It is unknown how long it has been in history. Various buildings have long been destroyed and overgrown with weeds.

In addition to a few scattered stone tables and stone benches, there is only a huge rock that is more than nine meters high and three meters thick, shaped like a halberd, inserted diagonally on the ground.

This is also the origin of the name of this place.

Yaden didn't know why Lord Judela asked them to investigate here, but no matter what he did, it was a good thing.

Since returning from Eagle Castle three months ago, Judela has been guarding the city wall of Ironforge Town like being exiled, and he is not even allowed to return to Ironforge.

Angel's words were also spread by people with ulterior motives: "Judela, as long as I am alive, I will still be the baron of Ironforge! You are just my son and have no right to make any promises on my behalf! Now, get out, guard the city gate, and think about what mistakes you made. If you can't figure it out one day, don't come to see me forever!"

And Judela seemed to be deliberately angry with Angel. He really sat in the tower for three months to deal with various matters. When he was tired, he slept on the straw stack in the tower. Even the number of times he went home to wash could be counted on one hand.

In Arden's opinion, now that Judra is willing to come out and move around, it is much better than sitting in the tower all the time.

He led a dozen soldiers to guard near the Halberd Rock from night to morning, from morning to noon, and from noon to midnight. The latest soldier who reported came back: "Lord Judra is here!"

Arden quickly cheered up and organized the people. Not long after, he saw a fancy rooster slowly walking down the mountain.

No, it's not a rooster, it's a person, and it seems to be...Lord Judra?

Arden rubbed his eyes and confirmed the situation in front of him-it was indeed Judra, but it didn't look right no matter how he looked at it.

He wore a leather soft hat decorated with exaggerated pheasant feathers on his head, and his face was covered with thick powder, even covering the red spots on his exaggerated nose, and his lips were as red as if he had just eaten two children.

A bright red cape was draped over his shoulders, making his dark green top look even brighter. A gold shoulder chain with gemstones hung on his chest. He wore a short white and purple skirt that noble men often wore around his waist. He wore a pair of tight yellowish slim pants that fully highlighted his leg lines, and a pair of black leather boots decorated with silver lines on his feet.

He walked in front of everyone and dismounted: "How is it, does it look good?"

Yaden wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, so he could only say: "Sir, your taste is really... so unique!"

"Humph, of course." Judela shook her collar: "Okay, all of you retreat. No matter what sound you hear later, don't come up without my order. Do you understand?"

Yaden straightened his body and said: "Yes!"

Although the Halberd Rock is halfway up the mountain, the mountain is not steep. After they retreat, they can hide well in the jungle and don't have to turn back from the main road.

Just when they were about to retreat to the point where the platform on the mountainside was no longer visible, a carriage came slowly. The driver was not an ordinary coachman, but a young girl.

She was wearing a long blue dress made of woolen material, which was only worn by servants, but it could not hide her beauty at all. Under the moonlight, it revealed a pure and misty temptation.

The carriage stopped, the door opened, and a woman got out of the carriage with the help of the girl.

Arden finally knew why Judra was dressed like that.

The girl driving the car was already very beautiful, but the woman who stepped out of the car was as beautiful as an elf!

She wears a silver hairband on her head, which shines in the moonlight. Her fair face even makes the moon look dim, giving people a feeling of indifference and alienation. The long white skirt is draped around her body, which clearly shows her figure. As plump as a honeydew melon, it looks elegant, noble, and inviolable.

Arden didn't dare to look anymore, lowered his head and retreated.

The woman stepped forward like a queen, and even the moonlight seemed to be following her.

Judra swallowed, a surging passion bursting out of his eyes. He knelt down on one knee, took the woman's hand, and gave a perfect kiss on the hand: "My dear Ms. Denise, Thanks to the mercy of the Lord of Light, I finally see you again.”

"Mr. Judra, I..." Denise started to say something.

But Judra immediately interrupted: "Denise, my heart, you don't have to say anything, just be silent and listen to the poem I have prepared for you."

While speaking, he stood up, stretched out his arms like a peacock, took two steps back like a dance, put his left hand on his chest, raised his right hand high, and recited affectionately in the evening breeze in the mountains:

“Love is like a flood from a mountain stream.

The deep water is silent, while the shallow water is gurgling.

Love expressed in sweet words is superficial and thin.

If you use rap to express your love,

Then he is not worthy of being a qualified lover. "

He looked at Denise lovingly with his eyes, a somewhat fake smile on his lips, took a deep breath, and prepared to recite the second paragraph of the poem.

Snap, snap, snap.

Just when Judra's emotions were brewing to the fullest, rhythmic applause sounded, and a voice came from the carriage: "Oh oh oh, what a touching recitation. If I were a woman, I might want to read it." Impressed by you."

Then there was a sound in the car, and Raven opened the door and jumped out: "Long time no see, Mr. Judra."

Judra's face visibly turned from white to red, and then from red to black.

When the carefully prepared love poem was interrupted by others, especially Raven, the embarrassment was like being stripped naked and thrown into the street.

He didn't even dare to look at Denise, like a chicken whose neck was strangled. He opened his mouth several times and couldn't speak. Finally, he gritted his teeth and asked angrily: "Raven, Why are you here?"

"Because I arranged this meeting." Raven walked up to Denise as expected: "Aunt, are you not frightened?"

Denise raised her brows slightly and did not respond directly, but saluted Judra: "Mr. Judra, this is indeed Raven's request. Women do not need to intervene in men's affairs, so I will avoid it first."

After saying that, he turned around and walked back to the carriage.

The moment the car door closed, Judra growled: "If this is a joke, it's a bit too far, Baron Raven!"

His face was extremely ugly, and his fragile self-esteem prevented him from accepting that he was being played by Raven, a gangster. He said in a condemning tone: "Taking advantage of a lady is definitely not what a noble should do!"

"Ha, that's funny." Raven clapped his hands again and said, "What a justified rebuke. As a noble, have you done your duty?"

Judra's brows twitched wildly, she inhaled sharply through her nose, and looked away.

Witnessed by many nobles and Vatican priests, he once personally promised to return the Yingzui Mountain Mine and Thousand Needles Jungle to the Eagle Territory, but was unable to fulfill it under the pressure of his father Angel. The heaviest stone in his heart.

"I admit that that matter is my problem. If you want to take this opportunity to retaliate against me, then congratulations, you succeeded!" Judra took a deep breath: "I value my reputation more than my life, so I can forgive you for being rude today, but I don’t hope there will be another time, otherwise,..."

"The shame of reputation can only be washed away with blood!"

He looked at Raven with eyes filled with resentment, then turned back and ran straight to his horse. He didn't want to stay in this place for a minute longer.

Raven laughed and said: "Ha, you are a dignified second-level flame knight. When you encounter problems, you only know how to escape. No wonder Baron Angel looks down on you!"

"What did you say?" Judra stopped and turned around, her brows twitching wildly.

"Oh, didn't you hear clearly? Then I'll say it again." Raven cleared her throat and said loudly: "You, Judra Wharton, are just a loser, a coward who only knows how to escape when faced with problems. Poor guy who is frightened by the facts!"

"You!" Wharton's fist burned with a layer of fire-colored vindictive light. He walked towards Raven step by step, leaving deep and clear footprints on the ground with his feet: "Raven, my self-cultivation is not what you want unscrupulously. reason!"

"Then come here." Raven patted his cheek and said with a sneer on his face: "Hit me, beat me hard."

"After all, it was me who blocked you from returning those two territories to me."

"It's me, too. I would rather break the contract than trample your reputation into the mud like shit, making Judra's name stink in the entire Nord province."

"It's me who was the one who got in the way and made you and Angel hate each other. I was sent to the city wall and had to be used as a cow or a horse. A good nobleman can't live as comfortable as a dog!"

"I'll kill you -" Judra rushed forward, and his thick fist wrapped in fighting spirit hit Raven's face like a meteor in the dark night.

The latter did not dodge and looked at him with a contemptuous smile. Just when his fist was about to hit, Judra stopped and the wind blew Raven's hair away.

"Huh...huh...huh...!" Judra's breathing was as thick as a bellows, and he slowly put away his fists: "Put away your tricks!"

"No matter what you say, I will not take action here today. I will not lose my future just because of a few bees' buzzing!"

Raven was a true noble, an Imperial Baron, and if Judra had beaten Raven here, he would likely have been disinherited by the Council of Nobles, something his father and brother would have been more than happy to see.

"Oh, oh, I'm really impressed by you, Mr. Judra." The smile on Raven's face was less sarcastic and more appreciative: "You can calculate the pros and cons at this time and suppress your anger. , you are indeed a wise noble."

Judra sneered, shook his shoulders, and said disdainfully: "I haven't fallen enough to need you to judge me."

"Pride, my favorite original sin." Raven didn't care about Judra's offense: "I asked you out today in the hope that I could have a firm ally, and you did not let me down."

Judra turned around again: "But I don't need you as an ally."

"That would be a pity." Raven shook his head and sighed: "It seems that the gold coins I prepared can only be given to Mr. Mark."

Judra stopped and turned around with bright eyes: "What do you mean?"

Raven spread his hands: "I need a baron to be my ally. Since it's not you, it can only be Mark. Isn't this strange?"

The corner of Judra's mouth twitched slightly: "Don't pretend that you are omnipotent, you have no ability to decide who will inherit the iron furnace leader!"

"Hmm, I don't deny it." Raven nodded: "But if this continues, Mr. Judra, you will never become the next Baron Wharton. This is also a fact."

Judra couldn't refute. Although he had cultivated some power of his own over the years, due to Angel's favoritism, Mark's strength was far higher than his.

There are six knights under the Ironforge Territory. Only Arden is loyal to Judra, but there are two loyal to Mark, and one of them is even a second-level knight!

The three knights remained neutral between the two of them, but Judra also knew that if Angel needed it, the three of them would fall to Mark's side at any time.

Seeing Judra's silence, Raven struck while the iron was hot and took out a document he had already drafted: "It's still early, why doesn't Mr. Judra take a look at my proposal before making a decision?"

Judra took the document and unfolded it, and began to read it word by word under the bright moonlight. Her eyebrows trembled more and more violently, and finally she threw the parchment back to Raven's chest: "Daydreaming!"

"Raven, I am not you, let alone Donald. Personal gains and losses are not that important to me! Even if I cannot inherit the title of Baron, I will never harm any interests of the Wharton family!"

Listening to the fierce words and watching his unmoving footsteps, Raven's mouth covered by the paperwork showed a smile of victory.

After walking for so long, fish

Finally took the bait!

…