Chapter 576: Within the Royal Palace
Radiant Dawn City, within the royal palace gardens.
Otto Losi and Auro Tokat stealthily made their way behind a rockery.
Of course, it wasn't entirely stealthy—at least, when entering the royal palace area, they passed through the gate openly in front of the guards. As long as they didn't go to the palace's restricted areas, their movements wouldn't be hindered in any way. All the royal guards knew that the Losi and Tokat families had always been loyal supporters of the royal family, and that the two of them would become chief ministers of the First Prince after taking over their families.
"Hey, are we really going to do this?" Otto couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
If Dawnlight Keep, where the Lord of Radiant Dawn often appeared, could be considered a restricted area, then the bedchamber within the keep was a restricted area within a restricted area. And they happened to know a secret passage leading from the garden to the bedchamber—this narrow underground passage was probably one of the royal palace's escape routes. When they were children, they had explored it with Andrea and Prince Ampin, and the four of them had treated it as their secret base, occasionally holding small gatherings inside.
Of course, they were only around ten years old back then, and even if they were discovered by His Majesty Moya, they would at most be reprimanded. But now that they were adults, what would His Majesty think if they trespassed into the bedchamber again?
"Please, wasn't it you who suggested that the three families should join forces to find out why Ampin has become so strange?" Auro pouted. "Now that we've reached the crucial moment, you want to back down again?"
"I..." Otto opened his mouth, momentarily speechless.
"But I'm really impressed with you, actually using Andrea's recent situation to sound out Lord Quin. If it weren't for the fact that you're her childhood playmate, I think the thing he would want to do most is to silence you." Auro said, peering around. "Now is the best time to know the truth. Are you in or not?"
Otto hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded.
Because the news that Earl Quin had revealed was truly shocking.
Ever since His Majesty fell ill, the First Prince had often received an alchemist in the palace, and would also ask those who came to inquire about the illness to leave the palace. It was said that His Majesty could wake up for one or two hours every day thanks to that person's use of specially made medicine to suppress the illness. Andrea's father, as the Prime Minister, naturally had the opportunity to enter the bedchamber to ask His Majesty about political affairs. He had seen that alchemist once, and the other party was actually a young woman, completely veiled in black纱, only her dull, silver-gray pupils were visible.
After hearing this, Otto instantly thought of the church.
If he hadn't gone to Graycastle, he wouldn't have made this connection. But after seeing Roland Wimbledon, the news about the church secretly cultivating Pure Ones and attempting to subvert the four kingdoms' zhèngquan and accumulate power to welcome the Battle of Doomsday had taken root in his heart.
He ultimately didn't tell Earl Quin this information. After all, this matter had a huge impact, and he had to confirm that his guess was correct before making the next decision.
After learning from the Earl that the alchemist would appear today, Otto immediately thought of the secret passage he had often used as a child.
Since it was impossible to get the First Prince's support, he could only find the truth in this way.
Seeing him nod, Auro immediately took action—parting the knee-high weeds, using a bishou to pry open a cover plate behind the rockery that was disguised as an ordinary stone. A rusty iron railing quickly appeared in front of them. This栅栏 was about an arm's length wide and could only be opened from the inside with a key, but this didn't stump the two who had come prepared.
Auro took out a glass bottle from his waist pouch, opened the lid, and poured the amber liquid in the bottle onto the lock扣 location.
A choking white smoke immediately rose, and the railing touched by the liquid made a sizzling sound, like butter thrown into a hot pan.
This was Iron Dissolving Water, concocted by the alchemist master of Radiant Dawn City. A bottle the size of a fist cost more than a dozen gold dragons, and the process didn't turn iron into a puddle of black water in the blink of an eye as the alchemist had claimed. It took pouring out two full bottles before the lock扣, which had shrunk by two sizes, came off the railing.
Then the two bent over and crawled into the洞口. Auro didn't forget to turn around and close the stone slab.
After crawling for a dozen steps, the passage became slightly wider, enough for people to stand and walk. Otto skillfully groped for the oil lamp hanging on the wall and lit it with a firestone. The faint light illuminated the stone walls and arched ceiling—after leaving this place for more than ten years, the secret passage remained the same as before, as if time had stood still here. When passing the lounge in the middle, they could still see the soft seats and wine glasses that they had dragged in for gatherings back then.
As the road twisted and climbed upwards, Otto Losi knew that he had entered Dawnlight Keep.
The walls of the castle were divided into inner and outer layers, like a sandwich, with the empty space in the middle left for secret rooms and passages. When the two arrived at the end of the secret passage, they were at the back of the fireplace in the bedchamber.
Since the mechanism had to be opened from the bedchamber, they couldn't directly enter the bedroom. However, through the tiny活门缝隙, they could roughly see the scene in the bedroom. And if it was quiet enough, they could also hear the voices of people talking in the room.
Otto extinguished the oil lamp and put his eyes to the缝隙.
The fireplace faced a large bed, and lying on the bed was the Lord of Radiant Dawn, Digen Moya. And the First Prince Ampin paced back and forth by the bed, his expression somewhat anxious.
The two looked at each other, nodded tacitly, and leaned carefully against the活门 stone slab—obviously, His Highness was waiting for the alchemist to come.
About half an hour passed, and there was finally new movement in the room.
They immediately turned their heads and squinted.
Two women walked into the bedroom. One of them was the black纱 alchemist that Earl Quin had mentioned, and the other was probably the alchemist's assistant, carrying a挎包, wearing a red and white robe and cape, with beautiful golden curly hair.
"You're late!" Ampin said unhappily.
"Sorry," the blonde woman said,撫胸, "There was a bit of a situation on the road that delayed us a lot."
"What's the point of saying so much, as long as his father wakes up," the black纱 person replied coldly, "What difference does it make if it's earlier or later."
"You can't say that, we still have to rely on Prince Your Highness's help," she took a green porcelain bottle out of the 垮包, "Maintaining a harmonious relationship is good for both of us, isn't it?"
"Give me the medicine," Ampin took two steps forward, but was stopped by the black纱 person.
"Have you forgotten our agreement? This medicine will only be effective if I feed it, and as a condition for exchange, you must fulfill the Mianxia's requirements."
Mianxia!
Otto was greatly shocked. This respectful term was only used when addressing the Pope. Was the other party really sent by the church?
He couldn't help but bite his lip. In that case, these two people weren't alchemists at all, but the legendary Pure Ones?