before he was crowned king

The silver knife sliced ​​through the bloody beef, and the fragrant wine flowed into the expensive goblet.

Except for the slight sound of knives and forks, the atmosphere is extremely quiet.

There is a very complicated set of etiquette for nobles dining.

Because of the trouble, many families will not strictly abide by it.

Lady Mary attached great importance to aristocratic etiquette, and even paid attention to the error in the distance between the cup and the plate.

She firmly believes that these etiquettes are the criteria that distinguish people from animals.

Lady Mary has high demands on manners, both in herself and in others.

Sean had a hard time learning the red tape.

Now Sean is very thankful for that.

Because Mrs. Mary never speaks when she eats.

He was given precious thinking time.

Although he hasn't seen anyone yet, he already knows that Alex is back.

This means that he not only lost the role of consolidating the title, but also became an obstacle to Alex's succession.

Lady Mary has no need to keep him.

Mrs. Mary can make him disappear quietly as written in the book.

Conditions were against him.

Like playing whist, Mrs. Mary's hand was much better than his.

On the surface, he is the legal owner of Rose Manor, but the core rights are still firmly in the hands of Madam Mary.

The difficulty of surviving can be imagined.

You must know that what he is facing is not a real pampered lady, but a magister who can burn a city with a word.

Behind the iron mask, thin sweat slipped from Sean's forehead.

To win, he must capture the opponent's highest card with the lowest card.

One wrong step is death.

Sean raised his eyelids. At this moment, Mrs. Mary put the knife and fork together on the plate, and her first maid, Janice, presented her with a white napkin.

This is the signal that the meal is over.

It was also the beginning of his game with Mrs. Mary.

"His name is Alex." Madam Mary said, "He is your brother, and the son of Viscount Norman and me."

"Then he must be very good."

"Indeed." Madam Mary raised her chin slightly, and glanced at Sean, "Unlike you, Erics was born with an astonishing talent for magic. He was an [intermediate magician] five years ago."

"It's really amazing," Sean continued to admire sincerely, as if he didn't hear the disdain in his words, "A talent like Brother Alex's is unmatched even by the Royal Highnesses."

Madam Mary snorted inaudibly.

"He is my son, and he is destined to be the pride of the Saint Via Empire in the future."

Sean was about to nod in agreement when Madam Mary suddenly changed her subject.

"Similarly, he also bears the hope of revival of the Cabed family. If not for the accident a few years ago, according to the will, the Viscount should have been inherited by Erics."

finally come.

"Mother." Sean paused, and said seriously, "I think it is more appropriate for the position of viscount to be inherited by Alex."

Madam Mary raised her eyebrows slightly, but said nothing.

But apparently, Sean's reaction was somewhat beyond her expectations.

Sean continued: "This position was originally left to Alex by the Viscount, and it was a last resort for me to inherit it. Now that Alex is back, I have also fulfilled my mission, and it is time for the property to return to the original owner." .”

"You don't want to be a viscount?"

"Mother, I'm just an adopted son of the Cabed family."

Sean's tone was humble and sincere, and he specially emphasized the last word, trying to imply Mrs. Mary.

Now, if he has not recovered his memory, he should not know the truth that he is the eldest son of Viscount Norman.

Since he is still an adopted son, it is only natural to return the right of inheritance.

With his current status, it will not affect Erics' interests at all.

This was the first card Sean played.

His purpose is to make Lady Mary underestimate her own worth and ignore his threats.

However, Mrs. Mary's answer was unexpected for Sean.

"Who said you were adopted?"

Such a simple rhetorical question made Sean's palms clenched tightly.

He knew very well in his heart that if he wanted to survive, he had to be, and could only be, the adopted son of the Cabed family.

If Mrs. Mary insists on a showdown, it means the game cannot go on.

Sean's pupils flickered, and he spoke slowly.

"I know I'm not."

Madam Mary's eyes drooped slightly, her expression froze.

At this moment, Sean lowered his head, his voice trembling, as if he was suppressing some emotion.

"I know. Although there is no blood connection, you have always raised me like a biological mother. I know I shouldn't say these words, but this is the truth. You have the kindness of a parent to me, but I occupy myself My brother's title... the reasonable condemnation makes me extremely ashamed!"

"Mother, I implore you to let Erics inherit the title of Viscount, and don't worry about my feelings. Reasonably, the Patriarch of the Cabed family should be someone more capable than me."

There was a dead silence in the room, and Sean lowered his head, listening to the slight knocking sound on the table...

Waiting for Lady Mary's final judgment on him.

"I know what you mean, and I will think about it carefully. You are also tired. Stay in the study recently and don't go out again."

"Yes, mother."

Sean stood up, leaning on his cane, and when he turned around, he could feel the sweat on his back.

Apart from the rejoicing of being alive after the catastrophe, Sean felt more unwilling.

If he had half of Mrs. Mary's conditions in his hands, he wouldn't be in such a predicament of letting others slaughter him.

The moment of life and death tonight sounded the alarm for Sean, and gave him a deeper understanding of the cruelty of the world.

Walking up the spiral upward stairs, Sean glanced at the dining room from the corner of his eye. Under the shadow, Madam Mary's face was gloomy. She was still sitting at the top of the table, like a statue of a god in the church.

"Ma'am, I can do it tonight." Janice, the maid who had been standing behind, said, "I will follow your orders."

"Although it's not an obstacle, he is that woman's son." Madam Mary frowned slightly, "This makes me very uncomfortable."

At this moment, there were three knocks on the door.

"Madam, the Viscount said that he forgot to give you something."

On the table is a swan-shaped crystal vessel, which contains a transparent liquid, and a red ribbon is intimately tied around the slender swan neck.

There is also a snow-white letter pressed under the swan vessel.

The clean and neat handwriting reads "Dear Mother" on the header.

"What does it mean?"

"The viscount said that today is the day you take him back to the manor. This is the perfume [Swan Crown] he carefully prepared for you. He originally wanted to give it to you before the meal."

Mrs. Mary did not speak, looking at the perfume delivered, her brows were slightly relaxed.

"Does mother like the gift I gave him?" Sean sat at the desk, holding a quill in his hand, smoothly and quickly sketching some weird geometric figures on the parchment.

"The gift you gave Madam will like it." Sean's personal servant Joe respectfully said, "You really have a heart, remembering such a special day, Madam must be very touched."

How could it be possible to remember the specific date?

He was still a kid who didn't know anything.

This is just an excuse.

Lady Mary couldn't possibly remember anyway.

"As long as mother likes it," Sean said, looking up. "Joe, I want to be alone for a while."

"Yes, Viscount." Joe closed the study door.

Sean's study room is very simple. This room was originally used by the deceased Viscount Norman. Mrs. Mary ordered someone to clean it up and handed it to Sean.

Apart from the huge bookshelf built into the wall, there was only a desk and a faded armchair.

Sean had a cowhide book spread out in his hand, which was the only hole card he had left.

In the Sanvia Empire, if a commoner wants to enjoy superior treatment and join the noble and luxurious upper class life, then learning magic is his only way to advance.

In this world, magic is mainly divided into two systems.

Natural magic system and ritual magic system.

The natural magic system is divided into five branches: water, fire, wind, thunder and earth.

It requires the magician to have a keen insight and a high affinity for the elements of each attribute.

The ritual magic system, also known as the light magic system, is divided into two branches: healing and attack.

What this type of magic requires is the believers' absolute devout belief in the gods.

Sean has tried both of these two most mainstream magic systems, but he failed without exception.

The first is natural magic, the magic with the largest number of students in the Saint Via Empire.

Sean found that he could not perceive any so-called attribute elements at all.No matter how long he meditated, he still didn't see the colorful light spots in the tutor's mouth.

All he saw was darkness after closing his eyes.

Followed by ritual magic, the God of Light is the god with the largest number of believers in the Saint Via Empire. However, among these tens of thousands of believers, there are only a poor two or three floors who can really use light magic, and most of them are priests in the Holy See. .

Compared with those who talk about the God of Light every day, it's not surprising that Sean can't cast the magic of light.

Learning magic is a compulsory course based on Saint Via.

Facing the two roads that were completely blocked, Sean had no choice but to find another way.

In addition to mastering alchemy with certain principles, Sean set his sights on an extremely unpopular branch derived from alchemy in the magic system.

Magic Array.

In Sean's view, people act as a good conductor in the process of casting magic.

This is similar to the drawing of the magic circle.

Since he himself is not a good magic conductor, he can try to use a suitable material conductor instead of triggering magic himself.

Judging from the basic principles in the book, it seems possible for a person with no magic power like Sean to cast magic through a magic circle.

In practice, however, Sheehan quickly discovers blind spots in the book's narrative.

That is, the triggering of the magic circle still requires magic guidance.

Like a light touch of water during drainage.

The magic power required for this guidance is so small that it is almost negligible, but Sean can't even master such a small amount of magic power.

The result can be said to be extremely disappointing.

But Sean was not willing to give up like this. He read all the ancient books related to the magic circle, but found nothing.

Who would have thought that in the end, when he was tidying up the study, he found a glimmer of hope in a thick classic.

Inside this thick book is an inconspicuous black cowhide book, which is densely packed with handwritten records.

Sean was not sure if this record was written by the original owner of the study, Viscount Norman, but he was extremely interested in the contents recorded in it.

Magic circle.

A magic circle that is said to summon the gods to descend.

This kind of magic circle requires neither magic power nor faith.

All it needs is a medium with harshly proportioned proportions.

The conductors are still the most basic materials such as gold, silver, crystal, pearl, and emerald, but the reactive cement that acts as a resonance is not the common mercury.

The material used in the cowhide book is called [Shining of Time].

"The drizzle of sorrow in the forest, dripping, dripping, dripping from pure and graceful beauty, is the sparkle brewed by time."

The poetic descriptions in the records are completely bewildering.

Sean had guesses in his heart, but he was not fully sure.

But he wasn't discouraged, he believed that even if he couldn't find it, as long as he went through continuous experiments, he would definitely be able to find an alternative reaction solution.

No matter what, he will not give up any possibility of harnessing magic.

Late at night, in the basement of Mudsen Church.

The girl with long warm brown hair was looking sadly at the sarcophagus not far away.

"Lilian, am I coming back too late?" The man leaned against the sarcophagus, his back was slender and lonely under the dim light, and his forehead was against the name engraved on the sarcophagus.

"Arix, please don't blame yourself, this is definitely not your fault." The girl stepped forward quickly, and hugged the man gently from behind, "I swear that no matter what happens, I will be by your side."

The author has something to say: Note:

1 Whist: A card game in which two players from one group sit facing each other and play against two players from another group.The cards are dealt one by one, making the last card the trump suit.When the dealer wants to play this card as the first trick, he should hold this trump card in his hand.The player to the dealer's left leads.The cards played are placed face up on the table.Then each player plays cards in a clockwise direction.If you can't play a card of the same suit, you can discard or discard the card (when there is an ace).Every time 4 cards are played-that is, each person plays a card-is a trick, the player with the largest card gets the trick, and the winner of the trick gets the right to play the card, and so on until all the cards are played, and the party that wins more tricks Based on 6 tricks, one point is awarded for each more than one trick.

2 There are two main categories of magic: natural magic and ritual magic. The mainstream ritual magic of the Sanvia Empire comes from the God of Light, so it generally refers to light magic.

3 known magician levels: junior magician, intermediate magician, advanced magician, magister, great magister.