Throne of Radiance

"See you again, Mr. Joseph."

The moonlight shines leisurely, and under the radiance like silver gauze, the pattering raindrops fall on the window sill, playing slowly like a soothing serenade.

A figure was bathed in the light of a moonlit night, and raindrops rolled down from the umbrella.

The invisible rain curtain between heaven and earth opened the curtain of the stage, and the man under the black umbrella was like a musician walking calmly in the rain, appearing calmly at the moment the curtain opened.

"!!!"

Joseph took a step back abruptly, looking at the man on the balcony in surprise.

He almost subconsciously recalled that night more than a month ago with the same faint smell of rain, the piano piece that was played in the Beiyuan Building. Now that he recalled it again, this memory was covered with a deep layer. color.

The culprit was the man in front of him.

Joseph Houston, a member of the Imperial Council and the manager of the King's District, lived in the most secure community, a villa with four floors.

But now, he was shocked and inexplicably standing in front of the French windows on the top floor, looking at the man on the balcony a few steps away.The closed glass windows did not give him any sense of security.

The dense night smeared the world in front of him, and the visitor who was soaked by the night leaned casually on the railing, his light golden hair dyed with a little moisture.

The long black windbreaker slipped from his side, and the shadow cast by the black umbrella shrouded the man's handsome eyebrows. His beautiful dark blue eyes smiled slightly at Joseph.

The smile was as perfect as a dummy.

Joseph was in a trance for a while, and some indescribable discomfort welled up in his subconscious.

He has seen this man code-named K three times.

Strictly speaking, it can only be counted as two times.

For the first time, he didn't even see this person's face. What impressed him most was the coldness and excitement when he was woken up by a glass of cold water on his mistress' bed at three o'clock in the morning. The coldness of the gun against the back of the head and the trembling from the heart.

Someone chuckled behind him.

He still remembers that gentle and elegant voice, as touching as a nobleman's, and his unreasonable words——

"It's the first time to meet you, Mr. Joseph. I would like to discuss the ownership of the King's District with you."

The second time we met, to be precise, it was the first time he saw this face in front of him, and it was the night that was stained red with blood, at the banquet in Beiyuan Building.

This mysterious "pianist" left an unforgettable curtain call for everyone, and also made the seeds of fear planted in Joseph's heart germinate quickly, growing stronger in just a few days.

This fear overwhelmed everything, overwhelmed all principles and morals, and made him consider agreeing to the other party's request instead of following in the footsteps of Sir Leonard in a daze.

Just when he was about to succumb to fear, the parliament took advantage of the introduction of Sir Leonardo's assassination and death to attack the royal family, and the thunderous blow achieved miraculous results.

Among them, this sudden assassination was the trigger of everything, and one of the important clues used by the parliament to deal with the royal family, so it naturally played a big role.

The mysterious assassin who passively assisted the council by accident was naturally taken advantage of by the council.

While the royal family was trying to kill this man, the parliament began to consider whether it could use him further to deal a greater blow to the royal family.

This made Joseph, who was struggling and suffering, see an opportunity——

An opportunity that does not need to betray the parliament, violate the principles, and does not have to worry about refusing the request of the mysterious person and risking one's life. It is also very likely to be appreciated by the high-level council, and even a chance to climb further!

The flames of greed and ambition blazed in his chest, making him fight it out.

Unsurprisingly, the bigwigs at the upper echelons of the council were pleasantly surprised to learn that he had actually found a way to find the mysterious assassin and reached a consensus with him.

The assassination of a lord certainly hurt the face of the Morning Star Empire, but the royal family was the most embarrassing, they were just incidental.

If this is used as an introduction to attack the royal family, the parliament will gain greater benefits.

This would not be possible without the cooperation of the assassin.

If possible, they hope that this killer, who they have packaged online as a "just man who walks in the sky" and "an unsung hero who walks in the dark", can make a few more shots, kill a few more members of the royal family, and completely disrupt the situation .

After receiving instructions from the high-level council, Joseph sent a message to the lackeys in the King's District who should have belonged to him but had been subdued by others, in an attempt to contact their new masters.

It didn't take long before the elusive new owner appeared in front of Joseph.

——This is also their third meeting.

The difference from the previous two rounds is that this time the identities of the two parties are collaborators, and Joseph is just a tool for spreading the word, and the real leader is just inconvenient to show up.

The agreement they reached was simple.

The council will provide K with a list, among which there must be victims who fit his aesthetics.All he had to do was keep killing himself.

However, the council met his conditions and handed over the underground world of the king's district to him, and would never interfere with his development in the underground world.In addition, for some time to come, he will block interference from higher levels and give him some necessary help in the process of developing his power.

——The council doesn't care that he might become bigger. There are too many underground forces in the Morning Star Empire. Which of those seemingly majestic underground organizations dare to confront the rule of the empire?How many of them are not running dogs of big forces?

In the eyes of the parliament, this seemingly rebellious collaborator will not be able to get rid of the fate of those underground organizations in the future. He will either be tamed by them or crushed into fly ash by the empire's heavy weapons.

Therefore, K's development and growth will be cheap in the future. It can be regarded as developing power for the parliament. Perhaps one day in the future, when the parliament needs it, it will be able to play a greater role.

——Parliament wants to gain the supremacy of this country and become the apparent ruler.The other side of the cooperation is trying to eat everything in the darkness of this country and become the uncrowned king in the shadows.

——The former is limited by the system and rules, and there are many inconvenient things that need to be done by others.Although the latter has no scruples, if he can get the help of the parliament, he will definitely be able to take root and develop in this country at a faster speed.They just help each other and benefit each other.

And as the middleman who indirectly facilitated this cooperation, even if he just passed on a word, Joseph has gained great benefits.

Even if this benefit has not been realized for the time being, at least he has been remembered by the high-level members of the parliament. This is an opportunity that is difficult for others to match!

Thinking of this, looking at the "opportunity maker" standing in front of him, Joseph, who was in a complicated mood, moved the muscles at the corners of his mouth to suppress the subconscious fear reaction, then opened the French windows and strode forward.

He gave a hypocritical yet warm smile.

"It turned out that it was Mr. K who came. Everyone in the parliament thanked you very much, and those above asked me to express their gratitude to you."

The man leaning on the railing didn't move, he just slightly raised the black umbrella in his hand, revealing the man's complete eyebrows on the umbrella.He said thoughtfully:

"Oh? It seems that you have won a big victory?"

The undercurrent of the Morningstar Empire happened in a place that ordinary people could not see. Ordinary people could only see the ever-changing reactions of public opinion on the Internet, and saw the black materials of various royal family members that were constantly leaked. Those emperors who were mentioned intentionally or unintentionally were once The wrong decisions made, and even many old things in the past were found out by "informed people", including all kinds of stupid things that ordinary people did not know about the emperor. This may allow some smart people to deduce the clues of the game behind the high-level.

Those who are a little more sensitive may also find that some past events about the Glorious Revolution have been frequently mentioned in recent times, such as historical dramas that suddenly became popular, songs related to it in special cultural performances, reviewing the past historical forums, and discussing Morning Star for the whole people. Topics such as several great events and revolutions in the history of the empire... such a pile of things has attracted enough attention.

When it comes to the Glorious Revolution, of course we have to mention the feudal and decadent imperial family, and then think of the various scandals about the royal family that have been exposed recently, and the emperor's unreliable decision-making, this rhythm is easy to bring up.

In short, if there is a favorability indicator, you can see that the people of the Morningstar Empire have a continuous decline in the favorability of the royal family.

But only the shallowest layer that ordinary people can see.

The royal family of the Morning Star Empire, which itself held a part of the power, could not be defeated by mere public opinion offensives. The rhythm of being brought up was only the first gap created by the parliament.

However, it is difficult for ordinary people to know about the deeper level of confrontation.

Even K has no channel to know so much inside information.

Therefore, his curious question gave Joseph a rare sense of superiority.

It's not that Joseph's character is not stable enough, it's just that the psychological shadow left by K on him is too heavy, almost leaving an image of a supernatural and omnipotent devil in his heart.At this time, I suddenly discovered that this seemingly omnipotent and seemingly omnipotent person also had something he didn't know, and when I asked him for information, my mood, which had been suppressed by fear, inevitably rose a little bit.

He replied in a very pleasant tone: "Mr. K's guess is right. This time, our Majesty suffered a big loss. If the cabinet did not intervene suddenly, we could have achieved even greater victories."

Joseph didn't care about expressing his true inner thoughts in front of K, and his tone was full of sarcasm and joking: "Those so-called big men, who have the titles of emperors and nobles, are arrogant about their noble blood, but they don't know that this world has long been It has changed. As people who have made greater contributions to the Morningstar Empire, and as representatives of the general public of the Morningstar Empire, we are naturally more qualified than them to control this country!"

The only answer to him was the patter of rain.

The man leaning on the railing was still in the same posture as before, with an indifferent expression.

His reaction seemed to take little interest in the topic, which took Joseph's interest away.

So, Joseph brought up another topic: "Our Majesty has always been like this. During the Glorious Revolution, he did not hesitate to drag the entire country into the quagmire of world war, threatened the destruction of the Morningstar Empire, and destroyed Only by winning the perfect victory of the Glorious Revolution did we manage to keep a little bit of power."

"Now, he is playing the same trick again, actually trying to find cooperation from the people of Yao country, even if the people of Yao country intervene in the internal affairs of our Morning Star Empire, and also to suppress the momentum of the parliament - this majesty has never thought about it, if the despicable The people of Yao Kingdom take advantage of this to propose conditions to cut off the interests of the Morning Star Empire, what will be the result... No, just to allow the people of Yao Country to intervene in our internal affairs, they have countless ways to make the Morning Star Empire suffer unbearable losses!"

Speaking of which, even a dirty politician like Joseph, who was not clean or innocent at all, showed a strong disgrace to the emperor's "traitorous" behavior.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the reason why the Morning Star Empire was involved was related to a cross-border arrest application."

The topic seemed to come to this point naturally, Joseph put away the intense emotions he had just shown, and looked at the person in front of him: "The person they want to arrest is you, Mr. K."

"All of this...seems to be related to a serial murder case in the Morning Star Empire."

Facing Joseph's inquisitive gaze, the man who hadn't spoken much chuckled lightly: "Oh, that matter... It's such an amazing persistence, I thought they had forgotten it."

Although he said it was an accident, his tone was very flat, with a bit of disapproval, which meant that the clouds were calm and the wind was light.

This made Joseph's brewing emotions almost stuck, he coughed lightly, and then said in a righteous tone: "The Yao people tried to enter our country to arrest Mr. K, and our majesty did not hesitate to reach an agreement with the Yao people." , to put pressure on the parliament. Fortunately, the parliament withstood the pressure and rejected this rude request!"

"——Mr. K is the most important friend of the parliament. This time the parliament won a big victory, and you have a share of the credit. We will never allow, and it is absolutely impossible to hand over our friends!"

Joseph's tone was righteous and awe-inspiring, and with his serious face, it was really easy to believe.

It's a pity that the only audience present didn't cooperate with his performance, and just nodded slightly: "I see." As for believing it or not, that's another story.

Joseph felt that he couldn't continue talking today.

He simply stated his purpose and got straight to the point: "I'm afraid Mr. K doesn't know that several congressmen have expressed their appreciation for you. Let me convey it to you for them. If Mr. K is willing, we will reach a brand new relationship. Have a closer friendship."

Joseph politely offered an olive branch.

Of course it was impossible for "K" not to understand.

After all, this purpose is really obvious.

First, it explained the result of the parliament's complete victory this time. Even the emperor could only retreat steadily and was played in the applause. This is to promote strength;

Immediately afterwards, it also explained that Yao Kingdom pursued him relentlessly, not to mention the deep hatred for him from the royal family of the Morning Star Empire. Crisis and intimidation, but also to show the powerful strength and human touch of the parliament;

In the end, he pointed out the high-level council's appreciation for him, and issued a cryptic solicitation.

After this series of combination routines, if "K" is really just an ordinary employee of the Shadow Council, I am afraid that he will be so moved on the spot that he will bow down and agree to solicit.

Then, maybe he will become a pawn placed by the parliament, the shadow council, an underground force. Even if the shadow council continues to expand and develop, it will always be under the control of the council, so that it will not grow out of control after it grows.

Of course, maybe the council didn't pay attention to such a small organization as the Shadow Council at all. The reason why they recruited him was because they liked his skills and wanted to find a knife that was easy to use.

Either way, he wasn't interested.

Although agreeing to the solicitation and then being a double agent seems to be an interesting idea, but this kind of idea belongs to Bai Yi, a puppeteer, but not the unruly K-the reason why he is willing to join the Shadow Council is not To be convinced, but to always want to be in the top position.

With K's character design, of course he would not agree to the council's solicitation.

"—a more intimate relationship?"

The man leaned on the railing, stood firmly on the balcony, and looked at Joseph with anticipation in his eyes.

The curvature of his smile is impeccable.

"One is the parliament that rules the Morningstar Empire on the bright side, and the other is the shadow council that rules the dark world secretly. There is of course an intimate relationship between dawn and reflection."

"—I am looking forward to that day."

Joseph: ? ? ?

At this moment, the question mark on his face is probably thinking: What shadow council?Which organization that came out of the horns actually bumped into the Porcelain Council, did you really think that the two sides could be compared and have the day when the world would be divided equally?

"K" didn't care what he thought, and continued to speak: "I came here today, just to remind you, remember to abide by the agreement."

So he is not interested in other things.

Joseph froze for a moment, but hadn't reacted yet.

The man's dark green pupils seemed to become darker in an instant, but his smile was very gentle: "The King's District is already my territory. It seems that you have left some garbage there, so I will clean it up for you by the way."

Joseph's pupils shrank suddenly.

From beginning to end, the council only treated the other party as a saboteur. Even if they agreed to cooperate at the beginning, they couldn't help but do something.But this means that the manpower they placed has been dealt with?

This night, he was rejected mercilessly at first, and now he was warned like this, the anger in his heart also came up, and he couldn't help frowning heavily: "You!"

The man glanced at him lightly.

The breath of death seemed to be floating around him, and those bloody images before suddenly came to mind, and Joseph suddenly deflated like a balloon that was punctured.

He moved his lower lip.

"You, you go slowly..."

"See you next time, then, Mr. Joseph."

...No, never again.I don't want to see you again in this life.

Under Joseph's warm smirk, "K" greeted him politely, then turned around and jumped down from the balcony.

In the dark night, his figure disappeared in the rain.