He's in Love with the Devil.

Chapter 10: Scarlet and Dark Fate

"If you are able to succeed in your assassination that would be fine." The king's white-gloved hand curled idly around the riding crop that had been braided into the gold thread, "But I'm afraid my knights will have some less than gracious comments when you say something like that."

"Your Majesty's knights are loyal."

The young man owed a slight bow, apologizing for what he had just said.

The king did not comment on his words.

The young man scrutinized the young monarch before him.

He was truly infamous, but he also looked honorable.

His silver hair fell to his shoulders, his scarlet riding suit jacket was embroidered with rosebuds in gold thread, and a dark gold iron rose secured his clean white cravat. But beyond that, the young man saw something else that appalled him.

The king before him was unmistakable, but the sporadic portents of destiny that he caught were ......

How should that omen be described?

The young man was a brilliant astrologer.

With careful preparation he had a certain chance of catching a bit of a hazy omen from some strongly fated person. It was for this reason that he had asked the general to involve himself in the negotiations - he wanted to meet the teenage king of Rogaland with his own eyes.

But, after a morning of preparation, when he finally met this king, he caught omens that were not at all in his imagination.

He looked through the lenses of his pale crystal, using eyes dripping with morning dew to observe the king standing in the three o'clock afternoon sunlight, and what floated before his eyes in that instant was a ...... a, a vortex.

Or a twisted curtain, deep as hell, with swirls of blood intertwined - was the dark red color a symbol of the bloodline of the Rosebud family in the other party?

The omen of fate lasted less than a brief second, yet the astrologer was already bloodless.

Not only because of the energy that had been drained away in that instant, but also because of the image that had been glimpsed in that instant.

It was as if there was an inexhaustible oppressive force and blood coming out of that black and red intertwining.

Could it be him?

Could the sun that leapt up from the abyssal strait be this arrogant young king? How could the man who would become the sun be accompanied by such intense darkness and scarlet? Or is it true, as the general said, that the sun must be the king of their kingdom of Bolesi?

The astrologer could not tell the difference.

"You are looking very poorly. Is it possible that Blesi can't even feed a scholar?"

The astrologer sensed that the king was also sizing himself up.

The other party's gaze was careless, but it inexplicably taught a cold feeling to rise behind one's back-perhaps because of the image he had just seen. He didn't dare to look directly at this king for a moment.

The astrologer owed his body, "Bolesi places great importance on scholars, and the general even more so, it is myself who is not accustomed to the climate on this side of the Abyssal Straits - it can be so cold here."

"According to your words, the climate in Blesi is much different?" The king asked.

"Yes."

In order not to let the other man realize what he had just done, the astrologer introduced the country that was on the other side of the Abyssal Strait - it was obvious that he was deeply attached to his country, or at least he made an effort to use his dry language to make the country that didn't start to get its first snowfalls until October seem a little more beautiful.

However, while the poor Mr. Astrologer was good at calculating the numbers for the angles of the constellations, he was in dire straits when it came to the rhetoric of words.

Thankfully, the king seemed to maintain a modicum of chivalry, and without commenting on his tedious explanations, mercifully let him finish.

But was it really mercy?

The astrologer ran out of words, and he took his leave of the king.

A quickly fading smile floated across the king's lips as he eyed the pale astrologer's figure heading for the blue tent.

"There's no way they can sustain themselves here for long."

The king muttered to himself.

The poor young man habitually pictured the stars in the heavens and the Burlesque on the other side of the Abyssal Channel in terms of numbers and angles - a common problem with astrologers, just as historians always make asides. The average man only gets dizzy at the dry figures, and can't wait to run away.

The king, however, got what he wanted from those numbers.

The Rogaland Empire was on the western side of the Bolesi Kingdom, with the Abyssal Strait in the middle of it, and was therefore called the "Western Continent". The Rogaland Empire was covered with snow in September, and the Bressy Kingdom was not far from it horizontally, as they were both in higher dimensions. However, because of the Rogaland Empire's obstruction, the winter season in Blesi comes very late.

The king had observed more than one of the opposing soldiers subconsciously clutching their arms during his walks over the past two days.

Other than that, the high latitude was not without its effects on the Kingdom of Bolesi.

While the cold winds were blocked by the western continent, the ocean currents were not necessarily. It is now the end of September, and soon in October, storms will roll across the Abyssal Channel, and the direction of the ocean currents will also change, and then the ships crossing the Abyssal Channel from the Kingdom of Bolesi will have to fight against the storms and the ocean currents at the same time.

This means that the cost of transporting goods will increase tenfold.

Soldiers are not accustomed to early winters, and the high price of transporting supplies ......

A day that the Blesi Kingdom occupies the Moon River Fortress is a day of slamming gold into the Abyssal Channel.

It was thought that at this moment, in the harbor on the opposite side of the Abyssal Strait, the sailors and ship merchants had already begun to complain. It should be known that in this era, no matter whether it was the Rogaland Empire or the Bolesi Kingdom, there was no such thing as giving subsidies without infringing on the interests of civilians.

There was no way that General Bolesi, who was leading the expeditionary force, would not understand this.

He was a veteran general with a lot of experience, and it was easy to see from the fact that he had ordered that everyone involved in the negotiations needed to be dressed tightly, just like the Roglans.

But they had been embarrassed to the point where they couldn't also wrap their guardsmen more tightly.

The king guessed that something interesting was happening on the other side of the Abyssal Strait, in the country he was fighting against.

Thanks to the poor astrologer, he could never have imagined what crucial information he had revealed to the enemy monarch.

See, luck was on the side of the Rogaland Empire, wasn't it?

"Back to the tent."

The Iron Knights who had retreated a bit further reappeared as they heard the King say so.

"It is time for this negotiation to end."

The knights in iron armor bowed to the king.

Unlike the nobles who swore allegiance to the king at the coronation ceremony, these knights were the king's "sworn knights", who belonged to the king alone, and only carried out any of his commands, defending him with their lives.

Anyone or anything that is detrimental to the king will be met with the sharpness of their swords.

The leader of the knights straightened up and looked at the tent of the Kingdom of Blesi.

"That is an astrologer, I think he has come to spy on your fate."

The Knight Commander owed the king a bow and pressed his hand to the hilt of his sword.

"Your Majesty, do you need me to finish him off?"

His tone made it clear that with the slightest nod from the king, he would make the young astrologer disappear from this world unnoticed.

There was no such thing as a noble code of not engaging in assassination for the sworn knight, he had only one code:

And that was the will of the king.

That is their mission.

To spy on destiny?

The king thought casually.

That's the funniest thing to say.

What fate could he have?

A man who had been in a spiral of death since birth, a man who had made a deal with the devil to sell even his own soul? If he had the chance, he would like to ask that Mr. Astrologer what he saw in himself.

............

After the negotiations had been bogged down for a long time with both sides not backing down from each other, the king, who was the most crucial person, finally appeared on the negotiation table.

He sat at his seat, his elbows lazily propped up on the armrests, his icy blue eyes teasingly surveying the people who were fighting over the negotiations - whether they were his subjects or his enemies.

The king was quite "even-handed" in this regard, and his arrogance was not directed at anyone in particular.

--He despised no one.

With regard to the Duke of Buckingham's son, it was agreed that Rogaland would pay the ransom in installments, and that the Expeditionary Force would return the hostage after receiving the second installment from the King. However, for this, the Rogaland Empire would need to pay an extra extension fee every month.

Only the disposition of the Moon River Fortress was long disputed.

Of course, the Rogaland Empire could not afford to lose the Moon River Fortress, but the conditions offered by the other side were too high. One of the conditions was that the Rogaland Empire had to cede one of their ports.

However, both sides agreed that the delivery of this harbor was just an add-on. It was just a small harbor in a poor location with a low carrying capacity. It was the other treaties regarding the overseas colonies of both sides that were the main focus.

The port was quickly agreed upon.

The king finally made a move at this point.

He clapped his hands and attracted everyone's attention.

"If I remember correctly, that harbor should be under my domain?"

The king reached down and stopped the crowd from arguing, and only his soft voice remained in the tent.

"Your Majesty, that was used as a sign of the truce between the two countries for friendly commerce."

The expeditionary general was not impressed with the tyrant, and his tone was very strong.

"It is one of the necessary conditions for the return of the Moon River Fortress."

The Chief of Internal Affairs attached himself to the king's ear and risked the king's anger, trying to make the king understand that his harbor was not that important compared to the Moon River Fortress.

"If you really want to occupy the Moon River Fortress it may not be impossible."

The king was devoid of the demeanor of a wise ruler.

The moment he opened his mouth to negotiate the ambassadors' eyes just went black.

"I don't care if it's on the throat of something and something or not, those are of no importance to me." The king said dryly, "My uncle will always reclaim it for me if I so desire. In that case, why should I pay for the beautiful harbor?"

"You may keep the broken pile of stones if you wish."

He had a very cold attitude, making it clear that he didn't care about the Moon River Fortress.

The Moon River Fortress, which was the throat of the empire, had become a "pile of broken rocks" in the king's mouth, which not only made the envoys of the Rogaland Empire shiver with anger, but also made their enemies turn blue in the face.

The face of the victorious general became very ugly.

They had used the Moon River Fortress as an important bargaining chip, but they had never imagined that Puerlang I would be so arrogant as to be unwilling to suffer a single hardship.

Completely unorthodox.

Author's Note: Expeditionary General: f**k, is having a bully uncle a big deal?

Tyrant: Never mind, I have nothing against anyone, I despise everyone.

Astrologer who plays the best for the enemy: ????? What happened?