Chapter 259 Past

"Auntie, has someone come to you?" Ashu Rufat pondered for a moment and asked again.

"Yes." The old woman smiled bitterly. "Someone forced me to compromise because they thought you... were very suitable to be Her Majesty's husband. Those two girls were completely redundant!"

"Pussy?" Ashu Rufate was a little surprised. It was hard to imagine that someone like Aunt Mary would easily choose to give in.

"There are many ways in this world that can force a person to compromise." Aunt Mary may have seen Eshu Rufate's surprise. "Okay, that's all I know."

"Why did I lose my memory?" Ashu Rufate finally asked this question.

"I don't know. I found you lying on the side of the road, covered in wounds, unconscious."

"I've seen them...had I seen them?"

"Well, just like I said, before you lost your memory, you were a black magician, a mercenary, and a shameless hooligan." Aunt Mary might have used all her strength. She closed her mouth and turned her eyes to the painting. In a sense, her expression at this moment was extremely similar to the hero in the painting, and she was also physically and mentally exhausted because of the heavy pressure.

Ash Rufate, who was beside her, had stood up at some point. Instead of going upstairs, he opened the door and walked out. Perhaps he also needed to calm down and carefully consider the shocking news he had just learned.

Aunt Mary's brush dipped in the paint box, and then pointed out the light blue eyes of Count Mikel on the painting. Some people have said that art requires all-round investment in body, mind and emotion. Aunt Mary's pen at this moment clearly illustrates this point. After drawing the eyes, Count Mikel's face quickly became vivid. It was not so much a painting, but rather a memory in the soul. The corners of the earl's mouth were slightly raised, and the smile was mixed with an indescribable heavy burden.

Perhaps because of her instinctive desire to escape the pressure of reality in this way, Aunt Mary focused her full attention on painting. She was so focused that she had no idea when Ashu Rufate would be back.

"Is this...Earl of Mikel? Your...first husband?"

"Yes." Aunt Mary replied.

From a completely objective perspective, the Earl of Mikel and Eshu Rufate are quite similar in size, but they are just body shapes. Their faces and facial features vary greatly, and no one can make mistakes. In addition, there is a big scar on the bridge of Eshu Rufate's nose, but Earl of Mikel's face is very clean.

"He is the border lord, the guard of White Fort?"

Aunt Mary nodded without answering. The brush in her hand was coloring the face of Count Mikel. Count Mikel in the painting looked pale, but her expression was as firm as a piece of iron. Under the candlelight, Ashu Rufate saw a tear drop falling from Aunt Mary's eyes.

"He was right in front of me... and swallowed his last breath..."

White Fort was a large fortress carefully built by Groni to resist the invasion of the Chaos Legion. According to historical books, it was designed, built and improved by the wilderness sage Garunas himself. Later, it was rebuilt many times. Over the past many years, this castle has become a key place to fight against the Chaos Invasion. The most critical factor in the disaster caused by the last Chaos Invasion was that the enemy unexpectedly attacked and captured White Fort through the assistance of the traitor. If this did not happen, I believe that that invasion was like all the wars in the past, and the Chaos Legion eventually failed under the strong city.

"Aunt, I want to know... what happened?" Ashurufat remembers that the book said that the situation of that battle was recorded. The Chaos Legion was raided by the rear of Groni reinforcements while siegeing the city, and almost wiped out the entire army. Several Chaos Lords were all killed on the battlefield. But while achieving this glorious victory, the guard of White Castle, who was the first husband of his aunt, Earl Mikel, also died gloriously in the melee. The book only records so many. As for the battle process, why the defender would be killed without falling, and how the Earl Mikel died, these are not mentioned. Historians do not care about those details, but the person who experienced it personally is different.

"Do you know about White Fort?"

"Understand? I spent ten years there. After I married him, I have been living there... I spent the best time in my life there." Aunt Mary stopped the brush. Earl Mikel's face had been drawn halfway, but she had no strength to paint. She stared at the painting, and her mood had already returned to the past.

"It's a very beautiful city... Many people say it's a fortress, but in fact I think it's a city. White Fort is very big, it's an orderly and prosperous city. It's much better than my hometown. Although it's a border, the surrounding environment is very beautiful... Standing on the tower at the highest point, the scenery... Haha, in fact, ordinary people are not allowed to go up there, but I can quietly have afternoon tea on it..."

"...I will never forget that day... It seems that just overnight, the tension spread throughout the city. War was being talked about everywhere. Everyone was saying that the largest Chaos Legion ever was heading towards White Fort. Mikel locked himself and a group of subordinates in the chamber and did not come out for a whole day. My sisters and I were a little panicked... Then that night, Mikel came to us. He called all seven of us together and apologized to us."

"I never thought he would apologize to us solemnly. Because in my heart, he was such a humorous and demeanorful man, very proud, and a true nobleman. I had never seen him apologize to anyone before. He was the supreme ruler of White Castle and our husband. But he actually apologized to us that day. He said that according to his husband's duties, he must protect us. The best way to protect us is to take us out of White Castle and go to a safer place. But he could not perform this duty, because in addition to being our husband, he was also the guardian of White Castle. This duty required him to live and die with this city."

"Do you understand? Coexist and die! Yes, it's this word. When we hear this word, we understand how sinister the situation is. I was as innocent as a little girl at that time. Oh, how could I not be innocent? I spent ten years with him, and I felt like I was living in a dream. I was his seventh wife, but we didn't have the intrigues that anyone imagined before. The sisters were very nice to me and took good care of me, just like real sisters. I still remember that I was panicked and didn't know what to do. He told me seriously that all non-combatants were going to evacuate, and if we were to leave, he would let us leave. But if we chose to stay, he could not guarantee our safety."

"But how could we leave at that time? Even if we do it again, I would not regret that decision. We all chose to stay. Haha... Although it was his wife, we could not get any preferential treatment at that time. I took off my usual beautiful long skirt, joined the logistics army, and did all kinds of miscellaneous tasks... Everyone was separated, and my job was to take care of the wounded and the sick... all over there were women."

"That was my first direct contact with war. I really couldn't imagine... the places where I had been outings, where I walked, went shopping, and rode horses all changed. The ground was covered with blood, gravel, and fragments of steel. Oh, the reason why there were no corpses was because we handled it in time, because there were legends that Nurgle wizards would use corpses to spread terrible diseases. So the corpses were buried and incinerated as soon as possible."

"The war lasted for a long time. As the war began, my work became more and more busy, and I often had no rest all day and night. The moans of the wounded... Sometimes I could still hear those sounds when I dreamed..."

"The war is getting more and more intense day by day. Although I haven't gone to the front line, at least I can hear the rumbling sound of cannons. Sometimes people tell me that our external sentry towers have fallen. Sometimes people tell me that we went out of the city to get a big victory. The news is one by one... I don't know if it's because of my identity. Everyone often comforted me, encouraged me, comforted me and said that war is nothing, we will win. We have always won. The Chaos Legion has never captured White Fort."

"At the beginning, I could see Mikel frequently, and then it became less and less. In the end, I didn't see him for more than ten days. This was not because I was too busy - because no matter how busy I was, I would try to squeeze out time to see him, but because he was too busy. Even if I was, I felt that the situation on the front line was not as good as everyone said. Finally, I got the news that day, someone came to us, and everyone took the wounded and hurriedly retreated into the inner city... because the enemy had already broken through the outer wall. The troops were trying their best to block the enemy, but I'm afraid they couldn't last long."

"I was the first group to evacuate into the inner city with the wounded. But there were still many wounded people who could not move alone outside. So after entering, I rushed out immediately and wanted to bring another wounded person into the city. I was very stupid, but at that time, I just wanted to do my best to help him. Although it was only a small matter, as long as I could share a little burden for him, I would be happy even if I took risks."

"The outer city has built a lot of fortifications... Those who were originally built, and as long as soldiers enter, can be activated immediately. When I first passed by, I was still an empty artillery position. When I came here, there was a garrison. Two cannons guarded the avenue, one left and one right. Many people gathered there, all of them, were those unarmed logistics personnel, thinking that the cannons could protect them. Unfortunately, just as I passed by that artillery position, I saw a terrible scene. There were more than a dozen monsters - later I realized that those things were called Chaos Eggs - suddenly appeared at the end of the street. They rushed towards this side. Their bodies were like a ball, with many tentacles like octopus... I will never forget that scene... More than one monster's tentacles pierced the killed soldiers... Their bodies were covered in blood, and they rushed over like this..."

"I was shocked... and then there was chaos. We used cannons and muskets to knock down the monsters... but the rest still broke through the defense line. Those monsters were not blocked by human forces. Once they were swung by their tentacles, a man in armor could be knocked away fifty steps away... I was swept by the crowd and ran away. I didn't know what happened... By the time I calmed down, I had already escaped to the edge of the inner city, a platform position... with a large group of wounded soldiers, broken soldiers and women. A Chaos warrior was approaching us, and it was a Chaos Lord... a complete monster! His body was only rough outline and it was human, as if it was crawled out of a nightmare! Later, someone told me that the Chaos Lord, who was blessed by the evil god, often turned into that look like he was not human or ghost!"

"The monster roared angryly, and the sound of horns and shouts were shocking in the distance. I knew that the Chaos Legion did not use horns, so after calming down, I realized that our reinforcements must have arrived. This monster is now trapped in the city, and has no way to advance, and has to retreat but cannot retreat, so he went crazy in anger!"

"He rushed towards us, waving the terrifying killing blade in his hand. In a moment, all five or six people in front were beaten into pieces by him. Yes, it was pieces. Blood splattered on my face, and I just touched it. For some reason, I was not afraid at that time."

"Then my Mikel went around from the side. He was wearing armor, holding the magic sword heirloom of his family in one hand, and holding a shield in the other, and shouting while running, challenging the monster."
Chapter completed!