Chapter 372 Swain and the Black Rose
Swain had only taken a few steps when he was surrounded by a group of Zaun reporters who had been waiting for a long time.
The reporters, despite the guards' shoves, shouted to him in the eyes of the curious crowd: "General Swain!"
"Excuse me, can you tell us whether the recent rumors about the existence of a shadow government in the Noxian Empire are true?"
This instantly caught Katerina's attention.
She also wanted to find out whether the legendary black rose really existed. As the former second-in-command of the empire, Swain was clearly qualified to answer this question.
"But..." Catalina calmed down and let go of her expectations:
Swain is a noble of Noxus after all, and he has to consider the interests of Noxus. Even if the black rose really exists, he will just answer that it does not exist, right?
As expected... Swain put on a decadent posture of a retired old man and said to the reporters calmly, "Rumors, these are all rumors made up by the leader."
"There are indeed some interest groups behind Noxus, but these interest groups are not real shadow governments, nor are they the Black Rose underground society as rumored by the Leader."
"It's just a small circle of nobles, but the common people spread it around and it became the shadow government of the empire. Noxus has been passed down for nearly 1,000 years, how could it be so easy to be controlled? His Majesty Darkwill is still in power, and the Black Rose can control him? This is impossible..."
Katrina: “…”
I don’t know why.
She didn't really believe in the conspiracy theory. But after Swain refuted it in such a long paragraph, she actually believed it a little.
Looking at the expressions of Garen and the other people around him, they also showed some degree of doubt.
"What about this movie?" Another reporter asked, "General Swain, what do you think of this movie about you and the Black Rose?"
“It’s just a made-up story.” Swain replied: “I came here partly because of Mr. Levi’s invitation, and partly to see with my own eyes how the Leader would compile my experience.”
“…”
Having said that, Swain didn't care what others thought. After briefly answering a few questions from reporters, he walked unsteadily into the Zaun Cinema under the protection of his guards.
As he said, he also came to watch a movie.
Catalina followed Galen inside and followed him all the way into the screening room.
Not long after, the movie began.
Catalina didn't care about the mission objectives around her, her eyes were fixed firmly on the huge movie screen.
Finally, as the light of the Hextech projector came on, a picture appeared on the screen.
Swain and the Black Rose—the title of the movie flashed across the screen as Seraphine hummed a low tune.
"Your name... is Jericho, right?"
It is the young Jericho Swain who appears in the first scene, attending a court banquet in the Immortal Bastion as a teenager.
The banquet hall was decorated with golden utensils sent as tribute from the Shurima colony, hung with crystal chandeliers imported from Piltover, displayed with marble sculptures from Demacia, and exhibited with mammoth specimens from the Freljord.
Arranged neatly on the dining table were the fine wines carefully brewed by famous Noxian masters, the sea beasts hunted by Bilgewater fishermen at the risk of their lives, and all kinds of rare and exotic fruits grown in Ionia by the influence of natural magic.
The nobles enjoyed all this with peace of mind and drank to their heart's content.
But Swain stood alone in the corner of the banquet hall, out of place with this extravagant scene.
Many people wanted to get close to this young man because of his prominent family background.
But Swain was not interested. He just stood alone in the corner, holding a glass of the cheapest water, and stared out the window intently.
"Your name... is Jericho, right?" Suddenly, a voice sounded in his ear.
“Yes, but I’m not interested in chatting. Sorry,” Swain replied without turning his head.
"Can't I do this too?" The voice was dignified yet gentle, seeming approachable.
Young Swain was slightly startled, and turned back in amazement, only to find that the person who was talking to him was:
"Your Majesty Darkwill?!"
The person who came was Braun Darkwill.
This tyrant, who is now the object of public complaints and the cause of suffering for the people, was, in the background time of this scene in the movie, a wise and brave emperor with a good reputation.
“Your Majesty, please forgive my impoliteness.” Swain couldn’t help but feel a little frightened.
Darkwill didn't care at all. He just followed his gaze and looked out the window: "Swain, what were you looking at just now?"
“I…” Swain was speechless for a moment.
He replied nervously, "I am looking at the sky, Your Majesty."
"Really?" The camera follows Darkwill's gaze out the window: "Look at this dark sky?"
Then it moved from the sky to the ground, to the city on the ground.
This city was generally referred to as the Immortal Fortress, but the real Immortal Fortress was actually just a "ring" of the city. Most of the rest of the city was built outside the high walls of the Immortal Fortress.
Contrary to what most people imagine, Noxus, as the most powerful country in Runeterra, actually has a capital that looks pretty bad.
Because Noxians don't like to be superficial.
The poor people of Demacia are all outside the capital, and the poor people of Piltover are all isolated in Zaun.
The poor people in the capital of Noxus live in the slums of the capital.
This caused the capital of this great empire to look like a large, messy county town. The prosperous areas were extremely prosperous, but the chaotic areas were extremely chaotic.
Even outside the immortal fortress of the Emperor's palace, looking out from the palace banquet hall where Swain was at the moment - one could see at a glance the vast slums that spread like pus-filled rashes in the center of the city.
“You’re looking at the slums, right?” Darkwill asked him.
“I…” Young Swain didn’t dare to answer.
"Haha." The emperor smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "Swain, you can help me with things from now on."
This obviously means they want to make further use of him.
“Why?” Swain didn’t understand.
"I need someone to help me save this country." Darkwill held the wine glass and looked back at the princes and nobles who never bothered to look out the window and were always immersed in the extravagant banquet:
“Swain, you’re the only one who can help me here. Isn’t that right?”
…
"This..." Catalina felt very awkward when she saw this.
She thought that Leader would discredit Swain in the movie, portraying him as a villain working with the "shadow government."
Unexpectedly, Swain's image in the movie would be that of a good man, a true patriot.
If such a talented and ambitious loyal minister meets a wise ruler like Darkwill, he will definitely make the empire better, right?
Katerina looked forward to it instinctively.
But unfortunately, she knew very well what Noxus became like afterwards.
…
Back to the movie screen.
Because of Darkwill's appreciation, Swain began to gradually emerge in the imperial political arena.
He betrayed his noble birth and worked closely with Darkwill to promote many reforms that could eliminate the empire's ills.
But Darkwill's reforms obviously touched upon the interests of many nobles and aroused dissatisfaction among many powerful people.
They formed a secret society and plotted to overthrow Darkwill, and the only trace was the symbol of a black rose.
"Black Rose." This name appeared for the first time in the movie and in Swain's life.
Swain discovered their ruse and personally executed the leading conspirators.
Among them is...
"Father, mother." Swain personally sent his parents to the execution ground.
He looked at his biological parents indifferently, and finally asked them: "Do you have anything else to say about the Black Rose organization?"
"Are you crazy? Bastard!" His father cursed him with his eyes wide open: "How could the Swain family give birth to a scum like you!"
"Jericho, my child," the mother begged him, "please let us go."
"Darkwill believes in you so much. You can save us, right?"
But at this time, Swain no longer has the youthfulness and immaturity of his youth in the first scene of the movie.
He replied coldly: "It is precisely because His Majesty Darkwill trusts me that I cannot let him down."
“You bastard!” As a father of a great noble, he cursed in Zaun dialect without any respect: “Darkwill, you only know Darkwill! Have you forgotten who raised you ?”
“I haven’t forgotten.” Swain said calmly.
"It was my mother who raised me—"
His mother's eyes lit up and she wanted to beg for mercy, but Swain only said:
"—My mother, Noxus."
"Noxus gave our family everything. But you failed her."
Swain sighed and never looked at his parents again.
He turned around and said to the executioner, "Let's execute him."
"Asshole! Bastard! Traitor! Son of a bitch...Ahhh!!"
As the blade of the Noxian guillotine fell, the cursing stopped abruptly.
With a tumbling sound, two heads rolled to Swain's feet.
He glanced down.
“Do you want to collect their bodies, Lord Swain?” the executioner asked cautiously.
"No, follow the rules—"
"Hang their heads in the arena for public display to deter those parasites."
Swain said expressionlessly, tears welling up in his eyes.
…
The more Catalina watched, the more uncomfortable she felt.
The Windleader portrays Swain in a very positive light.
But the more Swain worked hard to save the country and sacrificed selflessly at this stage in the movie, the more we think of Swain's miserable end later on, and his current disabled, old and decadent appearance, the more we sigh and lament.
"Oh..." Catalina sighed in her heart.
She thought that Wind Leader would make up the story, but it turned out that Wind Leader was completely remaking Swain's real experience.
The only controversial point is that the organization "Black Rose" is mentioned in the movie.
According to the movie, Swain's parents were both peripheral members of the Black Rose. The coup against Emperor Darkwill was also secretly planned by the Black Rose conspirators.
And Swain had known about the existence of this organization decades ago.
So, is this true?
Only Swain himself can answer this question.
With the light reflected from the screen, Katarina quietly observed the expression of Swain, who was sitting in the same row with her.
Then, she was shocked to find:
General Swain, who had previously insisted on refuting the rumor in front of the reporters, now seemed to be moved by the scenes in the movie -
Although his face was expressionless, tears glistened faintly in his eyes.
Just like Swain in the movie.
"Is it true?" Catalina's faith collapsed in an instant.
She couldn't believe what she saw, couldn't believe that Swain would reveal his true feelings because of a fake story. And everything Swain showed confirmed the leader's propaganda:
"The Black Rose, does it really exist?"
"The Empire... has been a joke since the beginning?"
