Chapter 394 Darius's Lover
"Besilico... a rebellion is imminent?"
Noxus is still in the turbulent aftermath of a change of dynasty, so it is not surprising that local rebellions have occurred.
But this time, Darius's expression, which had always been firm and calm, showed a rare touch of emotion.
This is not just because Besilico is his hometown.
Moreover, the current lord of Besilico, Quereta Vane, has a close relationship with him.
Quelleta Wine, his childhood sweetheart.
His ex-girlfriend, his former lover, and also the only woman he had ever loved in his life.
Ten years ago, the two of them had already ended up breaking up and going their separate ways due to differences in their philosophies.
At the same time , due to the empire's military deployment, Darius and Quirieta were transferred to different battlefields in different parts of the country.
Later, Darius heard that Quilieta had a child.
Although it is unknown who the father of the child is or who won Quelleta's heart, it is obvious that there is no possibility between them.
Later, Darius was named Hand of Noxus for his outstanding military achievements, and he remained active on the front lines of the Empire.
Quelleta exchanged his military achievements for the title of Lord of Bellissico and returned to their hometown with power and honor.
Later, the Ionian War broke out.
Quirieta was transferred to Ionia again and participated in a series of Noxus' combat plans in Ionia.
Including the decisive battle that took place in the province of Baruo a month ago, which caused heavy casualties to the Noxian Empire.
"Wait, Commander Swain," Darius asked quickly, "You said that there would be a rebellion in Besilico, so who initiated this rebellion?"
“It was Quelleta.” Swain seemed to have guessed what he was going to ask. “She didn’t die in Ionia. She came back alive.”
"This..." Darius' first reaction was relief.
“It seems you’ve been following news about General Quirieta,” Swain said playfully.
"Yes." Delias admitted frankly. He was very concerned about Quelleta's movements. Even though they had broken up ten years ago.
So he knew that Quileta went to Ionia, and guessed that she, with her outstanding abilities, was most likely on the front line of the battlefield in Barue.
But he was not very clear about what happened afterwards. He only knew that Quelleta was not among the 50,000 men who followed Leicester in launching a mutiny and were "courtesy sent back home" by the leader.
So where is Quelleta? Is she still alive? This question has been bothering Darius.
Fortunately, he could now finally confirm that Quelleta was still alive. She returned safely.
But is this really good news?
"Captain Swain," Darius asked with a heavy heart, "Are you sure that Quelleta is planning to start a rebellion?"
He was a little reluctant to believe it. Because Quelleta had never been a member of the old nobility. She was also a member of the new nobility and a supporter of Swain.
Now that Swain is the commander-in-chief, why is she rebelling for no reason?
“My intelligence is rarely wrong,” Swain replied calmly. “Of course, you have to confirm and investigate it yourself.”
"If Quelleta has not rebelled, then everyone is happy; but if the information is true, then... you know what to do."
“……” Darius looked at the red-eyed crow on Swain’s shoulder, and when he thought of the name of the secret demon, he became silent and speechless.
"I understand." He took a deep breath, "I'll leave now."
"Please rest assured, if Quelleta is really planning a rebellion against the empire as you said..." Darius clenched his fist quietly: "Then I will definitely kill her with my own hands."
“Yes.” Swain nodded meaningfully: “I believe you will make the right choice, Darius.”
…
A few days later, Besilico.
Besilico is a port city located on the southwestern border of the Noxian Empire and a prosperous commercial city-state with a long history.
When Darius returned to his hometown after a long journey, leading a legion of extraordinary knights that was enough to reduce this border town to dust, what he saw was a prosperous and peaceful daily scene.
The city gates were open and unattended, and the port was open to the public. Ships were constantly coming and going on the sea, and people were busy on the road. Everyone lived a peaceful life, without any tense atmosphere of an impending rebellion.
"Brother!" Draven rode on his warhorse and pointed at the undefended city gate and said to Darius, "Is Commander Swain's intelligence wrong?"
"This..." Darius also found it strange.
There wasn't even a single guard standing guard at the city gate. Even when the imperial army had reached the city gate, no one came out to stop them.
The civilians in the city were not panicked when they saw the rebel army coming. Instead, they all had puzzled and curious expressions and gathered at the city gate to watch their excitement...
What kind of rebellion is this?
There is no such thing as an empty city tactic in Runeterra. This tactic is completely useless in front of the Noxian army with aerial reconnaissance capabilities.
So, facing such an undefended city, Darius was a little confused.
Could it be that Swain's information was really wrong?
Darius hoped so.
But he still maintained the caution and seriousness of an imperial general: "Perhaps, this is because the news of Quereta's rebellion leaked out too early before he had the chance to launch it."
"In short, everyone needs to be careful."
Darius instructed everyone like this, and then he extremely cautiously sent out the Flying Magic Bird Knights to conduct a thorough aerial reconnaissance of the entire city. After confirming that there were indeed no ambushes set by Quelleta in the city, he finally led the army into Besilico.
Speaking of which, he hasn't returned to his hometown for many years.
So as soon as the army entered the city, memories, along with those familiar scenes, emerged uncontrollably from the depths of Darius' mind.
"That's... where we first met Quelleta." Darius noticed an inconspicuous alley off the street.
Many, many years ago, he and Draven were homeless orphans struggling to survive on the streets of Besilico.
As an ancient commercial city-state, Besilico has been a prosperous place since ancient times.
But just as the prosperity of Piltover will not benefit the gutter orphans of Zaun, the wealth of Besilico has almost nothing to do with street orphans like Darius.
In order to survive, Darius had to take his younger brother to beg, scavenge, and fight with other children for a piece of moldy bread found in the garbage dump.
But Darius was just a malnourished child at the time, and he did not always win in a fight with other homeless orphans who were outnumbered and formed gangs.
For an orphan like him who lives at every turn, losing once could mean death.
"We were all injured and couldn't move." Darius still remembers the despair at that time: "Those thugs threw us in this alley and left us here to die."
"I struggled to crawl out of the alley and begged for help from passers-by, asking them to give us at least a sip of water or a bite of food, but..."
No one paid any attention to him. The residents of Besilico were already used to this kind of thing.
Everyone knew that two street orphans who were injured and unable to move could not survive.
Not only will people not help them, they will even expect them to die early - after all, street orphans are often synonymous with thieves and robbers.
No decent person would like these little bastards who would buy for zero dollars at any opportunity. Everyone would like them to disappear as soon as possible, so why would anyone lend a hand to them?
"Fortunately, Quelleta showed up." Draven continued.
He also remembered the kindness of this old friend: "She was also a homeless orphan, but she was willing to share the bread she had stolen with us. Because of her care, we were able to survive the most difficult time."
"At that time, we..."
They were practically adopted .
If Quelleta had not squeezed out a portion of their rations from his own limited rations, they might have been unable to move due to injuries and died of hunger and sickness in despair in that alley.
"Hey, brother..." Draven asked Darius: "I still can't figure out why Quilieta wants to help us?"
"We don't know her. Why would she go to so much trouble to rescue us?"
“……”Darius was silent for a while.
Then, he said to his brother in a complicated tone: "You won't understand. Neither will I."
Quelleta is a completely different person from the two brothers.
Draven and Darius are now typical Noxians.
Even though they themselves were once weak, they still firmly believe in the law of the jungle, believing that the strong should eat meat and the weak should suffer.
Compared to Draven, who has now grown into a "perverted pleasure criminal" who enjoys gladiatorial fighting and beheadings all day long, Darius is slightly better.
He would at least sympathize with the sufferings of the weak, but at the same time, he would never show them unnecessary sympathy.
But Quereta is different.
“Quilleta,” Darius said delicately. “She has always been more of a…” than a Noxian.
"Leader." He hesitated for a moment and gave such a dangerous evaluation.
Yes, Darius felt that Quelleta's personality was very similar to those of the leaders.
She is kindhearted and sympathetic to the weak. Even in this dark and cruel world, she still maintains that foolish, innocent and precious compassion.
So even if she saw two strangers falling in front of her, she would try her best to help them out of compassion.
Even after Quelleta joined the Imperial Army with them and became a general of Noxus after going through hardships, she still did not change her "weakness".
She would sympathize with the low-level soldiers who died on the battlefield, and feel pity for the innocent civilians who were caught up in the war, even those from the enemy country.
Although this did not affect Quelleta's past loyalty to the empire, she, like other imperial generals, believed that the rise of Noxus required blood and the necessity of war and sacrifice.
But it is also true that she has never been a "qualified" Noxian.
"Wait." Darius' heart sank.
He finally realized that the information provided by Swain might not be wrong.
Quelleta may have no reason to oppose the newly-appointed Swain, but she does have motive to betray Noxus.
"Let's go." Thinking of this, Darius no longer had the heart to look back on the past: "Let's go to the City Lord's Mansion!"
