At almost the same time that Magnus had discovered the mascot of the Imperium of Man in the Warp...
...in the Warp, on the Vengeful Spirit.
"It seems our brother Magnus is unable to make the appointment."
Sanguinius gently supported her cheek with one hand, and with the other, she lightly picked up a warm, red chess piece carved from blood-red ivory, and pushed the translucent, black onyx chess piece opposite her off the board.
"Brother, I've won again."
She showed a quiet and elegant smile, and with the movement of her hand, she gently stretched.
On the chessboard made of ebony and dark wood, she had always won more than she lost when facing her brother Horus.
"Yes, you're getting better and better."
Horus shook his head with a bitter smile and gathered the two-colored chess pieces again.
"Our brother has encountered some bottlenecks in his sorcery research and is unable to come to the appointment."
"Just as my prophecy foretold?"
She smiled.
"Just as your prophecy foretold."
Although Horus was very reluctant to admit it, he was a little suspicious of the source of his sister's extraordinary power.
But the other was always able to predict and judge the final outcome of events, which made him have to be convinced every time.
Horus even suspected that the other's victory in the chess game with him just now was also in the prophecy.
"He has chosen to have the Third Legion, which is currently docked at his homeworld, take his place."
"The Emperor's Children and their Primarch, Fulgrim, will be joining our fleet soon."
"What do you think, brother Horus?"
"It seems that in the mouths of all the Primarchs, my sister Fulgrim is a peacock spreading its feathers, always liking to show off everything she has."
"Is that really so, Horus?"
"Of course not. She is indeed a little bit flamboyant."
Horus had originally wanted to defend Fulgrim a little, but it seemed his subconscious was unwilling to tell this lie.
However, in his mind, the image of the other performing the Sagittarius golden ring in front of him, with her confidence and pride, also appeared.
Horus was very envious of that kind of expression.
"But I can completely understand why she does that."
"I don't dislike her flamboyance. In fact... haha, I don't know if it's appropriate to say some things."
He laughed awkwardly, and his bronze skin turned a few shades redder.
"Speak, brother," Sanguinius encouraged with a smile. "This is a chance for us to communicate with each other."
"Since the Emperor has let me learn and observe for a period of time before taking command of a legion, he must want me to understand the thoughts of each of my siblings."
"Then I'll just say it directly."
"Not only do I not dislike her performance, but I'm also a little... envious."
Horus's voice suddenly became a few degrees smaller. He looked around, as if to make sure no one else could hear his words.
Envious?
Envious of what?
A look of confusion appeared on Sanguinius's gentle face.
But Horus did not answer her question directly.
"It was when I was still little. Under the smoke and dust of Cthonia, it was rare to be able to see the starry sky from beyond."
"At that time, I was still a little boy and didn't know anything. I firmly believed that these little sparks shining in the sky must be something very important. So when he told me that the stars were our long-standing crusade target, I was not surprised."
"Let me tell you."
Horus suddenly stood up excitedly. Sanguinius looked at him, a little confused.
As he spoke, he sat down again beside the chessboard.
"The first gift my father gave me was a book of constellations."
"Its content was very simple, purely for a child's enlightenment. It's still in this room now. I still have it. My father noticed that I was very curious about the stars and gave it to me."
The most precious gift—a book of constellations.
Everyone in the world knows the Centaur, but no one knows my book of constellations.
"Hm?"
Sanguinius hesitated for a moment and nodded.
She didn't quite understand why Horus was suddenly telling her these things.
"Haha, maybe it is indeed a bit strange to suddenly talk about these things."
But guess what?
When Horus had told these things to Fulgrim, the other had surprisingly agreed.
—That Kasjia, when he had first met Fulgrim on Chemos, had, just like them, also talked about the constellations.
"Hm?"
Sanguinius was a little confused.
"She said that Chemos was also covered in endless dust and smoke, and you couldn't see even a trace of the sky there."
But Kasjia, he, just like Horus's Emperor, had told Fulgrim and the children at that time a story about the stars in the sky.
"And guess what! Sanguinius!"
Horus suddenly became very excited, like a child waiting for recognition.
"The story that Kasjia told was actually very similar to the one the Emperor told me!"
"Hahaha."
Horus laughed and gently took a sip from the wine glass beside him.
"And not only that, at that time, my father also asked me which constellation I liked the most."
What a coincidence.
"I told him that I liked Leo. It has the majesty of a king."
"You have a more suitable one, Horus."
But the Emperor had smiled and rejected it.
"There is also Scorpio, but it was still rejected. It seems there is a Primarch who is more suitable for this somewhat gloomy, armored, and well-equipped constellation."
He was rejected again, but it seemed he did not feel any discouragement.
"Then I chose Taurus. It fits my stubbornness, and also my pursuit of fairness and balance."
But perhaps only the future Horus would know that his stubbornness was not too compatible with the real Taurus.
Horus shook his head sadly. "My father said he appreciated my choice, but he was also surprised that I didn't particularly mention another constellation."
"He pointed to the centaur with the bow, the one that looked like a running warrior—the invincible Sagittarius."
The Centaur!
The Centaur that always symbolized love.
"Of course, at that time, the Centaur didn't actually have any meaning related to love," Horus said with a defensive smile.
This was indeed a misunderstanding caused by time.
But it seemed he enjoyed this level of misunderstanding.
At that time, the Centaur had not yet been dyed with the symbol of love due to the later popularity of the Sagittarius golden ring.
"He told me that in ancient times, this was the greatest constellation symbol. It symbolized the centaur, the iron cavalry, the hunter on the battlefield, and was highly revered in ancient times."
Horus still admired and respected the Emperor's choice.
But Sanguinius did not seem to think so.
This... was clearly the Emperor forcing the Sagittarius on him, right?
If he were to continue to choose like this, it would almost become a process of elimination...
What's with this father and son...?
Sanguinius blinked quickly and complained silently in her heart.
She was beginning to regret letting Horus open up.
"Haha, I don't know why either. Maybe it really is some kind of coincidence."
"But after hearing about the experiences of Fulgrim and her lover, I can relate to why she behaves so flamboyantly."
(Horus: Heavens, that's basically me!)
Horus stood up again and walked towards a mural decorating the right wall of the living room.
This painting depicted the Emperor reaching out and grasping the rotating stars. The vast and boundless starry sky was like fireflies, held in his hand.
To rule the river of stars is the innate dream of mankind.
This was what he had once told Horus.
Just as this painting depicted.
Horus slowly ran his finger over the璀璨 nebula that the Emperor was holding in the painting, and only retracted it when his fingertip touched the other's hand.
Heh heh...
Touching his little hand.
"Hahaha..."
Looking at Horus's behavior.
An embarrassed but polite smile appeared on Sanguinius's lips.
Perhaps compared to the Imperial Phoenix, Fulgrim, his brother was no different in terms of flamboyance.
"Report!"
The First Captain of the Luna Wolves, Ezekyle Abaddon, pushed open the door of the room.
"Can't you learn to knock on the door first before opening it?"
"Ezekyle—?!"
Horus quickly pulled his hand back behind him. His voice grew louder and louder, and by the time he said Abaddon's name, it was almost a roar.
His tone was filled with deep annoyance.
"?"
This made the battle-hardened First Captain, apart from looking around, a little at a loss for what to do for a moment.
But after a few breaths of silence, he calmed down again.
"Speak. What is it?"
"It's the 28th Expeditionary Fleet."
"Their ships have already merged with our fleet, and the guests from the Emperor's Children have boarded our Vengeful Spirit."
"Alright. I'll be right there."
"Sanguinius, get ready. We're going to meet a new sister."
"Um... ah!"
"Alright, I'm coming."
Sanguinius stood up hesitantly.
She still seemed to have not quite recovered from the other's heavyweight statement just now.
The Vengeful Spirit, main bridge.
"Welcome! Sister Fulgrim, how have you been lately?"
Horus smiled and came forward to greet her.
"Thank you for your concern, Wolf-Shepherd."
"Although it is far from the great achievements of the Luna Wolves, with the desperate efforts of the soldiers of the Third Legion, our expedition has also been quite fruitful."
Fulgrim's gaze fell on the white feathered wings behind Horus.
"And who might this be—?"
Sanguinius.
She had been following behind Horus all this time, silently observing the Primarch and the Space Marines of the Third Legion.
Of course, her existence could only be the focus of everyone's attention. There could be no such thing as "silently."
Whether it was her huge, pure white wings, or her infinitely charming face, they were an existence that no one could refuse.
And it seemed that her appearance had met its only rival today.
"Sanguinius, Primarch of the Ninth Legion."
Seeing that her existence simply could not escape the focus of everyone's vision, she took a step forward a little helplessly and bowed to Fulgrim with a smile.
In that very instant, the eyes of Sanguinius and Fulgrim met.
Everyone held their breath.
The two sister flowers of the Imperium of Man were now gathered in one place.
It seemed that for the meeting of the two most charming people in the history of the Imperium of Man, almost everyone in the Imperium was a little expectant.
If these two were to meet, what kind of sparks would fly?
Would one side admit that she was not as beautiful as the other, or would the two sides compete in beauty and stage a good show of women fighting?
The always-busy main bridge, at this time, whether it was the helmsman, the crew, or the captain, all had their eyes on these two.
If the Navigator had time to have a look, he might have also focused his other two eyes on this.
"Ladies, can we perhaps move for a moment...?"
Horus said with an embarrassed smile.
Right, it seems it's not just this.
It seems that in the documents of the Imperium, Horus was also a beautiful Primarch.
Alright, now the most beautiful Primarchs of the Imperium were all gathered.
"Are you... Kasjia's sister?"
Fulgrim, after a long silence, said something that no one understood.
"Otherwise, why would you look so much like him?"
As Fulgrim spoke, she tentatively reached out her hand and stroked the other's face.
This was bad.
Kasjia seemed to have realized the problem.
In his eyes, Sanguinius was an angel with beautiful golden hair.
But due to the influence of psionics, which made her appear different to everyone, it seemed that the appearance of Sanguinius that everyone saw was the one they most wanted to see.
"Wait, I have something to say."
"I see."
Fulgrim looked back and forth between Kasjia and Sanguinius with disbelief.
And the latter's eyes were also staring at Kasjia, who, though she had never met him, had instantly pointed out her own appearance characteristics, with some curiosity.
Perhaps Kasjia was not the best fighter among the Space Marines.
Horus believed that for this title, only his First Captain, Ezekyle Abaddon, could have this honor.
But it had to be said that Kasjia seemed to be the most perfect, most special one in the Space Marine Legions.
First, the specialty of being a Primarch's husband had already surpassed everyone else.
Not to mention his predictive ability and command level, which were comparable to Sanguinius in the Primarch legends.
In terms of mechanical development, he had also gained the appreciation of Ferris.
And he had even recently solved a problem at the psionic level that even Magnus could not solve.
An existence whose psionic knowledge could even make Magnus submit!
He was proficient in almost everything, and had always been a model for many legions to learn from.
Meeting the gazes of Horus and Sanguinius, Kasjia also felt a little embarrassed.
"Don't... don't you all know that Sanguinius is actually blond?"
!
What?!
Horus seemed to be a little slow on the uptake.
"Wait!"
"Your Sanguinius isn't black-haired? And isn't wearing a golden laurel wreath?"
Horus approached Kasjia with a face full of surprise.
He felt that his perception might have had a certain deviation.
Long black hair... a golden laurel wreath...
This is...
A stream of information, at this moment, also began to wash over the heads of everyone present.
"Uh... alright, let's talk about these things later."
A mortal crew member suddenly approached Horus, and the Primarch seemed to have realized something, and straightened up and said to everyone with some embarrassment.
"My Navigator has sent me a message. The main guest of this Primarch gathering will be showing up soon."
Just the Primarchs was of course not enough.
Currently, there was still a very important person who had to be present at the return of the Primarchs.
Just as he was thinking this, a huge warship shining with golden light, accompanied by countless large and small escort fleets, appeared from the side and rear in the view of the huge observation deck at the front of the main bridge.
"Notify the Navigators to follow the ship in front and complete the jump with it."
Horus knew that this was the flagship he had been waiting for.
The First Expeditionary Fleet.
The vessel of the Emperor of Mankind.
The Bucephalus.
Previously on: The constellation book speech was said when Horus was completely sober!
Chaos: Children, we didn't do anything. He just blurted it all out.
....
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