NOVPUBAn Lin sat alone in a corner, watching the bustling and lively banquet, observing the noblewoman not far away, around whom others gathered like stars around the moon.
The singer on stage, with his incessant song, suddenly made her feel very irritable, and the noble guests, in their high-born magnificence, seemed to her like a bunch of dark, puppeteering marionettes.
Without emotions or thoughts of their own, the puppets mechanically curled their lips into semi-circular smiles.
At that moment, everything appeared icy and terrifying.
She felt as if she were being watched from all sides; the puppets in the darkness were casting their gaze upon her.
The grandiose castle hall vanished before her eyes, turning into a pitch-black and terrifying abyss, and the noisy conversations and laughter also faded from her ears, becoming distant and blurred.
In the end, she only heard the singer’s voice, reverberating in her mind like 3D surround sound.
An Lin, somewhat irritated, covered her head with her hands.
When she looked up again, where were the noble guests who had been dancing and talking amidst the music at the banquet? All she saw were puppets entwined with blood-red vines!
The faces of the puppets were a blur of pitch-black, but their curved smiling eyes and wide-open mouths were starkly clear!
Their smiles were as eerie as tears of blood!
An Lin abruptly stood up and stepped back, only to hear a "clatter" when she bumped into something, accompanied by a chorus of startled exclamations.
In an instant, the previous hallucinations all disappeared!
At the banquet scene, a maid passing by with red wine spilled the tray due to the collision, the blood-colored liquid spreading across the exquisite dress and soaking through, leaving an unsightly stain, while the maid was bowing down to her in a panic, apologizing.
The well-dressed noble guests around them, too, turned their curious gaze toward her because of this mishap.
As the world returned to normal, An Lin quickly concealed her previous fear.
But the stares of the people around her once again made her feel extremely uncomfortable, the string of reason in her brain was taut, and she didn’t dare look back at their faces.
An Lin took a deep breath and, shaking, picked up the hem of her wet gown, waving her hand at the maid before her, "It’s okay, it’s not your fault."
At this, Steward Armand Ray, who had been attending to Miss Veronica, quickly came over, saying in surprise, "I’m very sorry for the distress this has caused such an esteemed guest, let me take you back to your room."
An Lin nervously said, "No need, she can take me back to my room."
She didn’t outright refuse the offer to have a castle attendant escort her back, even for such a simple task as returning to her room upstairs.
After all, leaving alone in such an aristocratic environment would attract too much attention, but she preferred the maid before her over the unnervingly peculiar Steward Armand Ray for company.
As expected, Steward Armand Ray didn’t refuse her request and, after softly reprimanding the maid for her clumsiness, let her take the guest back to change her clothes.
The maid’s face showed genuine regret and panic, and An Lin couldn’t resist taking a longer look at her before quickly averting her eyes when the maid looked up.
The two left the banquet and disappeared into the arched passageway upstairs.
Not far away, the archaeologist watched the whole scene, then turned her gaze toward a maid passing by with food.
The noblewoman chatting with her followed her line of sight and then said with a laugh, "What is it, dear? Don’t be so reserved; if you want some of that food, you can just have it brought over."
The archaeologist shook her head, smiling slightly, "No, I don’t really care for those things."
She hadn’t touched a bit of the food here.
"You really should try it, the pastries from Prague Castle are indeed very delicious, I even tried to get Miss Green to send me a chef, sadly, to no avail," the noblewoman said regretfully.
"Is that so?" replied the archaeologist naturally, "I would have thought Duke Green to be quite generous."
"Well, he is indeed generous, except when it comes to food…"
"It sounds like you should be quite familiar with Duke Green? But I don’t recall her having two sisters, have I forgotten?"
Under the archaeologist’s gaze, the noblewoman was momentarily taken aback, then pondered and said, "There should be, it’s just that Miss Veronica and Miss Cerys rarely show themselves in public, especially Miss Veronica—nobody likes to interact with her."
NPCs shouldn’t be giving such equivocal statements.
Especially when they are puppets in this play.
The archaeologist smiled widely, "I see, can you tell me more about the two Miss Greens, so I don’t accidentally offend Miss Veronica?"
"Of course, but there’s not much I know..." 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
...
Superficial impressions are merely surface-level memories; to dig deeper into a person’s history, one needs more memories to fill in the gaps.
And when everyone has an impression of someone but no related memories, there must be a problem somewhere.
Just born, Veronica sat alone in a corner of the banquet, indignantly consuming the desserts on her plate, while the surrounding nobles, out of some kind of dread, did not dare to engage in conversation with her.
Except for the brave travelers.
"Miss Veronica, may I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance?" the climber in formal attire approached and gave a slight bow to the young lady.
"Where did this lowlife come from!" Veronica rolled her eyes with none of the grace befitting a lady.
"..." The climber’s smile remained unchanged, "But your sister, Miss Margaret Green, has invited us in as guests. Don’t you find it odd? In her eyes, she must have recognized our status."
On hearing this, Veronica narrowed her eyes and gave him a cursory glance.
The girl’s appearance wasn’t the exceptional type of delicate beauty, but there was a brazen beauty in her spirited and bold visage, like a proud and self-satisfied phoenix.
With a curl of her lip, she scoffed, "Don’t flatter yourself here. I obviously know my sister’s reasons; after all, you are nothing but toys she brought in!"
The climber’s gaze flickered as he feigned confusion, "Miss Veronica, could you have misunderstood your sister’s intentions?"
Veronica slammed the pastry in her hand onto the table and haughtily shouted, "A lowlife is a lowlife, what right do you have to be invited by the Green Clan!"
The climber shrugged, "But here we are, invited as honored guests of the Green Family."
"...#!" Veronica seemed to be incensed.
...
...
Above the archways of the outer walls of the castle.
Xu Shuo had been somewhat lost in thought, fortunately, this mood fitted seamlessly with the Traveling Poet’s topic.
When he refocused his attention away from the banquet, he just in time responded to the Traveling Poet’s words, "Alex, do you know why I said before that you are playmates brought by my sister?"
The Traveling Poet didn’t speculate wildly but simply regarded him with a questioning gaze.
The girl smoothed her hair, tousled by the night wind, and facing the distance, she sighed with a melancholy expression, "Because I absolutely cannot leave Prague Castle.
"It is a Curse. Experience new stories on freewebnovel
"And the darkness is always watching us."
...
