Chapter 174 - Lilith Kant’s Visit (1/2)
As he had scheduled to be a guest at the Kant territory for a few days, after a rather sumptuous welcome feast, Viscount Victor Kant arranged accommodation for Gawain and his accompanying personnel.
The feeling that this old castle brought to Gawain wasn’t particularly good.
Although its interior was filled with light and warmth — the magic crystal lamps that could be seen everywhere and the doors, windows, tables, and chairs that had been cleaned up to look like new — all dispelled the gloom brought by the arrival of night, but unpleasant feelings still continuously emerged in Gawain’s heart. It was as if he could see the underlying appearance of this castle through those shining windows and painted white walls. —— Behind those polished covers was black, icy cold stone; it was full of slimy moss and cracks in all directions, as well as the shadows and germs that bred ceaselessly in those humid cracks.
After a brief conversation with Victor Kant, Gawain returned to his own room with the excuse of needing to rest first after his journey. This was a room specially set up for distinguished guests. There was a warm fireplace and furnishings as similarly magnificent as the bedroom of the owner of the castle. The two rooms to the left and right of his were Amber’s and Sir Philip’s guest rooms respectively. Opposite their rooms, there was also a lounge where guests could play chess and enjoy some entertainment as well as a place specially set up for tea sampling and reading.
The rain outside the windows was still pouring and showed signs of becoming ever more violent with the winds. Gawain went to the window, watching the Kants’ old castle in the rainy night through this expensive man-made crystal. Wriggly streams of water formed traces that constantly changed on the windowpane, which also made the scenery outside blurry and distorted. And in this fuzzy and distorted visual field, he could see several towers of the Kant castle standing in the night.
There were a few windows with lights lit at the base level of those towers, vaguely depicting the outline of the structure, but their upper portions were a sea of black, almost blending into this dark night.
Gawain carefully observed those towers while frowning. After he focused, he suddenly saw an obvious crevice appear in the middle section of one of the towers.
That crevice seemed to squirm and grow in the dark, swiftly extending to the entire upper section of the tower. They broadened bit by bit, and a blood-like glow leaked from the cracks. —— The tallest tower appeared to be in tatters amidst these bloody cracks and collapsed little by little in a slow-motion manner; there were even exclamations and yells mingled in all that.
Gawain promptly sobered up. The moans of the wind and patter of the rain entered the room through the window again. He saw that the tall tower opposite was back to being intact once more: the collapse and shouts earlier vanished like they’d been a dream.
However, Gawain wouldn’t really take them as hallucinations. He immediately frowned, uncertainty breeding in his mind. “There’s a large-scale illusion in the castle?”
Light footsteps suddenly came from outside the room; they seemed to be heading toward this room. Gawain swiftly sorted out his expression as if nothing had happened. He only walked over to open the door when knocks sounded.
The door was opened. A lady, seemingly 30 years of age, dressed in a white long dress with a lantern in hand stood outside the door. This lady had flaxen hair, while her complexion seemed to be especially pale from being sick and weak. She stood there cautiously, seemingly some hint of reservation and nervousness as she looked at Gawain.
Gawain stolidly examined her with a glance and then revealed a curious look. “Madam?”
“Hello, may I ask if you are Duke Gawain Cecil?” The lady at the door asked in a very low voice as if she would become breathless if she spoke a little louder.
Gawain nodded. “I am Gawain Cecil. Who are you, Madam?”
“Victor Kant is my husband,” this sickly lady who looked to be only around thirty years of age replied softly. Although her voice was very soft, there was still the elegance that an aristocrat lady ought to possess in her tone. “I am the lady of this castle. My name is Lilith Kant.”
“Viscountess?” Gawain looked at the other party in fair surprise. He didn’t expect that Viscount Kant who appeared to be already older than dirt to actually have such a young and pretty wife, but at the thought of the aristocrats’ ‘conventions’, his surprise didn’t last for too long. Instead, he was only curious why he hadn’t seen her at the banquet earlier, nor had he heard the old Viscount mention her. “You didn’t attend the banquet earlier?”
“My body is weak. My illness left me with no way of dining together with many people. Neither am I able to come out to welcome guests in the day,” Lilith Kant said apologetically. “I knew you would be visiting the castle, but my husband insisted I rested till the night before stepping out. ——Now that my spirits are better, he let me come greet the guest.”
Following that, she hung the lantern she held on the hook beside the door and bent slightly to give her greetings. “Welcome, Duke Gawain Cecil, and I also ask that you forgive me for being unable to fulfill my duties as the lady of this territory earlier.”
“Ah, it’s alright.” All sorts of guesses and suspicions leaped out one after another in Gawain’s mind, but the expression on his face remained very indifferent. “Are you only able to come out and move about at night? Oh, I know a little about medicine. It might be of help to your health.”
Lilith Kant revealed a pale smile. “My husband got the best apothecary for me. Only my frailness is not only due to my illness but also because of my natural constitution. This is something that medication cannot cure. But I’m still very thankful for your concern, Duke.”
Gawain had no intention of inviting the Viscountess before him into his room. As she was calling on him alone, such an invitation would be discourteous —— even if this was the Kant Clan’s castle. He only stood at the door and made some small talk with her for a while; then this lady took her leave.