Chapter 45: Ghostly Shadows in the Haunted House  

Just like that.

Entering the room and taking off his coat, Viscount Bird couldn’t help but reveal a smug, confident smile. He could feel that the other party had completely surrendered. In fact, except for some surprise when first entering the castle, the situation had been in his control the whole time. The young man’s performance was completely consistent with what Viscount Bird had imagined. Although he had confidence, ideas, and actions, in the world of nobles, these were far from enough. Thinking of this, Viscount Bird shook his head with a smile, then pulled out a chair, sat at the desk, took out clean white paper, and began writing his report to the patriarch. Although he could report to the old patriarch in person after returning, sometimes some written materials were also indispensable. After all, words are no proof, and given the old patriarch’s age, it was always better to be cautious in doing things.

“Regarding this Mr. Felix, my view is…”

The night gradually deepened.

Dense dark clouds covered the sky, blocking out the bright night and shrouding the castle in shadows.

Time passed minute by minute, second by second. After who knows how long, Viscount Bird finally raised his head, let out a long breath, then put down his pen and looked with satisfaction at the report placed before him. It had completely recorded what he had seen and heard since arriving at this castle, as well as his judgments and views on that lord. Of course, although Julian’s performance was as Viscount Bird had expected, he didn’t think the other’s background was very simple. At least from the furnishings of this castle, it could be seen that this Felix family might have had a very high status before. Perhaps, after returning, he should pay more attention to this aspect…

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird felt a bit thirsty. He reached out to take the water bottle on the table, then poured a glass of water and drank it in one gulp. The clear spring water brought a hint of coolness, while also making his body much more relaxed.

What time is it now?

Only at this moment did Viscount Bird suddenly think of this question. He instinctively looked around but didn’t see anything in the room that could remind him of the time. He couldn’t help but frown. As a guest room prepared for guests, couldn’t they be a bit more attentive? Forget it, country bumpkins are country bumpkins, one can’t expect them to understand too much. Thinking of this, Viscount Bird didn’t ask for anything more. He shrugged and smiled self-mockingly.

Just then, light footsteps came from outside the door, followed by a knock.

“Viscount Euwen Bird, sir, is there anything else you need?”

A clear and beautiful young girl’s voice came through. Viscount Bird seemed to have heard this voice somewhere before. Oh right, she should be the maid who was accompanying that young brat in the afternoon.

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird couldn’t help but lick his lips. It must be said that although that young brat wasn’t skilled in negotiation techniques, he did have quite a talent. These maids, who knows where he got them from. They were really pretty and cute, especially those clothes… Viscount Bird narrowed his eyes slightly. Although maids were the private property of nobles, that brat wasn’t an official noble yet, so…

“Yes, I still have…”

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird smiled, then opened his mouth to respond to her words. But before Viscount Bird could finish speaking, a series of deep bell tolls suddenly rang out, interrupting his words.

“Dong… Dong…”

This ancient and rhythmic bell sound seemed to have an indescribable magic power. Not only did it interrupt Viscount Bird’s words, but it was like an unknown hand tightly gripping his throat, forcing him to swallow his next words. And as the bell tolled, the entire ancient castle also began to slowly undergo some unknown changes.

“It’s already twelve o’clock, Miss Ophariel,” Hearing the bell, little Erin, who was serving Ophariel as she read, widened her eyes in surprise and looked out the window.

“You should rest now.”

“Twelve o’clock…” Hearing these words, Ophariel closed the book in her hand. She silently looked at the heavy door, then slightly furrowed her brow.

“Erin, you don’t need to return to your room today.”

“Eh?” Hearing Ophariel’s words, little Erin was stunned for a moment.

“Don’t need to return to my room…?”

“That’s right. I think you haven’t forgotten the castle’s rules. After midnight, no one is allowed to go out without permission, right?”

“But, but I…”

“Don’t worry.” Looking at Erin’s somewhat anxious and flustered appearance, Ophariel smiled kindly at her, then reached out and put her hand on Erin’s shoulder.

“Tonight, you can just sleep with me.”

“Eh? Eh eh?!” Hearing these words, Erin widened her eyes in surprise, looking at the young woman before her.

“Miss Ophariel, is this really okay? I’m just a servant… and the master…”

“We should go rest now.” Ophariel interrupted Erin’s words, then stood up and closed the outside windows. By the dim firelight, she saw a white shadow flash past her face, then disappear.

“I think the lord still has other things to attend to. He won’t mind us.”

Twelve tolls.

After striking twelve times, the heavy bell sound returned to silence, and Twilight Castle, along with this signal, completed some indescribable change from the inside out.

What’s going on?

Viscount Bird frowned. The bell sound just now made him feel inexplicably uneasy for no reason. The originally warm room now felt as cold as a tomb.

Is it an illusion?

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird shook his head and stopped thinking about this matter. Then he looked towards the door and finished the words that had been interrupted earlier.

“I’m a bit hungry. I want to eat some late-night snacks.”

No one responded.

“Are you listening?”

Viscount Bird frowned. He spoke again but heard no response. What’s going on? Did that maid leave during that time? Not even listening to a guest’s request? Just leaving on her own? How ill-mannered! Thinking of this, Viscount Bird couldn’t help but frown. He opened the guest room door and looked out, but didn’t see a single person.

Under the dim light, the corridor was dark, and even the furnishings in the distance couldn’t be seen clearly. But it was indeed empty. The maid who had been standing at his door asking him questions earlier had obviously disappeared.

Really sick.

Viscount Bird shrugged, then closed the door. Although he felt a bit annoyed at losing such an opportunity for “intimate contact”, women were everywhere. When he returned to the city, with his looks, status, and money, he could have any kind of woman he wanted. This time was just wanting to taste something fresh. It would be best if he could, but it didn’t matter if he couldn’t.

Just then, Viscount Bird’s gaze inadvertently swept across the desk again, then immediately fixed on it.

He clearly saw that on the table, in that water bottle, a huge spider was slowly crawling out. Its black, huge body and fur were covered with water droplets. Who knows when it had crawled in. But this wasn’t the point. How could there be a spider in the water bottle? And he had just drunk water from it?!

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird felt nauseous. He didn’t even have time to react much before directly kneeling on the ground and vomiting. Spider! That was a spider! Holy Grace above! These country bumpkins, how dare they do this! Damn it! Were these guys doing this on purpose?! Intense nausea filled Viscount Bird’s mind. He lay on the ground, no longer showing any of the elegance and confidence from the daytime. Only after vomiting out all of his dinner did he finally feel a bit better. Viscount Bird stood up panting heavily, his face ashen as he turned his head. This was absolutely intolerable! From birth until now, no one had ever dared to do this to him! Whether these damn country bumpkins did it intentionally or unintentionally, he had to settle accounts with them!

The angry Viscount Bird didn’t think much and pulled open the door. Just then, a cold wind crept through the crack of the door into the room, and with this breeze, the originally flickering flame suddenly went out.

The entire room became pitch black, but Viscount Bird wasn’t shaken by this. He blinked hard until he adapted to the darkness, then coughed forcefully and was about to walk out of the room. But at this moment, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

What appeared before Viscount Bird wasn’t the old corridor, but rather a luxurious guest room. Clean white bedding, pulled-out chairs, a few sheets of white paper on the desk, with a cup and water bottle that had just been drunk from placed beside them. And not far from his feet, a pile of filthy vomit emitted a strong stench.

Isn’t this his guest room? When did he leave? No, Viscount Bird remembered very clearly that he should have just left the room, not returned to it, right?

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird instinctively turned his head to look around. Sure enough, on both sides of him was the still dim corridor. Obviously, no matter how you looked at it, this was Viscount Bird about to enter his guest room, not leave it.

What’s going on? What exactly happened?

Viscount Bird frowned. He vaguely felt that something was wrong. And when he turned his head back, he was completely certain that this was definitely not the normal world.

Something’s not right.

If it were someone else encountering this strange scene, they would probably have panicked long ago. But Viscount Bird was still forcibly maintaining his composure. He also understood that this matter wasn’t normal, but if he became flustered at this time, it wouldn’t help the whole situation at all.

Thinking of this, Viscount Bird immediately turned around and walked towards the nearby guest room. He reached out and knocked heavily on the door. In that guest room lived his most loyal attendant, Thomson.

“Knock knock knock!”

The heavy knocking sound rang out, slowly drifting in the dim, quiet corridor. But there was no response.

“Thomson!”

Viscount Bird, suppressing the anxiety in his heart, knocked on the door again. This time, there was finally a response from inside.

“Master?”

Along with this voice, the loyal servant opened the door, with sleepy eyes, curiously looking at Viscount Bird at the door. He really couldn’t understand why his master wasn’t resting late at night and came to knock on his door.

“What happened?”

“There are some problems.”

After seeing his servant’s familiar face, Viscount Bird’s originally uneasy mood relaxed a lot. But he still maintained the dignity of a noble, frowning as he spoke.

“I’ve encountered some strange things, Thomson.”

“Strange things?”

The loyal servant looked at his master in confusion, seeming to not understand his meaning at all.

“That’s right.”

Viscount Bird nodded heavily, gritting his teeth as he said.

“Holy Grace above, do you know what I just saw? These damn country bumpkins, a spider crawled out of the water bottle they prepared for me! And I had just drunk water from that bottle!”

“Oh, this… this…”

Hearing his master’s words, Thomson immediately became much more awake. He widened his eyes in surprise, looking at his master.

“Master, is this true? These guys actually dared to do this? They’re really too much!”

“Of course, I absolutely won’t allow them to trample on the dignity of the Bird family like this.”

Viscount Bird nodded forcefully. Seeing his servant’s familiar appearance made him seem not so concerned about the strange things that had just happened. Maybe he had been too angry and forgot that he had gone out.

“Now, follow me to find Mr. Felix immediately. I want to question him face to face! Oh right, come to my room and bring that damn water bottle and spider. Let him have a good look!”

“Of course, master!”

Hearing Viscount Bird’s order, Thomson immediately followed him out of the room. Then he shivered involuntarily and looked around.

“Strange, why does it seem so cold?”

“It’s still early spring. The cold is natural.”

Viscount Bird answered casually. At this moment, his heart was already burning with rage.

“But…”

“Hmm?”

Viscount Bird impatiently looked at his servant.

“What is it now?”

“Master, where is your room?”

“Isn’t it right there?”

Viscount Bird pointed casually, then widened his eyes in surprise.

Where there should have been a guest room door, there was now only a bare wall, with no trace of any room ever existing.

Viscount Bird frowned. Did he remember wrong? But when he turned back to look at his servant, he realized that things were really not quite right.

They had just walked out of Thomson’s guest room, with less than a minute’s difference, but now, behind them was still just a bare wall, no door, no windows, nothing at all.

“Ma-Master? Where’s my room?!”

Thomson had now also noticed the problem. He widened his eyes in surprise and stammered out a question.

“Holy Grace above, master, I remember we just walked out of my room, right? I remember it was like that!”

“Shut up! Of course we know!”

Viscount Bird, with a gloomy face, coldly stopped his servant’s words. But deep in his heart, he suddenly recalled a story he had heard from his family when he was young.

“Inside that huge, terrifying castle is buried a dangerous and evil curse. It will mercilessly grab every visitor and completely devour them…”

Nonsense!

Viscount Bird shook his head, throwing this ominous thought out of his mind. Then he walked to the decorative armor at the side of the corridor and drew the sword beside it.

“Come on, let’s go find Mr. Felix.”

In the corridor, it was still silent, with only the footsteps of the master and servant echoing. Viscount Bird, holding the sword, walked slowly in the corridor. He clearly remembered that when he came up, there were guest rooms on both sides of this corridor. But now, no trace of any door could be seen here, only bare walls. Besides this, there were only decorative armors and murals, nothing else existed.

But where were the stairs?

“Master, we’ve been walking for several dozen minutes, haven’t we…”

Following behind Viscount Bird, Thomson anxiously asked.

“Shut up, of course I know!”

Now, the development of things was not just abnormal, but completely anomalous. No matter how big this castle was, it was just a corridor. How could it be that they had walked for several dozen minutes without reaching the end? This was completely unreasonable. Viscount Bird remembered clearly that after they came up, the maids had arranged for them to stay near the stairway exit – only now, Viscount Bird no longer trusted his own memory so much.

That’s right, he remembered clearly that he was going out, but the result was coming in. The corridor that should have been very short now seemed endless. This made Viscount Bird increasingly confused. Was his memory really correct? Was he really writing a letter just now? Did he really chat with that Mr. Felix?

Was all this a dream? Or did it really happen?

“Is anyone there?”

Viscount Bird shouted, but there was no response. The maids he had seen when arriving at this castle had now completely disappeared. It was as if they had never appeared, never existed.

“Ma-Master… I…”

“Shut up, I told you to shut up!”

Leaning against the wall as he moved forward, Viscount Bird felt himself becoming increasingly nervous. He gripped the sword in his hand tightly, only hoping it could give him some comfort. Just then, he finally saw the stair railing not far ahead.

Finally here!

Seeing the stair railing, Viscount Bird couldn’t contain his excitement. He strode forward, and just as Viscount Bird was about to turn the corner, suddenly, a black shadow flashed past in front of him.

Although this sudden black shadow startled Viscount Bird, he was after all a noble who had received sword training. As soon as he saw the black shadow, Viscount Bird’s sword, gripped with both hands, had already traced a half-circle in the air, striking the black shadow.

“Ah–!”

A crisp, sharp scream rang out. The black shadow hadn’t noticed this sudden attack. It let out a shrill scream, then rolled down the stairs, stopping only when it reached the middle landing.

At this moment, Viscount Bird also saw the true face of the black shadow.

It was a girl in a maid outfit. Her beautiful face had been dented by something, and bright red blood was flowing from her chest. At this moment, she was staring at Viscount Bird standing on the stairs with her lifeless eyes wide open. There was no light of life in those dim eyes.



She was dead.