In the warm afternoon sunshine, a fine coach was heading towar the center of Noble Zone in the southwest of Ural City. Its destination was the count's castle, Dry Vine.
All the pedestrians, when seeing the coach, yielded to it respectfully, as they could easily recognize it as the count's coach.
In the coach, Lucien pretended that he was just going sightseeing, however, he was checking out the empire's map in his spirit library and he paid extra attention to the surroundings of Ural City.
The count's invitation was a surprise, and Lucien could not find any excuses instantly to turn it down. The role Lucien was playing had brought him much convenience, but also some trouble.
Also, because the invitation was out of everyone's expectation, Carleena and Ivanovszki's plan could be interrupted by this. Lucien had no idea what they would do to have things back in their control, but definitely not something good, so he had to be prepared in advance.
Lucien was sure that the invitation was not part of Carleena and Ivanovszki's plan, since before they could be certain that Lucien would work with them, there was no reason that they would want to expose Lucien in front of the count. If the count did like him, but another young lady from family Witte was designated, Carleena and Ivanovszki's effort would all be in vain. And this was one of the reasons that Lucien decided to accept the invitation.
What Lucien felt confused about was that he thought Carleena and Ivanovszki would severely control what Count Witte could see and know. Why this invitation went out of their control? How did the count send out this invitation under Carleena and Ivanovszki's close watch, especially, according to Ivanovszki's words, when the count was so sick and the most trustworthy person for the count was Carleena?
If Ivanovszki did not know how to control the count, Lucien believed that Ivanovszki should rather drop his smuggling business and go home to find a safer job. Smuggling and craving for the count's wealth was not suitable for him.
As he was checking out the map, Lucien casually asked Leo beside him about the surroundings of Ural City, especially whether there were some haunted places around. Lucien wanted to be as prepared as he could.
"Mr. Peter, the Church is around, so those haunted places only exist in the stories to frighten children, or were made up by those sorcerers living deep in the mountains. According to what I know, several mines to the west of the city are called Cursed Place or The Cave to Hell because collapses often happened and many people died there." The servant of the count, Nicolay, when hearing the conversation between Lucien and Leo, joined them and introduced.
Nicolay was a knight, and he was also a lord. However, he had been working for the count for most of his life since the war against the south Church, and he was saved by Count Witte many times. Therefore, Nicolay was willing to stick around and became the count's servant.
These kind of people were actually not that uncommon. They could often be found around big nobles, dukes, kings and emperors. Unlike those knights whose duty was to protect the nobles because they had joined the Knights, these people were willing to give up their land to stay close to and protect other nobles for various reasons:
Some had passed on the right and title to their offsprings, and by protecting bigger nobles, they could have the chance to obtain an even higher status than the family's hereditary rank of nobility; Some, like Nicolay, wished to pay his gratitude; Some were cultivated by other nobles, so they had made the promise that they would serve the nobles for an amount of years by protecting them; Others worked for nobles just because of the secret methods for improving Blessings that were passed down by inheritance in the noble families.
After hearing Nicolay's words, Lucien smiled, "Mr. Nicolay, I do know that there are haunted areas in the northwest province and they are right now under the Church's control." By providing information about the northwest territory, Lucien was trying to show the fact that he knew the family very well.
"Maybe it's true. Maybe there are some places like this around Ural City and they're under the Church's control. But we cannot know for sure." Nicolay had spent many years on the battlefield, so his way of talking could be quite straightforward.
Lucien did not mind. He kept talking to Nicolay and Leo to get to know more about the surroundings.
Half an hour later, the grand castle covered by dry vines was in front of Lucien.
Just as Lucien got off the coach, he saw a fancy coach coming from another direction in a hurry.
As soon as the horses stopped, a beautiful lady wearing a white wool dress got off the coach with the help of her maid hurriedly.
"Mr. Peter…"
"Lady Carleena…"
They were both surprised to see each other in front of the castle gate.
Lucien first smiled and said, "So you're here to visit the count?"
"That's right. I heard that uncle Witte just invited a guest, and I was worried that he might now follow the doctor's words and get too tired. The count needs good rest right now." Carleena also put on her bright smile again.
"No worries. I won't bother the count too much." Lucien slightly bowed to her, "After you."
"Mr. Peter, you have the best manner among Schachran Empire. I do like it." Carleena nodded to him and then went inside the castle gate.
What she said was true. Most Schachran nobles did not like following rules and manners at all. Instead, they preferred spirits and fights. So they were often called by the nobles in the south as savages.
As Lucien guessed, this invitation was out of Carleena and Ivanovszki's expectation. Lucien wondered what happened in the castle. He followed Carleena and entered the gate.
The bright fire in the fireplace warmed the whole space of a living room in the castle, which was not very big.
Lucien took off his coat and handed it to the servant. Then, he bowed to the old man politely in a noble manner, "It's my great pleasure to meet you, Count Witte."
The old man was sitting in the couch right next to the fireplace. Wearing black, heavy coat, the old man was still trying to wrap himself up with the coat tightly, as if he still felt very cold. His face was pale, although the figure of his face still looked more or less fortitudinous. His eyes, that used to be clear blue, now looked dim and cloudy. The black beret that the count was wearing covered his thin hair. Lucien's overall first impression of the count was that the man who used to be beyond brave and strong was now like a withering plant.
Seeing that the count, who was a level seven radiant knight, now looked this weak, great fear rose in Lucien's mind when he thought of aging and dying. Fortunately, there were many ways for prolonging one's lifespan in the world of magic. Everyone feared death. Human beings, with their very limited lifetime, always pursued ways to live longer and keep their youth.
"Mr. Peter, pleased to make your acquaintance," said the count in a weak voice and with his pale lips. "It's hard for me… to see an outstanding Vladimir family member in Ural."
After saying this, he gasped a bit and said, "This is my niece, Carleena. You two should have met each other already. This is my steward, Semenov, my good steward."
Carleena was on the count's left side and Semenov on the right. Semenov's hair was already gray, and although there were only a few wrinkles on his face, they were all quite deep, so it was hard to tell Semenov's real age.
It was said that Semenov was a grand knight, and unlike most stewards, he was a quite interesting person.
"Yes, my lord. Lady Carleena invited me to her party before, and she's really nice," said Lucien in a pretended sincere manner, and then he sat down in the couch.
Carleena did not like what Lucien said, but she also had no idea how to pick on his words. She could also curse him that every single girl he met in the future would say the same thing back to him.
The count smiled, "Yeah… Carleena's a nice girl. Actually… I've been looking for a young man from family Vladimir, and you, Peter… here you are…"
Before he finished his words, he started gasping again. He was really in a bad health condition.
Carleena got nervous all of a sudden. Her hands grabbing the count's arm became stiff, and the veins in her hands stuck out.
Lucien politely waited for the count.
The count lowered his pace of talking and said, "I'm old now… really old. I am not that firm and strong anymore… I start to like looking back. I remember… when I was young, I went to the northwest province with my mom. Are there still those many strange trees, flowers and animals in Tula forest?"
"I haven't gone back for many years as well, my lord. But I do remember almost everything in the forest… especially the red magic trees that can move and hunt like animals," answered Lucien confidently.
Carleena felt a bit more relaxed.
The rest of the conversation between the count and Lucien before lunch was all about the count's memory, and the conversation went pretty well. The count invited Lucien to have lunch with him and to stay there tonight. The caravan was going to leave tomorrow.
There were many grand knights and knights within the castle, so Lucien agreed. Things had gone sideways, and now Lucien had to see how things could go.
It was getting darker. In one of the many rooms in the castle, Dry Vine.
"How did the count know Peter?" Ivanovszki questioned Carleena a bit angrily.