The ancient castle where the Glenn family lived for generations stood quietly before Gao Wen's eyes.
It is located on the top of the mountain, next to a steep cliff, years of wind and rain erosion and collapse even made the cliff almost begin to sag inward, and also let the castle on it present a disturbing and crumbling posture, and the castle itself is even more old It aggravates every visitor's fears in this regard—yet a fort on a hilltop, close to a dangerous cliff, does indeed have a striking beauty.
Gao Wen started looking at the castle from the time when he was still at the foot of the mountain. It wasn't until the carriage finally climbed to the top of the mountain along the wide ramp that he came to the castle. Quite wide... "
Amber next to him was stunned: "You sighed this all the way?"
Gawain looked at the half-elf girl inexplicably: "What do you think?"
Amber opened her mouth, held back for a long time and couldn't think of any other words, so she followed Gao Wen and raised her head to sigh: "The people of the Ge Lan family are very generous..."
"Okay, don't be emotional, go and call the door."
The heavy black gate of Glenn Castle opened slowly in front of Gawain. As the oak gate inlaid with purple steel and copper runes opened to both sides, Gawain's eyes swept across their surface.
He saw mottled scars and some scorched marks, although they had been modified, they were still faintly visible.
Behind the gate is a brightly lit long hall—a red carpet is spread from the main entrance to the stairs at the end of the long hall. Maids and attendants stand on both sides of the red carpet, and a tall middle-aged butler stands at the front. Bending down, the left hand spread out like the wings of a swan, guiding the distinguished guests through the gate.
The mistress of the Gülen family stood in the center of the long hall.
She is a tall but too slender woman, about thirty years old, with long black curly hair, deep eye sockets, and a slightly pale complexion, but the years have not had time to leave vicissitudes on this lady's face Despite the imprint, she is still a beautiful woman who can command attention in the banquet hall.
At the same time that Gao Wen was walking forward, the lady also came forward just right.
Everything was well-mannered and well-regulated, which reminded Gao Wen of the Fort Konder he visited last time—but, there was only a chaotic and illusory dream in Fort Konder, so what is there here
Gao Wen showed a slight smile: "I hope my presumptuous visit will not cause trouble to the neighbors."
"Your arrival has brought unprecedented glory to this land." Luo Penny Grant bent down and saluted Gao Wen according to her title. Gawain noticed that what this lady was doing was a man's noble audience Etiquette, but there is no surprise in my heart.
After the Gulen family lost the male master, this widow assumed the role of the male master. She is the lord of this land, and there has been no news of remarriage so far, which is enough to show her certain attitude—at this moment She greeted the duke with a gentleman's audience ceremony, which is also a "language" that only nobles can understand.
Gawain raised his eyes and looked towards the end of the long hall. As expected, on the vertical wall between the two curved staircases, he saw a huge portrait of a handsome black-haired young man in a black coat and a snow-white shirt, standing in the painting with a light smile on his face, and a white candlestick and the same white "death chrysanthemum" can be seen in front of the portrait.
That should be the previous Viscount Gülen. It is not surprising that his portrait hangs here, but the white candlestick and death chrysanthemum are quite unusual—for many contemporary nobles, the loyalty of marriage is limited to both parties On the premise that they are still alive and their respective families are stable, once one of the two parties dies, the one who is still alive (whether it is Mr. or Ms.) will naturally find a new marriage partner as soon as possible after a short period of mourning. This will not be regarded as " "Infidelity", because timely and wise marriage is precisely the necessary means to maintain the strength of the family and support the development of the territory. A widow or widower who has been married many times can even be described as hot in some cases—
Ansu's huge, complex, bloated and dirty aristocratic pedigree and land transfer history were formed in such "marriage wars".
Gao Wen withdrew his gaze from the portrait of Viscount Glenn, and thought of the information that Amber had investigated in his mind, then he turned his head and smiled slightly at Ropeni Glenn: "Ma'am, you must have known that Kant was brought into Cyprus. The news about the Syl family, as well as His Majesty's new entrustment—the Cecil Land has been linked to the Glenn Land, and I am here this time just to visit our new neighbors."
"It's in line with the rules that I should take the initiative to visit you," Ropeni Glenn showed a slightly stiff smile, as if the smile had been away from her for so long that it became awkward to mobilize the muscles on her face, "it's just I left the territory a few days ago, and it was only a few days before I came back here... "
"Rules," Gao Wen waved his hand, "We made the rules back then, so as long as I don't care, you don't have to care about the rules."
After a short and innocuous polite speech, the Viscount Ropeney invited Gawain and his personal entourage (Amber) to the drawing room of the castle. Lan led the best harp players and bards to join in the fun.
After the afternoon tea, there will be a rather grand ball in the castle, and the dinner will be held in the middle of the ball.
To be honest, Gawain is not interested in the ball, and he is not interested in any welcoming ceremony, but these are necessary procedures—and the ball was held for him and for him in name, but in fact a duke There is nothing to do in this kind of "small castle" ball, no one would dare to invite him, the real meaning of the ball is to become a social platform for the big and small nobles who come here admiringly.
Using the duke's visit as a sign, Luo Penny can invite the surrounding lords, large and small, to come as guests, and even invite nobles who are more powerful than her to come here. As long as she can successfully hold this banquet, the reputation of the Glenn family will definitely be strengthened. Skyrocketing, even if the nobles in the southern border are not too fond of the surname Cecil, they will face up to the ability displayed by the Viscountess Glenn in the process of holding events—holding large and small events on occasions that are not suitable for bright knives. Banquets and balls are the usual means for nobles to show their strength.
Both Gawain and Amber were not interested in these twists and turns, but the latter was at least very satisfied with the fact that "there were a lot of people standing behind him serving him to eat". While eating the snacks brought by the maid, the half-elf lady murmured to Gawain: "Look at the house, and then at you, in such a big Duke's mansion, you probably don't have as many maids and attendants here. "
"Why do I want so many people around to watch me eat? I don't think it's bothering me," Gao Wen was chatting with Luo Penny Grant before, and at the moment when the Viscountess went to confirm the situation of the banquet hall, he chatted with Amber Get up, "Speaking of which, eat slowly—there's another meal tonight."
"God knows what the 'dinner' is, a radish decorated with feathers or raw meat surrounded by colored stones? I have seen the 'ceremonial dinner' at the formal banquet of the nobles, it is not as good as the cake baked by Betty," Amber said to her mouth Stuffed a small piece of cake in it, swallowed it hard and blinked at Gao Wen, "Hey, have you found any clues? Do you have that... dreamlike sense of disobedience?"
"No." Gao Wen didn't expect Hu Po to really not forget his business when he was eating Hesse. He shook his head after taking a look at the other party, "But I think this place is different from the original Fort Kundera. Not affected by real dreams."
Amber looked at Gao Wen curiously: "How do you know?"
"Do you still remember our experience in Fort Kant?" Gawain patiently explained, "Viscount Kant lives reclusively, the castle never holds any banquets, and hardly invites any guests. What kind of event is this kind of opportunity to hold? This is because the more outsiders in the "true dream", the greater the chance of the dream collapse, and the awake people will impose a very heavy burden on the ritual spells of the eternal sleepers—but that Glenn The Viscountess obviously has no concerns in this regard."
Amber nodded: "She invited many people to visit you..."
Gawain casually knocked on the half-elf lady's head: "This castle does not have the weird atmosphere of Kantland, it is open to the outside world, which basically cuts off the possibility of large-scale dream illusions covering the castle. Of course ... The specific situation will have to be observed to determine.”
Just at this moment, the Viscountess who went to inspect the banquet hall returned to the room, and she sat down in front of Gao Wen: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
"Don't mind, I'm admiring the collection here," Gao Wen said casually, his eyes casually sweeping over the oil paintings and wooden carvings displayed to the guests in the living room, "very good collection."
"These are all left by my husband," Luo Peini said lightly, "he loves art, especially painting, and some of them are even painted by himself."
Gao Wen stood up and casually walked to a painting depicting a large area of farmland and houses: "It's rare to see someone painting farmland on canvas."
In this era, "painting" is a kind of high-end and luxurious artistic enjoyment. Basically, only nobles, churches and rich people have the ability to spend money on it, so the audience of painting is only those "upper class people". The content can be described as tedious, basically only various portraits, religious paintings and paintings depicting the life of the castle court.
"It's the work of my husband," Ropeni Grant explained. "He likes to draw what he sees outside, even if it's dirty cowsheds and dilapidated barns."
"I see." Gao Wen turned around with a smile on his face, "It's pretty good."
At this moment, an attendant suddenly pushed open the door of the living room, and quickly walked towards the Countess Luo Penny.
Gao Wen noticed that the attendant had a nervous expression on his face.
"Ma'am," the attendant stopped in front of the countess, and said quickly, "Miss Patty said she didn't feel well..."
Luo Penny Grant's expression changed instantly.