The little girl Loli held the wooden bowl in both hands and carefully brought out a bowl of fragrant corn soup from the kitchen.
Silas quickly took it upon seeing this and placed the corn soup beside the bed.
"What are you doing? It's not for you to drink. Humph!" The little girl Lori turned her head away and said pretending to be angry.
But she didn't leave after she said that. Instead, she secretly looked at Silas with an expectant look.
Silas felt warm in his heart, so he picked up the wooden bowl and took a sip slowly.
"It's very sweet, with the refreshing sweetness of corn." Silas gave the little girl a thumbs up after drinking the bowl of corn soup.
When the little girl Lori saw Silas' sincere praise, she giggled and skipped out to the garden to play.
The girl's cheerful laughter woke up the sleepy old man in the rocking chair. The old man took out a roll of cigarette paper from his arms, tore off a small piece, put some dried mint leaves and black tea leaves in it, rolled it into a simple cigarette and started smoking.
"Hehe, it's great to be young." The old man took a puff of tea cigarette and said to himself.
Silas walked out of the room and greeted the old man in the rocking chair.
"Hello, Grandpa."
"Stranger, it's time to leave once you're well." The old man said and stood up from the rocking chair.
"Thank you, old man. I'm Silas. I can only bother you for a few days." Silas said apologetically.
He felt guilty. He didn't expect the other party to treat him so sincerely, but he had relied on lying to get into the village.
The old man picked up the walking stick beside him and walked out of the garden slowly. He looked back at Silas and motioned Silas to follow him.
Silas immediately followed the old man with big strides.
"Young man, you were not robbed by bandits, were you? The bandits would not spare your life out of mercy." The old man exposed Silas' lie with just one sentence.
"To be honest, Grandpa, you are right. The wounds on my body were not caused by bandits, but by some beasts who are even more hateful than bandits."
Silas said through gritted teeth.
"Tell me about it. You're old now, there's nothing you haven't experienced." The old man said as he put out his homemade cigarette.
Silas then told the old man everything that had happened in the outside world and what had happened to him. He believed that the old man would not use it against him.
The old man listened to Silas' story quietly. In addition to noticing the unwillingness and sorrow revealed in Silas's words, he also sensed his desire to become stronger.
After Silas finished speaking, the old man patted him on the shoulder and said,
"Just treat those things as a dream and forget about it. You can't afford to mess with the monster of the Fuerst family."
Silas was a little stunned. The old man's attitude was not to let him become stronger, but to let him give up.
This puzzled Silas, so he immediately asked,
"Why do you call the Fuerst family monsters? Is it so difficult to challenge them successfully?"
"When the Fuersts were not yet marquises, he became famous in the Battle of Baideng Mountain. That was the era of Charles III. Now he still looks like a middle-aged man. Don't you find it strange?" said the old man, shaking his head.
"I don't quite understand what you mean, old man. Can you explain it in more detail?" Silas asked humbly.
"That was a battle nearly two hundred years ago. Do you understand now?"
The old man looked at Silas solemnly and said,
"Two hundred years have passed, and the Hohenmarschal is still alive. People think that only his descendants have inherited his name, but only a few people understand the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, I am one of them."
Silas took a deep breath. He realized that the monster the old man was talking about might be a real monster. No human could live for two hundred years.
The old man sighed and continued the previous topic.
"Do you know the outcome of the battle at Baideng Mountain and the Blood Hands?"
Silas had only heard about the battle at Mount Baideng where the Blood Hands were annihilated, but he did not know the details, so he asked,
"Didn't he kill all the Blood Hands with just one man and one sword?"
"After the sword strike, there was not a drop of blood on the scene, so the bodies on the scene were like mummies. Unfortunately, our place is called Baideng Village, and we are the descendants of the Blood Hand lineage."
The old man sighed and said,
"He was an extraordinary swordsman. He killed all the men with just one sword, but spared all the women, children, the elderly and the weak. We know his story best."
The wind was blowing quietly, but this summer wind gave Silas a creepy feeling, a chill that penetrated his bones.
"The Marquis of Hohen is not someone that can be defeated by worldly forces. Give up."
The old man persuaded Silas helplessly. He didn't want the young man to die in vain.
Silas didn't want to give up, so he fell into deep thought. After a while, he asked,
"According to your words, secular power, does that mean you have some knowledge of supernatural power? Or is it corresponding information and clues?"
"Hey, I've been talking too much. Come on, I'll show you around."
The old man waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want to continue talking, and changed the subject.
The old man took Silas for a walk around the village and then returned to his residence leisurely.
Silas wisely did not ask any further questions immediately.
———
"Excuse me, Miss Aitina. I wonder how you slept last night?"
Butler Abel knocked on the door politely and woke up Adina.
"It will be breakfast time soon. Please get up and wash up now."
"Good day, Mr. Abel. I'll be up in a minute."
Adina rubbed her eyes, stretched, and showed off her beautiful figure.
Although the soft mattresses were comfortable to sleep on, Adina did not sleep well last night. She had a weird dream.
In the dream, there was a dark room with five shriveled corpses hanging in the room. However, judging from their clothes and long hair, it was obvious that these five corpses were all women.
Five corpses were placed in each corner of the hexagonal magic circle, and the remaining corner was still empty. In this hexagonal magic circle, there was a finely crafted wooden coffin.
There was a cross carved on the blood-red wooden coffin, but the coffin was not completely closed and the lid was slightly tilted upwards.
Through the gap, Adina saw the Hohenmarschmied with Bluebeard.
This strange dream made Adina feel uneasy, and she thought of what the little maid had said inadvertently.
"I heard that the Marquis had five wives in the past, but all five wives disappeared later."
This sentence lingered in Ai Tina's mind like a spell, reminding her all the time,
“It’s not safe here.”
The two maids came to Aitina and said,
"Ms. Aitina, please come with us to wash up."
Aitina saw a familiar face, the older maid, and asked,
"It's nice to see you again, but where's that cute little maid?"
The older maid's expression changed slightly, and she said humbly,
"Something happened at her home, so she left last night."