A starless night.
Inside the Black Cliff Knights Fortress.
The basement door was closed and locked from the inside, and the only window in the room was high up in the wall and tightly closed.
There is a wooden table in the center of the room, and a small dim light ball hangs above the table. The light ball can only illuminate the surrounding area, and the other corners of the room are still dark.
There are two people sitting on each side of the table. One is the interrogator and the other is the interrogated.
"Are you still refusing to confess?" Boris asked, who had changed back to his twenty-year-old appearance. "Say! Why did you come here? You are a princess! How can you do such a thing?"
Estee was shocked: "What kind of thing did I do?"
"You ran so far alone, without even your guards, and you must have concealed your destination from the king. No one in the palace knows that you have come to Black Cliff Fort! What if there is any accident? What to do? What if you are injured? Well, you must say that you are not only a princess, but also a mage... A mage should not act alone!"
Estee sighed: "Teacher, I did not act alone, Sir Naylor has always protected me."
"No, he is one of the dangerous factors around you!"
The princess put her hands on her forehead wearily: "Teacher, I'm not fourteen years old, I'm already twenty-four years old... My father has been married for many years when I was my age..."
"So, you really want to recruit that temple knight?" Burris asked, "Is he willing too? Even if he knows you are a necromancer?"
Estee said: "We talked about this, but there was no result... After all, it is difficult for both of us to change ourselves. But we have reached a consensus-don't worry about it, just take it slowly."
Boris shook his head: "You young people always do things based on interest and don't know how to look at the long-term. Everyone knows that you are attracted to Naylor. If you and Naylor cannot get married, your reputation will be destroyed by then. Sweeping the floor will become the laughing stock of nobles after dinner. Also, when interacting with him, you have to reject other people's pursuit, which is equivalent to rejecting more alliance choices. In case Naylor leaves you in the future, you But time wasted in vain, and there is nothing left! Even if you inherit the throne, it will be difficult to get the respect you deserve, and you will fall into a situation of isolation and helplessness... "
The princess said: "Teacher, I remember you said a word. 'Everyone has dug out the brains of corpses, so don't care about reputation'..."
"Don't talk about irrelevant things!" Boris slapped the table. "You are different from other mages. You are a princess and the heir to the throne. There are some things you have to consider."
Estee wanted to yawn, but held back. She looked at the dimming ball of light, and said, "If you really think so, you shouldn't have called me to talk at night. Now your identity is Ke Lefu, and we are a man and a woman, and' Pretty old', if anyone finds out about this little black room talk, I'm really going to be discredited."
Burris smiled: "No. First of all, everyone in Black Cliff Castle except Sir Naylor thinks you are a man. Secondly, I set up a hidden force field in the house, and no one else can hear or see it. to us."
Just as he was talking about this, there was a chuckle from outside the door. Lott knocked on the door: "But I heard it."
Burris rested his forehead with one hand: "Why are you eavesdropping again..."
"I just like eavesdropping," Lott pushed the door straight in, and the magic lock on the door had no effect on him, "But this time I want to make it clear that I didn't eavesdrop on purpose, I came to the kitchen for supper. You guys are too serious, Black Cliff Fortress is so big, why do you have to chat in the kitchen?"
He groped around in the darkened part of the kitchen, found a bottle of milk and a few buns, and sat down beside Burris to eat, looking at the mage and princess with a "you go on" look.
Burris asked: "Esty, you haven't answered me formally, why did you come to Black Cliff Fort? I don't believe that you just want to be with Naylor. Son, you have to be honest with me, I don't want to tear you apart, I just want to help you predict the risks."
Estee didn't speak, she was a little hairy from Lot's stare.
"It doesn't matter," Boris saw her thoughts, "Master Lothbald is very trustworthy, what you can say to me, you can also say to him."
The princess was shocked: "Mentor, you and him already have this kind of relationship?"
Lott answered ahead of Burris: "Yes, yes, yes!"
Burris lowered his head and pinched his eyebrows. Estee began to confess: "Teacher, you are right. I really did not just want to meet Naylor. If you hadn't changed the topic to marriage and reputation, I was going to tell you the whole story."
Did I take the topic off topic? Burris was secretly taken aback. He looked at Lord Skeleton, and suddenly felt a chill in his body: Could it be that I have really been infected so badly by him? I became like to ask questions, and like to digress
Estee continued: "Sir Naylor has encountered something... It's a very troublesome private matter. He needs a mage to assist him, and it's best to be a mage who has research on undead creatures. But... he doesn't trust such a mage, Among such people, the only one he is willing to trust is me, so he can only turn to me for help."
Burris couldn't help interjecting: "We are needed everywhere, and they say they don't believe us. Hehe, this is the typical style of the Templar Knights."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt cold all over again: Oh no, not only did I become inquisitive and digress, I was even infected with the bad habit of interrupting others!
He pursed his lips tightly, stared at Estee intently and sadly, and encouraged her to continue talking with his eyes.
This matter involved Sir Naylor's family and parents, and possibly the Temple.
The Knights of Black Cliff Castle are actually divided into two parts, one part is the domain knights who have been loyal to the lord of this place for generations, and the other part is the temple knights of the Otarot Temple. They were originally two different forces, but they finally merged into one because of the murloc attack a hundred years ago. In this way, who would lead the Knights became a troublesome issue. Obviously, the silent prayers of the temple could not replace the lord, and the nobles of the lord's house had no right to command the clergy.
As a result, the lord's family at Blackcliffe gradually became very different: each of them was both a nobleman and a priest, and did so for generations. For example, Sir Naylor, he is both the second son of the lord and a Knight of the Temple.
The most special person in the family is Naylor's mother, Lisa. She came from a slightly cold background and was a wandering entertainer from the folk.
Unlike other entertainers, she can't sing or tell books - she's mute. But she can play any instrument you know, she can write mesmerizing lyrics, and she can write really good long drama stories... Many bards take pride in playing and singing her compositions, and nicknamed her the wandering princess.
She had no fixed place until she came to Blackcliffe. When I met Lisa, Naylor's father was already a silent prayer in the temple. He was a serious and old-fashioned person who never mentioned his love story to his children, so Naylor didn't know how his parents met and knew each other... But , he knew how his mother left later.
Outsiders think that Lisa died young and that the Naylor brothers lost their mother when they were young, but this is not the case.
According to Sir Naylor's recollection, when he was a child, he often saw his mother secretly reading a book. It was a very thick and worn-out parchment book. The cover was made of metal, with a black cast iron color on one side, and a palm-sized silver mirror embedded in the other side.
Lisa kept her books in the bottom compartment of the suitcase, and often carried them out under her cloak. It is said that she kept the habit of wandering, she would leave the castle regularly to relax in the countryside, she would not let anyone follow, even if someone insisted on following, she would eventually be skillfully thrown off by her, and she would disappear into the mountains and forests, Then take the initiative to return to the castle as night falls.
The Prayer hadn't seen her book, neither had the servants at the castle, nor had Naylor's brother presumably... only Naylor seemed to have seen it by chance, and Lisa didn't know it had been seen.
Young Naylor accidentally said the incident. Back then he had no idea what that meant. He only remembered that his father locked Lisa in the study and searched all her personal belongings. In the end, the silent prayer found the book. He didn't read it, and he didn't tell anyone about it. He locked the book in the cabinet, and then went to the study to confront his wife.
Lisa is dumb. She could not argue, and refused to answer the silent prayer's questions in words. Naylor and his brother were terrified. They had never seen their father so angry. His brother told him that their mother was probably a necromancer or something, because that book made the silent prayers angry and afraid.
The next day, Lisa disappeared. She disappeared with the book, but the cabinet in which it was locked was never opened.
She used to leave early in the morning and return in the evening, but this time she never came back.
The silent prayer led men to search the whole city and its suburbs, but after several months, they still found nothing. Occasionally people have reported seeing what appears to be her back, but no one has ever successfully identified it. In the end, the silent prayer said that his wife had died of a serious illness, and then solemnly told his two sons to keep this matter a secret for life.
"It's another missing wife," Lott interjected after hearing this, "Prince Lanto's wife ran to the mountain in the middle of the night, and the wife of the silent prayer man of Black Cliff Castle ran to the forest in the early morning... Why do noble wives do this? Just how boring is their marriage?"
Estee didn't take his words, and continued on her own: "When Naylor told me this, I guessed that his mother should be a necromancer... So she wanted to hide it and run away. But the strange thing is, I found out that she Not a necromancer at all, she may not even understand magic at all!"
Burris asked, "Have you checked her belongings?"
"Yeah," Estee said, "she disappeared with nothing but books... don't know how she got them out of the locked cabinet. Naylor's father kept her All personal belongings, everything is properly locked in a room, I checked, she should not be a spellcaster. I told this conclusion to Naylor, Naylor was quite relieved, he said that this matter is The pain of his father's life is also the doubt that he has been unable to solve for so many years. He wants to find out the life experience of his mother. If she is not a bad person, he should return her innocence in front of his father. "
Burris sneered: "Bad guy? So a necromancer is equal to a bad guy? As long as he is not a necromancer, he is not a bad guy?"
"Mentor..." the princess frowned, "don't be like this. How much do you hate Sir Naylor?"
Boris raised his eyebrows and turned the topic over: "I understand. He couldn't let the strange mage investigate this, so he contacted you. However, after so many years, why did he suddenly want to investigate this?"
Estee said, "He saw Lisa not long ago."
"She appeared again?"
"Yes. Naylor was wandering in the forest outside the city that day. He wanted to experience how his mother felt when she was relaxing here. He suddenly found someone watching him in the depths of the forest. He chased after him. After a long distance, he finally Lost her."
"How can he be sure it's his mother?"
Estee shook her head: "I asked him that too. He said it was just a feeling, maybe something like a mother-child relationship."
"Maybe all he saw were refugees outside the city."
"Then why is she running?"
"Whoever sees a knight in full armor rushing forward will run away."
"Wait, Boris," Lott licked the milk at the corner of his mouth, his tone suddenly became very serious, "This way... everything makes sense..."
"What did you think of?" Burris asked.
"I want to tell you something. I was looking for you everywhere just now, just to talk to you."
"What's up?"
"I have a feeling."
Burris and Estee suddenly lost their ability to speak, and looked at him together in a daze.
"What are your expressions?" Lott said, "I mean that book, the book that appeared in the Tower of the Abyss! Ever since I arrived at Black Cliff Fort, I have felt it again!"