Chapter 74.1
(A substantive romantic relations.h.i.+p; the true murderer)
The night of November 10.
Immersed in the river of love, Mother Ai and Magnate Rong decided to get married immediately and they sent every guest an invitation.
Simultaneously, Actor Ming also had plans to get married so he went to find Magnate Rong to discuss if they should hold the wedding ceremony together after receiving the invitation. Magnate Rong agreed.
Hence, on 11 November at 8 o’ clock, there were two newly wedded couples who were going to host their wedding ceremony.
This news gradually spread to the ears of every guest in the ancient castle, and everyone expressed their curiosity.
They knew that Actor Ming had entered a deep relations.h.i.+p since they had various interactions over the past two days, but they knew nothing of the man that Actor Ming had fallen for, and what his ident.i.ty was exactly.
* * *
The morning of November 11, the seven people staying in the ancient castle ate breakfast together in the main hall.
During that span of time, they discussed how they were going to host the wedding ceremony at night.
Through the discussion, everyone decided that Chief Mei would be the wedding emcee, while Sister Mei and Traveller Meng would become the bridesmaids of the two newly wedded couples.
There were a lot of gorgeous articles of clothing in the ancient castle, even to the extent where there was a ready-made wedding dress.
After eating breakfast, the two pairs of newlyweds went through the second to fifth floors to look for clothes to wear.
The emcee and two bridesmaids stayed in the main hall to decorate the wedding ceremony location and discuss the flow of the wedding ceremony and its corresponding details.
Mother Ai tried the white wedding dress that Aimeili failed to wear that year and the size was just right.
Whereas Magnate Rong wore Duke Dahl’s black formal suit, which gave him a n.o.ble air in an instant.
On the other end, Actor Ming chose a white formal suit while Earl William went with a black formal suit that complemented his choice very well.
These two formal suits, in addition to Magnate Rong’s formal suit, came from the closet in the Duke’s room.
For the same reason, the formal suits that Earl William and Magnate Rong chose were extremely similar and no differences could be discerned at a glance, and closer scrutiny was required before slight differences could be perceived.
By the afternoon, the newlyweds had chosen their clothes, and the emcee and the bridesmaids were done discussing the wedding programme.
Everyone gathered in the main hall to eat their lunch before they went their individual ways as they waited for the evening wedding ceremony to arrive.
Owing to the fact that the strategic decisions for two couples’ wedding ceremony was made with comparative haste, and how the wedding ceremony was being hosted at night, everyone had to make adjustments to the rule where the newlyweds were not allowed to meet before the wedding ceremony— Starting from the end of lunch up until 8 o’ clock at night, the newlyweds were not allowed to meet, which could also be considered as an abidance to the rule.
Everyone was sitting on the same elevator to return to the sixth floor after their lunch, and just as the elevator doors opened, Li Xiao Yu spoke to Yang Ye and Gu Liang: “Both of you are finally moving separately, and you’re not allowed to meet before 8 o’ clock. Can both of you do it?”
Yang Ye gazed at her, saying: “Being envious is useless. Liang Liang is going to marry me tonight.”
Gu Liang thought of something and asked him: “Why aren’t you marrying off to me?”
Holding onto Gu Liang’s shoulders, Yang Ye was about to state some meaningful and heart-felt words when Gu Liang opened his mouth first: “If it weren’t for the script requirement, I would have given you the white formal suit. But going to the small black room over such a trivial matter isn’t worth it. Forget it.”
After Gu Liang put down those words, he went back to his room.
“Hey Liang Liang—”
Yang Ye tried to reach for him but his hand ended up empty, so he could only awkwardly adjust his gla.s.ses. At that moment, he saw Li Xiao Yu standing at the side, watching as the joke was being made at his expense.
Yang Ye opened his mouth: “Li Xiao Yu—”
Li Xiao Yu ran away before he could throw his temper at her. “See you at night!”
* * *
After returning to his room, Gu Liang lied down and took an afternoon nap.
Just as his sleepiness dissipated at 1 o’ clock in the afternoon, his card vibrated with a delivered plot pa.s.sagek2014; Actor Ming suddenly remembered that a wedding bouquet was required for the wedding ceremony at night. Hence, he decided to go to the flower garden to pick some fresh flowers and make a bouquet.
He had to ask, why was Actor Ming taking the role of the “bride”?
Despite scorning it, Gu Liang did not delay any further as he yawned and got out of bed very quickly. Then, he donned his white formal suit and went downstairs.
Naturally, Gu Liang did not move so quickly because he really wanted to pick the flowers; rather, he knew what this pa.s.sage was implying— the back gardens which were previously sealed off by the thick fog was finally opened.
When Gu Liang reached the west side door after traversing through the main lobby and the main hall, he placed his hand on the door and paused momentarily before he pushed it open.
Outside the door, the sunlight after noon was intense.
However, the scenery outside the door was completely different from the past.
After Gu Liang walked 100 metres out of the door, he looked towards the north.
Previously, there was a small path that led towards the garden dining room.
But the small path was gone now, the same could be said for the garden dining room, and even the orchard near the dining room was nowhere to be seen.
Superseding it was a vast and wide expanse of roses in full bloom.
There were no wall paintings outside of the ancient castle.
Furthermore, if there was only the overlapping of two times in one s.p.a.ce, then the garden dining room should not disappear, and the furniture within the dining room had to exist, except there would be a huge expanse of flowers without its foundations.
However, that was not the case right now.
Everything in front of Gu Liang seemed to be supporting his latest conjecture— this was not a s.p.a.ce-time overlap, but the fusion of a certain fantasy and reality.
After traversing through the rose garden, Gu Liang continued north until he reached the side of the lake.
This lake was still the same.
In the previous script, the Sc.u.mbag Yu Yang Ye was knocked unconscious by Butler Hao at the side of this lake.
However, the view beside the lake had completely changed.
Currently, there were dozens of gravestones erected by the side of the lake.
With the sunlight casting on the lake surface, it was suffused with a clear and crystalline splendour.
In the distance was the rose garden with its vibrant colours, the fragrance so intense it could be smelled from his position, and his nose was a.s.sailed with pollen with each inhale.
Despite being surrounded by such a wondrous scenery, there were so many gravestones which made it odd, and it revealed the slight magnificence in death.
Gu Liang swept his eyes across the gravestones one by one, and noticed that one of the gravestones belonged to a person called “Chef Jack”.
When Gu Liang moved closer to scrutinise it, he noted that in the column meant for the chef’s epitaph, this was engraved: “An extremely skilled chef, the food he made was sublime. Owing to his amazing craftsmans.h.i.+p, the Duke made him stay in the ancient castle, and he was allowed a peaceful coexistence with the vampires as a human. Unfortunately, during an instance where the Princess was injured, she needed blood remedy and she accidentally killed the chef in a moment of impulse by draining all his blood. Dear Jack, may you rest in peace.”
Which symbolised that, while Princess Rose abstained from drinking human blood 300 years ago, there was an instance where she accidentally killed a chef by the name of Jack.
Moreover, a chef died when the scenario had just begun, and the murderer who was exposed was the Princess Rose that Su Lan was acting as.
Was that gruesome murder a projection from reality as well?
Just like how Actor Ming and Earl William were a projection of Aimeili and the Duke?
After making that conjecture, Gu Liang left the graveyard and headed towards the south.
In the previous back garden, taking the southern road to traverse through the peach forest would lead to the vegetable field.
This time around, a field of sunflowers emerged before Gu Liang’s eyes as he continued heading south.
When the system was reading the general plot of what had transpired that night, it declared that Lady Rong and Butler Hao died in the vegetable field.
The vegetable field, correspondingly, was where the field of sunflowers were located.
As Gu Liang circled around the sunflowers, he did not see a single corpse.
Of course, he did not see the pentagram that was used to kill the doll either.
Continuing south, Gu Liang travelled through the field of sunflowers and advanced in the direction of the ancient castle’s main entrance.
However, he did not manage to cover much distance before his card started vibrating again.
The system was urging him to pick the flowers quickly and stop delaying the time.
Hence, Gu Liang could only retract the foot that he had just lifted in an attempt to test the rule-breaking boundaries.
Gu Liang had no choice but to turn back.
Before he turned back, however, he squinted his eyes, gazing in the direction of the ancient castle’s main entrance.
Fortunately, the trees planted in the back garden was spa.r.s.e and there was no orchard to obscure his line of sight, so Gu Liang could see— Sc.u.mbag Yu’s distinctive sports car was still parked in front of the ancient castle.
Owing to the overly vibrant colour of the sport scar, Gu Liang could still see it despite being so far away.
Consequently, Gu Liang judged that— Apart from the back garden, perhaps the area in front of the ancient castle was unaffected by the illusionary realm.
Thus, after surveying the majority of the back garden, Gu Liang returned to the rose garden and casually picked a few flowers.
He did not know what kind of appearance the bouquet was supposed to take either.
He planned to pick a few roses, use a rubber band to tie them together, and be done with it.
By the time he was done picking the flowers, the time was approaching 2 o’ clock shortly.
Gu Liang caught a glimpse of a black figure in his peripheral vision.
He was clad in a black formal suit, no different from Magnate Rong or Earl William.
Was Yang Ye looking for him?
But Gu Liang’s intuition told him that it was unlikely.
When Gu Liang raised his head to observe him, he could only see the person’s back figure.
That person had a long slender figure, and as he stood in the rose garden quietly clad in the formal blacks of his suit, he appeared extremely n.o.ble and elegant just from his back figure alone, like he was born to be an aristocrat and everyone was meant to serve under his feet.
All of a sudden, an exceedingly bizarre feeling surged up in Gu Liang’s heart.
— It was like in this current scripted story, it was only right if he was very familiar with this person.
That person opened his mouth and asked Gu Liang: “Do you feel happy right now?”
Gu Liang returned a question: “Who are you?”
“You should be happy. Tell me, why couldn’t she be like you that year?”
Gu Liang’s eyebrows scrunched together subconsciously. “You’re Duke Dahl?”
— Was it possible that he had pacing around in the vicinity of the ancient castle the entire time from the beginning to the end? Had he been hiding in the dark, guiding, and admiring the scene that he dearly wished for?
Standing in the rose garden, that person turned around slowly and gave Gu Liang a smile.
When his fair skin came under the intense sunlight, his nose bridge seemed to be shone into translucence.
His pitch-black pupils were stained by the vibrant colours of the roses, and yet the smile hanging on his lips made the entire expanse of roses dim.
“Ming Yue?” Gu Liang frowned.
That person raised a finger, placing it on his lips to make a “shus.h.i.+ng” gesture.
From what Gu Liang could perceive, there was an antiquated ring on his marriage finger.
“Dead trees can give rise to flowers, summer insects can also speak of the ice.”
When Ming Yue uttered that sentence, his tone of voice was slightly queer as if he was a foreigner trying to recite the Chinese language, albeit shakily.
“Even an apathetic doll can give rise to a soul under a person’s care; under my constant vigil, she should be able to come back alive.
“Nothing is impossible in this world, right?”
“Are you Duke Dahl? You haven’t given up?”
Gu Liang asked him, “In this ancient castle, did someone resurrect you? Was this fantasy created by you? Are you trying to revive Aimeili?”
The time approached 2 o’ clock in the afternoon.
Some noise could be heard behind Gu Liang.
He looked over his shoulder. It was Chief Mei and Sister Mei walking over.
When he turned his head back again, the person who Gu Liang suspected was Duke Dahl had already disappeared.
Gu Liang glanced at the rose garden in front of him before he raised his head to look at the sunlight. Abruptly, he came to the realisation that this was the last day of his transformation period, and he should be in his vampire state from 1PM to 2PM.
From the servants’ diaries and the Princess’ memories, Aimeili was clearly afraid of the light when she was in vampire state 300 years ago.
And evidently, he had sharpened fangs right now, so why was he unafraid of the light?
“Actor Ming, who was that person in a formal black suit just now? Why has he disappeared all of a sudden?” Sister Mei asked him.
Gu Liang turned around to face them. “I don’t know. I’ve never met him, but I suspect that he’s the real Duke Dahl. I asked him if he was Duke Dahl but he didn’t respond.”
Gu Liang looked at the roses he was holding before he said: “I came here to pick the roses for the bouquet I’m using tonight. Both of you are…”
Taking a step forward, Chief Mei replied: “I’m the emcee, she’s the bridesmaid, and we were going to decorate the wedding venue this afternoon, weren’t we? The venue needs to have flowers so we came over to pick the flowers.”
“Sure. I’ll be going back first then.”