The ancient castle where the Grant family has lived for generations stands quietly in front of Gawain.
It is located on the top of a mountain, next to a steep cliff. Years of wind and rain erosion and collapse have even caused the cliff to almost cave in, giving the castle on top a disturbing and crumbling appearance. , and the obsolescence of the castle itself aggravates every visitor's worries in this regard - however, in any case, a fortress standing on the top of a mountain, next to a dangerous cliff, can indeed give people a shocking feeling. Beauty.
Gawain began to look at the old castle when he was still at the foot of the mountain. It was not until the carriage finally climbed to the top of the mountain along the wide slope and came to the old castle that he sighed softly. : "The people of the Grenn family are very generous..."
Hu Huo next to her was stunned: "You have been sighing about this all the way?"
Gawain looked at the half-elf girl inexplicably. A glance: "What do you think?"
Hu Bo opened her mouth, but couldn't think of any other words after holding it for a long time, so she followed Gawain and raised her head and sighed: "The people of the Glenn family are quite tolerant. ..."
"Okay, don't sigh, go call the door."
The heavy black door of Grant Castle slowly opened in front of Gawain, with purple inlaid in it. As the oak doors made of steel and copper runes opened to both sides, Gawain's eyes swept over their surfaces.
He saw mottled scars and some scorched marks. Although they had been modified, they were still vaguely visible.
Behind the door 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. The maids and attendants stand on both sides of the red carpet, and a rather tall man The middle-aged butler stood at the front. He bent down and spread his left hand like a swan's wings, guiding the distinguished guests through the door.
The hostess of the Gulen family stood in the center of the long hall.
She is a tall but too slender woman, about thirty years old, with long black slightly curly hair, dark eye sockets, and slightly pale complexion, but time has not had time to stop here. There are traces of vicissitudes of life on the lady's face, but she is still a beautiful woman who can attract attention at the banquet hall.
As Gawain stepped forward, the lady also stepped forward to meet him.
Everything was thoughtful and well-regulated, which reminded Gawain of the last time he visited Fort Kant. However, there was only a chaotic and vain dream in Fort Kant. What was there?
Gao Wen showed a smile: "I hope my presumptuous visit will not cause trouble to the neighbors."
"Your arrival has brought unprecedented glory to this land. ." Luo Penni Grant bent down and saluted Gawain according to her title. Gawain noticed that this lady was doing the noble courting etiquette for men, but he was not surprised.
After the Gulen family lost its male owner, the widow took on the role of the male owner. She is the lord of this land, and there has been no news of any incident so far.The news of her remarriage is enough to show a certain attitude of hers - at this moment, she greets the Duke with the courtesy of male nobles. This is also a "language" that only nobles can understand.
Gawain raised his eyes and looked towards the end of the long hall. Sure enough, on the standing wall between the two curved stairs, he saw a huge portrait of a handsome man with black hair. The young man, wearing a black coat and a snow-white shirt, stands in the painting with a calm smile. In front of the portrait, you can also see a white candlestick and the same white "death chrysanthemum".
That should be the previous Viscount Gulen. It is not surprising that his portrait is hung here, but the white candlestick and death chrysanthemum are quite unusual - for many contemporary nobles, Marriage loyalty is limited to the premise that both parties are alive and their respective families are stable. Once one of the parties dies, the one who is still alive (whether Mr. or Ms.) will naturally look for a new marriage partner as soon as possible after a short period of mourning. , this will not be regarded as a sign of "disloyalty", 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 use a hot marriage in some cases. To describe——
Ansu’s huge, complicated, bloated and dirty history of noble pedigree and land transfer was formed in such a “marriage war”.
Gawain withdrew his gaze from the portrait of Viscount Grant, and thought of the information that Amber had investigated. Then he turned his head and smiled at Luo Penni Grant: "Madam, you must have already I have learned about the news that the Kant Territory has been merged into the Cecil family, and that His Majesty the King’s new enfeoffment—the Cecil Territory has been connected to the Glen Territory. I am here just to visit the new neighbor.”
"It is only in line with the rules that I should take the initiative to visit you," Luo Penny Grant showed a slightly stiff smile. It seemed that the smile had been away from her for so long that it became awkward to move the muscles on her face. "It's just that I left the territory a few days ago, and it was only in the past few days that I came back here..."
"Rules," Gawain 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 brief and meaningless polite conversation, Dame Luo Penni invited Gawain and his personal attendant (Amber) to the drawing room of the castle. She had already ordered someone. The most exquisite snacks and the best drinks were prepared, and the best harp players and bards from Glenling came to join in the fun.
After the afternoon tea, there will be a grand dance in the castle, and the dinner will be held in the middle of the dance.
To be honest, Gawain has no interest in the ball, and he is actually not interested in any welcome ceremony, but these are necessary procedures - and the ball is nominally because of him and for him. But in fact, a duke has 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 nobles of all sizes who come here.Just the stage.
Using the Duke's visit as a sign, Luo Penni can invite the surrounding lords of all sizes to come as guests, and she can even invite nobles more powerful than her to come here. As long as she can successfully hold this banquet, then Ge The reputation of the Lan family is bound to skyrocket as a result. Even if the nobles of the Southern Territory are not too fond of the surname Cecil, they will face up to the ability shown by Countess Glen in the process of organizing events-it is not suitable to show off the knife. On special occasions, holding large and small banquets and dances is a common way for nobles to show their strength.
Neither Gawain nor Amber are interested in these twists and turns, but the latter is at least satisfied with the fact that "there are a lot of people standing behind him and waiting for him to eat". While eating the snacks brought by the maid, the half-elf lady murmured to Gawain: "Look at this family, and then look at you. In such a big Duke's palace, you probably don't have as many maids and attendants as here. ”
“Why do I need so many people watching me eat? I even find it annoying,” Gawain was chatting with Ropenny Grant before, and at this moment, the Baroness went to confirm the banquet hall. He chatted with Amber and said, "You should eat slowly - there is another meal in the evening."
"God knows what the 'dinner' is, but the radish decorated with feathers is still surrounded by a Raw meat surrounded by colorful stones? I have seen a 'ceremonial meal' at a formal banquet for a nobleman. It is not as good as the cake baked by Betty." Amber stuffed a small cake into her mouth, swallowed it hard and winked at Gawain, " Hey, have you found any clues? Do you have that sense of violation in the dream?"
"No," Gawain didn't expect that this guy Amber actually had such a problem when he was eating Haisai. Not forgetting the business, he glanced at the other party and shook his head, "But I think this place is different from the original Fort Kant. This place must have not been affected by real dreams."
Amber looked at Gawain curiously : "How do you know?"
"Do you still remember our experience in Fort Kant?" Gawain patiently explained, "Viscount Kant lives in seclusion. The castle never holds any banquets and rarely invites Any guest, even if I was a guest, Kant Castle did not take advantage of this opportunity to hold any activities. This is because the more outsiders there are in the 'real dream', the greater the chance of the dream collapsing, and awake people will be disappointed with eternal sleep. The ritual spells caused a very heavy burden - but Dame Glen obviously has no worries about this."
Amber nodded: "She invited many people to visit you..."
Gawain casually knocked on the head of the half-elf lady: "This castle does not have the weird atmosphere of Kant's land. It is open to the outside world, which basically cuts off the possibility of large-scale dream illusions." The possibility of covering the castle. Of course... the specific situation needs to be observed to determine."
At this moment, the lady who went to inspect the banquet hall returned to the room, and she was in front of Gawain. Sit down: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
"Don't mind, II'm admiring the collection here," Gawain said casually, his eyes sweeping over the oil paintings and wooden sculptures displayed to the guests in the living room, "It's a very good collection. "
"These are all left by my husband during his lifetime," Luo Penni said lightly. "He loved art, especially painting, and some of them here were even painted by his own hands. "
Gawain stood up and walked casually to a painting depicting a large field of farmland and houses: "It is rare to see someone painting farmland on canvas. ”
In this era, “painting” is a high-end and luxurious artistic enjoyment. Basically only the nobility, church and rich people can afford to spend money on it. Therefore, the audience for painting is only those who "Upper people", the content of the paintings can be described as monotonous, basically only various portraits, religious paintings and paintings depicting the life of the castle court.
"This is my husband's work," said Luo Penni. ?Glen explained, “He liked to draw what he saw outside, even if it was a dirty cowshed or a dilapidated barn. "
"That's it," Gawain turned around with a smile on his face, "very good. ”
At this moment, an attendant suddenly pushed open the door of the living room and walked quickly towards Dame Luo Penni.
Gawain noticed the expression on the attendant’s face. A little nervous.
"Madam," the attendant stopped in front of the Baroness and said quickly, "Miss Patty said she felt uncomfortable..."
Luo Penni? Grant's expression changed instantly.