In the castle, the young black-haired boy carefully walked through the spacious but very deserted castle corridor, stepping on a thick dark red carpet under his feet, the retro walls on both sides looked extremely tall to the eyes of the children, and the shadows covered the carpet to dim the direction of progress. The boy was holding an Old Testament in his arms, the heavy book in stark contrast to his thin body, and the weighty cover covered the boy's entire chest, as if the book had already been lifted for the young child's full strength. But despite this, this book is like a talisman for boys that can give him a sense of security, and he always carries it with him. The faint light cast by the narrow windows blends with the ancient tones of the castle's interior, giving the illusion of mystery and darkness. The boy lifted his clear eyes and looked out the window, and the dark green thorns that were intertwined almost spilled into the room. I remember that there was a white rose blooming on the thorns, its clean color was so rare in a dark environment, and the boy looked up at the flower, instinctively wanting to reach out and touch the distance that was so close to the boy that was so far away. He twitched his gaze, and beside the rose, there was a pitch-black crow standing on top of the thorns, its color was far darker than the castle, and any bright light seemed to be swallowed up by the feathers. It looked at the boy without flying or singing, like a beautifully carved sculpture standing above the boy, quietly waiting for the night to fall. At this moment, the sound of the chain dragging again brought the little boy's attention to the end of the hallway, and it sounded like some entangled weight dragging on the ground, and the curiosity aroused made the boy stop paying attention to the crow and rose, and he walked again towards the source of the sound, and walked towards the door at the end. "So...... The mother of those two children already? Suddenly a man's voice came from inside the door, and it was very deep and strong, like that of a sturdy adult. The boy standing outside the door was stunned for a moment, but after hesitation, he was still driven by curiosity, and his ear was gently pressed up, and the sound was intermittently accompanied by the footsteps of climbing the steps, and he could not fully hear it, but could only vaguely perceive that it was the sound of two men talking. "She's the strongest woman I've ever met......" The voice was choppy and difficult to read. You don't have to worry about this, I will explain the specific plan to each of you in detail during the family meeting. The other man he spoke to had a weak voice, and he had to catch his breath every time he finished speaking, as if he was sick. Let's not talk about that, how was yesterday's hunting, I heard it didn't go well. The sturdy man was silent for a moment, then replied in a low voice, "We made a mistake and let one of them run into town, and Najib died to protect his family...... By the time we arrived, it was too late, I ...... I only had time to save his little daughter......" At this moment, the sound of footsteps and conversation was gone. The little boy couldn't understand what they were saying, and was about to turn to leave, when the closed door suddenly pushed open from the inside, and he couldn't remember the fierce face clearly, only that the man's face had an oozing scar, bright red as if it was still oozing blood. The boy was startled, and quickly took two steps back and hugged the Bible in his arms a little tighter, remembering that the man was about to shout something but was stopped by someone behind him. "Don't scare him, Yanos, I haven't had time to introduce you yet, this little explorer is the boy I told you about, and he will be a member of our Hunyadi family from now on." A weak voice emerged from the door, a sickly middle-aged gentleman, whom Cesare remembered very well, after all, few people had faces as pale as the vampires depicted in the books, with no beards, eyes sunken in their sockets, and heavy bags under their eyes that seemed to be very sleep-deprived. His body was not so much hunchbacked, but rather tortured by some kind of illness and difficult to stand up, and there was hardly a trace of blood on his body, and the whole looked like a ...... Dead people alike. But something beyond the will of ordinary people made a kind smile on his terrible face. The kind smile masked his somewhat terrifying smile, and it also made the nervous little boy let go of his guard, thinking that the person who could show that smile would not be bad. The pale-faced man walked out of the shadows inside the door, holding a cane with a top combined with a crow's skull, between Janos and the little boy. "But Your Excellency, he may have heard our conversation." Janos frowned, looking very worried. "Don't you trust my judgment? Don't be so nervous, sometimes you have to learn how to get along with your child. The pale-skinned Count smiled, and when he saw that Arnos no longer retorted, he continued: "It's not too early, you should go back and prepare, and don't forget what I have commanded." "Yes... Your Excellency the Earl. The corner of Janos's eyes swept over Cesare's face, which made the little boy feel a chill, and it was not until he bowed respectfully and walked away that the boy felt his tension gradually ease, and looked at the count's pale face again. "I'm sorry...... I shouldn't have eavesdropped. The childish voice was full of apologies for the child, and he took the initiative to bow his little head to the earl. The Count leaned over and patted him on the shoulder, indicating that he did not mind, and as he struggled to stand up straight, and looked around, he felt as if something was missing. "What about the little one? I remember your sister always sticking to the back of your ass. The Earl asked curiously, with his hands folded on his staff. In the face of the Count's question, the boy simply kept his head down in silence, clutched the Bible in his arms, and shook his head cautiously after a moment of hesitation. It was as if the other party had touched on some sensitive topic, which made the boy nervous again. "Don't trust me? It's okay, I think we'll have a long time to get to know each other. The Earl said with a smile as he raised his hand to touch the top of the boy's head gently, and then noticed the Bible in the boy's arms. Oh, that book... I remember it was left to you by your mother, are you literate child? The boy nodded weakly. I've finished reading the sir......" Hearing the boy's response, the Count couldn't believe his ears, and even opened his mouth wide in surprise. "What? A whole book of scripture? But I remember you only ...... this year." When the Count regained his composure, the corners of his mouth rose and he let out a praising laugh. "It's amazing, if you like to read, I can make the library on the west side of the second floor open to you. If a servant stands in your way, you just have to show it... Hiss... Oh yes, look at my memory, I almost forgot about such an important thing. So saying, the Count's hand reached into his coat, and after a short time he snorted with satisfaction, and then took out a silver ring engraved with a raven's motif, as if by strange magic, and the crow's eyes were still shining red. He spread out his palms and handed the ring to the little boy...... Cesare sat on his knees on the table in the academy's warehouse, his face expressionless as an iron machine, using a faint glow created by magic to illuminate his ruthless cyborg compatriot, the mysterious mechanical heart. And not far from him, the strange girl Anya hummed a cheerful tone, like a lively elf, lifting the pieces of white cloth in the warehouse, rummaging around, looking for something, aimlessly. Suddenly, a beautiful-looking violin stood out from the mass of miscellaneous goods, and Anya picked it up with interest and blew the dust off it, and the beautiful lacquer was engraved with the name of St. Carliu's Academy. "Look what I found? They couldn't bear to abandon such a cute little creature here. Anya said to herself excitedly, but Cesare ignored her as if she hadn't heard, and devoted herself to the mechanical heart. Anya found the bow from the side again, straightened her upper body seriously, and clamped the violin to the clavicle of her left shoulder in the most standard posture. After repeatedly loosening or tightening the four strings to the most perfect state, Anya adjusted her mind and took a deep breath, closed her eyes immersively and recalled the tune in her heart. Finally, the moment the bow touched the strings, it was like a sharp blade flashing through the cold, and the sheep intestine strings suddenly broke with an abrupt "pop", and the embarrassing sound echoed throughout the warehouse, and the rapidly weakening echo was like the wail of the strings struggling before death. Anya was forced to hold the violin position for a few seconds and then looked nervously left and right, the only living person only cared about making out with the machine, not caring what she was doing, and then carefully put the violin back in its place, caressing the remaining three strings as if it were a corpse, and recovering the white cloth with dust. When the moment of silence was over, Anya continued to hum a happy tune and rummaged through the other side of the warehouse, as if bored, and began to try to make small talk with Cesare. "It's strange to say, you were born in the Hunyadi family, but you are extremely unfamiliar with your family, you are good at machinery, but you don't know anything about your family's devices, I thought...... Do you really not know, or do you just not want to share it with me, and want to keep your Cesare mysterious? Anya rummaged through the groceries as she spoke to Cesare about her doubts, shrugged her shoulders and continued when she saw that Cesare was just sitting quietly and not responding. "Or both? Well? Try to say something, Cesare-san, the more silent you are, the more interested I will only be in you, can't the earth-shattering secrets of Hunyadi be discovered by anyone? Could it be that Cesare-san, what ulterior story do you have? I'm getting more and more curious now, and I'm not going to give up until I know the truth. Hearing this, Cesare finally let out a long sigh of helplessness, and responded with some impatience: "Whatever you think, what I don't know is that I don't know, if you are so interested in the territory of Hunyatt, why don't you go and see it for yourself, and then you will find that there is nothing there, just the whims of your mind." As he spoke, Cesare opened the inside of his school uniform, and rows of mechanical maintenance tools were hung on it beforehand. He took out a small bottle of lube and carefully dripped it onto the piston of the mechanical heart. "Again, I'm just here to help you fix things, not the prisoner you caught for interrogation, so please don't ask any more questions, my dear Miss Detective." Cesare just mentioned it casually, but Anya immediately responded with a smile: "Me? Detective? Maybe I should really think about it, you can be my assistant and then we can go together......" However, not long after she spoke, she suddenly stopped, and the girl's eyes lit up and she stared closely at the back of the grocery pile, and her hands slowly leaned forward, as if she had found some rare treasure. Seeing that there was no movement suddenly, Cesare sighed and asked, "What's wrong with you?" Anya just shrugged softly, and didn't respond in any other way.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.