The ancient castle where the Gülen family has lived for generations stands quietly in front of Gawain's eyes.

It is located at the top of the hill, next to a steep cliff that has been eroded and collapsed by years of wind and rain, and has almost begun to sink inward, giving the castle its unsettling, crumbling posture, and the obsolescence of the castle itself adds to the concerns of every visitor—but in any case, a fortress on the top of the hill next to a treacherous cliff is a striking beauty.

Gawain began to look at the castle from the time he was still at the foot of the mountain, and it was not until the carriage finally climbed up the wide ramp to the top of the hill and came to the castle that he sighed softly: "The hearts of the Gülen family are quite wide......"

Amber next to him was dumbfounded: "You sighed all the way to this?" ”

Gawain glanced at the half-elf girl inexplicably: "What do you think?" ”

Amber opened her mouth, but she didn't come up with any other words for a long time, so she also looked up with Gawain and sighed: "The hearts of the Gülen family are very wide......"

"Okay, don't be emotional, go call the door."

The heavy black gates of Glen Castle slowly opened in front of Gawain, his gaze sweeping over the oak doors inlaid with purple steel and copper runes as they opened to either side.

He saw mottled scars and slight scorched marks, which were still faintly visible, although they had been retouched.

Behind the gate, there is a glittering long hall - the red carpet spreads from the main entrance to the staircase at the end of the long hall, the maid and the attendants stand on both sides of the red carpet, and a tall middle-aged butler stands at the front, he bends down, his left hand stretched out like a swan's wing, guiding the guests into the door.

The Mistress of the Gülen family stood in the center of the long hall.

She was a tall but overly slender woman, in her thirties, with long black curly hair, dark eye sockets, and a slightly pale complexion, but before the years had time to leave the marks on this lady's face, she was still a beautiful woman who could attract attention at the banquet.

As Gawain stepped forward, the lady stepped forward just right.

Everything was well-mannered and well-regulated, which reminded Gawain of the last time he visited Kantburg - it's just that there was only one chaotic and illusory dream in Kantburg, so what was there here?

Gawain smiled slightly: "I hope my presumptuous visit will not cause trouble to the neighbors." ”

"Your arrival has brought unprecedented glory to this land." Rowpen Glenn stooped down and saluted Gawain according to his title, and Gawain noticed that the noblewoman was performing the courtesy of a gentleman's aristocratic audience, but he was not surprised.

After the loss of the male master of the Gülen family, the surviving person took on the role of the male master, she was the lord of the land, and there was no news of her remarriage, which is enough to show a certain attitude of her, at this moment she greeted the duke with the courtesy of a male nobleman, which is also a "language" that can only be understood between nobles.

Gawain raised his eyes and looked at the end of the long hall, and sure enough, on the standing wall between the two curved staircases, he saw a huge portrait of a handsome young man with black hair and a snow-white shirt, standing in the middle of the painting with an indifferent smile, and in front of the portrait you could also see a white candlestick and the equally snow-white "Farewell Chrysanthemum".

It is not surprising that his portrait hangs here, but the white candelabra and the death chrysanthemum are quite unusual - for many contemporary aristocrats, marital fidelity is limited to the premise that both parties are alive and their respective families are stable, and once one of them dies, then the living (whether it is a gentleman or a lady) will naturally look for a new marriage partner as soon as possible after a short period of mourning, which will not be regarded as a sign of "infidelity", Because a 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 be described as hot in some cases-

Ansu's large, complex, bloated and filthy aristocratic genealogy and history of land circulation were formed in such "marital wars".

Gawain withdrew his gaze from the portrait of Viscount Gülen, thinking of the information Amber had investigated, and then he turned his head and smiled at Penny Gülen: "Ma'am, you must have known the news of Kant's merger into the Cecil family, as well as His Majesty's new division - Cecil Collar has been connected with Gülen, I am here this time just to visit a new neighbor." ”

"I should take the initiative to visit you," Rappine Glenn smiled a little stiffly, as if the smile had been away from her for so long that the muscles on her face were now awkward, "It's just that I left the territory a few days ago, and I came back here in the last few days......"

"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 unnutritious remark, Lady Penny invited Gawain and his personal retinue (Amber) to the castle's drawing room, where she had ordered the finest refreshments and the finest wines, as well as the finest harp players and bards from Glenn.

After the afternoon tea, there will be a grand ball in the castle, and the dinner will take place in the middle of the ball.

To be honest, Gawain has no interest in the ball, he is not actually interested in any welcome ceremony, but these are necessary processes - and the ball is nominally for him and for him, but in fact a duke has nothing to do in this kind of "small castle" ball, no one will dare to invite him, the real meaning of the ball is to become a social platform for the nobles and nobles who come to visit.

With the Duke's visit as a signboard, Penny can invite the surrounding lords of all sizes to come as guests, and even invite nobles more powerful than her to come here, as long as she can successfully hold this banquet, then the reputation of the Gülen family is bound to skyrocket, even if the southern nobles are not too interested in the surname Cecil, they will also face up to the ability of Baroness Gülen in the process of holding the event - in a situation that is not suitable for showing knives, Banquets and balls, large and small, were the usual means for the nobles to show their strength.

Neither Gawain nor Amber were interested in these twists and turns, but the latter was at least satisfied with the fact that "there was a large crowd of people standing behind him and serving him to eat". While eating the snacks brought by the maid, the half-elf lady muttered to Gao Wen: "Look at the people, and then look at you, such a big duke's mansion, your maids and attendants are probably not as many as here." ”

"Why do I want so many people to watch me eat? I'm upset," Gawain had been chatting with Penny Glenn before, and now that the baroness went to check on the ballroom, he began to chat with Amber, "Eat slowly—there's one more meal in the evening." ”

"Who knows what a 'meal' is, a radish decorated with feathers or raw meat surrounded by a circle of colored stones? I've seen the 'ceremonial meal' at the formal banquets of the nobles, which is not as good as the bread baked by Betty," Amber slipped a small cake into her mouth, swallowed it hard, and winked at Gawain, "Hey, did you find any clues?" There is that kind of ...... Is it a sense of dissonance in dreams? ”

"No," Gawain didn't expect that Amber really hadn't forgotten what he was doing when he ate Hesse, and shook his head after glancing at the other party, "But I think this place is different from the original Kantberg, and it should be true that this place is not affected by real dreams." ”

Amber looked at Gawain curiously, "How do you know?" ”

"Remember what we had at Fort Kant?" Gawain patiently explained, "Viscount Kant lived in seclusion, the castle never held any banquets, and almost no guests were invited, and even if I did, Kantburg did not take advantage of this opportunity to hold any events, this is because the more outsiders in the 'real dream', the greater the chance that the dream will collapse, and the awake person will cause a very large burden on the ritual spells of the Eternal Sleeper - but the Baroness Gülen obviously has no such concerns." ”

Amber nodded: "She invited a lot of people to visit you......"

Gawain casually tapped Miss Half-Elf on the head: "This castle does not have the strange atmosphere of Kant's Collar, it is open to the public, which basically cuts off the possibility of a large-scale dream illusion enveloping the castle." Of course...... The specific situation will have to be observed to be determined. ”

At this moment, the lady who had gone to inspect the banquet hall returned to the room, and she sat down in front of Gawain: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. ”

"Don't mind, I'm admiring the collection here," Gawain said casually, his eyes wandering over the paintings and wooden carvings on display in the living room, "a nice collection." ”

"These are all left by my husband," said Penny lightly, "and he loves art, especially painting, some of which he even painted." ”

Gawain stood up and casually walked over to a painting depicting a large field of farmland and houses: "It's rare to see anyone painting farmland on canvas. ”

In this era, "painting" was a high-end and extravagant artistic enjoyment, basically only the aristocracy, the church and the rich could afford to spend their money on it, so the audience of painting was only those "high-class people", and the content of painting could be described as monotonous, basically only all kinds of portraits, religious paintings and paintings depicting the life of the castle court.

"It's my husband's work," explains Penny Gülen, "and he likes to paint what he sees outside, even if it's a dirty cowshed and a dilapidated barn." ”

"I see," Gawain turned around, smiling, "that's good." ”

Just then, one of the attendants suddenly pushed open the door to the meeting room and walked briskly towards Lady Penny.

Gawain noticed that the squire's face was a little nervous.

"Madame," said the squire, pausing in front of the lady, "Miss Patty says she is not feeling well......

Penny Gülen's expression changed instantly.