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墨書 Inktalez
As the hum of the crystal penetrated the stone walls, Aelia's fingertip brushed against Luna's nape, where the brand lay.
The delicate golden patterns shimmered under the moonlight, and a sudden loud cry from the infant shattered the floating Ice Crystal Butterfly, with fragments cascading onto Lucius's eyelashes, dusted with sulfur powder.
"Mother!" The young Alchemist reached out with bare hands to catch a fragment of the prophecy poem that was about to fall. The blood-stained edge of the parchment revealed Leonard's image, with Lucius's lips smudged by Qin Si's favorite rose lipstick.
Aelia's silver-gray pupils constricted into slits, a sign of the Frost Elf's Bloodline Fury.
She lifted Luna to eye level, and the infant’s pearlescent nails suddenly elongated by three inches, piercing through Lucius's chest pocket with precision—where lay the black obsidian seal he had taken from Leonard’s study that morning.
"Now I understand." A cold laugh rolled in Aelia's throat, causing protective barriers to bloom like Bing Ling flowers. She clutched the seal and turned toward the dark door in the southeast corner.
From the door gap that should have been embedded with defensive runes, a peacock blue mist seeped out, matching her husband's lover's hair color.
Luna squirmed anxiously in her swaddling, her chubby palms patting against the inverse pentagram embroidered shoes.
The silver threads suddenly came alive, wrapping around Aelia’s necklace and refracting moonlight into blades aimed at the depths of the mist.
The screams accompanying the sound of corrosion confirmed the infant’s warning—Leonard had indeed made a magic doll for surveillance using his lover’s hair.
Lucius stared at his trembling hands; the manifestation potion he had brewed three hours ago still burned in his stomach.
When he discovered that his father had taken Leonard's concubine's Snow Ferret Brooch as part of Leonard’s family legacy, he should have anticipated that such humiliation would eventually seep into every brick gap of the castle.
"Take Luna to between the Ice Mirrors." Aelia shoved the infant into her son's arms and stepped toward the mist.
As her blood-stained sleeve swept across the workbench, twenty-three deadly magic potions flowed into her hair, forming toxic moonstone earrings from the ice spikes that hung down. "Tell Cook that tonight’s feast must include agave braised deer knee; your father loves to gnaw on bones while discussing inheritance."
The baby's cry suddenly escalated, and Luna’s golden hair floated without wind, leaving an inverse pentagram mark on Lucius's collarbone.
As the young man stumbled and collided with the Spiral Staircase, he finally understood the meaning behind his sister's frantic blinking—what was dripping from the ceiling was not Seven-colored Dewdrop, but rather the Soul Separation Agent diluted by Leonard's Contract Magic.
Aelia's Skirt had frozen the entire dark room.
She caressed the decorative Bronze Sword mounted on the wall, a token crafted by Leonard himself during his pursuit of her twenty years ago.
Suddenly, the Sapphire on the hilt exploded, revealing a small double figurine hidden within. In the Image, her husband was embracing none other than the Castle Steward's niece, who had just turned sixteen.
"Mother! East Tower!" Lucius's shout mingled with the sound of shattering ice crystals.
In her arms, Luna was gnawing at the Alchemist's Badge with her still-developing Milk Tooth. Blood seeped from the Serpent Emblem, forming the words "Magic Nexus" in Ancient Elvish Language in midair.
The Lady of the Fortress kicked away the poisonous mist coalescing at her feet, igniting the Morninglight Manor Deed in her Palm with Ice Flame.
As the flames consumed a blank space, Scorch Mark gradually revealed three lines of poetry—exactly what Leonard had written in his pregnancy diary on the Title Page when she was expecting their Eldest Son.
"Using Contract Magic to alter land deeds, hiding Lover's Portrait with Token of Love." Aelia's voice caused the entire Cellar's Zhuan Shi to flip over, exposing a Betrayal List drawn in blood on its reverse side.
She suddenly let out a light laugh, shattering all the Crystal Bottles filled with sweet memories. "He really has worked hard for twenty years."
In that moment, Luna's Pupil transformed into a dragon-like Shu Tong. Yet instead of a Loud Cry, what came from her mouth was a Warning in Gu Long Language that shattered three layers of High-Level Protective Spell.
Just as Lucius was about to step out of the Cellar, he was knocked over by a Sound Wave, his head colliding with a cushioning barrier set up by Mother in advance—that was clearly Aelia's unique life-saving technique for battle.
"Mother has long since..."
"Since your Father pretended to be drunk for the seventh time and sneaked into the maid's room." Aelia snapped her fingers to extinguish the Ice Flame. The ashes of the burnt land deed automatically reformed into a military map. "I should thank him for insisting on using Magic Contract as assurance every time he cheated; these pieces of evidence marked with Soul Mark..."
She suddenly stopped and turned to look at the wall of the North Side.
Luna was drawing a Teleportation Circle on the boy's chest with her blood-soaked Fingertip. The baby's Tears mixed with the Mercury Liquid stained on Lucius's collar had etched a complete Magic Castle Three-Dimensional Map into the Ground.
Three flickering Red Dots corresponded to Elder Brother's Yao Lu, Second Brother's Meditation Room, and Brother San's terrace filled with Poisonous Roses.
As the moonlight shifted, Shan Na's skirt support frame cracked, and twelve steel supports spun and pierced the three Red Dots on the map.
A Brand on the baby's neck suddenly projected a Light Barrier, revealing the original Destiny of her three sons for the night—Elder Brother's Yao Lu would explode, Second Brother would be trapped in an illusion by his closest friend, and Brother San would be devoured by the Mo Flower he had nurtured.
"Go swap that 'Elder Scrolls' you used to deceive Second Brother with the fake under my pillow," Aelia said, snapping her Pearl Necklace and flicking it into Lucius's collar. The beads melted into Liquid Silver upon contact with his skin. "The Alchemical Badge soaked in Luna's tears can break Illusion Magic, but it will only take effect once Second Brother personally tears open the scroll's seal."
Luna suddenly let out a kitten-like sob, struggling to turn her head toward Xi Chuang.
The Lady of the Fortress glanced over and saw her husband's most beloved falcon pecking at the Moonlight Grass on the windowsill—this plant, which could render all barriers of the Magic Castle ineffective, should have been eradicated ten years ago.
When Leonard pushed open the dining room door, carrying a cloud of Alcohol Fume, his wife was watering the Poisonous Roses that San Zi had planted.
The spray bottle made of ice crystals glimmered with an eerie Blue Light as vines playfully wrapped around Aelia's Wrist, affectionately brushing against the Ice Blade hidden in her Mai Zhen.
"My dear, why not let a maid do these rough chores?" Lord said as he reached to wrap his arms around his wife's waist, only to be pricked by a Thorned Rose that tore through his Family Crest-embedded ring.
Aelia tilted her head and smiled, the moonlight casting her shadow onto her husband's foot.
That shadow suddenly twisted into a monstrous Dragon Form, startling the falcon into shattering the Colored Window and fleeing into the night sky.
She absentmindedly fiddled with the flower's stamen. "Only by taking care of them personally can one understand their warmth and coldness, just like how you taught me to brew love Magic Potions back in the day."
Luna suddenly opened her eyes in the nursery, sensing that Mother had poured an entire bottle of Soul Separation Agent into her husband's Blood Wine.
In the highest tower of the castle, a wisp of energy that belonged to no elemental system quietly seeped into the Protective Barrier. Brother San's thunderous snoring drowned out the unusual hum emanating from the Magic Nexus.
As the moonlight shifted towards the West Tower, Brother San's snoring stirred the curtains.
The "Poisonous Mushroom Cultivation Manual" piled beside his pillow was lifted by the energy, and spores drifting between the yellowed pages formed a spider web-like mycelium on the carpet.
The sleeping young man scratched his neck unconsciously, where dark green patterns were emerging, resonating with the hum from the Magic Nexus.
"Alger's talent for Magic Potions should have surpassed that of the First Generation Fortress Master." Aelia crushed an Ice Crystal Sprayer, watching the melting water seep into the oak floor of San Zi's room.
Suddenly, fungal beetles burst forth from underground, their sharp mandibles precisely severing each spore and mycelium. "It's a pity he wasted all his energy trying to please the Magic Plant."
Leonard's scoff drifted in from the dining room.
He was cutting into a deer knee with a dining knife stained with lipstick, pushing Aelia's specially prepared Tequila Stew far away with a silver fork. "I heard you've been running to the cellar lately? Those moldy old contracts..."
"Not as good as your New Contract hidden in the Bronze Sword." Aelia's silver-gray pupils reflected her husband's peacock blue silk thread collar—woven with a tracking magic pattern made from her lover's hair.
She lifted Lucius gently, and an ice pearl that had condensed on the cup rim fell into the wine liquid, quietly swallowing the bitter almond flavor of the Soul Separation Agent.
Luna's loud cry pierced through three floors.
In the nursery, the Pearl Cradle suddenly sprouted ice spikes, pinning any approaching Zi Wu against the wall.
The Guardian Magic Array lit up in an instant, causing Corwin, far away in Yao Lu, to suddenly straighten up from his wheelchair.
His withered fingertip pressed against the automatically operating grinding pestle, for the first time in twenty years sensing the flow of magic sealed within him being counteracted.
"Mother has moved the Central Ice Core." He trembled and tore off the bandage on his Left Leg. The skin that had been scorched by the Magic Flame began to shed its dead skin. A crisp Explosive Sound came from the deepest part of the medicine cabinet. The bottle of Frostflower Nectar that Aelia had given him in his Rite of Passage was now melting the Blood Rust on the Sealing Barrier. At the same time, Second BrotherDylan's Meditation Room shook violently. The Elder Scrolls that had been swapped by a close friend were suspended in the air. The seal on the surface of the counterfeit was peeling off inch by inch under the erosion of the Liquid Silver that seeped out of Lucius's collar. When the fake Elven Rune dissipated, the real Curse Contract revealed its true appearance - Dylan's Signature on the Parchment was being covered by the Reversal Spell that Aelia had hidden in advance. "Sure enough, I chose to activate it when the Lunar Phase is the weakest." Aelia stared at the fallen falcon feathers outside the window. Those feathers stained with Moonlight Grass Juice were corroding the Defense Formation of East Tower. She deliberately sprinkled Blood Wine on her husband's sleeves and watched the Soul Separation Agent in the Wine Liquid corrode the Peacock Blue Silk Thread. "I heard that you got a new Shadow Beast?" Leonard's face suddenly changed, and the way he hurriedly slapped his sleeves reminded Aelia of the young man who showed his love clumsily in Twenty Years Ago. At that time, he would blush for dirtying her Lace Gloves, but now he can hide his lover's surveillance Magic Doll in every Children's room. "Mother! Defensive Formation in the west corridor..." Lucius pushed open the dining room door while holding Luna, his Alchemist robe stained with Abyssal Serpent Parasite Holes corroded by Mercury Liquid. Infant Hair was entangled with a few strands of Zi Wu, and a Three-Dimensional Projection of the Magic Nexus was spelled out on Aelia's Crystal Plate - a Coordinate that was supposed to be sealed was flashing at a high frequency. Aelia wiped the corners of her mouth with a Napkin dyed with Rose Lipstick, and this action caused Leonard to knock over the Salt Shaker. When her husband hurriedly bent over to pick it up, she kicked the Mai Zhen that hid the Ice Blade towards the direction of the Eldest Son's room. The sound of Mai Zhen crashing into the Colored Window just covered up the roar of the Poisonous Rose on the East Terrace devouring Zi Wu.
"Take my sister to the Ice Cellar to fetch some aged Xue Shui." She smoothed the skirt that had been wrinkled by her husband, and the Ice Pearl that slipped from her sleeve rolled silently toward her Eldest Son, Yao Lu. "Remember to take the Southwest Spiral Staircase; the Moonlight Grass there... needs pest control."
As Leonard excused himself to check on the Stable, Aelia's fingertip rhythmically tapped the table, suddenly changing tempo.
Twelve Ice Crystal Nightingales burst from the chandelier, each bird carrying a piece of Silk Fragment stained with Leonard's Concubine, Xiang Fen.
They flew through the children's rooms, pecking away at the curse carried by Zi Wu.
At the highest point of the castle, Luna's cries abruptly ceased.
The infant clutched Lucius's Alchemical Badge, dripping the mixed magic Tears into the Ice Cellar's keyhole.
In that instant, as the door swung open, the Bride Price Chest sealed by Aelia twenty years ago popped open automatically, revealing a frosty box filled with Soul Contracts—each Parchment branded with Leonard's different lovers' Soul Marks.
As moonlight spilled over Midnight Line, Aelia stood alone on the North Tower Observation Deck.
She unfastened the Silver Chain of the Corset, allowing Cold Wind to rush into her waist and abdomen, which bore marks from being constricted.
On the wings of a Night Owl startled from the Southeast woods, a twisted Projection reflected her husband secretly meeting with Leonard's Concubine.
"Madam, there's poison in the Third Young Master's room..." Qin Si knelt in the shadows, holding a broken Ice Crystal Sprayer. The hem of her maid's dress was stained with Bioluminescent Fluid from food fungus beetles.
Aelia gazed at the newly changed Peacock Blue ribbon in Qin Si's hair and suddenly recalled the same Xunxiang scent she had smelled that morning in Leonard's study.
She pressed her frozen Palm against the trembling maid's shoulder, frost creeping along the Cloth texture up to her nape. "Tomorrow, move the Black Rose from the East Terrace to the Cellar."
Aelia's Fingertip formed a Frost Flower on Qin Si's shoulder. The skin at the back of the maid’s neck revealed a Peacock Blue Contract Mark as frost eroded it.
The Lady of the Fortress gazed at her confidante, who was of similar age. The moonlight cast their overlapping shadows on the stone wall, reminiscent of twenty years ago when they buried the Bride Price Chest together as young girls.
"The terrace's Black Rose needs new soil." Aelia retracted her Palm, and the Blue Crystal Hairpin in the maid's hair shattered in response. "Have the gardener plant last year's Ice Thorn Grass tomorrow."
Qin Si knelt on the ground, clutching the broken Ice Crystal Sprayer, while the Bioluminescent Fluid on the maid's uniform stained the Ground with twisted runes.
As she looked up, Aelia threw the Silver Fork, stained with her husband's lip balm, at her feet. "Also, check on the new Shadow Beast in the Stable; I've heard they love to nibble on Moonlight Grass Rhizome."
As the maid took her leave, she deliberately crushed a Peacock Blue Crystal in the corridor's Dark Compartment with her heel.
The light sound of the Crystal shattering awakened Corwin, the eldest brother in Yao Lu. He was touching a Frostflower Honey Bottle with his newly formed pink skin.
When the cork etched with the Mother Family Crest popped open, the dormant Magic Torrent that had been lying in wait for Twenty Years surged through the Wheelchair Armrest into his desiccated Meridian.
"Mother..." Corwin was knocked back in his Wheelchair by the sudden surge of energy.
His Left Leg, once scorched by Magic Backlash, twitched and lifted suddenly, knocking over an Oak Cabinet filled with Magic Potion ingredients.
Frostflower Nectar floated automatically in midair, coalescing into Xu Ying from Aelia's youth—this was her Guardian Spell that sealed Eldest Son's incomplete Soul Fragment within Beeswax.
Xu Ying's Palm brushed over Corwin's molting knee, and suddenly, the Defensive Formation on Yao Lu's walls reversed.
The runes that had suppressed magic transformed into an Amplification Array; Corwin's withered silver hair lifted without wind as the sapphires embedded in his Wheelchair's armrest exploded one after another.
When the last Gem Shard fell to the ground, he trembled as he reached for his Waist Dark Bag—inside lay the Ice Core Fragment that Mother had stuffed into it on the night of his paralysis.
"So you never gave up..." Corwin crushed the Ice Core with Shan Na. A brittle sound came from beneath Yao Lu as the Ice Layer shattered.
His right arm, once consumed by Backlash Magic, suddenly glimmered with Pearl Luster, resonating magically with Luna in the nursery.
Compelled by an unseen force, he raised his intact left hand and grasped at the empty space where the Southeast Magic Nexus was located.
Second BrotherDylan, who was fighting against the Curse Contract in the Meditation Room, suddenly opened his eyes. The Signature covered by the Reversal Spell on the Parchment was oozing with Silver Light, and the poisonous oaths that his best friend had tricked him into taking were being replaced one by one by the Frost Runes hidden by Aelia. He looked at the fake scroll floating in the air and gradually peeling off, and suddenly found that there was an Ice Crystal Petal embedded in the sealed Hidden Layer - it was the Birthday Gift he picked for his Mother when he was sixteen years old. "Mother actually melted the Life-Saving Talisman into the fake..." Dylan's confession was drowned out by the Explosive Sound of the scroll. When the fake Elven Rune turned to ashes, the real Curse Contract revealed its scarlet core. However, the Blood-red Vortex that was supposed to devour his soul was now refracted by the Ice Crystal Petal into a sky full of Xing Hui. Young Mage suddenly grabbed the Crystal Pen, dipped it in the Tears of regret, and wrote the Curse on the back of the Contract. When Aelia's Skirt swept across the West Tower terrace, Brother San Algernon's Snoring came to an abrupt end. The young man sat up abruptly, his fingers scratching his neck covered with the debris of the dark green lines peeling off. He looked at the corpses of the fungus-eating beetles on the ground in confusion, and suddenly found that Mother was watering his favorite Poisonous Rose with Ice Thorn Grass Blue Blood Fern Juice. "Mother! Those flowers..." "It's time to learn to distinguish between flattery and protection." Aelia flicked her finger and drew the Ice Blade, cutting off a Magic Vine that was trying to wrap around her ankle. The Poisonous Rose splashed by the Blue Blood Fern Juice instantly formed an Ice Crystal Flower bud. The Spore scattered when it bloomed actually formed a Three-Dimensional Map of the Magic Nexus on the Ground. "Tomorrow I will start learning Alchemy from Lucius." Algernon stared blankly at his hands that had suddenly regained their whiteness. Young Mage finally discovered that the Poison Mushroom Spores remaining in the cracks of Ailya's White Nails were fading under the influence of Ice Thorn Grass. When he reached out to touch the Ice Crystal Flower bud, his Magic Potion talent that had been dormant for many years suddenly awakened, and it automatically analyzed the 17 Antidote ingredients that Mother added to the Ice Thorn Grass.
As the morning light stained the East Tower and Castle Spire red, Aelia stood in the courtyard, watching the Children depart.
Corwin's wheelchair rolled over the cobblestone path, leaving a Frost Trail behind. Dylan's Grimoire pages continuously seeped with the confessions of Silver Light, while Algernon's Poisonous Rose potted plant was bearing ice crystal fruits in his Alchemy satchel.
Lucius carried Luna at the rear, her Infant Hair entwined with a few strands of lingering Zi Wu, weaving a small Defense Formation above her brothers' heads.
"Madam, the saddle of the Shadow Beast conceals the Emblem of the Outsider Family," Qin Si's voice suddenly emerged from behind the Yew Tree.
The maid held a Silver Plate containing corroded Moonlight Grass Rhizome, with the time and place for their secret meeting written on the underside of its leaves in lover's lipstick.
Aelia tapped the Silver Plate with her fingertip stained by Ice Thorn Grass and Blue Blood Fern Juice, ice crystals crawling up the maid's forearm. "Go to the storeroom and fetch that set of saddlery embedded with the Snow Ferret Brooch. Remember to use the packaging box sent by the Northern Merchant."
As the maid's figure vanished into the morning mist, the Lady of the Fortress turned to gaze towards the direction of the Magic Nexus.
The Protective Barrier shimmered unnaturally under the rising sun, an ancient wave surpassing modern magic was eroding along the ice core Protective chain in reverse.
She caressed her suddenly warm Inverse Pentagram necklace around her neck, recalling how Leonard had trembled as he branded this mark on her collarbone when they signed their marriage contract twenty years ago.
At noon, Lucius discovered an anomaly while repairing the East Tower's barrier.
On the repair diagram reflected by his Alchemist's Badge, a Coordinate Point that should have been sealed was flashing rhythmically.
As he leaned in for a closer look, Luna suddenly wrapped her Golden Hair around his wrist. The baby’s Pearl Luster pupils reflected Xu Ying from the Ice Cellar Dowry Chest—inside that box which should have been filled with evidence against Father, there now lay an ancient Old Parchment adorned with a Dragon Emblem.
The young Alchemist’s gasp was swallowed by a sudden Wind and Snow.
At the corner of the Southwest Spiral Staircase, a figure draped in a Morning Star Cloak was etching a Teleportation Circle onto a Wall Tile with an ice crystal pen, its residual Magical Fluctuation mirroring Father’s lover’s Peacock Blue hair color.
As the first ray of sunlight pierced through the diamond-shaped Colored Glazed Window, Luna was biting on a Silver Thread from her velvet swaddling.
The infant's body could not contain the soul of the Mage. She gazed at the Astrolabe hanging above the Cradle, using her Saliva to trace incomplete Guardian Runes on the silk Pillowcase.
"Madam! The Young Miss's Magical Fluctuation is abnormal again!" Qin Si burst through the Carved Wooden Door, cradling a silver Crystal Plate, causing ripples in the Rose Tea within the Bone China Cup.
Aelia approached quickly, draped in her Morning Robe, her Star Moon Hairpin echoing the Golden Halo in the infant's eyes.
Luna seized the opportunity to grasp her Mother’s flowing Platinum hair, channeling magic into the Astrolabe through her Hair.
The Twelve Zodiac Signs Relief suddenly rotated counterclockwise, casting a Magic Fortress Hologram on the wall.
The Northwest Tower glowed ominously red, precisely where Leonard's Concubine was said to hide in the novels.
"My dear, what are you looking at?" Leonard's voice echoed in the Emerald Corridor, his military boots shattering the starlight scattered across the floor.
Luna tensed up. This was the man who had paralyzed the Eldest Son with a Poison Curse in the Original story, now leaning down to kiss Aelia's Hand Back.
Aelia discreetly withdrew her hand, her Fingertip brushing against her daughter's Neck and suddenly revealing a Star-Shaped Birthmark: "I was admiring the Emerald Pacifier you sent; its craftsmanship is even more exquisite than that of the royal artisans." She turned to smile at Qin Si. "Find that Moonstone tribute from last month’s Western Realm; it’s time to prepare gifts for the Children for the Winter Festival."
As Twilight seeped through the Rose Window, Lucius slipped into the secret chamber with a training Silver Dagger in hand.
The sixteen-year-old boy accurately located a mechanism in the darkness; the wall responded with a creak and opened to reveal a Prophecy Mirror glowing with an Eerie Blue Light.
"Third Young Master is using Forbidden Technique again?" Aelia's voice startled him so much that he nearly dropped the Crystal Bottle.
The mirror rippled, reflecting three indistinct figures—his elder brother trudging alone through a storm of Wind and Snow with a Dragonbone Staff, Second Brother’s Alchemical Chamber exploding skyward, and himself being dragged into an abyss by Blood-Red Chains.
Lucius saw his Mother’s Fingertip crystallizing with ice; it was her Northern Secret Arts unused for Twenty Years. "Starting tomorrow, follow Gude Grand Mage to learn about starry Defensive Formation." Aelia wiped away the image from the mirror, her Gilded Hem sweeping over the hidden Family Crest embedded in the Peacock Stone Tiles. "Remember to remind your sister..."
Before the words could settle, the entire castle suddenly trembled.
Luna's Loud Cry pierced through the Sevenfold Magic Barrier, and the Crystal Chandelier above everyone's heads shattered into Stardust.
Leonard's Ailya's Roar echoed from the Underground, accompanied by the roar of some ancient creature.
In a dark chamber thirty feet underground, Leonard wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth and looked at the broken Binding Dragon Chains with a cold smile.
A figure in a black robe emerged from the shadows, handing over a parchment: "When the Lunar Eclipse Night arrives, using the blood of my three sons will allow us to restart the Magic Fortress Core..."
Suddenly, blood seeping from the cracks in the wall coalesced into Aelia's visage, causing the figure in black to dissolve into a cloud of darkness in fright.
Leonard crushed the Communication Crystal, but he heard Luna's laughter echoing from above.
The Starlight Power erupting from the nursery scorched the Dark Pattern on his sleeve to ashes.
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