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墨書 Inktalez
The moonlight filtered through the shattered colored glass, casting slanted beams onto the Library of Hidden Books. Luna curled up on the makeshift cradle mattress that Qin Si had laid out with his cloak.
In her tiny pink fist, the baby clutched a half-eaten piece of parchment, on which she had scrawled a crooked drawing of the Devouring Vine's root system overlapping with the castle's structure—this was done with saliva and the silver powder she had managed to swipe from Qin Si's skirt while the maids were busy cleaning up the battlefield.
"The Third Young Master is going mad again in the West Tower," a muffled voice from outside drifted in, causing Luna to perk up her ears. "He insists he can hear the castle crying after those ice crystal shards pierced his palm..."
Luna's heart tightened as she recalled that Brother San, Lucius, had gone insane due to excessive empathy magic affecting the architecture.
She kicked her legs like little Oujie and turned over, the moonlight illuminating a book titled Magic Castle Symbiotic Research on the shelf.
Sudden footsteps made her hurriedly stuff the parchment into her mouth, causing her to cough violently as she pretended to nibble on it.
"What brings our little ancestor here?" Qin Si burst in, carrying the scent of Ye Lu, his skirt embroidered with a star and moon pattern sweeping over Luna's flushed cheeks.
Upon noticing the remnant page clutched in the baby's hand, the maid's finely shaped eyebrows suddenly twitched. "Lady Aelia asked about this book this morning..."
Meanwhile, in the East Wing's chamber, Aelia stood transfixed before her dressing mirror.
The moonstone necklace spun back and forth at her fingertips, reflecting the beauty of Mei Yan in the mirror, shrouded in an unshakeable frost snow.
Suddenly, ripples appeared on the mirror's surface, and a fleeting image of Second Brother's right hand, corroded by black mist, startled her into dropping the necklace onto the grooming table inlaid with amethyst.
"Madam, Third Young Master Lucius..." Qin Si rushed in with Luna in his arms but caught himself just in time at the threshold.
The baby let out a yiya sound and pointed precisely at a narrow crack along the edge of the dressing mirror—there lingered Leonard's signature cedar-scented hair oil.
Aelia's pupils dilated suddenly.
Ten years ago, while binding her husband's hair before this very mirror, he had said, "The scent of cedar suits your Xingyue Xiang perfectly." Suddenly, Luna's anxious little face emerged in the mirror; her finger dusted with silver powder drew a distorted map of the castle on its surface and jabbed three times at the northeast corner.
"Take the young lady to soak in the Marigold bath." Aelia suddenly stood up, the Moonstone Necklace on her wrist chiming with a crisp sound.
As Qin Si retreated to the door with Luna in her arms, she heard the sharp crack of a Crystal Bottle shattering behind her. The lady's favorite Blue Iris Perfume was dripping down the edge of the Grooming table.
Luna splashed in the bath, seizing the opportunity to mix the Demon-Eating Vine Spores hidden between her fingers into the floating Marigold Petals.
These dangerous plants, which in the original text were supposed to disfigure the maid, were now quietly absorbing the trace toxins she had intentionally released—her fragile infant body, as a reincarnation of a Great Mage, was the perfect filter for poison.
"The young lady has been especially clingy to the lady lately." Qin Si added a Calming Spell to the water, unaware that several vines were quietly growing along her Hair Tips.
Luna held her breath and sank to the bottom of the water, catching a glimpse through the rippling waves of a bite mark faintly visible at the maid's collar—its shape unmistakably resembling a Black Witchcraft Contract mark.
In the deep of night, Luna used a Loud Cry to attract a patrolling owl.
Bathed in moonlight, she placed the Ice Crystal Shards she had hidden in her inner garment into the Cradle.
These remnants left by Leonard during his phasing began to reveal a blurred image upon contact with the lingering black mist left by Second Brother: a woman adorned with Wisteria flowers was feeding a Spore solution to an infant wrapped in swaddling.
"So it was back then..." Luna ground her Milk Tooth against the edge of the ice crystal until a Bloody Smell filled her mouth.
The mutation of the Magic Castle's foundation had sown seeds of disaster twenty years ago; that Illegitimate Child had likely already infiltrated the castle.
The next morning, Luna was awakened by Argument Sounds.
Through the Gap in Qin Si's embrace, she saw Brother San Lucius confronting Aelia while holding an Architectural Blueprint: "Does Mother not realize?
All locations of Devouring Vine disturbances correspond exactly to Father’s renovations of the Seven Great Magical Nodes!"
Aelia's hand, which had been gently stroking Luna's nape, suddenly tightened.
Seizing the opportunity, the infant pressed a drool-covered fingertip against her pulse, transmitting a memory—last night, the woman with wisteria flowers in the ice crystal was now burning some scaly herbs in the abandoned chapel at the castle's northeast corner.
"Prepare the horse-drawn carriage," Aelia suddenly handed Luna over to Qin Si, and as she turned, the moonstone necklace snagged on the infant's silver bracelet.
With a clang, the bracelet adorned with the family crest sprang open, revealing dried wisteria petals inside—a perfect match to the adornment worn by the woman in the ice crystal image.
Luna squinted at Qin Si's panicked soothing voice.
Her deliberately kicking little feet knocked over the prophecy crystal ball on the coffee table. The rolling sphere displayed a scene before crashing into the wall: Aelia stood before the desolate abandoned chapel, her Star Moon Staff pressed against a certain infant's Mei Xin.
The sound of the rolling crystal ball startled the guards outside. As Aelia's skirt brushed past Luna, the infant caught a whiff of the decaying sweetness of wisteria flowers.
Qin Si retreated with her into the shadow of a pillar, and the mark of the Black Witchcraft Contract on the maid's collar glimmered with a bluish-purple hue in the moonlight.
The sound of the horse-drawn carriage crunching over gravel startled a night owl resting in the tower.
Through Qin Si's trembling fingers, Luna saw Brother San, Lucius, wrapping ice crystal shards in an architectural blueprint. The refracted light spots formed a distorted star map on the castle's outer wall.
She suddenly recalled this fatal coincidence from the original story—when the Devouring Vine had absorbed enough anger from Xingyue, the Mage, it would devour the entire Glorious Demon Fortress on Lunar Eclipse Night.
The stained glass of the abandoned chapel had long since shattered, and Aelia's Star Moon Staff illuminated the unburned scaly herbs on the altar.
Hidden under Qin Si's cloak, Luna's wet eyes reflected the starlight condensed by Zhang Jian.
As Aelia's Spell touched the altar Emblem, a mournful cry echoed from the Underground, shaking Qin Si to his knees.
"Madam, be careful!"
Luna seized the opportunity to roll out of the maid's arms, wrapped in the Silver Silk Swaddle, and collided precisely with the load-bearing pillar at the Southeast Corner of the altar.
Amidst the baby's Loud Cry, the Devouring Vine suddenly burst forth from the ground, its tendrils sweeping up the icy crystal powder she had scattered in the cracks of the stone slab.
The Blue-Violet glow flowed along the architectural veins, ultimately converging into a hazy image behind the altar.
Aelia's staff clattered to the ground.
In the image, Leonard from Twenty Years Ago was pinning a Wisteria flower in the hair of a Strange Woman. The Moonstone Ring on his left ring finger shone with a light identical to that of Aelia's necklace around her neck.
What was even more suffocating was at the edge of Leonard's Last Night; there was a baby wrapped in Silk swaddling, bearing a Star Moon Birthmark on its forehead—an emblem reserved for the Heir of the Glorious Demon Fortress.
"It’s impossible..." Aelia staggered as she leaned against the altar, her knuckles turning white from gripping tightly.
Luna took this chance to crawl to her feet, clutching her Skirt with her small hand smeared with Devouring Vine and Blue Blood Fern Juice.
The Purifying Power inherent in the baby directly flooded Aelia's mind with Memory Frame—scenes of Leonard and Leonard's Concubine secretly meeting in the Northeast Tower appeared, with the shattered Blue Iris Perfume Bottle from This Morning sitting on the windowsill.
Aelia suddenly trembled violently.
She recalled how Leonard had once said during their wedding, "The blue Iris witnesses Eternal Loyalty," remembered how he insisted on preserving the Northeast Tower during renovations of the Magic Node ten years ago, and thought of how he always patrolled the Abandoned Chapel alone on full moon nights... These Memory Fragments were strung together by Luna's Purifying Power, igniting blinding sparks within Aelia's Star Moon Necklace.
"Madam!"
In the midst of Qin Si's exclamation, Aelia's Robe fluttered without wind.
A Magic Turbulence erupted around her, toppling the altar as the Devouring Vine grew wildly into a Thorned Throne, pushing the maid holding Luna out of the Abandoned Chapel.
As the dust settled, seven Xing Mang circled Aelia under the moonlight, remnants of the Guardian Sigil left by the Glorious Demon Fortress and the First Matriarch.
Luna flashed a cunning smile from Qin Si's embrace.
She had deliberately allowed the Devouring Vine to absorb the toxins from her blood, and now those Mutated Vines were surging toward the Magic Castle and the Seven Great Magical Nodes, guided by Geomancy.
The infant reached out with tiny hands to catch the falling Wisteria Petals, using Purifying Power to refine them into glowing powder—this was the key medium to unravel her brother's Magic Backlash.
Suddenly, a roar of collapsing architecture echoed from the Abandoned Chapel as Aelia's Star Moon Staff pierced through the Dark Compartment beneath the altar.
When the Bronze Box, engraved with the External Family Crest, was exposed to moonlight, the entire foundation of the Glorious Demon Fortress emitted a painful Zhen Chan.
Luna gazed at the moon beginning to wane in the sky, knowing that the moment of Lunar Eclipse was imminent.
As Qin Si retreated while holding Luna, the infant intentionally scattered Wisteria Pollen onto the maid's collar where the Contract Mark lay.
The glowing powder seeped into the black bite mark, quietly altering the direction of the Contract Patterns—this was indeed the first step in lifting her brother's eternal backlash curse from within the Original.
Under the moonlight, Luna looked at the tower in the Northeast Corner that was starting to crumble, revealing a profound gaze befitting a Great Mage.
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