ragginovel Chapter 552 The Real Butler
Chapter 552 The Real Butler
Chapter 552 The Real Butler
There were hurried footsteps coming from deep in the corridor. It was Dan holding a torch and running in the corridor at a very fast speed.
After running for a long time, he finally stopped in front of a big door.
After adjusting his breathing, he pushed the door open and walked in.
The space behind the door is not very big. Simply put, it is a small room with a coffin in the middle and no windows around it.
Dan looked at the coffin, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and closed the door behind him, then quickly stepped forward, ready to reach out and open the coffin.
Unexpectedly, when his hand was halfway raised, the coffin was pushed open from the inside. Then, Philibert, who was lying inside, "floated" up straight and stood up.
"I have to praise you. After all, even I didn't expect... that someone could find my bedroom before dark." Philibert stood up and said to Dan in a very relaxed tone.
"I'm Dan, Dan Munteanu." Dan replied.
"Heh... You didn't forget to tell me your name before you die. You're quite particular as a demon hunter." Philibert smiled. "Okay, then I'll also... remember your name before I kill you."
"I'm not a demon hunter." But Dan's next words were, "I... am the steward of this castle."
After these words were spoken, Philibert's expression changed slightly.
"Oh?" But the next second, he still asked with a smile, "This is a new thing. When did I get another housekeeper? Why didn't I know about it?"
"You may have some misunderstandings." Dan still responded calmly and solemnly, "I am not 'your' butler, I am the butler of 'this castle'."
"What difference does it make?" said Philibert. "You should know that I am the owner of this castle, right?"
"Who do you think you are?" Dan's question may sound like a provocation, but in fact he is using the tone of a question.
"What do you mean?" Philibert also looked confused.
"You think you are 'Philibert', right?" Dan continued, "Hugo and Nancy also told you that you are Philibert."
"You..." Now, Philibert could sense something was wrong, "...how do you know their names?"
It was not surprising to know Philibert's name, but the names of the two butlers and butlers were certainly not information Dan should know.
"I told you, I'm the butler of this castle," Dan continued, "otherwise, how do you think I managed to get to the master's bedroom so quickly and without any harm?"
At this moment, Philibert realized that the other party might really know something that even he didn't know, so he stepped out of the coffin, paced around the room for a few steps, thought for a while, and then said: "Then you say... who am I?"
The reason he asked this was not only because of what Dan had just said, but also because he had indeed encountered some things that confused him recently.
For example, he always dreamed of himself soaking in a pool of blood, and instinctively felt pain and fear in his dreams, but he could not remember where that place was, and he did not remember having had a similar experience before.
Also, although it was daytime, which should be the time for vampires to sleep, he had rarely slept during the day; his dreams all happened when he closed his eyes and rested at night, or he felt a little sleepy at night and more energetic during the day... This was also why he heard the noise and opened the coffin himself as soon as Dan entered his room.
In addition, the most crucial point is that he actually doesn't like sucking blood.
It’s not that he has never sucked blood before. After all, he has to rely on sucking blood to survive, so he also sucked some of the blood that Hugo put in front of him, but he always felt a little resistant and even disgusted by the act of sucking blood, and it would be best if he could avoid it.
Of course, he definitely didn't suffer from "vampire anorexia", and it was even less likely that he did this out of kindness... You should remember that when he went to seek "revenge" from Comman before, he poisoned everyone in the castle, and when he abducted Lady Venusa, he killed the surrounding knights and left them all dead, and by the way, he cursed Comman's son.
But the only thing he didn't do was suck blood.
"You... your name is Andre Kroitulu. It was about a hundred years ago that I first saw you..." Dan said while looking at the "Philibert" in front of him and recalling.
"That night, a lady came to this castle with your body in a tattered cart she found from nowhere and knocked on the gate.
"I heard her tell your story: a noblewoman and a stonemason's son were chased on their way to elopement and both fell off a cliff. In order to protect her, you were seriously injured and finally died on the road.
"And she... because she had heard some rumors about this castle before, she brought you, who had just died, to me overnight to seek one last chance."
Philibert... no, he should be called Andre now. When Dan said this, he interrupted with a serious look and said, "The lady you are talking about is Venusa, right?"
"No." But Dan's answer surprised him, "The lady's name is Maria Agnes Raimondo."
When he heard the name, Andre was stunned, and then he felt a severe headache, as if at this moment in his brain, deep in his soul... something was trying to break out of the cage.
Dan paused for a moment, then continued, "I told Maria that the dead cannot be resurrected, and advised her to give up on you as soon as possible and go back to her family. Time will heal her wounds quickly, and she will still have a chance to live a perfect life.
"But she, like every young person in love, couldn't understand my advice. She said if you were really hopeless, she would choose to die with you.
"Seeing how determined she was, I proposed a solution, a solution that I should have proposed from the very beginning as the steward of this castle - to revive you using the vampire ritual.
“Of course, this comes at a price.
"After you are resurrected, you will forever bear the curse of the blood race and become a being despised by God, that is... a vampire.
"Maria will not refuse my proposal. Her love for you is beyond your imagination. She has even decided to be transformed by you in the future and become a cursed being with you, serving as your bride forever.
“So, I first stored your body in the ice cellar, and after a period of preparation, I started the ceremony.
"Everything went smoothly at first. You were just one step away from being 'completely immersed in blood' and then born into the world as a vampire. However, when the ceremony was almost over, a Belmondo broke into the castle, interrupted the ceremony, and sealed the power of the castle.
"Me, you, and Maria... on that day, we were all sealed into 'another world'..."
From here on, Dan's demeanor and tone became a little excited when he narrated: "That world is the source of the 'chaotic power' of this castle, a place that is enough to drive people crazy...
"For nearly a century afterwards, because our memories, or souls, were shattered to varying degrees when the ritual was interrupted, none of us could remember each other and we just wandered around in that world separately...
"Maria hid in the organ room, as if hoping that the music would summon someone she no longer remembered.
"You wandered from one chapel to another, praying constantly there, and carved many stone statues based on your vague impressions in exchange for a little inner peace.
"As for me... after many years, I finally broke down and fell into chaos; the darkest part of my soul began to materialize and finally separated me...
"And the guy who looks like a vulture and has a personality like a vulture is the Hugo you know."
Dan paused, a trace of pain flashing in his eyes: "Hugo is an extremely powerful being. I am no match for him. He sealed my memory and threw me back to this world. I survived as a human being and have no idea of my past... And this happened nearly ten years ago."
Hearing this, something flashed across Andre's face, full of doubt: "Wait... could Nancy be..."
"Have you finally realized it? Isn't the nickname of the name 'Agnes' Nancy?" Dan continued, "Hugo split Maria's memory and soul into two parts, one part was sealed in the organ, and the other part was brought back to this world and became Nancy...
"Nancy's situation is different from ours. When she came back here, she was already an old woman on her deathbed...So Hugo lied to her, saying that the ritual could be restarted, and he could help her regain her youth and be with you again.
"After that, Hugo used Nancy as a transit hub, gradually connecting the forces of the 'two worlds' through her.
"Originally, Hugo's power could only allow him to freely travel between the two worlds and use the mirror to travel to distant places. However, after ten years, the connection between the two worlds has become closer, and the chaotic power in the castle has overflowed more and more. Hugo can do more things...
“Of course, this also came at a price – Nancy gradually lost her mind and memory, and was eroded into the monstrous form you see now.
"Then last year, Hugo really started to prepare for the 'ritual', but he didn't want to complete the ritual I started that year, but had his own plans...
“However, no sooner had he captured some young girls from a nearby village for experiments than he caught the attention of another Belmondo of this era, namely Philibert Belmondo.
"Unfortunately, the young demon hunter was inexperienced and eventually fell into Hugo's hands... and the 'Blood of Belmondo' on him happened to be one of the materials Hugo needed.
"Hugo cleverly replaced the ritual that Philibert's ancestors interrupted with the blood of his descendants. He used Philibert's body and your... Andre's head that had not yet been soaked in blood to form a new body - a fake vampire, a flawed experiment.
"Your memory became confused because of this. You thought you were the demon hunter Philibert, and you mistook Venusa, another descendant of the Raimondo family a hundred years later, for Maria, with whom you had eloped unsuccessfully. You filled in the missing parts of your memory on your own... You believed that Maria was forcibly married to Comman after the failed elopement, but the various contradictions and details in it made you very confused.
"What Hugo told you... the so-called 'Venasa's memory was interfered with' was just a delaying tactic. When the time comes, when your mission as a test subject is completed, you, Venusa, Nancy... everyone will be eaten up by him."
When Andre heard this, his headache got worse. He held his temple with one hand and looked at Dan and said, "You don't expect me to accept your story completely, do you? Let's not talk about the first half, but what did Hugo do and what did he think in the second half... How do you know?"
"Because just now," Dan replied, "a helper invited from the East by the Ranger Organization accidentally restarted the ritual that I initiated that year... a rift appeared in the boundary between the two worlds, and my sealed memories, as well as Hugo's memories... all returned."
Dan said, and took out a piece of parchment from his arms: "Hugo deliberately put this paper there for the demon hunters to find. He wanted to use this very obvious hint to make us help him collect the five sacrifices required for "his ritual"... This includes you and me.
"Rather than explaining this to those demon hunters, it is undoubtedly more important to come to you first. First, the sooner we get your help, the better chance we have of defeating Hugo. Second, Hugo will soon know my memory, including what I am doing now. I have to contact you before him."
When Dan said these words, Andre actually completely believed him, because as Dan said, "a crack appeared in the boundary between the two worlds", so some fragmented information also flooded into Andre's mind at this moment.
However, since he was a "piecemeal man", what came in were not only his own memories, but also Philibert's, which caused his mind to be very confused.
"Okay... I understand." Andre calmed down, "So, what should we do now?"