Chapter 2245: The Countess’s Secret

Chapter 2245: Chapter 2245: The Countess’s Secret

Even the authors of those third-rate Amorous Knight novels know what it means when a solitary Noble Lady invites a handsome stranger into her study. Although the Outlander doesn’t read such books, Dorothy sometimes mentions similar themes when discussing literary Creation with him. This is a classic plot... only second to the Drugged Princess and the Lady Knight bathing in the Lake.

"Why aren’t you coming in, Mr. Watson?"

The alluring Countess asked with a smile. Her dress was similarly styled with a hem below the knees, and she wore a pair of stockings on her legs. As for the maids around her, they were equally beautiful and charming, wearing maid dresses that were quite immodest. If Tifa were to see them, she would definitely scold them.

"Sorry, may I ask where Miss Belindel is?"

Shard stood at the doorway and asked, to which the Countess smiled and gestured:

"Earl Belindel went to the washroom to touch up her makeup, please come in and wait for her. I’ve heard about Earl Belindel’s handsome cousin from the Northern Country; the rumors aren’t exaggerated, you’re even more handsome than I imagined. It’s raining outside, you’ve come all the way here yourself, how diligent."

As she spoke, she walked to the door, even reaching out to take Shard’s hand, but he subtly avoided it, yet still entered the room:

"Then I shall intrude."

The enchanting Countess threw him a flirtatious glance, and the surrounding maids looked at him with strange smiles.

Even though candles were lit, the study remained quite dim. Upon formally entering, a strange floral scent filled Shard’s nostrils, and only then did he notice a few pieces of black lace women’s underwear laid on the couch in the study.

He frowned slightly and turned to look at the Countess, who smiled back at him:

"Please sit down; Earl Belindel will return shortly. But before she gets back, would you like to chat with me? You’re very handsome; surely there are many ladies around you often?"

Saying this, she tried to touch Shard’s face, but was once again avoided by Shard. The seven maids laughed, a sound that could even be described as "wanton," and the Countess, instead of getting angry, placed her hand on her skirt’s strap:

"Really, there is no one else here. Am I afraid of not being pretty, Mr. Watson? Weren’t you just looking at my legs when you walked in?"

Her rippling laughter seemed to carry a Magic Power that could make one feel Enchanted, and amidst the laughter, the maids closed in.

There was no wind in the room, yet the candlelight flickered at this moment, as if the entire room was slowly spinning, an unusual light shrouding the faces and bodies of those beautiful and charming girls. They reached out to Shard—not to strangle him, but to caress him. The buttons on the chest were being undone, the strap of the long dress lay on the carpet, trampled by the slender heel of a high heel shoe.

The atmosphere representing the color pink naturally filled the room, and the Countess’s face was now close to Shard’s, while the maids huddled around in various ways.

They seemed to dance around Shard, like some wild animals emitting courtship signals. But just as the Countess’s hand was about to touch Shard’s clothes, Shard closed his eyes and suddenly hummed:

"Hmm~"

The effect of Arcane Technique - Dragon Roar almost shook the entire study, immediately dispersing the subtle and mysterious atmosphere that enveloped the room, as well as restoring the dreamy and unusual light back to normal.

The still-smiling Countess retreated two steps, and the seven young and beautiful maids also moved away from Shard.

"Why hasn’t Earl Belindel returned yet?"

Her voice was very light as if nothing had happened just now, then she gestured to Shard to be patient:

"I will go to the washroom to see the situation, Mr. Watson, please wait here. I will soon bring back your beloved Countess."

With that, she threw Shard another flirtatious glance and left the room with those giggling maids.

The maid who had led Shard upstairs closed the door behind her, and Shard stood in place with a cold face, not moving until the footsteps dissipated, before seriously surveying the study.

The study was not particularly large, nor did it have hidden internal compartments. Besides the ordinary desk, bookshelves, and a tea table sofa set for resting, there were noteworthy oil paintings hanging, and ladies’ underwear visible in the corners of the room.

There were only some on the couch, and as Shard walked toward the desk, he immediately saw the little clothing discarded under the chair.

However, Shard naturally would not touch the lingerie of strangers; he raised his head to look at the two oil paintings on the bookshelf behind the desk. One was a landscape painting of an unknown lake, depicting a scene with gloomy weather even more somber than the rainy day outside now. A girl with dark red hair and bare back faced away from the painting, sitting by the lakeside, making her legs invisible.

The sole figure in the oil painting is quite small compared to the canvas, and the vast, dark background makes the landscape painting seem rather terrifying.

The other oil painting is a portrait of the Countess D’Armanin, wearing the same red dress she has on today, standing alone in the center of the painting, with her hands clasped naturally in front of her, her eyes seemingly looking directly at Shard outside the painting.

"Interesting, what about the Earl’s own portrait?"

Shard tried moving his position and found that the Countess’s eyes indeed always followed him. This wasn’t because of advanced painting skills, just like the Countess’s laughter earlier wasn’t a simple sound wave vibration.

He tried closing his eyes, and when he opened them again, there wasn’t a terrifying scene, but the Countess in the painting had become entirely nude. The woman, resembling a lamb, boldly displayed her body to the person outside the painting. Shard glanced briefly before averting his gaze, then reached out his hand towards the bookshelf:

"Sorcery - Library Retrieval... Mysticism books."

All the books on the shelf trembled at this moment, and then a nearly imperceptible pink light enveloped the shelf, trying to prevent Shard from obtaining secrets in this manner. But those pink glimmers were weak, Shard’s sorcery easily broke through the obstruction. He only waited five or six seconds before a book from the top corner of the shelf swiftly flew into his hand.

The antique book was extremely heavy, far thicker than a building’s red brick, with the biggest page size. The cover and back were red-black colored with slim golden chains as decorations. The title was written in Casenric Language—"Charming Woman," and upon opening it, the contents were also in Casenric Language, though the grammar was very ancient.

Shard glanced at the table of contents, flipped back a few pages at random, and skimmed over disgusting and perverted special materials and ritual contents such as virgin blood, period, placenta, blood bathtub, human centipede. He then saw other rituals about soul sacrifice and killing for longevity.

He tossed the book onto the desk:

"A book mixed with parts of ’Book of Pink’, primarily focusing on enchantment and youth-preserving sorceries."

He looked back at the bookshelf, raised his hand using sorcery once again, and after confirming no gains, he walked towards the door, knocked on the locked room door, and reached the corridor.

The corridor was empty. Shard closed his eyes, listened to the heartbeat sound, and discovered that besides him, there was only one other heartbeat on the third floor. So he followed the corridor and reached the door to the mansion’s master bedroom, gently pushed, and the door swung open.

There was no lighting in the bedroom either, but since the curtains were open, it wasn’t completely dark inside. The faint heartbeat came from the bed, and as Shard approached, he saw an old man with a gaunt, skin-and-bone appearance lying there.

There were hardly any hairs left on his head, and as he struggled to breathe, his mouth contained only two teeth. Upon hearing footsteps, his cloudy eyes first displayed fear, but after turning his head laboriously on the pillow and realizing the stranger beside the bed was unfamiliar, he moved his pale, chapped lips attempting to speak, albeit unable to produce any sound due to his weakness.

"Are you... Earl D’Armanin?"

Shard hesitated a moment before asking. The emaciated old man, resembling a skeleton, tried to nod.

Exerting his last strength, he finally made a raspy sound, and only after verifying he was the only person in the house without strange traces did Shard lean his ear closer to hear the old man’s warning:

"Women...oh, women, all women...are devils...don’t approach women, you’ll become unfortunate...don’t, don’t, I really don’t want it, oh~"

He made a bizarre "oh oh~" sound from his throat, closed his eyes, and ceased to move. Shard reached out to probe his breathing and relaxed after figuring out the old man was merely unconscious.

"If I’m not mistaken..."

[Indeed, his life force is as weak as a candle flame about to snuff out, drained dry.]

"She" gently stated Shard’s guess, then smiled and added:

[Be careful.]

Shard sensed "she" wasn’t warning about here but rather being careful at home.

"Do you look down on me so much?"

The outlander asked in return, but "she" merely laughed by his ear without responding.

Shard shook his head, looked compassionately at the Earl, uncertain about his experiences, and didn’t intend to rescue him now.

He turned around, faced the open bedroom doorway where the Countess and the maidens stood smilingly watching him.