Chapter 474

Chapter Ninety-Seven The End

“Mom, mom…”

In the luxurious yet messy bedroom on the third floor of the Silent Castle, a girl who had just washed herself lay in bed, covered with a velvet blanket, her soft golden hair spread out like flowers at the head of the bed.

She held her restless hands up, crossing her thumbs, her eight slender fingers stretched out, moving back and forth. The light from the lamp cast the shadow of her hand on the wall, resembling a bird spreading its wings.

“You see, a little bird,” she said crisply, then smiled weakly.

That smile was sweet.

On her fair face, her slightly blue eyes regained some vitality, her petite nose stood straight and delicate, long eyelashes fluttered, her lips were slightly dry, curved like a crescent moon, showing a hint of white teeth, with dark circles around her eyes, a few beads of sweat on her smooth forehead. She looked very weak, but paired with that smile, there was a pale beauty as delicate as snow.

She was really beautiful.

Beautiful to the point that it made one feel heartache.

The woman sitting beside the bed had also finished grooming herself, wearing a clean, simple white dress, her golden hair tied simply behind her head. She placed the girl’s hand down, leaned over, and gently kissed the girl’s forehead.

“Sweetheart, go to sleep.”

But the girl kept her eyes wide open.

She turned her small head, looking at the three knights standing in the room, pointing at their lower bodies and giggling, “Little bird.”

“… My little bird isn’t small.”

One of the knights muttered.

This knight, who had led me before, was over 1.8 meters tall, towering over me by more than two heads. When he spoke, his gloomy face showed a hint of pity.

The girl continued to giggle, her mother tucked her hand back under the blanket, stroking her silky golden hair, touching her forehead, silent and sad.

I stood next to the knights, watching silently, then whispered softly, “Let’s go outside.”

“Yes.”

The knights nodded, turned, and left the bedroom with me, quietly closing the door behind them.

Outside the bedroom was the equally chaotic reception hall.

Overturned tables and chairs, books scattered all over the floor, smashed paintings… I picked up a chair from the ground, blew off the dust, hugged the black leather box to my chest, and sat down.

Outside the window not far away, amidst the heavy rain, came countless noisy shouts.

“What about those bones—”

“Speak up!”

“All the women in the dungeon have been released, bring them here for questioning! Let’s see what other tricks you can pull—”

“Whether there are corpses in the back mountain, let someone take the knights to see…”

I listened to these words, my eyes fixed on the burning firelight in the hall, gradually losing focus.

The nuns arrived quickly…

I didn’t stay underground for long, they entered the castle, rushing straight to the dungeon under Isaac’s command, working with the knights to free the tortured women from their cages one by one.

With them came dozens of priests from the Faith Sect, and a young bishop whose name I couldn’t recall but had become familiar with. It was said that his healing miracles were extraordinary. Under his arrangements, the priests of the Faith Sect provided emergency treatment to the women. Then, under the comfort of the nuns, the women were gradually brought upstairs, resting mostly in the hall on the first floor.

Some were seriously injured, even on the brink of death. Despite the bishop still performing healing miracles, they were often ineffective—these women had missed the best time for recovery; their wounds had become infected, diseases had taken hold, and there was no hope left for them.

Other women, though their injuries weren’t severe, suffered psychological trauma that no one could address. No matter how much the nuns tried to talk to them, they remained unresponsive, not even covering themselves. Some ran around naked, some were raving mad, knowing nothing, screaming hysterically, while others were silent, as if they had lost their souls, reacting to nothing in the world, like puppets at the mercy of others.

Later, I followed the leading knight and left the dungeon with a mother and daughter who had already received treatment, going up to the third floor—this used to be the master’s bedroom.

That girl was already insane…

In the cellar, because the woman said her daughter had sustained some injuries, a priest went over to perform a healing miracle. But when the girl saw the approaching man, her blank eyes flickered with confusion, and she subconsciously opened her legs.

Whenever a man approached her, she would open her legs, which was why the knights had been standing far away.

In her mind, doing this might save her life. She only remembered this and her mother.

Destroying a person, destroying their life, destroying their dreams for the future, destroying everything beautiful in their eyes, was easy for some people.

A group of beasts…

Soon, the woman came out of the bedroom.

“The child has fallen asleep.” She forced a smile at us, “She has a fever and is very weak. Could the knight大人please have the priests come and check on her later?”

The leading knight nodded, “No problem, Madam.”

“Thank you.”

The woman smiled again, her gaze turning towards me.

The leading knight introduced, “This is Sir Hildegard, the Papal Knight. She led the vanguard knights with Deputy Commander Isaac to seize the Silent Castle from the demons.”

I stood up, the black leather box repositioned on my back, holding

Lifting her skirt, she gave a standard noble courtesy to the woman.

The woman returned the courtesy: “Please forgive me for meeting you in such an unseemly state,尊贵的教宗骑士大人。我是沉默之堡的女主人，阿兰斯特子爵夫人，奥塞莉·提亚·阿兰斯特，感谢大人的救命之恩。”

Her voice was hoarse and trembling, with tears still unshed on her face. Clearly, she had not yet overcome the shadow of fear; her hand holding the hem of her dress was still shaking.

“Madam, please sit down and speak.”

I signaled the knight to bring over a chair. Lady Aranster pressed down on her skirt and sat down.

“In the room is my daughter, Tilia. She just turned sixteen this year.”

As she spoke, she combed through her disheveled hair, her back straight, even though the hand resting on her knee was still trembling slightly. Despite the slight reduction in grief in her eyes, her every move exuded elegance, making her impossible to ignore.

This was also a beautiful and moving woman.

She reminded me of my mother far away in the empire.

“My husband, Viscount Aranster, has already returned to the embrace of the gods several days ago…”

Following that, Lady Aranster recounted in a disjointed but relatively calm tone the bloody and barbaric, seemingly absurd tragedy that occurred in the castle.

About ten days ago—exactly which day, the woman couldn’t recall as she had been in the dark dungeon for too long.

At that time, many refugees suddenly came to the castle, surrounding it and demanding food from inside. Initially, the lord of the silent castle, Viscount Aranster, seeing the miserable state of the refugees, felt pity and ordered nearly a hundred bags of bread, vegetables, and even several cows to be thrown out. The guards threw them to the refugees outside, who scrambled for them but did not leave.

Two days later, when the food outside ran out, they began demanding more. Some shouted that they could not survive any longer, and even those drenched in rain were falling ill. The viscount, being soft-hearted and sympathetic, ordered more food to be thrown out again, but this time it wasn’t as much. The flood disaster was still ongoing, and he couldn’t let the people in the castle starve.

Thus, the leader among the refugees, a man named Weisemir, started inciting the refugees’ emotions, saying that there were plenty of grain reserves in the castle’s warehouse, enough to last for two years, but the nobles inside didn’t want to share with the refugees, wanting to watch them starve.

The refugees outside started causing trouble, demanding more food to prove the viscount’s innocence and show he wasn’t hoarding food while letting the refugees die.

However, the viscount grew disgusted by their insatiable attitude and stopped paying attention to them. At that time, most people inside the castle didn’t know that those people outside weren’t just refugees—they were followers of demons, possessing the power of sin-fire.

The refugees caused trouble all day, demanding the viscount open the gates to let them in. However, that day, the viscount never appeared on the walls again. That night, someone couldn’t hold back any longer and burned two city guards to death with the sin-fire.

The next day, the viscount led his guard to charge at the refugees outside—his intention was to drive them away, and he ordered his guards not to harm them unless absolutely necessary. But this time, he never returned.

When the remaining guards returned to the city, they had already betrayed the silent castle, turning against it, opening the gates to let the people in. The refugees who entered the castle instantly transformed into devils, looting, killing, raping women, and even sparing no children.

Lady said she saw the hatred in the refugees’ eyes, knowing they truly hated the silent castle for wanting them to starve outside.

And that hatred quickly turned into unrestrained madness.

Under the intense power of the demons, the surviving guards in the city surrendered. The viscount’s brother led eighteen loyal guards to defend the inner castle, but they were eventually burned to ashes. The women hiding in the castle were all captured, including Lady Aranster and her daughter—their son included as well.

Those who survived were forced to drink blood and become part of the demons, and some even willingly requested it to stay alive—under the demons’ orders, they killed their own elderly family members, even their flesh and blood, to survive.

The group kneeling in the rain in the square was like this.

Those with a bit of pride were dead.

And the women did not have such “fortunate” treatment. They were locked in the dungeon, used for pleasure—demons allowed the refugees to do anything to them, which made the refugees feel excited and ecstatic.

“They probably haven’t seen many beautiful women in their lives,” Lady said, her voice calm, but her eyes moistened.

Driven by the demons, the refugees acted without restraint, perhaps believing they might not live to see tomorrow. They cruelly abused those pitiful women, with people dying in screams daily, their bodies dragged out of the cells. As for what happened next… Lady said she dared not think about it after hearing the sound of chopping meat once.

Due to her and her daughter’s special status, they were kept in separate cells, thus avoiding being insulted by dirty people, only serving to entertain certain individuals—such as the demon leader named Weisemir, some influential heretics, and…

“Where is Kevin Aranster?” Lady asked softly, her face cold as ice.