Annan’s first reaction was… Luckily, I have Vasily on my side.
There were four buffs imposed on Annan, all of which were from decisions concluded during the previous discussion with Vasily; they were confident these buffs would work in the nightmare.
Mr. Ray was the nemesis of all nightmares. As long as there was power to fuel the battle against nightmares, He could interfere with almost all rituals.
In fact, the morning light that forced all nightmares to end at 6 a.m. every day came from Mr. Ray’s power. He would interrupt the nightmares for everyone at the same time every day, no matter if the person was His believer or not.
The only exception would be when the target was the priest of other deities. The reason was to avoid interfering with the priests from their work in purifying nightmares.
Silver Sire and Old Grandmother were both upright deities to whom Annan was confident that he could borrow their power from. As for Mysterious Lady, She should be willing to accept the ritual as long as it was a complex and grand ritual with the details appropriately met.
Mysterious Lady cared for all those proficient in rituals, just like how teachers loved their intelligent students.
Without these four buffs, the difficulty of this nightmare would undoubtedly be even more demanding.
In actual history, Annan, Dmitri, Princess Royal Elizabeth, and Kafni all survived. Even the Old Merlin, who was by Annan’s side, lived on for a few more months. Aside from the fact that the trade agreement was still not reached, there was no war between the two countries.
Annan remembered clearly that the exact time of the death of Master Michelangelo was November 30, 1498.
The date on which the nightmare existed was August 8, 1498.
That means that this nightmare was three months before the “Nightmare: White Tower” timeline. Even the attendant next to Annan wasn’t dead because Merlin Manning died three months later in the White Tower Ritual.
What the hell?
In the original history, who resolved this incident?
It can’t be the nine-year-old Annan, can it?
This is not right because I’m just a kid.jpg
While Annan was distracted with his thoughts, a maid led him through the side hall and brought him to the palace’s garden. As the Winter Heart’s ‘Right Index Finger’ predecessor, Merlin Manning was like a ghost, silently following behind Annan and protecting his safety.
Under the protection of Old Merlin, the watchful eye of the best Silver Rank Falteration Wizard in the world, Annan didn’t even know when he was “free to move around”.
Do I have to fool Merlin away first?
But that doesn’t work either.
Because Annan remembers it well…
Prince Albert’s wife and her cousin Denton were the Rotten Man believers, and her cousin was a powerful “Dream Stealer”.
A Gold Rank Soul Snatch Wizard who could directly modify other people’s memories, feelings, and preferences in dreams!
He was now disguised as Silver Rank, lurking beside Prince Albert.
If Annan left Merlin’s sight, he could be abducted.
Although Merlin was only at Silver Rank, he was a “Winter’s Hand”. After experiencing the personal blessing administered by the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke, his feelings and speech functions were sealed by the ritual. This might be another use from the [Winter Heart] talent.
The Winter’s Hand, whose feelings were sealed, could perfectly restrain the Soul Snatch wizards. Even if the opponent were at Gold Rank, he would never dare to appear in front of Merlin.
Thinking of this, Annan noticed another thing.
Annan, in this period, shouldn’t have reversed the [Winter Heart] yet. In other words, he should now be in a state of “not being able to feel positive emotions”.
Annan needed to adjust his acting skills a bit.
I have to appear a little sad in front of acquaintances, so at least I won’t reveal any flaws.
Annan’s side mission required him to “not reveal his identity”.
Unfortunately, this condition seemed quite vague. Annan wasn’t sure whether it was about “avoiding being discovered to be the person ruining the ritual” or “he can’t reveal that what’s happening is just someone’s nightmare”.
In short, as long as he was cautious, things shouldn’t go wrong.
The top priority was the “Great Hunt Ritual”.
Annan didn’t even know what this ritual was, where it was located, let alone how to interrupt it. This was the primary issue he needed to tackle.
Even though the main mission didn’t mention any details, Annan instinctively knew that there was a time limit in his heart.
After all, Annan and Dmitri couldn’t stay here forever. They had to return to Austere-Winter. It was just that Annan didn’t know anything about this ritual at the moment and didn’t even know how much time was left for him.
Based on the typicality of the previous nightmare, Annan guessed that this ritual might be on the verge of starting.
There was not much time left for Annan!
After the maid led Annan through the side hall, he was stunned for a moment by the miracle in front of him.
It was a gorgeous sea of ??silver and purple flowers.
The flowers were unique. They had the appearance of roses, but their petals were translucent pure white. Their branches and leaves were in the color of violet. The sea of ??white and purple swayed under the wind, reflecting the splendor of summer noon.
In the garden, there were cobblestone paths. The paths in the garden extended in all directions, leading to three pavilions of varying sizes.
“This is the place, Your Highness Annan. This is the garden blessed by the Silver Sire, where your spirit will slowly recover at this place.”
The maid spoke softly, “Please head further in. I have prepared iced juice for you in the pavilion. If you need anything else, please let me know. I will prepare it for you.”
Annan would have paid attention to the ice-cold juice — his first reaction should be trying it out first after seeing something delicious.
But his attention was captured by something else.
Amidst the sea of ??flowers, a girl wearing a black dress made of the same material as Princess Royal Elizabeth’s was sitting quietly in the flower field. Her black curly hair draped to her shoulders, and her features were delicate and lovely.
She took off her black high-heeled shoes and placed them neatly beside the path; she was stepping on the ground with her bare feet.
There was a small drawing board on her knees and crayons in her hands. She looked up at the sky, seemingly preoccupied with her thoughts.
Her crimson pupils shone with a colored glaze in the summer sun.
Her appearance resembled a lifeless puppet.
Isn’t that Kafni? Annan quickly recognized the girl who was quite close to her.
A thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Could it be that Annan and Kafni got acquainted at this time?
The maid noticed that Annan halted his footsteps, and she followed Annan’s gaze.
She was immediately surprised.
Why is Her Royal Highness Kafni here?
“Who is she?” Annan asked in a cold voice.
Noticing that Annan was curious, Old Merlin, who followed Annan, raised his head and looked at the maid silently.
What he meant was simple: Speak up.
The maid’s smile froze slightly, and then she explained to Annan with a soft expression, “This is Her Royal Highness Kafni… the daughter of His Highness Albert.”
“Can I play with her?” Annan asked politely.
The maid gave a bitter smile, “Of course, you can, Your Highness Annan. It’s just Her Highness Kafni is a little shy.”
Out of courtesy, she swallowed “eccentric” down her throat.
Annan gently broke free from the maid’s hand. Apparently, the maid allowed him to do so. Then, he walked over to Kafni, who was sitting in the flower field while looking up at the sun.
“Looking directly at the sun is bad for your eyesight.” Annan walked over and adjusted his tone slightly.
In the end, he said sternly like how a mature child would speak, “It will hurt the eyes.”
“It won’t.” Kafni’s tone was dreamy. She spoke softly, “Mr. Ray has a good temper…”
At this moment, Annan noticed the drawing board in her hand.
It seemed to be the sea of ??silver-purple flowers in front of them.
But unlike what Annan saw…
The crayon Kafni used was in red.
The painting was like blood and fire, a color like the setting sun.
Could the clue lie here in Kafni?
It suddenly occurred to Annan that Kafni seemed to have some kind of gift in supernatural vision… a glimpse into fate.
He asked softly, “Are you painting?”
At this time, Kafni turned her attention to Annan. She was silent for a while, then asked coldly, “Who are you?
“You have winter colors on you, but it’s summer right now.”
“My heart is like the ice,” said Annan seriously. It was the maxim of the Austere-Winter family, and it wasn’t surprising that Annan knew that.
He reached out to Kafni and said in a friendly manner, “My name is Annan Austere-Winter. My last name emphasizes the winter. What about you? What’s your name?”
Kafni looked suspiciously at Annan, who had a calm face.
She always suspected that Annan would suddenly pull her hand back and slap her with a giggle after putting her hand on his. Her siblings would play this kind of boring game.
But, she looked at Annan’s outstretched hand. Then, she looked at the smiling maid in front of the pavilion and the somewhat terrifying thin old man staring at her from a distance, vaguely aware of something.
It didn’t take long before she tentatively reached out her hand and put it suspiciously in Annan’s palm.
It wasn’t the “warm palms” mentioned in the story. Annan didn’t have any “warm smiles” either. Instead, his fingertips gave off a shivering low temperature.
She didn’t know why, but she vaguely felt some inexplicable peace of mind.
“Kafni.” She whispered, “Kafni Noah… Kafni means running fingers through hair.
“May I call you Anna?”
“It’s Annan.” Annan corrected Kafni and took her hand.
He said solemnly, “Then we’ve become friends, Kafni.”
—————————————————————————————————————————
Credits to MindMatrix for editing this chapter and improving the readability.