Chapter 17 (Two in One) Rose Festival 11...
“Ahem, ahem—”
The fabric of the collar tightened around Mrs. Lucia's neck. Her face turned red from lack of oxygen and the veins in her neck were stretched tight.
She tried in vain to grab Zhu Yu's wrist with both hands, but couldn't break free.
"Let go of my lady!"
The butler rushed over and tried to pull Zhu Yu's arm away.
As soon as she started to move, Maggie was quick to rush forward, hugged her around the waist and threw her away!
A dull crash was heard, and the butler stumbled and fell to the ground unexpectedly, uttering a groan of pain.
Zhu Yu didn't pay any attention to watching.
Just as she was about to continue questioning Mrs. Lucia, she suddenly felt a cold touch on her arm.
——A withered, pale hand rested on her wrist.
The temperature in the room dropped suddenly.
The air froze at this moment.
Zhu Yu heard the maids gasping for air, Elvira's soft scream, and the crisp sound of George drawing his sword again in astonishment.
She turned her head slowly.
A highly decayed face appeared in her sight.
The black-robed wizard is back from the dead.
Black and purple witchcraft lines vaguely appeared on her lifeless skin, as if she was forcibly pulled back to reality from death by some force.
At this moment, she was standing behind Zhu Yu in a state between life and death.
"You...are also a wizard."
Zhu Yu's pupils trembled and his eyes quickly swept to the housekeeper who was struggling to get up from the carpet.
There was a surge of magical power emanating from her, which was neither that of a curse wizard nor a divination wizard.
"You can manipulate the souls of the dead... You are a necromancer."
The butler did not answer, but lowered his eyes and silently acknowledged the fact.
Zhu Yu keenly noticed that a huge amount of magic power suddenly overflowed from the butler.
This fluctuation of magical power is much stronger than before.
But the problem is, she has successfully controlled the soul of the black-robed wizard, so what is the second fluctuation of magic power that has appeared now?
not good!
Zhu Yu's heart sank suddenly. The next second, screams came from the direction of the backyard.
"ah!!"
"Oh my god, what is that?!"
“Run!!”
The servants who were locked up and forcibly isolated in the backyard screamed and fled in all directions. Their terrified shouts mixed with the sound of the wind and became louder and louder.
Zhu Yu's face changed, he turned around suddenly and yelled at George:
"Get out now! Take the guards at the door to the backyard to maintain order!"
George did not dare to delay and immediately rushed out with his sword.
Countless rotting undead souls slowly crawled out of the black soil.
Their withered arms broke through the soil, revealing distorted faces. Deep blue soul fire burned in their empty eye sockets. Their broken bones collided in the soil, making creepy sounds.
If Elvira was at the scene, she would find that this scene was exactly the hell she dreamed of every night.
"Let go of my lady, and all of you get out of here."
Inside the room, the butler stood up, his fingertips trembling slightly under his sleeves.
A trace of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth, but she quickly wiped it away with her sleeve without leaving a trace.
Controlling so many ghosts at once was obviously beyond her limit.
But even so, she still forced herself to stand in front of Lady Lucia and confront Zhu Yu.
Zhu Yu's eyelashes trembled. She saw all the subtle cover-up actions of the butler just now.
She loosened her fingers, and Mrs. Lucia's body slid back onto the bed as if she had lost her support.
Zhu Yu looked down at her and asked, "You only have this one confidant by your side. Where are the servants you trust? And where are the members of the secret society that you dispatched?"
Mrs. Lucia suppressed the cough in her throat and did not answer her question.
“Click—”
The sudden sound of bones moving broke the tense atmosphere in the room.
An afterimage passed through the air, and the originally stiff body of the undead suddenly accelerated, as if controlled by an invisible line, and suddenly pounced towards Zhu Yu. The cold undead hand, with a strong aura of death, attacked her neck directly!
"Miss!"
Betty screamed and pulled out the dagger from her waist, wanting to rush forward to stop the undead, but was stopped by Zhu Yu with a look.
She paused, her face full of anxiety, but she still stopped abruptly.
at the same time--
Bang!
A powerful magical power exploded from Zhu Yu's body!
An invisible shock wave spread out, and the air seemed to be torn apart.
The temperature in the room suddenly rose, and a warm and holy light appeared around Zhu Yu.
“This, this is…!”
Everyone stared with eyes wide open, looking at the scene in surprise.
Zhu Yu raised her hand, and a golden halo condensed at her fingertips.
“Purification.”
The power of purification spread from her palms and surged towards the bodies of the undead like a tide.
A dazzling light burst out instantly, like the scorching sun breaking through the darkness, forcibly tearing apart the deathly energy in the undead's body.
The undead roared in pain, and the death energy in its body quickly disintegrated under the impact of the purifying force.
It tried to struggle, but was firmly imprisoned by Zhu Yu's power. A trace of magic power was extracted from its body, gradually turning into pure energy and dissipating into the air.
The undead finally stopped moving until the last bit of magic power dissipated.
The faint blue soul fire in its pupils was completely extinguished.
"puff!"
The butler suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood!
She covered her chest with her hands, veins popped out on her forehead, and she looked at Zhu Yu with horror.
After the black-robed wizard's soul was purified by Zhu Yu, she began to show signs of the backlash of witchcraft.
Mrs. Lucia, who had remained silent, was also shocked.
"Your witchcraft..."
She stared at the scene in a daze, her hands unconsciously clutching the bed sheets.
Then she seemed to remember something and said to the housekeeper anxiously:
"Stop now and take back your magic power!"
The butler hesitated for a moment, but still did as he was told.
As her magic power was withdrawn, the noisy and chaotic noises in the backyard also dissipated.
The tense atmosphere in the room had not completely subsided. Madam Lucia stared at Zhu Yu solemnly:
"Aren't you a curse wizard? How do you have such power?"
Seeing that Madam Lucia had such a deep misunderstanding of him, Zhu Yu raised his eyebrows and said:
"I never said I was a cursed wizard."
Hearing her denial, Mrs. Lucia's eyes became dazed, and she murmured unconsciously:
"It's wrong... everything is wrong...
It’s actually true... Helena’s prophecy is actually true..."
Helena's prophecy?
Zhu Yu's heart sank, realizing that Madam Lucia knew more secrets than she had imagined.
"Helena?" she asked directly. "Are you talking about my aunt? What did she say to you?"
"She said you were the key to turning the situation around."
"But I always thought..." Lady Lucia raised a self-deprecating arc at the corner of her mouth, "I thought you were a powerful curse wizard and the most important person to decide the success or failure of the experiment. I didn't expect... it turned out to be like this... I understand, it's your purification ability..."
Zhu Yu immediately grasped the key point in the words:
"What experiment? What is all this about?"
Madam Lucia: "The power of wizards has always frightened ordinary people and royal nobles, but at the same time they greedily covet this mysterious power. Therefore, court scholars and alchemists served by several nobles have been secretly studying how to extract the magic power from the wizard's body and transplant it into ordinary people."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhu Yu's mind suddenly flashed back to the wounds on Dina's body in prison.
It turns out that the tiny incision on her abdomen before she died was used to extract her witch power?!
Zhu Yu: "Then why are all the chosen ones cursed wizards?"
Madam Lucia: "Because the curse wizard's magic power has the highest survival rate. Moreover, the alchemical tools created later to extract magic power are also the most efficient in extracting curse magic power."
Zhu Yu pursed his lips: "No wonder all those who were caught were curse wizards..."
Her eyes suddenly turned cold as she looked directly at Lady Lucia: "These experiments and studies require a large number of curse wizards as experimental subjects. Without your permission, the curse wizards of the Secret Society would never be captured so easily. And you know all about the research on these people, so you are not a bystander, you are the promoter and participant of this experiment."
Mrs. Lucia did not deny it, but smiled slightly, with a hint of paranoia and fanaticism in her smile.
Zhu Yu: "I don't understand, what good will this do for you? As a white robe wizard, the wizards of the secret society have always been loyal to you. Why on earth would you betray them?"
Hearing the word "betrayal", Mrs. Lucia's smile froze, and the madness in her eyes completely emerged. Her voice suddenly rose:
"I didn't betray them, I did it because I saw the ending long ago!"
"I predicted the coming of this plague many years ago!"
"Under the triple oppression of the plague, the Inquisition, and the royal aristocracy, wizards simply cannot survive this disaster!"
Zhu Yu: "So you have the heart to send them to death early?"
"No, you don't understand my good intentions at all!"
Madam Lucia retorted angrily, her eyes bloodshot.
"You don't understand! Although they possess extraordinary powers, wizards are too weak and too few in number compared to those large numbers of well-trained knights."
"But if...if we can cooperate with that group of people and develop a method to stably extract the power of the curse and transplant it, we can create more wizards!"
"As long as we sacrifice some of the cursed wizards, we will be able to gain even greater power! By then, we will have enough numbers and strength to completely eliminate all obstacles!"
“That’s enough!”
Zhu Yu finally couldn't help it and interrupted directly:
"Don't wait until then. Do you think this is your 'wizard revival plan'? Before that, the wizards of the secret society will only die faster!"
"Once this experiment succeeds and is made public, wizards will no longer be just 'heretics' hunted in secret, but will become living blood banks for people to exploit their magical power!"
"By then, the wizards' situation will probably be even worse than it is now!"
Mrs. Lucia was stunned by her words, her breathing became rapid, and a trace of pain appeared on her face:
"Then what else can I do?!"
"Watch all wizards die on the gallows of the Inquisition?!"
"The Secret Society is too conservative. Their resistance is too mild. They are just some insignificant actions! They can only survive in the dark. Resistance without bloodshed is never a real resistance!"
Mrs. Lucia's voice became more and more excited, even a little hysterical:
"I'm just doing what no one else dares to do!"
"You don't understand... you don't understand anything!"
"By that time, we will be the masters of this country!"
Zhu Yu looked at her coldly, and for the first time he felt an indescribable sense of absurdity in his heart.
Madam Lucia thought she was saving wizards, but she didn't know that she was pushing the entire wizarding community into the abyss of destruction.
After a fierce confrontation, the room fell into deathly silence.
However, this brief silence was soon broken by a strange voice.
"When did this research begin? Was my sister Victoria the first victim?"
Zhu Yu and Mrs. Lucia turned around at the same time, only to see Cecilia holding onto the door frame, her face pale and her body trembling slightly.
There was panic, anger, and incredible grief in her eyes.
She heard it.
George did not close the door when he left just now, so she heard everything that happened between Zhu Yu and Mrs. Lucia.
Mrs. Lucia closed her eyes and didn't want to think about why Cecilia appeared here.
Everything that happened today was beyond her control.
Facing the girl's angry questioning, she wiped her face tiredly and said in a hoarse voice:
"No, the first sacrifice was not Victoria, but a girl who had not yet officially joined the secret society."
Mrs. Lucia avoided Cecilia's gaze and said as if she was lost in reminiscence:
"The girl and her mother were both accused of being witches. When we received the news and rushed over, her mother had already been tied to a cross and burned to death by angry villagers. Although she was rescued, she had severe burns and infection and could only live for a few more days at most."
Madam Lucia lowered her head, her voice filled with some indescribable emotion: "So, after learning about our research plan, she took the initiative to ask to be the first experimental subject to personally verify whether the theories of those court scholars and alchemists are feasible."
"Her magic power was successfully transferred to another healthy girl."
Madam Lucia smiled bitterly, "But she has just awakened and her magic power is weak, only enough to complete one transfer."
"For the next experiment, we need a more powerful wizard..."
Mrs. Lucia slowly raised her head and met Cecilia's gaze:
"Then, your sister stepped forward."
“Impossible!” Cecilia clenched her fists suddenly, her nails digging deep into her palms. “This is impossible! Isabella and I have investigated. My sister was taken away from the prison of the Tribunal by the city lord and then sent to the royal city. There has been no news since then! She didn’t sacrifice herself voluntarily!”
"No," said Lady Lucia, "their equipment was not yet perfect at the time. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the experiment, they had to send Victoria to the Royal City."
Hearing this, Cecilia seemed to lose all her strength. Her legs softened and she slid down the door frame and sat on the ground.
She and Isabella spent so much time and effort investigating the truth. They even carefully planned a play for revenge, dealing with Theodore to ensure that no matter who became the goddess of flowers at the Rose Festival ball, Theodore would accept their invitation to dance as a partner.
At that time, as long as he accepts the Golden Rose Badge, the curse will be activated and he will avenge his sister...
However, their plan was disrupted by an accident. Her magic power got out of control, and she was discovered by her family and locked up in the attic. Her sister's actions were also closely monitored.
"It was you who discovered that my magic power was out of control, right?"
Cecilia reacted, looked up at Madam Lucia and asked:
"After discovering that I had awakened cursed magic power, you planned to send me for experimentation, but your plan was interrupted by Wizard Dina."
Zhu Yu sneered and answered Mrs. Lucia's question on her behalf:
"Yes, she did it."
Zhu Yu glanced at 996 who was standing behind Cecilia and said, "On the night she slipped away from the Colin family dinner, I also sent my guards to investigate the servant who accused Cecilia of losing control of her magic power that day."
"Then, the morning before yesterday, when I went to the front yard to see Elvira who had been rescued, we discovered something very interesting. The accusing servant actually appeared in the rescue team."
"Long ago," Zhu Yu crossed his fingers and supported his chin, "your men had already been secretly placed in different places by you, paving the way for your actions step by step."
"I'm very curious, what kind of plan is it that is worth you planning for so long?"
Mrs. Lucia did not answer, but just kept her eyelids drooped silently, as if she was immersed in her own world.
Zhu Yu ran out of patience and grabbed her collar again:
"Your plan does sound ideal, but have you ever considered that those people are not fools!"
"Are you really naive enough to think that the nobles and the Inquisition will tolerate you creating a 'wizard army'? Don't dream!"
Zhu Yu's voice was like a knife, cutting through Mrs. Lucia's last trace of self-deceiving fantasy with every word:
"What they want is a puppet that they can fully control, not an uncontrollable wizard!"
"After working with that group of people for so long, didn't you notice something was wrong?"
Zhu Yu continued, "I believe your friendship with Dina is genuine, otherwise she, as a powerful curse wizard, would not have stayed in the Secret Society for so long. When she was captured by the Inquisition for protecting Cecilia, you must have tried to negotiate with those people."
"For this, you even exchanged the information about my prison break-out plan, hoping to save her life."
"But what is the result?"
Zhu Yu tightened his fingers: "That group of people not only extracted all the curse power from Dina, but also injected poison into her body to silence her. She hated you in her last moment before she died!"
"If they can't even save your best friend's life, how can you be sure that they will really fulfill their promise in this plan and not hide anything from you?"
Mrs. Lucia's body trembled slightly and her lips moved, but no sound came out.
Of course she knew, of course she knew.
She felt something was wrong but was unwilling to admit it.
She invested too much, sacrificed too much, and even violated her own moral bottom line step by step without telling her best friend.
If her decision was wrong, then what did she do?
But now, the chess game she had set up with her own hands seemed to be collapsing in a direction beyond her control.
Mrs. Lucia opened her mouth and wanted to refute, but no words came out.
Her crazy belief was completely torn apart by Zhu Yu's questioning.
Things have developed to this point and she can no longer escape.
She took a deep breath and finally confessed everything to Zhu Yu.
"The failure rate of early experiments was too high, and the mortality rate was extremely high. Even those who barely survived would almost always suffer from serious sequelae, such as disordered magic power, mental breakdown, and even organ failure... There were very few wizards who could truly survive healthily."
The slow progress of this experiment not only made her anxious, but also made those who were manipulating it behind the scenes increasingly impatient.
"So, on the eve of the Rose Festival, they came to me and proposed a more radical plan—"
"They plan to extract the curse power from the black-robed wizard, store it in a special alchemical item, and then hold a ceremony at the Belran Manor."
"Tonight, except for the selected civilian girls and some noble women who were voluntarily given up by their families in exchange for power and benefits, no one else is allowed to enter."
"Once everyone is present, the ceremony will officially begin. At that time, the alchemical item will release the curse power stored in it, making every woman present a subject of the experiment."
"This way... even if someone dies during the ritual, the number of survivors will be large enough. This is much more efficient than the previous 'carefully selected' experimental methods."
Zhu Yu frowned and asked, "But the problem is that the curse power of a black-robed wizard is not enough to support the transformation of so many people."
Madam Lucia nodded: "So... they need a stronger curse wizard."
She looked up at Zhu Yu, a hint of self-mockery in her eyes: "I always thought you were a powerful curse wizard, so I wrote a letter to trick you here."
"But..." Madam Lucia lowered her head and sighed, "Both the impromptu raid in the prison and the assassination on the float failed. You did not fall into their hands."
"I don't know how they will fill the gap in 'resources' this time, but I received a message from that group not long ago."
"They said they had found a solution, everything—"
"It will be held tonight as usual."
Everyone present gasped, as if they realized some extremely horrifying fact.
Maggie murmured blankly:
"This was not an experiment at all... This was a massive living sacrifice."
If this ritual succeeds, the Rose Festival in Beleriand will become a carnival of blood sacrifice.
Zhu Yu glanced at the clock on the wall and asked:
"What is that alchemical tool? Where is it placed?"
Mrs. Lucia spat out the answer: "It's the Golden Rose Badge."
"That badge is an alchemical item that can absorb power from any source and release it at several times the strength when the energy storage reaches a certain level."
"What?!"
The color drained from Cecilia's face in an instant.
She clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, her fingertips turned white, and her whole body seemed to be swallowed by great fear.
"It's over!"
Her pupils contracted, and she looked at Zhu Yu in horror, her voice so sharp that it almost broke:
"For revenge, I injected a curse into the badge..."
Zhu Yu felt a shiver run down the back of his neck and instantly realized the seriousness of the situation.
If the badge not only stored the curse power of the black-robed wizard, but was also infused with another curse power by Cecilia.
Then, this "magic power transformation experiment" originally planned to be released during the ceremony could not wait until the dance began.
It will break out prematurely.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
