Second Act

The filming in the village went smoothly, except for a small problem when Joshua played Gaston confessing to Belle.

Given I Nuo's personality, no matter what Joshua asked of her, she did not dare show the slightest dissatisfaction. But reality was reality, and acting was acting.

Joshua spent a long time talking her through it before the succubus finally rejected his confession.

This was also the only part of the entire shoot that took several retakes. Everything else was filmed smoothly in a single take.

The next part was the true "Beauty and the Demon" segment.

"Target has left the village and is expected to reach the Teleportation Portal in an hour. Zennas, get ready. Don't let the target discover any trace of the portal."

Joshua sent Zennas a message through the Chat Window he had created. Belle's "mother," Ma Linna, had already boarded a carriage and said goodbye to Belle, preparing to head for Magic City Nolan, more than a dozen kilometers away from the small village.

The only Rune Zennas possessed appeared in the window, informing Joshua that he had received the message.

Joshua clenched his marked left hand and began focusing entirely on controlling the Banshees' movements. The mark could not only control Undead Creatures, but also let Joshua share their senses.

Joshua shared only the Banshees' vision. Switching between the perspectives of twelve Banshees would have been enough to leave anyone with 3D motion sickness bedridden for ten days or half a month, but fortunately, Joshua did not suffer from that condition.

Through one Banshee's vision, Joshua saw the carriage making its way through the snow-covered forest.

Ma Linna tugged at the cloak draped over her body. This year's snow season had come exceptionally early; when she left home, light snow had already begun falling from the sky.

This was not a good sign. If the snowfall grew heavier over the next few days, the road connecting the small village to Nolan would be blocked.

To let Belle move into her new home as soon as possible, Ma Linna had to reach Nolan quickly.

Her anxious state made her constantly urge her servant and the old horse onward.

The snow on the road gradually grew deeper. Then, all of a sudden, Ma Linna felt a shiver of unease.

She lowered the hood over her head slightly and looked around.

The forest was still a forest, and the snow was still snow, but Ma Linna felt that something about the atmosphere had become strange.

It was too... quiet. Ma Linna might have been old, but her mind was not dull.

The forest had suddenly become far too silent. A moment ago, she could still occasionally hear the calls of unknown birds, but now it was as though all the animals living in the forest had vanished.

The falling snow was also becoming denser and denser. Before long, a blizzard would sweep through this place.

A castle? As Ma Linna considered where she could shelter from the blizzard, an ancient and imposing structure entered her sight.

This was not the first time she had traveled along this road to Nolan, yet she had never seen such a grand castle in her memories.

Could it have been built by some great mage?

The heavy snow falling from the sky gave Ma Linna no time to think further. She had her servant drive toward the castle, able only to hope that its owner would kindly allow her to stay for the night.

The carriage entered the gardens of the somewhat gloomy castle. Ma Linna stepped down from the carriage and signaled for her servant to take it to the stables within the castle.

She straightened her clothing and climbed the steps to the castle's main doors.

Before Ma Linna could knock, the castle doors slowly opened.

"Thank you..." Ma Linna stepped inside, assuming some servant in the castle had noticed her. But when she looked behind the doors, she found no one there at all.

This surprised Ma Linna, but she was a worldly businesswoman. Mages often possessed all kinds of bizarre abilities, so out of courtesy, she closed the castle doors.

"Is anyone there?"

Ma Linna called out loudly. Her voice echoed through the empty interior of the castle, whose atmosphere and lighting both seemed somewhat dim.

"Is anyone there? Sorry to disturb you... I am a traveler, and I only wish to come in and shelter from the blizzard."

Ma Linna called again, but still received no answer.

Yet countless pairs of eyes were watching the uninvited human from the darkness, including two ghosts.

"Duke actually allowed a human into his territory. If it had been before, this human would have been eaten clean by my relatives on the outskirts of Shadow Dusk Forest..."

"Shut up, Hua Luo. Duke has formed an alliance with His Highness the Prince. His Highness's orders are Duke's will. His Highness specifically had the two of us participate in... that thing..."

"A movie, Fuk," another furtive voice reminded him.

"Right, a movie. Being part of the filming is already a great honor. Stop complaining. Have you memorized your lines? Those Banshees are floating over. What was the first line again?"

The candlestick on the table opened its eyes, tapped the alarm clock beside it, and spoke in a low voice.

"He must be lost in the forest."

"Shut your mouth already."

The whispers in the darkness instantly caught Ma Linna's attention. She looked toward the source of the voices but saw no one, only a candlestick and an alarm clock placed on the same table.

"Excuse me, is anyone there?" Ma Linna slowly approached the table, and her attention was soon drawn to the exquisite candlestick and alarm clock resting there. She picked up the candlestick and examined it.

As a merchant, she recognized the value of both items at a glance, but she did not dare entertain any thought of stealing them. This place was simply too strange.

She set down the gilded candlestick and looked around, quickly finding the only place in the dim hall that emitted firelight.

"I only want to find somewhere to warm myself!"

Ma Linna called out loudly, hoping someone would hear her. At the same time, she followed the firelight into a room with a fireplace.

The warm flames in the fireplace were enough to delight Ma Linna. She hurried toward it, and the heat from the flames quickly drove away the chill the blizzard had brought her.

Then Ma Linna heard the clatter of bowls and utensils from the room next door. Following the sound, she entered that room and found that a dinner had already been set out on the table.

It was as though it had been deliberately prepared for her.

"Thank you very much..." Ma Linna looked around. Though she had no idea where the people of the castle had gone, hunger compelled her to sit down and begin enjoying the hard-won meal.

But after only a few bites, the teacup on the table suddenly began moving on its own.

Ma Linna stared at the teacup in shock. Only then did she suddenly notice that it seemed to have a face.

"Mother told me I shouldn't move around carelessly. It might scare you."

The teacup spoke to Ma Linna in a childish voice.

Ma Linna's mind froze for two or three seconds. No wonder she had not seen a single living person in the castle—the castle itself was alive. It did not need living people to tend it.

"I'm sorry," the teacup said to Ma Linna in an extremely sincere voice.

"It... it's alright."

Ma Linna tried desperately to remain calm, but... had all the living people in this castle turned into furniture? Was the castle under some kind of curse?

All sorts of terrifying thoughts quickly filled Ma Linna's heart, making her resolutely choose to flee this haunted place.