Chapter 46 Chapter One

I'm back in Romania.The last time I was here, I was an ordinary human girl on a skiing vacation with my classmates.At that time, I was naive and stubborn, with an extremely humble wish, just to take a look at the place where he lived - the legendary vampire castle.But now, that castle no longer belongs to him. The sun had already set, and we walked by the foot of Brown Castle at dusk, and the small vendors selling vampire peripheral products and local specialties in the square were preparing to close their stalls.One of them saw us from a distance, quickly held up two white porcelain mugs with Dracula's face printed on them, and greeted us in broken English.

Looking at the cartoon character on the mug who had no resemblance to him, I suppressed a smile and looked up at D's face.He was politely declining the offer in Romanian.The other party's eyes widened in surprise, "Are you Romanian? Where are you from?" "Sighişoara." D replied with a smile. "Hey! That's the birthplace of our Dracula." The young trader gave a thumbs up, "Are you two here for tourism?" "That's right." D pointed at me solemnly, "My fiancée is a fan of vampires." "Haha, who comes here to play, who is not a fan of vampires?" The vendor laughed, pointing to a shelf of vampire peripheral products behind him, shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you a local? Selling things here all the time?" I tried to recall the other person's face, wondering if I had seen him the last time I was here, but I couldn't remember.Avoiding D's eyes, I boldly asked him, "What do you think of Dracula?" The trader was joking with us, but when he heard this question, he suppressed his smile and suddenly became awe-inspiring, "Our Romanian hero. Without a doubt." I heard D cough, and I ignored him, "But don't you call him 'Prince of Stakes'?" "In times of war, no monarch is merciful." D interrupted me.

"Yes." The young man actually nodded in agreement, "During the reign of Dracula, our Transylvania repelled the Turks for the first time and became an independent kingdom. At that time, in order to establish Punishment is very necessary for majesty to consolidate power. The crueler it is, the more effective it will be." Then he sighed regretfully, "But you tourists from other places will never understand how much we locals support him." "I understand." D blinked. "We Romanians are proud of him," the young man continued, smiling at him, "even in some pagan churches nearby, his statue is enshrined."

I watched in shock as D and the vendor chatted about himself as if they were telling someone else's story.Of course, it is impossible for him to reveal his identity to everyone he meets.It's dangerous, and of course it's ridiculous, because few people in this world will believe the truth.For most people, people will always think of everything beyond their understanding as a continuation of Halloween.But it wasn't this that surprised me.What surprised me is that a person like D is always on top, like a god in charge of life and death. The prince was like this six hundred years ago, and the blood-sucking earl six hundred years later is still like this.But the way he chats with people now, he looks like an ordinary person.Although I know it's not common at all.

"Your fiancée is so beautiful!" I froze for a moment, obviously not used to this title. "Thank you, we are getting married soon." D gave me a smile and took my hand. "Bless you!" The young man turned around and picked up something from his booth, "Hey, I'll give this to you." I reached out and took the little thing.It was an old cast-iron coin, unremarkable-looking, with frayed edges. "This is..." I was confused. "The coin minted by Dracula after he defeated the Turks." D glanced at the little thing and said to me. The young man gave a thumbs up again, and expressed his sincere admiration from the inside out: "Mr. is really a qualified Dracula fan!"

"This kind of thing... must be very expensive?" I frowned, staring at the coin in my hand.That being said, it should be as old as D himself.Six hundred years of history.Shouldn't this kind of thing be kept in a museum? "Haha, how could it be real! It must be something imitated by later generations." Seeing my expression, the young man laughed, "I bought this from another vendor, thinking it would fetch a good price. But because There is no portrait of Dracula on it, so no one buys it at all. I keep it here as well, so I will give it to you as a souvenir!"

"Thank you." I pocketed the coin.Out of the corner of my eye, I seem to see D's eyebrows twitch, but he doesn't say anything after that.I guess it was just my illusion. The young man put away all the things in his stall, then closed the metal cabinet door like other stalls around, locked it and left. There are also such tin cabinets on the banks of the Thames.One after another, they are densely arranged on the sidewalk along the river bank, like treasure chests one after another, filled with tourist souvenirs and various old small things, as well as books.If you search carefully, you can always find surprises.That's where I found the sixth edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula, a fine print from the last century.

"Do you want the first edition? I'll give it to you." D was spying on my thoughts again, he said suddenly. "With a signature?" "Of course. Although I don't like him at all." D smiled. "If you put it on eBay auction, you will definitely make a lot of money." I tried to play a joke on him, but he actually replied, "Of course, I've sold several copies." By this time the night had fallen, and I raised my head to look at his face under the faint street light.It is still the D in my impression, clear outline, perfect facial features, deep-rooted elegance and incomparable beauty, but it is no longer so high and unattainable.He has come out of his palace-like underground castle.He is here now, right in front of me.But, oh, Satan, I still can't imagine stepping down the aisle and walking into church with him hand in hand.To me, this scene is even more absurd than the caricature head on that mug, it's unbelievable.

"It's not a church, dear." D put his arms around my waist affectionately, "The church and priests required for weddings are the regulations of the Catholic Church after the sixteenth century. In my time, druids were popular among pagans. Binding hands." "Druid?" This term reminds me of Anne Rice's "Blood and Gold". My favorite vampire, Marius, was originally a sacrifice caught by a druid priest. "Yes," D nodded and said to me, "the druids are the priests of the Celtic nation. They respect nature and are meticulous about sacrifices. In my time, they served as law enforcers, fortune tellers, and doctors and the priest." Then he smiled, "Of course, he is also responsible for the wedding ceremony."

"But where are we going to find a druid priest?" I frowned, not understanding what he meant. "So here we are." "So?" I didn't hear any causal relationship between the two at all. "Odell, you know a druid priest." "How could I..." I suspected that I had heard it wrong.But D stopped and gestured to me.At the same time I heard a brake sound, I turned my head and saw a car pull into the parking lot not far away and stop there. It was already evening, and the tourists at Brown Castle had almost left.But the car stopped there suddenly, didn't they know that the castle was closed now?But when I squinted and looked over there, and saw the dusty windshield and scratched doors of the old little car, my mouth fell open and my jaw almost dropped to the floor. Not only have I seen that car, I've ridden in it.Those heart-pounding bumpy memories suddenly came to my mind. Six months ago, I came here twice in that car.How could I forget!The car belonged to William's cousin Marlin.But why is he here?He came to see D?But when the door opened and I saw Marin, I knew I was wrong. Not far away, Marin left the driver's seat, then opened the door, and helped a passenger in the back seat to get out of the car.Meticulous white hair tied back, and a cheek wrinkled like an apple.A very small old lady slowly got out of the car with Marin's support.Her tidy elegance was at odds with the dusty Romania, and when she took small steps over the uneven stone floor, it was as if she had stepped on a red carpet specially prepared for her. D has sold Bran Castle, and his purpose of coming here is certainly not nostalgia.He is waiting for someone. The person he was waiting for was Grandma Sophie.Now here she is. In the distance, Grandma Sophie turned her head and said something to Marin.Marin seemed to let go of his hand reluctantly, and took a step back to lean against the car door.Grandma Sophie walked up to me with small steps alone. I looked at her in surprise, not knowing what to say.William's grandmother, Grandma Sophie, when I first met her, I thought she hated me.Because she has been avoiding me, and has never shown any affection for me when I lived in her house.But when I was heartbroken, when I was most in pain, it was she who gave me courage and hope, and told me to listen to my deepest prayer.Without her, I wouldn't go to D; without her, I wouldn't be standing here; without her, I wouldn't be who I am now. My lips were trembling, I looked into her kind eyes, I wanted to say "hello", "see you again", or the obviously more important question - "how are you here", but the words came out, all All the sentences were swallowed by silence, and only a vague "thank you" remained in the depths of his hoarse throat. Because apart from this word, everything else is superfluous at the moment. She nodded to me with a smile, and said to me in a steady voice: "Odile, nice to see you." It was like an ordinary elder greeting a child casually.But again, this is anything but ordinary.She knows I'm not human.She knew it from the first time we met, that's why she avoided me.She didn't want to interfere with any of my judgments, until——she couldn't help it, and took the initiative to do a divination for me.Because she said, she didn't want to see me make the mistakes she made back then.In her time, what kind of thrilling story would it be in old London under the warning of air raids during the war?I can't imagine. After Grandma Sophie greeted me, she turned her head to D. D opened his arms to embrace her, and pressed a kiss on her apple-like wrinkled cheek. "Long time no see, Sophie." He smiled at her.