Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Now that the young count has lost his mind, what happened in the Carpathian castle will never be known.If it weren't for something that happened later, I am afraid that all the truth will become an eternal mystery. Olvanik waited for Baron de Golz in the town of Busterlitz as agreed.He waited for four days, but the baron never showed up, and he wondered inwardly whether the baron also died in the castle.Worried and driven by curiosity, he left the town and returned to the village of Weierst, wandering around the old castle. The police quickly arrested him based on the facial features provided by his old acquaintance Rozko.

Olvanik was taken to Katzburg, and once he faced a judge, he quickly confessed the cause and effect of the bombing. It seems that the tragic end of Baron Rudolf de Golz did not sadden the selfish, eccentric scholar who cared only for his own inventions. Pressed by Rodzko, he first confirmed that La Stella was long dead—that was the expression he used—and that she was buried, for five years, in Naples in good condition in the cemetery of the Campo di Santa Novosibirsk. This disclosure caused quite a stir. If Lastila had died long ago, how could Franz have heard her mournful singing in the hotel living room, and saw her graceful figure in the turret, and when he was locked up in the basement, how could he still be fascinated? Hear her singing? ...he saw her in the living room on top of the tower?

Here's the explanation for this phenomenon, as incredible as it sounds. How sad and hopeless the Baron de Goltz was when there was talk of Lastella's determination to leave the stage and become Countess de Derek!He will no longer be able to appreciate the proficient performances of talented female singers, and he will no longer be able to satisfy his various hobbies and demands for music.At this time, Olvanik suggested to him that the main repertoire of Lastila's farewell party could be recorded on the phonograph.At that time, the phonograph equipment was becoming more and more technically perfect, and Olvanik made it more sophisticated, and the recorded sound would never be distorted, and the beautiful tone was maintained without changing the pure timbre.

Baron de Golz accepted the physicist's offer.They secretly installed a gramophone in the box.In this way, the opera, the Romance in concert, the piece by Stepano, and the finale of Orlando, interrupted by Lastella's sudden death, were recorded on the turntable. In this case, the baron returned to the castle, where he lived in seclusion.Every night, he could enjoy the singing of female singers on the gramophone.Not only could he hear the beautiful singing, as he had done in the theater box, but—and this was most inexplicable—he could see her standing before him, alive and well. This is nothing more than a simple optical effect.

Don't you forget that the Baron de Golze bought a charming portrait of a diva at a high price.In the portrait, she is wearing the long snow-white dress of Angirica in "Orlando", with her beautiful long hair loose.Olvanik placed a set of mirrors obliquely according to carefully calculated angles, and then placed the portrait in front of a mirror, a beam of strong light came, and due to the refraction, Lastila appeared, just like in the past. Equally elegant and moving, full of energy.Rudolf de Golz moved the device to the turret platform, made La Stella appear, and thus lured Franz into the castle.It was by means of this device that the young count saw Lastella again in the great hall of the tower, while her mad admirers were immersed in the beauty of her singing.

The above is just a rough outline. During the interrogation, Olvanik's confession was more detailed.It must be said that Olvanik proudly claims that these inventions of genius belong to him, that he improved them and perfected them. If the strange scholar expounded various strange phenomena from the material aspect, or things called "'stunts'", he could not explain why Baron de Golz did not escape from the castle through the tunnel before the explosion.But it dawned on him when he later learned that a bullet had broken the box that Rudolf de Golz was holding.This box is the phonograph with the finale of La Stella, the swan song of the diva that Rudolf de Golz wants to hear again on the top of the tower before the castle collapses.The gramophone was destroyed, and the life of Baron de Golze was declared over.He is desperate and has nothing to ask for, only wants to die with the castle.

Baron Rudolf de Golz was buried in the cemetery in the village of Weierst according to the rites of the old family.His death cut off the incense of the baron family.As for Count Franz de Derek?Rodzko sent him back to Craiova Castle and took good care of him. Olvanik voluntarily gave him phonograph recordings of other songs by Rastila.When Franz heard the voice of the great female artist, he seemed to regain some vitality, and his sanity gradually became clear, as if his soul was reborn in the memory of an indelible past. A few months later, the young count regained his senses, and through his days the events of the last night in the Carpathian castle were known in detail.

Now let's talk about the charming Milyuda and Nick Decker, whose wedding took place a week after the disaster passed.After the young couple received the priest's blessing in the church of Vulcan Village, they returned to the beautiful and warm new house prepared for them by the head of Kerz Village. But don't think that the young woman Milyuda no longer believes that there are ghosts and ghosts in the castle after the truth of everything in the castle is revealed.Nick Deck was exhausted, and so was Jonas, because he had to entertain customers for the "King Matthias Hotel". Milyuda was not persuaded at all, the village chief of Kurz, the shepherd Flick, Haile Teacher Maude and other villagers are also suspicious.It seems that it may take many years for these kind-hearted people to stop being superstitious.

Dr. Batak is now bragging again, saying to everyone: "How about it! Didn't I say it earlier?...The castle is haunted!...Where the hell is it!" He was ignored, and sometimes he put people down so much that people had to ask him to shut his mouth. Mr. Hellmode is still preaching the ghosts and legends of Transylvania in class.It seems that the younger generation of Welster will continue to believe in it for a long time to come: ghosts from another world haunt the ruins of the Carpathian castle.