Chapter 119. A Ga Beneath the Moonlight (7)
After so ti of walking, Luo Nan finally arrived at the Small Dining Room.
He pushed the door open; the mont his gaze swept into the interior of the dining room, he seed to experience a false impression.
It was as if everyone was grey—only wherever his eyes landed would color be rendered in, and motion be executed.
"Another hallucination?"
Luo Nan glanced at Father, Mother, and Qili seated at the dining table, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Father Duke dillion was as severe and silent as ever; Mother's beautiful, featureless face was still smiling softly at him.
And Qili—due to the angle, Luo Nan still couldn't make out the expression on her face.
"Everything is normal." He gave a small nod, letting out a quiet breath.
Taking his seat, Luo Nan waited calmly for tonight's dinner.
"Father, Mother—sorry, I had so urgent business to attend to just now and arrived late." Luo Nan explained to his parents.
"Mm, rember to mind the ti next ti." Duke dillion reminded him off-handedly.
"Luo Nan! Have you already forgotten what you promised Mama this morning? You said you'd co back for lunch, and not to go gallivanting around outside with those foxy friends of yours……"
Just as Luo Nan had anticipated, his featureless mother imdiately launched into her signature "brand of motherly love"—nagging mode.
Luo Nan had naturally foreseen this situation; he imdiately reached into his jacket and produced the elegantly gift-wrapped book, presenting it with both hands to his mother.
"Mom, I know you're very interested in books related to the Rossan Empire—I specially snapped up a limited edition of The Lost Ancient Empire, Mr. Jeraf Goldenhamr's latest work……"
Sure enough, the mont Luo Nan placed the book gift in his mother's hands, the nagging instantly transford into surprise and delight.
"Mm……my Luo Nan……still so considerate of Mama."
His featureless mother reached out and gave a gentle dab at where the corner of her eye would be.
'Good thing I anticipated this—otherwise dinner tonight would have been miserable to eat again.'
With the mother-crisis successfully resolved, Luo Nan relaxed and waited for the maidservants to serve the al.
Taking advantage of the interval, Luo Nan raised his head and looked around the Small Dining Room's décor.
On the wall behind the head seat hung the dillion family's "Golden Falcon" crest; on the side wall was an oil painting—a family portrait of four.
The painting was so lifelike that even the textures of their clothing were visible in clear detail—unmistakably the work of a master's hand.
Luo Nan admired his own likeness in the oil painting.
The backdrop of the painting was the Duke Manor's garden.
Father and Mother were seated in chairs; a slightly green Luo Nan stood behind the chairs, showing a sunny smile, while Qili also stood quietly beside Mother.
"That's a little strange……"
"Why do I, Father, and Qili all have distinct facial features, while Mother has none?"
"I thought speaking required a mouth?"
"A mother without facial features…… how is she producing sound?"
"I rember crying requires having eyes first?"
"A mother without facial features…… how is she shedding tears?"
Luo Nan's pupils contracted sharply.
"Wait……no facial features?!"
"Would a normal person have no facial features?!"
"No!"
"How could my mother possibly have no facial features?!"
The instant Luo Nan beca aware of this, a pain as if it could tear his very soul apart invaded his entire body in a flash.
"I……ugh……sothing is wrong! Sothing is wrong with this world!"
"It turns out the problem isn't with !"
Luo Nan lowered his head, cradling it in his hands, doing his best to conceal his expression.
'I've had a nagging feeling sothing was off ever since I woke up this morning.'
'I rember…… Pati had clearly already Returned to the Source. Why am I still seeing her?'
'I rember…… Qili had clearly gone on a world-circling journey of cultivation. Why am I still seeing her?'
'I also rember…… Mother had clearly been gone for several years. Why…… am I still seeing her?'
'And Mother doesn't even have any facial features?'
In that instant, countless mories ca crashing in like a tidal wave, flooding into Luo Nan's mind all at once.
"So that's how it is."
'I am not in the real world right now.'
'This is the Mind Phantasm set up for by the Chrono Phantom Demon—Aeldelin Xueting—my personal Mind Phantasm!'
'No wonder this world has been showing anomalies everywhere!'
'Rose Anlute, the Perez Family, Anya Sivans, and Zhixia Cangya—these people didn't appear out of nowhere—they are all people who have had cause-and-effect connections with !'
The mont Luo Nan fully realized the phantasm's existence, the entire Duke Manor seed to have been pressed on pause.
The colors that had been there faded abruptly; Father, Mother, Qili, and even the maidservants attending to one side—all were washed over with a faint, pale crimson.
The crimson beauty's voice rose faintly from within Luo Nan's mind:
"Mr. Luo Nan—I knew I hadn't misjudged you. Being able to find the breakthrough point within the subconscious trap I set for you—not bad~~"
"Lady Aeldelin?"
"But don't get too pleased with yourself~~ the ga isn't over yet." Aeldelin's voice paused briefly, then continued with unmistakable excitent. "You told before—you need to find the 'Phantasm Keystone' I've set within the allotted ti, and break it, to claim victory in this round."
"Care to guess…… where I've placed the Phantasm Keystone?"
Her voice carried a thread of playfulness and anticipation.
"Good luck, Mr. Luo Nan—I hope you'll be able to bring yourself to do what's necessary~~"
"Wait, Lady Aeldelin!"
Luo Nan tried to call her back—but that honeyed voice vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed, taking with it the world's original colors restored along the way.
"Luo Nan? Who are you talking to? Aeldelin…… that's a lady's na, isn't it?"
His featureless mother had keenly caught the key point in her son's words and asked with a probing look.
"No—nothing, Mother, my mind wandered……" Luo Nan replied in a low voice, gazing fixedly at his mother's featureless face.
"Luo Nan! You're daydreaming in front of Mama again—I know you too well…… out with it quickly, what sort of relationship do you have with that lady nad Aeldelin?"
"Mama isn't trying to stand in the way of your free love, it's just that……"
The nagging began again; his featureless mother, seemingly sensing that Luo Nan wasn't listening, jabbed the man beside her. "Hermann, you say sothing too—what if your son gets taken advantage of by so wicked woman?!"
"Well…… I……"
Hermann von dillion, who had always kept entirely aloof from the matter, evidently hadn't anticipated being dragged onto the battlefield himself.
"No, Father, Mother—you've misunderstood. I truly have absolutely no romantic or relationship entanglent with the lady nad Aeldelin." Luo Nan hurried to explain.
Hearing his parents ask this made his head throb!
Especially in front of Mother.
Even more so than the headache from a few days prior, when Father had strong-ard him into entering a Marriage Covenant with Serela!
"Ha ha……~~"
The crimson beauty's soft laugh surfaced once more in Luo Nan's mind.
"Aeldelin?"
Luo Nan's heart sank—could Aeldelin be monitoring him the entire ti?
Good thing he hadn't let "Truth-Piercing Star Spike" slip out as his ace in the hole—he'd nearly blown the whole operation.
Honestly speaking, after Aeldelin's seemingly offhand hint, even if he were a completely brainless scoundrel, he could figure out where the Phantasm Keystone was.
'Worthy of a Chrono Phantom Demon—this wicked sense of humor truly is……'
Luo Nan unconsciously gripped the handle of the Silent Hamr tucked in his jacket, montarily hesitant.
"What should I do?"
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