Chapter 337 — Whose Neck the Noose Fits

The wooden door, adorned with yellow-white tassels, was pushed open. Gaoyang stepped into the room and saw Patty's chair at the center of it. The little girl was gazing absently out the window—through a broad crystal pane, at the star-filled sky beyond the castle.

The room had many broad windows; the castle wall had clearly been boldly remodeled in this section. Near the ceiling Gaoyang even saw a skylight, a rarity in traditional castles, one that would let the noonday sun flood the room with ease.

"The doctor says she needs more sunlight. The magic in the sunlight eases the itching and pain of her skin," Ropenny said softly.

Gaoyang recalled what Patty had told him in the Mindscape City: she needed to enter the dream world to sleep well, because her body itched and ached.

There was no sunlight at night.

Just then Patty finally caught the sound at the door. The little girl's head wobbled as she turned toward it, and then her face broke into a radiant smile. "Uncle Gaoyang!"

Ropenny hurried forward, turning Patty's chair around as she corrected her. "It is Duke Gaoyang."

"Uncle is fine too—it makes me feel seven hundred years younger all at once," Gaorong waved a hand to show he did not mind, then came to stand before Patty. "See? Just as promised, I've come to see you."

The little girl blinked happily. "Mm!"

Then, curious, she asked, "Uncle, is it really true that you came back from the dead? I heard the maids say that the great hero who founded the nation has risen from his grave..."

Gaoyang turned his head and gave Amber a look that was half smile, half something else, then nodded at Patty. "Of course it is."

"So people really can come back!" Patty's face lit up with wonder. "Then can Papa come back too? Papa loves telling your stories! He must want to meet you so badly..."

At the edge of Gaoyang's vision, the fingers Ropenny Glan had wrapped around the back of the chair suddenly went white with strain.

"I don't know whether your father can come back the way I did, but one day all of us will meet again somewhere," Gaoyang said, lightly pressing down on Patty's hair. "If he knew you'd met me this early, he'd surely envy you."