Chapter 793 — Approaching Nightmare

The Typhonians were a proud people, and that pride stemmed from their martial spirit—and even more from their strength, the greatest among all human nations. But pride is not blindness, and those chosen as envoys were certainly no fools. From the moment they left their homeland, every one of Matilda's party had kept their eyes sharp, and now they saw things that left them all vaguely uneasy.

Judging at least by appearances, the prosperity and advancement of this Cecil imperial capital surpassed Aldernan's.

"Anluo's judgment and worries were both correct; this country is rising rapidly," Matilda's gaze passed through the floor-to-ceiling window and fell upon the bustling district across from the Autumn Palace. Her transcendent vision allowed her to make out many details in the streets—she could see the contented residents, and she could see the brand-new shop signs and thriving commercial streets. "Also, Count Durel, have you noticed something..."

"What do you mean?"

"Xuanyao City seems to have no slums."

"Indeed... at least judging from the districts we have passed through and the intelligence we have gathered, Xuanyao City appears to have no real slum district," Count Durel thought for a moment, then nodded. "Most puzzling... where do all the poor people live? Do they have to live outside the city? That would explain why Xuanyao City can maintain this degree of cleanliness, and also why everyone we have seen along the way is relatively well-off and full of energy."

Matilda glanced at Count Durel and shook her head slightly, but in the end said nothing.

After another few seconds of silence, she spoke as if casually, "Tomorrow, before the first meeting begins, we will have a chance to tour their Imperial Academy. That is very important—it is one of the main reasons we came here.

"It is said that their academy is more thorough than ours in 'breaking convention.' All commoners and nobles study at the same academy, and even live in the same residential areas. We must see it with our own eyes, understand how they plan it, and understand how their academy is run.

"Beyond that, let us simply do our duty as 'guests.'"

Count Durel nodded slightly, then left the room with the large floor-to-ceiling window.

In the gradually sinking sunset, Matilda turned from the window and went to the bar at one side of the room. She poured herself a glass of light wine, then raised the crystalline goblet before her eyes and, through the swaying liquid, gazed at the almost congealed twilight radiance pouring through the window into the room.

The next second, that twilight radiance truly congealed near the window, and like some pigment slowly spreading and bleeding, it rapidly covered everything in her field of vision.

Where the twilight radiance fell, objects seemed to have endured the baptism of hundreds of years. The vivid tapestries lost their color, the exquisite wooden furniture swiftly mottled and cracked, the furnishings in the room vanished and weathered away one after another—and even the layout of the room itself rapidly transformed into something else entirely!

Before Matilda's eyes, the bright new room swiftly became the corridor of an ancient, silent palace, and countless suspicious, malevolent whispers came from every direction, as though numberless unseen guests had gathered within this "palace" and were advancing toward Matilda step by step with ill intent.

Upon the wall nearest her, a dark black door abruptly appeared, and from behind it came a steady knocking, and indescribable hoarse murmurings rose beyond the door, mingled with grisly sounds of chewing and swallowing, as if a man-devouring beast crouched outside yet pretended to be human, patiently knocking on the panel.

Matilda Pingxi looked upon the scene before her, now grown alien, reached into her robes, and drew out a delicate little metal tube; she unscrewed the cap and poured the potion within into her mouth.

As the pungent, bitter draught ran down her throat, the whispers closing in from all sides gradually faded, and the alien scene before her swiftly returned to normal; Matilda still stood in the chamber of the Autumn Palace, only her face somewhat paler than before.

She reached out and took from the bar counter beside her the wine glass she had just set down; her hand trembled faintly, but she raised the glass nonetheless and drained it in one breath.

An illusory scent of blood filled her mouth, but it receded swiftly; Matilda closed her eyes slightly, and after several deep breaths she opened them again, and those eyes were once more calm and unruffled, deep as water.

To grow alongside madness, to strive against madness all one's life, and in adulthood to slide gradually into the nightmare that every member of the family must face, and sooner or later to be devoured by it.

Such was the fate of every Augustus.

The corner of Matilda's mouth lifted slightly, as though in self-mockery, but she soon reined in this emotion, which should not have shown itself, and turned to the writing desk not far away.

Upon the desk lay a book spread open, yet it was no mysterious magical text or weighty state document, but rather a volume bought on impulse while touring the mage district, a book that any citizen of the Cecil Empire might read freely:

*Advanced Mathematics*

Its contents were wondrous, and for a while she could not seem to make them out, yet it was said that the students of Cecil were utterly absorbed in it, carrying a copy even while eating or walking, so surely what this book recorded must be of great importance.

Having successfully withstood the erosion of nightmare and madness, Matilda felt she needed to look at something else to adjust her mood...