Chapter 255: Chapter 182: In the Depths of the Nightmare

"Miss, it’s time to get up."

A gentle and respectful whisper sounded in Margaret’s ear: "Nap time is over, you have etiquette lessons to complete in the afternoon."

The Duke’s eldest daughter sleepily sat up, rubbing her eyes and glancing around.

Outside the window, the sky was a murky gray, and the Sanctuary Fortresses of the Empire’s new city were hidden in thick fog. Yet, the bedroom with its pale velvet bed was very bright.

Margaret had been afraid of the dark since she was little, so the ’simulated daylight’ in this aerial mansion was never turned off.

She obediently sat in front of the mirror as the maids meticulously combed her hair and gently dressed her in a beautiful, puffy long dress.

The air inexplicably turned colder.

Margaret kept her head down, not daring to look into the maids’ eyes, always feeling they harbored deep hatred towards her...

She remembered once accidentally breaking her mother’s cherished art collection, and her close maid Susan took the blame willingly, resulting in her mother’s rage leading to Susan’s execution by law.

Since then, they dared not get close to her again.

I’m sorry... I’m sorry... because I can’t make mistakes...

A moment later, the faceless head maid took the girl’s hand, and they left the bedroom, stepping into a corridor paved with pure white stones.

The environment was immaculate, and the surroundings were unusually quiet. The servants walked silently, as if blending into the shadows of the art pieces around them.

The atmosphere was oppressive and serious.

Margaret clutched her stuffed teddy bear tight, her only friend.

She saw the head maid push open an ajar door, revealing a spacious hall with a woman of elegant appearance sitting by a large floor-to-ceiling viewing window.

The poised and dignified woman sat with hands clasped, gazing absent-mindedly at the cold steel jungle of the Empire’s new city.

The little girl timidly parted her lips, "Mother..."

"How many times have I told you, Margaret, it’s etiquette class time now. You must call me Instructor!"

The woman turned her head, frowning with an extremely stern expression: "Your father dislikes weak offspring. You must break this bad habit of yours!"

"Sit there."

The Duchess pointed to the seat in front of her and pulled out a long iron teaching ruler. Margaret trembled slightly and obediently sat before her mother.

Smack!

A sudden swing, and a red mark appeared instantly on the girl’s calf.

"I just taught you yesterday; when sitting on a chair, you must keep your back straight! How could you forget after a nap?!"

Someone laughed coldly.

Were the maids mocking me? Or was it the monsters from fairy tales that punished bad children laughing?

The little girl clenched her teeth tightly. She dared not cry out, unwilling to provoke her mother’s disgust and anger.

"Control your expressions! Don’t just scratch your head anytime!"

The mother’s stern voice echoed in the empty hall. In just a short time, Margaret’s calves and arms were covered in visible welts.

Time passed second by second. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The head maid entered the room again, whispering a few words to the woman.

Margaret endured the pain and cautiously lifted her head, only to see a hint of disappointment on her mother’s face.

The woman instinctively bit her lip: "Is the Duke not returning today?"

"Butler reports that Lord Blood Vulture is busy with affairs and cannot break free for now," the head maid slightly bowed.

The woman fell into silence, looking at the face no longer young reflected on the floor-to-ceiling window, her eyes gradually filled with lingering anxiety and irritation.

"This can’t go on..." she murmured.

The laughter around grew more vicious.

Colder and colder, the phantom snow and wind already surrounded Margaret.

"Mother... please don’t..." The little girl painfully covered her forehead.

"Shut your mouth, Margaret, your opinions are not needed here."

The Duchess replied with indifference. Pondering for a while, she demanded, "Prepare a suitable carriage for me. Maybe the Duke hasn’t had lunch yet, and I want to personally bring my made soup to his office."

"But..." the head maid looked hesitant.

"Just do as I say!" The woman gritted her teeth.

"Yes, I’ll arrange it right away." The head maid lowered her head, hurriedly leaving.

The Duchess’s expression softened somewhat. She looked at her daughter, the little girl’s exposed skin already swollen and red.

A trace of reluctance flashed in the woman’s eyes.

Margaret was stunned, as if, like in the fairy tales, she saw her mother gently taking her hand.

No... that’s not right...

The eerie snowstorm swept around, and the little girl seemed momentarily dazed. Without knowing when it had happened, she was already sitting in the black and gold train heading to the City Hall.

The train, reserved for the nobility, navigated agilely through the misty tall buildings, racing forward on the suspended tracks above the new city.

Her impeccably poised mother sat beside her.

The uneasiness in the little girl’s heart grew stronger. She turned her head to look out the window, and the sky was growing even darker, even the simulated sunlight between the buildings dimmed.

At that moment, her mother seemed to sense her daughter’s fear. She sighed deeply and clasped her daughter’s hand tightly.

"Listen, Margaret, your father is a great man. As the Duke’s eldest daughter, you should strive to become like him."

With her other hand, she stroked her daughter’s hair and softly said, "Don’t mind my stern reproach. I love you deeply, hence I am willing to give everything for you."

I must become a person like father...

This is the path I have to walk...

The little girl painfully lifted her head, only to find her mother’s face gradually becoming chaotic, like a mass of entangled black threads.

Boom!

The next moment, a sudden mutation occurred!

The train, which had been smoothly moving forward, suddenly shook violently.

"The air track ahead of the train has been blown up! Attack! This is a premeditated attack!!"

The guard’s loud cry pierced her ears, and the next instant, a hysterical laugh exploded in the ears of everyone:

—"I’ve finally waited for this! Hahahahahaha finally I’ve waited for this!"

In the terrified gaze of the train conductor, a bizarre mechanical cyborg leapt down from a nearby tall building, the deafening crash sounded as he smashed through the alloy top of the train with brute force!

Looking closely, the man’s sides were filled with densely packed narrow mechanical limbs. He rapidly approached the core of the train with the extra arms.

Like an insect preying.

"That’s the convict ’Blood Shadow’ who escaped from prison not long ago!"

Inside the train, the guards immediately shouted in extreme panic.

"Damn! Why is he appearing in the safest new city?!"

"The enemy is definitely not just Blood Shadow! Protect the Duchess!"

Amidst the chaos, continuous screams came from outside the cabin, countless guards were thrown off the train by Blood Shadow, smashing into miserable puddles of flesh before the eyes of all.

The Duchess’s face turned incomparably pale.

The next second, the cabin wall was brutally torn open, revealing a terrifying face, devoid of skin and thoroughly transformed.

Margaret painfully clutched her forehead; the man’s grotesque laugh overlapped with the malicious laughter in the storm, and she finally realized something.

—This is her nightmare, a nightmare she can never break free from.

"No... don’t..."

The woman uttered a low, desperate moan. She clung tightly to the little girl in her arms: "I beg you, spare me and my child..."

"Spare you?"

Blood Shadow’s mechanical eye swept across the woman’s face. He grinned widely, letting out a maniacal laugh: "You really know how to joke, esteemed Duchess. I’ve waited for a long, long time for this opportunity!"

"I want Blood Vulture to pay the price! I want all the traitors who killed His Majesty the Emperor to pay the price!!"

He looked at the little girl, his tone becoming increasingly frenzied: "Especially you... You, whose body carries the blood of the murderer and the butcher!"

This is the remnant poison of the Mad Emperor left in the world.

"Do not harm my daughter!" For some reason, the woman was suddenly endowed with courage. She drew out a ruler, bursting into tears, and rushed forward regardless of everything.

In the next split second, the insect-like narrow limbs penetrated her chest.

Warm blood instantly splattered on the little girl’s face.

Margaret was bewildered, helplessly clutching her mother’s now icy hand. The surrounding snowstorm became increasingly fierce, seemingly dragging her mind into the deepest insanity.

"Margaret, although you narrowly escaped that time, I will not spare you..."

The mocking laughter around her became increasingly piercing, and Nightmare withdrew its limb, looking down from above at the shivering little girl: "Your future is destined to be incredibly tragic, your soul is destined to fall into endless madness!"

However, in the very next moment, Nightmare’s laughter suddenly halted.

The nightmare shattered instantaneously.

Margaret suddenly opened her eyes.

She instinctively turned over and sat up from the bed, straightening her waist like a startled wildcat, vigilantly watching the gray-haired boy before her.

"Had a nightmare?"

Lin Lan spoke in a gentle tone, handing over a cup of steaming coffee to her.