Bernadette was silent for two seconds. Through her "Invisible Servant", she responded: "Uncle
She used the address from her childhood to reduce the chance of unnecessary accidents.
And when her voice echoed through the surrounding air via the "Invisible Servant", it was dry, hoarse, completely different from its normal state.
Edwards's face was pale as death, as if he had just crawled out of a grave, devoid of any warmth: "I don't know either. One time I woke up and found myself back on this island. This is perhaps my destiny, the destiny of guarding His Majesty."
Each sentence he spoke was punctuated by a pause, but it didn't give the feeling of being out of breath. It was as if he hadn't spoken for so long that his throat had "rusted" and was unaccustomed to it.
Before Bernadette could ask, the knight whose name had resounded across the continent over a century ago added in a flat tone: "His Majesty's mausoleum is nearby. I have been guarding it all this time, waiting for Him to resurrect. But so many years have passed, and the mausoleum has never stirred. There has never been any sign of resurrection."
Bernadette had the "Invisible Servant" look around and said: "So this wooden cabin is where you live?"
The exposed skin on Edwards's body was slightly shriveled, matching the age spots that were already there. He answered in a low, raspy, halting voice: "Yes. I built this house using the surrounding trees as materials."
Bernadette's "Invisible Servant" looked in the direction it had come from: "Uncle William and the others aren't with you?"
Edwards's cold, dull eyes moved slightly: "They were contaminated long ago and have died. Now, although they have come back to life, they are closer to monsters than to their former selves. Your Highness, you must be wary of them and avoid them. No one can be trusted except for Benjamin and me."
Bernadette was silent for a moment, then asked through the "Invisible Servant": "Where is my father's mausoleum? I want to see it."
Edwards's neck moved stiffly: "Alright."
He then walked step by step towards the wooden cabin and took out a rusty iron-black axe from inside.
"I'll take you there," Edwards said, looking at the "Invisible Servant" which normally shouldn't be visible.
Throughout this process, his expression was rigid, almost unchanged.
"Okay," Bernadette responded from the edge of the forest, letting her dry, hoarse voice echo around through the "Invisible Servant".
Edwards was nearly one meter nine in height, but he looked quite gaunt now. Carrying the axe, he walked step by step towards the area behind the cabin and said in a voice without much fluctuation: "It's very close. Be careful on the way."
Bernadette immediately controlled the "Invisible Servant", making it follow closely behind Edwards, who was dressed in luxurious clothes.
As they trekked through the primeval forest one after the other, Bernadette suddenly had the "Invisible Servant" ask: "Uncle Edwards, what were you worshipping in that clearing earlier?"
Edwards did not turn around, his steps maintaining a nearly consistent rhythm: "His Majesty."
Bernadette, who was at least two kilometers behind him and the "Invisible Servant", raised an eyebrow but took almost three seconds to control her emotions.
Through the "Invisible Servant", she continued to ask, without a trace of emotion: "Are Uncle William and the others worshipping Him too?"
Edwards's step faltered for a moment, but he still kept his back to the "Invisible Servant" and the pair of "Eyes of Prying".
"No."
He slowed his pace as if thinking about the answer: "I don't know what they are worshipping..."
Bernadette's eyes narrowed slightly, as if she saw some ripples in the River of Fate.
She asked no more questions, letting the "Invisible Servant" quietly trail behind Edwards, making its way between the dark green colossal trees and the deep black sharp shrubs towards the island's peak.
In just four or five minutes, the trees ahead suddenly disappeared.
This was not the gradual transition from dense to sparse to nothing. An invisible line marked the boundary; the colossal trees abruptly vanished.
Beyond that invisible boundary was a peak several hundred meters high. Its top was also covered with those deep green, almost black colossal trees, so that from a distance, it almost merged with the forest, indistinguishable.
However, on the side of the peak facing Edwards and Bernadette, most of the area was treeless because the mountain had been partly hollowed out.
Inside the mountain, a black mausoleum stood there, in an incomparably majestic manner.