Blackstone Keep was originally built as a military fortress, and its facilities were naturally military in nature. The small garden was built later, and it was very small. After seeing the Highgarden's garden, the Hightower's garden could barely be described as rudimentary.
However, for some young men and women, such a secluded small garden was a rare place of joy.
It was just that their luck was not good. When Linde led Glory into the garden, they all scrambled out of the flower bushes, grabbed the clothes they hadn't had time to put on, and rushed out. Soon, only Linde and Glory were left in the garden.
Although Glory had been appeased by Linde just now, the anxiety caused by the Hightower had not diminished and was still affecting its mood, causing it to pace back and forth in the open space of the garden, occasionally looking up at the dragon soul bound by the Hightower, opening its mouth and letting out low growls full of unwillingness.
Linde did not restrain Glory too much. He also stood in the garden, looking up at the Hightower, but he was not looking at the vengeful spirit energy and the dragon soul, but at the mysterious patterns on the Hightower. This was Linde's first time seeing a magical creation with a complete system. Although he completely did not understand the meaning of the patterns, he still felt that this content might be beneficial to him.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Just as Linde was trying to memorize the patterns on the Hightower, footsteps came from not far away. Linde turned his head and saw a woman dressed in a jewel-black gauze outfit, looking more like a Dornish person, walk up to Linde and ask him directly.
Linde did not answer her, but bowed with a calm expression: "Lady Moroya."
The woman frowned and corrected him: "Wrong, I am Miss Moroia. I don't have a husband yet."
This woman in front of him was Earl Layton's eldest daughter, Lady Allerie's elder sister, Moroya Hightower, a Hightower member known as the madwoman.
On the way to Oldtown, Velas had chatted with Linde about some noble families in Oldtown, and Hightower was naturally the most important one among them.
It was just that when Velas talked about other Hightower members, he only mentioned them in one or two sentences, but when he mentioned his eldest aunt, Moroya Hightower, it was as if he had endless stories to tell.
Although outsiders called Moroya a madwoman, Velas greatly admired his eldest aunt, because when she was in her teens, she disguised herself as a man and infiltrated the Citadel. Then, relying on her amazing learning ability, she forged seven links in just a few years and then gained the qualification to study arcana.
However, later her identity was discovered, and coupled with her unauthorized access to some sealed forbidden knowledge, the Citadel stripped her of all her links and expelled her from the Citadel. It was rumored that this incident dealt a huge blow to her, causing her to become insane later on.
However, some people also said that the reason for her madness was that she accidentally touched forbidden knowledge while studying arcana in the Citadel, and the mysterious power contained in the forbidden knowledge ultimately led to her mental derangement and madness.
Velas mentioned that Earl Layton had investigated the origin of the rumors of Moroya's madness in the outside world and found that most of these rumors were spread by enemies of the Hightower.
The only two things that truly bordered on madness were: one, Moroya often conducted strange experiments in her private alchemy lab. Many servants and soldiers of the Hightower had seen the remains of unknown animals being carried out of her lab and burned on the reefs outside Blackstone Keep.
The other thing was that Moroya often stared blankly at the walls of the Hightower late at night and then spoke inexplicable words.
Although Earl Layton tried to prevent these bad reputations from spreading in Oldtown, the effect was ultimately very small, and coupled with Moroya's indifference, Earl Layton gave up.
Although the bad reputation of the madwoman had always spread in Oldtown, Moroya didn't care at all, because since being expelled from the Citadel, she had always stayed in her room and alchemy lab in the Hightower, rarely interacting with the outside world. Good or bad reputation was meaningless to her, even less important than a measuring cup in her alchemy lab. Over time, this reputation gradually spread to the Seven Kingdoms.
For banquets like today, which hosted the heir of Highgarden and her own grand-nephew, Earl Layton naturally wanted all his family members to be present, so Moroya also appeared at the banquet.
However, when she appeared, the entire banquet hall fell silent. The reason for the silence was partly due to Moroya's past bad reputation, and also because Moroya, who had not appeared in public for many years, was still so young and beautiful.
It should be known that Moroya was only one year younger than Earl Layton's eldest son, Beller Hightower, but when she stood with Beller Hightower, they looked like a father and daughter. When she stood with Earl Layton, they looked like grandfather and granddaughter. Even when she stood beside Lynesse Hightower, the youngest of her sisters, she looked even younger than Lynesse.
In addition to her age, Moroya also possessed the beauty that every Hightower woman had. In everyone's eyes, Moroya's beauty far surpassed that of other Hightower women, even Lynesse Hightower, known as the Star of the Hightower, was inferior to her.
In short, Moroya's age appeared like that of a newly adult girl, yet her beauty seemed so mature and elegant. These two extremely contrasting temperaments appeared simultaneously on her, giving her an alluring charm.
Many people at that moment completely forgot Moroya's long-standing bad reputation and thought that they should marry her. Some even, despite remembering Moroya's bad reputation, thought it didn't matter. In their eyes, her beauty alone was enough to smooth over all bad reputations.
However, in Linde's eyes, Moroya was a different sight compared to others.
He saw some special energy wrapped around Moroya. Part of this energy emanated from her body, some came from the surrounding walls, but more came from the black gemstone necklace she wore around her neck.
It was clear that the Hightower's proficiency in various arcane arts was not just a rumor. From the special energy on Moroya, it could be confirmed that the Hightower must have mastered very ancient and profound magical knowledge, capable of cultivating true mages themselves, not just those tricksters who called themselves mages.
Moreover, this woman in front of him, with a gemstone veil covering her head and a black gemstone necklace around her neck, involuntarily reminded Linde of another woman with powerful sorcery, the Red Woman Melisandre.
For such mysterious figures, even if they truly possessed some powerful extraordinary abilities, Linde kept his distance. Therefore, after the banquet began, he tried to keep a low profile and then quietly left the banquet hall.
However, what he didn't expect was that Moroya Hightower would actually come to the small garden and speak to him first, and she seemed to know that he could see the patterns on the Hightower.
"You can see the things on the Hightower, can't you?" Moroya, seeing that Linde did not answer immediately, asked again.
However, Linde had no intention of admitting it at all. He feigned ignorance and asked in return, "Is there something on the Hightower? I don't quite understand what you mean, Miss Moroia."
Moroya looked at Linde expressionlessly, her gaze seeming to penetrate Linde's helmet, seeing the face behind the helmet, and the expression on the face.
Suddenly, Moroya reached out and grabbed Linde's helmet, intending to take it off, but Linde grabbed her arm and gently pushed her away.
"Miss Moroia, please do not do anything impolite." Linde's calm voice came from inside the helmet.
"Do you know what they call me?" Moroya rubbed her arm, showing no sign of anger, but instead approached again and said.
Linde retorted, "Then do you know what they call me?"
Moroya was stunned, not understanding why Linde would suddenly ask such a question. Just as she was about to open her mouth to continue questioning Linde, she suddenly felt a rush of hot air from behind her, accompanied by an extremely strong sense of danger.
Moroya couldn't help but turn her head to look behind her, and at that moment, Glory happened to extend its head over her shoulder. Her eyes met Glory's vertical pupils, and she was immediately stunned.
When Moroya entered the small garden just now, Glory's body was completely in the shadows, passively triggering its stealth ability, and Moroya did not see it.
So much so that she now had no idea where this suddenly appearing giant monster came from. The only thing she knew for sure was that she could see hunger in the eyes of this monster, and it seemed very hungry, intending to use her as food to satisfy its hunger.
Just as Moroya was panicking to the extreme and about to scream, she saw an armored hand press on the head of this terrifying monster behind her and push it aside.
Moroya then saw the hunger in the monster's eyes instantly disappear. It obediently moved its head away, and when the hand left its head, it even leaned over and licked Linde's palm before pacing away.
At this point, Moroya finally saw the full appearance of the monster and realized that it was an unusually large Shadow Lynx. And only then did she remember the discussions she had heard among the Oldtown nobles and household servants on her way to the small garden.
"Who exactly are you?" Moroya couldn't help but ask the fully armored knight, who was clearly the monster's owner, with a mix of horror and curiosity in her heart.
Moroya had not been in contact with the outside world for a long time. She had always stayed in the Hightower, oblivious to external affairs, dedicated to studying the arcane knowledge in the family's library.
So now, in her perception, the Targaryen Dynasty still existed, and she was unaware that the dynasty had changed over a year ago. Naturally, she also didn't know about Linde, the newly rising legendary figure whose reputation had spread throughout Westeros in the past six months.
This time, she originally intended to attend the banquet as usual, and then return to her room to continue reading the book she hadn't finished.
It was just that she noticed that in the banquet hall, among a group of nobles in lavish attire, there was one knight in full armor, even with a helmet on his head, who stood out. Even though this person stood in a corner after arriving at the banquet hall and did not speak to anyone, he still drew considerable attention.
Most of those who noticed this knight focused on his magnificent armor, but she was different. She immediately saw that the hilt of the Greatsword at the knight's waist was made of dragon bone, and she could also faintly feel some magical power emanating from the knight's Greatsword.
This was the second time she had seen something related to magic outside of the Hightower. The last time she saw such things was in a forbidden secret room in the Citadel.
So, with strong curiosity, she did not return to her room but followed Linde's movements and came to the small garden. She just happened to see Linde looking up at the outer wall of the Hightower, which also made her guess that this fully armored knight in front of her should also be able to see things related to magic, just like her.
This made her incredibly excited. She knew that after so many years, she had never met anyone in the same situation as herself.
Even though her father, Earl Layton, had always believed that she, like some of her ancestors, possessed special abilities and supported her in studying magic and sorcery, she still felt very lonely, feeling out of place in this world. This was why she preferred to stay in the Hightower and was unwilling to interact with the outside world.
Now, she suddenly discovered that someone had the same ability as her. It was as if someone who had been on a deserted island for more than ten years suddenly found a kindred spirit. The excitement in her heart was uncontrollable, making her completely forget all etiquette and walk directly up to the other person to ask them a question.
As for now, even though she had been startled, she still did not give up on contacting Linde.
"Miss Moroia, you should return to the banquet. That is where you belong." Linde could sense that this woman in front of him was a big problem, so to avoid trouble, he adopted a cold attitude to make her retreat.
Moroya looked at Linde, sensing his clear coldness. After a moment of silence, she seemed to give up, saying nothing more, and turned to leave the small garden.
Although Moroya left readily, Linde felt that this matter might not be over, and the trouble this woman brought him might have just begun.
Afterward, the trouble Linde worried about did not appear. Moroya did not reappear until the banquet ended and a servant found Linde.
The nobles who attended the banquet all left, and the noble knights who followed Velas also returned to the camp outside the city, while Velas did not leave, but stayed in the Hightower.
Because he had to meet several great nobles of Oldtown early tomorrow morning, then visit the Citadel, and then perform a sacred prayer ritual at the Starry Sept the day after tomorrow. Time was very tight, and entering the city from outside Oldtown would waste a lot of time.
Linde, as the captain of the personal guard, also stayed, arranged next to Velas's room. This was on the second floor of the Hightower, and the room window faced Oldtown, from where the entire Oldtown could be seen clearly.
Unlike the outside of the Hightower, the inside of the Hightower did not have those patterns containing mysterious power, nor did it have any vengeful spirit energy, as if all extraordinary power was fixed on the walls. Glory also became much quieter because of this.
"Ser Linde, may I come in?" Velas suddenly knocked on the door and asked as Linde took off his armor, unbuckled his Greatsword, and prepared to rest.
Linde frowned, turned and walked over, opened the door, and said to Velas, who had changed into casual clothes: "Please come in, Lord Velas."
Velas walked in, closed the door casually, and then asked seemingly casually: "Lord Linde, are you getting used to living here?"
"It's at least better than the barracks," Linde replied.
Velas then said, "At the banquet just now, you didn't seem to eat anything. I asked…"
Linde sighed and said, "Lord Velas, you shouldn't have come here just to ask me if I'm living well or if I've eaten! Just get straight to the point!"
Velas gave an awkward laugh, then took a deep breath, and said with a serious expression: "Lord Linde, what do you think of my eldest aunt, Moroya Hightower?"
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