Chapter 21
An hour later.
Joshua came to the dining hall in the castle and sat at one of the long tables there, which had all kinds of food arranged on it.
It was difficult to imagine that a castle of undead creatures would have so many fresh ingredients in it.
Joshua poked the grilled meat before him a few times because he kept having the feeling that a couple of maggots were wriggling within the meat. After all, the zombie servant next to him had rotten flesh hanging off of him.
Ciri, who was seated beside Joshua was not too fussed. She had just lost a lot of body heat, and she needed quick replenishment. So, she started to wolf down the food on the table without any care for decorum.
“Your Highness, a toast to you.”
The Duke of Bones lifted the tall glass in his hand, and the crystal-clear liquid within swirled like blood. It was clearly red wine, and the moment the Duke of Bones drank it, Joshua saw the wine leak out of the latter’s jawbone and drip onto the dining table.
Joshua could only describe Earth as a vague and distant place.
The soulfire within the Duke of Bones’ eyes flickered quickly again as a black box and an old, torn contract floated out into the air.
The black box had a powerful corrupting power in it, and Joshua did not need to ask to know what it was—the lifeblood of Liches.
“A contract. I will give you a quarter of my soul, and you will give me all of the scores. I will not disappoint the maestros you have spoken of,” the Duke of Bones said.
Souls were not separable things. Having a fourth of the duke’s soul was as good as having half of his life.
Bloody hell… This Lich was a real lunatic. He was willing to forsake his life to regain his human senses again.
Yet, for someone who had lived a thousand years in a small black room without light, food, or water, such a life was no better than death, right?
That was probably how the Duke of Bones had lived.
“Of course, I accept. ”
There was no problem with the contract. As it was written in the name of Chaos, Joshua was much more sensitive to its magic than the former was!
A drop of blood from Joshua’s fingertip floated before the contract while a surge of dark, transparent mist overflowed from the black box and fused into the drop of blood.
The blood then turned into a dark pearl-like item before melting away on Joshua’s palm and forming a bizarre mark.
Using the mark, Joshua could feel a faint connection with all of the undead creatures around him.
“For the future master of music, Lord Selonica… Wait a minute.”
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Joshua now knew the Duke of Bones’ real name, and he was stunned for a moment. Selonica… That name did not really sound masculine, did it?
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She let out a screeching laugh and lifted her wine-filled glass.
“Cheers,” the female Lich named Selonica said.
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