The young won walked at a leisurely pace, rounding the landing of the staircase and turning into the corridor, their conversation still flowing.
"Yes, I never thought I'd et soone like him. He has no desire for money and scoffs at power, as if terrified of the burden of responsibility. As for beautiful won... well, to be honest, I once inquired with Miss Alexia Miller about it. It seems all the people around him now approached him on their own initiative, rather than him pursuing them. For a man like that, isn't 'devoid of desire' the most fitting description?"
Miss Windsor spoke these words of praise, words she had never once said to Jenkins himself.
"No, everyone who lives has desires; otherwise, they would be completely hollow. Jenkins's state of mind is excellent—he's nothing like an ascetic monk. He must have his own ambitions. And it's precisely because that ambition is so incredibly important that he dismisses everything else in life."
Sigrid replied, which took Miss Windsor by surprise.
"Does the Church of All Things and Nature teach you about such matters? And Jenkins's ambition... could it be his cat?"
She offered what seed to be the most plausible answer at the mont, and both ladies burst into laughter at the thought.
After nodding to a pair of noble ladies who passed them, Miss Windsor looked up and her gaze fell upon an oil painting of a church landscape hanging in the corridor. She hesitated for a mont before turning to Sigrid with a tentative question.
"I've actually had a question for a while, sothing I don't quite understand. Forgive , as I wasn't raised in the Church and I'm not very familiar with Enchanters... but judging from Her Majesty's recent actions, it seems that a secular monarch knows as little about the supernatural world as I do. Or rather, I've co to realize that Her Majesty truly has no Enchanters to protect her.
I had assud that hiring two won of unknown origin as my consultants on mystic arts was a compromise born from my own limited influence, but I never imagined Her Majesty was in the sa position, with no connection to Enchanters at all.
"That's correct. The High Tower Accord stipulates that royalty and nobility cannot freely utilize the supernatural,"
Sigrid answered matter-of-factly, as if it were common knowledge.
"But doesn't that seem strange? The world is so dangerous, yet a monarch has no ans of self-preservation. It seems as though any random Enchanter could topple an entire nation..."
Miss Windsor frowned. The situation seed utterly illogical.
"The Church is responsible for guaranteeing the safety of the royal family. That is also part of the High Tower Accord."
Sigrid continued, noticing Miss Windsor's expression grow even more perplexed. They stopped together before an oil painting depicting a knight slaying a demon, and Miss Windsor asked in a tone of deeper confusion,
"Relying on the Church to protect the royals? Forgive , but I heard from Jenkins about what happened in Ruen a few days ago. If he and Miss Miller hadn't arrived, the Stuart royal family would have nearly been wiped from history."
"Actually, if Jenkins hadn't appeared in the end, the Church would have dispatched personnel from the front lines against the snowman army to rescue them. In fact, that was already in motion. It's just that Miss Miller and Jenkins's arrival was so abrupt that the Church's arrangents weren't needed... Have you never considered it? This epoch has lasted for over eighteen hundred years, yet there has never been a single recorded instance of a royal family mber being assassinated by an Enchanter, nor of an Enchanter ddling in secular governance. At least, not in the history books. Not even during the chaotic era of warfare when the ancient Sicari Empire collapsed."
The question left Miss Windsor speechless. She had only considered the stark separation of royal and religious authority, the royal family's lack of supernatural power, and the absurdity of the Queen's ignorance about Enchanters. She had overlooked the most obvious truth.
"Why?"
she asked Sigrid. The young nun offered her a smile.
"You could ask the princess of House Stuart, or Miss Miller, or even Jenkins... actually, Jenkins probably wouldn't know. He rarely concerns himself with such matters. Besides, he's only been an Enchanter for a year, so he's lacking in so basic common knowledge. I should probably ntion it to Papa Oliver... You are Jenkins's ally. As long as you're willing to ask, you can find answers to many things. Your confusion has a very simple explanation: B-03-5-9999, the [High Tower Accord]."
"What?"
Miss Windsor was stunned for a mont before understanding dawned. She had learned so fundantal truths recently, so she wasn't completely ignorant; she knew what it ant for an item to have a designation number.
"The High Tower Accord is a B-class Extraordinary item of the Fate category. It isn't just a docunt. Although it has gone through nurous revisions before its final contents were set, it was indeed notarized by the gods, giving it a definitive power over both destiny and reality. From the first year of the 18th Epoch to the year 1865, this accord has guaranteed history, ensured the separation of religious and royal authority, maintained their respective independence, and protected the mortal royal families... But since 1865—that is, since last year—the accord's power has been waning. The effective date of the divinely notarized agreent was set to last only until the flickering of that purple star of destiny."
Sigrid suddenly shook her head and looked at Miss Windsor with great seriousness.
"Gods to the gods, n to n. The fundantal rule of this epoch is that the supernatural world must not interfere with the secular order, and the secular world must not ddle in the supernatural. That is the law, and it's why you perceive this as illogical. But in truth, it's perfectly logical, isn't it?"
"So, all these recent events involving the royal families are happening because the High Tower Accord is gradually disintegrating?"
Miss Windsor surmised, raising her right hand to unconsciously twirl a lock of her hair.
"Yes. Otherwise, neither the Tree House, nor Jenkins, nor the Church would dare to connect supernatural power with the royal families."
The two continued toward their room, Sigrid walking ahead while Miss Windsor lagged slightly behind, lost in thought. After a long mont of contemplation, having sorted through the logic, she spoke again.
"That is... a nearly perfect order. Gods to the gods, n to n. The supernatural runs rampant in the cities, yet remains entirely separate from the mundane. Royal authority governs the nation, yet has no connection to the supernatural forces right at its doorstep. It seems illogical, and yet... it is almost perfect."
She sighed with this sentint, speaking from her own perspective as one born into high nobility.
"Indeed. Our world truly has gods—gods in the truest sense of the word. That is why things are this way. Praise the gods, praise the Spirit of Nature, for all things return to nature..."
Sigrid said, then whispered a quiet prayer while tracing the holy symbol of the Righteous God, the [Spirit of Nature], over her chest. Finally, she added with a sigh,
"If not for the coming of the End of the Epoch, the order between the mundane and the supernatural would have been maintained perfectly. But the End of the Epoch, by its very nature, ans the collapse of all order. Therefore, everything that has happened recently can be seen as ons and symbols of the epoch's end. I have read so history, and from past records, similar events always occur whenever an epoch is about to close... May peace prevail."
Miss Windsor nodded, feeling as though she had gained a much deeper understanding of the world. A sense of clarity, like piercing through a thin mbrane of water, left her feeling a little wistful. She felt that listening to this conversation had brought her so indefinable gain, so subtle change within herself. But she couldn't grasp the sensation, couldn't comprehend what was happening to her.
After all, the transformation from an ordinary person to an Enchanter is never instantaneous. Hearing the world's secrets was rely like boring a small hole through a thick brick wall.
Because they had only just seen Jenkins downstairs, they hadn't locked the door when they left. When the two of them finished their conversation and pushed the door open to return to the spacious room, they discovered soone else was there, standing before the drawn curtains.
Walking in front, Sigrid instinctively shielded Miss Windsor behind her and sized up the strange man.
"Excuse , sir. Who are you?"
He was rather short, and in the dimly lit room, he wore a wide-brimd hat that obscured his features.
"Miss Sigrid Capet, I would like to invite you to accompany sowhere."
"Are you from the Tree House?"
Sigrid was instantly on alert. The man, in turn, sounded sowhat surprised as he remarked,
"Very clever. Have we beco so famous already?"
"Her Majesty the Queen no longer wishes to cooperate with you. Are you still targeting her?"
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