Erwin patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"I think you don't need to worry too much. The church says the Goddess of Night is an evil god, but does that necessarily make her one? Besides..."
Erwin's voice carried a hint of deeper aning. "The so-called arrangent might be precisely fate's arrangent. And our goddess's honored na is precisely the 'Goddess of Fate'..."
Celitia fell into contemplation.
She felt that Erwin's analysis made so sense—perhaps things weren't as bad as she had thought.
About all of this, Celitia had never ntioned it to anyone before.
Now that she had finally spoken it aloud, Celitia felt that her constantly tense heart had relaxed considerably, as if she had unloaded a heavy burden.
People are always like this—even when wanting to rely on themselves and persist alone, they unknowingly draw strength from those around them, strength sufficient to support themselves.
Erwin stroked his chin, curiously looking Celitia up and down:
"I've heard of the demon race. They're said to be quite free and unrestrained, a race that's hard to find traces of, only occasionally appearing in human dreams. For you to possess one-quarter demon bloodline, this body's background must be quite extraordinary."
Hearing Erwin bring this up, Celitia's expression suddenly beca complicated.
How should she explain her background to Erwin?
Tell him that the king was half-demon, that she was his true daughter, and that the current Princess Sophia had switched identities with her?
No, about this point, Celitia didn't want to ntion it at all.
She only wanted it to remain an eternal secret.
"About this part, I don't want to talk about it. Can you not ask, teacher?"
"Of course," Erwin's gaze was gentle as he ruffled her hair again. "I said before, you don't need to say anything you don't want to."
Celitia said quietly: "Thank you."
"Well then, let tell you sothing interesting." Erwin chuckled. "Do you know if you heard about an auction held in Grenana at the end of last year?"
Grenana was the capital of the Kingdom of York. The auction Erwin was referring to should be the one she knew about.
"I heard about it. That was the auction selling my relics, right?"
ntioning her own "relics," Celitia's expression couldn't help but beco strange. "Don't tell you went too?"
"That's right," Erwin nodded. "Speaking of which, I ran into Florence in Grenana and had a few drinks with her."
No wonder Erwin hadn't been ho recently—he had also gone to join the excitent.
As for Florence, she still hadn't returned to Cassia and was probably off playing sowhere again.
"Did anything happen at the auction?" Celitia asked.
She didn't care about any auction, but since it concerned two of her close friends, she was sowhat concerned.
"Originally, I heard that Her Majesty the Queen was planning to personally host the auction to express her rembrance and mourning." Erwin's gaze suddenly beca sharp. "I was planning to find an opportunity to grab her and thoroughly interrogate her about the details of that battle." However, the peace delegation suddenly returned early, and Flora temporarily cancelled her schedule to welco the delegation instead."
Celitia frowned: "And then?"
Suddenly changing plans—that didn't seem like Ileana's style.
Unless it was sothing Ileana had calculated from the beginning.
"I heard assassins were hidden in the group and attacked the queen. The scene was chaotic, and Flora seed to have been injured, shutting herself away. The auction proceeded normally, but just before the formal auction began, news of the queen's injury spread, causing an uproar throughout the venue. Then suddenly a group of masked people rushed in, turning the auction into complete chaos.
Hahaha, chaotic as it was, this worked out perfectly for ."
Erwin proudly walked to the corner of the bedroom, picked up a long cloth bundle, and placed it on the table.
He unwrapped the outer layers of cloth, revealing an exquisite sheathed longsword.
The grip's wrapping was slightly worn, while the crossguard's tal glead like new, obviously well-cared for.
"This is..."
Celitia also walked to the table, reaching out her hand. Her fingertips traced the decorations on the scabbard, gently caressing the tal patterns on the crossguard, and finally lightly grasped the hilt.
She tried to lift the longsword but found it heavier than expected, no longer having that feeling of moving like an extension of her arm.
"That's right, it's your sword 'Flowing Light.' I snatched it back during the chaos."
Erwin beca even more proud. "For you, this is the most important thing, right? Now it should return to its rightful owner."
Celitia struggled to place the longsword back on the table, slowly shaking her head.
"The current can no longer wield it. Even if you returned it to , it would be aningless."
She sighed lightly, hiding that trace of lancholy beneath her clear voice.
"Besides, it's not the most important thing. Past glory has long since faded. What's important was never so object, but the people around ."
Like Erwin, like Florence.
The past self had always focused single-mindedly on things she wanted to accomplish, making decisions for those around her with self-righteousness, ignoring their feelings.
Being too stubborn and self-willed was what led to that kind of ending.
She would never repeat those mistakes again.
Erwin looked at the sword on the table.
The bright, sharp blade had once drunk deeply of blood, but now it lay quietly within its sheath, willingly gathering dust.
He sighed: "You've changed quite a bit."
"Perhaps." Celitia didn't argue.
Erwin asked: "Won't you take it back?"
"No," Celitia shook her head. "I think it will et a more suitable master."
"Alright."
Erwin didn't continue insisting, wrapping the sword in cloth again layer by layer.
Just then, a series of sounds ca from outside the door:
"Lily, Lily! I bought everything back. How is the teacher now?"
It was Shanie returning.
They hadn't chatted for very long, so for Shanie to return at this ti showed she had truly given her all.
Before Celitia could respond, Shanie had already rushed into the bedroom like a whirlwind.
Seeing the two people standing by the table, Shanie was montarily stunned.
"Huh? Is the teacher already fine?"
"I'm fine now. That was just an accident." Erwin nodded to Shanie. "Teacher's body is perfectly healthy—you don't need to make such a fuss."
Shanie didn't quite believe it, looking him up and down suspiciously:
"But, but it was really dangerous just now, right? Lily was so scared at the ti, her expression was super frightening... That was the first ti I'd ever seen her like that!"
The more Shanie spoke, the more guilty Erwin felt, forcibly arguing:
"That's why it was an accident. Look, I'm fine now, and the little girl has cald down too—she's keeping company and chatting."
"Really?" Shanie turned to look at Celitia, suddenly widening her eyes. "That's not right—why are Lily's eyes red? Did she cry?"
Shanie's suspicious gaze moved back and forth between the two. "Did the teacher scare Lily to tears, or bully her?"
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