Seeing Iluna not speaking, Shard started the conversation:
"If you have ti in the future, you can visit Luviya more often, and I will too."
He glanced at Luviya again, the purple-eyed girl had gone to chat with Granny Cassandra:
"Lately... have you felt that sothing’s off with her?"
Iluna shook her head in confusion:
"I’ll pay attention. All along, she seldom shares her secrets with , but Luviya must also be carrying a heavy burden."
She wasn’t upset about Shard bringing up a third person in their conversation, instead, she found such conversations relaxing and carefree:
"Although this is my birthday party, Shard, congratulations on winning another round."
"We won another round."
Shard corrected her, even petting Mia:
"This ti, we couldn’t do without anyone, including this cat. I heard that when at the hotel, this cat always seed to make the surroundings warm and invigorating. Otherwise, Angelina wouldn’t have been able to recover her spirits just by taking a nap during the day after going through so much."
"Yes, we couldn’t do without anyone."
Iluna repeated softly, then suddenly looked up:
"Regarding your Maze Lock, that ’Lovers of the Bell Tower’, in the future, will it be...?"
"It can’t be used often; you can understand that it harms our souls. After all, there’s only one soul in a body, which is the most fundantal human rule."
He didn’t ntion that his soul was too strong and could harm their souls. Saying that would make him seem arrogant.
Iluna nodded again to show understanding, looking down at the small amount of wine left in her glass:
"Shard, will it always be so smooth? Will we keep moving forward?"
"Yes, that’s a promise."
Their glasses clinked, and the eighteen-year-old girl nodded gently. Looking up past the colorful light orbs to the starry sky, the smile at the corner of her mouth was more beautiful than any scenery tonight.
She then looked down, mustering the courage to hand her glass to Shard:
"Hold this for ."
"Okay."
With both of Shard’s hands holding glasses, she took a step forward to embrace his neck and kissed him, surprising the ladies watching them in the shadows. After releasing Shard with a red face, she spoke to the equally surprised Shard:
"Wish a happy birthday... I’m going to have a private talk with Sister Delphine. I’m investigating the ’Fire Guardian’ issue, and then I’ll leave."
Saying this, she turned to leave as if fleeing, but Shard called her back:
"Happy birthday, see you in Tobesk."
He winked at Iluna, and the eighteen-year-old girl smiled, watching Shard holding two glasses with a cat on his shoulder, waving goodbye to him.
After Iluna hurriedly left, the tables and chairs in front of the hotel were also removed. The small birthday party ended, and everyone had their own things to do.
Although Shard had a lot of things to deal with, such as the matters regarding Laster Edwards, the remaining Edwards family mbers, having a detailed discussion with Sister Delphine, and visiting the Guardian of the Earth in Randall Valley. But this evening, he didn’t want to deal with or think about these issues anymore; he truly felt the fatigue.
Around 7:30 PM, he climbed the ladder to the rooftop of Green Lake Hotel at Green Lake, holding the restless cat in his arms, and saw Grace and Helen sitting on the rooftop.
The girl in the white dress and the girl in the black dress each had a small piece of cake. Seeing Shard coming up, they stopped talking.
"Am I interrupting you?"
Shard hesitated, standing on the ladder, and the girls shook their heads with a smile before he actually climbed up.
The sisters had originally been sitting close together, so Shard sat next to Helen, who was nearer to the rooftop exit.
"Sir, if you always act like this, I would wonder whether you attract those witches, or it’s the witches who use tricks to attract you."
Grace sighed, turning into a red butterfly and flew to Shard’s other side to sit down again.
Helen covered her mouth, chuckling softly. Seeing the cat in Shard’s arms sticking its head out to look at her plate, she offered the cake to the cat. The cat sniffed it with its nose and then pawed at Shard’s hand.
After Shard took the plate and forked out a small piece of the cake, the cat was willing to open its mouth to eat.
The sisters smiled, watching this scene. They could both tell that this cat was very peculiar, more peculiar than most of the oddities around Shard, but they just didn’t ntion it:
"Sir, did you specifically co to chat with us?"
Grace asked curiously, and seeing Shard nod, Helen whispered, "You finally decided to co and chat with us."
Hearing a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl talk like that made Shard feel quite peculiar, so he skipped the topic:
"Eventually, I dragged you into the ’Whispering Verses’."
"When we t you in the Sixth Era, we were prepared."
Grace’s hand grabbed Shard’s left hand. As the elder sister, she spoke and acted more maturely than Helen:
"You need not worry about this matter anymore. Isn’t the current situation good? We are both The Chosen and yet not, the fate of The Chosen has not completely descended upon us. Moreover, we will soon return to Midshire Fort, and then we won’t be able to co out freely again."
"Sir, you must co to see us often."
Helen softly added from the side. Seeing her sister looking towards her, she continued:
"And if you encounter danger in the future, don’t forget to seek our help."
"Then could you perhaps not address so formally?"
"Honorifics can be omitted, but ’sir’ can’t. We ntioned before, only we will address you this way."
Grace explained, her pretty blue eyes looking into Shard’s eyes. Both were temporarily stunned, while Helen, slightly displeased, encircled her arm around Shard’s back and hand in hand with her sister.
Among the dancing red butterflies, the girl’s eyes that locked with Shard’s slightly raised their position. The seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl continued to gaze at Shard, but her eyes carried a touch of playfulness:
"Sotis, we wonder, if you hadn’t appeared at that god’s banquet, what would we be doing now, or even whether we would exist. Sir, you never seed to treat us as truly by your side."
"Because I saved you, if I do so... unconventional things, it might feel like I’m deliberately making you repay ... which is wrong."
The girl in the black-and-white gauze dress once again showed a smile on her face:
"Sir, you are always so interesting. This isn’t you letting us repay you, it’s us ourselves..."
Under Shard’s gaze, she lightly bit her lip, then gradually leaned closer to Shard, and kissed him.
Her hands gradually embraced Shard’s neck, then allowed her body to also press closer.
The cat on Shard’s shoulder, had sensed the signal of "danger," owing to try and warn Shard. Fortunately, Shard also sensed the danger signal, as the girl’s hands attempted to touch his coat buttons, he shivered like shocked, standing up abruptly:
"This is wrong, this is wrong."
He repeated, but it seed more like self-persuasion. Sowhat awkwardly bidding farewell to the two sisters, then in a leap, holding the cat, he jumped from the hotel’s rooftop to the ground below.
The girl sitting alone on the rooftop heard exclamations coming from below:
"Mr. Hamilton, why did you jump from the rooftop?"
"Sister, you were too impatient."
In the flutter of butterfly shadows, Helen, once again in two, spoke to Grace in the white dress beside her. Grace gave a sideways glance at her sister until the latter tucked her head, not daring to speak further:
"Alright, I was also a bit impatient."
"It’s fine, there are still opportunities, that pair of butterflies will aid us."
She pointed downward, and Helen smiled again.
anwhile, in the hotel’s basent, Miss Galina withdrew her hand from atop Angelina’s head, speaking to Miss Sylvia beside her:
"Her awakening should occur within twenty-four hours. As we agreed, make Angelina a student of Zaras Literary Academy, so once she awakens, I’ll trouble you to open a portal to return us to the train heading to Tobesk."
"That’s no problem; space stability is quite good now. Moreover, I’ve left a ritual beacon on the train ahead of ti. Just rember, once Zaras’ inauguration ceremony ends, we must imdiately perform a ceremony for her to contact the witch’s power."
"Of course, I have it morized."
The red-haired Duchess looked worriedly at the Little Princess before her:
"Two Circle Sorcerers have erged in the sa generation, two Female Sorcerers in three generations contacting witch power, makes wonder what’s happened to the Cavendish Family in the past century."
"Oh, stop boasting here."
Miss Aphrola, entering from the basent entrance, said, recalling the mory seen earlier caused her mouth to involuntarily twitch. Her niece Haley followed behind her, curiously looking at Angelina.
"Galina, you know how many ancient family lineages strive for each generation to have Circle Sorcerers yet achieve none. Furthermore, your grandniece has quite an impressive talent."
After speaking, she patted Angelina’s shoulder as encouragent:
"Don’t worry too much, with Shard and your grandaunt here, you are sure to reach the High Ring."
Miss Galina pursed her lips; she never endorsed such encouragent-based education. Miss Sylvia, standing beside, laughed and said:
"Looking at it this way, for the Edwards Family to have only two out of 21 over six generations not be Circle Sorcerers, is astonishing."
"After Edwards Family mbers underwent Human Alchemy experints, though still human, surely they are not normal... yet could have referential value... Indeed, compared to Laplace Klein Howard’s studies in Divination, Ritual Studies, Alchemy, and Potion Studies, facilitating each generation of the family to have Circle Sorcerers, this seems more remarkable."
Miss Aphrola said, Miss Galina nodded in agreent:
"I don’t consider it referentially beneficial to normal people. But if interested, you might ask Shard for research materials, didn’t he say that the Diviner’s study materials were left to him?"
After speaking, she ambiguously smiled:
"But best not visit him tonight, or you might end up fighting with a feasting beast."
Miss Aphrola and Miss Sylvia also laughed; Miss Haley Aflora, half understanding, simply showed a red face. Angelina was about to ask what they were discussing when Miss Galina gave her a task:
"Tifa is busy organizing personnel to check if the defensive ritual on surrounding land is adequate, it’s unusual not having her around. Angelina, go upstairs to Shard’s room, look for the [Invisibility Cloak of Escape from Death] and [Concord Sword], see if they are still in his room. If they are, bring them down, be cautious not to be influenced by those Relics."
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