At the Hall family residence.
Having spent 2,000 pounds, Audrey was now sitting at her desk. On the tabletop lay a scripture from the Church of Evernight.
She was atoning for the thoughts of doubt toward the Goddess that had arisen in her heart during the earlier Tarot Gathering.
She had never intended to blaspheme the Goddess. On the contrary, she agreed with many of the doctrines of the Church of Evernight.
After quietly reading for an hour, she closed the book and glanced toward Susie, who was lying beneath the windowsill and seriously flipping through a book by the light of the setting sun outside.
Mm, she was even wearing a pair of round, gold-rimmed glasses.
Audrey had given them to her as a gift some time ago.
Sensing Audrey's gaze, Susie raised her head and temporarily withdrew from the world of books.
"Audrey, is something bothering you today?"
"What did you notice this time?" Audrey deliberately asked, wanting to test Susie.
"You're hesitating. You're doubting something. You feel ashamed of your own wavering thoughts. You're also a little excited. You want to discuss something with me, but at the same time, you don't want me to know too much."
"…" Audrey fell silent.
Her gaze drifted toward the cover of the book Susie was reading.
On the Correlation Between Behavior and Psychology.
'Should I find some time to read that too? If this keeps going, Susie really might leave me behind.'
"Audrey, you normally don't like reading books from the Church. Did something happen that's related to the Church?"
Susie stood up from the floor and took two steps toward Audrey before continuing,
"You believe in the Evernight Goddess. Were you questioning your faith in the Goddess just now? Is that why you were reading books from the Church, hoping to reduce the guilt you feel from having such wavering thoughts?"
She moved a few steps closer, staring intently into Audrey's eyes.
"Your pupils contracted unconsciously just now. Was it because I guessed correctly?"
"Did something major happen to you today? Or did you receive some information that could affect something you've believed in for a very long time?"
Audrey said nothing. Her body merely stiffened slightly and unnaturally.
Susie reached Audrey's feet, rubbed her head against Audrey's thigh, wagged her tail, and looked up at her.
"Audrey, you're actually very easy to read."
After a long silence, Audrey lowered her head slightly and reached out to rub Susie's head.
A bright smile appeared on her face.
"Susie, Emperor Roselle once said that animals who are too intelligent tend to go bald."
Susie looked astonished, her eyes filled with shock.
"Audrey, is that true?"
"Of course. Do you know what a vulture is? It's because vultures are too intelligent and overuse their brains that their heads become completely bald and stop growing hair. You definitely mustn't become like them."
Audrey calmly spoke words that were, upon closer consideration, rather terrifying.
Susie's wagging tail immediately froze.
She said very seriously,
"Audrey, do you finally think I'm intelligent?
"I've always thought so too, but books say that you shouldn't overestimate yourself too much, because that creates a devil called arrogance."
"…" Audrey's expression froze for several seconds.
She withdrew the hand that had been rubbing Susie's head, turned around with her back facing Susie, straightened herself in her chair, and opened the Church of Evernight's scripture again.
She found the page containing the commandments and silently began reading.
…
South Borough, Harvest Church.
Under the setting sun, Emlyn unknowingly found himself standing in front of Harvest Church once again.
He stared at the rather unremarkable church. He encouraged himself inwardly.
It was time to put an end to this! He would take one final look today, and after that he would stay far away from this place.
Although the Earth Mother's teachings were indeed quite good, and harvest truly was something joyous, he had no intention of betraying the faith of the Sanguine.
Not to mention that Ancestor Lilith had entrusted him with the glorious mission of saving the entire Sanguine race.
As the future savior of the Sanguine, he absolutely could not harbor divided loyalties. Yet before he realized it, his legs seemed to have developed thoughts of their own.
They stepped through the doors of Harvest Church before his mouth could even object.
Fine. He would just treat it as coming to say farewell to Father Utravsky one last time.
However, the moment he saw the scene inside the church, his eyes widened.
A string of question marks filled his mind.
Inside Harvest Church was a whole group of high-ranking Sanguine. Even a Sanguine Prince had personally come!
There were also the young Sanguine who usually bullied him and didn't get along with him. They were all crowded inside the modest church.
Some were wiping tables. Some were cleaning windows. Some were sweeping the floor…
Father Utravsky currently held a holy scripture belonging to the Church of the Earth Mother as he watched everything unfold.
Upon seeing Emlyn arrive, Father Utravsky smiled kindly.
"You can teach them how to perform the work properly."
"Alright." Emlyn's mouth had already agreed before he could stop himself.
Wasn't he supposed to be making a clean break with Harvest Church? After two or three seconds of silence, Emlyn shattered all those thoughts.
Even a Sanguine Prince had lowered himself to come here and work at Harvest Church. Compared to that, what did his own personal pride and humiliation matter?
Besides… Opportunities to openly order around this group of annoying fellows didn't come often.
Emlyn's mood instantly brightened. Even his faith in the Earth Mother seemed to deepen slightly along with it.
…
Southville County, Puning Harbor.
When the ferry from the Southern Continent docked, a small black cat nimbly darted through the crowded people at the pier, weaving left and right before leaping onto a woman as exquisite as a doll.
"Meow!" Ariella jumped excitedly into Sharron's arms, meowing repeatedly as if recounting everything she had experienced during this period.
Sharron lowered her gaze slightly and reached out to stroke Ariella's little head. Even her normally expressionless face seemed to gain a hint of softness.
Just as the ferry had arrived at Puning Harbor, Gregrace had opened a door to the spirit world and returned there.
One Gregrace had left, and now an Ariella had arrived.
When Sharron left the docks with Ariella in her arms, she saw Hastur standing beside a wooden railing, waving toward her.
After a moment of hesitation, she also raised her hand and waved back.
Sharron and Hastur did not take a carriage home.
Instead, they walked leisurely along the coastline, admiring the setting sun that seemed about to melt into the sea.
Hastur didn't ask Sharron about what she had experienced on the Southern Continent. Through Gregrace's vision, he had already learned just how smoothly her journey had gone.
He briefly told her about his own situation during this period and also mentioned Ariella's advancement to Sequence 7, Witch.
"She still can't turn into a human. I don't know whether she's deliberately pretending to be stupid in front of me, or whether she really is just too dumb."
At this point, Hastur sighed. He had been eagerly waiting all this time for Ariella to transform into a cat-eared girl.
During this period, he had tried quite a few methods. Threats, bribes, coaxing, he had used everything.
Yet even the usually invincible dried fish had failed him. Whenever tempted with dried fish, Ariella would deliberately put on a confused and innocent expression.
Then, the moment he stopped paying attention, she would snatch the dried fish in her mouth and scamper up onto the rafters of the house.
Sharron merely lowered her head and glanced at Ariella, who was deliberately pretending to be asleep.
She more or less understood what was going on.
"Perhaps your expectations are too high."
"My expectations are too high?"
Hastur frowned slightly.
"Could it be that she needs to advance to a higher Sequence before she can transform into a human?"
"It's possible."
Sharron gave an uncertain answer.
"Forget it. I'll just let things happen naturally."
Hastur didn't insist too strongly.
He still possessed the resources needed for a Sequence 7 Witch to advance to Sequence 6.
If there was anything he lacked, he could simply have the members of the Yellow-Robed Monks help him search for it. They had always been very professional when it came to matters like these.
After returning home, when Hastur and Sharron were alone in the study, Sharron finally asked about Gregrace.
Hastur chuckled.
"Aren't spirit-world messengers all like that? Strange and eccentric?"
"Even your teacher wanted to apply for the job of messenger back then."
"Do you know Her true origins?"
Sharron deliberately emphasized the pronoun "Her."
"I do. I've already signed a contract with Her. You only need to treat Her as a slightly unusual spirit-world messenger. If there are letters that need delivering, then naturally you should make Her run the errand."
Hearing this, Sharron understood that Hastur was deliberately avoiding explaining Gregrace's identity.
She therefore stopped asking.
Hastur looked at Sharron and said gently, "Her origins are rather extraordinary. Even more outrageous than whatever answer you're currently imagining."
Sharron merely nodded, indicating that she understood.
Seeing that he seemed to have brought the conversation to a dead end, Hastur changed the subject with a smile.
"You went all the way to the Southern Continent. Don't tell me you didn't bring Ariella any gifts?"
"Meow!"
Ariella, who had been pretending to sleep, instantly woke up. She hurriedly jumped down from the windowsill and onto the sofa where Sharron was sitting.
Her two front paws rested on Sharron's legs as she raised her head slightly, staring at her with watery eyes.
"I forgot." Sharron's soft lips uttered merciless words.
Ariella immediately looked as if she were about to cry. She flopped onto Sharron's legs and began rolling back and forth.
Sharron extended one pale, delicate finger and poked Ariella's little head.
"They're in the suitcase."
If she hadn't needed to bring some things back with her, she would have quietly slipped away the moment she disembarked earlier rather than letting herself be surrounded by the crowd.
Ariella immediately rolled over, jumped off the sofa, and ran toward the room where Sharron was staying.
"Did you bring me a gift too?"
Hastur also leaned closer, sitting in the empty space beside Sharron.
His eyes looked somewhat similar to Ariella's at that moment, bright and clear.
Sharron merely looked at him without speaking.
Hastur lightly coughed and smiled.
"Actually, I'm pretty good at acting spoiled too."