The Lord of Mysteries world.
Bernadette waited three full days.
The night before the third day arrived, she stayed up entirely, curled up on the windowsill of that ocean-facing room in Emerald City, chin resting on her knees, letting the sea breeze wash over her as she watched the blue waves under the sky, all the way until eight in the morning.
When the second hand on her pocket watch swept past eight o'clock, Loen time, she didn't slip into that brief, familiar disorientation like before. Bernadette knew — the connection between herself and that man had, apparently, simply severed.
Each of them trapped now in their own separate world.
Even though she'd already braced herself for this, Bernadette still felt a tightness settle in her chest.
If the return of the twice-swapped soul arrangement could be chalked up to Vincent's advancement to demigod, then what was happening now? What could explain this?
Was it really some problem with the Nation of Disorder?
She glanced down at the book Little Sun had sent over the past few days, and felt herself settle, somewhat. Since Vincent's journey into the past was already an established fact, he was bound to eventually make his way to this world too.
Just no telling when.
Bernadette leapt down from the windowsill, tore open a rift in midair, and stepped into the Spirit World, heading for Backlund.
...
Caesar's Restaurant.
Vivienne had been busy since early morning. Over the past few days, she'd persuaded a number of the restaurant's regular aristocratic patrons to contribute to a fund raising money for survivors of the recent Great Fog.
This kind of "spend a little, accomplish a lot" gesture — one that also happened to earn a good reputation — had proven popular among more than a few nobles. They'd even gone so far as to hold a fundraising banquet in the name of mourning the dead, though the banquet itself, of course, cost dozens of times more than whatever it actually raised.
That was Loen's aristocracy for you.
I really do need to raise Caesar's menu prices again.
Vivienne had just made that decision to herself when the room suddenly turned thick with vivid, splattered color, and Bernadette stepped out of the Spirit World.
Vivienne quickly stood, offering her seat. "Your Majesty, good morning."
"No need — I'm leaving shortly."
Bernadette asked, "Do you still have the ability Lord of Chaos granted you?"
"I do!"
Vivienne nodded at once, dissolving into shadow beneath the table, reappearing seconds later in the shadowed corner of the opposite wall — after several doublings of the granted positions, Vivienne had long since been upgraded from "Broker" to "Shadow Trader."
"Good."
Bernadette nodded, then vanished amid a tangle of emerald pea vines.
When she reappeared, wearing the invisibility hat, she arrived at Earl Hall's estate — originally intending just to see Audrey, but found Xio and Fors already there too.
Audrey had specifically called the two of them in, asking about the recent disaster in Backlund.
As far as Audrey knew, the earliest source of any information about it had been "Miss Magician" — Fors — which meant she might well know something even deeper about what had happened.
To avoid revealing her own identity as "Justice," she played it as though she only knew Fors and Xio as ordinary Beyonders, which was why she'd sought the two of them out specifically to ask.
Fors, though, had nothing to offer at all, and turned her attention to Xio instead. Xio scratched her messy hair, muttering, "I don't know anything either. All that came from Miss Natasha. I haven't seen her since."
Audrey's face fell with disappointment.
Just then, Bernadette pulled off the invisibility hat, appearing abruptly in front of the three of them.
"Ah!"
Audrey jumped, startled. Xio dropped instinctively into a fighting stance, eyeing Bernadette warily — this time, Bernadette hadn't used any illusion to alter her appearance, so to all three of them, she was a complete stranger.
Xio caught on quickly, though, asking cautiously, "Miss Natasha?"
Bernadette nodded. "It's me."
The three of them relaxed. Audrey couldn't wait any longer. "Miss Natasha, what actually happened a few days ago? Was that fog that killed hundreds of people really the Aurora Order and Witch cult's evil-god ritual, like you said?"
"No, but it's connected."
Bernadette said, flat. "The actual evil-god ritual was stopped by Lord of Chaos... working together with Mr. Fool."
"???"
"!!!"
All three girls froze, as if struck by some paralysis spell.
Their eyes darted, expressions blank, staring at Bernadette wide-eyed, as though silently asking: Wait, what are you saying? Is this something you can just casually announce like that?
Bernadette's gaze swept over each of them in turn, watching them shift their eyes away or duck their heads guiltily, and said, without dancing around it, "Don't worry — no one else is here. We can be completely honest with each other."
"Miss Justice. Miss Magician. And... Xio."
Xio pointed at herself, baffled: Why do I just get plain "Xio"?
"Miss Justice?!"
Fors stared at Audrey, eyes wide with shock. "Audrey, you're — you're 'Miss Justice'?!"
"..."
Audrey felt an instinctive jolt of alarm at having her identity called out so directly.
But she quickly caught on to what Miss Natasha was doing, composing herself, and said, a little embarrassed, "I — I wasn't hiding it on purpose, you know. It's just Tarot Club rules." She quickly added, "Though, I did recommend you two to Mr. Fool a while back — that's why you ended up passing the trial and joining the club."
"Huh?"
Fors looked lost. "What trial?"
Audrey blinked too. "Didn't you join the Tarot Club by passing Mr. Fool's trial?"
"I... I was recommended by Lord of Chaos."
Audrey: "You know Lord of Chaos too?"
"???"
Why did she say "too"?
Realization dawned on Fors. "So — so you're also—"
Once their eyes met, both of them understood: each was a double "believer," of both Mr. Fool and Lord of Chaos. Only Xio, still lost, raised a hand. "Wait, Fors, are you hiding something else from me again? That 'Fool' evil god — didn't you tell me Lord of Chaos already dealt with him?"
Audrey immediately shot back, "Mr. Fool isn't an evil god at all — he just saved Backlund!"
"..."
Xio drew a deep breath. "Fors! You've joined this 'Mr. Fool's' organization too, haven't you?"
Fors guiltily turned her head away.
Xio gave her shoulder a light thump, then turned to Bernadette. "So, Miss Natasha — since you've already blown both these gods' covers wide open — care to explain what's actually going on?"
Bernadette's tone stayed even. "Haven't you already guessed? Same as them, I'm a follower of both Lord of Chaos and Mr. Fool."
Xio: "..." — So I'm apparently the only "outsider" here.
Audrey and Fors exclaimed in unison, "You're — you're Miss Lovers?!"
To be continued…
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