Seeing Cecil’s somewhat heavy expression, Charlotte’s heart instantly sank to the bottom of an abyss.
The images she had seen in her dream flashed uncontrollably through her mind—the towering white lighthouse and her silent, lifeless brother.
“It can’t be my brother!”
Charlotte struggled to sit up abruptly on the hospital bed.
The movement was so violent that it yanked at the needle in the back of her hand, causing a thin thread of blood to surge back into the transparent tube. But she didn’t care about the pain at all.
“What happened to him?!”
She grabbed Cecil’s sleeve. The girl’s voice was thick with tears, and her eyes reddened instantly.
Cecil was startled by this sudden, intense reaction.
She froze in place, looking at Charlotte’s devastated expression, as if the girl’s entire world had collapsed. Her originally stern and cold face shifted into something quite peculiar.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Your brother?”
Cecil’s brow furrowed slightly.
“He’s fine,” she said, offering a dry but objective assessment.
Of course, aside from suffering a severe backlash from a containment object and having his soul nearly torn apart, not to mention having his spirituality almost completely drained, the boy was indeed doing quite well, Cecil grumbled inwardly.
Charlotte stared at Cecil, searching for any hint of a lie or concealment. The woman’s expression seemed genuine.
“Phew...”
Charlotte’s tense shoulders slumped, and she let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.
Good. As long as her brother was okay, the sky hadn't fallen.
She released Cecil’s sleeve and leaned back against the pillow, her strength failing her. The sudden surge of intense emotion had left her weak body covered in a layer of cold sweat.
“Then what were you talking about?” Charlotte asked, her breathing steadying as she looked at Cecil with confusion.
Cecil pulled over a chair and sat down by the bed. She looked at the red-haired girl with a deep, searching gaze.
“What I am about to tell you is the other side of this world...”
Over the next ten minutes, Cecil used a tone that was as objective as possible to sketch out the cruel world hidden behind the steam and gears.
She spoke of the existence of the Origin Web, the faith of the Seven Orthodox Gods, and the transcendents.
Naturally, she also spoke of the monsters lurking in the shadows, the evil gods, and exactly why Charlotte was currently lying in this convalescent home belonging to the Seventh Agency.
“So...”
After hearing it all, Charlotte leaned against the headboard, falling into a long silence.
The girl’s brow was tightly knit, as if she were struggling to digest this massive influx of information that was enough to shatter any ordinary person’s worldview.
After a long while, Charlotte suddenly looked up. A sharp light flickered in her bright eyes.
“Are you a transcendent?”
Cecil nodded noncommittally.
Charlotte’s gaze then became complicated.
“My brother...” She stared at her respected teacher and said something startling. “Is Al also a transcendent?”
The special envoy from the capital was momentarily choked by the question. She opened her mouth, but for a moment, she didn't know how to answer.
Cecil’s mind raced as she weighed her options. Back in the hallway, Elias hadn't explicitly told her not to say anything, had he?
Logically, since Charlotte had already been passively pulled into the supernatural world and had even awakened a Rational Circuit, telling her the truth seemed reasonable.
But... was now the right time?
Amidst the internal conflict, faced with the girl’s burning, inquisitive gaze, Cecil finally gave in.
She nodded somewhat hesitantly.
“I knew it!”
Upon receiving the confirmation, Charlotte wasn't afraid; instead, she huffed and punched the blanket.
“I knew there was something off about him!” the girl complained crossly. “No wonder I always felt like he was hiding things from me!”
“That guy! Such a huge thing, and he didn't tell me!” Charlotte grew angrier the more she thought about it. “When I see him later, I’m going to give him a good beating!”
However, Charlotte’s anger didn't last long. She suddenly remembered something important.
“Wait!” The girl looked up, the color draining from her face. “What about Victoria!”
Her voice was filled with anxiety. “How is she?!”
Cecil looked at her, her eyes dimming slightly. She reached out and patted Charlotte’s cold hand, her tone turning heavy.
“I’m afraid the situation is very grim.”
Cecil told her the truth. “That dark erosion energy, mixed with negative spirituality, has corroded her severely. She is still in the treatment room, and our best doctors are trying to save her.”
Hearing this, Charlotte felt as though all the strength had been drained from her. She lowered her head in dejection, her long red hair falling over her cheeks and hiding her expression.
“It’s all my fault...”
“If only I had listened to my brother... or if I had managed to persuade her... maybe none of this would have happened.”
A tide of self-reproach completely overwhelmed her.
Seeing the girl in such a state, Cecil couldn't help but sigh.
“It’s not your fault, child,” Cecil said softly, trying to comfort her. “In this world, when ordinary people encounter supernatural events, it is inherently an unsolvable disaster.”
She paused, her gaze turning complex. “If you want to thank someone... thank your brother.”
Charlotte looked at her blankly.
“It was him who, at the most critical moment, left you an extremely precious potion.”
Cecil pointed at the back of Charlotte’s hand. “It was because of the modification from that potion, combined with your own talent, that you were able to survive the most difficult stage so quickly without undergoing a mutation.”
“Is that so...”
Charlotte lowered her head again. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the bedsheets, her thoughts unknown.
So, her brother had been protecting her in his own way all along.
The atmosphere in the room became somewhat oppressive. Seeing Charlotte’s spirits so low, Cecil knew she couldn't let her remain immersed in guilt. For a newly awakened transcendent, extreme emotional fluctuations could easily lead to a loss of control over one's spirituality.
She had to find something else to distract the girl.
“Alright,” Cecil cleared her throat, switching to a professional tone. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
She took out her brass-covered notebook and pulled out a fountain pen. “How did two ordinary female students manage to walk straight into the Lily of the Valley Convent?”
This question had been lingering in Cecil’s mind.
Charlotte sniffled and wiped away her tears. She began to recount the events of the past few days.
She started from the story of Elias’s blind date, and how they had performed a Star Whisper Pendulum ritual at home to find him.
When Cecil finished listening to Charlotte’s description, she was completely dumbfounded.
“You’re saying...” Her voice was wavering, as if she were hearing a fairy tale. “The two of you played with a Star Whisper Pendulum at home, and the divination results led you to the Lily of the Valley Convent?!”
Even as a special envoy from Landon, she was utterly bewildered by this incredibly bizarre reason.
A Star Whisper Pendulum? You mean that superstitious little divination game that almost every child in the Kingdom of Velen was obsessed with? That thing actually worked?!
Was she joking? How was that even possible?!
Cecil looked at the innocent-looking red-haired girl. It seemed this could only be blamed on... the damn Rockland family! Their high-purity Norse bloodline and that ridiculously high spiritual affinity talent were simply beyond all reason!
And... were there really such things as Ghosts in the Spark in this world?! This was truly strange!
However, as a professional investigator, Cecil quickly forced herself to break free from the sense of absurdity. She took a deep breath and closed the notebook.
“Lottie.” Cecil looked at Charlotte, her tone becoming more serious than ever before.
“Don't blame your brother.” She felt she had to explain for Elias. “I know you might be thinking why he only left a potion for you and didn't save your friend.”
Charlotte looked up, a hint of that very confusion hidden in her eyes.
“That potion he used for you...” Cecil weighed her words carefully. “It is extremely difficult to obtain. Its market price is roughly fifteen hundred gold crowns.”
Cecil looked at Charlotte. “It’s not that he didn't want to save your friend. It’s that he truly only had one bottle.”
“Ho... ho... how much?!”
Now it was Charlotte’s turn to be shocked. Her eyes went wide, her jaw nearly hit the floor, and she began to stutter.
Fifteen hundred gold crowns?! That was an astronomical sum!
She suddenly felt like what she had drunk wasn't a potion; it was liquid gold! It was a literal floating castle!
“Mm-hmm.” Cecil nodded, confirming the staggering price.
“Oh my god...” Charlotte held her head in her hands, falling into a deep state of financial panic. Her poor college student brain was frantically calculating how many dresses and loaves of bread that massive sum could buy.
“Did my brother go and rob the Hope County Central Bank?”
Seeing Charlotte distraught over having "drunk" fifteen hundred gold crowns, Cecil rubbed her temples and quickly changed the subject again.
“Alright, we can talk about money later. By the way, is there anything physically uncomfortable for you now? Aside from the heartache over the money?”
Cecil made a joke that wasn't particularly funny.
At the question, Charlotte stopped her frantic movements. She lowered her hands, her expression becoming solemn and hesitant.
“Speaking of which...” Charlotte pursed her lips, seemingly unsure of how to phrase her thoughts. “I just... had a very vivid dream.”
She began to describe what she had seen and heard while she was in her dream, or rather, while she was unconscious.
Initially, Cecil just listened quietly. But when Charlotte mentioned the "mother" and the massive network emitting a faint blue glow, the pupils of Cecil’s calm gray eyes constricted in shock!
She stood up abruptly, her chair letting out a sharp screech against the floor.
“Child.” Cecil’s breathing grew rapid as she stared intently at Charlotte. Her eyes were filled with awe, shock, and a hint of irrepressible fervor.
“Forgive me for being blunt.” Her voice was even trembling slightly. “Your feeling was correct. That was definitely not your mother.”
Cecil took a deep breath, as if to brand this secret into her very soul.
“Though it’s hard to believe... that may have been... the Lady herself.”
Rate on N.U.
