At 10 p.m., after the ball at the Earl of Cross's mansion ended,
Ebner hid his main body in the Quiz Labyrinth, while his "Lust" avatar, following the original owner's habit, instructed the embassy's coachman to stop the carriage at a secluded alley nearby.
The coachman wasn't surprised. For the special envoy to take a certain young lady home after a banquet was nothing unusual.
Before long, Vera, dressed in an evening gown, appeared at the other end of the alley. In a few steps, she reached the carriage, opened the door, and boarded.
As for "Sloth," "Greed," "Pride," and "Black Knight" Seyrow, they had each already used their own methods to leave.
— Since they were foreign demigods who had already been exposed to the Loen royal family's attention, it was better for them to leave as soon as possible.
After all, they were just helpers invited by Owen, and the Loen authorities neither trusted nor welcomed them.
Inside the carriage was a small bar stocked with prepared distilled spirits such as Gold Lanqi and Winter Blackland, as well as various Intis red and white wines. Unsure if someone was still monitoring, Ebner imitated Owen's manner and poured a glass of red wine for Vera, who had taken the initiative to sit beside him.
Princess Vera took it, sipped, and whispered, "There really was someone watching just now… but they're gone now."
Ebner relaxed slightly, but still maintained Owen's demeanor. The two drank and chatted, the atmosphere gradually growing ambiguous—naturally, this was intentional on Ebner's part and fully reciprocated by Vera.
As a "Detective" capable of "Backtracking," Ebner would never let down his guard just because no one was observing.
And when Owen wasn't under the influence of a Sealed Artifact or dominated by the "Lust" mask, he was, on the surface, still a gentleman, at least refraining from inappropriate behavior in a carriage.
Thus, drinking and chatting was perfectly normal.
…
In the previous alley, an MI9 agent, after watching Princess Vera board Owen's carriage, passed the information directly to his superior, who in turn quickly reported it to Viscount Stratford, the Captain of the Royal Guards.
The Viscount entered the palace that night to meet King George III.
After dismissing his attendants, George III flipped through the compiled intelligence and sneered:
"For Vera, 'Lust' actually gathered five demigods and an angel… quite the extravagance!
"From the looks of it, even if Vera is prepared, this time she won't escape being controlled.
"From now on, we can gradually ease the monitoring and restrictions on her…
"Also, have Owen investigate why I always feel uneasy whenever I see her.
"Heh, I'd love to just grant Owen's request and marry Vera off to Intis… Unfortunately, most within the royal family disagree…"
…
At the Intis Embassy in West Borough, the wine-scented Ebner half-embraced Vera as they stepped through the door.
Come to think of it, the last time Ebner came here was to assassinate Bekland, yet now he had somehow become the master of the embassy.
Shaking his head to clear away stray thoughts, Ebner and Vera made their way to the living room.
After dismissing the servants, Ebner had Vera enter a bedroom on one side, while he went to the other side of the living room. Using his memory, he skillfully activated a mechanism and entered a chamber protected by multiple warding rituals.
Using his blood to temporarily disable the ritual, Ebner took from the central "altar" a metal box sealed with spirituality.
Casually lifting the seal and opening the box, a pair of eyes pieced together from various colors came into view.
This was the "Eyes of Asmo," one of the main ingredients for the Reader pathway's Sequence 3 "Cognizer"!
Asmo were astral creatures that appeared as golden-haired, unusually beautiful humanoid women. They were calm, kind, and known for "perceiving" all kinds of laws, often serving as attendants or apostles to angels and subordinate gods in true deities' divine kingdoms.
According to legend, if a traveler lost in the astral world won an Asmo's favor and completed its trial, the Asmo would gift its eyes to the traveler, helping them return to the real world.
"Owen had Katarina kill the archbishop of the Surrey family mainly to obtain the Eyes of Asmo…
"And his elaborate scheming toward Vera was for the possible 'Mist Monster' she possessed—its complete brain is another main ingredient for a Cognizer.
"But the black mist Vera displayed earlier in the underground theater didn't seem like a Mist Monster… Did Owen mistake it?
"No… in his memory, the mist he saw around Vera before wasn't the one I saw earlier…
"Vera can control multiple types of mist? Variable in form?
"Hm… variable… Vera likely belongs to the Tamara family… the Uncertain Mist?!"
At that thought, he felt he had touched upon Vera's secret and guessed at the reason for her friendliness.
The "Uncertain Mist" and the Tamara family were supposed to appear only near the original story's end, after Earth's barrier grew weaker—this shouldn't be the right time.
So, Princess Vera was over 90% likely to be a "butterfly" from a previous transmigrator… as I guessed before, she probably recognized the "Pure White Eye" like Lilith and the Goddess, which is why she trusted me so much?
Everywhere I go, I find traces of my predecessors… they're even more present than Roselle!
After a few wry thoughts, Ebner resealed the box containing the Eyes of Asmo and stored it in the Quiz Labyrinth.
Come to think of it, after making Owen into an avatar and verifying the perfected secret technique, Ebner could have, once Owen outlived his usefulness, let the avatar perish and extracted the "Manipulator" characteristic for a cross-path advancement.
Unfortunately, many hidden deities—and likely previous transmigrators—wouldn't allow it. After all, they wanted to cultivate a Saint, even an Angel, of the Reader pathway!
Moreover, "Dreamer" ingredients and characteristics were even harder to obtain. Even Owen had despaired of finding them and considered switching to Cognizer…
But for me, as long as I stick to the Reader pathway, the road to at least Angel is already paved…
With a sigh, Ebner studied the necklace-shaped Sealed Artifact known as the "Proof of Lost Mind" for a while longer before leaving the chamber and sealing it again.
As for other Beyonder items? Nothing remained…
Owen had spent his entire fortune on this plan to ambush Vera, consuming years' worth of accumulated ingredients, items, and even personal favors to secure the help of "Pride," "Greed," and "Sloth."
Hiring an angel to oversee things had even wiped out all the contributions he'd accumulated in the Psychological Alchemists over the years!
"And then there are all the conditions he agreed to with George III… Just thinking about it is headache-inducing—what a mess!
"Fortunately, according to my plan, the Delien family will soon fall into decline, and when those conditions can't be fulfilled, it won't be my fault…"
With a trace of melancholy, Ebner stepped from the living room into the bedroom. The moment he opened the door, he saw Princess Vera waiting—already out of her evening gown, golden hair loose, clad only in a silk robe as she approached.
Unlike Xio's simple look in a robe, this princess's form was elegantly contoured. Though she didn't reveal much fair skin, she was still undeniably enticing.
Seeing this, even with Owen's memories, Ebner didn't quite know how to respond for a moment.
After all, those memories felt more like third-person "short films" than anything with real emotional weight.
And this wasn't like researching "academic" matters, where he could remain perfectly calm…
Vera, however, seemed unconcerned, smiling as she said, "In fact, according to Owen's habit, you should be preparing another outfit for me to wear when I leave tomorrow.
"As for my gown from earlier, you should tear it a bit so as not to raise suspicion."
Miss, you understand Owen's habits even better than I do with his memories! As expected of the head of MI9—you've investigated everything down to the last detail…
(End of chapter)