"Did you notice it too, Yeonnie?"
As soon as the odd visitor was out of earshot, Theodore addressed Cheong Suhyeon, who had silently appeared next to him. Naturally, she had also been paying close attention to the prior exchange from the very beginning.
"Yes. As long as I don't think about getting rid of her, she appears entirely ordinary. But as soon as my mind crosses that line, she makes me feel extremely uneasy."
Echoing approximately the same sentiment as the mental conclusion that he had come to, she nodded her head, her gaze trained upon the mysterious figure rapidly departing from the Grand Tholos.
"Huh? What are you two talking about? I didn't find her to be strange at all."
Staring at her sister and her lover with utter confusion written all over her face, Xie Mei walked up to them, feeling completely out of the loop. Other than the fact that Cadi was practically oozing an aura of perversion, she had not felt anything wrong with her.
"... I've got to agree with Mei'er here. Even though I wanted to strangle the life out of her at one point, my senses picked up nothing weird about her either."
Back when Cadi had been approaching and that initial exchange with her sister had taken place, Han Junqiao already knew that her alone time would be interrupted. As a result, some fleeting, violent thoughts came to mind, yet the Sybillans' greatest slut didn't ring any particular, unexpected alarm bells for her.
"Don't beat yourself up over it, you two. Yeonnie's and my intuitions have been refined over the course of many ages, whilst yours are still in their comparative infancy. Give it a few more thousands of years, and you should start noticing some almost imperceptible details like these."
Aware that Xie Mei and Han Junqiao would eventually wrongly judge themselves to simply be inadequate if he didn't make this clear, Theodore quickly elaborated on the topic. Although some individuals were born with better instincts than others, time was by far the most important factor in play when it came to improving them. Naturally, Talents could also add some further enhancements in this regard, but that was a luxury that nearly nobody could enjoy.
"I see... So, what's so peculiar about her? Have you figured anything out already?"
Not at all bothered by still lagging behind extremely far, Xie Mei nodded, then focused on the far more interesting part of their ongoing discussion.
"Nothing concrete. Or rather, we're lacking too much intel to make any definitive judgements. There are too many possibilities. Is she some sort of clone of a powerful expert, or of a fellow participant? Is she simply a pawn in a dangerous game, and interfering with it could bring us trouble? Will she reach great heights in the future and be of help to us, thereby eliminating her now would indirectly damage our upcoming exploits? I could go on and on with these theories, and at least one of them is likely to be correct–but we simply cannot tell yet."
Shrugging and shaking his head, a sigh escaped Theodore's lips. Oftentimes, knowing too much would make it more difficult to settle on an explanation which one was truly confident in. On the other hand, the more ignorant a person was, the more easily they became convinced that their heavily flawed reasoning was the absolute truth.
"I'll try to gather as much information about her as I can. If the Sybillans' systems prove to be too troublesome, I'll ask Cristyn for help. I'm sure she won't refuse me."
Eager to find out more as well, Cheong Suhyeon voluntarily took on a portion of the burden. At the thought of the blindfolded Oracle, a small smile lit up her face. Not only were rather straightforward, honest and kind people like Cristyn less of a hassle to deal with, she also quite adored them.
"Thanks, dear. I'll leave it to you, then. I'll keep a close eye on her for the foreseeable future. As unguarded and nescient of her own circumstances as she seems to be, there should be some discoveries soon."
Nodding to himself, he noticed Xie Mei and Han Junqiao staring at him, feeling left out. With an amused chuckle, he led all three of his lovers to a more comfortable, smaller room, which had been furnished by the maids yesterday.
"Come, have a seat. Let's make this a watch party!"
Flanked by Xie Mei and Han Junqiao, who snuggled against him happily, he casually set up a practically undetectable Surveillance Array and projected its contents so that all four of them could see them. Cheong Suhyeon sat down next to Xie Mei on the sofa they all shared and glanced at the scene that was being portrayed every now and then, but was mostly focused on a few of the Sybillans' handheld technological devices.
"... that poor guy."
Seeing Cadi annoyedly kick away a rather dashing young man who had welcomed her as soon as she had returned to what seemed to be her home, Xie Mei couldn't help but feel bad for him. That bewilderment and pain in his eyes made her a bit uncomfortable.
"Wait, what?! Ew, disgusting!"
But all of her compassion flew right out of the window when a look of ecstasy replaced the man's suffering. Like a creature straight out of a horror movie, he crawled after Cadi on all four–or rather, all five–of his limbs.
Whilst she and Han Junqiao were distracted by this absurd scene, Theodore and Cheong Suhyeon exchanged a long glance, both having a conflicted expression on their face. One of their theories had just become a bit more likely to actually be true.
-----
Cadi's original plan for today had been to get an opportunity to meet the saviour, and then to make him adore her with her irresistible charm. After all, she had never once met somebody who had refused her. Sure, sometimes, her grandpa had to drag the targets of her interest in front of her–but whenever they laid their eyes upon her, they would become obsessed with her, not minding the 'rude invitation' any longer.
Naturally, she could at least somewhat control who the targets of this phenomenon should be, as there were obviously many who she didn't want to jump under the sheets with. However, even when used against those far more powerful than her, she had always got her wish.
Until now. To her utter shock, Theodore seemed to be immune to her charm, taking her completely aback. And even more astonishingly, it was she who developed genuine feelings of love for the first time!
'It shouldn't have been like this!'
Her entire face a deep shade of red, she dashed back to her private residence, her heart filled to the brim with nothing but a certain Winter Saint. Although she liked good-looking guys as much as the next girl, and was constantly busying herself with nightly activities–even during the day–she had never taken any of it too seriously.
Not even her grandpa knew that she had never actually cultivated a day in her life. That sort of boring, annoying practice simply wasn't fun! Instead, from a very young age, she had discovered that engaging in copulation would help to increase her strength. Naturally, it was slower than if she actually put any effort into regular cultivation, but at least she got to enjoy herself this way!
Other than the names and grades of her Talents, as well as the fact that she was a Heaven's Chosen, she had never shared any details about her personal capabilities with anybody. And even her having that Special Status had been hidden from the entire world by her grandpa, who had the wherewithal and foresight to make her appear like a regular, but more favoured descendant of his.
'... why did I promise him that I'd change? And why am I actually excited to do so?!'
Her own emotions were currently an enigma to her, and she couldn't understand why she had acted the way that she did. Nonetheless, to her utmost disbelief, she was genuinely sincere about it all.
'Screw it all! If I don't get it, then that's simply the way that it is! I'll just try and see where all of this will ultimately lead me. If I don't do that, then I might regret it forever!'
Far too preoccupied with recalling Theodore's smile, she discarded her doubts, resolved to follow through on what she had said but minutes earlier. Finally having arrived at home, she had barely taken a few steps inside when one of the playthings who she had kept around came up to her, desire burning in his eyes.
"Piss off! I never want to see your face again!"
Delivering a strong yet measured kick straight to his stomach, he flew to the other end of the courtyard, the sense of betrayal in his expression abundantly evident. Naturally, she didn't care about that at all. Getting rid of these 'old toys' was one of the many things on her to-do list.
'Hmph, he'd better be grateful. If it wasn't for his devoted service, I wouldn't have been that gent–Huh?!'
Widening her eyes in disbelief, she witnessed the young man's face twist into a mask of ecstasy, to a wholly unnatural extent. Then, overcome with apparent arousal, he rose again, before clawing his way towards her at an astonishing speed, like some sort of rabid beast!
"What the!?"
Uttering these words to herself, she wasted no time escaping further into her home. It would have been easy for her to overpower this discarded toy of hers, as he was merely a regular civilian–however, she had become downright creeped out, unwilling to risk anything at all.
'... I don't get it. That has never happened before! Whenever I gave someone the boot, they'd simply reluctantly accept their fate. What's different this time?'
Having run all the way to her secure cultivation chamber–which she usually never made use of–she closed all potential entrances and plopped down on the ground. Finally safe, she frowned in puzzlement as she tried to figure out what had just occurred.
'... wow, he still hasn't given up. Fortunately, there's a secret exit in this place. I used to make fun of grandpa for being overly cautious, but I now understand that I probably went too far.'
Utilizing her perception to sense beyond this fortified location, she witnessed her now-horrifying plaything desperately try to pry open the doors and windows, still more monster than man. The sight alone caused a cold shiver to run down her spine.
"... let's just get out of here first!"
Recalling the entrance to the path leading away to a hidden safe house, she walked along the many kilometres of metal-reinforced tunnel, typing like mad on her tablet in the meantime. Even down here, she still had a connection to all of the networks that she might need to make use of.
First on the agenda was to inform her grandpa that she was fine, and that she would like to remain undisturbed for a few days. Then, she let him know about the eerie experience that she had just had to endure, leaving it to him to figure out what was actually going on.
Having made that headache someone else's problem, she then browsed through the various libraries and archives that she had access to, trying to recall where she had seen that one certain tome which she would need to peruse again. If she wanted to truly cleanse herself as thoroughly and completely as possible, then she had to obtain this wisdom.
'Ah, here it is! Hmm... it looks like I won't actually require any special ingredients. A simple bathtub and some water will suffice. The real key is to create multiple temporary formations inside of my body with my Energy, and to circulate the rest of it through my meridians in a specific way...'
Committing everything important to mind, she entered her highly confidential place of refuge, unaware of the four pairs of eyes observing her every move.