At that moment, Klein sighed. "And you call that 'illusory'? It was clearly very powerful. It let someone advance an entire Sequence out of thin air—this is… even more outrageous than cheating."
Edward pushed aside the irritation lingering in his mind and continued, "As for some of the arrangements Lilith made while I was asleep… I don't really know the details either. If you're curious…"
He blinked mischievously. "You can ask her yourself in a bit."
"…"
A chill instantly crawled up Klein's back. "Why do I feel like whatever you're thinking isn't anything good?"
"Hahaha, you're overthinking it. You think I'm as childish as Roselle?"
Roselle immediately shot him the middle finger—Wasn't it you who started that misery contest?!
Klein cleared his throat. "Then…have you advanced to Sequence 1 already?"
Edward shook his head. "No. I'm still missing one ritual."
He had already obtained the Beyonder characteristics of the Key of Star and the Author, yet the ritual for Sequence 1 still remained far from complete. His current idea was to rely on the feather quill and the ability of Fantasy to jointly accomplish the "Real World."
But he had no idea when he would truly complete it.
At that moment, Roselle leaned back in his chair and asked, "Klein, do you have any other questions?"
Klein fell silent for half a minute, massaging his temples. "Questions? Of course I still have a lot of them. But they're all scattered. I'll ask them later once I've sorted my thoughts."
"Alright."
Roselle raised an eyebrow at him. "Now that you've learned so many explosive secrets at once, what do you plan to do next?"
"I…don't know."
Klein shook his head slightly. "Honestly, my mind is a mess. I want to quickly advance to a higher Sequence and uncover more 'truths,' but I'm also terrified of learning those 'truths.' Even worse, the higher I climb, the closer I get to…being taken over. I feel stuck, unable to move forward or backwards."
He exhaled softly.
"Yesterday, when I became a demigod and saw those cocoons hanging on the light door, I almost broke down. I had originally planned to find Audrey today for some psychological counselling."
"And now, after suddenly learning all of this…sigh. I really don't know what to do anymore."
Roselle straightened his posture, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "As someone who's been through this, my advice is—don't overthink it. Your first priority should be advancing as quickly as possible. Otherwise, when the Apocalypse truly arrives, nothing else will matter."
"Of course, I understand that no one can accept this all at once. Conveniently, I plan to return to Intis to reclaim everything I've lost. If you really don't know what to do for the time being, just follow me around for a while."
Klein blinked. "Huh?"
Edward reminded him, "Also, Klein, don't forget—Amon will eventually make a move on you, as the current master of the Sefirah Castle. You must be careful."
Klein nodded heavily. "Understood!" He knew that whether it was Sequence 0 Roselle or the extraordinarily capable Edward, either of them might help him deal with Amon—but that could only happen once or twice at most. That alone already counted as tremendous loyalty.
I can't expect them to revolve around me every day, protecting me like bodyguards, can I?
Klein shifted his gaze. "What about you?"
"I have something else important to take care of."
Edward smiled. "But I'll be back as soon as I can—hopefully in time for the next Tarot Gathering!"
———
Backlund—in a hotel room.
Lilith sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, gazing toward the washroom door as she quietly waited. In her heart, she silently mourned for Mr. Fool.
The resurrected Roselle clearly had a far livelier temperament; gone were the irritability, mania, and explosive temper of his old age. It seemed he had reverted to the vigor of his younger years.
Perhaps this was because, after resurrection, Roselle had immediately sorted out his mentality. Or perhaps it stemmed from the expectations his Four Horsemen carried when they inherited the citizens of the Black Emperor—gods needed believers as anchors, and believers, in turn, could influence their gods.
Maybe, in the hearts of those Four Horsemen, this was the version of Roselle they hoped to see.
With a soft creak, the washroom door opened.
Three grown men squeezed their way out together. Lilith seized the moment, snapping a picture to immortalise the scene, then giggled. "My, my, you finally came out~ Did you enjoy your talk?"
Klein stared at Lilith, then let out a weary laugh. "Miss Empress, you really are…"
"Hehe."
She then turned to Edward. "Edward, does Mr. Fool now know everything?"
"Ahem—call me Klein while we're outside."
Edward said, "He knows everything he should know. As for the parts related to you, I left all of that out. If Klein is curious, and if you want to tell him, it's best he hears it from you."
"Oh?"
Lilith pinched her chin thoughtfully, then winked at Klein with a mischievous smile. "Then…watch closely~"
"W-What…what are you doing?"
Lilith's small body suddenly twisted and stretched upward. In the blink of an eye, she had transformed into a tall, beautiful young woman. She wore a simple sweatshirt on top, jeans on the bottom, which outlined her long, slender legs.
"Hey—pleased to meet you again, Mr. Fool."
"…"
"???"
"!!!"
Klein's expression shifted three times in mere seconds. "Y-You…you're…"
The young woman before him was unmistakably the transmigrator girl he had met on Symeem Island!
Lilith patted her chest with a bright smile. "Hehe, that's right—it's me!"
The next moment, she twisted again and shrank back into her childlike form, leaning casually against Edward as she watched Klein's reaction.
Klein now understood at last. No wonder Lilith orchestrated that whole incident back then—it had all been another attempt to push him into advancing to Sequence 4 sooner. His heart skipped as another thought struck him. "Mr. Moon giving me those diary pages at the last Tarot Gathering…was that also related to you?"
Lilith gave him a thumbs-up. "Impressive, Mr. Fool! You really know how to connect the dots!"
Klein: "…"
"Alright, let's each go do what we need to do."
Edward looked at Roselle and Klein, then extended his right hand. "I hope all of us will reach a beautiful ending."
Both men reached out and placed their hands atop his.
"We definitely will!"
———
Back at the Earl Hall residence, Edward saw Audrey and Bernadette taking a walk together in the garden, speaking softly as Audrey let out occasional gasps of surprise or delighted exclamations.
The moment they saw Edward and Lilith, both women paused and turned toward them.
Bernadette fixed her gaze on Edward. Only after several seconds did she whisper, "Long time no see, Mr. Sparrow."
Lilith stuck out her tongue. "Come on, you literally saw him yesterday~ How's Matilda doing?"
"Thank you for asking, Big Sister Lilith. Mother is doing very well now."
Hearing Queen Mystic call little Lilith 'Big Sister', Audrey still found it strange—even though she knew Lilith was actually much older, she still couldn't help treating her as a child.
Edward stepped forward. "What were you talking about? You sounded quite happy."
"Lady Strength—Bernadette—was telling me about the things you did in the past. Edward, you're so mean! You teased her over and over."
"Uh."
Edward coughed lightly. "It wasn't teasing. At first I just wanted her help keeping certain things secret. Later, once we got more familiar, I made up for it by taking her out to have fun…"
Bernadette pursed her lips. Wasn't that only after I begged you repeatedly…?
Audrey then said excitedly, "Bernadette also told me she became a pirate later precisely because of you!"
"Oh, really? Hahaha, then I must truly be the greatest villain ever—turning the Crown Princess of Intis into the Pirate Queen."
Bernadette asked, "You finished talking with Father?"
"That's right."
She nodded. "Good—then I'll go find Father. We can talk more next time, Audrey."
"Ah? Leaving so soon?"
"Goodbye, Big Sister Lilith. Goodbye, Mr. Sparrow."
With those words, Bernadette stepped forward and slipped into the spirit world, vanishing instantly.
Lilith crossed her arms and watched her disappear. "My, my…it feels like she's gotten quite distant from you, Edward."
"Mm."
Edward smiled faintly. "Before I fell asleep, she was still just a six- or seven-year-old child. Now a hundred years have passed, and she has experienced so much. I—Mr. Sparrow—am just a fragment of her childhood memories now."
He paused, then added, "Still, with more contact, we should at least be able to be friends again."
As he spoke, his expression turned serious. "Alright. It's time for us to leave."
Lilith asked, "Shouldn't we at least say goodbye to Little Snake, Medici, and Pallez?"
"We'll greet them when we return. We've already lost a full day."
Audrey asked curiously, "Actually, I wanted to ask yesterday—how are we going to return to Hogwarts this time? Previously, we had to wait for specific time intervals to travel back. But since you returned to the past this time, we missed that return window."
Edward raised his left arm. A faint, square-shaped glyph composed of thin lines lay on his forearm—at first glance, it resembled a "door." He gently stroked the pattern and said, "I can return anytime now."
———
Five minutes later.
Inside Audrey's room, she looked at Edward with worry. "Edward, you're certain that this time we don't need to crawl into the suitcase with an Undetectable Extension Charm? We can just go with you normally?"
Edward smiled warmly and patted her hand. "Don't worry. I've already grasped the method of opening the 'door' to the Hogwarts world. We don't need all that trouble anymore. Just hold onto me when the time comes."
Susie circled Edward's legs twice, then dropped down and wrapped her two front paws around one leg. "Edward, I'm ready!"
"Alright—then let's—"
Edward was just about to inject spirituality into the glyph when—
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
Audrey blinked. "Huh? But I told everyone not to disturb us."
Lilith's brows furrowed. "This aura…it's Her."
"Who?"
Edward waved his hand and opened the door.
Standing there was a small figure—Priscilla. She still wore her usual clothes, though a hood now covered her head. Her little face no longer carried its usual liveliness; instead, she appeared serene and calm.
Audrey asked in surprise, "Priscilla? Why are you here? Is something wrong?"
Lilith curled her lip. "That's not Priscilla."
She looked at the girl and said, "Right, Amanises?"
———
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