"Do you know what time it is right now?"
Will appeared in Hastur's dream with dark circles under his eyes, holding a big brownish-yellow teddy bear, looking extremely annoyed.
"Emperor Roselle once said: 'The whole year's plan starts with spring, and the day's plan starts in the morning.' It's already past four in the morning. Those diligent children are already awake studying. You should learn from them."
"..."
Will was silent for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "Did Roselle really say that?"
"Of course. Are you belittling Emperor Roselle? Belittling the greatest mentor of humankind in history?"
"..." Will glanced at Hastur and didn't argue further. He snorted, "Alright, say it. What is it this time?"
"Tonight, while I was pursuing a Beyonder who should be a Sequence 7 Witch, I encountered a very powerful Witch. She wasn't the White Saintess, Katarina."
"Is that strange? Since there's a White Saintess, of course there's also a Black Saintess."
"..." That actually made sense. Hastur had no comeback for a moment.
"The Witch Sect isn't simple. Just the Saintesses (Unaging) alone number three, each named after a color. Red, White, and Black, they're all Sequence 3 Ageless Witches.
Also, the sect has two Sequence 2 Demoness of Catastrophe's. Their overall strength is not inferior to any of the Seven Churches."
"Are the other orthodox Churches set up the same way?"
"More or less."
Only now did Hastur gain a clearer idea of the high-end strength of the Seven Churches.
"So the one who stopped me was the Black Saintess?"
"Most likely. After all, your relationship with her daughter isn't ordinary."
"Madam Germani is her daughter?"
"Yep. Including that little witch you chased tonight."
"..." Hastur thought for a long time before finally asking curiously, "Why do witches always like having children?"
"Hehe, they can't stand loneliness. Especially those three Ageless Witches, they love dating young men. As long as they feel a spark, they instantly enjoy physical pleasure. Once pregnant, they never choose to kill the new life. They quietly give birth and raise the child. In that regard, they're far better than most people."
Will stared at Hastur with a teasing smile. "Have you ever considered having a child with a witch?"
"...No. And I won't!"
"Tsk, don't reject it so quickly. Without personally experiencing that pleasure, you're wasting that pretty face."
A black line appeared on Hastur's forehead, he didn't want to continue this topic.
"If that Black Saintess comes to trouble me in the coming days, you'd better cover me."
"One hundred ice creams. And they must be the most expensive ones from that dessert shop on the corner of 4th Street in the Empress Borough!"
"Eating that much, aren't you afraid of stomach problems?"
"I'm going to the hospital soon for surgery. I won't be able to eat ice cream for a while."
"Good luck."
"I've always been lucky."
With that, Will left Hastur's dream while hugging the teddy bear.
After receiving Will's promise, Hastur was much relieved.
That Black Saintess was only a Sequence 3 Ageless Witch, while Will was Sequence 1, Snake of Mercury, master of fate itself.
If he wanted to ruin her completely, he had plenty of ways.
What surprised him tonight was that Madam Germani was the daughter of an Ageless Witch, and yet she wasn't a Beyonder.
Interesting... very interesting.
Speaking of which, the witch who tried to assassinate him tonight was also strange.
At first she didn't intend to kill him, that's why she talked to him, but then for some unknown reason, she changed her mind.
And she acted recklessly. Even knowing he wasn't ordinary, she still dared to approach and attempt a close-range assassination, only to be stabbed straight through. Too stupid.
Also, being the daughter of an Ageless Witch, yet only a Sequence 7… truly pathetic.
After secretly complaining a bit, Hastur stopped thinking about it. It was almost five o'clock.
He decided to take a bath first, then sleep again.
...
Past ten in the morning, Hastur finally got out of bed. He glanced at the wind chime hanging by the window and relaxed slightly.
Even though he already lived in the Empress Borough, people still liked to knock on his window at night.
No different from living in the West Borough.
"No, I need to buy a property near the Church of the Holy Wind, Saint Samuel Cathedral. I need more safe places to stay."
Hastur thought for a moment, then got up, went to wash up, and picked up Arielle, who had been meowing nonstop beside him.
It was clingy, especially in the morning.
Since Hastur woke up late today, Arielle had cried at the door several times before finally lying there waiting for him.
Because of what happened last night, Hastur decided to stay home all day, just in case he ran into the Black Saintess if he went outside.
Even though she couldn't see his true spiritual identity last night, she would definitely suspect him.
Better to be cautious.
Around three in the afternoon, a carriage stopped in front of the door.
The owner didn't step down, someone delivered a letter.
Seeing the familiar envelope, Hastur instantly knew it was from Madam Germani.
In the study, he opened the letter.
"Baron Hastur Campbell, please forgive me for writing to disturb you again.
I already heard about what happened last night. I'm relieved nothing happened to you, otherwise the flames of guilt would burn me for the rest of my life.
I can't explain why everything happened, but I swear on my life that it will not happen again.
After we parted at Lord Greg's banquet, I decided not to disturb your peaceful life anymore. But after meeting you again on the street last time, the emotions I tried so hard to suppress burst out again. I can no longer push them down.
I know I shouldn't hope for anything, yet my heart always clings to a tiny bit of hope, maybe, just maybe, there is the slightest possibility?
Miss Audrey is an outstanding woman. Standing beside you, she makes people sincerely want to bless you two…"
The rest was mostly Mrs. Germani's self-talk, self-pity, self-blame, nothing useful.
This wasn't the first time Hastur received a letter from her. He was familiar with her style.
In her letters, Madam Germani always portrayed herself as a mixture of shy yet bold, humble yet self-pitying.
A bit complicated, likely due to her upbringing. Having an Ageless Witch as a mother, it would be more abnormal not to have a twisted worldview.
"..." Hastur shook his head in a hurry. He almost started sympathizing with her!
That wasn't good. He needed to be cautious and alert.
Suppressing those messy thoughts, he took out a sheet of paper to write his reply.
No matter what happened in the past, this letter was filled with her concern for him, and she even swore on her life. Regardless, basic courtesy required a reply.
The content was short, basically only three points:
He liked a peaceful life and didn't want to be disturbed.
He acknowledged her concern and thanked her.
He refused all emotional entanglement and told her not to delude herself.
After writing, he sealed the envelope and told Butler Neil to send it to Madam Germani.
Then Hastur took a blank sheet of paper and continued writing the next part of the story of Pinocchio:
Pinocchio (Part 2)
"After his father passed away, he learned how to make puppets with life. It should have been something to be happy about, yet he felt no joy. Looking at his family, he was filled with deep sorrow.
One day, his other family members would die just like his father. His mother, his brother, his sister, eventually, only he would remain.
He believed he had to find a more advanced puppet-making technique, one that could preserve living people in the form of puppets forever, not just create empty shells.
After about a month, when everything was ready, he set off on a long journey. Thus began a new chapter of the puppet's adventures…"
After finishing, Hastur checked the content, counted the words to make sure it matched the length of the previous chapter, and ended with a suspenseful cliff-hanger.
Next would be Pinocchio (Part 3). Depending on how far he could keep making things up, maybe he would write all the way to Pinocchio (Part 100).
As for how Sharon felt waiting for updates, Hastur didn't want to imagine.
He blew the copper whistle and summoned Sharon's messenger to deliver the letter.
Although he could have asked Maric to pass it on tonight at the Braveheart's Bar, after last time, he no longer trusted Maric's reliability.