Inside the solarium of Red Rose Manor.
Edessak Augustus stood by the full-length window, looking at the indifferent Trissy with a gloomy face, and he said in a voice that was like a volcano about to erupt, "Why did you run away again?"
Trissy looked past him and beyond the window, chuckled, and answered with a question, "Did you see the meteor shower? Did you feel the trembling of the earth?"
Behind her, porcelain and other items in the cabinet had fallen onto the thick, soft carpet. The old butler, Funkel, was standing beside her.
"It's not too rare for that to happen," Edessak replied in a low voice.
Trissy raised her eyebrows slightly.
"You are very dull.
"Then let me be frank with you. I am a Demoness!"
Prince Edessak's expression didn't change at all. He turned to the old butler and said, "Guard the door and prevent anyone from entering."
"Yes, Your Highness." Funkel gave Trissy a cold look and walked out of the solarium.
When he heard the door close, Edessak exhaled slowly.
"Trissy Cheek, heh, you prefer to be called Trissy.
"I know you're a Demoness. The person who helped you purchase the Beyonder ingredients failed. What you received was provided by me!
"I don't mind that my princess consort is a Witch or a Demoness. I've even seen your wanted poster!"
Trissy was surprised at first, but she then revealed a mocking smile.
"You sure know a lot...
"Did you know that I was once a man, and that my real name is Tris?"
"... What?" Edessak's eyes widened, and he tilted his head a little, as though he couldn't believe what he had heard.
Upon seeing this, Trissy couldn't help but laugh. She laughed so hard that she frantically bent back and forth like a lunatic.
"Haha, you didn't make a mistake. I was once a man! I used to be like you, and the thing down there was longer and thicker than yours! However, the Witch potion had forcefully changed my gender!
"Are you disgusted? Does it give you goosebumps?"
She vented the words she had been repressing all this time before taking two steps forward.
Edessak instinctively retreated, his Adam's apple moving involuntarily.
"No, it's not like that... You're a real woman. There's no problem. I can definitely confirm that!" He mumbled to himself, then he raised his voice and said, "From the moment I met you, you were a real woman. I don't want to know what you were like in the past! I can pretend that nothing like this happened! What I like, what I love is the present you!"
Stunned, Trissy raised her hand to wipe away her tears of laughter.
"You're a really pathetic man.
"Do you still not understand? Our meeting wasn't a coincidence. Even your interest..."
She paused in disgust and continued, "Even your interest in me was a result of someone else's arrangement. Don't you think that everything happened too quickly? I believe in love at first sight, but I don't believe that it possesses such powerful bewitchment properties. You act like the main character in a third-rate romance novel, becoming obsessed with love from just one meeting. You fell in love with a stranger, forgetting the type of person you once liked. That's crazy!"
Prince Edessak's eyes went blank as his eyes turned agape, but he didn't speak.
His body suddenly swayed, as if he had finally awoken from a long dream.
"Y-you are indeed my type... But my reaction, it's r-really too exaggerated..."
The corners of Trissy's mouth curled up, and she turned her head to the side to let out a sneer.
"What a pathetic man, to have what you like being arranged by someone else. It's like you're a puppet on strings.
"Don't you understand? You're a person that can be sacrificed, and I, as well as being a hostage for the cooperation between the royal family and the Demoness Sect, am also a necessary disguise for this deception.
"I possess an important item of the Demoness Sect, and under your strict supervision, I can be destroyed at any time and result in the loss of the treasure. This is the sincerity of our cooperation, and once the matter is exposed to the other three Churches or the military, the development of this matter will be very simple. Prince Edessak secretly kept a Demoness due to his lust. After knowing of his heinous sins, he shoots himself in the mouth. Then, all the problems would be covered up."
"No!" Edessak blurted out.
Then, with a twisted expression, he asked, "Why are they cooperating with the Demoness Sect?"
"How could a hostage who might be abandoned at any moment know?" Trissy gave a self-deprecating laugh. "That's the whole reason behind why I want to flee."
She lowered her head and chuckled in a low voice. Her body trembled slightly from the laughter.
After a few seconds, she raised her head once again, curled the corners of her mouth, and said, "What do you want to do with me? Strip me down and throw me onto the bed? No, you've probably formed a psychological resistance. Actually, I don't mind giving you some warmth right now. It's not a shameful thing for two poor people to comfort each other."
Prince Edessak darkened his rotund face and looked at Trissy silently for nearly a minute.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes, pointed to another side and said, "You can leave.
"Leave through that door."
Trissy raised her eyebrows in astonishment.
"You're letting me go?"
"Yes." Edessak turned to look out the window and slowly replied, "I'll stop Funkel. As for whether or not you can escape from the other pursuers, that will depend on your own strength and luck."
A dazed look flashed in Trissy's eyes a few seconds before she quickly ran towards the hidden door.
Before leaving, she couldn't help but look back.
"What about you?"
Edessak didn't turn his head, but he continued to stare out of the full-length windows as if searching for the shadows of his past.
He smiled and said, "Me? Let me live in this beautiful story and welcome its final end—good or bad."
Trissy took a breath and, without further ado, went through the secret door.
...
In a quiet room inside Saint Samuel Cathedral.
One of the thirteen archbishops of the Church of the Evernight Goddess, the person in charge of the Backlund diocese, Saint Anthony Stevenson had received an urgent telegram from Earl Hall's residence.
This bearded old man with deeply recessed eyes had an extremely clean appearance. Even though he wore a black and red archbishop's robe, he didn't give off a gloomy feeling.
However, anyone who faced him would shudder from the bottom of their hearts. It was as if their spirituality was dominated by fear, or as if they were facing an unknown existence lurking deep in the darkness which stared back at them.
Trissy Cheek... Primordial Demoness... Saint Anthony lightly patted the paper and immediately stood up.
The light around him suddenly vanished, as if swallowed up by the gloom of the room.
All the worshippers in the cathedral instantly felt the coming of night.
Everything quickly returned to normal as Saint Anthony appeared in front of the Chanis Gate beneath the cathedral.
Today, the one leading the team was the Spirit Guide, Daly Simone.
Without waiting for her to ask, Archbishop Saint Anthony instructed in a deep voice, "Make preparations. The process shall begin. I'm awakening a Sealed Artifact."
He wanted to use 0-17.
He wanted to use that terrifying Sealed Artifact to confirm and deal with the Trissy matter.
And this was the only Grade 0 Sealed Artifact stored outside the Holy Cathedral. Only two of the Church's upper echelons knew that it was in the Backlund diocese.
"Yes, Your Grace." Daly was startled for a second, then she immediately responded.
While waiting, Saint Anthony closed his eyes as a portion of 0-17's information surfaced in his mind.
"Number: 17.
"Name: XXXXXX
"Danger Grade: 0. Extremely Dangerous. It's of the highest importance and of the highest confidentiality. It is not to be inquired, disseminated, described, or spied.
"Security Clearance: Pope, Team A researchers, and Archbishop of the Backlund diocese (Note: When the archbishop is transferred out of the Backlund diocese, the corresponding memories have to be wiped out using Sealed Artifact 1-29).
"Sealed Method: The seal is completed through the combination of 1-29 and 1-80.
"Description: This isn't an item.
"This is a living angel.
"‘Her' appearance is beautiful with black hair and eyes. Looks like a young woman, but ‘Her' actual age cannot be estimated.
"...'She' doesn't have the wings recorded in canon. Just from ‘Her' appearance, ‘She' is no different from an ordinary person.
"... She does not have the ability to think and has lost all sentience.
"... Anyone and everything that comes close to ‘Her' will completely disappear... Through divination and other methods, it can be confirmed that they're still alive but are impossible to locate. Currently, 1825 methods have been attempted, with every one of them failing.
"...0-17's range of influence will expand and contract without any pattern. Currently, it has caused more than 70 researchers to vanish."
...
"Warning: ‘She' cannot be used!"
"Appendix 1: This Sealed Artifact first appeared in the Pale Era of the Fourth Epoch.
Exact year: Missing.
Exact date: Missing.
Exaction location: Missing"
"Appendix 2: Based on the information, ‘She' has been awakened five times."
...
By passing on the message to search for the Ince Zangwill imposter, Klein, with the help of divination, overcame the interference of the Master Key and ran all the way to the exit given to him from the revelation.
He knew very well that with a carpet-style search, the corpse in the empty room would soon be discovered, so he had to race against time to get to the exit.
A Faceless's powers should be matched with a mystical item that can destroy corpses and clean up my tracks... Having gained true knowledge from practice, it didn't take Klein long to cross the checkpoints and patrolling teams before he arrived at the exit where the divination pointed him to.
However, what made him even more surprised was that there were no guards here, only a heavy stone door standing there by itself.
What's going on? Why is there no one guarding the exit? Was my divination misguided, or are the guards outside? As his thoughts raced, Klein found a corner and took off his armor, restoring his lightweight and agility.
Then, he came to the stone door that opened outwards and groped his way to the corner of the left wall.
After carefully checking with a gold coin, Klein took out the ancient bronze key. He leaned it against the wall and gently twisted it.
Water ripples appeared as they spread out slightly. Klein silently passed through the wall, without taking the door!
The first thing he saw was the natural light that fell from the dome, which meant that this place was really an exit.
Klein carefully stood motionless as he quickly adapted to the light. He saw neat but mottled gray stones under his feet and thick pillars in front of him.
In the middle of the hall, four hooded figures knelt around what appeared to be an altar.
Soon after, Klein heard a soft but gentle female voice.
"Mr. A, are you ready?"
