Late at night, at the Fragrant Estate.
Ebner finished organizing his "equipment," draped the alchemical life-form—the "Red Cloak"—he had obtained from Ms. Closfia over his shoulders, and prepared to quietly leave his estate to meet Judy for their rendezvous.
However, as soon as he stepped into the hallway, he spotted Lydia, Cullen's younger sister and the "glutton," sneaking around as she sprinkled something into a cup of coffee. She then carried the cup into the guest room he had arranged for Miss Gwen.
Seeing this, Ebner frowned. Although he didn't know what Lydia was up to, if something were to happen to Miss Gwen while she was staying under his roof, it would be a disaster...
Therefore, after a brief moment of thought, he had the "cloak" carry him to the second-floor guest room, where he used his "door-opening" ability to enter.
—Since he didn't want to alert anyone about his departure, he remained in a state of "psychological invisibility."
Inside the room, Miss Gwen was taking a bath in the small attached bathroom, while Lydia chatted half-heartedly with her captain through the bathroom door. At the same time, she stealthily replaced Miss Gwen's original cup of coffee.
Ebner walked over to Lydia and used his "Pure White Eye" to analyze the coffee, immediately detecting the presence of a "sleeping potion."
Looking at the coffee laced with sleep-inducing ingredients, Ebner didn't need to guess what this girl was planning...
"This is a lady's room, and I can't stay here for long... As for directly warning Miss Gwen, that wouldn't be appropriate either...
"However, I can't let Cullen's sister succeed. If she's resorting to drugging someone just for a 'bite to eat,' who knows how far she'll go in the future? She needs to be disciplined."
With this in mind, he quickly came up with a plan. He silently exited the guest room and went to Helene's door, summoning his red-haired maid.
He then instructed Helene to deliver the list of items likely to appear at tomorrow night's "Beyonder gathering," which Weave had sent over earlier that day, to Miss Gwen. He also asked her to subtly hint at the issue with the coffee.
If Miss Gwen had already drunk the coffee, Helene was to administer a "wakefulness potion."
After giving these instructions, Ebner re-entered a state of "psychological invisibility" and left the estate. With the help of the "cloak," he soared into the air, heading straight for the southwestern jungle.
—He had full confidence in Helene's competence.
...
On the other side, after personally witnessing her captain drink the coffee, Lydia made an excuse and left the room.
However, as soon as she opened the door, she saw the maid from Detective Bryan's house delivering a list of items that might appear at tomorrow night's "Beyonder gathering."
She didn't pay much attention to this, as the potion she had prepared wasn't the kind that would knock someone out immediately. It merely made the drinker drowsy and ensured a deeper, harder-to-wake sleep.
If it had been the kind of potion that caused instant unconsciousness, the captain would surely have been suspicious upon waking the next morning.
Lydia waited in the shadows of the hallway for a while. When she saw the maid leave the captain's room after only a short stay, she hummed a tune, went back to take a shower, and then slipped into Tran's guest room.
Seeing Lydia sneak in and expertly use her spirituality to seal the room, Tran, who was leaning against the headboard, showed no surprise. She only said weakly, "Didn't the captain tell you to 'restrain' yourself?"
"Detective Bryan just had his maid deliver a list, so the captain won't have time to bother with me right now..." Lydia chuckled, moving closer. "Don't worry, I just want to smell you. I won't do anything serious..."
"You said that last time too..." Tran instinctively backed away as Lydia climbed onto the bed.
At that moment, the door suddenly swung open, the spiritual barrier collapsing with a crash, and Miss Gwen appeared in the doorway.
Lydia turned her head, both surprised and slightly embarrassed. "Captain, what are you doing here?"
Miss Gwen glanced at her and said expressionlessly, "Are you wondering why the sleeping potion you put in my coffee didn't work?"
Hearing this, Tran widened her eyes in disbelief. "You drugged the captain?"
Lydia gave an awkward laugh. "I just thought the captain has been working too hard lately... So, I wanted her to have a good night's sleep..."
Miss Gwen clearly didn't buy her excuses. She walked straight to the bed, grabbed Lydia by the collar, and lifted her with one hand.
Lydia, being petite—even shorter than Xio—was no match for Miss Gwen, who, after becoming a Sequence 7 "Weapons Master," stood nearly six feet tall. The action looked entirely natural.
As for Lydia, who was being held up, she didn't resist at all, looking as docile as could be due to her guilt.
"I'll take this one with me. You should drink that medicine and go to bed early," Gwen instructed Tran before turning around and heading for the door, still holding Lydia.
"Captain... please don't be too hard on Lydia. She can't help herself..." Tran pleaded, unable to bear the sight.
"Don't worry, she won't die," Miss Gwen replied without turning back, closing the door behind her.
Once they returned to her own guest room, Miss Gwen set Lydia down and stared at her for a moment before asking:
"I'm not against you getting close to Tran... but you know his current condition. Why would you still do something like this?
"Don't you have potions to control your impulses?"
"I'm sorry... the potion is almost gone... I can't brew it myself... My brother was supposed to deliver a new batch last week... but he might have been delayed by something, as he hasn't shown up yet.
"Recently, I've only been taking half the usual dose... which was barely enough to keep things under control...
"But for some reason, Tran was especially tempting today, so I couldn't resist..." Lydia stammered, her head lowered.
No wonder Tran has been getting weaker these past few days... Miss Gwen nodded thoughtfully, then asked with concern:
"How long do you need to suck his blood to make up for what you call your clan's 'congenital defect'?
"You can't possibly need to do it for his entire life, can you?"
Huh? Suck blood? Does the captain think I was going to suck his blood? But I wouldn't dare do that—doing it continuously could kill him... Lydia was stunned but didn't correct Miss Gwen's misunderstanding. Instead, she explained:
"Actually, I only need to absorb a certain 'unknown' from his bloodline once... but doing so would cause him significant harm, and in severe cases, it could even kill him...
"So, doing it little by little like this is slower but safer. It would take at least a year to complete safely... Well, that's based on the experience of my mother and Cullen's father."
"I see..." Miss Gwen sighed, somewhat helplessly. "How did your two families end up with such a strange complementary relationship?"
"I don't know either..." Lydia shook her head. "But I've heard there are related secrets hidden in the second half of a family tome... Unfortunately, that half is written in a language no one can understand..."
"If no one can understand it, how do you know there are secrets hidden in it?" Miss Gwen asked, puzzled.
Lydia organized her thoughts and explained:
"I've told you before, my brother was once a servant of Emperor Roselle. He handed the second half of the tome to the Emperor, and not long after, the Emperor informed my brother about the special relationship between our two families...
"He speculated that the Emperor must have deciphered the language and understood its contents.
"Actually, my mother became the first half-deity in our family's history by relying on this 'completion,' but she always thought it was just because Cullen's father was special... It wasn't until Emperor Roselle informed us that we learned the descendants of Lord Yaloran had such a unique relationship with our family."
Roselle... Miss Gwen pondered for a moment before asking again, "What's the name of that tome? Can you tell me?"
Lydia opened her mouth, looking slightly guilty, and said, "The Feast of Blood."
"So it's that one... That's why you've been so interested in finding Emperor Roselle's 'Golden Serpent Treasure,' isn't it?"
Earlier, after taking control of Hamilton, the "White Shark" of Damir, their group had learned the location of the treasure map from him and quickly found it.
Along with the treasure map was a document left by Roselle, which specifically stated that he had placed—
The translated second half of The Feast of Blood on the "Black Throne."
(End of Chapter)