Emlyn's expression towards Alice could only be described as humiliated. He wanted to say something, but felt an instinctive fear. Alice's teasing expression faded as she stared at him:
"Alright, I'm sorry. But theoretically it should need to be digested, since it's using someone else's 'legacy'."
Emlyn looked at Alice, who showed no real remorse, and ultimately gave up trying to speak up for himself. He understood that this was the most sincere apology Alice was capable of expressing.
Cattleya looked around and, seeing no one else speak up, asked: "Does the Vampire Baron correspond to Sequence 6 'Potion Professor'?"
"Yes," Emlyn nodded, no longer smug.
Audrey looked at the Sequence 6 Emlyn, then at Alice, and began to wonder if she was too precocious.
Cattleya nodded and said: "You need to act the part, because that pathway only has Sequence 7 called 'Vampire', which you are born as and don't need to act. The others all require acting."
If I called him "Mr. Vampire" now, he would surely be furious... Amon's method of insulting people really works well.
Alice glanced at Emlyn, who had just been persecuted, and mercifully decided to let him off for now.
"Miss 'Hermit', which pathway's Sequence 7 is this?" Audrey blinked and curiously asked before Emlyn could.
Before Cattleya could answer, Audrey added: "If you think this information is important and shouldn't be shared freely, I can pay a certain fee."
Alice, who had turned her head out of curiosity, silently turned back to look at Audrey.
Cattleya pretended not to notice this exchange of glances, and shook her head:
"No, no need. Anyone familiar with the Church of the mother Goddess would know about this.
"'Vampire' belongs to the 'Moon' pathway. The corresponding Sequence 9 is 'Apothecary', Sequence 8 is 'Animal Tamer', Sequence 6 is 'Potion Professor', Sequence 5 is 'Crimson Scholar', Sequence 4 is 'Witch King'. Beyond that, I'm not sure."
"'Apothecary'?" Alice widened her eyes in surprise, remembering the fat apothecary whose flesh would jiggle. "...Does your Sequence 7 potion include beauty effects? No, maybe it should include weight loss too..."
"What do you mean?" Emlyn frowned in confusion.
"Nothing," Alice gave Emlyn a strange look. "Let's change the subject. Have you ever worked in a circus?"
"...Miss 'Fate'." The "World's" voice carried a hint of gritted teeth.
Alice stared at him for two seconds, then said thoughtfully: "You're right, one of you is enough for a circus. 'Apothecary' plus 'Animal Tamer' might be more suitable as a veterinarian..."
Emlyn finally understood Alice's meaning. He emphasized righteously: "I am a vampire! A noble vampire!"
"Okay," Alice gave a fake smile, "Mr. 'Vampire'."
Emlyn was about to stand up angrily. To prevent the argument from escalating further, Audrey struggled to save the situation:
"Miss 'Hermit', why do the different sequences of the 'Moon' pathway sound unrelated?"
This successfully diverted Alice's attention. Before Cattleya could answer, Alice turned and said:
"You know what, Miss 'Justice'?
"My Sequence 9 is called 'Monster', Sequence 8 is called 'Machine'. Their only commonality is...
"Neither are human."
Emlyn suddenly felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, completely extinguishing his previous anger. He sat back down.
Audrey's polite smile froze on her face, not knowing how to respond.
Fortunately, Cattleya didn't let her feel awkward for long, quickly explaining:
"The different sequences within a pathway don't necessarily have to be related, or at least not obviously related. Their common feature is that they all fall within the domain of the corresponding deity of that pathway.
"For example, 'Moon' represents spirituality, plants, beauty, part of life, part of darkness and part of the bizarre.
"So this pathway has 'Apothecary' in the plant domain, 'Vampire' in the life domain, 'Animal Tamer' at the intersection of life and spirituality."
Huh, it's a different explanation... Alice blinked twice. After pondering for over ten seconds, Alice raised her hand and said: "Mr. Fool, I request a private conversation."
What does she want to say? A look of confusion flashed across Klein's eyes. Then, he blocked the perceptions of the others and asked: "What is it?"
"I was just thinking," Alice looked up at Klein, switching to Chinese for the second half of her sentence, "can 'Fool' also be called 'Idiot'?"
Klein felt he had temporarily lost the ability to speak. After over ten seconds, he said through gritted teeth: "Thank you for remembering to request a private conversation."
"I almost said it out loud actually." Alice shrank her neck.
Calm down, she didn't say it directly, this is at least some kind of progress... Klein had to repeatedly persuade himself several times before looking up to tell Alice: "You can still make it back to Backlund now."
"Why?" Alice asked in confusion.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to control my excited emotions when I see you," Klein said calmly, "and might beat you up."
This wasn't Klein's usual style. Alice was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but correct him:
"You're not imitating it well.
"You should have deleted the last sentence."
Klein's mouth twitched as he asked: "Do you really want to get beaten up?"
Alice lowered her head. A few seconds later, she couldn't help but look up and say:
"Actually, I'm getting more and more worried... You know, every time you use Amon's methods to deal with me, I worry...
"Will there be a day when you really tell me that you've found you and Amon are like long-lost soulmates, that you've fallen deeply in love with Him..."
Klein interrupted Alice through gritted teeth: "Absolutely impossible!"
"I'm just a little scared..." Alice defended herself softly, then quickly brought the topic back to the original question, "So, I actually think it's quite reasonable to call the Fool an idiot..."
"Yeah," Klein laughed sarcastically, "Just as reasonable as my Sequence 4 being called circus."
"Exactly!" Alice sat up excitedly, "You finally understand!"
Klein was quiet for two seconds, then lifted the blockade.
After chatting for a few more minutes, the Tarot Club meeting came to an end. Alice looked at the unchanged sea in the real world and sighed sadly.
Alice hadn't forgotten about the misfortune she casually photographed, but until she reached Port Tiana and set off again, the sea maintained its calm appearance.
-- Barring any accidents, she would reach Bayam in four days.