“How long did I sleep?”

“Young Master, you slept for a full day and night.”

“That long?”

“Yes, Young Master.” Alfred poured a cup of ice water and handed it to Karon. “Young Master, I have instructed that a meal be prepared for you.”

Karon took the cup and drank it down in one go.

“I will pour you another.” As Alfred went to get a second cup, Karon sat on the bed and looked at the window. Morning sunlight was streaming in. As he stared, Karon suddenly grew puzzled and rubbed his eyes.

Something was different. It felt different.

The window was the same window as before, and the sunlight was the same sunlight. The curtains were the same curtains. By common sense, the light should have made everything look a bit hazy, yet his vision had become startlingly clear, to the point that he felt unaccustomed to it.

Karon looked around again, then finally focused on Alfred as he walked back with water. He could clearly see a faint sheen moving at Alfred’s fingertips and beneath the corners of his eyes. It was so subtle that it was nearly imperceptible. It was something he could never have noticed before.

“Young Master, your water.”

As Karon took it, he asked, “Alfred, I feel like the way I see things has changed.”

“I have heard that after becoming a Divine Seeker and receiving revelation, a god then guides how you see the world. Then, the world in your eyes becomes different, like opening a new door.”

“Divine Seeker?” Karon smiled. “I don’t even know if I succeeded...”

All at once, Karon froze. It was as if something he had lost, or something had been returned to an empty place.

He remembered what he had written in his notebook before falling asleep. At that time, a massive voice had echoed through his mind.

“Bring me the notebook.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Alfred handed it over. Karon flipped to that page and saw, at the very bottom of the page, “Truth is proven through practice alone.”

He set the notebook down on the blanket and pressed a hand to his forehead. Yes, that was the line that had thundered through his mind. Only this time, unlike the familiar yet unfamiliar voice he had heard during his previous Divine Seeking, he clearly remembered that the voice had been his own.

It was an answer he had shouted at himself after thinking it through, but...

His eyes fell back to that golden line. Could this still be called Divine Seeking? Or was it self-awakening?

Either way, the awakening had succeeded. He no longer needed to agonize over whether he was a Divine Servant or a Divine Seeker. He was now Karon the Divine Seeker.

The meal was brought in, still expensive, luxurious, abundant, and not particularly tasty, but because he had slept so long and his body needed energy, Karon ate a great deal.

After he finished, Alfred began reporting what had happened over the past two days, “Young Master, the matter of the queen has been resolved, at least on the surface. Mr. Bede personally delivered the box containing the queen’s body to the palace. Not long after, the palace held a press conference and announced to all that after attending Prince Henry’s funeral, the queen was overcome by grief and then passed away.

“Yesterday, all of Veyn’s newspapers reported the queen’s death. Today, the papers I saw were all reporting her achievements during her long reign. I suspect tomorrow they will report the adverse impact her death will bring to Veyn’s vast system of tributary states and colonies.”

“Mr. Bede can certainly get things done,” Karon said.

On the surface, it was simple: deliver a box of remains. However, a clash could often be decided in a single instance. Bede had completed the task perfectly and forced the Gloria royals to yield.

“Additionally, the manor’s restoration and cleaning have been completed, including the repairs to Earl Rekar’s tomb chamber.”

“Mm.”

“Judia will continue living in Allen Manor. She has awoken, and has agreed to keep vigil over her father’s tomb. She firmly believes Earl Rekar is her father.”

“Mm. I understand.” Judia had never considered herself part of the Gloria royal family, instead always believing that family to be filth. In her mind, Rekar was her origin, a father across multiple generations.

“Borg voluntarily reported to us that he received Earl Rekar’s blessing. He now possesses both water and fire attributes at Tier-2 of the family faith system.”

“Hmm.” Hearing this, Karon felt a quiet suspicion rise within him. That night, no, the night before the end, after dealing with the queen, Rekar had still done so many small things. It felt like he had been arranging his affairs and preparing for something.

After such hurried preparations, what had he intended to do? Karon could not make sense of it.

“Master Anderson has awakened. His physical recovery—”

“Skip him.”

“Yes, Young Master. Miss Eunice has awakened—”

“Let’s go see her.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

***

Knock. Knock.

“Come in.” Eunice’s bedroom did not follow the strict standards of the patriarch’s master bedroom, and its soundproofing was not very good.

Karon pushed the door open. Alfred did not enter behind him, but remained outside and closed the door.

Because of the underfloor heating, Eunice wore only a silver silk nightdress as she sat at her desk, a pen in hand.

When she saw it was Karon, she looked slightly surprised, but stood and smiled. “I thought you were the maid bringing coffee.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Miss.”

“No.”

Karon stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her waist. The feel of the nightdress was excellent, and most importantly, very thin.

Eunice placed both hands on Karon’s shoulders. Their foreheads touched, and they held each other in silence for a long while.

After a long time, she said, “Father told me that my bloodline was tested while I slept, and it has awakened.”

“Yes, and your talent is very good.”

“I’ve become very drowsy, though. Every day I sleep for nearly eighteen hours. I didn’t know it was possible to sleep that much.”

“The power in your bloodline needs to be digested, which is normal. Don’t worry. It will get better and better. Once you finish digesting that power, your faith-system tier might even surpass your two uncles, leaving you as the highest-tier member of the Allen family. At that point, the position of matriarch should go to you.”

“I’ve never thought about becoming the family leader,” Eunice replied.

“That’s fine. The queen had a husband too.”

She bit her lip and smiled. “Actually, I’m grateful for this awakening.”

“Of course. It’s nearly everyone’s dream in the family.”

“That’s not the reason.”

“Then what is?”

“I’ve always envied someone. Her portrait hangs in the study.”

“Pu— Your ancestor Poelle?”

“Yes. I’ve always envied her. Even in such a serious setting, she could be willful and show whatever posture she wished. She must have been very free.”

“She must have been very free then,” Karon echoed. During the last hundred years, she probably wasn’t so free.

“I know it was because she was one of the greatest geniuses in our family’s history that she was able live so completely as herself.”

“You long for that feeling too?” Karon asked.

Eunice shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m already used to how I live.”

“You can try. Of course, it’s not that lawlessness is the only way to express one’s nature. Sometimes restraint and refinement can be a pleasure too.”

“I just feel that after my bloodline awakened, I can be a little closer to you. Do you know, Karon, when I saw Mother kneel while holding the bookmark you asked me to give her, I knew there was a very long distance between us? After coming home, that distance became a reality. I thought that after my bloodline awakened, I could...”

“Kick me away?”

Eunice reached up and hugged Karon’s neck, kissed his cheek, and then lowered her head. “So we can love more freely. With fewer restraints, fewer burdens, and less pretense.”

Karon pursed his lips and said, “And then you’ll realize that the way we love is still exactly the same as it was in Roja City.”

“Will it?” Eunice asked.

“I think it will, but I don’t mind doing it again. Some things, only after you’ve gone through them, will you have no regrets.”

“Thank you, Karon.” Eunice gently pushed him away and walked into her dressing room.

“I think that outfit is quite good,” Karon commented as he sat in a chair.

Not long after, Eunice came out. She still wore the same nightdress, but had put some black stockings on her legs.

Gathering her courage, she walked over to Karon. “The purification gift you said you wanted before your purification.”

Karon reached out and stroked her calf. He did not deliberately breathe heavier, nor did he press hard. The atmosphere was too perfect to forcefully ruin.

Eunice was nervous, and her hands seemed to have nowhere to go.

“Sit on the bed. I’ll massage your feet and help your blood circulation.”

“Hm?” Eunice looked surprised. “Blood circulation?”

“Yes. It’s good for your body.”

Eunice nodded. She did not truly believe him, but still went to the bed and sat down. Karon sat beside her. He placed her foot on his knee, and proceeded to gently knead it.

“Mmm.” Eunice reflexively pulled her nightdress down to cover more of herself. She thought she was being discreet about it, but saw that Karon was watching her. “I—”

“Let me look a bit more,” Karon said. “Soon, I’ll be living in York City.”

“Take me with you,” Eunice blurted, only to immediately realize that she was not suited to live outside at the moment. Not only would she be unable to help, she might become a burden.

“I will bring you,” Karon said, tapping his chest lightly. “Right here.”

“You won’t... forget me, will you?”

“Oh, that’s hard to say, unless you let me take a bit more,” Karon said, lifting his chin.

Eunice did not dare look at him, but she did reach down and silently lift her skirt back up that she had just pulled down.

Karon smiled and continued massaging her feet.

In his previous life, he had never married. Yet among the patients he encountered, more than half of their problems were related to relationships and marriage. Perhaps, in the eyes of the young, marriage required a preface of fierce love, a buildup of dramatic twists, breakups and reunions, and only then could one walk into the hall of marriage, as though this was marriage in its purest form. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

But the truth was that, if from the beginning, in meeting, in loving, in living together, both people could remain comfortable, then quietly and simply walking through life together was itself immense happiness and luck.

A sign of maturity was knowing clearly what you truly wanted. A raging, tempestuous love? No. What Karon wanted more was a suitable peace.

He stopped massaging, gently placed Eunice’s leg back onto the bed, and then gently pulled her nightdress down and tucked the blanket over her.

She had fallen asleep. Earl Rekar had said she would be very sleepy for a period of time.

Karon bent down and kissed her forehead lightly. An absurd thought rose in his heart. After he moved out, if he returned home every day to find her lying in bed, even if she was sleeping soundly, he felt it would be rather nice.

“Heh.” Karon laughed at himself.

He turned and walked to the bedroom door. Opening it, he found Alfred still standing outside, but now held a folder in his hands. “Young Master, this is a letter from Ms. Molly, sent through the Church of Principle.”

“Alright. To the study.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Karon went to the study and sat behind the desk. He did not take the letter. Instead, he asked Alfred, “What does it say?”

From the moment he arrived on Kerona Island by riding Aseros until this moment, Karon had not written home even once, nor had he placed a single call.

He hesitated, because the Allen family had staged an accident to conceal his identity. Ms. Jenny and Eunice had used false identities much earlier, even in Roja City.

That meant that, as far as his family back in Roja City was concerned, Karon was likely a missing victim of a shipwreck. They would certainly be frantic, and praying desperately for his safety.

Both logically and emotionally, he should have sent word home that he was safe, but he feared doing so would expose his identity and reveal it all to the Church of Order, rendering Tiz’s arrangements meaningless.

Tiz had performed a blood sacrifice ritual to strip the Immers family of all spiritual legacy, sparing Karon’s branch alone. That itself was a declaration of resolve to the Church of Order. If Karon exposed himself, would that not make Tiz’s arrangement a joke?

Of course, Tiz might have prepared other arrangements as well. He had said Karon could go home, but from Veyn, Karon could not confirm it. That was why he did not dare take the risk.

He missed home. He missed 13 Mink Street terribly, but he currently felt like a fugitive. Many fugitives were caught because they contacted their family and left traces. That was also why he had hesitated about activating the home loan contract his uncle and aunt had prepared. Once that contract took effect, his family would certainly know he was alive.

Karon could not be sure that, upon learning he lived, and lived well, his family could conceal their reaction from the outside world. After all, what he was guarding against was not the police, but a massive church.

Alfred began reading the letter. “‘Everything at home is fine. Sir Tiz is also fine.’”

Karon listened carefully, but the letter stopped there. He turned to look at Alfred, puzzled.

“Uh... Young Master, regarding your family, that is all there is. Ms. Molly is truly careless and irresponsible.”

“Is there more?”

“Yes, Young Master. I will read it. ‘Young Master, a new priest named Rasma has arrived at the church on Mink Street. Every day he walks the street.

“‘One day, Ms. Mary and I were sitting in the courtyard preparing sausages. Ms. Mary thought of you and began to cry. He happened to be passing by our gate and saw it. He then called me to the gate. I invited him in for tea, but he refused. He put one foot inside the gate and kept the other outside, making an exaggerated stepping pose.

“‘He told me to have that interesting fellow, the one Sir Tiz keeps talking about, send word home that he is safe.

“‘He also said not to be afraid. The matters of this street are now under his charge.’

“That is the end, Young Master.”

High Priest of the Church of Order, Rasma.

Karon closed his eyes. In his mind, he could see the exaggerated pose Ms. Molly had described.

In an instant, all of Karon’s hesitation vanished. This gesture meant that his grandpa had agreed.

With Rasma on Mink Street, no, with him in Roja City, it was ensured that the Church of Order would not turn its gaze to the Immers family, because Rasma’s gaze was not one of many, but the entirety of things.

“Alfred.”

“Yes, Young Master?”

“Place a long-distance call.”

“Yes, Young Master.” Alfred picked up the telephone on the desk and began dialing, then routing the call. The process was cumbersome and slow, and the cost would be extravagant, but the Allen family would never ask Karon to reimburse the study’s phone charges.

Finally, “Young Master, it is connected.”

Alfred handed the receiver to Karon. He accepted it and held it to his ear. He heard the orderly beeping of the line waiting to be answered. It made one tense and yet impossibly expectant.

Then came a click as a receiver was lifted.

Next, the familiar voice of Mason. Karon tilted his face upward, his eyes instantly wet. He sniffed unconsciously.

“Hello, this is Immers Funeral Home.”