Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1765 - 1764: With Galina

With only the [Love God’s Sting], although there is still a distance from the "Duality" that Shard wants to achieve, Desire tells Shard that once he finds a way for the physical bodies to merge, triggering the "Love God’s Sting" at the instant of the merge would be sufficient to realize a complete "Duality".

"So it’s this divine magic."

Mr. Upton, not knowing what Shard wanted to do, nodded:

"This is the true secret of our Order, a divine magic born from the soul’s strongest ’Guardian’ wish spurred by emotions. Even now, within the [Rosicrucian Society], only the successive leaders and believers like us can truly access it. However, today we can make an exception, Mr. Watson, are you available? If you are, we can prepare the ceremony for you now. I believe that, blessed by our Lord, you shouldn’t have the possibility of failing to learn the ceremony."

This is a genuine divine magic, so believers of the God of Love must participate to conduct the learning ceremony. Shard had nothing to do today, so he naturally nodded in agreement.

As everyone got up to prepare for the ceremony, Mr. Richard reminded again:

"Only true love can exert the power of this divine magic. Mr. Watson, are you sure that the one you love is also the one who loves you?"

"Of course."

Shard was quite certain, but after a slight pause, he asked another question:

"Can this Arcane Technique be used on multiple people at the same time?"

The believers of the God of Love were taken aback for a moment, but soon understood the implication of the question.

"You..."

Mrs. Hope took a deep breath, suppressing the thought of whether passing the divine magic to the man in front of her counted as desecration:

"Although there’s no definitive record, theoretically, it should be possible."

In fact, besides using it on multiple people, Shard had other "new ideas" about this Arcane Technique, but he didn’t have the nerve to ask and planned to try it himself after returning home.

In short, with the help of three Old God believers, the learning of the [Love God’s Sting] went quite smoothly. But since the ceremony learning took too much time, it was already noon by the time they finished.

So the four of them had lunch together, during which Mr. Richard mentioned that if there were any matters related to "it" in the future, they could come to them for help anytime. Although they couldn’t lead the internal affairs of the [Rosicrucian Society], at least in matters related to the "God of Love", they have quite a bit of autonomy.

After lunch, when Shard was about to take his leave, the Furen brothers came in from outside the hotel, having returned at noon to retrieve some documents.

Seeing Shard, the two went with him to their room in the hotel and talked about what happened last night.

"Yes, both your aunt and I were at Green Lake last night. Your ancestor showed up again."

Shard described the matter with the demon, making the faces of the two brothers turn quite grim. However, since the Rosicrucian Society already decided to proactively expose the brothers’ identities to the True God Church, as long as they didn’t approach Green Lake themselves, they should have no safety issues.

"Speaking of which, the Carsonrick delegation, I remember was supposed to arrive this morning. It’s past lunchtime now, have Duke Simir, Prince Samuel Anjou, and Princess Margaret arrived?"

After discussing the serious matters, Shard asked this question and half-truthfully sighed:

"Actually, the best head of the Carsonrick delegation should have been Prince Andre Anjou, who visited Tobesk City six years ago. It’s a pity that Prince Andre’s health has been poor in recent years; otherwise, there would be no need for a Duke to lead the team while also sending a prince and a princess."

Shard didn’t know much about the contemporary Great Prince of the United Kingdom of Carsonrick, Prince Samuel Anjou, only remembering that when he was at Midshire Fort City, the Grey Glove spy "Professor Higgins," who helped him after death, originally intended for Shard to deliver the Difference Engine data to Samuel Anjou.

"They have arrived, we were called to greet them. We went to the train station early at 7 a.m., but the train was delayed, and we ended up waiting for three hours, which was quite frustrating."

Charles Follen, the younger brother, complained, unaware of the reason behind Shard’s question.

Of course, Shard wasn’t planning to meet Margaret and Miss Sylvia today. They had just arrived at the City of Glass after a long journey and probably needed some time to rest and meet with local nobles and officials, so he didn’t need to disturb them now; there would be plenty of time later. Margaret was not the head of the delegation, so she was much freer than Miss Galina.

After that, Shard first used the crystal shoes to return home from Mikaela Ironworks City, then went from the basement to the Green Lake Hotel, which was much faster than taking a carriage from the south shore of Green Lake to the north shore.

As for returning to Green Lake City, he naturally intended to visit the red-haired Duchess. Since she arrived last night, she should have already received those visitors she had to meet this morning, so she probably wouldn’t be too busy in the afternoon.

Moreover, if Shard didn’t see her today and waited until tomorrow’s banquet to meet her, the Witch would be upset.

After Miss Galina and her party arrived in the area, they stayed at the Rose Manor, which is a private property of the Royal Family. The manor is located in the relatively prosperous city center of Green Lake City and is quite close to the Green Lake Hotel.

Shard didn’t mention that he would come on Thursday afternoon, so naturally, no one would greet him. The manor appeared to be very busy, with carriages and stern-faced people busily coming and going at the entrance, and Royal Guards protecting the Duke, local police, and even an army squad drafted in patrolling around constantly.

Shard did not disguise himself as a visitor but transformed into a cat and slipped in through the gap in the fence.

The layout of such estate buildings is mostly similar, so Shard easily found the study located on the second floor. However, he didn’t enter the room but instead climbed up to the second-floor windowsill along the steam pipes wrapped in insulation.

Just as he was about to raise his paw to knock on the glass, he saw Tifa inside, right in front of the windowsill, unlocking the inner latch intending to open the window for ventilation.

The black-haired Miss Maid looked at the silver cat outside the window and, after blinking, her dark eyes curved slightly, revealing a bright smile. She opened the window and reached out towards the silver cat, but Shard effortlessly dodged her, and the cat entered the room through the window.

"Oh! A cat!"

The witch holding a teacup on the sofa immediately noticed the cat breaking into the room. But before she could stand up, Shard had already jumped down from the windowsill and transformed back into human form:

"Good afternoon, Shard. I guessed you’d come this afternoon or evening."

She said, slightly disappointed, but the smile soon returned to her face. She patted the sofa beside her, signaling Shard to sit down.

Besides Tifa and Miss Galina, Angelina was also in the study, but she was sitting behind the imposing brown lacquered desk, checking the documents that were nearly piled up like a small mountain. The Little Princess also looked up to greet Shard and then continued looking at those documents. Miss Galina explained:

"Since Angelina came along, I temporarily made her my secretary. These are the documents and speeches to be used tomorrow, letting her get familiar with them in advance. Actually, she should have started learning on the train, but some confidential documents are only available here."

She reached out to wrap her arm around Shard’s neck as he sat down. Staring at the beautiful face so close, Shard curiously asked:

"Isn’t the secretary work always done by Tifa?"

"Yes, but that’s just the routine secretarial work. The workload during negotiations is quite large, and I don’t want to tire out my Head Maid. Besides, it’s Angelina herself who said she wants to learn some things."

Her fair nose sniffed around Shard’s neck and, not detecting any other perfume scents, expressed a satisfied smile. Her golden eyes full of laughter stared at Shard for a few seconds, then she closed her eyes and kissed him.

Tifa, standing to the side, poured Shard some tea, and Angelina quietly watched the scene. When the kiss ended, the witch was brimming with smiles and proactively brought up last night’s events:

"Last night at the reed beds, I didn’t have the chance to talk to you, but Audrey was quite interesting. You wouldn’t know what she told me after you left."

She smiled, yet remained so elegant:

"This is getting more interesting, oh, by the way, are you alright? I didn’t expect that you actually fought with that Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, no, it should be said with two of them, on Green Lake during the Night of the Eclipse. Well done,"

"I’m fine. Rather, the Lunar Eclipse granted me new powers. Sister Delphine and the Guardians were right after all."

Shard clenched his fist, and Silvermoon’s glimmer flashed:

"All of my powers associated with the moon have been enhanced, and it’s permanent."

The witch’s smile widened:

"The Chosen One foreseeing this isn’t surprising; perhaps they see the world from a different perspective than we do, and they themselves aren’t normal people. Compared to them, Little Iluna is much more normal... I wonder when she’ll arrive here, but it won’t be long."

She spoke softly, offering the teacup to Shard, and while Shard drank tea, she continued:

"Since you’re fine, shall we continue discussing Megan and Audrey? Do you know what she said? She said you are a beautiful, elegant, noble, and very capable lady, and definitely not my type."

Even Tifa, on the side, showed a smile, and although Shard also wanted to laugh, he knew it was inappropriate:

"Since she’s made you feel interested, don’t you plan to play that trick on her?"

"How could I not?"

The Duchess shook her head decisively, her red hair swaying:

"I’m all prepared. Tomorrow night at the banquet, you’ll come as Megan’s companion, and in the middle, I’ll have Tifa call you away. You don’t need to do anything, just listen to me."

"I still feel..."

She raised her index finger against Shard’s lips, her beautiful golden eyes fixed on Shard:

"At least for this matter, you have to listen to me. Besides, do you want to answer now, about what exactly you did to Megan and Audrey? I can clearly sense that her body and spirit have undergone significant changes, that she’s becoming... perfect. Of course, that’s not the point. The point is, last night she said you, this ’girl’, are her lover. Quite the tactic, Mr. Knight."

Angelina continued to "eavesdrop" on the conversation and then learned that Shard had once again successfully enchanted a Grand Witch:

"Shard is getting closer and closer to controlling the entire Witch Council... He’s truly remarkable."