Chapter 545
Under the shadow of the God of Order's Church, Nia stood before the holy throne, her armor rapidly fracturing. Before her was Aivina, whose eyes glowed with a purple hue. Gradually, Nia's armor stabilized, a trickle of blood seeping through the cracks. Aivina glanced at me, nodded gently, and then raised the potion in her hand, drinking it down in one swift motion...
In the secret laboratory of Adele's home, a disheveled Adele excitedly lunged toward me, continuously offering me various reagents, her words tumbling out in a flurry, completely oblivious to the fact that she was practically on top of me...
In the high-level conference room of the Dutton Group, Lucy stood beside the conference table, introducing something to the figure seated at the head, who wore a white chip mask. Then, that person stood up and extended a friendly right hand toward Charles, clasping it with his own...
Urgent newsprint had made its way into everyone's hands, with newsboys shouting in the streets, waving newspapers. I picked up a scattered paper from the ground and glanced at it; it reported the development of a cure for the "Rotting Plague" and the official repeal of the "Corn Laws"...
The "Sacred Corpse" around my neck ignited in a blaze of purple flames, and a beautiful woman with a terrified expression collapsed to the ground, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked at the group of Tier 4 individuals standing beside Charles. She was Imogen, who had been discovered by Eleanor, possessing the ability to "see through" things, the moment she arrived in Ansu. Prior to this, Imogen's true likeness had already circulated among the upper echelons of Ansu...
The final scene—
I sat at the head of a massive conference table, surrounded by the upper echelons of nearly all factions in Ansu. I raised my eyes to the end of the long table, where a strange giant cloaked in black robes sat. I nodded slightly, and Imogen was brought to the giant's side, who was staring intently at me, eventually lowering his head slowly...
"Whoa—!"
The purple mist before Charles dissipated rapidly, and a dizzying sensation made her stomach churn. She swayed and instinctively took a step back, her balance faltering.
But a warm hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her forward until she felt herself enveloped in a soft embrace, and only then did her legs regain their strength.
Charles leaned against this comforting chest for a while, then slowly lifted her head to look at Aivina standing before her.
At that moment, Charles noticed that Aivina's pupils had nearly completely faded, and through them, she seemed to glimpse an unfathomable black hole, as if it came from the vastness of the starry sky.
"This is what you asked for," Aivina said, her expression still impassive, her tone icy, but she couldn't help but add a concerned remark, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Charles raised her hand to rub her temples, trying to ease the dizziness.
This format... certainly captures more details than a notebook, almost like reliving those events again.
And the one safeguarding this memory was Aivina, someone she could absolutely trust.
Charles reflected on the images she had just seen, the sheer volume of information was overwhelming, and she found herself needing to revisit it.
In the simulation, she had united the God of Order's Church, merged the Savior Goddess Church and the Holy Ascendancy, and reached some form of cooperation with the Dutton Group...
Adele had seemingly developed a cure for the "Rotting Plague," and she had used the cure and the repeal of the Corn Laws to trap Imogen, who had come to stir up trouble, and by holding Imogen hostage, forced the extraordinary being from North Ansu, who was completing a ritual, to send someone to negotiate with Charles.
The outcome of the negotiation was that the Joyous Society would withdraw from North Ansu, with the price being Imogen's release, and Charles sharing her experience of merging "uniqueness"—an experience that was incredibly valuable, even more so than Imogen's life.
Was that... it?
Charles stared at Aivina, momentarily dazed.
Seeing Charles in this state, Aivina furrowed her brow slightly and asked, "Are you still dizzy? Did it hurt you?"
Aivina seemed a bit worried that the sudden influx of memories might be too much for Charles to handle... but this was what Charles had requested; Aivina was merely following her wishes, including not prying into the stored memories.
"It's fine..." Charles placed her hand on Aivina's shoulder, gently pushing her away, but soon realized something and looked up at Aivina, asking, "Have you grown taller?"
At this, Aivina seemed to take some pride in it. She placed her right hand on her hip and rested her left hand on Charles's head, a smile tugging at her lips: "Could it be that you’ve just gotten shorter?"
But as soon as she said that, Aivina immediately regretted it.
Every time she let her mouth run away with her, Charles would make her regret it to the point of tears afterward. Yet, whenever she managed to get a verbal win over Charles, Aivina couldn't help but take the chance.
After all, opportunities to win were rare; when the moment came, she had to pop the champagne.
Just as Aivina was stealthily retracting her hand, nervously peeking at Charles, she found Charles lost in thought.
What was going on with her?
Aivina was about to ask when Charles raised her hand, causing Aivina to instinctively shrink back, crossing her arms defensively, her face alert.
"...Where's Tara?" Charles asked, looking at Aivina.
"She... is probably at the church?" Aivina replied, puzzled. "Didn't you ask her to handle the theological 'training' at the Goddess's court?"
That part of the memory hadn’t been preserved... perhaps the simulated version of herself deemed it unimportant and didn’t retain it, only keeping the most crucial details.
"Do you need to go home and rest?" Aivina seemed to notice that Charles was a bit off, saying, "Should I go get Tara for you?"
"Sure," Charles nodded.
Right now, she definitely needed to sort through her thoughts.
She knew that merging the church and getting other factions to temporarily submit to her was not a difficult task for the simulated version of herself, as she had ample experience in this area.
But she hadn’t expected the situation in North Ansu to resolve so smoothly... so smoothly that Charles herself began to doubt these memories.
The emergence of the cure, Imogen's capture, the unification of Ansu's factions... these factors combined could indeed lead the other side to decide to back down.
After all, the Ansu connected by Charles was not one governed by division; at least for the time being, the Joyous Society in North Ansu had lost the opportunity to pick off factions one by one.
As Charles pondered the potentially unreasonable points, Aivina led her out of the washroom. As they exited, they accidentally bumped into a few students passing by.
They stared in shock at the two emerging from the same washroom—especially at Charles, who was being pulled along by Aivina, her steps a bit unsteady—until the two walked far enough away that they quietly began to discuss.
"That... is the special lecturer in Ancient Ansu, Charles, right?"
"Yeah... why is she being dragged away by Lady Russell?"
"I heard that Lady Russell has turned down almost all suitors, even the outstanding Opode... could it be that she really is..."
"Shh—don’t let anyone hear you! Half the council is made up of Russell's people; you need to watch your words."
"Poor Teacher Charles... such a young and talented teacher, and she's been targeted by a devil..."
"Stop talking about it..."
Charles didn’t hear their conversation. At that moment, she was already seated in the carriage arranged by Aivina, heading home.
Meanwhile, Aivina boarded another carriage, seemingly preparing to fetch someone for Charles.
Once home, Charles returned to her room and began rummaging through her belongings.
Aside from a notebook filled with snippets of daily life, she found quite a few lesson plans... it seemed the simulated version of herself had truly resolved everything, even enjoying the mundane.
The simulated Charles had the same thought process and memories; if she hadn’t noticed anything amiss, it was likely that in those 24 hours, it would be hard for her to pinpoint anything wrong.
However, she didn’t have to think for long before Aivina knocked on her door, bringing Tara with her.
.
.
.
PS:
Tomorrow, definitely 8K.
Table of Contents
