Chapter 196: A Warning Tap

Chapter 196: A Warning Tap

On both sides of the mottled, ancient bronze long table, blurry figures stretched and lengthened amid clusters of crimson light, then fixed into place. Around them, everything remained as quiet and empty as ever, as though no living being had intruded there for tens of millions of years.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~” Audrey, Justice, said in a light and cheerful voice that quickly echoed through the magnificent palace supported by stone pillars.

Klein nodded with a smile and watched as the various members, led by Miss Justice, completed their simple greetings to one another.

Among them, without question, The Hermit Cattleya appeared relatively silent. In Audrey’s view, she was hiding a not-insignificant burden.

Once the voices subsided and the members were seated, The Fool Klein first glanced at Miss Justice, causing this Psychiatrist to immediately understand his meaning. She did not raise her hand even slightly and refrained from speaking first. Klein then looked toward The Hermit Cattleya and, as though not especially concerned, let out a soft laugh.

“Tell Bernadette that she may use certain things to exchange for certain answers.”

Bernadette… Hearing that familiar name rather than titles like Queen of Mysteries, owner of the Dawn, or leader of Element Dawn, Cattleya understood that Mr. Fool already knew everything and had seen through everything. Her little schemes had never been hidden from Him at all!

This made her mood grow even heavier. An intense fear rose uncontrollably inside her, and for a short time she did not know what attitude or words she should use in response.

In her view, the true meaning of Mr. Fool’s words was: pass on this one sentence, but only this one sentence. Nothing extra may be said, not even a hint!

Cattleya believed she understood very well what this implied.

Bernadette? That’s a common Intisian female name. Who is she? What answers does she want? What relationship does she have with Madam Hermit? Did Madam Hermit make a private request, and Mr. Fool’s reply is that “she may”? No, that isn’t it. If it were a private request, a reasonable request, Mr. Fool wouldn’t mention it specifically in front of us. He would have directly responded when Madam Hermit prayed… This is a warning? Audrey, Justice, forgot to observe the other members. A series of questions first flashed through her mind, and then, relying on the sharpness of the Spectator pathway, she grasped Mr. Fool’s true intention.

Immediately afterward, she formed a certain guess.

“Madam Hermit privately used hints to reveal a little about our Tarot Club to that Madam Bernadette, because the latter wished to obtain some answers… Mr. Fool isn’t very satisfied with this, so He directly pointed it out and gave this first-time offender a warning?

“Honestly, how can she reveal the existence of the Gathering to someone else? I haven’t even told Susie! This could bring danger to all of us. Thank goodness Mr. Fool is here!”

Audrey nearly forgot her image and lessons in etiquette and puffed out her cheeks. For the first time, she realized that not every Tarot Club member had as much sense of belonging as she did, or admired and trusted Mr. Fool as much as she did.

The Hanged Man Alger, The Magician Fors, and The Moon Emlyn also had similar questions and guesses in their hearts. Only the focuses of their concerns differed:

Alger looked forward to what else Mr. Fool would do while bitterly thinking over whom the common Intisian female name Bernadette might represent, and why she was worth The Hermit, who had always been deep-minded, risking the disclosure of a little Tarot Club information. Fors worried about whether the Tarot Club’s existence might be leaked while instantly conceiving a spy-and-counterspy story. Emlyn watched with schadenfreude, thinking that The Hermit was simply foolish.

Heh. Even the ancestor of us Sanguine treats Mr. Fool as an equal, and sent me, this special envoy, to accept cultivation. Yet you, not even a demigod, dare to make little moves under Mr. Fool’s gaze. Do you think your life is too long? As expected, I can’t understand certain thoughts of short-lived species. Emperor Roselle once said that insects that live only in summer cannot truly know what ice and snow look like… The Moon Emlyn leaned back in a relaxed posture, not concealing the shake of his head at all.

The Sun Derrick did not think that deeply. He only vaguely sensed that the atmosphere was a little off, so he asked half-curiously, half-confusedly, “Mr. Fool, who is Bernadette?”

Well asked! I thought Miss Justice would be the one to set that up. Mm, she seems a bit angry, to the point that she temporarily doesn’t want to speak… Klein inwardly praised him and answered lightly, “Roselle’s eldest daughter.

“The owner of the Dawn.

“The leader of Element Dawn.”

He stated Bernadette’s identities one by one, leaving her without any secrets before the members of the Tarot Club.

The reason he used “owner of the Dawn” rather than “Queen of Mysteries” was because Klein felt that The Fool would not refer to Bernadette as a queen.

The owner of the Dawn… The Queen of Mysteries! She is actually Emperor Roselle’s eldest daughter! Ha, Hermit, I can confirm that you are Admiral of Stars Cattleya. So the rumors that you and the Queen of Mysteries had fallen out are false… Excitement surged through The Hanged Man Alger’s heart. He felt the repression and constraint he had experienced for nearly three months suddenly disappear.

It made even the steady Alger unable to resist mocking The Hermit inwardly:

“Emperor Roselle once said that those who play with fire will inevitably burn themselves. And you, Admiral of Stars, actually dared challenge the insight of a god!”

At that moment, Alger felt rather fortunate. He was fortunate that although he, too, had made small moves in the beginning, trying to figure out Mr. Fool’s identity, purpose, and current state, those had not involved outsiders and had not caused any leaks. Therefore, he had not been directly warned.

Because he had once introduced the Four Kings and the seven pirate admirals, Justice Audrey and the others only needed to recall briefly before quickly confirming that Bernadette was the Queen of Mysteries, a demigod who crossed the five seas. They were all astonished that Emperor Roselle’s eldest daughter was still alive, that she had lived until the present day and become a world-famous figure.

“The answers the Queen of Mysteries wants are in Roselle’s diary?” Combining the matters and words before and after, Audrey vaguely guessed Bernadette’s goal, believing that the Emperor’s eldest daughter wanted to understand the truth behind her father’s assassination.

By then, The Hermit Cattleya had regained her ability to think. Turning slightly toward the head of the bronze long table, she said, without any thought of getting lucky, “Yes. I made some mistakes. I will not defend myself. Those were indeed mistakes.

“Mr. Fool, no matter how You punish me—even if You kill me—I am willing to accept it.”

Hypocritical… If Mr. Fool wanted to punish you, would you have any way to resist? Across from her, The Hanged Man inwardly scoffed. With his understanding of such simple rhetoric, he could immediately hear the problem.

Madam Hermit is still a little afraid… Audrey, Justice, tasted the fear hidden behind Cattleya’s slight movement of turning sideways and her choice of words.

In her view, someone who deliberately emphasized that they were willing to be executed was often terribly afraid of dying.

The Magician Fors, meanwhile, found stability again from The Fool’s calm, indifferent attitude. She believed that the Tarot Club’s situation had probably not been leaked—or at least, that what had been leaked was unimportant. Thus, like The Moon Emlyn, she waited with some curiosity and anticipation to see what punishment Mr. Fool would deliver.

The Sun Derrick still had not figured out what exactly had happened. He did not understand why Madam Hermit had suddenly requested punishment for herself.

At that moment, seeing Mr. Fool briefly fall silent, The Hermit Cattleya restrained her unease, lifted her head slightly, and, without leaving any trace, began observing the existence hidden behind the dense gray fog. She attempted to grasp His true intentions, so that she could respond more accurately and avoid making another mistake, provoking Him again, and causing the matter to become completely irretrievable.

Within her black eyes, deep purple gathered and floated with a mysterious quality. She saw through that layer of gray fog and saw The Fool.

Suddenly, Cattleya’s eyes heated up, and illusory blood flowed from them.

At the same time, evil, terrifying, depraved, indescribable howls rang beside her ears. Her perception was instantly occupied by extreme pain, and her body began twitching and trembling beyond her control.

Her face, the backs of her hands, and the parts of her body not covered by clothing quickly split open into cracks deep enough to reveal flesh. Inside, black worms and white moths wriggled, about to form one indescribable eye after another.

Cattleya’s screams and pained groans echoed above the gray fog, causing The Hanged Man Alger, The Moon Emlyn, The Magician Fors, and the others to look at one another. They seemed to have directly sensed the agony she was enduring.

At the same time, the blurry image became somewhat clearer, allowing them to see the mutation of The Hermit’s body.

That disgusting, hideous scene frightened Justice Audrey into instantly withdrawing her gaze. She straightened her back and stared directly ahead, not daring to move.

Although the reactions of the others were not as exaggerated, they carried the same meaning.

The ravings of the True Creator really are useful… Shrouded by gray fog, The Fool Klein looked at this scene and sincerely sighed with emotion.

The reason he had not immediately responded to The Hermit Cattleya’s self-requested punishment was because he wished to confirm whether her eyes were special and whether they could pry into him!

For this, he had hidden the small amount of mysterious-space power he had leveraged in advance within the gray fog that shrouded him. Its function was that once anyone relied on Beyonder abilities to see through the obstruction, that gaze would be “redirected” to the Fire Seed glove!

This was equivalent to the owner of that Beyonder ability using their mind directly to measure an item polluted by the True Creator. As a result, with Klein not deliberately suppressing the influence through the gray fog, The Hermit Cattleya naturally heard the True Creator’s ravings. First, the “organ” she used for her Beyonder ability was severely injured. Then she was filled with pain and began mutating!

If Admiral of Stars had not looked, Klein’s prepared plan had been to make her apologize to the Tarot Club members and let everyone discuss a method of punishment, thereby reflecting “democracy.”

And no matter how “democratic” things became, putting aside minor punishments, the final serious punishment would definitely be to use the small amount of mysterious-space power he had leveraged to connect The Hermit Cattleya with the Fire Seed glove!

After waiting two seconds, Klein knew to stop while things were still appropriate. He lightly brushed his hands over the armrests, causing the gray fog to silently suppress the True Creator’s ravings and calm The Hermit Cattleya’s mutation.

The trembling of Admiral of Stars began visibly subsiding. The blood-and-flesh cracks across her body gradually closed, and her thoughts returned little by little, once again allowing her to sense everything around her.

At that moment, The Hanged Man Alger said in a deep voice, half-warning and half-muttering to himself, “One must not pry into God…”