As the night deepened, the rain that enveloped the Green Lake area became heavier. Thanks to the sewer system built when the city was prosperous and the drainage function of the Duin River, Green Lake City had not yet experienced flooding. However, the splashing rain and humid air still made people feel wet all over, which was still unsettling.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, when Megan, in a very happy mood, walked down the stairs briskly with a candlestick in her hand and entered the first floor of the hotel, she found that Miss Carina and Luvia were still sitting at the table by the wall.
The red-haired duchess and the purple-eyed fortune teller could certainly hear her footsteps in the quiet night, but they didn't say hello to Megan. So, the curious witch paused for a moment, lowered her head to check her clothes, and took the initiative to walk towards them.
The lights on the first floor were not completely turned off at this time. Only half of the gas lamps were on, making it a little dim. On the table between Miss Carina and Luvia, three candles on the candlesticks were glowing, and under the candlelight was a stack of divination cards.
They seemed to be doing divination and had reached the final stage.
When Megan came to the table, Luvia had already arranged 23 cards in five columns, five, four, five, four, and five, next to the candles.
Carina Cavendish looked at the cards seriously, then flipped over the first one:
"Thief."
She named the card and reached for the second one:
"Shameless clown."
Her hand was about to open the third one, but as she moved over the table, Megan, who was standing beside the table, gently grabbed her wrist.
Miss Carina looked up at her:
"What's wrong? The divination will have results soon."
Luvia watched this scene with a smile, but did not say anything. Megan, who was in a good mood, did not bother with Miss Carina:
"I just want to remind you that the card just now is 'Court Jester', which generally refers to a villain or a sycophant. If you draw this card, be careful of those around you..."
She stopped talking halfway through, realizing that this was also a language trap set by the other party.
"Meghan, why don't you continue talking? What does it mean that something has happened around you?"
Seeing the smile on the Duchess's face, the brown-haired witch frowned slightly:
"You and Luvia didn't go to rest in the middle of the night. Were you waiting here specifically to laugh at me?"
Luvia then spoke:
"No, no, of course not... at least that's not how I feel."
The Duchess opposite smiled but said nothing, so Luvia continued:
“Meghan, we said at the beginning that Shade would definitely reject you.”
"But you have to try. After all, I really don't know what will happen tomorrow."
The chair automatically slid behind her from the other table. She let go of Miss Carina's hand and sat down, putting down the candlestick in her hand.
“What’s more, even if I didn’t get the best prize, I still got most of the other rewards besides that prize.”
She tried not to sound complacent. Miss Carina shook her head.
"If I don't stop you from talking, are you going to tell us how many kiss marks are left on your body? Megan, should I remind you of the elegance and decency that witches should have?"
She pointed at herself again, with a scrutinizing look in her eyes:
"Besides, do you realize who the two people in front of you are? Since you did this, you should also consider our feelings, right? Even if you don't feel guilty, you shouldn't be so arrogant for stealing other people's snacks."
"certainly."
Megan spoke slowly, as if chewing on this sentence. In fact, she felt that it would be enough to just say one word to the purple-eyed fortune teller who could never see through her:
"That's why I came over and sat down."
She nodded gently to Luvia, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded to the Duchess of Delarion.
The purple-eyed girl raised her lips and said nothing more. Although the red-haired Duchess was still somewhat dissatisfied, she stopped talking when she saw that she lowered her head.
"So, what was the last card you were going to reveal?"
Megan asked curiously, and the red-haired witch lifted her hair:
"We are still here so late, of course, not just to wait for you to help Shade fill and concentrate the perfume bottle before the battle.
Just now, Luvia and I were discussing what to do tomorrow night. Since everyone is thinking about how to protect you, we have to think about how to protect Shade. We can't have no one to make such plans and programs. As for these divination cards, the last one is the real divination. Luvia is trying to help Shade find a card. That card is very rare and even the fortune teller can't find it. "
The Vientiane card cannot be found through divination, otherwise the Prophet's Guild would have collected thirteen of them long ago.
Miss Carina did not extend her hand again, but motioned for Megan to open the cards. So the satisfied witch temporarily put aside the hot memories that she was still reminiscing about when she went downstairs just now, calmed down, and chose the card closest to Luvia. After turning it over, she threw it on the table. The card was an arm holding a dagger extending from a slightly opened treasure chest.
Although they were fortune-telling, after getting an incomprehensible result, the three of them did not discuss what it meant.
Miss Carina turned her head and looked towards the window. The heavy rain had turned the outside of the window completely black:
"When I think about the fact that by this time tomorrow, I might be on the central island of Green Lake, fighting unknown monsters, or getting lost in a maze created by space power, I feel that life is really colorful. Megan, Audrey, are you willing to be the chosen ones?"
She asked, and the girl with short brown hair asked back curiously:
"First of all, I am not a candidate for the Chosen One. Although I am a member of the family, even if the family becomes the Chosen One, my soul and consciousness will no longer exist. Secondly, have you forgotten what the Speaker said? The probability of a member of the parliament becoming the Chosen One is extremely small. We have other duties in the Whispering Poems."
Luvia looked at him curiously, but Miss Carina shook her head slightly:
“I can’t say, or rather, I know something about it, but not much, and the Speaker is the one who truly holds the secret.
It is said that the witches of the Fifth Era abandoned their duties and only coveted power and desire, which eventually led to civil strife in the Parliament and directly caused the collapse of the Fifth Era. Therefore, in the Sixth Era, many changes occurred in the Parliament, one of which was that only the Speaker was fully aware of the responsibilities of the witches. "
"In order to prevent the rebellion at the end of the Fifth Era from happening again in the Council, is that why they are not telling others about the true responsibilities of the Great Witches?"
Luvia asked curiously, and then said:
"I can imagine that you have special responsibilities. After all, you have monopolized this special space of the Witch Council. But if you don't know your responsibilities, how can you prepare for them? Or, how do you know that you haven't betrayed your responsibilities?"
The Great Witch of Wisdom and Knowledge answered this question:
"The speaker is always watching over us. Since the Sixth Era of the Witch Council, the strongest witch has always been the speaker. With one speaker after another in existence, none of us dare to have any small thoughts. Of course, how to ensure that each generation of speakers can fulfill their responsibilities is not something we know."
At this point, I thought of Shade. The beautiful Duchess frowned slightly:
"The Speaker always knows everything... Could it be that she already knows about Shade?"
Clang clang ~
The coin fell on the table, and Luvia took a look:
"The probability is not high. As long as you finish your date with Xia De and remember to take a shower and spray perfume before going to the meeting, she won't notice."
Megan blushed when she felt herself being mentioned, and thought of what happened just now, so she pursed her lips and looked away. Then she met Miss Carina's eyes, and the two of them immediately looked away, both of them feeling like they were being called out by the purple-eyed fortune teller.
However, they all believed in Luvia's divination, so they didn't worry about it. Of course, Megan still mentioned another thing:
"Although the speaker has been persuaded by us and will not come to Green Lake this time, based on my understanding of her, she might suddenly show up at the most critical moment tomorrow night."
She is the oldest witch in the council and is most familiar with the Great Witch of Time, so she can make such a judgment:
"Everything is unknown now. Whether the Speaker comes or not, it is actually good for us."
The three ladies were silent for a moment, and then Luvia began to collect the divination cards on the table:
"Trust Shade, just as you always have. Since he promised to protect you, he will definitely do it."
Megan nodded and looked out the window again:
"It's raining so hard outside. Are you going back to the temporary residence of the Prophet Association? I can arrange a carriage to take you there, or I can take you there myself. I want to talk to you on the way."
Luvia rejected her:
"I'm not going back. I've asked for three days off. I said I suddenly had an inspiration and I want to go out to look for signs of breaking through the sixth ring and advancing to the seventh ring. Because I provided important information to the association, I was given a short vacation."
"So where are you staying tonight? I'll get you a room. There are a lot of empty rooms in the hotel right now."
Megan asked again, but she didn't see Miss Carina beside her covering her forehead and shaking her head.
Luvia looked at her with a smile:
"No, no, I don't need a new room. I'm staying at Shad's place. Tonight is the last night before the final battle. Since he's not going home, how can I let him stay alone in the empty room? Megan, Shad should not be asleep yet, right?"
He said goodbye to the two of them and headed for the stairs.
Miss Carina looked at Megan, who had a surprised expression on her face:
"She has been trying to trick me into asking this question all night, but I insisted on not asking. Unexpectedly, she was waiting for you to ask. Look, I didn't do anything, but she showed off again."
Megan pulled the hair by her ear to hide her embarrassment:
"Luvia Annette is such an interesting lady. What secrets do you think she has?"
"This is something Shade should be concerned about, not us."
Miss Carina also stood up. It was late at night and it was time to go to bed.