Chapter 70: Him? (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Facing his sister’s concern, Lu Mi shook his head:

“No.”

He glanced left and right and said, “Let’s talk inside.”

Near the stove, he briefly outlined his and Ryan’s exploration, then told his sister that if Madame Pualis attacked them, she must not hesitate—surrender immediately and betray the three outsiders.

Based on his experiences inside the castle and the phenomena he’d witnessed, Lu Mi didn’t believe the siblings could defeat Madame Pualis; even the “midwife” might be beyond their capacity.

Aurora listened silently, then couldn’t help laughing once:

“Rationally, your plan is indeed the best—but why does it feel so strange, like I’ve become the villain in a novel, and not even the charismatic one?”

“What matters is the outcome,” Lu Mi emphasized to his sister. “As you put it: endure humiliation, bear heavy burdens, preserve a useful body, and wait to demonstrate value later.”

“…“ Aurora couldn’t help raising a hand to her forehead. “Have I been teaching you too many strange things?”

“Yes,” Lu Mi nodded “sincerely.”

Aurora rolled her eyes:

“Fine, I get it—I won’t fight Madame Pualis unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“When Madame Pualis noticed the alarm had been triggered and tried to leave, I didn’t stop her—just acted reluctant and chatted with her for nearly another minute.”

“Mm, tell me the details of your search.”

She walked over to the dining table, sat down, assumed a listening posture, and kept watch around her, wary of Madame Pualis arriving in anger to confront them.

Lu Mi pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table and recounted the full details of their exploration and the battle.

As she listened, Aurora’s expression grew increasingly strange, then more so.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Mi noticed his sister’s oddness.

After a long pause, Aurora, still wearing that strange expression, asked in return:

“Madame Pualis’s bedroom had a photo of a man who looked quite like her—possibly her brother?”

“Yes, the three outsiders said he might be a missing member of the Rockford family, named Prit.” Lu Mi relayed Ryan’s words, including “Dantism” and the many illegitimate children.

He added: “According to the three outsiders’ investigation, the Rockford family has no one named Pualis on record.”

Aurora nodded lightly and exhaled:

“Then I’m fairly certain my guess is right.”

The strange expression on her face didn’t fade—it grew even more pronounced.

“What guess?” Lu Mi looked baffled.

Aurora glanced at him and said:

“Perhaps Madame Pualis is the missing Prit.”

“What?” Lu Mi was stunned. “One’s male, one’s female… Madame Pualis has had two children!”

“Who knows if she gave birth herself? Maybe the administrator did?” Aurora scoffed. “Even if she did give birth, that proves nothing—in the world of mysticism, anything is possible. Think about it: Louis Lund, a man, gave birth. So why couldn’t Prit become a woman?”

“Logically, that’s true, but…” Lu Mi still found it hard to accept.

Aurora gave him a teasing smile:

“The reason I dare guess this, while the three outsiders never had such an insight, is because I’ve heard—no, witnessed something.

“Do you remember which path is adjacent to the ‘Hunter’?”

“The ‘Assassin,’” Lu Mi answered without hesitation.

He’d once been tempted by that name—it sounded far better than “Hunter.”

“In our organization—uh, the Curly Baboon Research Society—there was a man who really liked being an ‘Assassin’ and chose that path,” Aurora said with a strange expression. “At one gathering, he came to us looking depressed and troubled, saying that at Rank 7 of the ‘Assassin’ path, the potion you must consume is called ‘Witch.’”

“‘Witch’?” Lu Mi, upon hearing the potion’s name, immediately sensed what was coming.

“Yes, ‘Witch.’ In mysticism, ‘Wizard’ and ‘Witch’ are entirely different concepts—you always confused them, sometimes calling me a witch, which made me feel weird,” Aurora took the chance to lecture. “Clearly, drinking the ‘Witch’ potion turns you into a witch—your role, your identity, and your body all fully transform into female.”

Sss… Lu Mi inhaled sharply, deeply grateful his first acquisition had been the ‘Hunter’ relic.

If he’d gotten the ‘Assassin’-related material instead, given his desperate state and unwillingness to choose, he’d almost certainly have taken that irreversible path.

“What happened after that? Did he drink it?” he asked, unable to resist.

Aurora smiled and replied:

“He agonized for a long time—didn’t want to become a woman, but didn’t want to remain stuck at Rank 8—until someone told him, ‘Life is short; why not give it a try?’

“At a later gathering, I met him again—no, by then it was ‘her,’ a beautiful, charismatic woman.”

“…“ Lu Mi was speechless.

Aurora looked at him with a mischievous smile:

“When you reach Rank 5, if you can’t get the Rank 4 material for the ‘Hunter’ path, consider the Rank 4 material for the ‘Witch’ path—yes, the ‘Assassin’ path is also called the ‘Witch’ path…”

She wore the expression of someone enjoying the chaos.

“Witch…” Lu Mi now deeply understood how misleading the name “Assassin” truly was.

The world of mysticism is full of dangers!

He quickly steered the conversation back on track:

“So it seems Madame Pualis really might be the playboy Prit.”

If the ‘Assassin’ path could turn someone into a ‘Witch,’ a path capable of enabling men to give birth likely could also turn men into women.

Aurora nodded, glancing warily out the window:

“I suspect Madame Pualis only became a woman after reaching a specific rank, and had to vanish from her family to avoid official discovery of the anomaly. According to that mysterious lady’s words, divine blessings can also be categorized by rank.

“Her abnormal path likely includes powers to enhance fertility, manipulate life, and command the dead.”

“Manipulate life, command the dead”—she deduced this from Lu Mi’s group’s battle with the “midwife.”

This also matched the “Lady of the Beyond’s” behavior—surrounded by countless dead, and she bore a striking resemblance to Madame Pualis.

Here, Aurora suddenly made an “uh” sound.

“What is it?” Lu Mi asked cautiously.

Was his sister about to uncover another horrifying truth?

Aurora frowned at her brother:

“During afternoon tea, Madame Pualis suddenly said love is hard to understand—that she’d wanted him dead because he’d wronged her, but when he truly faced death, she couldn’t help saving him, and wouldn’t tell him.”

“I didn’t understand it then, and didn’t pay much attention—but now I wonder, was she hinting at something deliberately?”

Lu Mi was puzzled too:

“She saved someone? When did she ever save anyone…?”

Suddenly, he froze, staring at Aurora.

The siblings simultaneously recalled the “Lady of the Beyond” taking the dead away—indirectly saving them.

“But that was in the last cycle…” Lu Mi started to deny it, then couldn’t finish.

They looked at each other, seeing shock and fear reflected in each other’s eyes.

If Madame Pualis was referring to that event, it meant she retained memories across cycles—at least some of them!

“No way…” Aurora whispered to herself. “Fine, let’s assume it’s true. Better to overestimate the enemy than underestimate them.”

Lu Mi agreed, then remembered something else:

“Aurora, uh, sister—given that Madame Pualis was originally male, the person she fell for… is you?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong—it was you who spied on Louis Lund giving birth! Madame Pualis must be in love with you!” Aurora shot back instantly.

Lu Mi instinctively said:

“Maybe she thinks I was acting on your orders.”

“I barely interacted with her—except once when I caught her and the parish priest in bed, and she humiliated me. But you? You constantly discuss literature and trends with her, even borrowed her pony sometimes.”

“Huh…” Aurora’s tone rose, her face twisted in disgust. “Then why did she keep introducing me to marriage prospects? You said they were all terrible—even awful!”

Lu Mi thought for a moment:

“Maybe she wanted to destroy your interest in men, then slowly draw you toward her…”

“What strange things have you been reading?” Aurora glared at her brother.

Lu Mi was not only confident—he was righteous:

“Your novels.”

“You wrote a story with a similar plot.”

“Did I…?” Aurora fell into thought.

After a while, she gazed out the window:

“It’s been so long—Madame Pualis hasn’t come to bother us, and the cycle hasn’t restarted…”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to kill the three outsiders,” Lu Mi speculated. “Official investigators, if truly killed, might bring bigger trouble. And she doesn’t know I was involved, so she doesn’t suspect you.”

The eyewitnesses were dead; no one else saw him.

Aurora gave a barely perceptible nod and muttered self-deprecatingly:

“I’m so distracted I’ve lost the appetite to prepare dinner.”

Lu Mi suddenly had an idea:

“Should I go check the castle?”

“The criminal returning to the scene?” Aurora laughed.

Lu Mi nodded:

“I’ll see what’s going on at the castle—Madame Pualis probably doesn’t suspect me.”

“Oh, right—I haven’t picked the tulips yet. I can use your need to make perfume as an excuse to ask for a few.”

Publicly, Aurora and Madame Pualis were friends—Lu Mi’s plan was perfectly harmless.

Aurora thought for a few seconds and said:

“We can try, but wait a little longer—we can’t yet confirm that Madame Pualis won’t come looking for trouble.”

“Alright. If you haven’t returned within half an hour, I’ll go to the village’s edge and trigger the cycle to restart directly.”

“Understood.” Lu Mi agreed.

…………

When he arrived again at the administrator’s castle, the sun had sunk behind the mountains, and the horizon was painted with crimson clouds.

Lu Mi passed through the garden and stood outside the open main gate, addressing the male servant there:

“My sister Aurora wishes to create a fragrance—could we borrow a few tulips from Madame Pualis?”

The male servant, dressed in a red tunic and white trousers, answered without any sign of suspicion:

“I’ll ask the lady.”

He quickly turned and entered the castle, returning after a while:

“The lady says you may pick them directly from the garden.”

She really doesn’t suspect me? And it’s as if nothing happened at all… Lu Mi made no attempt to enter the castle; he walked into the garden and began searching for tulips.

As he spotted the flowers, he also noticed a female servant pruning the branches of shrubs in the shadows nearby.

As he passed by, Lu Mi casually glanced at the female servant.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

The servant was in her forties, with brown hair and brown eyes, her face lovely and smooth, utterly identical to the “midwife” who had fought a fierce battle against Valentine and others, only to be utterly slain by Ryan!

Right now, she stood alive beside Lu Mi, her face seemingly shadowed by the surrounding plants and trees.

PS: Requesting monthly votes~

(End of Chapter)