Chapter 1579

The man and woman in the room were both around forty years old. The woman was dressed normally, while the man still wore his opera costume. As for why Xia De could make such a judgment, it was because he not only wore a patched, outdated tailcoat but also had a fake beard stuck to his face.

Dorothy introduced the man and woman to Xia De; they were the director and deputy director of the Jasmine Troupe. In front of Xia De and Dorothy, they no longer discussed the previous sensitive topic, but instead praised Young Lady's generosity and her pursuit of art.

All four of them avoided mentioning anything about the opera troupe's performance content, yet they all knew they had heard those words earlier. Only when Young Lady took Xia De back out onto the street, heading toward the Three Cats Inn, did she sigh and say to him:

"Such things are unavoidable. Though negotiations have only just begun and the final outcome remains unknown, anyone can see that whichever nation gains an advantage, the other will never accept it."

She glanced back toward the direction of the troupe: "I truly hope this matter ends soon." "No one can remain outside of it."

Xia De whispered, and the blonde girl nodded silently, fully agreeing with De De Kan Fa.

After eating lunch at the Three Cats Inn, Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya finally calmed down. Then Xia De brought Dorothy back to No. 6 Saint Delan Square and explained why he had gone to the northern part of the city to find her:

"Take this."

Xia De carefully removed from the book a feather emitting pure white light. The feather was too extraordinary to be stored by ordinary means. The "Goddess of the Lake" had told Xia De that as long as it was tucked inside a book with more than 20 pages, the feather would not emit light or manifest its essence, and could even be turned into a toy in this state:

"This is important. I went through great trouble to get it."

He carefully held the feather while Dorothy took it. The holy pure white light shone upon her, and Young Lady felt as if she had plunged into warm water during winter, and her writing ideas surged forth like a geyser.

She could clearly sense the intense, nearly terrifying miracle essence—ordinary mortals could not endure such an environment for long. If compared to relics, only an Angel-class relic could be equated with this feather.

"Xia De, what is this?"

She asked in astonishment, reaching out to feel the warm light but still not touching it. "Angel feather."

"What?"

"Do you know the Seraphim—Cherub? Oh, you must know—I even asked you about the legend of the Goddess of the Lake. The Goddess of the Lake is the first Seraphim. This feather was given to me by an angel."

Xia De explained as simply as possible:

"This feather can be used three times to separate two entangled souls."

Dorothy stared at the feather in Xia De's hand. Though she too was a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, an item of this caliber—the "Angel Feather"—was beyond her imagination:

"Now I finally understand what you've been busy with when you're often away from home... This was obtained for me and Princess Lei Lei Qianya?" "Not exactly obtained—it's complicated. But now it belongs to you two."

The intense white light even made Xia De feel slightly smarter. But then he realized: feeling smarter himself was not a sign of intelligence. Yet he immediately thought—if he understood this logic, then he must still be quite intelligent.

Dorothy looked at the feather with a complex expression, still not taking it. Xia De asked worriedly: "You don't also think merging with Princess Lei Lei Qianya is your true destiny, do you?"

"What nonsense, Xia De. I prefer being with both of you rather than turning three into two." She said softly, then paused before adding:

"I just communicated with Princess Lei Lei Qianya. The angel feather should remain with you. Use it only when you believe it's the right time for us." "But..."

"You've already done enough for us, Xia De." Her emerald eyes looked at him:

"Now, please do one more thing for us: let you decide our fate. If you believe we should separate, use this feather at the appropriate moment."

"I'd rather keep it forever in the book, never using it at all."

Xia De said, carefully re-clipping the feather into the book. He chose the book he had taken from the gift box that morning: "All Things Return to One: The Original Point." The book's content was fascinating.

Xia De said, re-clasping the feather between the pages of a book. The book he chose was *All Things Return to One: The Original Point*, taken from the gift box that morning; its contents were quite interesting.

The girl's rosy lips kissed Xia De's cheek, and she promised him:

"Even for your sake, Xia De, we will never choose that path. I and Princess Lei Lei Qianya are one person, yet also two. We will always be by your side. Do not doubt this, my beloved. Thank you for everything you've done for us."

Dorothy had other matters in the afternoon and did not linger at Saint Delan Square. As Xia De saw her off downstairs, he wondered whether it was right—whether he was too arrogant—to have used his own will to prevent Dorothy and Princess Lei Lei Qianya from walking the path they believed was their destined end.

"Of course it's right. The independence of the soul is proof of individual existence. If they merge, then neither Dorothy Lu Hui Sha nor Princess Lei Lei Qianya Ka Wen Di Xu will ever exist again."

He said to himself, inhaling deeply to calm the restlessness that had stirred since learning of the girls' further transformation: "I will save them, just as I have saved everything else before."

He said to himself, taking a deep breath to calm the agitation that had risen since learning that morning of the girls' further mutation: "I will save them, just as I have saved everything else."

"Even if all three uses of the feather are spent, even if I burn the last drop of divinity, I must... divinity..." He clenched his lips, turned, and walked upstairs.

That afternoon, Xia De did not go out again. In the evening, Miss Jia Lin Na arrived again with Miss Miss Difa and a group of maids, this time to deliver a potion:

That afternoon Xia De did not go out again. Toward evening, Miss Jia Lin Na arrived once more with Miss Miss Difa and a retinue of maids; this time the purpose of the visit was to deliver the witch's potion to Xia De:

Inside a dark brown vial, a completely white cat lay "asleep." Of course, the cat inside the bottle was merely the potion's manifested form; in truth, it remained liquid. The bottle's capacity was at least double that of the portion Miss Miss Difa had previously consumed.

As Xia De took the vial, he glanced at Miss Miss Difa, who winked playfully, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"You only want to turn into a cat to pass the boatman's trial in the story, so take this potion, drink just a sip." The witch smiled, her expression hiding other emotions:

"But your body differs greatly from that of an ordinary Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi—don't deny it; everyone knows. So to ensure this potion truly works on you, I think you should test it now, to avoid failure later."

Xia De looked at the vial in his hand: "There shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"Better safe than sorry. You wouldn't want to use the key only to discover the potion has no effect on you, would you? You only need to take a sip. This potion is difficult to brew—Audrey Edwards isn't easy to deal with, so we can't waste it."

The red-haired witch's smile grew even brighter. She took the vial from Xia De's hand and uncorked it: "Xia De, come on, drink your potion."

She urged him further. Though Xia De knew the witch was up to something, she was right—it was safer to test it now.

The witch gently shook the vial, causing the white cat inside to dissolve into the liquid. Xia De took a small sip, then placed the bottle on the table.

The witch gently shook the reagent bottle, letting the white *** inside melt into the potion. Xia De took the bottle, drank a small sip, then set it down on the table.

Miss Jia Lin Na asked. The maids watched curiously. "My body is heating up."

He looked suspiciously at his hands, then at Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya, who stared at him from the coffee table. "Oh!"

In an instant, a lightning-like agony seized his chest. He clutched it, then collapsed onto the floor between the coffee table and the sofa.

Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya rushed to the edge of the table and peered down. The witch and the maids all looked there. There, between Xia De's white shirt, a silver-white cat sat quietly—beautiful in appearance, pure in color,

its fur flawless and softly lustrous, its black eyes as deep as night.

"Xia De turned into a cat!"

The red-haired witch exclaimed with delight, immediately bending down to pick him up. "Meow!"

Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya leapt from the coffee table almost simultaneously.

But before either the witch or the cat touched Xia De, the silver-white cat raised its front paws to cover its face.

Then, pure white wings sprouted from its back, folded together, and turned to stone, encasing the petrified cat.

Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya, who had landed, and the witch, who had reached out, both froze, realizing Xia De had anticipated them all along.

Mi Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya reluctantly approached, swiped a paw at the stone cat, confirmed it was truly turned to stone, then lost interest and leapt onto the sofa.

Miss Jia Lin Na, also unwilling to give up, picked up the heavy stone cat and placed it on her own lap: "Are you really this guarded against me?"

she said softly. Before she could even attempt to use witch secret arts to break through Xia De's 【Calm Posture】, the petrified Xia De once again felt his body grow hot:

"Time's up!"

He didn't dare keep maintaining the petrified form, fearing an accident during the process of reverting to human shape, so he immediately canceled the transformation. Almost the next moment, he completed the process of changing from a cat back into a human, and amid the maids' screams, threw an arm around Miss Jia Lin Na's neck to keep himself from falling off the witch's lap.

"Oh!"

As for the reason the maids screamed, of course it was because his clothes were still on the floor. Magic potions and spell-based shapeshifting were different — the shapeshifting effect of a consumed potion was very particular about mysticism and did not cover one's own clothing.