CHAPTER 1376: CHAPTER 1376: HER APOLOGY

That night, Shard did not return to Tobesk but spent the night in Randall Valley with Mia. As for the preparation of paint for painting in the nightfall, he planned to seek help from Old John in Tobesk the next day.

Although the Golden Dawn Opera Group used Wilder Opera House as their base, in fact, Miss Benanis and Miss Lathis didn’t live in the opera house but still resided in their manor east of the city.

Upon hearing that Shard did not plan to return home, the witch invited Shard and Luviya to stay at her manor. Shard glanced at Luviya, and upon her nodding, he agreed.

After all, it was yet another passionately gentle night. Since Shard hadn’t spent a night in Randall Valley for a week, the girl, with brown hair stuck to his skin with sweat as she whispered to him, grumbled softly that she seemed to have lost her allure for him.

"I’m just not used to spending the night away from home; the nights at No. 6, Saint Delan Square bring real peace of mind."

Shard explained his reason, and Luviya’s eyes noticed the faint mark on his chest, then she softly said:

"I know, Iluna mentioned, ’Home Sweet Home,’ right? Oh, aren’t you studying that difficult Arcane Technique ’Dream of the Moon’? I think you lack deep sleep, as you always sleep lightly. This time, how about I guide you into the dream? Give it a try, maybe next time you’ll succeed, and you’ll have a pleasant dream."

"Of course."

Shard nodded in agreement, so Luviya extended her fair, blushing arm and took the obsidian pendulum from the bedside table. She swung the pendulum, drawing Shard’s gaze to the swinging obsidian under the moonlight outside the window. Shard’s gaze gradually became dazed, and with Shard’s complete trust in her, the girl with purple eyes successfully hypnotized him, and the outlander with heavy thoughts fell onto the pillow and slept soundly.

Luviya sighed softly, carefully placed the pendulum back in the box on the bedside, then also snuggled under the covers, leaning against Shard’s chest preparing to sleep. But suddenly she opened her eyes again, placed her right hand on the already faint handprint:

"Same size."

Luviya Annette spoke softly, her face gently illuminated by the moonlight revealing an extremely complex expression:

"Shard..."

She bit her lip, raised her right hand but let her middle finger droop slightly, letting the fingertip trace across Shard’s face illuminated by the moonlight outside the window. He slept soundly; though Shard casually described his afternoon actions, he had indeed been busy all day.

The purple eyes reflected Silvermoon, making the transparent purple all the more mesmerizing. The female diviner gently asked in her heart:

"Is it you?"

"What?"

Her own voice echoed in her heart.

"Since I stepped onto the path of the Circle Sorcerer of Thirteen Rings, you’re always secretly helping me, never clearly explaining everything, guiding me to capture the fate’s trajectory of The Chosen One, telling me the way of special divination. I know, I’ve always known that my other self is different from ordinary people. But you... should not harm him."

Luviya pursed her lips again, traced Shard’s chest with her fingers:

"No need to ask how I know, this mark is related to you, it’s easy to guess. Seeing this, I even imagined you hitting him from afar. I know, you are me, and I am you, this fact will not change for any reason. So, I can forgive you for anything, but you shouldn’t... hurt him."

The voice beside her didn’t immediately reply; Luviya, feeling a bit pained, touched Shard’s cheek again and gently kissed his lips.

"Sorry."

"Luviya" whispered in Luviya’s ear.

The girl with purple eyes shook her head:

"What he did at the Night Shrine is also related to you, right? The time he got hurt was also after returning from the Night Shrine."

"Sorry."

The voice beside her sounded very subdued.

Luviya didn’t say anything more; instead, she carefully adjusted the blanket and leaned against Shard’s chest, closing her eyes.

The moonlight outside the window illuminated the embracing man and woman. It lit up the back of Shard’s head, the profile of Shard’s face, and the profile of Luviya’s face.

After a while, a transparent figure emerged behind Luviya. Although nearly completely transparent, there were distinct purple arcs of light where the eyes were, holding an endless sadness in their gaze.

The transparent figure almost overlapped with Luviya’s form, also in a lying position. She wanted to reach out and touch Shard’s face under the moonlight, but as soon as her arm extended into the moonlight, it was caught by another hand emitting a silver trail of light. That hand was clearly a woman’s, slender and long.

Thus, the transparent arm froze, and the purple eyes widened. But upon looking again, there was nothing to be seen, only her own transparent arm lingering an inch away from Shard under the moonlight.

"An illusion..."

The long-haired Luviya didn’t reach for Shard’s face again; instead, she retracted her arm, merging her body entirely with Luviya. She also leaned her face against Shard’s chest, feeling that powerful life force and the strong heartbeat:

"Goodnight, Shard, my... lover."

(Iluna is praying...)

After getting up on Friday, Shard noticed that the weather in the Randall Valley was gloomy again today. The sky didn’t snow, but the fog in the city was quite dense, almost similar to the situation in Tobesk. But when Shard opened the window, what he smelled was not the familiar burnt odor, but a difficult-to-describe stench like rotting vegetable leaves.

During breakfast in the morning, Shard discussed this matter with Miss Benanis, but the witch, noticing Luviya’s radiant appearance, only absent-mindedly said she didn’t know what was happening either.

However, her followers brought new news. When the four of them went to the mountains yesterday, within 24 hours, 492 more cases of "Petrified Plague" symptoms appeared within the Randall Valley area.

The mildest symptoms were just immovable toes, while the most dangerous cases ended in death due to organ failure. After nearly a thousand cases over two days, the Church and doctors have summarized their findings:

Ninety percent of all petrification symptoms first appear in the lower limbs, then spread to the upper body. Moreover, the more places one visited in the Randall Valley within a month before onset, the more severe the petrification symptoms.

That is, guys like Shard, who wander the Randall Valley region all day, would likely be the most severely affected if infected with the "Petrified Plague."

So far, apart from the "Absolute Safe Zone" at the Sun Cathedral and devout prayers, no widely applicable treatment methods have been found in two days; however, at least around the church, the spread of petrification in the body can be somewhat contained.

Thus, Miss Benanis told Shard that the local Sun Cathedral’s surrounding houses were undergoing emergency renovations. The Sun Church is attempting to establish a large area around the cathedral for accommodating patients. The expenses are divided, with the Sun Church shouldering thirty percent, the Kingdom allocating thirty percent, and other Churches covering ten percent each.

After all, for believers of the Sun and Earth God, this is an excellent opportunity for proselytizing.

Shard currently holds five Holy Grails: Healing, Sweet, Goldstone, Preservation, and Memory. The Healing Chalice produces low-efficiency but useful Healing Potions, the Goldstone Grail creates strange sturdy black stones which are quite useful supernatural materials, and the Preservation and Memory Chalices are even more useful.

Thus, after breakfast that day, Shard took out the "Sweet Chalice" and gave it to Miss Benanis, instructing her to concoct it into a magic potion and trade it to the Church, in hopes of altering the Church’s attitude towards the Witch Council.

Additionally, the potions produced by his "Healing Chalice" can not only cure ailments but also treat minor curses. Shard speculated that it might also be effective against the Petrified Plague, so he gave it to the witch to test its effectiveness.

If it proved effective, then Ms. Benanis could handle it as she wished.

As for Shard himself, after breakfast, he left with Luviya and Mia.

Although it was already eight in the morning, the city remained cloak in fog, as dark as before dawn. Their destination was the Dawn Chapel; Shard had scheduled a meeting with Ston Osenfort at nine o’clock in front of the chapel on Wednesday.

Randall Valley City’s urban planning is quite intriguing; the entire city is divided into four sections by two massive intersecting rivers, and the Church of the Five Gods’ chapels are situated on both riverbanks.

The Sun Church is the dominant faith locally, which is evident from the chapel’s positioning and the tall side towers visible from afar. Meanwhile, the Dawn Chapel is located in the northwest of Randall Valley, on the eastern bank of the Elon River.

Although the faith of ’Mr. Dawn’ is not as prevalent locally as the Sun God’s, the chapel in a major transportation hub like this remains impressive in scale. When the carriage carrying Shard and Luviya traversed the city shrouded in bizarrely thick fog to the Dawn Chapel’s location, the chapel’s entrance, situated on the eastern bank of the Elon River with considerable acreage, was already crowded with people.

It was merely twenty minutes past eight, leaving half an hour until the scheduled appointment with Ston Osenfort, so after getting off the carriage, Shard and Luviya discussed the differences between here and Tobesk while stepping into the chapel. On Monday, Shard had found a bottle of No. 1 Holy Water in a gift box, and since the task was to attend a service at the chapel, it was a good opportunity to take care of this matter.