Lucian walked with his hands behind his back and smiled, "I don't know if Rover did, but I definitely fell in love at first sight."
Rover immediately beamed with joy upon hearing this, pulled Lucian's arm, stood on tiptoes, and kissed his cheek.
Carlotta immediately countered, "Lucian, you need to be clear about one thing—that's not love at first sight, that's lust at first sight."
Lucian & Rover: "?"
Zani, standing to the side: "..."
How come she never noticed before that the Second Miss was so knowledgeable about love?
Generally speaking, people who have never been in love are the best at and most fond of theorizing on paper, but she never expected the Second Miss to be this strong in practice too?
Rover placed her hands on her hips, dissatisfied, "Even if it's lust at first sight, it's still intent. Have you seen Lucian show any lust toward you?"
Zani was silent for a moment, "To be fair, he did show intent, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to marry in."
Rover glared, "Nobody will think you're mute if you don't speak."
Zani: "..."
Lucian, at the center of the storm, didn't dare move as the two women debated, and they finally arrived at the former tall tower.
Now, weathered by time, it had become ruins—somewhat desolate. Only a few broken stained-glass windows above added color to the gloom.
"This is where our predecessors first collected the Vitreum Dancer Remnant."
"Can you see anything from these broken stained-glass windows?"
Walking closer, Lucian looked up and saw that each stained-glass window seemed to have been smashed with stones, leaving large holes.
There were patterns of figures on them, but because the glass was shattered, the faces of the people couldn't be seen clearly.
Lucian gazed at the stained-glass windows and asked, "Is there any way to restore them? It looks like the paintings are somehow connected."
Carlotta smiled lightly and took two steps forward, recalling, "What is recorded here should be a legend about the Sentinel, as well as the story of the first Laureate establishing the Order."
"I've heard this history, but many details of the story have been lost in transmission."
Lucian smiled slightly, "It seems Miss Carlotta has done a lot of research on this history."
Carlotta shook her head and chuckled, "Not history—art."
"Art investment is one of the Montelli family's major industries, and as a family member, I have some small expertise in appraising artworks."
Lucian asked curiously, "You consider these stained-glass windows art?"
Carlotta nodded slightly, her steps light, "Of course. Anything with collectible value is art in my eyes."
"Art has no good or bad—only like or dislike."
Carlotta leaned close to Lucian and explained gently, "Some people think a painting is crooked and looks like random scribbles, but others stare at it for ages and feel it hides their own story."
"Some people hear a song, think the tune is weird, and want to turn it off, but others loop it endlessly, feeling every lyric speaks about them."
"Just like how some people like Pizza Tropicale, while others like traditional wood-fired pizza."
"There's no right or wrong—it's just whether, when you look at it, your heart goes 'thump' and gets touched."
Carlotta playfully blinked after saying this.
Lucian pondered for a moment, "So that's how it is..."
"Then I think Carlotta is art in my eyes." Lucian said seriously, "When I see you, my heart goes 'thump' and gets touched."
Rover: "?"
Carlotta nodded in satisfaction, "Exactly, that's love at first sight. Rover, looks like I won."
Rover drew her blade and placed it against Lucian's neck, saying coldly, "I can give you one chance to take back what you just said."
Lucian coughed lightly and pushed down her blade, "Rover, calm down."
"When I first saw you, not only did my heart go 'thump' from being touched, I also had the feeling of wanting to 'thump' and touch you."
Carlotta: "???"
Carlotta felt she had still underestimated Lucian's perversion.
How do you even drive on this broken road?
Rover's lips curved into a smile as she sheathed her blade and looked triumphantly at Carlotta, "The tables have turned—this round is still my win."
"Both love at first sight and lust at first sight—how about that?"
Zani, who had been silently eating melon from the sidelines, held her forehead with a headache.
She valued efficiency above all in her work—if something could be solved in the simplest or fastest way, she would never do anything extra.
But ever since meeting Lucian and Rover, she found her efficiency had been plummeting.
Can we just say—are we here to look at the stained-glass windows or not?
How did it turn into jealousy again?
Looks like they were too confident in their strength and didn't care at all about those lurking in the dark who might jump out to stop them.
She coughed lightly, "I see a stone tablet over there. Let's go take a look—maybe there are clues about the stained-glass windows?"
Arriving at the stone tablet, the group found the text on it rather strange.
But Carlotta understood it somewhat and immediately explained:
"This ancient stone tablet is inscribed with the old language of Rinascita."
"If translated, it roughly says this..."
"...The gods were originally one, torn apart by the divisions in our faith. The blood flowing from Their wounds formed that nightmarish black tide."
"...Today I shall depart far away. Rinascita's suffering has not yet fully ended, but the torn god has already chosen Their future spokesperson."
"...That maiden shall, on Rinascita's grandest day, don the golden crown, resonate with the god, become the prophesied 'Enlightened One,' and lead the people to completely end Rinascita's suffering."
Lucian pondered for a moment after hearing this, "The gods... were originally one?"
Torn apart because of divisions in faith...
If Rinascita truly has a Threnodian, and according to Phrolova, Rinascita's Threnodian represents "plague"...
Could it be as he had guessed before—that people's faith had unknowingly changed over time?
But why say the god was split because of divisions in faith?
If following this line of thinking, could the Sentinel and the Threnodian have originally been one?
Lucian shook his head slightly—it didn't seem quite right.
Or perhaps Sentinel Imperator experienced some kind of change due to divisions in faith?
Based on these descriptions, the person who engraved the text on the stone tablet might have been Napoli II, who originally founded the Order of the Deep.
After all, it mentioned the Enlightened One of the Order of the Deep.
Everyone frowned in confusion, and Carlotta pondered:
"It looks like some kind of prophecy... We probably need to combine the information from the stone tablet and the stained-glass windows to interpret the secret within."