After a few hours. Selina's eyes fluttered open at the scene of the alchemy room. Her head on the long table being cushioned by her arms.
She didn't realized she fell asleep on the high-back chair due to stress and fatigue from the anxiety that Crestet Cesimir might follow the strict rules that opposes her.
Luckily, it was all in her head.
Selina caressed her hair and muttered, "I didn't realized those red hues would do something like that. Next time, I would personally request Cesimir to be the one to monitor me. If he can be trusted."
Then, the moment her gaze caught her supposed silver hair, the red fibers seeped upward again, standing out like a sore-thumb.
Eeek! Selina took consecutive deep breaths and gradually she saw her silver hair returning back.
What happened? I thought that was it! Ugh, now I have to take several minutes alone after waking up? Hmm, well it doesn't seem that bad. No, no! the issue is that what if I don't wake up? Will the crimson hue took over me?
Selina saw that the crimson hair was as long as her thumb in contrast with the length of her hair.
You're overthinking again! It's not good for the mental state of someone who had just advanced!
Thud! Thud! while lecturing herself. Selina was startled by the sound of the door knocking, followed with a familiar voice.
"Selina? Are you alright?"
Klein found the door slightly ajar and was about to turn it over.
Klein! Selina felt a rush of joy and she immediately stood up.
Just as words took off from her mouth, her heartstrings were tugged by the imagery of her hair still recovering its silver vibrancy.
Hence, out of fear, she immediately pressed her body on the door pane, closing it. Klein withdrew his hand shock.
While Selina's silver hair cascades down. She stammered a reply, seemingly in troubled, "I-I'm fine!"
Klein was perplexed, but didn't mind it once he heard Selina's muffled voice. Instantly, he felt relief and added, "May I come in?"
"No!" Selina shouted. To which Klein was startled.
"J-Just give me a moment."
Selina was erratic watching the slow progression of the redness retreating to the tip. When it finally stopped, she quickly opened the door and smiled.
But by then, Klein's eyebrows were knitted. He didn't speak, instead he looked around the room quietly, solemnly.
"Are you really alright?" he asked again, seeing her with her silver hair down.
What? Oh... I see... Selina sighed and answered the same, "I'm alright."
However, Klein didn't wasted a chance. He still took out his topaz pendulum and performed a divination. It yielded negative.
Selina is alright... Klein drew a breath of relief as he said, "Thank the Goddess."
He was referring to both the White Maiden and the Evernight Goddess.
At that moment, a chuckle escaped Selina's pale lips. She remarked, "You really have become a professional Seer."
"So how was it? Becoming a Sequence 8 Beast Tamer?" Klein finally got to relax.
Selina was smiling as she lifted her hair up, coiling them back again before answering, "Rather exhilarating."
Klein narrowly broke off from a daze and subsequently added another question out of curiosity, "Mind a demonstration?"
"Hmm..." Selina lowered her hands but placed one to her chin as she contemplates. Then, she opened her silver pocket watch, she saw the long hand turn and gasped, "It's already three?"
"I came as fast as I could..." Klein scratched his cheek with one index finger as he look away. "Captain dealt the blow on Hood Eugen as I woke up from the mediumship ritual seeing him lose control."
"It's fine." Selina's eyes momentarily dimmed. She lifted her head and told him, "I haven't eaten yet, and so are you.
"I'm dismissed from combat practice due to my recent advancement. So why don't we took a stroll and find a restaurant?"
Klein's face softened, "A great idea."
...
A flock of pigeons flew away. Creating a spotted tapestry in the orange-duck sky as these white dots returns at the high steeples of Saint Selena Cathedral.
After excusing herself from Dunn. Selina deliberately led Klein to an area she deemed to have birds all afternoon. They took the chance to reminisce and enjoyed a promenade at the nearby park.
The previously green crown of the trees receded to entirely golden brown, where light filters on the gaps, casting a charming foliage for pedestrians to stop.
In this stroll, some pigeons kept on landing on Selina's index finger. Animals like small Loentian rabbits, which have round tails hopped in rhythm of her walk.
Klein felt like he was witnessing a live-action of a princess enjoying a leisure with the animals.
"You... can talk to them now?" he paced his walk to scurry next to her.
Selina nodded and cheekily said while lifting a pigeon perched on her finger, "This one, kept saying seeds, seeds seeds! Hehe, oh and it also said beautiful just now.
"Thank you Mister." she said to the pigeon.
By now, Klein couldn't be more honest with the small avian, he can relate to it. But at the same time, he looked at Selina as though she was talking to herself.
"Not convinced?" Selina noticed this and arched an eyebrow.
Startled, Klein can only smiled wearily as he turn away.
Sigh... a light breath from Selina and she suddenly told the pigeon, "Fetch me that stick please?"
"Seeds, seeds, seeds? Stick? Stick!"
The avian flew away from her finger and using its talons grabbed the nearest stick, flew right back to Selina and dropped it on her palm.
"Good boy~" Selina petted the bird's scalp with a pleased smile.
Then, shortly after she said that. Klein's Clown spirituality stirred and found that multiple presence was attracted to someone near him.
It was Selina.
Another flock of pigeons came. Some where driven off by Selina while others remain persistent on accompanying her, main skipping at the same pace, pecking on the concrete road.
Just then, Selina curled her lips wearily and turned to Klein, "I feel like a princess..."
Klein was dazzled momentarily. He also noticed a handful of pedestrians started to pay attention in their direction. Amazed by the display of affinity with wildlife.
"Heh, every little girl would pay anything just to be in your shoes..." He chuckled after recovering. "Four to one little empresses would certainly be what you'll expect.[1]"
"Uh huh?" Selina exhaled slowly before changing the subject. "Klein, can I ask you something?"
"Selina... will you be my—huh?" Klein was mumbling to himself, feigning his gaze away when he suddenly heard Selina.
Selina tilted her head a little and asked curiously, "What are you muttering to yourself?"
"The air is quite windy today huh?" The fibers is Klein's face masterfully contorts into a mundane expression. Quietly utilizing the powers of a Clown.
"Oh, did you say something?"
A bit confused. Selina held the urge to knit her eyebrows, she asked again, "I said, can I ask you something?"
The bird perched on her index finger flew away. Claiming her hands again and lowering it down.
"Sure." replied Klein, watching small plumages pass right from where the pigeon fluttered.
Selina deliberated her words until she finally added, "What will your reaction be if Cesimir discovered something about me?"
Klein's eyes constricted, he looked at her, unable to process it, "The Archbishop?"
"Yes." Selina nodded. She knew it would be best to let Klein know what occurred. Hence, she described the events, leaving him in a quiet, rather solemn air.
It was during this moment that his Clown powers were heavily abused by Klein.
"He knew about Ms. Lovers and my connection with her. Perhaps even Mrs. White." concluded Selina. The little critters flocking her subsided in response to her emotions.
Klein nodded slightly but was more concerned about the red hues of her hair. He did his best with his newfound ability to calmly ask, "This crimson tip... it should be the indicator of your relation with the White Maiden. Mr. Azik advised me not to rely on this Goddess, and so should you...
"I'll consolidate 'Him' and see if we can do something."
Phew... Selina sighed in relief and found Klein's reaction comforting and appealing, greatly helping in lifting the weights on her shoulders. She looked at him with a smile.
Klein looked very handsome today doesn't he?
Amidst her gaze, Klein perked up upon noticing where they are—a restaurant he previously scouted and narrowed out from the selection, after Selina's recent complete digestion, had surfaced in his mind.
It was a mid-class diner with a glass bay as its front wall, allowing light and the scene outside clash with the vintage lighting within its interior.
Klein was disappointed when he discovered this far away from Daffodil Street. It even had cuisines outside the city. Hence, even in regret, he ultimately excluded it.
However now, with a faint grin he offered, "There should be a restaurant nearby. Let's go and pay it a visit. I bet Melissa would be curious and glad if we presented her a parfette."
"Parfette? You mean parfait?" Selina was quickly to recognize the meal due to her ethnicity with the originated culture.
"No." Klein chuckled. "I meant it. Parfette. It's their slang for it but instead of being an ice-cream, it is an egg-wrap, coiling delicious cream sweets. Originated from Intis Republic."
Selina's eyes drooped halfway, only for her vibrancy to spark again as she smiled wearily, "That's still the same..."
As they stride at an adequate pace. Passing through until they left the park. She suddenly added, "What happened with Hood Eugen by the way? What did you discovered?"
Klein thought and he painstakingly recalled the entirely of the pursuit and mission. The Lanevus interaction where it hinted a sinister and dark ritual, Hood Eugen helping with its construction and the involvement of the True Creator, but was instead the one that Dunn saw in Hanass Vincent.
"Captain said This incident might have quite severe repercussions. So we have to reinvestigate Lanevus. This should lead to action by the Psychology Alchemists or other Beyonders that are paying attention to the asylum that might know something.
"The Lanevus scam is either still in the hands of the police department or transferred to the Mandated Punishers. We'll have to join the investigations by saying that we obtained clues while investigating the Aurora Order. Then, together with the Mandated Punishers and the Machinery Hivemind. We'll concentrate the forces in Tingen and investigate everything and anyone associated with Lanevus."
At the end of Klein's recollection. Selina felt a pressure that weighted her expression down. She said bitterly, "So many things happening... What about the divine light that happened weeks ago?"
Klein answered after some deliberation, "The Mandated Punishers have taken the subsequent case after Captain's discovery of a suspect company. I suspect it's also the company with which I divined Marvik will be. Tomorrow will be Thursday, another meeting, Captain and the rest should be sharing with us the results."
At that moment, Klein's voice spiked as he paused. He took Selina's wrist and turned sideway in the road, letting her trace where he was looking.
They both saw a glass bay wall with translucent double door. Due to the fading of the dusk and rising of the twilight, the candle chandeliers illuminated Selina and Klein's figures.
But he paused right then, and so is Selina. The latter felt a hand intertwined with hers. It was a familiar, comforting, and warm hand.
"I l*** ***" At that moment, Klein mumbled something very faintly.
Selina did not heard it quite right. So she leaned in and asked worriedly, "Klein, are you alright? Did you say something?"
Klein finally spat a foul breath and said, "I love you."
"Love me..." Selina processed it, slow. "Love..."
Then, her pupils dilated and her heart raced rapidly in her chest. She could hear it very well. Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Love me...? You... love me?"
"Yes." Klein's face was feverish, but he still forced himself to say. "I love you, Selina.
"Heh, I supposed 'like' should've been the first word? Sigh, I'm like a fawn in the woods like Benson told me...
"I've been thinking... and, well, I should be more honest...
"I don't want to lose you, nor see you cry..."
Klein turned his head and faced away from Selina. "I know this might be selfish. It doesn't mean that you have to answer it now.
"It's just that... I fear that... once this is over, I won't be seeing you again. What if you can't recognize me? My face is different, my name is different, my country is different...
"I won't have a chance by then, so I'm risking it now... Selina, I love you."
Selina's parted lips closed. But her eyes... they were sparkling uniquely; all fixated on Klein.
She smiled, "Then I'll know you."
Klein's gaze froze.
"If you look different. I will recognize you all over again...
"And if we're worlds apart? I will find you. Just promise you'll find me too."
Hearing that, Klein felt his fear melt instantly. He turned his head, stared at Selina, gazing back at him with a joyful smile.
Then instinctively, he raised her delicate hand. Instead of pursuing the moment, he simply lifted the back of her palm to his lips.
"We'll return home safe. I promise."
...
Backlund, Hillston Backlund. In a building with a horse stable and garden.
Qilangos, who had a unique wide chin and dark green eyes, looked at the unconscious man before him. He took off the man's clothes and wore them.
He then leisurely walked in front of the dressing mirror and saw the black glove on his left hand twitch. He saw many contorted lines appearing on its back.
A few seconds later, Qilangos saw a thin veil of light envelop his figure. His muscles, skin, and bones began undergoing a strange transformation.
Sometime later, he transformed into the unconscious man, completely identical in height, appearance, and demeanor!
...
Midnight. at the outskirts of Aldesh Town. Foreland Ridge.
In the high hill, where a region was leveled for an event, where a jungle is seen receding into the sandy soil of a dessert rolling into the horizon. People in dark hide cloak with pelt around their waist awaited a group of gowned women under the bright crimson Moon.
The Crimson Moon was unusually dark, deep blood-red and it expands into a perfect circle. Both eerie and erratic inducing.
Tonight, a full Blood Moon is happening!
[1] - A famous Chinese sociological term referring to spoiled, over-protected only children who were the product of China's one-child policy.