Chapter 646 124. Diane
“.”
Just as Fisher’s palm was firmly held by Elizabeth, she stood up somewhat unnaturally, abruptly lifting her cheek that was parallel to Fisher’s, causing the hand she held to pull away from her eyes until, near her abdomen, the sudden tensión in her hand slowly dissipated, and ultimately she let go.
If at first raising her hand to stop Fisher from approaching was subconscious behavior, the subsequent action indicated that Elizabeth did not want Fisher to touch her eyes.
Before Fisher could say anything else, she smiled first and jumped to the next topic.
“. It’s about time, I’ll be back before dinner. I’ll do everything I promised you earlier, and while I’m gone, you must stay here obediently.”
“.”
Fisher could not help but take another look at her hollow golden eyes, as if trying to discover something within.
But regrettably, he found nothing in her eyes; it was as if they were not the windows to Elizabeth’s soul but a mirror reflecting desires.
There was nothing inside, or rather, there was only you looking at it.
Fisher hid the contemplative expression on his face as he reached for the clothes that Elizabeth had prepared for him, and obediently replied,
“Alright, I will wait for you to return, Elizabeth.”
After receiving Fisher’s assurance, Elizabeth smiled sweetly as if she had eaten a fruit candy. She once again could not help but move toward Fisher, wanting to cherish him right then and there but stopped midway, afraid she might lose control and push aside the upcoming activity to immediately engage in a harmonious event of life.
But it’s alright, there will be opportunities tonight.
The hand that was about to extend finally withdrew, transforming into a tongue licking her lips, and she turned satisfied in her full set of lingerie and walked toward the room outside.
As the Empress of Nali, her residence couldn’t possibly be limited to just this one bedroom.
Just outside this room, there were several interconnected rooms, including her office, dressing room, and a living room that held many items. Usually, there would be many attendants serving her in changing clothes at this time, but due to Fisher’s arrival, she had summoned nearly all the attendants to the Inner Court, leaving only the chief interior officer named “Diane” waiting outside.
Fisher had heard this name when he called the Golden Palace last time. If Elizabeth trusted Diane so much, it was not difficult to explain why she had known about Elizabeth’s movements last time.
But it still did not explain why she would share this information with a yet-to-be-identified “Fisher Benavides” during the call.
So, when he opened the door, Fisher slipped on his shirt while taking several looks at Diane.
There, at the far end outside the door, stood a woman in elegant and simple interior officer’s attire. She had an ordinary appearance and was already holding the clothes that Elizabeth would wear later. Upon seeing Elizabeth come out, she respectfully lowered her head,
“Your Majesty, the clothes are ready. Please allow me to help you change. By the way, did you have the food sent to the courtyard to have it with Mr. Saihui?”
“No need, just bring it here. Also, I want you to bring the granddaughter of Teacher Heilson who you brought back yesterday into the Inner Court, and you needn’t worry about the rest.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it.”
Diane smiled and responded, appearing to have gone to the adjacent changing room with Elizabeth. After changing, she did not return; soon, her voice completely faded outside the Inner Court, leaving everything here to Fisher.
She appeared just to be an ordinary interior officer.
Fisher dressed himself appropriately. Aside from a few manual complements and items stuck within them, the rest of his things were unknown as to where Elizabeth had placed them. He would ask her about it when she returned.
Fisher had been to the Golden Palace before, but he had never come this deep into the place. Moreover, the layout must have changed since Elizabeth took the throne, and he grew curious about the place Elizabeth had lived in all these years.
Stepping out of the bedroom he had occupied earlier, he found the brilliantly golden hall was adorned with many unique furnishings from the Golden Palace, among which the most captivating to Fisher’s gaze was the portrait of Elizabeth hanging in the center of the hall.
This painting was also a traditional portrait left from Elizabeth’s birthday, but it was different from the one he had seen earlier in the city of Saint Nali. The brushwork and painting style made it clear that this was not a work created by a court painter.
However, the content had not changed much, depicting her in different ceremonial dresses, crowned, holding a scepter in one hand and a golden cup in the other.
Yet for some reason, upon seeing the portrait, Fisher always felt a strange sensation, as if it were related to the Archangel Pandora he had encountered eons ago, who also possessed a holy cup.
Speaking of Elizabeth’s eyes, earlier she had subconsciously controlled Fisher’s hand from moving upward, making him aware that her subconscious was extremely resistant to others approaching her false eye, meaning she had a protective feeling toward this relic, even if it was Fisher, the one she loved.
Fisher was unclear whether it was Pandora’s power influencing Elizabeth or if it was her own thoughts, but it was not a good phenomenon.
A relic from a long-dead archangel resided within her eyes; it was concerning, especially since Emhart had already stated that those eyes might possess their own consciousness.
Retracting his gaze from the painting on the wall, he wandered into another adjacent room, which was Elizabeth’s office.
Here, there were heaps of documents, but most were archival copies. The nearby bookshelf had been transformed into a filing cabinet, organized into various categories to store different documents.
Soon, Fisher spotted a medical toolbox on the table, which was still open, revealing the used magical remnants inside. Based on the unused magic nearby, the magic that had been utilized was some kind of healing magic for a physical examination.
Upon seeing this healing magic, Fisher realized that when Elizabeth had removed all his clothes yesterday, it was not entirely about taking advantage and draining “Fisher energy”; she had likely conducted a full-body examination on him privately using magic.
After all, four and a half years ago, before he left, he had told Elizabeth during their conversation that he was going to die, and he had not the chance to explain that he was being pursued by death. Elizabeth probably feared he had contracted some disease or sustained injury.
Previously, when confronting Valentina, he had been too busy to ask, but she still worried about Fisher’s health, afraid he would repeat the same tragic story from four and a half years ago—barely returning to her side only to die shortly after.
Fisher blinked, closed the medical box, and at the moment he raised his gaze, the picture of the two of them from their youth also came into view.
“.”
Fisher was just about to reach out to touch that photo when suddenly a bell rang from outside the room. He blinked, realizing it must be that interior officer coming to deliver something.
He decided to step out for a look; after all, that interior officer would not be able to discover him.
However, the moment he pushed open the office door, every hair on his body instinctively stood on end, as if he had grabbed a piece of solid ice that was stripping away all the warmth from his body.
What was happening?
This instinct reminded him to be cautious about the situation outside, thus, even though he was still under the protection of his hidden blessing, he only opened the door a crack and observed the situation outside.
Looking into the room, he saw Diane, the interior officer he had seen earlier, slowly walking into the room with a tray of food per Elizabeth’s command. Although she seemed no different, with other consciousnesses drifting away, there was something distinctly different about Diane’s aura now.
If the earlier Diane had given Fisher the impression of merely being a loyal servant to Elizabeth, the current Diane felt more like a monster wearing human skin.
Diane was standing in the direction of the bedroom that Fisher had rested in; from the position of the office, he could only see her profile and most of her back.
He saw Diane expressionlessly scanning the room, and immediately her face revealed a strange feeling that Fisher found hard to articulate or describe. She silently placed the food on a nearby table but did not leave; instead, she began to scrutinize the room’s details with more intensity.
Her eyes roamed around, and feeling her behavior, Fisher’s heartbeat gradually started to quicken. This bizarre physiological reaction made Fisher even more confused, as if a fear not belonging to him was spreading within him, urging him to taste that strange sensation.
But just as Fisher was lost in thought, the Diane who was surveying the surroundings suddenly turned her gaze toward Fisher’s hiding spot, and the hair on his body stood straight again as he uncomfortably tightened his grip on the door in front of him.
What was wrong with Diane? Why did she feel so strange and terrifying?
Diane didn’t blink; after not finding anything here, she slowly walked toward Elizabeth’s bedroom.
How dare an interior officer enter Elizabeth’s bedroom without permission?
Watching her figure gradually disappear into the hall, clearly entering the previous bedroom, Fisher’s doubts grew stronger within him. So, he quietly pushed the door in front of him open a little wider and walked out of the office, heading in the direction of the bedroom, wanting to see what Diane was up to.
He reached the doorway of the bedroom, looking inside, and saw Diane standing ominously by Elizabeth’s bed, staring at it, seemingly lost in thought.
“.”
Fisher observed her every move, hoping to glean more information from her, but her posture and actions appeared flawless, leaving Fisher unable to find or analyze anything.
Even the odd feeling towards Diane seemed to stem from an instinct within him that he couldn’t pinpoint, while rationally, he only found it strange that Diane intruded into Elizabeth’s bedroom and was searching as if looking for something.
He suddenly recalled the demons he had encountered in the Demon Dynasty that mingled among Nali; could it be that the interior officer before him was also one of the demons sent by Hela?
“Tsk.”
In the next moment, Diane, standing in the room, suddenly made a light clicking sound, as if a visible ripple of emotion had broken through the depths of her emotionless demeanor like an unfathomable sea.
Immediately afterward, the interior officer said a very peculiar phrase,
“. Has that [coward] found you already?”
Coward?
What coward, who is the coward?
Fisher blinked in confusion, but it seemed that Diane had no intention of lingering any longer.
She suddenly turned her head, causing Fisher, hiding outside, to sidestep, resembling the action of covering one’s ears while stealing a bell, but thankfully, Diane could not detect his presence and only regarded him as air.
When Diane turned around, the sensation she conveyed changed instantly, shifting from that of a monster disguised in human skin back to the loyal interior officer Fisher saw earlier.
She hurriedly exited Elizabeth’s bedroom, as if everything just now had never happened, simply coming to deliver something, utterly adhering to the Empress’s orders.
But she failed to realize that Fisher had witnessed everything unfold.
“Click.”
“.”
With the hall door closing, the interior officer named Diane vanished, leaving Fisher unable to calm himself for a long while.
Something was off.
There was definitely something very off.
Now he seemed to correlate the situation with his conceptions before arriving here; the affairs of the Golden Palace were absolutely more complex than he had imagined.
A pair of conscious relics, an interior officer who seemed devoted yet acted strangely while remaining by Elizabeth’s side?
He stroked his chin, not even having had time to eat before turning to look at the bedroom. He stood up and entered the bedroom, examining the surroundings like she had done, pondering over the possibilities regarding Diane’s identity and motives.
No matter where she was from or who she was, analytically, there were roughly two possibilities.
One was that she was after Fisher.
This line of possibility stemmed from Hela and the Demon Dynasty; she was now imprisoned at the bottom of the Dynasty but could still allow a succubus to surveil the people outside, especially paying attention to Fisher’s movements. Now Fisher was wrapped in a hidden blessing, so the succubus sent by Hela could not see him, hence revealing her genuine reaction.
It was also possible that she was not from the Demon Dynasty but from another force, perhaps even other chaos entities eyeing the chaos. Now that life’s chaos had begun to connect with Alicia, it was plausible that other chaotic origins might also seek some proxies?
Especially since the Apocalypse Prophecy had been triggered, and the crevice was burning. Although Nali could not yet see the burning scene, the reality’s defense against the Spirit Realm had weakened considerably, making it possible for some strange things to cross over.
The second possibility was that she was after Elizabeth.
Thinking carefully, Elizabeth bore Pandora’s eye. If Diane had problems, her false eye would not be able to detect them, which could only mean she came from a layer higher than that of the false eye. Before her death, Pandora had been a Nineteen Rank angel. Thus, a higher level than that—besides chaos, Fisher truly could not think of other possibilities.
No, it seemed the Chaos Race might also be a possibility; didn’t they want to enter reality to seek refuge too?
Both of the above possibilities were logically feasible and could somewhat explain Diane’s behavior earlier.
If she was here for Fisher, then she must have been looking for the trace of Fisher wrapped in the hidden blessing.
And if she was here for Elizabeth, was it possible she was searching for something hidden by Elizabeth?
For example, the cup that frequently appeared in the painting but had never revealed its true form?
Of course, any other items could be possible too.
Fisher thought this over and began to meticulously search for anything that might be hidden in the room.
He stood in the spot where Diane had stood earlier, looking around the surroundings, silent for a moment before bending down to see if anything was hidden under the bed.
Upon checking, surprisingly, a wooden box hidden underneath the bed board caught Fisher’s eye, causing his pupils to slightly contract.
There really was something!
Fisher inhaled sharply, completely not expecting to be so lucky, stumbling upon the objects Elizabeth had concealed.
But he could not use extraordinary powers at present, nor did he know what kind of aura the box bore. He could only judge that there was no magic on it; it appeared to be an utterly ordinary wooden box.
Hmm, it indeed looked suspicious.
With a personality like Elizabeth’s, she would actually hide something like this?
This raised Fisher’s alertness, so he hurriedly took the relatively heavy wooden box out and placed it on the ground, slowly unfastening the iron lock on top.
The moment the box opened, it was as if countless holy lights were escaping, almost blinding Fisher’s eyes.
However, the fact was, there was no holy light emanating from the box, but after just one glance, Fisher’s expression darkened, and he closed the box forcefully.
“Clunk!”
“.”
After a moment of silence, he hesitated, as if doubting his own eyes, and unruly curiosity led him to open the wooden box again.
Yet reality did not bend to his will; once more, what met his eyes were various toys of differing sizes and types, used to alleviate loneliness.
“.”
He silently closed the box again, then silently pushed it back under the bed, standing up as if nothing had happened.
(End of Chapter)
