Ding, ding!
Outside the carriage window, a bicycle rode past, its crisp bell instantly restoring the spark to Audrey's slightly unfocused eyes.
She glanced at the bustling street and suddenly let out a soft "Ah!" Then, just as she was about to follow her inner impulse and change course toward Viscount Grellint's residence, her heart abruptly trembled.
She realized that the protection Mr. Devil had left her had somehow vanished.
Although it hasn't been recharged for several months, I checked it this morning. This layer of protection should have lasted a while longer!
With that thought, Audrey immediately focused and projected her consciousness into her substitute. However, to avoid being noticed, she did not summon the substitute. Instead, by shifting her consciousness, she examined her mental state from its perspective.
Sure enough, from that perspective, as though she were looking down at herself from above, the subtle traces in her mind became clear. Audrey immediately realized that, during the mere few minutes of travel after leaving home, she had definitely been influenced by some High Sequence existence—and most likely the missing Hvin Rambis!
Though she realized this, she worried that he might still be watching her. She did not immediately try to remove the suggestion, instead following her inner impulse and saying to Annie:
"I forgot something. I need to go to Grelint's first."
Along the way, although Audrey did not feel that there was anything wrong with her behavior, based on the mental deviation visible through her substitute, she was certain that she had been affected by something.
That anxious feeling persisted until she arrived at the Loen Charity Education Fund on Phelps Street and entered her office.
Although asking Susie now would likely yield some results, Audrey worried that Hvin Rambis might have been following her all along,