Everything began to blur, and Klein was half-awake, half-dazed.
A distorted, illusory tableau gradually emerged before his eyes.
He felt himself enter the tableau and become different people one after another. Yet in every one of their eyes, there was an innocent, beautiful, kind-hearted young girl who knew nothing of the world.
Though there was no evidence, Klein instinctively knew that she was probably Miss Justice.
He became a maid, a servant, a noble child, a vicious Criminal, and a powerful Beyonder. Yet no matter what he became, Miss Justice always appeared innocent, kind, and ignorant of the world in his eyes.
The transformations continued, again and again. After an unknown number of shifts in perspective, the scene suddenly shattered, and Klein finally woke up. Then, he noticed a blind spot that his dream self had failed to discover.
That was, the Miss Justice in those visions had not actually been so innocent.
Sometimes, she was conspiring with her dog. Sometimes, she secretly pressed herself against a door. At times, her eyes revealed an indifferent air, as though she were judging all living beings. Sometimes, she even wore a mischievous smile like a little Devil.
Yet in the dream, every perspective he experienced had ignored those details without exception. They had blindly regarded her as an innocent, lovable, even somewhat silly and clueless girl, as though she would fall for anything anyone told her.
"Counter-divination ability? No, it's more like an anti-observation ability. It's practically a power specifically aimed at the Spectator pathway." Klein recalled the information he had obtained from the dream and tried to analyze the effect produced by the white horse on Miss Justice.
"It looks like it's meant to protect Miss Justice, but it's still better to be careful."
Klein did not rush to make a decision. Instead, he wrote down another divination statement—
"The origin of the anomaly above Miss Justice's head."
Using the Dream Divination Method to enter the dream once more, the illusory and distorted scene before Klein changed again. He saw a young man in a double-breasted formal coat pass by a beautiful woman wearing a court dress. Afterward, the impression she gave changed.
Mm, she became just like she had been in the previous dream: innocent and adorable, even seeming a little foolishly cute.
"So it really was Mr. Devil? But how did he know... Ah, right. Mr. Devil previously gave Miss Justice the identity of a Psychology Alchemists member. By following that member, he could naturally find Miss Justice. Mm, Miss Justice was really too careless."
Klein silently criticized Miss Justice, but he was not overly worried. At the very least, Mr. Devil was a true gentleman. His probing of Miss Justice's identity had merely been to provide protection in secret.
His codename was Devil, yet he was as kind as an Angel!
That thought arose in Klein's mind, but he did not completely trust Mr. Devil. Instead, he wrote another divination statement on the manifested sheet of paper—
"The power Mr. Devil placed upon Miss Justice carries risks for Miss Justice."
This time, Klein did not use the Dream Divination Method. Instead, he manifested a pendulum and silently recited the divination statement in his heart. After repeating it seven times, he opened his eyes and saw the pendulum rotating clockwise at an extremely, extremely, extremely slow speed.
"There is a risk, but it's very small..." Klein frowned slightly at the result. "Perhaps this very small risk comes from the possibility that high-level existences might See Through it? Mm, just as I can use the Gray Fog to see the white horse above Miss Justice's head, certain high-level existences might discover Miss Justice's abnormality if she encounters them? I wonder how powerful a Beyonder must be to notice such an abnormality..."
Klein pondered for a long time before deciding to leave the choice to Miss Justice.
He slightly edited the scenes he had seen during the dream divination, added a warning concerning high-level Beyonders, and transmitted them together to the Crimson Star representing Miss Justice...
After completing the prayer, Audrey remained in her room. Normally, she should have gone to the music room to practice the piano at this time, but she was far too nervous now. It would be easy to arouse her family's suspicions while playing.
After nearly twenty minutes of such unease, boundless Gray Fog suddenly spread before her eyes. Then, countless illusions rapidly flashed past her vision...
"There's a risk of exposure before high-level existences... Could the existences even Mr. Fool refers to as 'high-level existences' be true gods? If so, there's no need to worry at all!"
Audrey muttered as if reassuring herself, but she still felt somewhat conflicted.
"Come to think of it, was that person at the previous salon? Why did he want to help me? Mm, Mr. Fool seemed to deliberately avoid that question. Does he hope that I'll find the answer myself? But he even recreated the image. That makes it far too easy!"
Thinking of this, Audrey tried hard to recall yesterday's literary salon. After being enhanced by the Spectator Potion, her memory was no longer what it had once been. She could clearly remember even the order in which food had been served at the banquet.
However, she could no longer remember that man's appearance at all!
"Mm, this should be a power similar to the Beyonder Ability on me. Does everyone who sees him simply overlook him?" Audrey pondered briefly before giving up on trying to remember by herself. She muttered to herself:
"Since he appeared at Grelint's salon, he must be someone Grelint knows. I'll just ask him. Besides, he still owes me for finding someone to help him obtain the Apothecary Potion Formula!"
...Two days later...
At the social ball held at Viscount Grellint's home in Empress Borough, Audrey's cheek muscles had already begun to ache. At last, she received a signal from her friend. Using the excuse of going to the washroom, something every Fool believer ought to know, she successfully slipped away from the ball. Then, with the abilities granted by the Spectator pathway, she cleverly avoided every gaze, made her way to the first-floor study with practiced ease, and said to her personal maid Annie:
"I need to discuss something with Grelint. Guard the door and don't let anyone else enter."
"Okay." This was not Annie's first time handling such a task. Although Miss Audrey and Viscount Grellint had been meeting rather frequently recently, that was not something a maid like her should concern herself with.
After entering the study and locking the door behind her, Audrey saw Grelint sitting behind the desk. He was idly playing with a fountain pen so that he would not appear too idle.
"I thought you didn't like attending balls." Seeing Audrey enter, Grelint set down the fountain pen, stood up, and said with a smile.
"I really don't, but there's something I want to ask you about." When speaking privately with a friend, Audrey did not use much aristocratic social courtesy and went straight to the point.
"Ask whatever you want! Mm, I'm already helping you look for the Spectator pathway's Potion Formula, but you know that isn't easy." Grelint was clearly somewhat embarrassed. As an independent noble, he had more resources at his disposal than Audrey, yet Audrey had been the one to find a Beyonder Potion Formula first.
"Not that. I want to ask about someone we met at the previous literary salon."
Although Audrey did not remember Sno's appearance, the image provided by Mr. Fool contained details such as his clothing and height.
However, after Audrey finished describing every detail she remembered, she keenly noticed that Grelint's expression seemed somewhat strange.
Early Audrey was truly incredibly bold. She dared to do anything. If she had not encountered The Tarot Club, it would not have been impossible for the Aurora Society to force-feed her the Secret Speaker Potion... After all, Mr. A had specifically asked whether she was interested in Potions beyond the Spectator pathway. Anyone could tell he had intended to sell her the Secret Speaker Potion... Mm, so the Aurora Society really only recruited stunning beauties, right?
Before you continue