Punishment (Previous Chapter Revised)

The second time?

The Fool's abrupt statement startled Audrey [the Justice].

As an extraordinary being using the "Spectator" Pathway, she quickly composed herself and began to observe everyone's reactions, and then speculate.

Hmm, Mr. Fool said this while looking at Ms. [Hermit], and Ms. [Hermit] seems a bit off. Ever since she stepped into the Gray Fog, she's seemed afraid of something. Wait, could she have offended Mr. Fool again?

Audrey suddenly remembered that when [The Hermit] first attended Tarot Club, [Temperance] discovered he was spying on them with special eyes and subsequently punished him. If that was considered the first time, was Mr. Fool trying to say that [The Hermit]...

Has the woman overstepped her bounds once again?

With this guess in mind, she simultaneously looked at the figure with purple eyes.

The Hermit's figure tensed, stiffened for a few seconds, and then slowly relaxed. It wasn't the relaxation that came from relief, but rather the relief that came from having already prepared for the worst and seeing things actually develop this way.

"Mr. Fool discovered it, He really did discover it..."

After the Oldest One shock, the already worried [Hermit] Cattleya suddenly calmed down. She had guessed that she would be discovered for leaking information about the Fool, but she hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

"I wonder how Mr. Fool will punish me. Will I die? Or will something worse than death...?"

In that instant, the melancholy and profound face of the "Queen Mystic" Bernadette seemed to flash before her eyes. The woman she considered her mother in the depths of her heart had been trapped by Roselle's affair her entire life. Now, she had the possibility of helping the Queen solve this problem, and although she knew the danger was immense, she still Concealment revealed it to her.

"Never mind."

Cattleya sighed inwardly, "She raised me; consider this repaying her with my life..."

This, this is...

[Justice] Audrey was astonished, analyzing the [Hermit's ] behavior—though she seemed fearful, she was already prepared to face whatever came her way... Who could it be that made the [Hermit] willingly offend a god without regret?

The inner monologues of the two women, though complex, actually lasted only a few seconds. The other members of the Tarot Club also heard the Fool's words; the Hanged Man and Temperance had their own guesses, while the Magician, the Moon, and others clearly didn't understand.

"Mr. Fool, what are you saying to Ms. [The Hermit]?"

"[The Sun] "Derrick said, puzzled. He was probably the one who understood the situation the least.

Klein glanced Concealment at Audrey, who was still in a state of surprise and showed no intention of explaining. He had no choice but to speak himself, chuckling, "[The Hermit] has done something inappropriate again. She leaked information about the Tarot Club to Bernadette, the owner of the 'Dawn'."

A moment of silence followed Above the Gray Fog, after which everyone reacted in different ways.

The owner of the "Dawn"... the Queen Mystic! Heh, you really are the "Admiral of Stars." It seems the rumors of discord between you and the "Queen Mystic" were completely fabricated...

Hanged Man thought to himself Alger, half satisfied with solving the puzzle and half with schadenfreude. He leaned back in his chair, intending to watch how the other man would struggle.

[Moon] Emlyn felt a similar sentiment, thinking that [The Hermit] was truly overestimating herself. The Fool was an equal to their Sanguine progenitor, yet she dared to try to deceive him.

"[The Hermit] lady actually did such a thing... It's outrageous! But, for the sake of the Queen Mystic," was it really worth taking such a huge risk...?

Audrey thought to herself, feeling both angry and somewhat confused.

Among this group, the most surprised person was probably [Temperance] Luther.

At this point, he finally understood why the Queen had told him to help the "Admiral of Stars" before she left.

The "Queen Mystic" Bernadette knows about my connection to [The Fool] because [The Hermit] revealed information... Her true identity is "Admiral of Stars" Cattleya! The Queen asked me to help her and spare her life, not because she was worried that I would attack her if we met at sea, but because she was worried that Mr. Fool would vent his anger on her!

Having figured all this out, Luther was utterly speechless.

Bernadette thinks too highly of me, asking me to plead with a True God on her behalf?

Do I really have that much influence?!

As everyone's emotions surged with complex feelings, Klein maintained his inscrutable demeanor, turned his gaze to Cattleya, and slowly asked, "Is there anything else to explain?"

Cattleya took a deep breath.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Fool."

She said, with an almost resigned composure, "I only asked that person for the Secrets Suppliant Pathway recipe for Sequence 3 of the Potion Path. But deep down, I knew that this might lead her to deduce some things, so I brought it up myself."

"I admit it was my Error, and I will have no complaints no matter how you punish me."

[The Hermit] Cattleya offered no explanation for her actions, only briefly stating what she had done and why, before bowing her head to the lofty being at the head of the long table, adopting a posture of complete submission.

For a moment, the atmosphere above the Gray Fog seemed to freeze.

Behind the long table, Klein thought for a moment, then held up one finger towards Cattleya.

"Boom!"

The originally calm and soothing Gray Fog suddenly became extremely violent in an instant, sweeping in from under everyone's feet, enveloping Cattleya's body, and suppressing her heavily.

"Bang!"

Cattleya heard the sound of her eardrums exploding. Countless noisy, overlapping, and hysterical Word-Eating came from the Gray Fog, constantly flooding her mind and bringing her intense mental torment.

At this moment, her pain was beyond measure.

This feeling is a hundred times more terrifying than the knowledge imparted by the "Hidden Sage"!

66

[The Hermit] Cattleya couldn't even make a sound; she just lay on the long table, convulsing violently. Her pain was so real that it was reflected in the eyes of everyone present through her blurry figure.

Klein has successfully advanced in the sea area of God War Ruins, becoming Sequence 5 "Marionettist". His mastery of the Gray Fog has increased even more, and he can now easily apply pollution in this way.

Around the long table, the other members all saw the current state of [The Hermit] Cattleya. No one made a sound; only the faint, continuous sound of her clothes rubbing together as she struggled could be heard echoing Above the Gray Fog.