Memory

As footsteps reached the door, Stella snorted at just the right moment. "Turn right when you leave. I think that bathroom would suit you perfectly!"

"Stella!" Madam Piquery lightly patted the girl's hand and reproached her, "Don't talk nonsense... that's Amy's toilet!"

She turned to the maid carrying in the Potion and said gently, "Miss Harper, please take Mr. Gray to the bathroom—don't listen to Stella. Take him to the nearest one."

The maid set down the Potion and curtsied. "Yes, Madam... Please follow me, Mr. Gray."

Wade followed the maid to what appeared to be an ordinary bathroom. It had only a small window of opaque stained glass. A white porcelain washbasin stood against the wall, its rim decorated with embossed blue flowers and grasses.

The maid reached out and opened the door, glanced inside, then stepped aside.

After Wade entered, he casually closed the door. The thick walls and wooden door had both been soundproofed by the owners, ensuring that no sounds from inside could be heard outside.

Wade approached the washbasin and lightly traced its surface with his fingers. Then a smile appeared on his face.

An exceedingly ingenious piece of magic had been cast upon it—of course, magic was everywhere in a wizard's home, so that itself was nothing unusual.

But the key to undoing the magic was hidden among those floral reliefs, and this combination of Magic script...

An ordinary wizard would only decipher a phrase: "We are all water from different rivers," brimming with implications of peace and tolerance.

But only someone well versed in Alchemy would interpret another meaning from it... a spell.

Madam Piquery must have set up this little mechanism only after learning that the messenger was Wade Gray.

Wade slowly drew his Wand, touched it to the washbasin, and murmured: