Follow-up Examination

"The examination is complete. All indicators are normal. Congratulations, young man. Your Heart Gem has almost been repaired, and you can now use all your abilities normally."

Emerald traced lines on the light screen that appeared before her, offering this conclusion to Larkspur: "Of course, I still hope you won't Flourishing Bloom in my lab. Please find a practice area to try it out when you get back, or I can make an appointment for you."

Her words made Larkspur stop her from placing her hands on the Heart Gem.

It was a week after Larkspur arrived in the Kingdom and completed his treatment. To ensure that the treatment had achieved the desired results, Emerald asked Larkspur to come to the Research Institute for a final "check-up".

The completion of this examination signifies that the Heart Gem of Larkspur gemstone has been repaired, and there will be no need for repeated trips to the Emerald Laboratory for further damage to the gemstone.

Since the other party was unwilling to let her try her Flourishing Bloom here, Larkspur naturally had no intention of deliberately provoking them. She slowly sat up from the treatment bed, grabbed the edge of the bed with one hand, jumped to the ground, picked up the coat hanging beside her, shook it, and put it on. "Thank you."

She rarely expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Emerald.

Although Larkspur still doesn't understand what the other party is after in their deal, Emerald has indeed provided him with a lot of help so far.

As the current holder of the Gem Scepter, holding a high position of power in the Magic Kingdom, practically second only to the emperor, Emerald's attitude towards her was already quite friendly, even humble. Given that the other party had gone to such lengths, she had no reason to be stingy with a word of thanks.

Upon receiving the Larkspur's thanks, Emerald wore an expression as if she had misheard. She opened her sleepy eyes and glanced at the Larkspur as if examining something rare. After a moment, she simply leaned back in her chair and bowed slightly.

"It's really hard to hear a 'thank you' from a young man like you, so I, an old man, will accept it. But as I've told you before, we're in the same boat now. Many times, when I help you, I'm also helping myself. It's not that I'm really being kind."

"I know, after all, you are Gem Scepter."

Buttoning up her coat and smoothing out the wrinkles, Larkspur said seriously, "This isn't some kind of insult, but a fact I've come to believe—people who reach the top of power rarely do unprofitable deals."

"Yes, yes, yes, I am the Gem Scepter. Anyway, it's not like the scepter will grow legs and run away if people say a few things about it. You young people can say whatever you want."

If it were their first meeting, Emerald might have been indignant at the description, but now she seemed resigned to the mockery, even yawning. "Anything else you want to say? If not, I'll have to see you out."

Is there anything else you'd like to say?

This question startled the Larkspur slightly, and then she pondered for a moment.

In fact, she did have something she wanted to say—or rather, something she should say. That was what Ink Lotus had told her a few nights ago: this assessment "might involve some rather dangerous things."

This sounded like a simple riddle, so when Larkspur woke up the next day, her first thought was to go find Ink Lotus again to see if she could find out the truth. But the result was disappointing—the small house where Ink Lotus lived was empty.

Only then did the Larkspur realize that neither she nor the other party had exchanged contact information on the Magic Mirror or their phones. She inquired with the staff of Rainbow Cloud Wetlands, but received no useful information.

It's as if you and the other person just happened to meet at a crossroads in life, struck up a conversation, and when you look back, you can no longer see each other.

However, Ink Lotus herself left, but the "reminder" she left behind made Larkspur increasingly concerned.

After that night, she kept reviewing her conversations with Ink Lotus over the past few days, constantly extracting information from them, and gradually discovered some details that she had not noticed at the time, or rather, had intentionally ignored.

By combining these details, it becomes clear that the other party's unwillingness to continue the confrontation, and even their abrupt departure, is itself an indication of what they intended to say.

This means that Ink Lotus's statement is highly likely to be true, and that she herself is playing... a rather undesirable role in this so-called "danger."

If this statement was merely a hearsay rumor or a casual joke, the other person didn't need to act so mysteriously. Furthermore, leaving the day after leaving that statement seemed like knowing exactly what they were going to do.

If Ink Lotus was conveying this message to him as a law enforcer, then there is even less reason for him to abandon his own vital force and simply disappear with a strange riddle.

The opportunity to verify the truth of her series of conjectures was already presented to the Larkspur.

She only needs to ask one question to get all the answers.

But when the words reached her lips, she remained silent for a long time.

"What's wrong? Is it something very difficult to talk about?"

Seeing the Larkspur's expression, Emerald also found it strange. She leaned back in her recliner and poked half her head out. "What's wrong? You've shrunk by two centimeters, are you looking to settle a score with me?"

"... I didn't even want to bring this up."

When Emerald brought it up, Larkspur immediately raised her eyebrows and glared at her. But after this interruption, she felt her mood relax a little.

She knew she couldn't face the truth and ignore it.

Even if the truth is not always what you want, it is still necessary to take that step, to know the truth, in order to make changes.

"We can talk about height later. I want to ask about something else right now."

She composed herself, regaining her composure, and then asked in a completely emotionless tone, "Your Excellency, do you remember a magical girl codenamed 'Tulip'?"

The reason for not directly mentioning Ink Lotus is both because the magical girl "Tulip" is more well-known and because Larkspur felt that perhaps it was inappropriate to mention Ink Lotus's code name here.

She was currently facing Emerald, who might be considered half of her own people, but once the news spread beyond this research lab, into the Kingdom, or even the Royal Court... to be honest, Larkspur couldn't trust those people at all.

Ink Lotus was hiding something from her, and Royal Court was not trustworthy. Faced with this dilemma, Larkspur chose to only mention the name of Tulip.

In fact, she already had a premonition of what kind of answer she would receive.

"Tulip? Ah... oh, is that Lycoris girl's daughter?"

Emerald casually muttered the code name that Larkspur had mentioned, seemingly oblivious to Larkspur's inner thoughts, and lazily asked, "What's wrong? Have you seen her these past few days?"

"... She was my comrade-in-arms when I joined the army. I went to the Memorial Cemetery a few days ago and remembered that there was such a person, so I wanted to ask about her current situation." Larkspur answered carefully, choosing her words carefully.

"Oh, you just remembered and wanted to ask? That makes sense, since you wouldn't normally be able to see her anyway."

Emerald returned to its supine position, its gaze listlessly fixed on the laboratory ceiling.

"After all, that girl has already defected and removed the Claw Mark."