Chapter Summaries

The lady taught Lumian how to safely pray for the power of a Dancer and warned him about the corruption sealed within him. After recording the ritual instructions, Lumian encountered the Three Foreigners and told them he knew who they were looking for.

• Lumian asked about receiving the power of a Contracted One, and the lady warned that a boon that powerful could corrupt or transform him; she said Dancer was the strongest boon he could currently withstand.
• The lady taught Lumian the prayer to the power of inevitability, explained the ritual materials and the use of a candle containing his blood, and warned him to keep the words concealed and scrambled.
• The lady crushed a black worm that emerged from the table as she recited the prayer, then could not clearly explain what had crawled from the assistant Parish Priest's mouth.
• Lumian wrote down the ritual instructions in scrambled order after the lady left the Old Tavern.
• Lumian found Ryan, Lya, and Valentine and told them he knew who they were looking for; the Three Foreigners followed him.

Lumian revealed Cordou Village’s supernatural abnormalities and time loop to Ryan, Lya, and Valentine, then recruited them to investigate. The group began their plan after Valentine confirmed the date was April 10, and Ryan returned with a reply to his telegram.

• Lumian showed Ryan, Lya, and Valentine the Little Blue Book and explained how he had tested whether they knew about his letter.
• Lumian described the village’s bizarre residents and revealed that Cordou Village was trapped in a time loop centered on Twelfth Night.
• Valentine remembered that his youngest son’s birthday was April 10, and Ryan and Lya persuaded him to delay reporting the loop to their superiors.
• Lumian asked Ryan to telegram their superiors about the Parish Priest and the current date, and asked the investigators to help search the Administrator’s residence that afternoon.
• Ryan sent the telegram while Lumian, Lya, and Valentine waited beneath the elm tree, where Lumian admitted he did not know why he retained memories from the last two loops.
• Ryan returned from the Administrator’s building after receiving a telegram reply.

Lumian and the three foreign Beyonders learned that the village’s anomalies fit into wider legends about sprites, then arranged to investigate the Administrator’s castle. He later discovered Raymond had vanished at the very start of the loop, and Aurora suggested Raymond might have been taken as a sacrifice after being thrown into the river.

• Ryan reported that Cordu’s actual date was in late April and shared legends of parasitic, lizard-like sprites appearing across the continents in recent years.
• Lya described local reports of mischievous sprites called jesters, and Ryan speculated that the parasitic sprite might be connected to the assistant parish priest.
• Lumian arranged to search behind the hill near the Administrator’s castle with Ryan, Lya, and Valentine that afternoon, then told them about Madame Pualis and the castle.
• Ava told Lumian that Raymond had been missing since the afternoon of March 29, and Lumian realized he had disappeared at the start of the loop.
• Lumian told Aurora about Raymond’s disappearance, and Aurora proposed that the river entity might have taken him as an offering; she asked whether Raymond could have left as a corpse.

Lumian and Aurora discussed Raymond’s disappearance and planned to summon his spirit, while preparing for Lumian’s exploration of the Castle. Lumian joined Ryan, Lya, and Valentine, and the group found a safer route into the Castle’s garden and reached its side windows.

• Lumian worried that Raymond had been sacrificed and suggested his ghost might appear after a loop reset; Aurora planned a Spiritism ritual using one of his possessions.
• Aurora agreed to provide ingredients for exploring the Dream Ruins, advised Lumian to collect tulips from Madame Pualis’s garden, and gave him instructions for preparing for the ritual.
• At the Castle hill, Lumian met Ryan, Lya, and Valentine and showed them the axe he had brought as a weapon.
• Lya used her bells to divine that the rear and front entrances were dangerous but that entering through the garden would work.
• Ryan stopped Lumian from picking tulips until they were leaving, and the group reached a row of side windows.

Lumian, Lya, Ryan, and Valentine searched the Administrator’s residence for clues, moving from the servants’ rooms to Madame Pualis and Administrator Beaost’s bedroom on the third floor. There, they found photographs of Madame Pualis and an unidentified man, but no picture of the Administrator.

• Lya avoided a servant on the ground floor by climbing onto a painting, then led the others upstairs.
• The group searched the second floor and found Louis Lund’s bedroom empty, though blood and other traces showed he had recently been there.
• Lumian spotted Louis Lund outside, looking healthy as he discussed gardening with Sever, and Ryan explained that childbirth, healing, and life could be linked.
• The four searched Madame Pualis and Administrator Beaost’s bedroom on the third floor, where Lumian noticed the Administrator was absent from the photographs.
• Lumian and the others examined a photograph of an unfamiliar man who resembled Madame Pualis, and Lumian wondered whether he was her brother.

Lumian and his companions searched the Administrator’s Castle and discovered a nursery where an empty cradle began rocking, unleashing a supernatural attack. As they fought back, the woman who had delivered Louis Lund’s baby confronted them, while Madame Pualis abruptly left Aurora’s tea party, saying she had to return to her children.

• Lya and Ryan told Lumian that their investigation found no Pualis de Roquefort in Dalege, but uncovered a missing man named Prit de Roquefort, who had fathered many illegitimate children.
• Aurora discussed Trier’s arcades and romance with Madame Pualis and Naa La Yiza, while Pualis described a lover she had wanted to kill but ultimately saved.
• Lumian, Ryan, Lya, and Valentine searched the Castle and found an empty nursery with an unusually well-preserved scattering of crops and a cradle.
• The cradle began rocking by itself, and children’s faces appeared across the windows and walls as their cries darkened the third floor.
• Valentine protected Lumian and Lya with golden light while Ryan formed armor and attacked the faces, then the woman who had delivered Louis Lund’s baby appeared with enormous scissors and threatened them.
• Madame Pualis suddenly left Aurora’s tea party, saying she had remembered something concerning her children.

Lumian, Ryan, Lya, and Valentine fought the woman in the grayish-white dress as she attacked them through the faces embedded throughout the Castle’s third floor. They fled into the tower, where they found more than a hundred strange children clinging to the walls, just as the woman appeared at the stairway bend.

• Valentine burned away one of the woman’s attacks, and Ryan struck her with the Dawn Sword, but she repeatedly escaped through the Castle’s transparent faces.
• The woman wounded Lumian and turned his blood into a pursuing figure; Lya shifted his wound while Ryan destroyed the figure and helped stop the bleeding.
• Lya tested the room’s surfaces, then directed everyone toward the tower, and Ryan held the woman back while the others escaped.
• Lumian and the others entered the cramped tower and found more than a hundred clawed children perched on its walls.
• Ryan ordered everyone away from the entrance, and the woman appeared at the stairway bend as the tower filled with the aura of life.

Ryan, Lya, Valentine, and Lumian escaped the Castle after Ryan killed the midwife with the Sword of Dawn, and Valentine purified the group. Lumian avoided fleeing with the others and rushed home to warn Aurora, where the siblings found each other alive and asked if the other was all right.

• Ryan unleashed a storm of light that destroyed the midwife, then led Lumian, Valentine, and Lya out of the Castle.
• Lya heard a baby crying and nearly became a monster's mother, but Valentine purified her with holy water.
• Valentine purified Ryan and himself without incident, while Lumian's purification caused severe pain and brought back a mysterious voice before Valentine stopped.
• Ryan proposed going to the village edge to trigger the loop if Madame Pualis pursued them, and Lumian refused to flee with the group.
• Lumian hurried home to warn Aurora that Madame Pualis might suspect her, but found her alive at the doorway.

Lumian told Aurora about the search of the Castle, and they suspected Madame Pualis was the missing Prit, a man transformed into a woman by a mystical pathway. After Lumian returned to the Castle to gather tulips, he saw the supposedly dead midwife alive in the garden.

• Lumian told Aurora to surrender and betray the Three Foreigners if Madame Pualis attacked, then recounted what he and the others had discovered at the Castle.
• Aurora guessed Madame Pualis was Prit, explaining that advancing along the Assassin pathway could transform a man into a woman.
• Lumian and Aurora wondered whether Madame Pualis had retained memories across loops after recognizing that she might have saved them as the Night Lady.
• Lumian suggested visiting the Castle for tulips, and Aurora agreed to trigger the loop if he did not return within half an hour.
• Lumian asked permission to pick tulips and spotted the midwife, whom Ryan had killed, alive in the garden.

Lumian found the supposedly dead midwife alive at the Administrator’s Castle and discovered that Raymond had vanished, taking his exercise book home for Aurora to investigate. Aurora summoned Raymond’s spirit, which appeared swollen and bloodied and screamed that someone had drowned him.

• Lumian saw the midwife trimming trees at the Administrator’s Castle, though he remembered Ryan killing her and destroying her spirit.
• Lumian visited Raymond Klegg’s family, learned Raymond had gone missing, and found his exercise book and fountain pen beneath Raymond’s pillow.
• Lumian heard Pierre Krag say the family’s luck would soon improve, and Aurora suspected someone was spreading beliefs about changing one’s constellation.
• Aurora suggested the midwife might be a living corpse and agreed to investigate the village and try contacting Raymond’s spirit.
• Aurora performed a summoning ritual, and Raymond’s spirit appeared above the candle, swollen and pale, then shrieked that they had drowned him.

After Raymond revealed that Pons Béné and his men drowned him as a sacrifice and pointed to something beneath the Church, Aurora and Lumian planned how to survive the coming ritual and break the loop. The next morning, Lumian prepared a ritual to seek a boon from the power within himself and began calling upon the Power of Fate.

• During Spiritism, Raymond named Pons Béné and his men as his killers and cried that the being involved was underground beneath the Church.
• Aurora ended the ritual and concluded that the Church basement held a key part of the sacrifice, while Lumian argued they could retaliate against Pons Béné before Lent Festival without provoking the Parish Priest's group into acting early.
• Aurora proposed that they unite with the Three Foreigners, possibly cooperate with Madame Pualis, and explore beneath the Church before Lent Festival began.
• Aurora explained that Raymond retained memories across the loop because his bodiless spirit preserved lingering obsessions, suggesting the force controlling the loop had become mechanical and might be breakable.
• Aurora taught Lumian Hermetic and Ancient Hermetic words and prepared ritual candles as they studied together.
• After waking in the next loop, Lumian gathered the ritual materials, built a Spirit Wall, and began invoking the Power of Fate.

Lumian completed a ritual to become a Dancer, gaining mystical knowledge, greater flexibility, and enhanced spirituality. After testing his new dances and discovering that one could summon remnants of monsters, he decided to rest before returning to the real world to lie in wait for the Owl.

• Lumian performed the sacrificial ritual and endured intense pain as he received a Dancer’s boon.
• Lumian gained knowledge of the Noodle Man’s dance and a dangerous dance that could summon beings to possess him.
• Lumian practiced the Noodle Man’s dance, activating his Thorn Symbol and measuring that it remained visible for about a minute.
• Lumian practiced the summoning dance and drew the spiritual remnants of the Skinless Monster, the Shotgun Monster, and the Mouthpart Monster to a window.
• Lumian heard faint voices from the corruption sealed inside his body, then confirmed that Dancer had strengthened his flexibility and spirituality.
• Lumian chose to rest before returning to the real world to lie in wait for the Owl.

Lumian and Aurora tracked the owl to a hidden tomb beneath Cordou Village’s cemetery, where White Paper glimpsed something in an open coffin and was badly hurt. They concluded the Warlock’s corpse might be behind the village’s growing abnormalities and planned to investigate the Church Underground first, while Aurora explained Lumian’s successful ritual.

• Lumian saw the owl return, and Aurora used White Paper to follow it to the cemetery beside the church.
• The owl landed on a spotless, unmarked grave whose stone slabs opened to reveal an underground tomb chamber and an open coffin.
• White Paper looked into the coffin and was severely damaged by what it glimpsed, causing Aurora to suffer bloody tears and facial spasms.
• Lumian and Aurora suspected the Warlock’s corpse or another presence in the tomb was connected to Cordu’s abnormalities, and they agreed to investigate the Church Underground before returning to the chamber.
• Aurora explained Mythical Creature Forms and suggested Lumian’s ritual had drawn power because the black thorn and blue-black symbol overlapped in their authority over fate.

Lumian investigated Jean Mori’s sudden muteness and disappearance, suspecting that the man had discovered something dangerous. He shared new leads with Ryan, Lya, and Valentine, who agreed to seek limited cooperation with Madame Pualis before investigating beneath the church.

• Lumian found Jean Mori mute and learned that Jean had supposedly caught Sybil Berry with the Parish Priest, but he suspected Jean had been poisoned or had discovered something else.
• Lumian searched Cordu for Jean, questioned Sybil, and grew alarmed when she said Jean might have left the village after their argument.
• Lumian told Ryan, Lya, and Valentine his sister’s deductions about Madame Pualis and Prit, and Ryan planned to send a telegram to his superiors.
• Lumian proposed limited cooperation with Madame Pualis to help break the loop, and Ryan asked him to approach her because the investigators did not know her attitude.
• Lumian shared leads about Raymond, Jean Mori, and the tomb where the owl had flown, prompting Ryan to prioritize contacting Madame Pualis before investigating beneath the church.

Lumian met Madame Pualis to discuss Cordu’s time loop and learned that she could escape at a particular time but could not take him and Aurora with her. She agreed to offer limited help if things went wrong, and Lumian rejoined Lya, Ryan, and Valentine as they prepared to explore beneath the Church.

• Lumian visited Madame Pualis at the Castle and saw the dead midwife standing beside her.
• Lumian told Madame Pualis that he knew Cordu was trapped in a time loop, and she revealed that she knew about the situation and had a way to leave when a certain time came.
• Madame Pualis said she could not take Lumian or Aurora with her, but agreed to provide some help if danger arose.
• Lumian returned to Cordou Village and told Lya, Ryan, and Valentine what Madame Pualis had said.
• Ryan reported that their superiors had suggested Prit might have become a woman through a potion or other power, then decided they would explore beneath the Church immediately.

Lumian, Lya, Ryan, and Valentine subdued the Parish Priest’s group and entered the Church basement to investigate. As Lya opened the basement door, Lumian recognized the scent of gray amber, a material used in offerings to a hidden being associated with fate.

• Ryan persuaded Lumian that noon was the best time to enter the Church, and the group agreed to act before the Parish Priest gained supernatural powers.
• Lumian told Aurora about the plan, and she volunteered to trigger the loop if the others did not return by half past twelve.
• Lya picked the Church’s side-door lock, and she and Ryan silently subdued the three servants and the Parish Priest, Guillaume Béné.
• Lumian examined Guillaume Béné’s chest and found no black Thorn Symbol, then resisted the urge to kill him before Twelfth Night.
• The group could not find the assistant parish priest and proceeded down the Church stairs, where Lya’s bells indicated some danger.
• Lya opened the basement door, and Lumian smelled gray amber and recognized it as material used in offerings to a hidden being associated with fate.

Lumian and his companions entered the basement altar and were affected by a Hidden Being’s power, which placed them in different states of time. Lumian remained unchanged and volunteered to scout ahead, but Valentine began testing a way to dispel the effects.

• Lya scouted the basement and her bells warned of danger near the altar, so she returned to the others; Lumian spotted human bones and sheepskins piled along the walls.
• Lya’s face and hands turned translucent and wormlike, while Ryan reverted to his short, powerless younger self; Valentine became a figure of pure light, but Lumian stayed normal.
• Lumian guessed the altar’s power involved the past, present, and future, and Lya and Ryan agreed that they had been shifted into possible future and past states.
• Lumian offered to scout ahead because he could withstand one more change, and Valentine proposed using his powers to dispel the group’s conditions.
• Valentine cast Solar Halo, sending dark golden light and an invisible force outward.

Lumian discovered that faint footprints marked a safe route through the altar’s shifting effects and led Ryan, Lya, and Valentine back to the present. At the altar, they triggered a black robe inhabited by hateful spirits, including Raymond, and Valentine struck it with holy light.

• Lumian learned that the power affecting the basement could not be purified, while the Black Thorn Symbol helped him resist its distortions.
• Lumian followed faint footprints and realized they traced a safe path through the basement’s shifting states.
• Lumian guided Ryan, Lya, and Valentine along the footprints, returning them to the present and safely reaching the altar.
• The group observed the altar’s objects and saw a black thorn-ring symbol that caused dizziness and ringing in Lumian’s ears.
• Lya’s question about Ryan’s Dawn drew Lumian’s attention back to the altar, awakening the black robe and its spirits, including Raymond.
• Lumian ducked behind Ryan as the spirits pleaded for help, and Valentine summoned a pillar of holy light to strike the robe.

After destroying the altar, Lumian and his companions were attacked by an invisible force tied to a Sufferer’s aura until Madame Pualis appeared and healed them. Back at the church, they found deputy Parish Priest Michel Garigu acting even more strangely than before.

• Ryan destroyed the altar with the Dawn Sword, but Lya warned that danger remained, and the group left the basement.
• An invisible attacker inflicted severe injuries on Ryan, Lya, Valentine, and Lumian as they climbed the stairs, despite their efforts to fight it.
• Madame Pualis appeared in a wilderness vision, stopped the attacks, and healed the group with liquid from an emerald bowl.
• Madame Pualis said they had been tainted by a little of a Sufferer’s aura and revealed she had planned to make the area her domain before deciding to leave.
• The group returned safely to the church, where Valentine burned away their traces of blood and injury.
• Lumian saw Michel Garigu near the unconscious servants; Michel warmly asked whether they had come to pray or confess, displaying an unsettling change in behavior.

Lumian and the Joint Investigation Team pretended to pray at the church while discussing the supernatural forces in Cordou Village and the strange Night Lady. After leaving, Lumian sent the team to investigate Jean Mori and the Zodiac rumor, then considered how the Parish Priest's failed ritual had created the time loop.

• Lumian persuaded Lya, Ryan, and Valentine to accompany Assistant Parish Priest Michel Garigu in prayer, and Lya revealed that she and Ryan belonged to separate supernatural agencies working as a joint investigation team.
• Michel led them in prayer, and Lumian felt nostalgic for the ordinary church visits he had once taken for granted.
• Ryan said Pualis seemed close to the gateway to divinity, while Lya compared the Night Lady to other beings reported near the border and connected the Otherworld to the Earth Mother's saying that souls return to the earth.
• At the Elm Tree, Ryan advised them not to provoke the Night Lady, and Valentine said ten minutes remained before the loop deadline.
• Lumian left to find Aurora and asked the team to search for Jean Mori and investigate the rumor that the Zodiac was about to change.
• Lumian concluded that the Parish Priest's group had begun a ritual on the Lent Festival that failed on Twelfth Night, causing the time loop when power associated with Fate spilled out.