After sitting with Mrs. Seymour for a while, Karen took his leave and drove home.
Mrs. Seymour was currently in a low, despondent state. With the passage of time, the fury and hatred brought on by her husband's betrayal were slowly fading, replaced instead by the awkward friction of disrupted daily habits. Shifting from the rhythm of a shared life back to solitary living felt like sitting at a table missing a leg.
To this, Karen's advice was simple: move.
Moving to a new house and a fresh environment was an effective way to break free from the inertia of her old life.
Such advice was hardly practical for ordinary people, but it posed no problem for Mrs. Seymour, who was extraordinarily wealthy.
Upon arriving home,
Karen carried the box of pigments into the living room.
Aunt Winnie was sitting on the sofa balancing the accounts, Aunt Mary sat opposite her with her legs crossed eating fruit, and Uncle Mason was lying inside an exquisite black coffin resting atop the mortuary slab.
"I think we could add a little more decoration inside. A spot for a radio case, perhaps, or a secret compartment with a gun."
"Are you trying to fend off grave robbers?" Aunt Winnie commented without looking up. "It'd be far more practical to issue an extra gun to the cemetery keeper."
"I'm thinking that if someone were in a coma and woke up inside the coffin, they could fire a shot to call for help. If it weren't impossible to run telephone wires out to a cemetery, I'd honestly want to install a telephone in there.
"Think about it—the relatives of the deceased surely hope there's some chance their loved one might suddenly wake up. At least they carry that beautiful wish, don't they?"
Aunt Winnie shook her head again. "Our service standard is very high. We bury them deep. A bullet couldn't pierce the dirt, and long before he fired, he would have suffocated anyway."
"Hope! It's about hope, that's what I mean. Mary, if I die, would you want me to suddenly sit up in my coffin?"
Aunt Mary took a bite of her apple and shook her head.
"While doing your mortuary makeup, I'd drive a knife into your chest first to prevent any chance of false death. I want to eliminate the possibility entirely, because I wouldn't want you suffocating in a coffin. That would be far too cruel."
Uncle Mason froze for a moment, then sat up and looked at Mary.
"That really is a wonderful choice, darling."
Right then, the seated Mason caught sight of Karen walking in, and immediately shouted:
"Oh heavens, look who's back!
"Bathed in golden radiance,
"Treading upon the twilight glow,
"Surrounded by magnificent melodies,
"Ah,
"'Tis none other than my handsome nephew, Karen!"
Uncle Mason planted one hand on the rim of the coffin and vaulted out. As his feet hit the ground, he slipped slightly; right below him were the steps of the mortuary slab, forcing him to lean forward into a sliding run. Once down the steps, his momentum carried him onward, and his balance was entirely lost.
At last,
with a resounding *thud*,
he dropped to his knees right in front of Karen.
Karen could only sidestep out of habit, refusing to accept such a grand bow from his uncle.
Aunt Winnie threw her fountain pen aside and hurried toward Karen. In her haste, however, her high heel caught on the hem of her skirt. The fabric was of such fine quality that it didn't tear; instead, she pitched headlong onto the coffee table, barely clutching its edges with both hands to keep from tumbling off.
Aunt Mary was supposed to be the calmest of them all, but seeing her husband kowtow to their nephew and then watching her sister-in-law take a comical dive right in front of her startled her in quick succession. The half-chewed piece of apple in her mouth slipped down and lodged in her throat. She clutched her neck with both hands, gagging in panic.
Leaving his uncle and aunt to fend for themselves, Karen dashed straight to his aunt. Tossing the pigment box onto the sofa, he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Clenching his hands into a fist, he pressed the thumb side against her upper abdomen, thrusting inward and upward.
The Heimlich maneuver—
Once, twice, thrice, four times!
"*Ah!*"
Aunt Mary finally gasped, coughing up a chunk of apple.
Karen let out a long breath and wiped his forehead with the back of his left hand. With his right, he picked up the pigment box from the sofa and set it onto the coffee table.
"*Huff... huff... huff...*"
Clutching her chest and wheezing heavily, Aunt Mary turned to Karen. Before she had even caught her breath, she asked impatiently:
"Karen... yesterday... the date... how did it go?"
"Darling, are you all right?" Uncle Mason immediately rushed over to check on his wife.
Aunt Mary shoved her husband aside and kept her gaze fixed on Karen, gesturing for him to answer.
"Right, right! How was yesterday's date?" Seeing that his wife was unharmed, Uncle Mason promptly pivoted back to the central issue.
Aunt Winnie smoothed her skirt with both hands, yet her eyes never left Karen.
Karen truly hadn't expected his family to be so invested in his dating life. Perhaps it stemmed from the proud anticipation and accomplishment of watching a pig they had lovingly raised finally head out of the pen to root up cabbage.
Truth be told, Karen felt somewhat touched.
"It went very well," Karen answered. Thinking that might be too brief, he quickly added, "We went to the amusement park, watched a movie, and then had dinner. It was at the Mamu Couples Restaurant by the river, the one Uncle recommended. The atmosphere was genuinely wonderful."
"And then?" Aunt Winnie pressed.
"Yeah, and then?" Uncle Mason chimed in.
Aunt Mary spread her hands. "What else did you do?"
"Then it was getting late, so I took her home."
"What about before she went inside!" Aunt Winnie asked.
"No, in front of the door," Aunt Mary corrected. "When you reached her doorstep and said goodbye, did anything happen?"
Karen licked his lips,
having no choice but to answer:
"I hugged her."
"*Yes!*" Aunt Mary pumped her fist. "If a girl is willing to let you hug her right on her doorstep, that means she's tacitly acknowledged your relationship!
"Because her mother was probably peeking through a crack in the living room curtains right then!
"If Mina ever dates and gets walked home by a boy, I'll definitely be hiding behind the curtains watching them at the front door. I won't even turn on the lights, so they won't see my shadow!
"Mina would know I'd be watching, so if she's still willing to let you hug her under those circumstances, it's practically set. It means she's ready to make your relationship public to her family."
"No, no, no, there's another distinction! Was it a polite hug? Did you initiate it? Did she seem shy?" Uncle Mason immediately began dissecting the details.
"I hugged her twice."
"*Oho!* Mister Karen! Good, excellent, magnificent!"
Uncle Mason raised a palm and slapped Karen hard on the shoulder several times, looking like a scarred old veteran passing the torch to a younger generation:
"As expected of a man of the Inmerlais family!"
Karen could only offer a polite smile.
Aunt Winnie began to pray. "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, our Karen is in love."
Aunt Mary chuckled.
"I told you so. Our Karen used to be a bit quiet and stiff, but now? What woman of any age could resist his charm?"
Karen found the elders' enthusiasm a bit overwhelming and could only ask:
"Is Grandfather home?"
"Up in the third-floor study," Aunt Mary answered.
"Then I'll go see Grandfather."
"Mm-hmm, as you should, as you should." Aunt Mary suddenly remembered something and immediately followed up, "Oh, right, Karen, one more thing."
"Yes, Aunt Mary?"
"How did you end up spending the night at Mr. Piaget's house right after your date with Miss Eunice?"
"Because they live on the same street. Mr. Piaget is a psychology professor, so we..."
"Keep your distance from him in the future. His wife just passed away, didn't she? Why has he come looking for you at our house time and again?" Aunt Mary frowned in warning.
"Yes, indeed," Aunt Winnie agreed. "I've heard that those highly educated types are terribly fond of indecent nonsense."
Karen's parents had died early, so these elders had taken on parental responsibilities for him. Everything he ate, wore, and used was a tier above what their own children received. They were genuinely overjoyed by his growth, but they feared even more that he might go astray, leaving them unable to face Karen's parents in heaven.
Karen knew their thoughts had wandered down the wrong track. He and Piaget were simply friends with matching temperaments and shared professional interests, and besides, Piaget was now...
So,
Karen could only say, "Mr. Piaget's father is the Minister of Energy and Industrial Development of our country."
Aunt Mary: "Well then, conversing more with Professor Piaget should teach you a great deal of useful knowledge."
Aunt Winnie: "A gentleman of Mr. Piaget's standing surely possesses exemplary character."
Uncle Mason chuckled, watching his wife and sister change their tunes in an instant.
"I'll go pay my respects to Grandfather." Karen nodded to his elders and headed upstairs.
"Didn't you two stop to think? Could an ordinary university professor afford to live on Rhine Street?" Uncle Mason laughed.
"Mason."
"Yes, darling?"
"That Mamu Couples Restaurant—why have you never taken me there?"
"Uh..."
...
When Karen reached the third floor, he found Purr sitting on the windowsill before a potted flower, batting continuously at it with its cat paws. A fair number of petals had already scattered across the sill.
This cat was indulging in some theatrical melancholy.
"You wretched evil god," Purr said, turning its head to glare at Karen. "How dare you treat me like that!"
Watching helplessly as its own descendant was courted by this man, wanting to tag along as a third wheel only to be dragged right back home—aggrieved, terribly aggrieved, utterly aggrieved.
Karen walked over to Purr, bent down, and carefully gathered the petals from the windowsill into his palm. He looked at them and sighed.
Purr was taken aback.
"What are you doing?"
"These flowers are too pitiable."
"Huh? No, I'm far more pitiable than these flowers!"
"Show some mercy with your paws. Look at you, hurting them so."
"Are you performing in a stage play?" Purr asked. "Can you please act normal?"
"In a moment, I'll fetch a small trowel, dig a hole in the garden, and bury these poor petals."
"Are... are... are you out of your mind?!"
Karen tapped his forehead,
let the petals slip from his hand to the floor,
and said apologetically,
"Pardon me. I was still caught up in yesterday's mood and hadn't switched back yet."
"Shameless! Despicable! Vile! Evil god!"
Purr stood on its hind legs, waving its forepaws at Karen.
"Is this the sort of romantic flair you used to deceive my poor, innocent descendant?"
"Mm, pretty much."
"*Meow, meow, meow!*"
Purr lunged at Karen. Karen didn't budge, letting the cat scramble onto him and raise its claws toward his face.
Then,
Purr froze.
The raised paws simply couldn't bring themselves to strike.
For a moment, the atmosphere turned rather awkward—especially for Purr, whose claws extended, retracted into the paw pads, extended again, and retracted once more.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
"Why didn't you scratch?"
"You truly are shameless! You wouldn't even follow routine and dodge just to let me vent!"
"Heh..."
Karen remained completely calm.
Diss was right inside the study. Purr would have to be insane to scratch Diss's favorite grandson's face right now, especially while that grandson was in the middle of courting someone.
Everyone in the family feared Grandfather. Well, the family cat did too.
Karen reached out, plucked Purr from his clothes, and set it back on the windowsill.
Purr rubbed its paws back and forth against the sill,
saying with a hint of dejection,
"A handsome exterior, a mature soul... I don't suppose that descendant of mine could ever resist you. But it just makes me so angry! How could you two, grandfather and grandson, do such a thing!"
Karen sat down by the window and patted Purr's head. "In truth, I haven't done much of anything yet."
"Heh." Purr bared its teeth. "Just for a ferry ticket, you'd go and deceive a nineteen-year-old girl? Don't you feel you're crossing a line?"
"I'm only sixteen."
"You know very well what age I'm referring to." Purr stubbornly pulled its head away from Karen's hand.
"You know as well as I do that there are things neither of us can change." Karen pointed toward the study door. "Actually, I wasn't keen on dating so early either. I thought I'd have plenty of time to attend to my own personal matters."
Purr snapped its head up at once, glaring at him.
"What do you mean, you weren't keen on dating? Are you saying my great-great-great-great-niece isn't good enough for you?"
"She's a lovely girl. Walking with her felt quite comfortable."
"I don't think you're describing love."
"Well, I don't imagine someone who's never dated and spent a hundred years as a cat understands love either. I even remember someone clamoring for me to go stud with her the moment she showed up that day."
"Fine, you can shut up now."
"You were the one playing melancholy first," Karen reminded it. "Wouldn't it be better to just be a cute, well-behaved little kitty? I happen to know quite a few recipes for fish."
Purr reflexively swallowed a mouthful of saliva, its tongue darting over its lips.
Even so, it maintained a stern tone:
"Diss's decisions are beyond my power to alter. I know that."
"Mm."
"And I can guess that even if that girl weren't wed to you, she wouldn't hold the reins to her own marriage anyway. The reason I ran away from home back then was because my grandfather forced me into blind dates."
"You broke ties with your family over an arranged marriage?"
"That happened later. My family obtained an extraordinary artifact, and the ambitious schemers among them planned to use it to expand the family's power. They even wanted to establish a church dominated entirely by the family.
"So I personally stole the thing and destroyed it."
"Fair enough."
"Aren't you going to ask why I did that?"
"Can't be bothered."
Karen stood up, preparing to see Diss.
Purr hooked its claws into his trousers.
"One last thing, then you can go see Diss."
"All right, say it."
"I love my family dearly. Even though I probably don't know anyone in it now, they are the descendants of my brothers and sisters from back then. In them, the spiritual symbol of what 'home' means to me is preserved. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"So, Karen, once you go to Wien, could you treat my family the way you treat the Inmerlais family?"
Karen shook his head.
Purr pouted its feline face.
Karen smiled. "On the condition that they treat me as family, just as the people in this house do."
With that,
Karen walked to the study door and knocked.
"Enter."
...
"How did it go?" Diss asked, looking at his grandson seated before him.
"It was only the first official date," Karen reminded his grandfather.
Diss replied placidly, "When it comes to courtship, sometimes a quarter of an hour is enough to decide the outcome."
Karen thought his grandfather had a point. Normally, dating was like two eyes catching each other—once a spark caught, it began.
As for those melodramatic chases, the doting check-ins, the endless fussing and agonizing waits, more often than not they were merely one-sided attempts to move oneself.
Even if one ultimately succeeded through "pursuit" and "grinding down," in most cases it was simply because the other party had no better options and had resigned themselves to it.
It had to be said that the men of the Inmerlais family seemed to possess an immense confidence in this regard.
"So, what is your answer?" Diss asked.
"I think it's a good beginning. For both of us," Karen said.
"Mm, very good. In a few days, invite her over for dinner."
"Isn't that a bit fast?" Karen asked.
Last time, the house had been cleared out under the pretext of a home visit, but what Grandfather was proposing now sounded distinctly like an official meeting with the parents.
Diss took a sip of tea. "Her family will be urging things along as well."
Karen nodded. "Understood."
The formidable patriarchs on both sides had already reached an understanding; the younger generation had little room for choice to begin with—practically none at all.
Even Karen, with his wealth of modern ideas about free love, had no choice but to go on blind dates and make active overtures once he knew it was Diss's will. The girl on the other side naturally had even less room for retreat.
Thus, under such circumstances, encountering someone who made him feel comfortable was truly precious—a stroke of immense fortune, even. He ought to be content.
"By the way, Grandfather, I know who the aberrant demon you mentioned is—the one who's going to clean up after us."
"Oh."
Diss was plainly unsurprised, and indeed there was nothing to be astonished about.
"Is the Church of the Mural God a taboo?"
"Strictly speaking, not quite. The main lineage of the Church of the Mural God was severed long ago, so ordinary believers scattered across various lands face little suppression or persecution.
"However, there are always those who retain or inherit its teachings. Though pitifully few in number, they have always been targets of suppression by the Church of Order.
"Because the true god of the Church of the Mural God—Rielsa—was personally suppressed by the God of Order."
When the big boss suppressed the other side's boss, the subordinates would naturally hunt down the other side's followers with ruthless finality.
"Why?" Karen asked.
"Because Rielsa presumed to paint the final mural for the God of Order, incurring the God of Order's wrath."
"So that was it."
Predicting when someone would fall while they were in the prime of their power—it would be a miracle if one *weren't* suppressed.
"Have you finished reading the overview books on the various religions?"
"I just finished my first pass," Karen answered.
"Read them carefully, then select one for me." Diss produced a purple bookmark and laid it before Karen. "Write the name of that church on this bookmark."
Karen picked up the bookmark.
"Then I really ought to read through them more thoroughly. I don't know which church interests me yet, nor can I say which one I like best."
"No, you misunderstand me." Diss shook his head.
"Hm?"
Diss looked at Karen
and said with utter calm:
"Choose the church you dislike the most."
Karen froze.
In his mind surfaced a passage from a chapter of the mythological narratives he had read in *Light of Order*:
*"When Ankara, daughter of the God of Order, was young, she grew angry over a trivial matter.*
*The God of Order handed her a bookmark and told her to write down the name of the deity she detested most.*
*Soon after, that deity fell.*
*And then, Ankara smiled."*
Chapter 53