Anger

Karen's feet returned to the ground, and he began straightening his collar where it had been grabbed. Fortunately, the Order robes were made of fine material and possessed a certain self-repairing quality. If ordinary clothing had been gripped with such force, it wouldn't just be a matter of a crooked collar—the fabric would have torn straight open. Yet Karen was still somewhat puzzled. Even if Lord Augie's memories of that night were sealed, she ought to remember him, because she had met him on Fire Island prior to that night. Furthermore, when she had accompanied the Whip-Wielder to the Head Bishop's manor that night, she had recognized him at first glance and even taken the initiative to greet him. Yet judging from her behavior just now, she didn't remember who he was at all. At that moment, Lord Augie was on her hands and knees on the ground, shrieking in agony. She was huge, and her screams were high and shrill, remarkably like a soprano vocalizing here, brimming with primitive intensity. Foot traffic outside the high-end hotel's main entrance wasn't heavy, but people were still about. Quite a few stopped to watch, and the doormen and security guards began approaching as well. But upon seeing the Order robes Karen wore, they all silently backed away. The Church of the Burrow was an affiliate of the Church of Order, and Order priests held a transcendent status here. In extreme cases, even if a stationed Order priest were to assault a female monster beast here, the Church of the Burrow wouldn't have the authority to arrest him. They could only lodge a protest and wait for the Church of Order to dispatch personnel to escort him home for trial—and whatever the outcome of that trial back home might be, it was entirely outside the Church of the Burrow's control. A similar incident had occurred in the past. Several Order priests engaged in scientific research had secretly captured a werewolf family outside their church's liaison office in the Church of the Burrow. Once exposed, the incident triggered massive protests from the Church of the Burrow. In the end, the research priests were hauled back under claims that they would be "dealt with severely." Immediately afterward, high-ranking officials from both the Church of the Burrow and the Church of Order stood together, loudly proclaiming that the "Alliance of Order" was unbreakable. Yet one year later, a joint research team from the Church of Order and the Church of Principles published *Conjectures on the Inheritance Patterns of Werewolf and Bloodthirsty Aberrant Demon Bloodlines*—and among the authors credited were those very same Order priests who had been "dealt with severely." Therefore, as long as Karen wore this "skin," he could practically walk around unchecked here—not to mention that his actual status was already quite elevated. Daina gazed at Karen, but showed no intention of stepping in on Lord Augie's behalf. Instead, she appraised him with keen interest. Yet from her, Karen caught the scent of "hatred." This hatred was rather baffling. It seemed it wasn't merely because he had subjected her Sister Augie to such misery, but stemmed from some other direction entirely. The trouble was, Karen truly didn't know her; this was genuinely their first meeting. After a long while, the lightning coursing over Lord Augie finally dissipated. She slowly scrambled to her feet, looked at Karen, and then raised her hand—*Smack!*—striking her own forehead viciously. If one were to picture her true form, it would be a colossal black dragon slamming its foreclaw hard against its own draconic skull. The sheer momentum truly shook the earth. "Karen?" Lord Augie finally recognized him. Then arcs of lightning instantly swirled in her eyes again, forcing her to slap her forehead brutally once more. *Smack!* "Phew..." Lord Augie exhaled a long breath, looked at Karen again, and said, "Ah, Karen." She did know Karen. Even though Rasma had sealed her memories of that night, Karen had previously ridden on her back at Fire Island. The reason she hadn't recognized him upon meeting just now was that after having her memories sealed, much like a person with a habit of fretting over an old wound, she couldn't help it. Even knowing she shouldn't touch it, sometimes she simply couldn't resist, and her train of thought would inadvertently veer that way. It was an instinct, so for a while after first waking, Lord Augie had periodically suffered lightning strikes beyond her conscious control, and the scene had been utterly miserable. Later, through continuous lightning strikes, she began establishing a safe zone for herself—one even broader than the span of memories Rasma had sealed. And within that range, there was one person who couldn't be excluded: Karen. After all, that night, it was she and Karen who had pursued the assassin together, arrived in Rojia, and met Rasma. If that memory had to have a male and female lead, Karen was unquestionably the male protagonist. Thus, whenever she thought of that day on Fire Island and Karen appeared in it, she would naturally connect it to that night in Yorktown, and then the lightning would strike. Consequently, her "safe zone" came to include Karen. When she applied an extra memory seal to herself to protect Rasma's seal, Karen was "forgotten" along with it. She had even "forgotten" the day she accompanied the Whip-Wielder on Fire Island to catch ants. Forgetting that was fine anyway, since the Whip-Wielder had already moved on to other hobbies and no longer cared to play with ants. However, even though she had "forgotten" who Karen was, when she actually saw him standing before her, an instinctive repulsion from both body and soul was triggered instantly. After all, it was because of this man that she had been struck by lightning who knew how many times. "Lord Augie." Karen bowed to her. Lord Augie took two frightened steps back, her expression pained. Seeing this, Karen guessed what was going on and suggested, "Lord Augie, sometimes blindly expanding the seal's boundaries isn't safe. The most secure approach is to fabricate a false memory to overwrite it." Hearing this, Lord Augie's eyes instantly lit up. With Karen's prompt, she thought of a solution, then immediately said to Daina, "Miss Daina, I need to return to my room for a moment. I'm very sorry, but you won't be able to go out for a stroll right now." "All right, Sister Augie, you go on back first." Lord Augie turned and walked into the hotel. Daina then curiously asked Karen, "You know Sister Augie?" "Yes, I know her," Karen answered. "It's just that there's a stretch of memory that neither Lord Augie nor I can recall." "What kind of memory?" "It involves church secrets. I have been ordered not to look into it, so I apologize, but I cannot answer you." "Just tell me, won't you? I won't tell a soul." Daina took a step forward, fixing her bewitching gaze upon Karen. "My apologies, I cannot do that." "Hmm, fine. You can at least tell me your name, can't you?" "Karen Silva." "You may call me Daina." "Hello, Miss Daina. Are you also here to attend the Selection Assembly?" For a young girl to have Augie as a bodyguard, her status certainly couldn't be low. Karen instinctively addressed her with formal courtesy. "Selection Assembly? An apt description. Yes, that's right, I came for that. I felt being on my own all the time was too boring, so I wanted to see if I could find a playmate. You too?" "Yes, me too." "All right. You just arrived, right? Let me arrange rooms for you, then." "There's no need to trouble yourself, Miss Daina. We can manage on our own." "No trouble at all." Daina tossed a keycard to Karen. "I booked the rooms on either side of mine. You can stay in one of them. Hurry on up; it's the most luxurious room type here, you know." "How could we impose? We..." "Refusing someone's kindness will make them unhappy, you know. Besides, I still have a few things I'd like to ask you, Mr. Karen." "Very well, then thank you, Miss Daina." ... After checking in at the front desk, Karen and his companions stepped into the elevator. The keycard indicated a top-floor room. The elevator here was fascinating: it was alive, with layers of vines weaving together an independent little compartment that felt deeply natural. Except within these vines, Karen occasionally spotted a snake scale, which meant the true body of this elevator might very well be an extremely long python. Purr had no mind to care about the elevator, remarking instead, "Miss Daina... Oh, are we going down that familiar old routine again? A pretty young girl captivated by your good looks?" Ashley countered, "Shouldn't she be?" In Ashley's eyes, for a woman to like a young man like the Section Chief was the most normal thing in the world. Not every woman had that bizarre fetish of wanting to rummage through a trash can to find some scruffy man with 'inner depth' to fall in love with. Purr said helplessly, "I just find it rather hollow and dull." Then Purr paused. Because Ashley was present, she didn't speak plainly, instead sighing wistfully: "Was it the same situation when he was young and out in the world? Oh, probably so." Purr was thinking of Madame Tangli and Madame Felscher. The elevator reached the floor, the vines peeled back, and Karen walked out. After glancing at the room numbers, Karen pursed his lips. Well then, it turned out the top floor consisted of only three enormous suites. In other words, Daina had booked out the entire floor. Purr mocked playfully, "What a spendthrift." Karen chuckled, reached out to scratch Purr under the chin, and said, "Yes, quite right. Our Purr is still the best at running a household." Purr puffed out her chest proudly. "Of course! I only drink afternoon tea—I don't even touch coffee for late-night snacks!" Unlocking the door with the keycard and stepping inside, the area was nearly the size of half a soccer field. Fortunately, the bedroom was close to the entrance. Ashley spoke up, "Section Chief, I'll unpack the things first." "All right, thank you for your trouble." "It's nothing, Section Chief. Let me brew some tea first. Which variety would you like? I brought quite a few kinds, all taken from my father's private reserve." "Did you steal them?" "Uh, no, my mother helped me steal them, hehe." "Black tea, then." "Right away, Section Chief." Purr leaped from Karen's shoulder onto Kevin's back, and the large golden retriever began bounding playfully through the enormous living room with Purr aboard. Karen entered the bedroom and pulled back the curtains. Because the hotel was tall, the top floor directly faced the rock strata above the subterranean world. Pulling back the curtains immediately exposed them to the glare of crystals, an experience far removed from magnificent romance; rather, it induced an intense discomfort, as though countless eyes were peeping at you. Drawing the curtains shut again, Karen checked the bathroom. There was a large bathtub inside. Setting the Sword of Diamas on the nightstand, Karen prepared to undress and take a soak. Two service menus lay on the nightstand: one for food and beverage, the other for special services. Karen casually flipped through the special services, discovering various kinds of monster beast masseurs and masseuses, both male and female, as well as hermaphrodites. Sure enough, every culturally distinct region possessed its own corresponding "specialty pastry shop." If some extraordinarily persevering patron could personally experience the specialty pastry shops of every region, he would probably become a leading academic authority on the religious, ethnic, and cultural differences across regions and could publish books on the subject. Mm, his cousin Richard seemed to possess just such qualifications. However, just as Karen was about to bathe, the doorbell rang, followed by Ashley's voice: "Section Chief, that Miss Daina is here." ... After returning to her room, Daina saw Sister Augie sitting on the living room floor with eyes closed, her expression shifting between agony and relief. She was following Karen's advice, reweaving her memories of that day. After waiting for a while, Daina felt utterly bored. The image of Karen straightening his collar the moment his feet touched the ground while Sister Augie was being electrocuted resurfaced in her mind. Immediately afterward, he had bowed to Sister Augie and addressed her with deference: "Lord Augie." That scene made her feel intensely uncomfortable. Because when she was little, every time she wanted to be close to him, he would first embrace her to show affection, and then, without fail, spin her around three times and set her down at precisely the twelfth second. "Go on, play by yourself." Then he would swiftly pack away that previously benevolent smile and begin straightening his clothes. That momentary shift in expression had stung her young self time and time again, making her realize over and over that she was merely a... prop. A prop whose safe keeping was meant to provide a proper accounting to her deceased father. He would display warmth toward her in front of outsiders, but when no outsiders were present, he would warn her that if she dared be mischievous, he would cast her into an inner world to live alone. Perhaps a few years later, he would throw a few men in for her, so that if she was interested, she could experience the pleasures between a man and a woman, and if she wished to be a mother, she could bear a child or several herself. He didn't care about her at all... not one bit. Yet the most infuriating part was that his conduct was beyond reproach, and those uncles of hers all approved of his actions. "Hmph." Daina let out a cold scoff, her knuckles cracking audibly. Sometimes, hating someone really required no reason at all. Wanting to hit someone just because they looked irritating while walking down the street wasn't a sign of madness. Taking advantage of Augie still meditating with her eyes closed, Daina rose to her feet and walked out of her room. ... "Am I disturbing you, Mr. Karen?" Daina asked with a smile, currently behaving like an innocent, romantic girl next door. Yet at the hotel entrance, Karen had already detected her inexplicable hatred toward him, so he didn't entertain the clichéd scenario Purr had suggested earlier at all. "Not at all, Miss Daina. Who could refuse an exchange with a lady of such charm? Fortunately, while I was preparing to bathe and rest, I hadn't yet drawn the water." Hearing this and seeing that smile, another layer of gloom gathered in Daina's heart. Oh, what a proper reply and polite refusal. Identical to that damned man! Karen had no idea that because the traits he exhibited resembled a certain person so closely, he had already amassed a sufficient amount of hatred in the heart of the girl before him—and the one drawing that aggro on his behalf was actually the High Priest. "What position do you hold within our church, Mr. Karen?" "I am a member of the York City Region's Whip of Order. Would you care for something to drink, Miss Daina?" Daina glanced at the teapot already brewing in the background and answered: "Black tea, do you have any?" "My apologies, I do not. I did not bring such things with me when traveling." At that moment, Ashley, who was just about to lift the teapot to pour, heard this and set it back down, then silently took out a thermos and extracted ice cubes from it. ... *"Daina, what would you like to eat?"* *A young Daina looked at the half bar of chocolate resting on the desk:* *"Daina wants chocolate."* *"Oh, I don't have that here. Go find Uncle Da'an; he's sure to have some. Foden, have Pulisic come in to report on the latest progress."* *Daina: "..."* ... In truth, Karen wasn't targeting her. After all, she had arranged such a luxurious suite for them. But precisely because of the ill will she projected toward him, he instinctively didn't want too much contact with her, at least for now. Furthermore, Karen sensed that although the girl appeared completely normal on the surface, her micro-expressions and subtle gestures indicated she was constantly suppressing something. "Oh, earlier I noticed Mr. Karen falsifying an invoice. Does that count as a wrongdoing?" "Yes, it is my mistake. Please report it to the York City Whip of Order Headquarters, Miss Daina, or I will take the initiative to submit a confession upon my return." "Heh." Daina pointed a finger toward the spacious living room. "Mr. Karen, my hands are itching. Spar a few moves with me." "Miss Daina, you might not know, but I am a formation master in the Whip of Order. I am not skilled in combat." "Well, I just want to beat you up. May I? What did you think I let you stay in such a large suite for? Wasn't it precisely because there's plenty of space to fight here?" "Miss, is there some misunderstanding between us? If it's regarding Lord Augie earlier, I've already explained it to you, and you can verify it with Lord Augie as well." "Shut up! I just want to fight, alright?!" "According to the Code of Order, private combat between church personnel is forbidden. Members of the Whip of Order..." *Buzz!* Daina lunged violently toward Karen, throwing a fist straight at his face, clearly intending to disfigure him. The mere sight of Karen's face infuriated her, making her yearn to smash it to pieces! The Eyes of the Dark Moon gleamed within Karen's pupils, and Daina's movements slowed directly in his vision. He took a step back, neatly evading the fist while sidestepping, his right arm coming down like a hammer straight onto Daina's back. *Bam!* Daina was slammed face-down onto the floor. "...Members of the Whip of Order fighting among themselves receive an aggravated penalty."