Having regained their freedom, Lanqi and Talia walked through the nighttime streets of Palieu, the City of Flowers, as the lights of the Palieu Police Headquarters receded behind them.
They reached the open plaza across the street. Within half a minute, they managed to hail a mana vehicle.
Lanqi stepped forward and stated their destination to the local driver. The driver nodded, gesturing for them to get in.
Soon, they were cruising through the night, streetlights flashing intermittently past the windows.
"You really have quite some pull," Talia transmitted to him telepathically from beside him.
They had barely arrived at the Palieu police station before someone got word and took the initiative to bail him out.
"I really am an invited researcher visiting the Kingdom of Posen," Lanqi replied silently. "It's just that the Southern Continent Card Makers Association arranged my itinerary more like a private vacation out of concern for my security."
Originally, Professor Borao had arranged for them to meet this countess once they arrived in Posen.
Countess Rosalinda Asturias had not wanted too many people in the Kingdom of Posen to notice that Lanqi was coming to see her, which was why she hadn't sent anyone from her estate to pick him up. Instead, she had entrusted Sergeant Zefa to instruct him to come to the manor.
Of course, the estate itself was not very far away.
Lanqi and Talia sat in silence. Perhaps because both were a bit drowsy, neither spoke much.
Finally, after a dozen minutes or so, the vehicle pulled to a gentle stop before the main gates of a luxurious residence in north Palieu.
This mansion lay tucked away in a quiet neighborhood of Palieu, far from the hustle and bustle of the city center.
After paying the fare, Lanqi got out of the vehicle with Talia.
Looking up, they saw that the main building of the Asturias Count's Mansion remained brightly lit, like a city that never slept.
The manor's main gates were firmly shut, carved with motifs of dark brown roses. On either side stood two guards in classical uniforms, solemnly keeping watch over the courtyard.
Before Lanqi and Talia could step forward to say anything, the gates swung open.
An elderly butler in uniform walked out. His posture was ramrod straight, and his chiseled, handsome features made him look like a retired military officer.
"Good evening, Mr. Lanqi, Miss Tata. Welcome to the Asturias Count's Mansion. Her Ladyship is prepared to receive you."
The old butler's voice was quite gentle, not at all deep and raspy as one might have imagined.
Lanqi and Talia exchanged a glance, nodded, and followed the old butler into the courtyard.
Passing through a winding garden, they stepped into a spacious vestibule that instantly illuminated them.
Masterpiece paintings hung along the surrounding walls, stretching before them like an art gallery. Long carpets covered the floor, and every step made it clear that the noblewoman had appointed this manor to resemble a castle.
Guided by the butler, Lanqi and Talia passed through several distinctive hallways before finally arriving at the mansion's parlor.
The decor here was even more lavish. An entire wall several meters high consisted of floor-to-ceiling windows. Beside stone reliefs carved in the style of the Age of the Gods, a fountain connected directly to the interior, mist drifting outward from its pool. The soft candlelight and the dazzling, intoxicating glow of the floor lamps lent a touch of warmth to the entire parlor, which was suffused with a fragrant aroma.
In this space, a glamorous woman sat by the window. Moonlight spilled across her, making her look exceptionally dazzling and alluring.
She wore a deep crimson evening gown, its delicate fabric shimmering with rose patterns that accentuated her exceptionally graceful figure.
When Lanqi and Talia entered the parlor, the countess set down her wine glass and rose to face them. Her smiling eyes held an undisguised curiosity, alongside a warm and welcoming demeanor.
"Welcome, Mr. Lanqi, Miss Tata. I am the master of this estate, and the president of the Posen branch of the Southern Continent Card Makers Association—Rosalinda Asturias."
The countess's voice was mature and magnetic.
"I truly apologize for not coming to receive you personally. But if I had gone out of my way to greet you, it would have been practically equivalent to tipping off everyone else to the examiners' identities."
Countess Rosalinda extended her hand, inviting her two guests to take a seat with utmost elegance, before unhurriedly seating herself as well.
"Not at all. Thank you very much for your consideration. Ending up in a jail cell the moment we arrived must have looked quite ridiculous to you," Lanqi said, bowing slightly in gratitude.
This countess was not only the administrator overseeing the Kingdom of Posen's Card Makers Association branch; she was also a Platinum-rank card maker herself, and one of the proctors who would be supervising the upcoming examination alongside Lanqi.
"Teacher Borao must have told you about me, right?" Countess Rosalinda asked without any pretense of distance, looking at them as if seeing younger schoolmates.
"Generally speaking, yes. He said you were a remarkably enthusiastic and dependable student, and hoped we wouldn't trouble you too much," Lanqi said with a nod.
Before departing, Professor Borao had briefly mentioned to them that Countess Rosalinda, who would be assisting them, was a Posen noblewoman very close to the Hutton Kingdom and on excellent terms with many figures there.
However, she was excessively enthusiastic, so if he didn't feel like talking to her, simply ignoring her would do.
Strictly speaking, Rosalinda wasn't Borao's formal student; she simply frequently consulted him on matters of magic engineering and thus addressed him as teacher.
In this regard, she was just like Duke Mikhail.
For a magic artificer to receive guidance from Professor Borao, their talent and skill were bound to be extraordinary.
"Nonsense, how could you be any trouble? And there's no need for honorifics—we're colleagues from here on out." Countess Rosalinda waved a hand with a slight smile crinkling the corners of her eyes.
"..."
Talia cast a sidelong glance at Lanqi. She remembered quite clearly that Professor Borao hadn't said anything of the sort; Lanqi had completely rewritten the message with his own flattering spin.
Still, it certainly seemed to make the woman happy.
"Sigh, I thought we wouldn't be able to hold the Eastern Region's Platinum-rank Card Maker Examination this year. Thankfully, you suddenly appeared, Lanqi." Rosalinda leaned back against the sofa, letting out a long breath as if finally relaxing. "What's going on with your Hutton Kingdom anyway? How do you keep producing genius newcomer card makers?"
She looked toward Lanqi again, asking with great interest.
Genius came in many forms.
Normally, any young person capable of sitting for the Platinum-rank card maker exam was already considered a phenomenal newcomer. Yet both Lanqi and Mikhail belonged to that dominant tier of prodigies who burst onto the scene and crushed everyone without needing years to build a foundation.
"I can't compare to Duke Mikhail at my age. At the very least, if I were to take the Platinum-rank exam, I'd just be trying my luck on a lottery ticket, whereas Duke Mikhail passed with overwhelming dominance," Lanqi said, shaking his head with a self-deprecating murmur.
"You're too modest. Teacher Borao mentioned that you're not a technical talent, but a managerial one. To earn such praise from Teacher Borao, it's hard to imagine what your true abilities are like." Countess Rosalinda chuckled. "By the way, didn't little Hyperion come this time? I heard from Teacher Borao that the three of you get along very well."
She took a sip from her glass, then looked at Lanqi and Talia again.
"Out of security concerns, it's better for her not to travel far for the time being. Even the Resurrection Church has set its sights on her," Lanqi replied.
"Sigh, what a pity. I was hoping for a rare chance to get closer to her." Countess Rosalinda tilted her head back and sighed.
"Do you not have a good relationship with her?" Talia asked.
Her expression remained calm, but she clearly paid close attention to anything concerning Hyperion.
"I met her when she was little, but she didn't like me." Countess Rosalinda gestured at a certain height with a helpless hand, roughly indicating Hyperion's stature when she was only a few years old.
Back then, Rosalinda herself had only been in her twenties.
"Why?" Talia's tone chilled by half a degree.
If it was someone Hyperion disliked, chances were she wouldn't like them either.
"Maybe because I wanted to be her stepmother? But she refused to accept me?" Countess Rosalinda replied without the slightest hesitation.
Talia nearly choked on the spot.
She hadn't expected the countess to be so blunt.
Lanqi shook his head silently to himself.
He had thought Hyperion was open to anyone who showed maternal warmth, but it turned out she was actually quite picky.
The three mothers Hyperion currently recognized seemed to share certain traits: aloof and cold, carrying the aura of the demon race, and exceptionally old.
Meanwhile, Miss Rosalinda, who was clearly the popular, alluring type, obviously didn't fit Hyperion's idea of a mother.
"...!"
Talia seemed to pick up on Lanqi's inner thoughts. Biting her lip, she reached around behind his back and gave his waist a vicious pinch.
Lanqi flinched from the pain, but strove to keep a straight face to maintain his dignity.
"By the way, do you like Mr. Mikhail?" Lanqi asked, enduring the ache and using the question to divert Countess Rosalinda's attention so she wouldn't notice the little scuffle between him and Talia.
"That's right. I dropped hints to him several times, and I'm sure he understood my feelings, but he turned me down every time." Like a dam bursting, Countess Rosalinda suddenly grew melancholy. She downed the wine in her glass in a single gulp. "I don't know what kind of spell that woman who abandoned him cast over him to make him so infatuated. Honestly, she was just a mysterious demon who drifted over from the Northern Continent—lazy, gluttonous, and foul-tempered! Yet he dared to take her into his home just like that. That kind of devotion really makes me jealous! What on earth is wrong with me?!"
The countess slammed her glass down heavily on the table. Finding someone she could finally vent to, she poured out her grievances to Lanqi and Talia, full of indignation.
Chapter 666