Niceea's heart tightened, but she remained calm on the surface.
When she had sneaked out, she had already prepared to handle similar situations.
She patted her chest and complained, "Are you trying to scare me to death? Suddenly blurting out a sentence!"
After "calming down" for a few seconds, Niceea casually answered Grouès's question, "Couldn't sleep, felt a bit stuffy, and went to the balcony to get some air."
Not giving Grouès a chance to ask further questions, she pursed her lips, revealing her inner suppression, "You don't think something might have happened to Louis, right?"
As the leader of the Emperor Party, his mysterious disappearance would naturally bring anxiety, tension, and stress to his subordinates, making insomnia completely normal.
Grouès stared at Niceea for a few seconds, then softened his expression.
"Who knows?
"Maybe he'll suddenly appear in a couple of days."
…
In Franca's workshop in the luxurious villa, multiple mirrors floated before Lumian and the others, each reflecting different scenes.
Several mirrors captured Niceea and Grouès from various angles.
When Franca had previously projected herself through the mirror world, she had casually marked all the mirrored items in that house.
This was to ensure the safety of her only subordinate, making sure she wouldn't be attacked or have her identity exposed for stealing the Gustav family brooch and Tudor coin.
Subsequent developments proved Franca's wisdom and intuition-Grouès had indeed noticed Niceea's quiet departure from the room.
During their conversation, Franca was prepared to project her power through the mirror world.
After a while, Franca's expression suddenly became a bit strange.
Wait, why are they suddenly kissing?
There are so many people watching!
Her purpose was only to add an extra layer of Insurance to Niceea's safety. She hadn't expected the suspicion-harboring Grouès and the scheming Niceea to start kissing while talking!
Is this about to become a scene not suitable for minors?
If only Franca was watching the "surveillance", she would have found this unexpected yet understandable, not a big deal, and even quite entertaining with the thrill of secretly peeping. But now, Jenna was sitting beside her, with Anthony and Ludwig-who was eating a midnight snack-behind her.
She started to feel embarrassed.
At this moment, Anthony, focused on the mirror scenes, said, "Both of their body languages show a certain level of resistance. The kiss is deceptive and perfunctory."
Professional... Franca muttered internally.
As Anthony predicted, Niceea and Grouès kissed for a moment before saying goodnight again and going back to sleep.
Franca sighed in relief and told her companions, "Just leave one person to watch the surveillance. The rest can get some sleep.
"Jenna, come replace me in an hour and a half, Lumian, replace Jenna three hours later. Anthony, you and Ludwig don't need to stay up."
The surveillance required support from a demigod Demoness.
Moreover, if anything went wrong, only the Demonesses could first project or traverse over to provide help.
"Okay," Anthony made no objections. After Ludwig finished his midnight snack, he left the room with Anthony.
After giving Franca a few instructions, Lumian and Jenna also went to rest.
Franca completely relaxed, leisurely watching the 'surveillance'.
As time slowly passed, while she was reading a novel leaning against a pile of pillows, her spiritual intuition suddenly gave her a premonition. She raised her head and looked at one of the "surveillance" mirrors.
Grouès silently got out of bed and went to the desk. opening a hidden compartment.
After confirming that the Gustav family brooch and Tudor coin were still there, this core member of the Emperor Party went to the master bedroom's attached bathroom, letting the toilet flush with a whoosh.
Seeing Grouès return to bed after leaving the bathroom, Franca pursed her lips.
That's it?
She had expected him to suddenly attack and kill Niceea, or use one of the brooch or coin to contact Louis Gustav, or someone else.
As a result, Grouès was so well-behaved that it disappointed her.
And so, during the rotation of surveillance, the sky gradually brightened, with bright sunlight cascading from above.
Franca, now wearing a lace-flowered lady's shirt and cream-colored loose long pants, covered her mouth while yawning and walked into the workshop, asking Lumian, who was seriously watching the "surveillance."
"Nothing unusual, right?"
"There is something." Lumian had one leg raised, the other naturally extended, leaning back against the pile of pillows.
"What's unusual?" Franca instantly became alert.
Lumian chuckled. "After waking up in the same bed as a Demoness of Pleasure, Grouès didn't have a morning round. This shows his attention is completely elsewhere, he's hiding something in his heart, and might do something later."
"Makes sense," Franca was quite aware of a Demoness of Pleasure's charm.
She sat next to Lumian and recalled, "I've also marked some of Grouès's clothing metal buttons. As long as our luck isn't bad, we should be able to see where he goes and what he does."
"Luck? Our luck definitely won't be bad." Lumian laughed and patted his Traveler's Bag, which contained the sealed Post-Apocalyptic Scripture.
This Grade 0 Sealed Artifact ultimately wasn't used.
The formal suit Grouès changed into after breakfast had two shiny, mirror-like metal buttons marked by Franca.
The "surveillance" image immediately changed, mainly showing the scene in front of Groués, swaying back and forth.
In the following time, Grouès kissed Niceea goodbye, took a two-wheeled, two-seat carriage to a certain street in the prison district-Quartier 4.
He walked to a dark red door and rang the doorbell.
The door opened by itself.
Just as Grouès passed through the doorway, the "surveillance" image suddenly blurred, displaying numerous white noise points.
These noise points lasted only two seconds before disappearing. The mirrors before Lumian and Franca no longer showed any image.
"Were we discovered? Or does the house itself have an abnormality affecting the mirror world?" Franca turned her head to look at Lumian.
"Let's wait a bit," Lumian said calmly.
About three to four minutes later, the mirror showed an image again-Grouès was leaving the house.
Franca nodded thoughtfully.
Throughout the morning, Grouès, as a deputy manager of an armaments factory, visited numerous military camps in the Quartier Éraste and returned to his office during lunch.
Lumian, who had already rested, stood up. "Nothing worth watching anymore."
"Yeah." Franca stood up too.
She looked at Lumian and suddenly looked puzzled. "Why do I feel like you've gotten shorter?"
"My Weather Warlock potion has been partially digested. My state is completely stabilized, and I have better control over my body. I can control my height to around 1.95 meters. As the digestion deepens, I can continue to compress. Once the potion is fully digested, I should normally maintain 1.85 meters. During battle, even without revealing my Mythical Creature form, I can expand to 2.7-2.8 meters, like a small giant," Lumian answered in good spirits.
"You've already partially digested it?" Franca asked in surprise.
Lumian chuckled, "Because I found the key points to acting as a Weather Warlock. A few days ago, I discovered a tribe in a primitive jungle of the Southern Continent that maintained blood sacrifice traditions. I brought them different extreme weather conditions. After persisting for three days, they were broken by fear, submitting to me and completely abandoning their blood sacrifice habits.
"This helped me summarize an acting principle, and the potion was thus significantly digested."
Franca thought for a few seconds and asked curiously.
"Controlling weather is to bring about a catastrophe and make the target submit?"
This was consistent with the inner meaning of the Hunter pathway.
"More or less." Lumian glanced at the floating mirrors and smiled. "Time to visit that house with abnormalities."
"You're going?" Franca frowned. "Just leave it to the Demoness Sect or official Beyonders. I feel like there might be a trap in front of everything you do now."
Smiling, Lumian replied, "This is on the ground, not underground, under the watch of Mr. Fool and the true gods.
"If I'm afraid to handle abnormal events under these circumstances, how can I act as an Iron-blooded Knight?"
"That's true," Franca responded tersely.
She hesitated for two seconds, "Then take Jenna with you."
Lumian smiled and invited Franca, "Come with us."
"Okay..." Franca readily agreed.
…
At the door of the house at 20 Rue Saint-Frédéric in the prison district.
Lumian, wearing a half-high silk hat, a white shirt, black vest, and long pants, opened the dark red door.
He walked in, detecting no abnormalities.
Franca and Jenna outside saw the interior through the makeup mirror in his hand.
Sofas and cabinets were covered with white cloth to prevent dust accumulation, and the floor was cleaned very thoroughly.
"No problems, no interference," Jenna also entered and told Lumian.
Lumian looked around and said, "This place hasn't been lived in for a long time, but maids come regularly to clean."
This was a Weather Warlock's extraction and restoration of environmental information.
Just as Lumian finished speaking, Franca, who had also entered the house, saw a figure slowly walking down the stairs.
The figure was very thin, seeming like it would fall with a gust of wind.
His hair was mostly gray, clearly aged, with a brown-beard that looked like it hadn't been trimmed in a long time, wearing a crumpled black formal suit.
Before his appearance, Lumian, as an Angel, had not detected him and still couldn't smell his presence.
Based on this, Lumian believed the person didn't actually exist.
The old man looked at Lumian and smiled. "You've finally come to collect the letter."
"Letter?" Lumian raised an eyebrow.
The old man smiled and answered, "I am the Messenger of God, and one of my functions is to deliver letters for great existences.
"There's a letter here for you."