Chapter 157: Chapter 157

"Hello, Mr. Williams. Forgive me, I should have introduced myself. I haven't used my real name for a very long time, but my friends call me Miss Audrey."

She answered in a soft voice, her lovely eyes locked on Jenkins's face.

"You must be Miss Audrey from the Church of Destiny and Order. Papa Oliver did mention you'd be visiting sometime soon. Please, come in."

He quickly unlatched the gate to his yard and let the young woman in. But a thought suddenly struck him—wasn't Miss Audrey supposed to be older than him? Why did she look so...

"It's a disguise. You wouldn't want me appearing at your home with my real face, would you? That could cause you some trouble."

She answered his unspoken question as if she could read minds, offering Jenkins a slight smile before walking toward his front door.

After closing the gate, Jenkins returned to the living room to find Chocolate crouched on the sofa, fur bristling, hissing and spitting at Miss Audrey, who had taken a seat in a chair.

Chocolate was still just a kitten, so his ferocious display came across as more adorable than threatening. The sight made the woman cover her mouth and chuckle.

Her attire was also quite peculiar. She wore a button-up, light-blue blouse with embroidered, double-layered trim down the front. Her skirt was long, the hem nearly sweeping the floor, but as she sat, her feet peeked out, revealing a pair of traditional pink shoes. Their edges seemed to be trimmed with metallic thread, and each was adorned with an oversized, artificial flower.

She held up the pure white mask for Jenkins to see, gesturing that it was the source of her earlier disguise, before tucking it away.

After preparing some tea and snacks as courtesy required, Jenkins scooped up the still-meowing Chocolate and sat down on the sofa. Only then did their conversation truly begin.

"It's not polite to stare at a lady's feet."

The woman pointed out, smiling brightly.

Jenkins finally averted his gaze and blinked. Fourteen points of light, and one of them was purple.

"That can't be right. A level 7 Enchanter has thirteen abilities, and a level 8 has fifteen. What's with the fourteenth point? Could she have had a special experience, like I did when I transmigrated?"

He mulled this over silently, his face settling into its usual bashful smile.

"So, what brings you here today? It's quite the coincidence, really. If Papa Oliver hadn't been occupied with something, I wouldn't have been home at all."

"Oh, it's no coincidence. I performed a divination before I came, and fate told me today was the perfect time to visit an important friend."

Jenkins sensed a hidden meaning in her words. "I'm sorry, but I believe this is the first time we've met. While I have no issue with befriending Enchanters from other churches, there are certain things we should get straight."

Relations between the Twelve Orthodox Churches were generally amicable, but getting too close to an Enchanter from another faith on a personal level wasn't always a good idea.

"No, this isn't the first time we've met."

Her smile slowly blossomed. She wrapped her slender fingers around the handle of her cup and took a delicate sip.

"I performed a divination for you once before. About marriage."

The smile faded from Jenkins's face. His right hand twitched, instinctively reaching for a weapon, but then he remembered where he was. He was home. His pistol was under his pillow, his cane hung on the coat rack by the door, and his talismans and single-use ritual supplies were tucked away in a false bottom of the shoe cabinet.

He remembered the events of that night vividly. Only in hindsight had he understood the two results of her divination: "choose left" and "demon." "Left" had meant taking the left path at the fork in the road. Because he hadn't understood, he'd run into the malicious coachman and then the legion of ghostly knights. As for what "demon" referred to... that went without saying.

He thought, his eyes narrowing. The diviner he'd met that night had a different number and color of light points than this woman. But on second thought, perhaps that white mask could disguise even those.

For the first time, he realized his Eye of Reality wasn't infallible. It wasn't a flaw in the ability itself, he suspected, but a limitation imposed by his own Enchanter level.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

Chocolate, nestled in his arms, seemed to sense his master's unease. The kitten, who had calmed down, once again started to let out a series of threatening meows.

"Visiting the black market isn't illegal, and I meant you no harm when I met you at the exit. You truly have nothing to worry about, Mr. Williams."

She spoke carefully, blinking slowly. Her alluring purple eyes reflected his own tense silhouette.

Jenkins was taken aback. Even though this world had supernatural powers, the hair and eye colors of its people were generally the same as what he'd known in his previous life. He'd never heard of anyone having purple eyes.

A thought suddenly struck him—his Eye of Reality was still active. He deactivated it, and her eyes shifted to a common brown. Could it be that her eyes possessed some kind of destiny-related power? Or were her eyes themselves... a special item?

Still, what she'd just said made perfect sense. The night he'd met the diviner, Jenkins hadn't been in disguise. Even if his identity had been discovered, it wouldn't have been a huge deal. But that divination she performed...

"Have you figured it out now? I have no intention of exposing your secrets. I've taken the liberty of visiting you today simply to inform you of a few things."

Jenkins breathed an inward sigh of relief, but his guard remained up.

One part of that night's divination had indicated Jenkins would be escorting a Cursed Item through that intersection, while the other revealed she already knew Miss Mikhail was in danger. Neither of those things touched upon his real secrets, since his colleagues at the Church were aware of both situations. All this proved was that the woman hadn't yet revealed any knowledge of his secrets—it didn't mean she was actually ignorant of them.

"Thank you for the divination that night. It was a great help, truly."

He started by thanking her, his eyes drifting subconsciously to the ornamental sword hanging above the fireplace—a symbol of his honorary barony. To its left hung a worthless oil painting that Jenkins kept meaning to dispose of but always forgot.

"That was a small matter. But I'd like to ask you something. I wonder if you've noticed that Nolan City has been plagued by one dangerous incident after another for the last six months? According to the Orthodox Churches' records, the frequency is absurdly high."

She clearly had no intention of letting Jenkins steer the conversation.

"I've noticed that as well. It is strange." The most update n0vels are published on novel_fіre.net