novelraw Chapter 646: Diane
Chapter 646: Diane
"..."
In the next moment after Fisher's palm was tightly squeezed by Elizabeth, she somewhat unnaturally stood up. The cheeks that were originally parallel to Fisher's suddenly pulled high up, and the hand held by her incidentally also moved away from her eyes. Only when it almost reached the position of her lower abdomen did the tightened strength in her hand dissolve bit by bit, ultimately letting it go.
If the initially raised hand stopping Fisher from approaching her eyes was a subconscious act, then this subsequent action already indicated that Elizabeth did not wish for Fisher to touch her eyes.
And before Fisher could say anything else, she had already taken the lead in smiling, jumping to the next topic.
"...The time is almost up, I will be back before dinner. I will do all the things I promised you earlier, and before I come back, you must stay here obediently..."
"..."
Fisher couldn't help but size up her hollow golden eyes once more, as if wanting to discover something from them.
But regrettably, Fisher discovered nothing from her eyes, just as if that was not the window to Elizabeth's soul, but a mirror reflecting desire entirely.
There was nothing inside, or rather, the only thing inside was you looking at it.
Having gained nothing, Fisher hid his thoughtful expression. He reached out and took the clothing Elizabeth prepared for him nearby, and obediently agreed."Alright, I will wait for you to come back here, Elizabeth."
After obtaining Fisher's assurance, Elizabeth smiled sweetly as if having eaten fruit candy. Once again unable to control herself, she took steps forward toward Fisher, wishing greatly she could properly love him affectionately for a bit right now. However, she stopped halfway, deeply afraid she wouldn't be able to control herself, pushing aside the upcoming activities to immediately engage in the harmonious activities of life...
But it didn't matter, there would be opportunities tonight.
That about-to-extend hand ultimately still showed some restraint, turning into a tongue licking her lips. Wearing this full set of underwear, she satisfyingly turned her head and walked toward the outside of the room.
As the Empress of Naris, her residence naturally couldn't possibly be just this single bedroom.
Just outside this room were several consecutive matching rooms: her office desk, her dressing room, and a living room presenting quite a lot of items. Usually at this moment there should be many servants outside serving her in changing clothes; however, because of Fisher's arrival, she had called almost all the servants out of the inner court, thus currently the only one waiting outside was that Inner Court Official Head named "Diane".
This name Fisher had heard last time he called the Golden Palace. If Elizabeth's level of trust in Diane was such, then it wouldn't be hard to explain why she would know the reason for Elizabeth's whereabouts last time.
Yet this still found it hard to explain why during the phone call she would tell this kind of news to a "Fischer Benavides" whose identity was not yet confirmed.
So, when the door opened, while putting on his shirt, Fisher couldn't help but size up the person of Diane a few more times.
He instead saw standing in the extreme distance outside the door was a lady wearing an elegant and plain Inner Court Official uniform. She had ordinary features, and the clothes Elizabeth was to change into later were already prepared in her hands. Upon seeing Elizabeth come out, she respectfully lowered her head.
"Your Majesty, the clothing has been prepared, please let me change it for you. Incidentally, the food you ordered earlier, should it be sent to the front court, to be together with old Mr. Sai Hui over there?"
"No need, send it over here first. Incidentally, I also want you to bring that granddaughter of Teacher Helson you brought back yesterday into the inner court, you don't need to care about the rest."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will go handle it right away."
Diane smiled and accepted the order like this. She and Elizabeth seemingly went to the adjacent changing room, and after changing didn't come back. Not long after, the voices completely disappeared outside the inner court, leaving everything here to Fisher.
She appeared to just be an ordinary Inner Court Official.
Fisher dressed the clothing on his body neatly. Except for the inseparable Completion Handbooks and the items sandwiched within, he didn't know where the remaining things were taken to by Elizabeth; he would ask after she came back.
It wasn't that Fisher hadn't been to the Golden Palace before, just that he had also never been to such a deep place. Not to mention the layout here must have undergone changes after Elizabeth ascended, and he also developed some curiosity towards the place where Elizabeth lived these years.
Walking out of the bedroom he stayed in previously, quite a few unique furnishings within the Golden Palace were placed in the resplendent in gold and jade grand hall outside. Among which what attracted Fisher's gaze the most was that portrait of Elizabeth hanging dead center of the grand hall.
This painting was equally a traditional portrait left behind during Elizabeth's birthday, but somewhat different from those seen in Saint-Nazareth city previously. From the brush strokes to the painting style, it could be seen this was not a work created by a court painter.
Yet in terms of content there wasn't much change. What was painted on it was all the appearances of her wearing different standard ceremonial dresses, wearing a crown on her head, holding a scepter in one hand, while holding a golden cup with the other.
Yet for some unknown reason, upon seeing that portrait, Fisher always felt a bizarre feeling. He didn't know whether this was because that Archangel Pandora encountered ten thousand years ago equally possessed a Holy Grail.
Back to the issue with Elizabeth's eyes, her previously subconsciously controlling Fisher's upward-moving hand made Fisher realize her subconscious mind was very resistant toward others approaching her Prosthetic Eyes. Which is to say, feeling a sense of protection toward this Relic, even the Fisher she loved couldn't do it.
Fisher wasn't clear whether it was exactly Pandora's power at work influencing Elizabeth or a thought generated by herself, but this was not a good phenomenon.
An already long-dead Archangel, with a bafflingly born Relic residing in her eyes, looking at how you think about this it was impossible to rest assured on. Not to mention previously Eimhart had already declared that there might be its own consciousness within that pair of eyes...
Retrieving his gaze sizing up the painting on the wall, he then somewhat bored to death walked again to another adjacent room. This was Elizabeth's office.
Quite a few documents were piled up here, but mostly were filed photocopies. The bookshelves next to them were also modified by her into archive boxes, categorized with quite a few areas inside to store different documents.
And soon, Fisher also saw a medical toolkit on the desk. The toolkit wasn't closed yet, revealing completely used-up magic residues inside. According to the yet unused magic next to it, this used magic was a certain treatment-type magic used for examining the body.
Upon seeing this treatment magic, Fisher realized that actually yesterday Elizabeth stripping off all his clothes wasn't entirely taking advantage and absorbing "Fisher Energy". She probably also privately did a full-body examination on his body using magic.
After all four and a half years ago before he left, when he spoke with Elizabeth over the phone he said he was going to die, and he also didn't have time to explain to Elizabeth that he was being pursued by Death. I'm afraid Elizabeth mistakenly thought he contracted some disease or suffered some external injury.
Previously when confronting Valentina she was busy debating and didn't have time to ask, but actually she was still worried about Fisher's body, deeply afraid he would repeat the story of four and a half years ago, finally managing to return to her side but dying soon after.
Fisher blinked his eyes and closed the medical box. At the moment of raising his eyes, that group photo of them when they were young on her desk also entered his line of sight simultaneously.
"..."
Fisher just wanted to reach his hand out to touch that group photo, yet abruptly the sound of a bell came from outside the room. He blinked, knowing it should be that some Inner Court Official Head coming to deliver things.
He would go out and take a look first; anyway that Inner Court Official Head couldn't discover him either.
But exactly the moment he pushed open the office door, the fine hairs on his body instinctively stood up, just as if grabbing a piece of hard ice in his hand, wanting to strip clean all the temperature on his body.
What was going on?
This instinct reminded him to be careful and pay attention to the situation outside. Thus, even though he was still under the protection of the Concealment Blessing, he still merely opened the door leaving a small gap, observing the situation outside.
He instead saw in the room, that Inner Court Official Head he saw earlier named "Diane" was slowly walking into the room carrying a tray of food according to Elizabeth's orders. It looked like there wasn't anything different, but as the other consciousnesses present departed from here, the feeling of this Diane also completely differed from earlier.
If the Diane previously really just gave Fisher the feeling of a servant loyal and devoted to Elizabeth, then the current Diane rather gave Fisher the feeling of a monster wearing human skin...
The direction Diane stood was the bedroom Fisher rested in originally. Looking from the position of the office, he could only see her side profile and most of her back figure.
He saw Diane expressionlessly sweeping a glance around this room. The expression on that face immediately revealed an indescribable and baffling bizarre feeling to Fisher. She silently put the food in her hand on the adjacent table but did not leave, instead beginning to more thoroughly use her gaze to size up the scene within the room.
Her gaze moved everywhere, while Fisher feeling her actions unknowingly felt his heartbeat gradually accelerating. This bizarre physiological reaction made Fisher feel increasingly strange, as if a fear not belonging to himself spread in his heart yet forced him to taste it, just that strange.
But exactly while Fisher was stunned, that Diane who was sizing up her surroundings twisted her gaze and looked toward the place Fisher was hiding. The fine hairs on his body stood up again, extremely uncomfortably clenching the door before his eyes tightly.
What exactly was going on with this Diane, why did the feeling given to him be so strange and terrifying?
Diane didn't even blink her eyes. After not finding anything on this side, she slowly walked toward Elizabeth's bedroom again.
How could an Inner Court Official dare to privately enter Elizabeth's bedroom like this?
Seeing her back figure slowly disappear in the grand hall, evidently entering the bedroom from before, the doubts in Fisher's heart grew even worse. Thus he quietly pushed open the door blocking his eyes. Exiting the office he correspondingly walked toward the direction of the bedroom, wanting to see what exactly that Diane was doing.
He fumbled to the doorway of the bedroom, looking inside from the doorway, then saw that Diane bizarrely standing by Elizabeth's bed, looking at that bed not knowing what she was thinking.
"..."
Fisher sized up her every move, wanting to obtain more information from her, but her posture or movements seemed flawless and invulnerable like that, making Fisher unable to discover anything or analyze anything.
Even the bizarre feeling produced towards the Diane before his eyes also seemed to come from an instinct of unknown origin on his body. And rationally, Fisher merely felt that Diane privately intruding into Elizabeth's bedroom sizing things up everywhere like this, as if searching for something, was bizarre.
He suddenly thought of those demons sneaking into Naris encountered in the Demon Dynasty. Could it be, this Inner Court Official Head before his eyes was also one of the demons sent by Helaer?
"Tsk..."
In the next second, the standing Diane in the room suddenly clicked her tongue lightly, as if from her ancient well-like emotionless mood bottomless as the Ocean crossed out a bit of visible emotional fluctuation.
Followingly, this Inner Court Official Head said a very strange sentence.
"...Has it already been found by that [Coward]?"
Coward?
What coward, who was a coward?
Fisher blinked, completely baffling and unaccountable, but it seemed that Diane didn't plan on staying further.
She suddenly turned her head, making Fisher hiding outside the door tilt his body sideways. This somewhat had the implication of covering one's ears to steal a bell, but fortunately this Diane before his eyes also couldn't discover his existence, only treating him as air.
And the Diane turning her head also suddenly transformed the feeling she gave Fisher anew, shifting from that monster wearing human skin previously back into that loyal Inner Court Official Head he saw earlier.
She hurriedly walked out of Elizabeth's bedroom, just as if everything just now hadn't happened. She merely came over to deliver some things, completely following the Empress's orders alone.
But she failed to realize that Fisher witnessed everything from start to finish.
"Clack clack..."
"..."
As the doors of the grand hall closed, the Inner Court Official Head named Diane also disappeared from here, yet making Fisher unable to calm down for a long time.
Not right...
If there's ten parts, I'm afraid nine parts are not right.
Now he could then seemingly correspond the situation with the ideas envisioned before coming here. The situation in the Golden Palace was absolutely slightly more complex than he imagined.
A pair of conscious Relics, an Inner Court Official Head staying by Elizabeth's side every day, superficially loyal and devoted but privately acting bizarrely?
He touched his chin, not even having time to eat before turning to look toward the bedroom. He stood up and walked into the bedroom, acting like her sizing up the furnishings everywhere, his mind revolving around the possibilities of Diane's identity and purpose.
No matter where she came from, who she was, analyzing from her purpose there largely existed two possibilities.
One was coming for Fisher.
The possibility of this line came from Helaer and the Demon Dynasty. Currently she was locked at the bottom of the Dynasty, but could likely still let a Succubus monitor people outside, especially paying attention to Fisher's movements. Now Fisher was wrapped by a Blessing, the Succubus sent by Helaer couldn't see him at all, thus exposing her true reaction.
It was also possible this person wasn't from the Demon Dynasty, but came from other factions, even the Chaos glaring like a tiger at Chaos was possible. Now the Chaos of Life had unexpectedly started forming a connection with Alicia; wasn't it also possible for other sources of Chaos to find some proxies?
Especially now that the World-Ending Prophecy was initiated, and the Crevice was combusting, although Naris still couldn't see the combustion scene, Reality's defense against the Spirit World weakening was solid. Was it also possible that some strange things ran inside?
The second was coming for Elizabeth.
Thinking about it carefully, Elizabeth possessed Pandora's Prosthetic Eyes on her body. If there was a problem with Diane, yet her Prosthetic Eyes couldn't discover it, the only possibility was that the source's level was even higher than the Prosthetic Eyes. Before Pandora's death she was already a Nineteenth-Tier angel, so for a level even higher than that, besides Chaos Fisher truly couldn't think of any other possibility...
Not right, Chaos-kin also seemed possible right? Didn't they also want to enter Reality to seek refuge?
And both possibilities above were logically viable, and could to a certain extent explain Diane's behavior just now.
If she came for Fisher, then she must have been searching for signs of Fisher wrapped under the Concealment Blessing just now.
And if it was coming for Elizabeth, then was it possible she was looking for something hidden by Elizabeth...
For example, that cup that kept appearing in the painting yet never revealing its true body?
Of course, it was also possible being some other things.
Thinking like so, Fisher then imitated Diane perfectly and carefully searched for places within the room that might hide something.
He stood where Diane stood just now, gazing around the directions facing all sides. After pausing for a moment he then lowered his body, wanting to see if there was anything hidden under the bed.
It would have been fine if he didn't look. With one look, a wooden box hidden under the bedboards instantly crashed into Fisher's sight, making his pupils slightly contract.
There really was something here?
Fisher gasped in pain, truly not expecting his luck to be this good, stumbling right onto the things hidden by Elizabeth by a stroke of luck.
But right now he had no way of using Transcendent power, and also didn't know what kind of nature of aura existed on this box, only able to judge that there was no magic on top of it whatsoever. Looking from its exterior, it was merely an ordinary again ordinary wooden box...
Mm, it looked really suspicious.
With Elizabeth's characteristic personality, she would even hide things like this?
This aroused Fisher's vigilance. He then hurriedly took out this weighty wooden box and placed it on the floor, slowly undoing the iron lock buckled on top.
At the instant the wooden box opened, it was as if countless holy lights dispersed from within, immediately about to blind Fisher's eyes...
However, the truth was, this wooden box didn't have any holy light whatsoever. But Fisher only took one glance and then fiercely buckled the wooden box shut with a darkened face.
"Click-clack!"
"..."
After being silent for a moment, he then hesitated, resembling suspecting whether his eyes had deceived him, incredulously opening the wooden box before his eyes once again.
But facts do not shift based on his will. Entering his eyes once more inside, were still the many varied-in-size, varied-in-model toys used to dissipate loneliness of some sort that he just saw.
"..."
He silently closed the wooden box, silently pushed the wooden box back under the bed, and silently stood up, as if nothing had ever happened.