Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1774 - 1773: The Witches’ Pact

Five minutes later, in the lounge on the third floor of Rose Manor, a knock on the door sounded. After receiving permission, the female sorcerer from the Sun Church entered the room, chatted briefly with Megan Green of Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals, and checked the marks on the window and windowsill before exiting the room.

Moments later, the wardrobe door opened, and Shard stepped out of the wardrobe:

"Can you recognize the person on the rooftop just now?"

"Of course not, it’s just a Seventh Ring. However, the technique used was obviously Divine Arts. If I’m not mistaken, those two were from the Tyranny Club."

Megan said, at this point she was in control of the body.

Shard frowned, having heard of this Ring Mage Group. Rot-Eye Barry’s letters had mentioned the Illegal Ring Mage Group, the Tyranny Club, active in the border areas, which also assisted ’that gentleman’, the Edwards Ancestor’s Ring Mage Group.

"Followers of the God of Tyranny, those war madmen?"

"At least they’re not completely insane. They also fear the Church’s Official Secrets Act, so didn’t dare to directly attack in the manor where Galina is staying. The intruders were ordinary people, even though the Ring Mages could have come themselves, they waited on the rooftop."

Megan judged, and together with Shard, went to the window, watching the scene where guests hurriedly left the manor through a courtyard lit by gas lamps due to the early termination of the banquet. Well-dressed gentlemen and ladies walked briskly, while police department carriages rushing from the distant street added more dynamics to the scene.

"Is the ancestor going to cause more trouble again?"

Megan asked softly.

"Or perhaps, it’s just another test by the ambitious."

Shard whispered.

No one knew the answer, but the time reached the spring of the Sixth Era 1854. In this most beautiful season of the year, the order of the Old Continent inevitably headed towards chaos.

The shooting incident just now, though no one died, unfortunately hit Baron Lubock’s left chest. Fortunately, he was born with a heart on the right, so he did not die, but even so, it cast a shadow of death over the welcome banquet that was originally filled with joy and blessings.

The banquet ended early, guests left Rose Manor in anxiety and unease. The Church thought this place might not be safe and wanted Miss Galina to leave as well, but the Duchess stated she wouldn’t stay in the church:

"If I flee from such a minor shooting incident just after arriving at Green Lake, what will I use to overwhelm those Carsonrickians next week?"

She refused the suggestion with words full of royal majesty, but did not reject the Church’s proposal to strengthen protection here. By the time Shard and Megan met Miss Galina again in the third-floor lounge, it was already half an hour later.

She entered with an apology and said to Megan:

"I’m truly sorry, I should have treated you well. Today, you can only return temporarily, please come back to find me tomorrow. I’m still quite free over the weekend before the meeting next week."

Megan nodded understandingly and also spoke of what the two had encountered. Hearing the name of the Tyranny Club, the Duchess sighed helplessly:

"The followers of that Evil God were quite active during the Old Continent’s north-south war period. The Church even found out that a vice minister secretarial assistant in Draleon’s military department was part of the Tyranny Club. But after peace descended, they disappeared. Didn’t expect after all this time, this group would start becoming active again... I got it, Audrey, Shard, I’ll escort you to the door. Apologies for tonight’s poor hospitality."

She was still considering her discovered secret, plus having already enjoyed time with Shard yesterday afternoon, so did not keep Shard overnight again.

"Shard, you go with this Miss Maid to the carriage first, I want to walk with Galina at the back to say a few more words."

The brown-haired witch said again, Shard thought it was some secrets from the Council he shouldn’t know, so he went ahead with Tifa and some maids, just in time to bid farewell to Angelina.

Megan watched Shard depart, then followed Galina and the other maids into the corridor.

When Shard’s figure was distant, Megan’s smile disappeared instantly. She casually threw a "Silent Portal" to both ends of the corridor and pulled Galina Cavendish’s hand, pressing it against the wall.

The maids around watched this scene with laughter, not finding it offensive. The red-haired Duchess showed a helpless expression:

"Really? My lover just left. When you do such things, have you considered Shard’s feelings?"

"Galina, I’m not joking with you. What’s your relationship with Shard?"

Gold eyes gazed into gold eyes, Miss Galina remained calm:

"Our conversation just now, was it just a dream? Did you forget all about it?"

"No, I’m very sure you’re lying."

Megan held Miss Galina’s hand tightly, pressing her three other hands against the wall, her voice particularly low but her tone was one of clenched teeth:

"Did you and him do such things?"

The surrounding maid Misses exchanged whispers with flushed faces, knowing both the story of the Head Maid and the Knight, and what happened between the Knight and the Duke, but Grand Witches ignored them.

"Why would you think that?"

With faces so close, the shadow covered the face of the red-haired witch, yet couldn’t hide her curiosity.

"The way you looked at him just now..."

Megan said "fiercely":

"To put it not mildly, the way you looked at him just now, your gaze was practically attachment! I refuse to believe your relationship stopped just at the last step! Galina, what exactly did you do?"

"Attachment gaze? Oh, I like this description, truly fitting."

Galina Cavendish’s smile remained unchanged, her charming face radiating, gold eyes showing a proud expression:

"As for what I’ve done, isn’t that my privacy, Miss Apothecary?"

She repeated that address, and as Megan’s expression changed dramatically, she suddenly leaned in close to her cheek. Of course, she didn’t kiss her on the cheek but whispered a few words in her ear.

The witch with brown shoulder-length hair had an expression that changed from slight anger to surprise, then from astonishment to embarrassment, and finally to fear:

"Oh, don’t describe it to me, you actually, you actually dare to..."

She stepped back two steps, pointing at Miss Galina, who was smiling brightly:

"Yes, strike first to gain the advantage. This is an interesting experiment, proving that nothing happening with Shard affects the existence of witches. He can come and go from the council freely and is completely harmless to the Witch Council, maybe even useful... he united us."

Galina looked directly at Megan:

"If you’re rational enough, you should understand to keep what you know to yourself. I originally planned not to tell anyone, enjoying it alone is more interesting, but I didn’t expect you were smart enough to figure it out."

"You really did it... it’s remarkable."

Megan quickly regained her composure, shaking her head briskly as if to ward off annoying mosquitoes:

"What I learned today about Shard is as important to us as the family’s secret on Heart Lake Island, if not more important than the secret of the chosen one. Galina, do you know what you’re doing with them?"

The Duchess replied calmly:

"Of course I know, we have the right to make choices for ourselves, and besides, this isn’t a betrayal of the council. The council didn’t say we couldn’t do this, did it? Yes, I’m sure this was not included in the clauses emphasized by His Excellency the Speaker."

Megan nodded with a mysterious expression:

"You don’t have to try to persuade me. Just for what Shard has done for me, I can’t let him go. I’ll keep his secret, but I hope to know more. It’s intriguing, and I want to see how far the man I chose can go."

"Of course, you will know. Remember to come by in the morning, we’ll enter the council together to report the progress of the investigation to His Excellency."

"Okay, I need to go back and think carefully. Although your bad taste is quite awful, I admit, you’ve done a good job keeping this secret."

"So, will you do what I did?"

Miss Galina asked again, Megan blushed slightly and shook her head:

"I still need to focus on dealing with family matters. Besides, Shard and I... we are still one step away from the final step in our relationship."

Actually, she was still shy.

So, the satisfied Miss Galina escorted Megan to the entrance of the manor’s mansion. At this moment, Shard was arriving with Tifa, along with the carriage.

Shard bid farewell to Miss Galina with a warm embrace, then waved to Angelina in the upstairs window who was saying goodbye to him.

The Duchess stood together with Tifa, watching the carriage take Shard and Megan out of the manor. She took a deep breath, savoring the spring night air of Green Lake City:

"An interesting night, but it’s going to be busy for a while afterward."

The speeding carriage carried Shard and Megan away from the checkpoints set up by the police on both sides of the street, then headed towards the witch’s cruise ship by the Duin River Dock.

All the way, Megan was silent, and Shard tried to start a conversation several times, but she only responded perfunctorily. When they returned to the cruise ship, she grabbed Shard’s hand and led him into her room, looking at him closely:

"Shard Hamilton, can we still get along like we used to?"

For the first time, she said Shard’s name, and Shard nodded:

"I think we can, even though so much has been hidden, it won’t change our relationship... There’s no need to worry about the Witch Council."

Even though Miss Isabella, the Speaker, had a significant weight in the council’s voting power, with Feliana, Orland, Fiona, Violet, Teresa, Chloe, and Luviya providing seven Witch Echoes, Shard alone equated to 14 votes. If the council really held a meeting to decide his matter, he even thought his chances were great.

He embraced the girl in front of him, but didn’t expect this was exactly what Megan wanted to do. Her ethereal arms opened, hugging him tightly, combined with one of Megan’s own hands, leaving him completely unable to break free:

"Megan, this is..."

"A little experiment."

The girl in his arms whispered, her voice low:

"You don’t have to do anything, I’ll perform an experiment. After this, I’ll forgive your concealment, yes, it’s just an experiment."

Her right hand reached downward, and Shard’s eyes widened. But even with his strength, he couldn’t resist in such a power struggle, going against the power equivalent to two overlapping witches. "Knowledge is power" wasn’t said for nothing, the original physical strength of Megan and Audrey far surpassed the average level of an Eleventh Rank Witch.

He originally thought Megan was going to do what Miss Aphrola once did, to verify her doubt for the last time, but he soon realized he was wrong.

Shard struggled more violently, but Megan and Audrey’s three hands held him tight. Because he and Megan were tightly embraced, he couldn’t see her face, only to see Audrey’s spirit upper body appearing from behind Megan, almost face-to-face with Shard, her hands still maintaining the hugging gesture.

Audrey’s semi-transparent face showed shyness, but her eyes were shining in the midst of it, truly beautiful:

"So that’s the... sensation... Apparently, you are indeed male, now I’m completely convinced. Very healthy, Shard Suren Hamilton, your reaction is quite interesting."

"Wait, Audrey, don’t do this..."

The spirit kissed Shard.

This also represented that "soul separation" and the "birthmark manifestation" on the palm could happen simultaneously.

She and she, though still shy and not ready to make such a commitment, found the courage to engage in a bit of intimacy. After all, her current appearance, was bestowed upon her by him.