As night fell, twilight descended, and countless stars shone down, forming a long, glittering silver river.
Accompanied by the sound of wheels rolling, Lucas pushed a gold cart from the end of a thick, red-carpeted corridor.
When he arrived at the library, Lucas paused and bowed respectfully: "Miss, it's very late. Would you like to rest?"
At this moment, moonlight crept into the library through the round windows, covering the floor with silver frost, and the spiral staircase, like vines, coiled around the center of the library.
The girl sat in the center of the moonlight, her dark red, gothic-style lace dress spread out, appearing as if covered in a layer of silver frost under the cool moonlight, and she held a book, like a night-blooming cereus under the moon.
Only after hearing Lucas's voice did the girl turn her head. The lingering pride in her eyes, even if it was extremely arrogant, still made people want to praise her.
"Lucas?"
Ruan Qing'an came to his senses and said, "No need. I will be in the library for the next two days, so please don't disturb me."
Upon hearing this, Lucas whispered, "Miss, even though you are already a high-ranking mage and can use the surrounding elements to temporarily maintain your bodily functions, it's still detrimental to your health..."
After listening to Lucas's rambling persuasion, Ruan Qing'an stopped pressing her hand on the book page. She turned and looked up at Lucas, her eyes filled with coldness.
“Lucas, lately... you seem to have become a bit lax.”
"I tolerated you once or twice, but that doesn't mean there will be a third or fourth time."
There was no more laughter in Ruan Qing'an's voice; the overflowing coldness seemed to plunge Lucas into an ice cave, leaving him frozen in place.
"Miss, I..."
“Don’t forget my rules, Lucas. You only need to do one thing—be quiet and obey.”
Inside the library, the atmosphere was deathly silent. Lucas continued to bow to Ruan Qing'an, and after a moment, he spoke in a dry voice, "Your subordinate understands, Miss."
Ruan Qing'an ignored him and turned back to look at the book that she had laid out on her lap.
Lucas dared not linger any longer. After bowing once more, he brought in the prepared black tea and snacks, arranged them neatly, and then left the library.
Upon reaching the outside of the library, Lucas said again, "Miss, I am standing guard outside. Please feel free to summon me if you have any orders."
Even so, no sound came from inside the library. Lucas could only sigh inwardly, but he didn't show it. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, quietly guarding the library.
Meanwhile, inside the library, Ruan Qing'an sat on the ground, her slender fingertips touching the air, and then she drew a miniature magic circle. The surrounding fire elements became active and gathered on it.
Immediately afterwards, small fire elemental sprites flew out of the miniature magic circle, circled in the air several times, and then landed on Ruan Qing'an's shoulder.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing'an smiled and poked the little elf, saying softly, "Go, go find all the books related to the elements."
After being poked, the fire elemental sprite rolled on her shoulder, flapped its little wings, and led the other sprites to scatter and fly towards the surrounding bookshelves.
037 couldn't help but ask: "Ancestor, are you... helping the male lead find information?"
"You've gotten smarter, little system. I thought you were going to ask me something again."
Ruan Qing'an chuckled and closed the book in her hand: "The original owner was not a very kind person. If Aldrich had no value, she would not have brought him back."
"Just like in the original text, after the original owner discovered that Aldrich was mentally deficient, he believed that he was not worth nurturing, and even if he was a genius who was proficient in both magic and martial arts, he could not make up for his defects."
"Therefore, this is also the reason why the original owner had a bad attitude towards Aldrich later on. If it weren't for Eileen, Aldrich would probably either be dead or kicked out."
037 understood: "So, Ancestor, you believe that, given the original owner's personality, the male lead's talent couldn't be lacking."
Ruan Qingan nodded: "Yes, but his situation is strange. Whether those black lights are elemental forces or not is still unknown, so we can't let that priest reveal the situation."
"Even if everyone thinks Aldridge is a good-for-nothing, we should try not to expose his abnormality to others, just in case."
037 finally understood: [Got it, so that's why Lucas made such a fuss!]
"I've noticed you've really gotten smarter. You upgraded the CPU when you went back to the administration?"
No way, my ancestors, I've always been this smart!
...
Meanwhile, inside the Church of Light.
Eileen sat in the courtyard, holding her cup with some anxiety. As time ticked by, she couldn't help but look around, thinking, "Why aren't they here yet..."
The Church of Light is an organization that spreads throughout the entire continent of Hilar, worshipping the God of Light. It has churches in various empires, and its headquarters is located at the border of several major empires.
The Church of Light is too large. Each branch church in the empire will select two saints, a saintess and a saint, which adds up to quite a few people in total.
Therefore, the status of the Holy Son and Holy Daughter is rather awkward within the entire Church of Light—noble yet not extremely noble, rare yet not extremely rare.
In short, it's a mediocre position, neither the best nor the worst. Its only advantage is that it gives it a certain degree of priority when inheriting the papacy.
For this reason, although Eileen's residence as a saint was much better than that of other believers, it was still far inferior to Nguyen Thanh An's manor.
As Eileen waited anxiously, a hint of disdain flickered in her eyes as she looked around. Just as she was about to lose her patience—
"Eileen".
A voice suddenly came.
The voice was neither male nor female; rather than a human voice, it sounded more like a mechanical sound.
Eileen stood up with delight and looked toward the source of the sound: "You've finally come!"
In a corner of the courtyard, a figure completely shrouded in black mist emerged, its appearance and even its shape obscured.
Seeing this, Eileen couldn't help but frown and said coquettishly, "Why are you coming out to see me looking like this again? I don't like you like this."
"Do I need to be liked by you?"
The man scoffed, sat down, and didn't say a word.
Eileen was taken aback and didn't dare to throw a tantrum anymore. Instead, she sat down opposite the man and carefully tried to appease him: "I'm sorry, I misspoke. You can do whatever you want with me."
After a long silence, the man finally spoke, grabbing Eileen's chin with one hand. Even though the black mist obscured her face, one could still feel the contempt and contempt in his voice.
"Heh, have a clear understanding of your position. You're nothing more than a bitch I pushed up. Don't think of yourself as the mistress."
"It was my fault, I'm sorry..."
Even so, Eileen didn't dare to refute, only whispering, "I know, it was you who reminded me that I became friends with Dolores, I know all that..."
The next moment, the man released her and slapped Eileen across the face. Seeing her lying on the ground, he said coldly, "What are you doing, you idiot!"
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