13 Mink Street

Bernard’s eyes turned to Karon.

At that moment, two strands in the bundle of thread snapped on their own. Black patterns immediately appeared across Bernard’s body. These patterns looked like lightning whips, and they directly bound Bernard as they exerted their effects upon him. At the same time, a gray halo appeared above his body, releasing a weakening effect.

Bernard’s expression twisted into a grimace, yet he did not cry out. He continued to silently resist.

Karon slowly picked up the bundle of thread and gently plucked at it with his fingertips.

Seeing this, Bernard’s expression relaxed. The black patterns on his body and the gray halo above him both vanished at once. This did not mean he had broken free, but that he had decisively abandoned his struggle.

The reason the ritual arrays had activated on their own earlier was because they sensed Bernard mobilizing power within his body. One had to know that Eisen had arranged these ritual arrays directly on Bernard’s body, with some even penetrating the flesh.

These ritual arrays might not be very complex, and they were certainly not comparable to forbidden-level ritual arrays, but they were not far off.

It was like the difference between a match burning in front of your eyes and a match burning beside your heart.

Karon had been cautious enough and had prepared sufficiently. Under these circumstances, there was basically no possibility of an accident.

“Have my descendants offended the Church of Order?” Karon was wearing Order priest’s robes, which made it very easy to identify him.

Bernard’s voice was somewhat hoarse. Although he had never died, he had only just awakened from a long state of feigned death. For all of his bodily organs to fully recover, it was clearly not so easy.

In addition, Karon noticed that in the depths of Bernard’s pupils, a touch of dark red could be seen flowing. It was as if a Darkmoon crescent had been embedded within the man’s eyes.

Back at Ankara Hotel, Ophelia had once used an Art to detect if either party were lying, relying on the Aelius Sword’s reaction.

Earl Rekar had also once invoked the name of the sea to weigh the truth in Karon’s words. At this moment, Bernard was doing the same thing through his own method, though his means were more concealed. Of course, the level of perception would also be higher.

This also meant that Karon could not tell lies during this conversation.

However, this was also just the atmosphere Karon wanted. He smiled faintly and said, “No. It just so happens that I am from the Church of Order.”

A relieved smile appeared on Bernard’s face as well. “That is good. That is good. I was truly worried that my descendants might have made the mistake of offending the great Order.”

“Right now, Darkmoon Island and Order are partners.”

“Truly? That is wonderful. It seems that Darkmoon Island has developed to a certain degree and can now serve a great Order.”

Bernard did not bother asking why he had been awakened, nor why he had been awakened in this place. He actively avoided the key issue at hand. This was a method of negotiation and conversation.

Karon was very familiar with this method. When communicating with patients, he often did the same. He would not touch the patient’s most sensitive core area immediately, but would deliberately engage in seemingly useless conversation while skirting the issue for a long time, using that conversation to obtain more useful information for himself.

“Yes.”

“I truly cannot wait to return to the island and have a look.”

“It seems you recognize this place.”

“Yes, I recognize it. When I was a child, I liked eating snake gall. That bitter, fishy thing was always my favorite, and this island satisfied that need of mine.”

“Mm. There are indeed many snakes on this island.”

“Do you like eating snake gall?”

Karon shook his head.

Bernard continued, “Then I suggest you try the wine I brewed with snake gall. Poelle drank it too. She liked it very much.”

He had just taken the first probing step.

“Miss Poelle? On Darkmoon Island, there are stories everywhere about the love between you two.”

“Is that so? Sigh. That is the greatest regret of my life. We could have become a pair who truly loved each other, but because of the duties each of us bore, we could only separate.”

“That sounds truly sad and helpless.”

“You appear to be very young. Do you have someone you like?”

“I do.”

“Please cherish her well. Do not be like me, only regretting after truly losing her.”

“When we are at home, my lover and I sleep together every night. She uses her hand to stroke my chest and massage away the fatigue of my day. When I wake in the morning, I tuck in the corner of her blanket and admire the curve of her mouth as she clings to sleep.”

“How blissful. Truly enviable.”

“Happiness is born from comparison. After learning your story, I feel even happier.”

“Hahaha. Of course. I am honored to become the stepping stone beneath your happiness. Are you here on official business this time?”

“Yes. Official business.”

“That is quite far. Coming here was not easy.”

“It was fine. Darkmoon Island has set up a teleportation array that belongs to the Church of Order, so arriving from Veyn only takes an instant.”

“That is wonderful. It seems the relationship between Darkmoon Island and great Order is truly close now.”

“Yes.”

“I like Veyn’s fermented sauce. I think that is the miraculous flavor that truly stirs the taste buds.”

“I don’t care much for Veynic cuisine.”

“Poelle was the same. She felt Veynic cuisine was easy to tire of. I once suspected that the reason she enjoyed going out on adventures was that she enjoyed searching for food outside. She was very greedy.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“For her, I specially studied cooking.”

Apparently, your cooking was not very good.

Karon took out a cigarette from his pocket, placed it between his lips, then picked up a lighter and lit it.

This was a hint. A hint that he was somewhat uninterested in the current topic. He believed Bernard could read from it.

“Do you like Darkmoon Island?”

“I do. I like the climate here. It is very pleasant.”

“That is because you came from Veyn. Please forgive any offense, but compared with that place, Darkmoon Island is paradise.”

“I agree with that.”

“You should also like the warm and hospitable people on this island.”

“Mhmm, yes. But it is the people of Darkmoon Island who like me more.”

“Oh? Look at that. Which young lady on our island has the fortune to share such a wonderful romance with you?” Clearly, Bernard knew that this was a second woman.

Karon held the cigarette between his fingers, looked at Bernard, and said, “She calls you ancestor.”

“Is it a marriage alliance? Oh, I hope she has not disappointed you, and I also hope that you will treat her kindly.”

“I will. Barring any accident, she will inherit the position of clan leader of the Darkmoon Clan in the future.”

“Truly? Oh, heavens. Then she should be one of my direct descendants. Wonderful! This means the relationship between Darkmoon Island and great Order will become even more unbreakable.

“Let me think... I should have left some treasures in certain places back then. You may dig them up and give them to your future child. Your child will be the crystallization of Darkmoon and Order. I am truly too happy. Truly. There is nothing more joyful than waking and learning that one’s family has developed so well.”

“In truth, my meeting with her was all luck.”

“The blood-colored rim outlines the steps of your arrival. Every seemingly accidental acquaintance, meeting, and even love is a particular arrangement made by Darkmoon, by fate.”

“I once said the same thing to her.”

“Oh? Is that so? It seems my stories have long since spread, or perhaps you have always paid attention to our Darkmoon Island.”

“In truth, it was the people of Darkmoon Island who paid attention to me.”

“That is only proper. I can sense your extraordinariness.”

“They believe I possess the Allen surname.”

“You are from the Allen family? Then you and Poelle are from the same family. That is truly too coincidental. Heh. Sigh, how wonderful. It seems my descendants have successfully established a connection with the Allens.”

“They feel that my union with her will be the finest interpretation and conclusion to a beautiful story, and that it will also better allow her to become the sole candidate for the next patriarch.”

“Mhmm, of course. You also possess the identity of Order. I believe that Darkmoon Island will develop better and better in your and her hands.”

“Mm.” Karon flicked ash from his cigarette before adding, “They believe I am Poelle’s descendant.”

Bernard: “...”

This was the first time his control of his expression slipped, and it was because he immediately connected Karon’s statement to his previous comment, “the finest interpretation and conclusion to a beautiful story.” With their earlier conversation as a foundation, there was only one possibility that could be derived.

“Heh, what else did they say about you?”

Karon turned his face slightly, looked at Bernard, and smiled. “They actually say that I am the descendant of you and Miss Poelle. Tell me, is that not laughable?”

“That is truly a misunderstanding. They dared to speculate about your identity in such a way, heh. A misunderstanding. Absolutely a misunderstanding. Miss Poelle and I truly loved each other, but we never—”

“Yes, this is a misunderstanding. After Poelle learned of it, she was simply furious.”

Bernard sputtered, “Sh- she- she is still alive?”

“Are you not still alive? Why can’t she also be alive?”

“Did she also come to the island? Was she the one who made you take me out?” This time, Bernard forgot to use the honorifics he had maintained throughout the conversation. One could feel how terrified he was by the possibility that Pu’er might be on the Darkmoon Island.

This terror did not merely come from the disgust she might feel from the love stories Bernard had fabricated, but much more so from...

Karon noticed that Bernard’s eyes were flicking to the side. He was looking at Genevieve’s coffin.

This was enough to show that Pu’er in the past had not only possessed a bad temper, but more importantly, she had also been very powerful.

At home, Pu’er had once said that after she recovered her strength, she would go to Darkmoon Island and dig up Bernard’s grave. However, she had never planned to do such a thing in secret.

Karon shook his head and said, “She didn’t come. She stayed at home.”

“Allen Manor? Hah, I am truly happy. To learn that she is still alive makes me very happy.”

“At my home.”

“At... your... home...”

“She likes when I rub her belly. Every time I rub her belly, she laughs without stopping. She hugs my hand and curls her whole body up.

“She favors the spot on my shoulder. Whenever we are outside, she likes to lean on me there.

“She loves to eat the food I cook. At home, she practically begs me every day to make food for her. For this, she will always agree to my requests, while also forgiving many of my mistakes and offenses.

“Every time I am about to go out, she always reminds me not to look at women outside. Even at home, she constantly emphasizes to me, again and again, that I can only like one person in this life.

“Oh, right. She also sleeps in the same bed as me every night.”

Bernard’s face began to grow flushed. The Darkmoon in the depths of his eyes told him that the man before him was not lying.

Black lightning appeared on his body again, but he immediately retracted the power that he had started gathering inside him due to his anger. His eyes were red, though this redness had nothing to do with the power of Darkmoon.

He commented, “She and you should be the truly suitable pair.”

Karon smiled.

Bernard gritted his teeth and continued, “To become a source of your happiness is my honor.”

Karon nodded.

“So, you came specifically to retaliate against me for her sake?”

“She did once ask me to do that, but at the time, I didn’t particularly want to, as I felt that you were rather pitiful. You sought, but could not obtain, so you could only rely on these fabricated stories to move yourself.”

“Yes. I am a failure. In truth, Miss Poelle never took a liking to me from beginning to end. In her eyes, I was merely a cup of seawater scooped out of the sea, utterly unnecessary.

“I am willing to apologize to you and to Miss Poelle for my former immaturity. I hope you can forgive me. I am not as outstanding as you, and was unable to move her heart.”

“I saw the corpse pit on the island.”

“They were a group of Light vermin!”

“Yes, I know.”

“At the start, when I came into contact with them, I did not know their identity. I even regarded them as good friends. Seeing them drifting on the sea, I kindly took them in. Who would have believed that they actually intended to establish a Church of Light on my Darkmoon Island and turn Darkmoon Island into a base of Light? The Church of Light is a heretical church. How could I allow such a thing to happen? So, after learning their identities, I demanded that they leave, leave my clean island.

“However, they merely put on a show of agreeing while secretly preparing to launch a rebellion to overthrow me and control Darkmoon Island. Left with no choice, I could only kill them. Sigh.

“I hope great Order does not doubt the purity of my Darkmoon Island. I believe my descendants would never collude with Light vermin either. Please believe me, and please believe in Darkmoon Island.”

“When I first saw that corpse pit, I was quite surprised, because not even Poelle realized that you are such a ruthless person. Still, I could understand your choice. Light vermin, after all. Wherever they are, they may cause great trouble in the future.”

“Yes. You are correct.”

“So, at that time, I could understand you.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

“But...” Karon pointed to the two statues before him, then pointed to the coffin beside them. “Lady Genevieve was once Poelle’s good friend, wasn’t she?”

“She had already converted to Light. She was bewitched! I could only choose to treat her this way. In truth, I hoped she would return from the wrong path, but she remained stubborn and unrepentant. Helplessly, I could only, sigh... She too was once a good companion of mine. Treating her this way made my heart ache as well. Truly.

“That is why I specially made statues of myself and Poelle and placed them here, as a memorial to the years we once spent together as companions.”

Karon knew that Bernard was probing, testing how much he knew, while also testing to learn his purpose. “I think that after I return and tell Poelle about this, she will come over and personally overturn your gravestone, then grind your bones to ash.”

“You should understand that when facing Light vermin, how we ought to act. It is only natural that Poelle would hate me because of this, but I do not regret what I did back then. Even if it happened again, I would still do the same.

“These hypocritical Light vermin, skilled at disguise, deserved to die and deserved to be purged! If I had not done this, there would be no Darkmoon Island today. They would have destroyed this beautiful island, and everyone on it would have been buried because of their madness!”

“Mr. Phileas and his believers were a group of good people.”

“How can you say such a thing? They were heretics, devils covered in white cloth! What they were best at was using hypocrisy to bewitch people’s hearts and achieve their filthy goals!”

“Do you know, I actually thought that if I didn’t do this time, then when Poelle learned of it, she would undoubtedly make a special trip to Darkmoon Island in the future to retaliate against you. I thought I might as well do it in her place and save her the trip.

“On top of that, after coming to this island, I discovered that you were not merely fabricating stories to move yourself. You were truly desecrating her, insulting her. After all, she is someone who sleeps in the same bed with me every night. Your behavior made me extremely uncomfortable.”

“I admit my mistake. I admit my—”

Karon snapped one thread. Soulfire rose from Bernard’s chest, burning his soul. This caused him immense pain. He could not endure it and let out a scream.

“Can you not interrupt me when I’m speaking?”

“I will not... I was wrong...”

The soulfire gradually extinguished. Bernard’s face was already deathly pale.

“More importantly, I discovered that Mr. Phileas and his followers truly were a group of good people. I have never seen a group as kind as them.

“You say that if you had not killed them, they would surely have brought destruction to Darkmoon Island in the future. But they did not do that. Even when the opportunity was right before them, they still did not do it.

“You yourself also know how kind they were. I believe even more that, you should know, if you had told them to their faces that you wanted them to leave, they would have chosen to leave and would not have retaliated against you. They would have started a new journey with smiles.”

Bernard fell into silence.

“Sigh. The blame can only fall on me for coming into contact with their kindness. The blame can only fall on their kindness truly moving me and making me truly begin to loathe you.

“But what deserves the most blame is that I suddenly discovered that Mr. Phileas and I are actually so alike. He and I walk the same path. He and I share the same philosophy. He and I have... the same ambition. He is another me, and I am another him.

“Do you know? That one fact alone is enough to increase my loathing toward you by more than a hundredfold.

“Because you killed my comrade.”

“I have begun to fear, fear that what happened to Phileas may one day happen to me as well. I fear that in the future, many years from now, someone will also discover my bones buried somewhere, and after learning of my fate, will pity me in the same way. Heh heh heh...

“I do not know whether such a thing will happen. But if it does, I hope that future person can avenge me, just as I am doing this time.”

Bernard stared at Karon. He did not understand. He truly did not understand what this man before him was saying. Because he did not know that in this world, there were actually people who walked the path of questioning gods and doubting deities.

Karon, whose path had been smooth all along, sensed clearly for the first time the dangers that lay on this road he had chosen.

Would a god truly allow you to climb step by step, rise ever higher, stand before Him, and question Him? Criticize Him?

Perhaps, when you were at your most triumphant, when confidence filled you, when you felt everything was going well, a hand would descend to deliver divine punishment, bestow heavenly condemnation, and destroy everything you possessed.

Just like Phileas and the others. Playing music, singing songs, dancing, introduced by his own wife, they arrived at a beautiful island and met a refined young clan leader.

Then their fate had been thoroughly ended on that island.

How similar that prelude was to Karon’s own present situation. Why had Tiz wanted him to remain with the Immers family? Why, after arranging a marriage for him and leaving so many helpers behind, had Tiz still asked Karon several times whether or not he was truly prepared?

Did Tiz not know that, with Karon’s gifts, rising step by step within ecclesiastical circles was practically inevitable? What else could there have been to worry about?

It was because Tiz had understood long ago that the gods will not sit by and watch things happen.

There was one matter Karon had mentioned earlier but had not pursued. Bernard could have simply asked Phileas and the others to leave. Bernard also believed that Phileas’s kind-hearted group would have cherished all the effort they had poured into Darkmoon Island and would not have retaliated. They might even have taken the initiative to keep their activities on the island a secret, unwilling to see Darkmoon Island draw the attention of the orthodox churches or be implicated because of them.

Yet Bernard had still chosen the most extreme method. He had killed them all.

And after killing everyone, Bernard had entered slumber by a very particular method. What had been the purpose of his extended slumber? What was he waiting for? Who had influenced him, and who had guided him?

An Inquisitor’s robes appeared on Karon’s body. This was not the priest’s robe he wore regularly, but the majesty of Order’s judgment made manifest. “In the name of Order, Bernard, I will judge you.”

Bernard cried out in terror, “No! You cannot do this! I only killed people of Light. I showed no disrespect to Order. You have no right to judge me. Everything I did was in accordance with Order’s stance toward Light! And your judgment of me does not follow Order’s procedures!”

“You are right.” Karon nodded. The phantom of the Inquisitor’s divine robe faded from him.

Bernard let out a long breath. He hoped this was merely pressure, another method to force him into revealing that secret.

Then, a white radiance flashed.

Bernard stared in shock as the phantom of a divine robe of Light appeared over the young man before him. “Yo- you- you actually...”

“In the name of Light, Bernard, I will judge you.”

“...” Bernard.