Basement?

This place was very familiar to Ciel.

Below were only two spaces. One was the secret room where Forte stored his codebook, and the other, a vast space, was Windsor’s collection room—filled with various human heads, butterfly bones, and body specimens.

Bringing me directly here?

Is she relying on that “Reborn” being here, thinking I can’t resist?

Ciel didn’t have any extreme reactions. She just calmly followed behind Windsor.

The maid opened the door. Windsor looked at the passage below, lit by oil lamps, and turned back to Ciel, smiling, “Please don’t mind. Teacher just likes this kind of environment underground.”

After saying that, Windsor directly entered the passage. Ciel followed closely behind Windsor, but her left hand was tense, ready to press the pocket watch in her pocket through her uniform dress at any moment.

As long as it wasn’t an unexpected sonic wave sneak attack like Forte’s, Ciel should be able to evade it using 【Precognitive Sight】. At the very least, she would have time to activate the pocket watch.

The door was barely knocked when a “click-clack” sound of footsteps was heard. The thick wooden door was pulled open, revealing the scene inside to Ciel.

“Teacher Lafayette.”

Windsor bowed respectfully at the entrance.

Ciel didn’t bother with such formalities. Her gaze went directly past Windsor, sweeping towards the one who opened the door…

A “person.”

That was a strange monster, only slightly humanoid. It was thin and bony, its height only reaching Ciel’s knees. Its skin was so dark that its features were almost indistinguishable.

The monster’s slender limbs ended in four almost identical four-fingered claws. Pale pink membranes connected them, and a thin membrane of flesh connected its hands and waist—it looked like a hairless flying squirrel that had mutated into a human form.

Ciel’s eyes narrowed slightly, but the monster, after opening the door, hunched over and crawled into the underground collection room on all fours, running towards the operating table. Ciel also looked up in the direction it moved.

“Squeak—”

A high-pitched sound came from its mouth. A figure sitting beside the operating table, completely shrouded in a white coat, slowly turned and looked towards the entrance.

She wore a thick cotton gauze mask and black goggles on her face. Bandages on her hands and neck covered all the skin that could potentially be exposed—not an inch of skin was visible on her entire body.

A muffled voice came from the woman’s mouth through the cotton gauze mask.

“Little Windsor… is that your female friend?”

Her accent was a bit stiff, not sounding like a local of Ansu. Moreover, when asking about this in Ansu language, she wouldn’t specifically emphasize the word “female”—unless her native language had a specific word for female friend.

Furthermore, the surname “Lafayette” that Windsor used was not an Ansu surname… but it was the surname of a famous historical family in Pharos, the neighboring country.

“A friend I recently met… Her mind seems to have some issues. I would like to ask you to take a look at her.”

Windsor walked in and said.

“Heh heh heh… That is indeed fortunate timing… I will be leaving in two days.”

Lafayette let out a muffled laugh. She looked up in Ciel’s direction and said, “Hello, child.”

“(Pharos language) It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency Lafayette.”

Ciel slightly lowered her head and greeted in fluent Pharos language.

“(Pharos language) Your Pharos language is very standard, child, heh heh heh…”

Lafayette looked in Ciel’s direction, laughing deeply. She switched back to Ansu language and said, “But please use Ansu language. Otherwise, she won’t understand.”

“Of course.”

Ciel smiled slightly, her peripheral vision observing the furnishings in the collection room.

The cabinets by the wall were still filled with jars of human remains. However, there were many fewer butterfly bones hanging from the ceiling… It seemed Windsor would kill many people in the next hundred days.

But with a strange “Reborn” present, these things seemed more reasonable…

“I can understand… Teacher Lafayette.”

A hint of awkwardness appeared on Windsor’s face. She argued, seemingly trying to save face.

Pharos language was a compulsory subject for nobles. Windsor had been exposed to it since childhood, so it was naturally impossible for her to completely not understand it. Of course, if you asked her to write it, she really wouldn’t know how to—she would go to any lengths to avoid studying.

“Heh heh heh…”

Lafayette looked at Windsor and smiled. Her gaze turned to Ciel. She raised her hand and slowly beckoned to Ciel. “Child, come here and let me see you.”

Ciel hesitated for a second, but she still chose to go forward and walked to Lafayette.

Lafayette raised her left hand. Her cold left hand, wrapped in bandages, held Ciel’s right hand. Then she raised her right hand and gently pressed the metal rim of the black goggles on her face.

Click—

The ink-black round lens flicked up, revealing Lafayette’s grayish-white pupils, which were covered in red veins. However, she could only see two round eyeballs, as if there were no eyelids covering her eyes.

Even without the round lens, Ciel couldn’t see any of her skin… as if she had no skin at all.

Almost the moment the black round lens flicked open, Lafayette’s left hand holding Ciel’s right hand released its grip as if it had been electrocuted. She suddenly raised her head, looked towards Ciel’s calm eyes, and a hint of fear appeared in her heart.

“What is your name?”

Lafayette finally asked for Ciel’s name, no longer calling her “child.”

“Ciel.”

Lafayette stared into Ciel’s eyes. After a long while, she slowly raised her hand and pressed the round lenses on both sides of her goggles, covering her eyeballs again.

“You must have had very peculiar experiences, Ciel… How did you end up like this?”

Lafayette finally stopped laughing “heh heh” with every sentence. She looked at Ciel and asked, “You… saw something?”

Lafayette’s question couldn’t stump Ciel. She could even completely explain how her mind had become like this without lying at all.

“I was at the Deton Manor sacrifice in Berren City. I witnessed the descent of that Other Side creature with my own eyes.”

Ciel slightly lowered her head and replied, “At that time, I hadn’t become a transcendent yet.”

Witnessed a ritual of an evil deity descending, performed by cultists, when she was still an ordinary person? No wonder…

Looking at the Deton Group uniform Ciel was wearing, Lafayette basically believed Ciel’s explanation. The sacrifice case in Berren City was a big commotion, but it ended abruptly. Even the Queen’s Sword people who went there hadn’t investigated anything.

“So that’s it…”

Lafayette nodded. She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then looked at Ciel and asked, “Miss Ciel, what do you think of the Church of the God of Order…?”

Church of the God of Order?

Is Lafayette from the Church of the God of Order?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com