The Celestial Sect?
Hastur actually knew something about this organization. He remembered it as a cult that worshipped the Mother Tree of Desire, and what they were best at was making people have children.
A true sect of desire and reproduction.
Hastur asked in confusion, "Have I been targeted by them?"
"No. But the method used to set up these blood-red spheres is very similar to theirs."
"It does resemble them, everything meant to awaken the desires within the human body, and then conceive a child at the peak of pleasure."
Sharon looked at Hastur for a moment and said nothing more.
"Ahem… my understanding of them only comes from books. I've never experienced it personally," Hastur quickly added.
Sharon said flatly, "Which book did you read that in?"
Hastur forced a smile. "That's not important. What matters is that the people from this sect are not good."
He couldn't exactly say he learned it from Mr. Fool, could he?
"So how do you plan to handle this?" Sharon's gaze fell on the bedding on the ground, which wriggled from time to time.
"Will something happen if we just leave it alone?"
"Not sure."
"The purification ability of a Beyonder from the Sun pathway should work, right?"
"Perhaps."
Sharon had no experience with such matters either. She had never gone through them herself, only knew that such a sect existed.
Hastur and Sharon looked at each other for a while, then both turned their gazes away.
Sharon spoke, "Do you need me to investigate?"
Hastur shook his head. "No need. Let's wait until we leave this place, then settle accounts with them properly."
This wasn't a suitable place to take action. After all, nobles had to maintain appearances, things couldn't be made too obvious and reported back to Backlund.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, the pair of sisters lying on the ground finally recovered from the enchanting, dreamlike state of the previous night.
They glanced at each other and saw the blush on each other's faces. What happened last night kept lingering in their minds; every time they recalled it, their hearts would race and their bodies would inexplicably soften.
Could it be that the young lord preferred men?
Otherwise, even in the state they had been in last night, no man should have remained unmoved, right?
Nobles really were complicated. Such a handsome young noble, yet he had developed that kind of… unusual preference.
"Meow!" Ariella padded over with small steps, her deep blue eyes fixed on them, frightening them into quickly hiding under the covers.
"Ariella, come here."
Hastur beckoned, and Ariella leapt into his arms, allowing him to stroke her head.
After Hastur got up and left the room with Ariella in his arms, the two finally let out a sigh of relief. They secretly glanced outside, and only when they saw the door closed and no one else in the room did they begin whispering softly.
The younger girl hugged the blanket tightly, resting her chin on it, her eyes reddening. "Sister, what should we do? This noble lord has no interest in us at all. If the Duke finds out we failed our task, he'll definitely torture us to death."
The other girl patted her cold hand and comforted her softly, "It's okay. We still have a chance. We'll succeed in bearing this noble lord's child."
"Sister, that noble lord is really young and handsome. Before coming here, I was worried he'd be some pot-bellied middle-aged noble."
"No matter how handsome, a noble is still a noble. None of them are good. This world shouldn't have such creatures as nobles!"
"Shh, sister, we should be careful in case someone hears us."
On the table, an ancient mirror flickered faintly.
Inside the villa, Hastur strolled around, pretending to take a walk but actually observing. Along the way, the servants he encountered, especially the maids, couldn't help but show fear on their faces, as if this place were a demonic den, a prison.
By noon, the Duke of Southville had yet to appear. When Hastur tried to take his leave, the butler stopped him, saying the Duke had ordered that he be well entertained. If he left early, everyone responsible would be severely punished.
After thinking for a moment, Hastur proposed going out for a stroll. The butler quickly arranged a carriage for him, thoughtfully followed by two soldiers on horseback.
That evening, the Duke appeared again and personally hosted a banquet for Hastur, his words filled with envy.
He said that in his youth, he had been just as young and handsome, attracting attention everywhere, from noble ladies to common girls, none could resist his charm.
With a gentle smile on his face, Hastur quietly listened as the Duke boasted about his past romantic exploits, not mentioning any serious matters.
Logically speaking, Hastur had been sent by the king to help guard the coastline. The Duke should have handed over some authority of the coastal port towns to him.
At the very least, he should have introduced the current coastal defense situation of Southville County.
But the Duke clearly had no intention of bringing up such matters. Hastur wasn't in a hurry either, taking a share of someone else's cake was never easy.
It wasn't until three days later, when Hastur once again requested to leave, that the Duke reluctantly allowed him to go.
The one seeing him off was the royal family member sent by the previous Duke, Derby Augustus.
By seniority, Derby Augustus was the nephew of the previous Duke and of the same generation as the current one.
"Don't think that just because you've arrived in Southville County you can exercise your count's authority and throw your weight around. I'll be watching you closely. Hmph, don't let me catch you doing anything wrong."
Faced with such undisguised threats, Hastur could only seriously remind him that the roads in Southville County were muddy, and riding a horse could be slippery.
As a result, along the way, the extremely unlucky Derby Augustus fell off his horse three times.
Twice he nearly had his head trampled by hooves, and once, most unfortunately, he fell face-first into a stream of warm horse urine.
….
"Did you succeed?"
Inside the villa, the Duke of Southville lay on the bed, while the pair of sisters who had spent three nights with Hastur knelt on the floor.
The two girls lowered their heads until they touched the ground, their voices trembling. "We… we don't know…"
"Don't know? That's new. How can you not know something like this?" The Duke laughed in anger.
"We really don't know. Every time we entered the room, we quickly fell asleep. When we woke up in the morning, our clothes had been pulled open, and there were strange scratch marks on our bodies. But whether anything actually happened… we don't know."
Tears streamed down their faces as they spoke. They only remembered the first night. On the second and third nights, they felt drowsy as soon as they entered the room, and by the time they woke, it was already dawn, with red scratch marks on their bodies.
The Duke ordered someone to pull open their clothes, and sure enough, over a dozen scratch marks, some deep, some shallow, were found on their backs.
"Could it be that this young count enjoys this kind of play?"
"Heh, quite the taste. No wonder someone with such looks has so few romantic rumors in Backlund."
After thinking for a while, the Duke waved his hand, ordering the girls to be taken away and well cared for, lest freshly blooming flowers wither too soon.
….
As soon as Hastur's group stepped off the steam train, Derby Augustus immediately changed his earlier decision to accompany Hastur to the castle. Instead, he sent two attendants with Hastur while he remained in the city, letting Mayor Ron host him.
Hastur found this quite regrettable, after all, the journey had been far more entertaining thanks to Derby Augustus.
Switching to a carriage and returning to the castle, Hastur only gave a brief explanation to Caius, who immediately understood and led the two attendants away.
With the methods of the Yellow-Robed Monks, dealing with two ordinary attendants was trivial. They were quickly brainwashed, and even their memories were reshaped.
After handling that matter, Caius reported on the road construction progress. It would take about half a month to fully complete, mainly because there were too many plantations in Hastur's territory.
Once that was done, Caius lowered his voice and said, "Madam Lisa wishes to see you. Would you like to meet her?"
"What do you think?" Hastur tossed the question back to him.
Bracing himself, Caius said, "Madam Lisa is a very kind person. Without her, our organization would have long gone astray."
"Then let's meet her." Hastur agreed, his evaluation of Caius rising slightly.
With Caius's intelligence, it was impossible he didn't realize that Madam Lisa's arrival could threaten his current position, even replace him as steward. Yet he was still willing to speak on her behalf. Besides her good character, his own nature played an important role.
"Greetings, Your Holiness, Pope!"
In the study, Madam Lisa's very first words nearly left Hastur at a loss.
He knew she had come to yield, but he hadn't expected such a complete submission.
Caius, standing to the side, widened his eyes in shock at the same words.
The Pope was the highest leader among the Yellow-Robed Monks. Until now, Madam Lisa and Cardiff had acted more like divine envoys guiding others, never overstepping to claim the title of Pope.
With an inscrutable smile, Hastur said, "I don't recall ever saying I wanted to become your Pope."
Madam Lisa bowed. "Only you are qualified to become our Pope and lead us forward."
"What qualification?"
Hastur truly couldn't grasp her meaning. The person who had appeared that night to kill Cardiff was someone entirely different from himself, she couldn't possibly have discovered that it was his divine descent vessel.
Madam Lisa's expression grew even more respectful as she murmured in a faint, hoarse voice:
"The twin suns sink into the lake, their long shadows falling…
Twins suns, one of light, one of darkness."