The small courtyard was quiet. With Roman and Tom off to school, the house felt somewhat empty.

Bella was a shy person, and Troy didn't like to talk much. When Luo Wei came downstairs, there was no one rushing over to call her "Miss" excitedly.

Ah, suddenly she felt a twinge of empty nest syndrome.

Luo Wei walked into the small garden she had created with her own hands and found Troy gazing into the distance from the apple tree by the courtyard wall.

"Troy, can we talk?"

Troy looked down from the tree: "About what?"

"Come down first, then we'll talk."

Troy jumped down, his green eyes glancing at her briefly before looking elsewhere: "Go ahead."

Luo Wei thought it strange. Troy had been very cold for the past month, always quickly averting his gaze when he saw her, as if looking at her would burn his eyes.

She shifted her position, determined to stand in front of him, and asked with narrowed eyes, "Troy, you're a follower of the Dark God, aren't you?"

Troy's pupils contracted violently for a moment before he shook his head: "No, I'm not."

"Liar," Luo Wei took a step forward, trying to observe his expression through the mask, "If you're not, why did you agree to my employment as soon as you heard me say that in the tavern?"

Troy pressed his lips tightly together, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword so hard that the veins on the back of his hand bulged.

"Are you a follower of the God of the Dead?"

Troy suddenly looked up at her, a flash of killing intent in his eyes.

"Don't be nervous, I won't report you. I don't dislike the Dark Gods. On the contrary, I'm very interested in them."

Troy's eyes showed surprise, then his pupils darkened, and he warned her in a hoarse voice: "Curiosity will get you killed. Don't try to touch anything related to the Dark Gods. Be careful not to play with fire."

Luo Wei quickly reached out and touched his arm: "Like this?"

Troy jerked back as if he'd been pricked by a needle, covering his arm: "You!"

"What about me?" Luo Wei stepped in front of him again and poked him once more, "What's wrong with just touching?"

Troy reacted as if he'd been molested, suddenly retreating seven or eight steps, looking at her with his whole body stiff.

"You, you're a girl!"

"What else would I be?" Luo Wei approached step by step, "If I'm not a girl, am I a boy?"

Troy watched her hand warily, shuddering when she raised it, as if his hair was standing on end.

"Don't touch me!" he warned in a low voice.

But this time Luo Wei didn't touch him. Instead, she reached for his face, her slender, delicate fingers stopping a foot away from his cheek.

"Troy, what does your face look like under that mask?"

"I..." Troy moved his lips, then suddenly turned his back to her.

His hoarse voice came: "It's ugly, not good-looking."

"I don't believe it. Your eyes are so beautiful, I can't believe you're ugly."

Troy stood with his back to her, muscles tense, his fingers loosening then quickly tightening again.

"Troy," Luo Wei couldn't reach his ear even on tiptoe, so she had no choice but to move in front of him, looking up as she said, "No matter what you look like, you're beautiful in my eyes."

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After all, most Westerners looked the same to her. She was face-blind and basically recognized people only by their hair and eye color.

"Troy, let's exchange secrets, okay? You let me see your face, and I'll tell you one of my secrets."

Troy covered his mask tightly and stepped back, turning away again: "No."

Luo Wei's temper flared: "If you won't show me, is it because you have a Dark God's mark on your forehead?"

Troy's whole body trembled: "No!"

"Such a big reaction, and you still say no?" Luo Wei hadn't expected to actually trick it out of him. With mixed feelings, she asked, "Which Dark God's mark is it? Is it the God of the Dead, Otilette?"

"Are you His chosen one?"

"Strange, even if you have His mark, you don't need to wear a mask all the time, right? As long as you don't deliberately reveal it, no one would see it."

Troy's back stiffened. He turned around and said decisively: "I'm not His follower. I don't believe in gods. The Day of Descent is coming soon. I'll prove it to you then."

"The Day of Descent?" Luo Wei remembered that in this world, November 1st each year was designated as the Day of Descent, believed to be the day when the gods descended.

"Why prove it on the Day of Descent? Why not now?"

Troy's tone was odd: "Because only on the Day of Descent will the temple doors open wide and sprinkle true holy water. Everyone will go to the temple square to receive the baptism of holy water."

"Isn't that holy water fake?" Luo Wei was confused. She remembered Barton saying that the holy water he drank as a child was just scooped up from a well by the priest.

"The holy water on that day is not fake," Troy's eyes deepened, "In fact, only the holy water on that day is real."

"The gods will bestow upon the holy water the power to dispel evil. If I were a follower of the Dark God, I would be burned to ashes by the holy water."

Luo Wei's eyelids twitched, her heart starting to pound.

Heaven really loved to play jokes on her. One moment it let her feel proud and content, the next it plunged her into despair.

Suddenly, those big wings didn't seem so appealing anymore.

The holy water baptism on the Day of Descent... surely they wouldn't force everyone to participate, right?

Back at school, Luo Wei took out the turtle shell she hadn't used in a long time.

Ever since the last time when her divination showed good fortune, but she was attacked by fake thugs that same day, Luo Wei hadn't really trusted her divination results.

Moreover, after that day, her divinations returned to the state of her first attempt - just looking at the star chart made her dizzy and nauseous, and she would feel weak for a long time after exiting her mental world.

As her coursework became increasingly demanding, she needed to focus her energy elsewhere, so she dared not divine casually anymore.

Those fortune tellers in her past life often said that revealing heavenly secrets would result in the punishment of five misfortunes and three lacks.

She didn't care much about being widowed, orphaned, or childless, but lacking wealth and life among the three lacks really hit her weak spots.

Wealth and life, she couldn't afford to lack either!

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she picked up the turtle shell and began to enter a meditative state with full concentration.

In her mental world, a myriad of stars and orbits formed a beautiful celestial landscape.

Luo Wei gazed at the sky, standing on a giant turtle shell, and asked the first life-or-death question.

"Will the Day of Descent bring me good or bad fortune?"

The Great Fire Star constellation lit up again, foretelling danger.

This result, Luo Wei could somewhat accept.

Danger meant that although there was risk, it wasn't necessarily a death sentence.

The second question: "What should I do to turn misfortune into good fortune?"

Suddenly, the Great Fire Star constellation burst into a blinding red light. The stars in the sky began to fall one by one as if they had lost gravity, hurtling towards her wrapped in scorching celestial fire.

Luo Wei looked up, her dark pupils burned crimson by the deep red flames. Her entire mental world melted into a sea of lava.

"Boom—"

She opened her eyes, crouching down and clutching her exploding head.

The stars were telling her that this ordeal was unavoidable.

If she tried to escape, it would only lead to certain death.

Luo Wei gasped for air, her blurry eyes shedding involuntary tears. The burning sensation of the fierce fire gradually faded as the tears flowed, and cool air rushed into her body.

Was this burning sensation what it would feel like when the holy water touched her?

Luo Wei wiped away the useless tears from her face and stood up, supporting herself on the chair.

This kind of pain was definitely not something she could endure by sheer will. Even if she could last until the end of the Day of Descent, if the holy water burned her skin, others would immediately see that she was a follower of the Dark God.

She had to think of another way.

At least something that would make it appear as if the holy water didn't affect her.

Luo Wei's gaze deepened. She remembered that the advanced magic apprentices learned a spell called the Transformation Spell.

To be continued