Luck is a Charm

After leaving the Peace Blossom Court, Zen decided to head back to the Palace Moon Restaurant for an important discussion.

"It's time to ask about Evie's true identity," Zen mumbled softly as he does not want to be embroiled in any more schemes.

He has enough conflict in his head already and adding more would be exceeding the limits he can handle.

Sometime later, Zen arrived at the Palace Moon Restaurant with a solemn expression.

Entering inside, he was once again greeted by Eleanor who showed a devious and bright smile at his arrival.

"You have returned," Eleanor whispered softly as she slowly revealed a bit of leg for Zen to view.

Alas, Zen wasn't in the mood of flirting or doing any naughty things with her at the moment.

"Where is Evie?" Zen asked her, ignoring her seduction.

Eleanor was dumbfounded by his deep tone and almost like he was angered at someone.

'What happened to him?' Eleanor pondered inwardly as she tried to ease the tension.

"Aren't you being a bit cold-hearted to me…" Eleanor said and giggled softly.

Zen shrugged his shoulders before grabbing her wrist. "I am in no mood to joke nor flirt with you at the moment. So please- tell me where Evie is because I have to talk with her."

Eleanor stopped giggling and noticed he was being serious. Her expression soon turned solemn as she said, "Is there something that Madam Evie did wrong to incur your wrath?"

Zen narrowed his eyes but shook his head. "No, I just want to know something from here."

Although still suspicious of his current mood and attitude, Eleanor nodded her head.

"Madam Evie is currently at the office and is in a meeting with some other merchants about the deliveries of goods," Eleanor replied as she pointed at her wrist that was being held by Zen.

Zen was dumbfounded before noticing his hand was grabbing at her wrist extremely hard.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to harm you." Zen apologized as he released his grip and started healing her with some water element.

"The pain may be healed but my heart is already damaged." Eleanor gave a bitter smile as she watched Zen finish healing her.

Zen showed an apologetic expression since he didn't know about Eleanor having another identity as well.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" Zen then asked her lightly.

Eleanor rubbed her chin slightly and pondered for a few moments before smiling at him.

"How about a date with me? There's a place that recently opened and they have some delicious desserts on the menu." Eleanor said gently.

Zen nodded his head.

"Very well then. Once your shift is over, we shall head over there." 

"I'll be waiting here for you."

Sometime later, Zen arrived at Evie's office and heard multiple noises emitting from inside.

Knocking the door slightly, Zen said, "Evie, I have something that I wished to speak with you."

Afterward, Zen opened the door and instantly saw three middle-aged old men dressed in noble clothing.

They were angered as they glared at Zen fiercely.

"Can't you see we're having a discussion with Madam Evie?" One of the middle-aged people shouted in displeasure.

"Hmph, you didn't even have permission to enter the door yet opened it without a care. This is why I hate barbarians that don't know any basic etiquette," Another middle-aged man then added.

Zen stared at those two with a nonchalant expression and said, "And who are you to judge me?"

"You- I'm the biggest merchant around the Kingdom and almost every restaurant here needs my supply to function." The middle-aged man couldn't stand the disrespectfulness from Zen as he stood up and pointed his finger at Zen.

"Enough, our discussion shall be resumed later on the day." Evie suddenly shouted once the situation became heated.

"Madam Evie?" The middle-aged man turned around and glanced at her in surprise.

Meanwhile, Evie returned a fierce glare at him and the middle-aged man lowered his head and nodded.

"I-I understand, Madam Evie." The middle-aged man then said as he started leaving the office and while doing so, he gave a mean look at Zen.

The other two middle-aged men soon followed after without saying anything else.

Once the office became empty, leaving only Zen and Evie, the atmosphere soon became tense when Evie noticed Zen's expression.

'That expression huh…' Evie exclaimed inwardly as she figured their conversation this time wouldn't be light-hearted.

Zen closed the door behind him as he sat down in front of Evie.

"Do you want some of the specially brewed tea?" Evie then offered him a cup of tea that he always wanted.

However, Zen shook his head in reply. 

"No thanks, I'm not thirsty today," Zen said calmly.

Evie knew things weren't ideal when Zen started acting like this as she nodded her head.

"Since you don't wish to drink my specially brewed tea, then what do you want by coming here?" Evie asked gently as she poured herself a cup.

Afterward, she started drinking the tea in a lascivious manner, purposely leaving some of the tea on her lips.

"I believe you should know what I want to ask already." Zen ignored her temptation and directly went to the topic.

Usually, he wouldn't mind wasting time and talking about a bunch of nonsense before going to the topic. However, this time, he was in no mood to do that and wished to get this over his mind already.

"I don't know what you mean by that?" Evie showed a confused expression.

Zen chuckled softly as he nodded his head. "Since you want to act ignorant then I shall be direct. Just what is your identity and why did you create the labyrinth incident?"

Evie wasn't shocked by his question as she expected him to ask her this.

'Seems like I can no longer remain discreet… not like I really try to hide it.' Evie exclaimed inwardly as she nodded her head.

"You should know about the higher world because of that woman in your spiritual core right."

Zen was dumbfounded to realize that Evie knew about the presence of Cecilia.

"Sigh, you are indeed mysterious and powerful if you can somehow detect Cecilia." Zen gave a defeated sigh as he knew he could not compete against her.

"So her name is Cecilia… if I recall correctly, there should be a Sovereign that goes by that name with the last name being Von Henning." Evie suddenly said as she curved her lips upward.

At the same time, Cecilia, who has been keeping quiet, could no longer stay hidden when she heard Evie's words.

She left the mysterious space and appeared in front of Evie with a solemn expression.

"Speak, who are you and how did you know about my family?" Cecilia asked, her emotions becoming unstable and Zen quickly tried to grab her hand, only to end up in failure.

"Damn it, goddamn projection" Zen cursed loudly as he couldn't touch her hand and tried to calm her down.

"Cecilia, calm down and relax your emotion," Zen then urged Cecilia.

However, his advice seemed to be ignored or blocked off as Cecilia remained her fierce expression at Evie and her projection started to become glitchy, almost like it was unable to handle her wrath and wanted to dissipate.

"Answer me," Cecilia shouted in anger.

"You don't have to be so angry, little girl. I have nothing to do with the fall of your Von Henning family." Evie smirked as she suddenly revealed a bit of information.

Meanwhile, Zen became dumbstruck to notice that Evie seemed to know about what happened 10,000 years ago.

"J-Just how old are you Evie?" Zen asked unconsciously without realizing the biggest mistake he committed.

"Isn't it a bit rude for you to ask for a lady's age?" Evie glared at Zen with a menacing smile.

Zen swallowed nervously as he quickly apologized.

Evie smiled at him and said, "You don't need to be so curious since everything will be fine later on."

'That is… when you regain your memories and remember me again.' Evie exclaimed inwardly before looking back at Cecilia.

"How did you know about my family?" Meanwhile, Cecilia couldn't be bothered by that mini-conversation and continued to ask Evie.

This was the first time she has heard anyone knowing about her family besides Karl, her trusted butler, who was waiting for her in the dungeon.

"Obviously I would have heard of it when there were multiple empyreans going against one family," Evie said and started explaining how the event created a huge commotion in the higher world.

Cecilia was dumbfounded and was silent the entire time as she listened to Evie's words about the higher world.

Afterward, she didn't say anything else to Evie and returned to the mysterious space, shocking Zen with her mood.

'Cecilia…' Zen didn't know why but he felt his heart tightened to see Cecilia's depressed mood.

Evie also seemed to realize it as she retrieved a container for Zen. "You can go to pacify her first with this pill."