Mystery: Lucky One

After taking a long sip of sweet iced tea, Alice successfully put the incident aside and remembered Mr. Dwayne Dantes, who claimed to be from Dixie.

“I wonder if Klein will hold a party…” she muttered.

The few times she attended banquets in Backlund had made Alice define banquets that were supposed to be used for socializing as "an occasion to eat free ice cream." As for the impact this would have on Mr. Dwayne Dantès... she had never considered it at all.

After taking another sip of her sweet iced tea, Alice started walking home.

By the time she returned to her home after stopping and starting many times, the journey that was originally only half an hour had been delayed to nearly two hours.

So Alice met Leonard, who had been waiting for a long time, at the door of her house.

Logically speaking, Alice's purpose in leaving the address was not to let Leonard come and wait, she just wanted to leave an address where she could send letters - I have to mention here that according to the police's feedback, the house had been re-rented by the landlord, and all the letters from when Alice was away were taken away.

As for the new tenant...it was of course Miss Selwyn Muggeridge, whom I had only met once, if that was still her name.

Back to the topic, when Alice saw Leonard waiting at the door from afar, she realized that her words at that time might have caused some misunderstanding.

It was already evening, time to get off work. Mr. Leonard Mitchell had a particularly eye-catching face. During this period of time, Alice had seen quite a few girls passing by and peeking at this gentleman.

——God knows how long he has been waiting here.

Alice shook her head, pulled up the hood of her robe, adjusted the monocle on her right eye, and walked to stand in front of Leonard.

When those anxious and eager green eyes fell on her, Alice thought she would hear something, like a question, or concern - there must be something.

But she heard nothing.

Leonard was very quiet, a rare silence. He looked at Alice and said nothing.

Alice opened her mouth, but again no words came out.

That’s great, it seems that he has at least matured a lot... Alice thought so, but she couldn’t feel relieved.

Because she realized that this was not the idea she had in the past - not only her old friends had changed, but also herself.

She already looked down on other people, even those she had known in the past.

So in the end, Alice just sighed softly, looked up at the sky, and said in a soft and ethereal voice:

"Long time no see, Leonard."

At the same time, she added in her mind:

"Goodbye, Leonard."

It was not until this time that Alice finally woke up and realized that no matter what her relationship with the "mortals" was in the past, at least now, they were two species.

Even she herself had that kind of arrogance and disdain for a long time, and it wasn't even developed after she left Tingen City - at the very beginning, she was arrogant because of her "luck".

In a way, she has never actually considered herself the same as other people, but she has always been asking others to do the same, but when others do this, they cannot make her unhappy...

...What a bad idea.

When Alice realized her true state of mind, she instinctively frowned.

If someone treated me like this, I would hate Him from the bottom of my heart... Alice sighed, glanced at Leonard, and suppressed the mumbling on the tip of her tongue.

…I’ll go talk to Miss Justice some other day.

In the midst of complicated thoughts, not much time actually passed. After Leonard looked at her intently for more than ten seconds, he asked as if nothing had happened:
"Should I still call you Alice?"

This was a test of her attitude, and Alice understood it, but she glanced at Leonard and inexplicably felt that something was wrong.

——She always felt that if Leonard hadn't been concerned about her being a girl, he would have grabbed her and asked her a bunch of questions without even thinking about it.

For example, whether Klein is still alive.

Alice had even thought about how to make it up - her hand had already touched the tarot cards in her pocket, ready to take them out and let Leonard draw a card.

Yes, she was ready to leave the job of explanation to Klein himself, the great Mr. Fool.

But things had come to this point. Alice thought for a moment, then smiled socially and said to Leonard:

"Of course, at least until now, you can still call me that.

“However, perhaps in the near future, this name will become a taboo that cannot be spoken out loud, and become… well, it shouldn’t be a secret, the name of the night will be a secret.

"Shouting my name will probably bring bad luck or something, right?
"Oh no, if I shout in Loen language, it shouldn't have any effect, right? I guess I should shout in a language that can mobilize natural forces, such as ancient Hermes, Dragon Language, Elven Language, etc...."

In front of the red-gloved man, Alice called him the disrespectful name "Night".

She has always been like this, calling the goddess "goddess" in front of the goddess, and calling the night in front of other people; in the Church of Night, she is the goddess's favorite, and outside the Church of Night, the night is her favorite.

If Alice felt a little guilty at first, she felt more at ease after knowing that the goddess would probably look at her from time to time - because the goddess didn't seem to intend to care.

But her words revealed more than just this one name.

The true name of the true God carries two pieces of information: power and the existence of Sequence 0. This is no secret to Leonard, who has an ancient archangel hidden in his body.

Therefore, he understood the hint in Alice's words.

God is so awesome...

Leonard looked at Alice with horror in his eyes. He had a lot of questions in his heart. At this moment, it seemed inappropriate for him to say anything.

Alice didn't plan to let him speak. She took out the tarot cards she had been planning for a long time. After unfolding the cards, Alice realized a problem.

"Wait a moment," she said calmly to Leonard.

Next, Alice calmly spread out the tarot cards in her hand, picked out the twenty-two main cards from the middle, and then stuffed the remaining fifty-six cards back into her pocket. She shuffled the twenty-two main cards, turned the cards back to Leonard, and unfolded them in her hand again, saying to Leonard, "Pick one."

This calm and flustered moment instantly destroyed the temperament just now. Leonard was stunned for a moment, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity arose in his heart. For a moment, Leonard felt that the Alice in front of him seemed to be the same Alice in Tingen City.

But this was impossible. He had matured a lot after all. He was in a daze for just a moment before he came to his senses and reached out for the deck of tarot cards.

She didn't cheat like Klein did - Klein once described how he made others draw the cards they wanted.

Since our great Mr. Fool has never dealt Tarot cards offline and has always dealt them online, the twenty-two main cards he materialized could all be the same card.

I’m not like Klein who needs to cheat… Alice muttered to herself as she increased the probability of Leonard drawing the “Star” card.

She watched Leonard reach for the tarot cards, then quickly pulled the entire deck back. Seeing Leonard's bewildered expression, she pursed her lips and asked:
"I say, old gentleman from the Zoroastrian family.

“There’s no need to test me on this matter, right?

"Or do you thieves and liars just like to provoke others?
"After all, your rival, the most powerful thief in the world, was brought up by the top 'provocateur'~"

No one spoke. Leonard, who was sandwiched between the two of them, clearly felt the oppression of the mythical creature and realized that he might have been involved in a struggle that he shouldn't have been involved in.

That was not all. When Alice saw the probability of the "Lovers" card increased and the probability of the "Star" card decreased, she was really angry. So she used the skill she had just learned not long ago to elevate her spirituality and glared at Pales Zoroast through the unique vision of an angel.

The glance was harmless, but it was apparently enough as a deterrent, and when Alice took out the tarot cards again, the probability had returned to what she needed.

"Take one." She turned to Leonard again.

Leonard didn't dare to move until an old voice that was faintly weak rang out:
"Please draw one."

He breathed a sigh of relief for some reason, reached out and pulled out a card from the twenty-two cards, and turned it over - it was, as expected, the "Star" card.

Alice immediately closed the tarot cards in her hand, put them back in her pocket, and smiled at Leonard:
"Welcome, Mr Star.

"If you have any questions, just say the Fool's Honored Name.

"I think you should know what the Fool's honorific name is, right?"

Leonard certainly knew what the Fool's honorific name was, but Alice's identity and her words seemed to reveal something. He looked at Alice with some uncertainty and said hesitantly:

“The Fool? You… no, you and the Fool, and the Goddess…?”

Alice immediately crossed her hands, made a refusal gesture, and said firmly:

“I’m not responsible for answering questions for newcomers!
"If you really want to ask, then just... just...

"Well, let's just assume that Dark Night and Fool are both my followers!"

Alice raised her chin and said something in a natural manner that was terrifying to the red glove, then turned around nonchalantly and prepared to push the door and go home.

When her hand was on the door handle, she suddenly stopped moving, turned around as if she remembered something, and walked back to Leonard in two or three steps. She took the "Star" card from Leonard's hand and put it in her pocket.

Next, Alice prepared to leave for the second time as if nothing had happened.

Leonard didn't react until this moment. He didn't care about the "Star" card that was taken away. He asked Alice, who was about to leave, a question he had wanted to ask for a long time:
"That's you too Briar Rose, right?"

This was a question he had carefully thought about and prepared, because it was Miss Briar Rose who told him that the protagonist of the era would push open the coffin lid.

He came in a hurry and did not have the time or the memory to check Briar Rose's file for the second time. In the last file he checked, Briar Rose's identity had not yet been linked to Alice Kingsley - at that time, Alice Kingsley was still dead.

Therefore, Leonard only knew that there was something wrong with this lady, and when Alice reported the address belonging to Briar Rose, he realized this possibility.

Leonard wanted to confirm this, because based on his impression of Alice - if those impressions were credible, then Alice would not casually reveal her identity, she would only reveal the identities of others to trick them.

For example, to trick Klein who also crawled out of the grave.

Of course, this is based on the premise that they still keep in touch and have a good relationship.

Alice didn't think too much about it. To her, Briar Rose's identity was almost an open secret. As for Klein's secret - since the goddess was watching her, it was easy to judge whether this secret that was not revealed above the gray fog could be told.

After all, under the authority of secrecy, secrets that cannot be told really cannot be told.

Alice then admitted the incident without any code, and even emphasized it to Leonard:
“It’s me.

"What's wrong? Do you want to go back and see... whether the protagonist of the era has pushed open the grave and climbed out?"

This was almost a clear indication. Leonard clenched his fist and was about to say something, but Alice left without hesitation.

She closed the door and returned to the room. Then she put on a bright smile, walked to the sofa with steady but quick steps, sat down, and prayed with curved lips:

"The fool who does not belong to this era,
"The mysterious master above the gray fog,

"The king of yellow and black who controls good luck,

"Great Fool...your secret has been exposed."

The tone was brisk and mixed with unconcealable excitement. After praying, Alice opened her eyes again, leaned back on the sofa, and took out the twenty-two cards again.

The reason why Alice snatched the "Star" card back from Leonard at the last minute was nothing else but because - not to mention that no one in the world sells a single Tarot card, they are sold in packs. Even if there are, Alice doesn't want to spend money to buy it.

Thinking of this, Alice put away her excitement and sighed heavily:

"I really envy him at times like this...

“Although he did have to cheat to get people to draw the cards he wanted, but…

"He ruined a deck of tarot cards without letting anyone draw a card!" (End of this chapter)