Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

Benjamin wanted to deliberately let Esther take on the illusion of "Xiao Qi" without letting Esther notice this. Judging from her continuous softening of attitude, this plan should be quite successful.

However, Benjamin always felt a little troubled for no reason. The magpie flapped its wings again, flew up in the small carriage, and landed on Esther's shoulder.

Standing on the shoulders was actually not stable on Esther's head, because Benjamin maintained his strength cautiously and did not dare to get too close to Esther's ears - that would definitely make her notice something obvious.

Even though the rabbit glared at her, Esther made no move to drive away the magpie. She leaned quietly against the carriage, as if she was just a scarecrow letting the magpie land.

So Benjamin folded his wings more boldly, squatted down, and raised his head at the rabbit: "Don't be so nervous, I am not interested in children like you, you are too weak."

Esther subconsciously raised her hand, wanting to poke the magpie's breasts that were swollen with pride, but she stopped before touching the feathers, and seemed to just point at the proud magpie:

"It's very childish for you to provoke the rabbit like this, Mr. Benjamin. As you said, he is just a child, and it doesn't bother you, right?"

Benjamin did not comment on this. The boy was still in the carriage, which was enough reason for Benjamin to dislike him.

But of course these words could not be said out loud. The magpie preened its feathers and said vaguely: "Is it because you take care of him so much because he is special to you?"

"Didn't you hear what I said before? He's my cousin."

The magpie looked at the boy: "Is he also the 'thief' you want to train?"

The rabbit's eyes suddenly widened. This special name made the boy keenly aware that it might be related to Esther's ability: "Stealer? What is that?"

Esther's tone became quite serious: "Mr. Benjamin, please don't mention this in front of Rabbit. He is just an ordinary person, and I have no... no intention of treating him as a disciple."

Rabbit was a little discouraged, but he still stared at Esther. In addition to curiosity, there was also a trace of desire in his eyes. He really wanted to know more about this.

"Are they just ordinary passers-by?" Magpie asked with a bit of malice, his black eyes staring at the red-faced boy with a smile.

"No!" the rabbit retorted subconsciously, but soon became silent again. He just stared at the magpie with an annoyed face, wanting to pluck out its long and arrogant upturned tail feathers.

But Rabbit just thought about it. What happened yesterday still left him with lingering fears. It was impossible for him to change his attitude towards Benjamin. He would only feel that this man was more insidious and had tried every means to deceive Esther's trust.

The rabbit started from the wrong idea, but came to the right judgment.

Esther twisted her fingers together and stared at the window in concentration. It was obvious that her mind was not at the moment. It's just that no matter how much magpie observes, he can't figure out what she is thinking.

Even with that memory, Benjamin cannot understand the "change" in Xiao Qi or Xiao Wu, nor the change in Esther now.

So Benjamin simply asked. With the "memory of getting along" with the other two clones, he knew what to do to make Esther more accepting. Appropriate honesty is the best:

"Is it because of me? If you are worried that I will be angry because of this uneducated child, then you can rest assured, I promised you not to attack him."

Esther sighed: "Even if you say this... I'm not worried about you. I just hope you won't bully Rabbit anymore. If he was rude before, I can apologize to you on his behalf."

Magpie looked at Esther silently, and after a few seconds said, "You have nothing to do with him, so why should you apologize for him?"

The magpie turned to the direction of the rabbit: "Let me ask you, if I give you a chance, will you drive me away without hesitation?"

"Absolutely," Rabbit muttered quietly.

Esther shook her head troubledly: "Forget it, Mr. Benjamin, I don't think you are much more mature than Rabbit. It's me who thinks highly of you..."

Rabbit carefully looked at Esther's expression: "I can bear it."

Esther patted the rabbit's head twice to express comfort, and then stared absently out of the window. Her brows were slightly raised. Although she didn't look sad, she seemed to be deep in thought.

The magpie squatted on her shoulder. After noticing that the rabbit secretly rolled his eyes again, the magpie sneered, simply closed his eyes and stopped paying attention to the bored boy.

Benjamin could guess what Esther was reminiscing about.

The sense of familiarity he deliberately brought was to evoke Esther's memories and to deceive her with actions rather than words.

Esther is not an "audience". The lies contained in her words will touch Zoya's special perception, but her actions will not.

Benjamin wanted to see if she would actually be willing to give him trust.

Anyway, taking Esther to the "Hermitage of Destiny" is also about acting. Benjamin knew that if he wanted to make things more interesting, he could also design some small traps to make her the target of public criticism.

Benjamin doesn't have much purpose, and he doesn't bother to find out where the new "Fool" behind Zoya comes from. That is something that the ontology needs to consider, and it is not Benjamin Jacob's...

Magpie shook his head, feeling that something was wrong.

——

The sky was exceptionally clear in the afternoon, and the weather today was so pleasant.

Even though there is an industrial area in Tingen, there is no lingering haze like Backlund.

At the junction of Red Moon Street and Peverell Street, many people are enjoying the afternoon sunshine in Bloom Garden Square, which is open to the public.

The two pavilions in the center have been occupied by ladies from wealthy families. On the tables are carefully selected tea sets for guests to praise, and small portions of snacks are placed on three-layer trays. The maids and butlers are all staying in the pavilions. Outside, they are always waiting for their master to ring the bell and call them.

On the outside, there are large square lawns and tree-lined avenues planned by roads, and there are benches for tourists to rest.

As the publicity attached to its name suggests, this garden square belongs to Viscount Bloom, a follower of the Night Goddess who, out of the vanity of his reputation for kindness, opened the originally private garden to the public.

Although he repeatedly emphasized that his family had achieved outstanding achievements in the "White Rose War", those were all piles of yellow paper hundreds of years ago.

Today, Mr. Viscount’s greatest and only most talked-about achievement is that ordinary citizens of Tingen can also walk in this garden square, and it has allowed him to gain huge increases in the value of several family properties around him.

Looking out from the bedroom of Viscount Bloom's mansion, you can see this lush garden and the people visiting it. Mr. Viscount, who was praised as "generous", even invited a well-known painter to paint the entire landscape and send it to his friends who lived in Backlund to see it.

Anyway, the residents living nearby and the viscount himself were very satisfied with the result.

In the northwest corner of Bloom Garden Square, an old man wearing a classic black robe with neat white hair sat in the shade of a tree, holding a walnut cane inlaid with silver in both hands.

The old man had deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth, but his face looked quite peaceful. His eyes were slightly drooped, as if he was dozing off.

Perhaps the old man maintained this posture for too long, and several skylarks landed without fear. Two of them jumped and chased merrily on the ground, and one squatted in the empty space on the other side of the old man's bench, imitating the old man's behavior. Eyes slightly closed.

There was also one that was the boldest, falling directly towards the old man's folded hands on the cane. Its thin claws pressed against the old man's raised blood vessels like tree roots. The skylark chirped from its mouth, gently and softly, like the gentleness that soothes a dream. Lullaby.

When the black-haired young man walked over slowly, he startled the two skylarks on the ground.

They screamed and flew up to the treetops. The skylark on the cane also stopped singing. However, the skylark on the seat raised its head, looked at the small half piece of bread in the young man's hand, and called twice in a long voice.

Admissor smiled and broke off a large piece of bread and came down and handed it to the little bird occupying one side of the bench.

After begging for food from Admissor, the skylark jumped under the bench with its "seat fee" in its mouth, and the other two scared skylarks also flew down immediately, and the chair There was a little rapid chirping of birds below - it didn't sound very happy.

The old man still had his eyes closed, but he could easily identify who the person was: "Your footsteps are heavier than usual. Did you encounter any difficulties in the task?"

"No, I just saw and dreamed about something these past few days."

Only then did the old man open his eyes. The skylark that had been parked on his cane suddenly flew away. He raised his head and chased the skylark's wings with his slightly muddy red eyes:

"If it's something bad, just report it to Frye. Well, that young man who is not good at words actually became the captain. Time flies so fast..."

"No, it's a very good thing, but I always feel that there is a daunting shadow floating outside the light."

Admissor whispered, and after sitting on the other half of the bench, he broke the bread in his hand into smaller pieces and threw it under the bench, ending the fight among the skylarks.

"Haha, although we both have special eyesight, I can teach you almost as much as I can." The old man lowered his eyes and stared at the skylark pecking at crumbs at his feet.

Admissor blinked hard: "Where there is light, there must be shadow, and the light is moving away from Tingen."

"That means the shadows are also moving away. That's good for us and good for the city."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, a skylark passed through the shade of the tree, seeming to fly from a farther place.

It held a scrap of paper in its mouth, with densely written words on it.

The old man blinked in surprise: "It seems that a child brought you a gift today."

The skylark flew towards Admissor and landed directly on his lap.

Admissor spread the floor and saw the small and regular font at the top:

"Sequence eight, machine"

Another light fell in front of his eyes. He quickly closed his eyelids and rubbed the bridge of his nose vigorously: "At least this matter must be reported to Captain Frye. I'd better go back to Blackthorn Company."

"What is it?"

"The magic potion formula, its authenticity needs to be verified."

Admissor put the note away and slapped the last crumbs from his palm.

The old man smiled and looked at the scattered tree crown above his head. The skylark that brought the note was parked on it in the distance. Its feathers were a strange light yellow:

"Sometimes I really envy you young people. You are so lucky that you can step on potion ingredients just walking on the road."

"That kind of luck is already abnormal, Mr. Neil..."

The old man patted his collar, and the cold pendant touched his ribs:

"Go quickly and don't let a retired old man worry about you. I want to slowly enjoy the sunshine in Tingen and enjoy the peace that has been delayed for many years."