Luminesce leaned against the stone wall, watching Neuvillette's receding back, lost in thought for a moment.
She felt… Neuvillette was not as simple as he appeared.
"Able to control primordial sea water, able to smoothly manipulate water element authority…"
Luminesce lowered her head slightly, continuously searching her memories for creatures directly linked to these two points.
As a mountain-like figure and a fleeting green light in the yellow sand appeared in her mind, her golden eyes instantly widened.
"Could it be…"
Luminesce looked at Neuvillette's back with some disbelief, but immediately shook her head.
"Never mind, I'll just ask him directly."
As soon as she finished speaking, Luminesce sprang up from the wall and, pulling Paimon, who still seemed somewhat confused, quickly rushed to the location where they had just encountered the Rifthound.
…
Perhaps because the distance was not far, Luminesce quickly pulled Paimon to the broken staircase.
At this moment, Neuvillette was standing by the pool, which had been contaminated by Seawater, seemingly deep in thought.
Luminesce, meanwhile, slowly walked forward, reaching Neuvillette's side. She looked at his tall figure, then at the Seawater shimmering with an unusual luster, and sighed softly.
This was also why she had fled when she was ambushed by the Rifthound earlier.
The exploration of the ruins could not be delayed, as it was one of the few clues directly connected to The Prophecy.
If they missed it… it might lead to a scenario no one wanted to see.
After all, even the water in this location had been contaminated by primordial sea water, which meant… the end predicted in The Prophecy was also approaching.
Although Luminesce was not from Fontaine, she always felt… she should not stand idly by in the face of such a catastrophic outcome.
Neither her own heart nor her long-held beliefs would allow her to do so.
Of course, the premise was… not to harm others.
Thinking of this, Luminesce turned her head to look at Neuvillette and asked softly:
"Neuvillette, is your work… finished?"
Hearing this, Neuvillette's contemplative expression stiffened slightly. He shook his head gently, then chose to remain silent.
Outside the ruins… the rain in Fontaine grew heavier.
As for Luminesce… she nodded as if it were nothing unusual, after all, Mr. Yuto's workload was still a bit too daunting; not finishing it was the normal situation.
After a brief silence, Luminesce slowly broke the dead-like atmosphere.
"Neuvillette… I have a question I want to ask you."
"Speak freely."
"You… can actually control primordial sea water?"
Hearing this, Neuvillette was first startled, then gently shook his head.
"It is not 'control,' but 'seal.'"
Neuvillette corrected him slowly.
"Then… do you have any feelings about Mr. Yuto's disappearance? Or how do you view Mr. Yuto as a person?"
Before Luminesce could continue to ask, Paimon spoke first, as if this question had been weighing on her mind for a long time.
Indeed, the unsmiling Neuvillette did not seem to be the type to make subjective judgments about others.
From their perspective, the only time Neuvillette commented on someone else… was when he used Cares's incident to comment on his own sense of justice.
Neuvillette pondered for a long time, then slowly began to speak:
"From what he has done… he is an upright and kind Assistant Administrator, and a kind person who Cares for Melusine."
"His disappearance, to me, is like facing the death of Cares, filling me with 'sadness.'"
"Although to this day there is no news that can confirm whether he has fallen into the mire, still… the word 'disappearance' is ultimately not good."
At this point, Neuvillette took a deep breath, as if trying to calm his slightly fluctuating emotions in this way.
Luminesce, meanwhile, closed her eyes slightly, then murmured softly:
"'Water Dragon Sovereign, Water Dragon Sovereign… don't cry,' the heavy rain in Fontaine these past two days…"
She nodded slightly, just as she was about to ask Neuvillette something to confirm her suspicions, Paimon, floating beside her, exclaimed loudly:
"Ah?! Are you—?!"
Before Paimon could finish, Neuvillette nodded gently, turned to look at the startled Paimon, and said:
"Perhaps… it is as you think."
"But regarding my 'essence'… I sincerely hope you two can keep it a secret for me."
Hearing this, Paimon nodded rapidly like a pecking chick.
She vaguely remembered… the scenes of meeting Dragon King in Ritou and Apep in the Sumeru desert.
The previous two elemental Dragon Kings had more or less given her some… shock, so she was a little scared now.
Before this hint of fear completely faded, Paimon thought of an even more astonishing conjecture.
"Wait?! You are the Water Dragon Sovereign, so what about Mr. Yuto? Could it be that Mr. Yuto is the Thunder Dragon King who is not in Inazuma?!"
Hearing this, Luminesce blinked strangely, seemingly not understanding where Paimon's deduction came from.
Not only Luminesce, but even Neuvillette was stunned by her question.
However, the Chief Justice's professional composure quickly allowed him to recover, and he calmly explained:
"Unfortunately, neither I nor Mr. Yuto himself… know his 'essence' yet."
"However… I can vaguely sense a very unique power from him, but because I do not have those ancient memories, I cannot make a corresponding judgment."
Neuvillette shook his head with some regret, as if regretting that he could not determine Mr. Yuto's essence.
—After all, in his opinion, Mr. Yuto, like him, was someone troubled by their 'essence.'
After saying this, Neuvillette turned his head slightly, pointed to the distant broken bridge, and said:
"If we want to go deeper… we need to cross these broken bridges."
"Be careful, although you are not from Fontaine, too much contact with primordial sea water is not good for you either."
Neuvillette reminded them with a serious expression.
Hearing this, Luminesce and Paimon nodded in understanding, then carefully stepped across the impassable road to the other end of the room.
Neuvillette, meanwhile, closed his eyes slightly, trying to find Mr. Yuto's whereabouts through the primordial sea water, but… the result was still the same as before.
"I hope… this Judgment does not arrive as scheduled…"
Neuvillette sighed lightly, then followed.
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