Early in the morning, Valeera woke up from her sleep, and the spirituality consumed during the night had been well restored.

She got up and entered the chamber to explore the effects of the ritual.

It was something she should have done last night, but she couldn't get done.

Valilla looked closely at the portrait sandwiched between the easel and soon noticed that Panatia's image and demeanor had changed slightly.

This made her originally natural and leisurely demeanor vaguely feel a little more discordant.

It seems that the ritual did have some effect...... Valilla made a judgment based on this.

The fate of the "Innuendo" ritual will be rehearsed in advance on the portrait that is the cornerstone of the ritual.

Since the portrait has now begun to show signs, it naturally means that the ritual has had an effect.

After confirming the results, Valilla removed Panatia's portrait from her easel and set it aside, hesitated for a moment, and took one of the paintings next to her.

She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath, moved her heavy steps, returned to the easel, and placed the portrait in her hand.

This is a portrait of Qi Li.

Valeera looked at it steadily, brushing her fingers at the face of the person in the painting, her gaze gradually losing focus, and after a long time, she came back to her senses, sighed, and turned her head and walked out of the secret room—

It won't be long before she gets out of bed.

……

Breakfast time.

As soon as Valilla finished her final dessert, Lia on the side put a newspaper in front of her, and her tone was a little eager:

"Miss, look at today's news, there's something big!"

"Hmm."

Valilla nodded, took a sip of honey-flavored coffee, and then unhurriedly shifted her gaze to the newspaper.

Sure enough, as she expected, the so-called big event was the "Duke Negan's assassination" incident.

"The venerable Duke Negan was assassinated yesterday, and the terrorist organization Aurora Society claimed responsibility." ——

This shocking front-page news was like a bolt from the blue, suddenly breaking the calm atmosphere that had lasted for a long time in Beckland's winter.

A quick glance at the entire report, Valera couldn't help but sigh in her heart:

It is really worthy of the "pot gathering", large and small black pots, no matter what the truth is, whether active or passive, they can always carry the pot well, and easily do what others can't do.

This incident was clearly instructed by the "Twilight Hermit Society" in order to promote the so-called "trend of the times", and it was done by a "Lust Apostle" in Sequence 5, the banker Jason Beria on the surface...... It can be said that this has nothing to do with the "Aurora Society".

After reading the headlines on the front page, she took a cursory look at other sections and found that other news were more or less related to the "Duke Negan assassination" incident, including "popular science", "Aurora Club", critics published articles and analysis, conspiracy theories, and so on.

"I see."

Valilla frowned, looked worried, and handed the newspaper back to Leah, noticing that she was also a little speechless.

Alas, it's time to expand her worldview a little more...... Valera thought.

……

Make up lessons for Leah, go to afternoon tea, and attend a dance party.

After a day of boredom and emptiness, Valera finally waited for her own nighttime.

She entered the chamber and prepared for another ritual.

Valilla had prepared the portrait of her "regret" a long time ago, and was ready to summon their "shadow" through the ritual of "Shadow Summoning".

It's just that because the previous series of rituals for the "Nightingale" Panatia have not been completed, the "Shadow Awakening Technique" has been delayed until now.

Valera couldn't wait.

Even in the morning, when she entered the secret room to check, she had already placed the portraits needed for the ceremony.

Raising the "Spirit Wall" and lighting the "Shadow Lamp", Valeera took a deep breath, and when her mood calmed down, she untied the "True Heart" hair wrapped around her left wrist and held it in her hand.

There are three ritual elements of the "Shadow Awakening Technique", which are the portrait, the relic, and the "regret".

Now, two of them are ready, and only the sincere and strong personal emotions are needed.

Valera closed her eyes and began to reminisce about her acquaintance with Qili in a ritual way...... Sometimes smiling, sometimes bitter, completely immersed in her memory, completely letting go of her control over her emotions.

Before she knew it, tears had crawled all over her face.

At one point, Valeera suddenly opened her reddened eyes, and her expression became extremely painful—apparently, she remembered her final farewell.

This is her deep "regret".

At the same time, the ongoing ritual was thus advanced to the next stage.

Valilla raised the strands of "Heart" hair in her hand, allowing the "shadow" of the relic to be projected onto the portrait.

Then, the "shadow" she manipulated herself also extended to the past, intertwined with the "shadow" of the relic, conveying spirituality, reconciling and weaving the latter.

After this process lasted for a while, the "shadow" of the relic changed shape and filled with Qili's portrait.

Vally stretched her hand and grabbed it, pulling the dark figure of the human figure out of the canvas.

The dark figure stood in front of her, and the image became more and more vivid as the color of the paint revealed little by little...... When the color is complete at the end, Qi Li's eyes suddenly become smart.

She looked at Valeera, her eyes quickly changing from doubt to disappointment, and then cried out in pain:

"Why are you lying to me?!"

Valeera's breath faltered, and she couldn't help but take half a step back.

Still staring at Valeera, she raised her right hand and closed her palm, but this time, unlike before, there was no black flame rising in her palm—

Of course, "Shadow Painting" is just an echo of the past, and does not have any extraordinary abilities.

Such an action reminded Valeera.

Valeera unleashed the ability of "Stealing Appearance", condensing a black mask swirling with illusory smoke and dust in the palm of her left hand, covering her face.

She turned back into Varina.

On the other side, "Qi Li"'s demeanor has also undergone a new change, with a smile on her face and a pair of bright eyes.

Valeera had rarely noticed Qili's gaze at her before, and sometimes she didn't take a casual glance closely, let alone take it to heart, but now that the scene was repeated, she couldn't control herself anymore.

"Qi Li......

She let out a soft snort and stepped forward to take the other into her arms.

"Qili" also cooperated and clasped her hands.

For a moment, Valera almost thought that she had really resurrected Qili.

"Remember, come back early."

"Qili" patted Valeera on the back, then let go of her hands and voluntarily withdrew from her embrace—

This is the scene when Valera first went to Tingen, and the two said goodbye at the station.

Unlike then, Valera was in tears this time.