Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 133 Characters in the Story
The town didn't have many supplies, so the hotel's dinner was simple, mostly vegetable soup, bread and cheese.

Guests came to the first floor of the hotel to have dinner one after another.

From the way they greeted each other, it was clear that they knew each other.

Omlite's fine soil and favorable climate made its orchards quite famous in the surrounding area. These residents were all fruit merchants familiar with the town's residents, who drove their trucks to buy the fruit and then resold it to more distant locations to profit from the difference.

During their conversation, the guests talked to the innkeeper, Callaway, about the children of the Callaway family.

"Did the little girl go to Backlund this year?" a fruit vendor asked.

Carraway showed a proud expression: "Yes, Backlund University!"

"That's awesome, let's have a drink to that."

The fruit merchants raised their glasses.

Claire knew that the innkeeper had two children.

Her eldest son, a year older than her, had been admitted to university the same year as Tai Purslan, enrolling at Backlund Business School. Claire had never imagined that the adorable little girl, who hadn't seemed like a bright student, would actually be admitted to Backlund University.

A fruit vendor said, "I remember your son is also attending Backlund... Having to support two children's education, won't it be even harder for you and your wife this year?"

The innkeeper smiled reservedly as he filled each guest's wooden cup with rye beer. He said, "My son graduated this September and is currently working at Backlund Bank. He can be said to be independent."

This statement caused the fruit vendors to exclaim, "Your child has really made it!"

Claire, who was drinking vegetable soup, felt a little emotional after hearing this. Could it be that the dull boy who attended the same church school as her actually had a talent for finance?
The atmosphere of discussion in the hotel's small restaurant suddenly became more heated. The fruit merchants were jealous in their hearts, but out of the desire to expand their network and admire the strong, they only said good things.

Therefore, the innkeeper Carraway drank many glasses of wine with the guests.

After drinking more, the group of people opened up and talked about a wide range of topics, from "the price and harvest of fruits this year" to "the closure of the orphanage in the town of Omlite".

Some of these topics caught Claire's attention.

"Ma'am, would you like a drink too?" Ursula, who was standing by, saw that Claire was paying attention to the excitement of the group of men, so she came over and asked with a smile.

Claire smiled and responded, "Thank you. Give me a ginger beer then."

When Ursula came over with a cup of ginger beer, Claire said, "Mrs. Ursula, I just heard from the guests over there that the orphanage in the town has been closed?"

"Yes." Ursula put down her ginger beer and answered casually, "That orphanage was originally established specifically for those war orphans. It's not surprising that it was completely closed this year."

Claire asked again, "What about the staff at the orphanage?"

Ursula was stunned for a moment, then smiled and asked, "Why do you ask this, sir?"

Claire held the ginger beer in her hand and asked doubtfully, "Just out of curiosity, I asked this casually... What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Ursula smiled. "That's not a problem, because people often ask where the children have gone first, and rarely ask the orphanage staff directly..."

Claire nodded. "But from what you said before, wasn't it true that the orphanage was closed only after those war orphans grew up?"

"That's right, you're right." Ursula smiled stiffly and continued, "The youngest children in the orphanage are now away studying... As for the staff, they've actually been transferred to other places over the years."

Claire took a sip of ginger beer and asked doubtfully, "They were all transferred? Aren't there any locals who don't want to be transferred?"

Ursula smiled and said, "Of course there are locals, but the orphanage staff have very good benefits, so they are ultimately willing to accept the arrangement. You know, most of them go to big cities like Backlund... More importantly, the salary from the new job allows them to settle down in the city."

Claire's dark red eyes had grown even darker and deeper. She watched as Ursula's emotions changed from the initially enthusiastic red to the cold purple and the thoughtful blue.

This change in mood, is Ursula hiding something...

Claire sipped her ginger beer and smiled without asking any further questions, "I see. If I had a high-paying job like this in a big city, I would make the same choice."

Ursula showed an envious expression and sighed, "Yes, I want to go too. My two children are in Backlund. If I could get a similar job, I could live in Backlund with my children."

Claire continued, "Your eldest son has joined Backlund Bank, a position that countless Backlunds envy... and your daughter, who is enrolling at Backlund University this year, has a promising future. It won't be long before your children will be able to take you there."

"I believe so too." Ursula showed a sunny smile full of confidence in the future, but at this moment the color of her inner emotions turned into dark melancholy.

Ursula is a typical example of duplicity, Claire sighed inwardly.

At this time, other guests were calling out for help. Looking at Ursula's receding figure, Claire glanced at Carraway, who was drinking happily among the fruit vendors. She could tell that this couple in the hotel must be hiding some secret.

And it has something to do with the orphanage.

"But in my memory, Ty Perslan, Ursula and Carraway have been ordinary small-town residents for many years, running this small-town inn... What secrets could they be hiding?"

Claire didn't rush to investigate. She returned to her room and waited patiently until... late at night.

late at night.

Claire gently patted the nightmare doll at her waist. In the "nightmare's" vision, she saw dozens of tiny lights floating in the hotel, like dust in the galaxy. Those were the dreams of the people living in the hotel.

Claire entered Ursula's dream.

With this step, the walls of the simple hotel where Claire was gradually faded and turned into thick black smoke.

Smoke filled the entire dream.

When the smoke cleared, a steam train appeared in the center of the dream.

Beside the train, Ursula was talking to two young men and women with a look of reluctance on her face. Although their appearance had changed a little, Claire still recognized them as Ursula's children through her memory.

Claire came to Ursula's side and continued the topic from dinner: "Your eldest son has joined Backlund Bank, and your daughter, who enrolled at Backlund University this year, has a promising future. It won't be long before your children will be able to take you there."

In the dream, Ursula removed her real-world disguise, her eyes dull as she muttered, "Even if the children make enough money in the future, I can't move to Backlund with them."

Claire asked in a coaxing tone, "Why? They're all good kids. It's impossible for me not to fulfill my responsibility to support them."

Ursula struggled, but finally answered naively, "They're both good kids, but I promised someone to help him stay in Omlite, in my inn."

Claire continued to ask, "Why did that person ask you to stay in the hotel?"

Ursula's struggling expression turned somewhat painful. She murmured, "He didn't actually ask me to look after the inn. He asked me to look after a boy named Ty Poslan. If anyone asks about Ty Poslan, I'm to tell them the story of how I met him."

"Story..." Claire frowned.

This word, placed in Ursula's current sentence, gave off a sense of fictional meaning. "What kind of story is that?" Claire asked.

Ursula's eyes were filled with confusion, her consciousness was wavering, and she might wake up at any moment.

But at this moment, in her dream, she was still answering Claire's questions, "In the story, 'Ty Perslan' was a war orphan adopted by the Omlet Orphanage. He was aloof and introverted, but at the mission school he showed a talent for learning and eventually successfully entered Tingen University."

This matched Ty Poslan's memories, but to Ursula it was just a story.

This made Claire feel uncomfortable.

Claire paused, a suspicion suddenly forming in her mind. She then asked, "Don't you know Ty Perslan?"

Ursula's expression became complex and vivid, even her dreams became unstable. She spoke word by word, like a rusted machine, dryly:
"I don't know—"

This answer brought a chill to her heart, causing Claire to take a deep breath.

The dream around me was crumbling piece by piece like a faded oil painting.

This is a sign that the dreamer is about to wake up.

Claire emerged from her dream, and the "white paper" she had prepared in advance floated into the room where Ursula lived.

Through the "Prying Eye", Claire saw that Ursula woke up as if she had a nightmare. She shook Calaway beside her with sleepy eyes, but Calaway had drunk a lot of wine tonight and was too drunk to be woken up. He turned over and continued to sleep soundly.

Ursula was fully awake at this time. She looked around the room in confusion, then looked at Carraway who was sleeping beside her, and mouthed "It's a dream".

After breathing a sigh of relief, Ursula pulled the quilt tighter around her and lay down again to sleep.

After seeing all this, Claire was silent for a moment, then activated her "nightmare" ability again. This time, she chose to enter the dream of the innkeeper, Carraway.

In Carraway's dream, Claire received a similar answer to Ursula's, and further learned that his two children were able to enter Backlund Business School and Backlund University respectively because of the arrangement and funding of the mysterious man.

But Carraway didn't know the identity of the mysterious man.

After learning this, Claire sat silently beside the bed. Both Carraway and Ursula regarded "Tai Perslan" as a fictional character in the story.

"But in my memory, this is clearly the hometown where I grew up..." Claire looked at the scarlet moon outside the window and patted the nightmare doll on her waist again.

Under the cover of night, the residents of the small town of Omlite were sleeping soundly.

What no one knows is that a "nightmare" is wandering through their dreams.

Claire searched for the familiar townspeople in her memory one by one.

A taciturn old teacher in a church school.

The pious and compassionate monks in the small town church.

A wealthy businessman who sponsored poor students in a small town.

The uncle who used to chase naughty children in the orchard.

……

Everyone is a living person.

They are all familiar people from Tai Perslan's hometown.

But in their memory, "Ty Perslan" is the person in the story told by the mysterious person.

In this story, the town of Omlite is the hometown of Ty Poslan.

"Tai Perslan has never appeared here..."

A huge sense of loneliness enveloped Claire, making her already limited attachment to this world even more tenuous.

In a short period of time, Claire thought a lot, and finally she sighed softly.

This feeling of loneliness certainly wouldn't knock her down, but based on her current understanding of the potion system, Claire vaguely felt that this experience, which would weaken her humanity, was not a good thing.

"I have to find a way to find out the truth behind this matter..."

Although Claire was unable to find any clues about the mysterious man in the dreams of the residents of Omlite, based on the fact that "Ty Perslan's" memory was tampered with by Tessa, it can be inferred that Tessa is definitely involved in this matter!
"Tessa..."

"If I didn't grow up in Omlite, then where am I from? Is 'Ty Perslan' even really my name?"

Claire thought of the time when she was still "Ty Perslan" and was placed in the Backlund Hotel by Tessa.

Those were the memories that truly belonged to "Tai Poslan" that were revealed after she gradually saw through the false memories during her near-death experiences.

This memory at least proved that before enrolling in Tingen University, "Tai Perslan" had lived in Backlund.

"Omlight isn't my hometown. Could it be that my real hometown is in Backlund?" Claire speculated.

But this speculation gave rise to new doubts in Claire's heart:

"If Omlet's memories of growing up are all false, then all of Tai Perslan's memories before May 1345 are also false... because these memories are all in Omlet..."

"But what's weird is that I can see some real memories through the false memories after May 1345, but I can't find even a little bit of real memories before May 5?"

Claire carefully considered the difference between the two, and what she could be sure of at the moment was—

Most of the memories after May 1345 are true, with only some being tampered with. Through the fusion of the mist butterfly, one can slowly recover the true memories.

The memories before May 1345 are almost certainly all false. Currently, it is impossible to recover the true memories through the fusion of the mist butterfly.

Just as Claire was thinking and organizing her thoughts, a strange face with only a mouth slowly emerged from the wall of the hotel.

Five thin fingers were sticking out from the tip of the bright red tongue sticking out of the mouth.

These fingers held a letter from Daly Simone sent from Backlund:

"...I went to explore Beth Lyonness's luxurious mansion this afternoon."

(End of this chapter)