Do you all know the future?

Chapter 110 Change of plan
Feeling the recovery in her body, Loran relaxed, yet it all felt like an illusion.

"Prince An, what brings you here?"

Loran looked at Diane in confusion. Shouldn't Diane be in the palace? Why was she out?

Perhaps what I am seeing now is an illusion created by the gods to lull them into a false sense of security.

“Archbishop Madeline mentioned the teacher’s situation, and I sensed it was a conspiracy against us.”

Diane cast a healing spell, answering Loran's question.

"You knew it was a conspiracy, and you still came here?"

Loran's face showed his anxiety; he was genuinely worried that Diane would fall into a trap.

"I can't just watch my teacher die. Whether it's the Moon Goddess's conspiracy or the Dream Goddess's conspiracy, I have to fight back when they make a move. I can't be a coward. Besides, you would have died if I hadn't come."

Meaningless sacrifices are undesirable, but he doesn't need to worry too much now. Diane looked at the head maid to the side, who was his source of confidence.

The head maid, having found nothing, shook her head, indicating that the person had already run away, apparently fleeing as soon as they noticed Diane and her companions arriving.

"It might not be the Dream God or the Moon God, but the Devourer, that evil god. They were the ones who attacked me just now, and He also corrupted my former fiancée, Moria."

The possibility of it being the Moon Goddess or the Dream Goddess is high, but compared to the evil god who just made his move, the suspicion is somewhat weaker.

"The Lord of Devouring, is he really that active? Wasn't his avatar just destroyed last time? And now he's come knocking again?"

Diane frowned. The descent of a god is not unlimited. If the descent body dies in the material world, it will also have a certain impact on the original body in the spiritual realm.

"It does look like an attack by an evil god, but if an evil god really had the ability to do this, there would be no need for them to ambush you here; it would be more convenient to do it at your home."

The head maid walked up to Diane and analyzed the situation, her heterochromatic eyes flashing as if she were analyzing the scene. Without knowing the full picture, she could only guess.

She unleashed holy light from her hands, far more powerful than Diane's. Loran felt his injuries healing rapidly, and he was able to move again.

"Perhaps. Shall we go to the Church of the Moon Goddess now? Mother's condition may not last much longer."

Since Diane had already discovered it, and there was no need for him to make the choice, Loran simply handed the decision over to Diane.

“Archbishop Madeline has already told me, and I understand the general situation. Let’s go and take a look first, and then think about how to get divine help.”

Diane decided to go see Isabella first, which was something he had discussed with the head maid beforehand. As for surrendering to the gods, that was something he had never even considered.

"Well, does our god possess abilities related to the soul?"

Hope flickered in Loran's eyes. What he hoped for most was that the god Diane believed in had the ability to resolve this matter. But then he thought, prosperity, abundance, and victory had nothing to do with the soul.

"I don't know, don't worry, everything will be alright."

Diane offered a few words of comfort, but he wasn't sure if the head maid could resolve the situation. He knew praying to God was futile; Isabella was now like a hostage.

The gods kidnapped her and demanded that Diane compromise, but Diane could never compromise. This is true in both history and art; surrendering means both of them will die.

“My mother isn’t afraid of death. She’s said that she’s willing to sacrifice herself for Prince An, and she wants me to be prepared to do the same, to be involved in your struggle against the gods, but…”

Lorraine had already received the answer to the question of life and death from his mother, who was prepared to sacrifice for Diane and was determined not to compromise.

"Just what?"

Loran suddenly stopped talking, and the pauses made Diane very uncomfortable. Why did he stop halfway through his sentence?

"Sigh, let's hurry up and find Mom. She's running out of time. Come sit on my magic carpet!"

Loran took out the familiar magic carpet and changed the subject, not wanting to answer. He didn't want to interfere with Diane's judgment because of the baby in her mother's belly.

In this dilemma, she had to abandon her mother or him, and it became the knife that God used to stab Diane.

"Ok!"

Diane stepped onto it. She had just been carried out by the head maid. Having the magic carpet made things a bit easier, although it was also a bit slower.

Archbishop Madeline's description also highlights this urgency, as it is unknown how long Isabella's condition can last—it could last forever, or it could deteriorate immediately.

It was like a sword hanging over her head that could fall at any moment; Diane had to pull the sword away to prevent it from landing on her head.

“Tell me again how your mother came to be like this. I’m afraid Archbishop Madeline’s description may be inaccurate.”

Seeing that Loran didn't want to talk about it, Diane didn't press him. Instead, he asked about the reasons for Isabella's current situation, wanting to compare and see if there were any oversights.

"I only found out from the maid Vivian's report..."

This allowed Diane to have access to information. Loran told Diane everything in great detail, including his thoughts, without leaving any information behind.

"Your mother, too, how could she have thought of searching for Duke Ryan's soul at this time?"

Diane listened to Loran's story with a furrowed brow, occasionally making a sarcastic remark.

"Mom is worried that Dad might be resurrected, just like the Devourer who attacked me just now. If he gets Dad's soul, he will definitely be resurrected. Moreover, as a cultist, Dad must have planted many spies. Mom wants to solve this problem once and for all."

Lorraine defended her mother for another reason: her mother didn't know what tomorrow would bring, just as she couldn't have imagined falling into a coma due to a soul-searching ritual, so she wouldn't give her father a chance.

"The idea was good, but you weren't vigilant enough. Why did you go to Archbishop Madeline first instead of me? Luckily she told me, or you'd be dead!"

After complaining about her mother, Diane pointed at Lorraine. Neither mother nor son was easy to deal with. If he had made his decision any later, Lorraine would be gone by now.

"Actually, it was my mother's request. She had a premonition that we would become the target of the gods, so she insisted that no matter what happened, we should not go to the palace to find you, so that you would fall into the gods' trap."

Loran answered softly, feeling quite ashamed. He was still too weak; if Diane hadn't appeared, he might have really died.

“Foolish! You should tell me everything in detail. I will make the choice. The reason you don’t come to me is to reduce your attraction to the gods. It doesn’t mean you should hide it when you encounter danger. Hiding it won’t solve the problem.”

Diane couldn't comment on Isabella's spirit of sacrifice; it would be a lie to say she wasn't moved, but it was true that she felt it was foolish.

"I understand, I should listen to you, Prince An..."

Loran didn't argue, but bowed his head and admitted his mistake. When it came to making a decision, he realized how weak he was. It was really difficult, really difficult.

Diane flew back to the Stuart family estate while discussing Isabella's coma. Without any delay, Diane went straight to Isabella's room.

The mature, beautiful woman's sleeping face was not peaceful, as if she were having a nightmare; her beautiful face looked quite distressing.

Diane quickly went to the bedside, took Isabella's hand, and felt very sorry for her, perhaps because of the arrangements Isabella had made, as Loran had mentioned earlier.

"You all get out!"

The beautiful woman's hands were icy cold, a characteristic of vampires, but they truly chilled Dai An, making him feel as if the woman were already dead, and causing a sense of panic. Who wouldn't love such a mature and lovely woman? Although her actions were somewhat foolish, her intentions were good, so how could one not feel soft-hearted?

"Prince An, we are waiting outside. Call us if you need anything!"

Lorraine gestured for Vivian to leave the room, leaving only Diane, the head maid, and Isabella.

"Margarita, come and see! Which god did this?"

An accident? Diane didn't believe in accidents at all; no accident could be so coincidental.

"It's impossible to tell which deity caused this; the soul was simply damaged, with no trace of divine power remaining."

The head maid stepped forward, her holy light enveloping Isabella. During the investigation, she paused slightly, but quickly answered Diane's question without letting Diane notice anything amiss.

"Can it be cured? Is it absolutely necessary to invite those two gods who might be the masterminds behind it all?"

Diane gripped Isabella's cold hand tightly; seeing Isabella today, she felt especially sorry for her.

"Yes, and I can do it without the intervention of any other gods. I can awaken Dean Isabella."

The head maid withdrew her holy light, spoke gently, and made a promise that she had already examined Isabella's entire body.

"Really, really, we don't need other gods to intervene?"

Diane's face lit up with surprise, and his tense and worried expression relaxed. He knew the head maid wouldn't lie to him.

"No need, but we need to determine the cause of Dean Isabella's coma before we can prepare the appropriate medication. We can't use the wrong medicine for her condition."

The head maid smiled, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the two people outside the door, who were also chatting about Isabella.

"Didn't they manage to invite the bishops from either church?"

Vivian felt a little flustered. She should have been happy to see Diane, but she looked worried, as if she was concerned for Isabella's safety.

"I encountered an evil god on the way, but Prince An arrived just in time to save me. He wants to check on my mother's condition first. If he can save my mother, then we won't need to pray to the gods."

Loran didn't like praying to gods, especially since these gods might be the masterminds behind everything. Even if they weren't, he had his own faith, which was Diane's faith, and he couldn't bring himself to respect other gods.

"Prince An's spirituality doesn't involve the soul, does it? The Holy Blood also suppresses the soul level of shadow creatures. The treatment only targets the body; restoring a person's soul is very difficult!"

Convincing Loran was also convincing herself that no matter how strong Diane's holy bloodline spirituality was, she couldn't do things outside of spirituality.

In the end, we still have to ask her. It doesn't matter if Isabella dies or not; we can just bring Isabella's soul over, and Diane will surely comply.

She had already figured out what to do next: when asking Diane for help, she shouldn't go too far and provoke Diane's disgust.

The God of Dreams is a male god who would definitely want Diane to offer her his loyalty. In contrast, He said He wanted to unite with her to leave a seed, and through this union, He would invade her soul, making Diane crave the taste and eventually unable to leave Him.

Having taken the initiative to possess Diane, Diane, who couldn't live without her, naturally became her follower, and in the end, Diane would only choose herself as his master.

"Squeak..."

The door was pushed open, and Diane and the head maid came out, both looking relatively relaxed.

"Prince An, Lady Margarita, how is my mother?"

Lorraine had no time to talk to Vivian; Diane's appearance immediately drew his attention.

"It can be cured, but we need to go to the altar first to find out what caused the teacher's condition so that the medicine can be prepared without any mistakes."

Diane patted Loran on the shoulder to reassure him that there was a solution and Isabella could be saved.

"Do you want to check the altar? There's nothing there anymore. If you want to check, we'll go take a look right away."

Since it concerned the lives of his mother and younger siblings, Loran didn't waste any more words and wanted to take Diane and the others to the altar immediately.

"Why don't you look after your mother? You don't know her as well as Miss Vivian does. You've already said that your knowledge of the altar comes from Miss Vivian. Just let Miss Vivian come with us!"

Diane nudged Lorraine and looked at Vivian, who stood gracefully to the side with her head bowed humbly. Lorraine had learned a lot about the ceremony from this maid.

"It is my honor to serve you, sir!"

Vivian's outward manners were impeccable, but her heart was in turmoil, making her feel as if her plans were falling apart.

She couldn't believe what she had heard. Diane and her team actually had the ability to resolve Isabella's damaged soul. Wouldn't that mean Diane wouldn't need to ask her for help anymore? Wouldn't all of her subsequent plans have gone down the drain?

“Miss Vivian, please tell me about the process when you saw the teacher fall unconscious. I want to find out if there were any oversights.”

Diane pleaded, since they were just walking around anyway and getting bored was pointless, so it was good to learn more information.

"At first, my master gave me a list..."

Like Loran, Vivian recounted the process of Isabella's soul-searching ritual, with largely similar content, since it was Vivian who told the story.

Seeing that Diane did not ask any further questions, Vivian abandoned her many excuses and went straight to the castle after crossing the entrance to the realm.

Vivian led the two to the ceremony platform, where everything seemed to have frozen in time, nothing had changed.

"right here!"

Vivian led the two to the location and stood respectfully to one side awaiting orders.

Diane didn't go forward to check, but the head maid did. She stroked the ritual patterns on the altar and then reached out to pinch the materials that had turned to ashes.

"Night Owl King Feather, Black Dragon Birthstone..."

The head maid picked up the powder and said what the original material was, then picked up the stone that was more than half used up and said the stone's properties.

"I understand now, I roughly understand how Dean Isabella got injured!"

"what happened?"

"These materials are too high-grade, so the gentle magic of the soul-searching ritual turned violent and injured Dean Isabella."

"It's alright, knowing the cause makes it easier to prescribe the medicine."

Vivian's pupils contracted. The real problem that had been pointed out, which Loran couldn't discover, didn't mean the head maid couldn't. Not only could she discover it, she could also cure it.

Plans have changed!

(End of this chapter)