Chapter 1329 (1/2)

For a second, he froze. Then Randidly twisted around with a wry smile on his face and looked over at Tatiana, who was leaning against the wall of the ballroom in deep shadow. Really a testament to my current mental state that I didn’t notice her immediately…These social events really dull my edge.

Tatiana’s hand was on her hip and she batted her eyes at him playfully as she pushed herself up off the wall. He wondered how long she had waited for him to emerge. “So is it true? Has a party put you on your back foot?”

Grinning, Randidly replied. “Well I had heard from some children there is a rumor about a secret birthday cake being made for me… I need to slip out privately before I rejected such a generous gift publically.”

Tatiana snorted. “Believe me, you were very clear as to your request for no birthday singing or cake. And no pinatas which I thought was quite a shame... But no, I regret to inform any listening individuals with any genuine birthday cheer that there is no ‘birthday’ cake… just a celebratory iced dessert to enjoy under the starlight. A tragedy.”

When Randidly leveled a heavy glance at Tatiana, she burst out in full laughter. After a few seconds of enjoying herself, she sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, maybe I’ve just glad that this whole thing is over too. Normally I would… well, to business. Unfortunately, I really do need to stop you from leaving.”

Grimacing, Randidly turned around so his back was facing Tatiana. Only then did he let some of the sadness from the Earth’s fearful reaction to him show on his face. “Can’t it wait? I’m… extremely tired.”

“The image thing was hard, yea?” Tatiana said quietly. Both understood that she wasn’t talking about producing his three images before the Earth. It was what his ‘image’ became in the Earth’s eyes.

After ten seconds of silence, Tatiana sighed. “Normally I would make an excuse for you, but I figured you would be interested in this as well; I noticed your eyes going to Theodora Greyman during the talks about the joint effort. As she behaved quite normally. She requested a meeting to talk about the Earth’s future before she departs. Which means tonight.”

Randidly pressed his eyes closed. Looks like these feet won’t have to put on a pair of shoes yet… Then he turned around. “Any clue what she wants? Or why she changed her mind so abruptly?”

“Normally I would say the well-designed challenges impressed her… but I don’t think either of us believes that Theodora Greyman quite gets how the System works yet.” Tatiana twisted her mouth. “This is just a hunch but… I suspect she wants to partner up with you for something. Something to do with Zone 1’s… proclivity for the forbidden.”

Randidly quirked his eyebrow up. “What are you even implying…?”

“That she is going to ask you something that seems very stupid to you.” Tatiana shrugged. “Obviously, you can handle that. I just want you to be prepared to hear whatever crazy suggestion that she’s going to throw out there. Although she is a little out of her depth at the moment, Theodora Greyman is not an unintelligent woman. You shouldn’t underestimate her.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Randidly said with a frown. Then he twisted around. “Is she…?”

“In the rearmost room of the event space, on the right. The one that was converted into a library.” Tatiana almost seemed amused. “I suppose her subordinates must have explored the place quite well because she definitely didn’t leave the ballroom once she arrived. But she found the swankiest room we prepared for tonight for this talk. I have no doubt you will find her drinking scotch.”

After releasing another sigh, Randidly checked in on himself. His time sitting passively during the planning meeting had helped him recover his focus, but he was now more worried about his mental state. In the past four days, he had found Yystrix’s tomb, briefly given into physical violence and dueled Helen, had a talk with Lucretia about loss, obtained his new Fatepiece and was brought to the past to see Yystrix once more, and now was placed center stage to experience the way that the Earth’s opinion about Randidly Ghosthound was changing.

Still. One more meeting shouldn’t change anything. Even if Theodora Greyman was going to ask him something very, very dumb.

Randidly’s eyes snapped open. “Alright. Thanks for the warning.”

True to Tatiana’s guess, Randidly found Theodora Greyman holding a crystal glass filled with an amber liquid in hand, perusing the shelves of books in the ornate room. He supposed that when Tatiana referred to the room as ‘classy’ she was talking about the heavy leather furniture and the expensive golden globe sitting next to the pool table.

Because to him, it seemed heavy. Weirdly, it reminded Randidly of Ezekiel, which then made him wonder what gift his dad had given him that triggered the second Fatepiece. Plus, I’ll have to go through everyone’s gifts eventually… Tatiana would be disgusted if I asked her to sort them by value before I check them out myself…

Randidly’s thoughts were thankfully interrupted as Theodora Greyman turned around. She gave Randidly a small smile. “Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Mr. Ghosthound. I hope you don’t mind it being in private; I believe there are some things that neither of us wishes to be overheard by others.”

Instantly, Randidly was wary. Not perhaps that Theodora Greyman was about to reveal some terrible secret, but rather that she was truly going to say something very foolish to him. The only reasonable explanation that Randidly could find for why she would believe he would care about the things she said was that she was the one to obtain Yystrix’s memories. But somehow, Randidly didn’t believe that was the case.