Ah, long time no see

The nights in Evernight City remained chillingly cold.

Vivian sat within her small tent, the magical glow for illumination casting light upon her profile, as she calmly processed official documents.

Though she had been away for ten days, the operations of Evernight City had not halted.

Thanks to the foundation she had previously established and the regulations she had set, along with the capable assistance of Lucia, Aria, and others, the accumulated administrative matters were not overwhelming.

She picked up her pen and began swiftly reviewing and approving them.

Her efficiency was high, her decisions as decisive as ever—for land distribution, she favored prioritizing rewards for families with outstanding contributions to land reclamation; for vein mining, she noted, “Proceed cautiously, prioritize safety, equipment issues to be discussed separately”; for the procurement list, she added and removed a few items, focusing more on urgently needed grain and basic construction materials.

Setting down the pen and handing all the approved documents to Aria for distribution and execution, Vivian finally let out a soft sigh of relief.

The urgent administrative tasks were finally dealt with.

The tent grew quiet, leaving only the faint hum from the magical lamp in the corner and the even, delicate breathing of Luna in her cradle.

Vivian did not rest—she retrieved two items and gently placed them on the tabletop.

One was the silver-white, completely unresponsive 【Rhine Holy Ring】 seized from Charles’s severed hand.

The other was the dual-winged ornament woven from pure white feathers, a gift from the Hero of Light, Lucia.

At this moment, both items lay silently on the table before Vivian.

Vivian’s expression grew gravely serious—the assassination operation in the Court of Radiance had succeeded, but it left far too many unanswered mysteries.

From Charles’s reactions and behavior, which were utterly unlike those of a normal person, it was clear he was a thorough 【Player】, possessing some so-called game system, a golden finger of sorts—that was precisely why Vivian had been desperate to kill him at all costs.

After all, the power that these system-assisted 【Players】 could wield in the later stages was simply too terrifying, and though Vivian’s identity and strength remained, her territory still needed to be rebuilt bit by bit… The progress was already swift, yet Vivian always felt it wasn’t enough.

As a transmigrator herself, she knew there were others—and if there was one 【Player】 like Charles, there would be more.

It was like an invisible Damocles’ sword hanging over her head, leaving Vivian utterly unable to eat or sleep in peace.

From the summaries reported by Aria and Lucia, everything in Evernight City—reclamation and reconstruction—was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

The nighttime literacy classes conducted by Luna and the other succubi were also going very smoothly, with the commoners showing great enthusiasm for learning, which in turn began fostering habits of counting and statistics.

Some had even started attempting to improve certain everyday techniques, and Vivian’s stance on this had always been one of support.

But it was still too slow.

Vivian exhaled a turbid breath, refocusing her attention and thoughts on the items before her.

Why was this ring now completely unresponsive, and why had Lucia’s ornament reacted…

Until these mysteries were unraveled, Vivian felt a stifling frustration in her chest.

She first picked up the 【Rhine Holy Ring】, examining it closely once more, trying various methods to probe it—infusing a trace of mana, scanning with mental energy, even attempting to drip blood… But no matter what she tried, the ring remained unresponsive, like a lifeless object.

“It seems conventional methods cannot activate it.”

Vivian frowned. “Is it because Charles’s death caused its ‘binding’ to fail? Or… does it require specific ‘permissions’ or ‘commands’ to activate?”

She recalled Charles’s eerie gestures, as if manipulating an interface, but then shook her head.

The items in this world should still follow conventional settings.

There were too many magical items in this world for them to still follow conventional settings—this thing was unlikely to be a player-exclusive bound item.

Taking a deep breath, Vivian set the ring aside for the moment and picked up the feathered ornament.

The sensation at her fingertips was warm and soft, showing no rejection of her own dark mana.

She clearly remembered that in the Court of Radiance, when that “angel” had appeared, this ornament had emitted and transmitted a strange energy.

“Lucia… what exactly did you leave me?”

She murmured to herself, her fingertips gently brushing over the soft feather patterns. “Is it your own… 【Soul Artifact】? Or perhaps a soul fragment, a vessel for consciousness?”

She tried infusing a wisp of mana into the ornament, and it faintly glowed with an extremely weak, warm white light, but soon dimmed again, showing no further reaction.

“Both items hide secrets, yet both refuse to open up to me. Lucia, you really are…”

Vivian leaned back in her chair, rubbing her brow, feeling a wave of frustration.

The research had reached a deadlock.

After a moment of contemplation, a glint of resolve flashed in her eyes.

No, that wasn’t right.

There was still one method she hadn’t tried.

That was for Vivian to personally wear them herself.

Vivian stared at the ring and the winged ornament, her thoughts plunging into conflict.

Truth be told, the only option left now was to put on the ring and ornament herself—but Vivian was a bit afraid to do so.

No matter how you looked at it, these were items of Holy Light, and as a Demon Lord, even if being burned by Holy Light wouldn’t kill her, it would probably hurt a lot.

But on the other hand, Vivian had personally touched them, even infused mana, yet felt no reaction at all—did that mean

even Rhine had touched it without any reaction, so as long as

no Holy Light power was infused, these things might even be

harmless to demons?

Vivian pondered this, realizing it was another angle to approach the puzzle.

But still, was this really okay?

Vivian thought it over, but in the end, she took a deep breath and mustered her courage.

“Let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, I can just take it off.”

Vivian comforted herself thus, then took several more deep breaths. After mentally preparing herself, she slowly reached for the Rhine Holy Ring before her and gradually slipped it onto her finger.

“!”

The instant she put on the ring, Vivian felt as if a tiny current had shocked her. A faint energy surged from the ring, making her jolt involuntarily—then, the mana within her body uncontrollably flowed toward the ring!

In the blink of an eye, the ring on her finger began to emit a faint glow, and at the same time, the winged ornament placed nearby also radiated a soft light!

“f*ck!”

Vivian startled, instinctively wanting to remove the ring, but when her fingers touched it, she still felt no discomfort—merely that her mana was draining a bit faster.

While she was still wondering what was happening, she suddenly saw, all around her, within this tent, countless white feathers drifting down.

Immediately after, a beam of light descended from above, and a figure lightly emerged from the air, transitioning from illusory to solid, slowly descending before her.

The newcomer gently landed, her pure white wings behind her slightly unfurling. Her tightly closed brows trembled faintly, then slowly opened, revealing a pair of gem-like azure eyes that met Vivian’s shocked and stunned crimson gaze.

Then, she smiled.

“Oh, Vivian, it’s been a while.”