Grace and Helen evidently were seeing this item for the first time, though the twin sisters had their suspicions.

Shard then elaborated on the two elderly twins who seemed aware of his connection to the Red Butterfly Maiden, recounting their words in the church hallway outside the washroom.

When they heard the phrase "the Order wronged them," Grace and Helen’s expressions didn’t change. Even after Shard repeated everything, their expressions remained unchanged, as if he had merely told an uninteresting joke.

Shard knew their feelings about the Old God - the Twin Gods - were complicated, so he didn’t say much, instead handing them the beautiful red bead:

"This is for you. It was probably left a long time ago, but I’m not quite sure what it is."

The older sister, Grace, took it and fiddled with it before passing it to her sister. Helen held it up to the sunlight, then shook it twice and pressed it to her ear to listen, before handing it back to Shard.

"If we were to deceive you by saying that this was just a novelty item, or that it could purify our power to further suppress the revival of the Whisper Element within us, you certainly wouldn’t doubt us."

Grace sighed slightly; a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl shouldn’t have so many worries:

"But we don’t wish to lie to you, so we’d like you to make the decision—this is a holy relic left by the deity we encountered—the Twin Gods, or to call it a ’Divine Artifact’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration."

"What?"

[No Divinity.]

"She" seemed to instantly sense what Shard was thinking.

And in this world, the definition of a ’Divine Artifact’ is an object made or used by a deity, though not necessarily powerful. For instance, ’God’s Gift Box’ and ’Butterfly Summoning Flute’ are genuine Divine Artifacts, yet they provide no critical advantage in a confrontation.

Helen added:

"The Order most likely left this item as compensation for us, ha~"

She wanted to make a disdainful expression, but knowing her sister and Shard were before her, she obediently refrained:

"Though marked with the Red Butterfly insignia, it’s not completely the creation of the Deities of Bygone Days. Its original form was a transparent glass sphere, rumored to be a materialized spatial fragment left by the Ancient God—the Primordial Rift during space creation."

Shard suddenly thought of the creation space card image: a man whose face can’t be seen, back turned outward from the card, holding a book in one hand and pointing inward with the other, while the card background is in an infinitely dark sky of radiant bizarre light bubbles.

Grace continued:

"The red mist inside is the power infused by the Old God. Should Helen and I absorb this red bead, apart from further purifying our own attributes corresponding to the Red Butterfly, making us more like living beings, it can grant us additional powerful abilities, such as..."

She paused for a moment, and together with Helen, said:

"Spatial Power, even Creation Space."

The most important trait of the Chosen of Space is "United as One," with the ceremony location being a stable space outside the material world, with the ceremony itself being "Creation Space."

"Not truly creating a space in the void like a deity, but similar to a Maze Lock. However, since Helen and I are not Circle Sorcerers, calling it a Maze Lock isn’t accurate."

Grace said, her blue eyes fixed on Shard:

"Sir, the three elements of the Chosen One Ceremony: understanding, ancient god relic, and ceremony content, are now entirely in our hands. We all know what this means, and neither Helen nor I intend to probe why the Order originally circulated this. But we’ve placed the choice in your hands."

She gently clasped Shard’s hand holding the red bead, then Helen placed her hand atop it as well.

The sisters looked at Shard, and he understood their intent.

"Since we’ve chosen to follow Zina to Green Lake, we have already prepared to become The Chosen Ones. But we listen to you; since you’ve been guiding our future and every time correctly, we’ll entrust our lives to you once more."

The red bead seemed to respond to their words by heating slightly, Shard could even sense the warm moisture of Grace and Helen’s palms:

"You and I both know clearly the fate of being a Chosen One represents."

"Yes, sir, but when fate truly arrives, no one can retreat. Once fate makes its choice, even if we are separated from the Green Lake by the farthest distance, we cannot escape the inevitable tomorrow. Moreover, if Sister Delphine and the Guardian of the Earth can do it, we can too."

They did not mention Iluna at all, after all, compared to other Chosen Ones, Iluna Beath was really too normal.

Three pairs of eyes met, and after Shard confirmed their thoughts, he slightly nodded:

"If at the end of the battle of Green Lake, fate truly chooses you...please become the Chosen of Space."

He pushed the red Treasure Bead into the hands of the Red Butterflies, but this was not a sudden change of heart:

"But there is a condition: you must wait until I activate the Maze Lock before you can hold the ceremony. When you see the bell tower appear under the snowy sky and hear the bell echoing, only then can you hold the ceremony."

The sisters both showed sweet smiles:

"Yes, sir, we will do whatever you say."

As they spoke, they tiptoed and kissed Shard on the cheeks, one on each side.

"Shard..."

Angelina, coming from Rose Manor with several maids holding vases, happened to see this scene as she turned the corner of the hallway.

She hesitated and paused her steps. She had never met Grace and Helen before and naturally didn’t understand the relation with Shard of these emerging beautiful girls:

"Twins... They aren’t very tall..."

She somehow felt a sense of confidence she had never found in her elder sister and walked towards Shard with a smile.

Granny Cassandra and her group, despite experiencing a long journey from Midshire Fort, would not care about such fatigue. That afternoon, the Old Witch and the girls she brought immediately threw themselves into the investigation work in the Green Lake Region.

The search for Maria Edwards’ soul had already shown some progress. The witches had almost confirmed that the hidden soul should be in a certain hidden space by the lakeside.

Now that the experienced Old Witch has arrived here, it seems finding the opponent will not be difficult. Sister Delphine explained to Shard yesterday that the Chosen of Space must appear within ten days. Considering the time, the work in everyone’s hands indeed needs to be accelerated.

As for Grace and Helen, they actually didn’t want to have much contact with anyone besides Shard, even if the other party was also a witch. Therefore, the sisters only showed up once at the manor, and after Shard introduced them as Granny Cassandra’s nieces, they disappeared.

However, later they seemed to have gone to speak with Megan and Audrey, but Shard wasn’t clear about what was said. Among the three pairs of twins Shard knew—Megan and Audrey, Grace and Helen, Lecia and Dorothy—the situation of the six was different, only the Red Butterfly sisters had experienced a long time and truly understood what their uniqueness meant...

"If there’s time, perhaps Grace and Helen could host a ’Twin Lecture’.

That’s a strange idea in Shard’s mind.

He did not stay at the small manor the entire afternoon; after Angelina delivered the vases, she brought Shard to Rose Manor again at Miss Galina’s request, where he explained whether his contact with Captain Lades was successful.

When he returned to Granny Cassandra’s place at three o’clock, Miss Sylvia had already arrived and was conversing with the Old Witch, while Margaret who came along was cautiously consulting Miss Rita Swift, the Old Witch’s apprentice. That girl, who was quite insecure when she first met Shard, was now becoming a witch apprentice capable of handling things independently... Moreover, this girl with long, slightly curly, flaxen hair is the most likely among all current witch apprentices to become a Grand Witch in the future.

Granny Cassandra was too old and no longer had the interest to cultivate other apprentices. According to Council tradition, Miss Rita Swift inheriting the "Darkness" seat was almost a certainty.

Seeing Shard had arrived, Miss Sylvia then took Margaret and Shard through the portal back to the City of Glass. Subsequently, Shard joined Miss Benanis and Ciris, attacking the temporary base of the "Dragon Feast Cult" in a deserted village east of the city, an information that was finall uncovered.

The afternoon’s battle left a deep impression on Shard, as those believers of the Evil God, "Dragon Devourer", almost all had the ability to transform some part of themselves into a dragon. Among them, Low Ring Sorcerers could only mutate parts like arms, while Inner Ring Sorcerers’ mutations could involve internal organs.

The strongest among them, a Sorcerer of Nine Rings, although his dragon transformation ability was far weaker than the demonized Gratoni Edwards, still brought great shock to Miss Benanis when he became a half-dragon with a dragon head and tail:

"Damn, there are things this ugly in the world!"

This girl, who can be called an "artist" among opera singers, struck even harder in her anger. The Eleven-Ring Life Ring floated behind her, and even without displaying powers related to the Earth, just the most basic "Visceral Curse" and "Tail Severing Curse" were enough to achieve remarkable effects.

Ciris, who was with them, had to send Miss Benanis skyward to fight to prevent her from damaging her elegant impression in Shard’s eyes. Shard still remembers when he first met Miss Benanis; others had said she was among the witches who weren’t very good at combat... Now it seems, witches don’t completely understand their colleagues either.