Chapter 2266: Truthful Identity

Chapter 2266: Chapter 2266: Truthful Identity

Before going to see Shard, the ladies still had to change clothes—what they’d worn for the train ride was absolutely not suitable for a reunion with Shard.

Of course Miss Belindel had already arranged the rooms. She had meant to just instruct Miss Matilda to handle this and then go check on Shard and Emilia herself, but Miss Benanis, having seen through her intentions, grabbed her and wouldn’t let her leave, instead making her talk about the general situation in Moon Bay at the moment.

So the Countess could only wait until that female opera singer had finished changing, then after gathering with Margaret, seeing that Miss Sylvia still needed some time, they went together to the guest room on the third floor.

The Maid opened the door for them from the outside, and when the Witches walked in, what they saw was the blonde Elf still lying on the bed unconscious, Shard sitting worried at the bedside watching her, and the black‑haired Maid in a black‑and‑white maid dress standing by his side.

The badge had actually already warned Shard of the arrival of the Witches, so when they’d returned to the manor just now, Shard had already let go of Tifa from their embrace... Shard never lets the badge leave him.

Miss Belindel and Miss Benanis naturally hadn’t seen that scene just now. The female opera singer brought her apprentice to the bedside to check the girl on the bed; the owner of the manor gave a suspicious glance to that beautiful Northern Country Maid and then asked:

"Miss Servit, you and him... Aren’t you at all curious why this man is here?"

Her rosy lips pressed together, then curved into a serene smile. Her dark‑brown eyes flicked to Shard, and recalling her own master’s instructions from the night before departure, she gently shook her head:

"I am not curious."

Then she softly greeted:

"Good afternoon, Earl Belindel, Miss Benanis, Her Highness Margaret."

The ladies all responded in turn. The suspicious Countess was truly a clever person; she immediately thought of something. She looked at Shard again, abruptly grabbed his hand and sniffed it, unable to stop herself from frowning:

"So you just casually have an affair with someone else’s Maid, you really like this sort of thing... Don’t kiss me anymore."

Behind her, Miss Matilda curiously exchanged a glance with Tifa; the Northern Country Maid gave the Southern Nation Maid a slight smile.

Miss Benanis turned to look at Shard, wanting to see how she would handle this, and Margaret pricked up her ears to listen.

"Tifa, she... has known me for a long time. We... well, this isn’t an af... from now on we’re all... um... one family."

He reached out, wanting to take Miss Belindel’s hand, but she dodged away:

"Hmph~"

After pondering and meditating over it for more than half a month, Bella Belindel finally put her plan and prepared lines on stage. She pretended to be angry and said:

"Never took you for such a greedy man. You want to divide yourself into 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 shares, is that it?"

As she counted, she pointed in turn at Tifa, Miss Benanis, Margaret, Miss Sylvia in the room next door, and herself. After a brief hesitation, she pointed off toward the distant Northern Country:

"And Galina. So, that ’Shard Hamilton,’ the famous Detective from the Hamilton Detective Stories, wasn’t someone Galina had a Maid disguise herself as, was he? You’re actually Shard Hamilton, aren’t you?"

This was her attempt to use this accusation to seize the initiative for herself. Only, as she asked, her eyes were clearly shining—she was quite pleased with that identity.

Shard wanted to apologize, but Miss Benanis couldn’t stand seeing Shard being picked on, so she laughed and said:

"What are you thinking, one‑fifth? Bella, there’s no way you’re just one‑fifth. Did you think Megan and the Audrey sisters, and Hevy, are all just watching and don’t intend to get involved?"

"I’ve long suspected it. Shard, allow me to address you this way..."

Even with a touch of anger, she was still so very polite:

"Shard, since you’re holding that Sword, of course in every past action you would have met Witches. Ha~ turns out they all know you. I thought you were only involved with Vanessa and the others... but you’ve actually had a thing with all of them."

She wasn’t used to such crude phrasing, but in a small corner of her heart she actually let out a sigh of relief. With the three Grand Witches in the manor plus the three Grand Witches elsewhere—in other words, among the Council’s thirteen members, at least six had fully accepted this special existence that was Shard.

Miss Benanis still wouldn’t let Shard speak; narrowing her eyes, she smiled and said:

"And there are more. You have to add all those young girls. Hevy’s niece doesn’t seem to have much to do with Shard, but Granny Cassandra’s apprentice, Miss Swift; Galina’s pretty black‑haired Maid here; and my apprentice, Margaret—all have an unusual relationship with Shard. Oh, and Ciris. You’re leaving out quite a few people."

This time Miss Belindel was genuinely somewhat angry; she looked down on those girls who weren’t yet Witches. In her view, Witch Apprentices coveting their teachers’ Treasures was a very improper thing:

"We’re only talking about Witches."

She tilted her head slightly, not caring in the least that Margaret and Tifa were right there:

"Anyway, Shard isn’t married yet, so everything is still moral. You think I’d be afraid of you? Let’s compete fairly then. Even if Galina stood right here, I’d still fight her for first place."

That line was meant to display her contempt for the other Witches. Now that she knew who Shard really was, she understood he absolutely wasn’t the female opera singer’s Follower standing before her.

As for saying words like ’competition,’ she herself knew it was impossible. She needed to cover up one fatal flaw; if that point were spoken aloud, she would be utterly defeated.

And Miss Benanis laughed again and said:

"Bella, what are you thinking? Competition? First place? What do you imagine Love is? Besides, even if there is some so‑called ’first place,’ Galina is not number one. No, no, none of us are."

"What?"

The Countess looked at Shard, and only then did Shard say:

"Do you still remember the female diviner I told you about? The one who made the compass... Luviya Annette. She is my... um..."

Although he didn’t say it out loud, everyone knew what he meant. And the Great Witch of Destiny certainly hadn’t forgotten that when she tried to divine that woman, the divination cards directly exploded.

She frowned slightly, actually feeling that this was how it should be. Among the Grand Witches of the Witch Council, other than His Excellency the Speaker, none were much better than her, but that diviner’s anti-divination ability was the first time she realized there were such formidable people in the material world.

She was about to continue speaking, but Miss Benanis would not give her that chance. The charming opera singer folded her arms across her chest, smiling as she asked:

"Speaking of which, Bella, I said Shard was my follower and asked you to help look after him. I’ve been wanting to ask you—since I asked you to take care of him, why do you look like you’re trying to steal him now? That’s not what you agreed to back then. This is really unethical."

Margaret silently praised her teacher for instantly grasping the point; Her Highness the Princess admired that kind of ability.

Emilia, who had woken up a while ago but pretended to be asleep so as not to interrupt this conversation, was inwardly amazed, thinking she had learned a remarkable trick—Saint Byrons would never teach something like this.

Tifa and Miss Matilda stood silently; maids should not involve themselves in such matters.

Only the Countess, whose weak spot had been poked, pulled a furious face. She didn’t say that they were the ones who lied first, but genuinely felt she was in the wrong. After all, a month ago it had indeed been her who said things like, "You know what you’re doing."

Fortunately, Shard finally seized a chance to speak. He felt this was enough:

"It’s my fault."

This time he successfully took Miss Belindel’s hand, and the Countess only put up a token struggle.

"I’m too greedy, but I don’t intend to let go. I was wrong to keep it secret before. Let me formally introduce myself: I am Shard Hamilton."

The Countess blushed at once. She had already agreed with Shard beforehand that she wouldn’t be too angry once she knew his identity. Having now used this "quarrel" to feel out the others’ situation, she was quite satisfied. She shot a glance at the opera singer, then lightly slapped Shard:

"Honestly, there are other people here."

Miss Benanis immediately laughed, knowing that this colleague of hers was just being stubborn in words:

"Greedy man."

She also took Shard’s hand and said softly:

"We parted at Green Lake and haven’t seen each other in a long time. Later, you’ll have to tell me properly what you’ve been up to."

After saying that, she turned to Miss Belindel:

"We’ll also tell you about Shard’s past."

The Countess instinctively wanted to nod, but not wanting to admit defeat so easily, she struggled inwardly for a moment, then asked Shard:

"Then what’s your middle name? Since you’re willing to confess your identity, I want to know everything."

"Suren."

Shard said with a smile:

"Shard Suren Hamilton."

"The moon, is it?"

She nodded to show she had remembered, then said to Miss Benanis:

"We’ve agreed—after this you can’t bring up how you entrusted him to my care yet I ended up... And I won’t tease you about hiding things from the others for so long while you developed a relationship with Shard."

"Of course, no problem. The women of the Witch Council should be united. Ever since I met Shard, I’ve always thought his appearance would be better for our unity, and now it proves I’ve been right yet again."

Miss Benanis smiled gently and lightly scratched Shard’s palm, clearly meaning to flaunt how easily she had settled the matter of Miss Belindel.

Just then, thump thump thump—three knocks sounded on the door, and the master of the manor asked:

"What is it?"

But no reply came from outside the door, so the Countess frowned and looked toward it. She started forward to check, but was stopped by Miss Benanis.

The Twelfth Rank Grand Witch approached the door warily. She flung it open and instantly widened her eyes in shock, because she saw a little beast that had been trying to knock on the door with its horn.

The pure white little creature found that the door had "disappeared," lifted its head in puzzlement, and cocked it to the side, staring at her with big, bewildered, sapphire-blue eyes.