Lingering Fragrance

Her heart skipped a beat.

Evan Xiao probably wouldn’t be back all morning.

This was her chance.

As soon as he left, she slipped out, heading to the spot across from the General’s Manor on North Street where she’d first landed on the tenth, then rode straight for Moonwater Abbey.

First, she checked in on the nursemaids.

Recently, aside from Grace Wan sending some things over, nothing else had gone wrong.

Then she went straight to see Serena Jane.

Serena Jane was a nun who really loved money.

The Prime Minister’s estate was already a major patron of Moonwater Abbey, and Grace had promised her a good deal of gold. So, as soon as Serena Jane saw Grace, her face lit up with joy.

Grace asked her if, around the first of May, a woman from out of town had stayed here.

Serena Jane nodded right away and said, “...That woman was very mysterious. Her face was covered, and she had two attendants with her. You could tell she was a powerful Spirit Practitioner.”

So there really was someone like that!

Grace asked again, “Where did she stay? Can you take me there?”

“She stayed in the courtyard right next to yours. I’ll take you,” Serena Jane replied cheerfully.

Grace’s eyebrows lifted.

Stayed in the neighboring courtyard?

So Evan Xiao just hopped over from there?

Moonwater Abbey was the largest nunnery in Danyang City, always ready with guest rooms for major patrons.

The place Grace was staying was one of those guest courtyards.

Serena Jane led her to the courtyard next door.

Serena Jane opened a main room and pointed inside. “That young lady stayed in this room.”

Grace looked around. It was clean and tidy, obviously just cleaned—no trace of anything left.

“Has anyone else stayed here since she left?” Grace asked.

“No,” Serena Jane replied.

“May I go in and take a look?”

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll wait outside,” said Serena Jane, stepping out.

Grace began to examine the room, bit by bit.

Corners, trash bin, bed, desk, and so on.

Suddenly, her gaze landed on the incense burner beneath the shrine.

Every guest room in Moonwater Abbey had a shrine with a Phoenix Goddess Statue to protect women.

There was always an incense burner under the shrine for offerings.

When the nuns came to clean the rooms, they might take anything else, but they’d never touch the leftover incense.

Because it would be deeply disrespectful to the deity, and the nuns here were especially strict about that.

This incense burner held plenty of burnt sticks, but one of them was obviously different from the rest.

It was silver-white.

She’d never seen silver-white incense before in her life.

Her eyes flashed and she walked over.

The reason she rushed over here was because she suspected that, in her past life, the reason Evan Xiao climbed over the wall to sleep with her might have been because he was affected by something that triggered his desire.

Maybe it was some kind of drug, or maybe a charm or talisman.

Otherwise, with his usual cold and restrained personality, how could he suddenly turn into a beast?

And that burnt incense stick looked seriously suspicious.

She picked it up and sniffed it. It didn’t smell like regular incense—it was kind of weird. Even with her nose as an eighth-rank Spiritual Alchemist, she couldn’t tell what it was made of.

She took the burnt incense stick outside and asked Serena Jane, “Master Jane, is this incense from Moonwater Abbey?”

Serena Jane took a look and shook her head. “No, no! How could we have incense like that? I’ve never seen it before.”

“Do you know where it came from?”

“Maybe some guest who stayed here brought it themselves?” Serena Jane suggested.