“Hmm, the anti-divination is primarily focused on the spirit realm…” Lucina muttered, as she held Aurelius’s palm in her hands.

  “That means… that I need to directly tap into your mind… and filter for relevant information…” She continued to talk to herself as she outlined her steps.

  When she was done assessing, she looked up at Aurelius with a sweet smile. With an innocent expression, Aurelius’s dear friend explained something terrifying in her most wholesome voice.

  “This might hurt.”

  “W-WHA-?”

  Aurelius barely had any time to react as Lucina lunged forward and tapped his forehead with her index finger, as she muttered a short spell in her breath.

  Aurelius was immediately paralysed, unable to move. With his immobilisation, Lucina started to channel mana into her fingertip, creating a rather unpleasant sensation on his forehead.

  Then, with a sharp prickle, the ball of energy entered Aurelius’s forehead. The sensation was painful enough that Aurelius would have yelped like a pup if he could.

  Under Lucina’s careful guidance, the ball of mana formed illusory tendrils in his brain, reaching out to the creases and crevices within his mind.

  It was a ticklish sensation, making him feel the need to scratch his brain matter.

  “I call upon my contracts,

  In the name of House Caelestis,

  I invoke clauses 4 through 10,

  Bring me the information I seek.”

  With a twinkle in her eyes, Lucina concentrated, channeling the information into her soul carvings. She took in the information from the spirit world and Aurelius’s mind, mixing them together to create a cocktail of data. She filtered this dense amalgamation of information, weaving them like threads to create a tapestry of tangible predictions and outcomes.

  Causality and effect were embroidered into the cloth of the past and future, effectively sketching Aurelius and his future.

  The specks of light that shone in Luciina’s pitch black eyes lit up as they discerned the finished fortune. They scanned the mirages of probability as they interpreted and admired the weavings of mana and information.

  Lucina had succeeded in subverting the anti-divination on Aurelius’s body by utilising the information directly engraved into his brain and combining the spirit realm’s information in her soul, effectively circumventing the need to collect all of said information from the spirit realm.

  However, the joy at her success in pulling off this advanced trick of divination magic faded as it was replaced with confusion.

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  She let the mana in Aurelius’s brain dissipate and let her finger fall from his forehead. She wore a bewildered frown as she tapped her chin thoughtfully.

  “What THE FUCK Lucina!” Aurelius yelled, as the paralysis was lifted and nearly fell off of his chair.

  “What was that? Aurelius was completely hopeless! I’d love to shut him up like that once in a while!” Tiberius questioned Lucina in admiration.

  “Hmm, what? Oh, right. I just sort of turned off the signals from his brain to his body for a minute. It’s a water elemental spell Tibby, you won’t be able to do it. You could probably replicate it with some binding magic though. Ask your mentor about it.” Lucina responded, still deep in thought.

  “Wind magic like this would require the consent of the other party at my level! Your magic just like turned him off completely!” Tiberius retorted in fascination.

  Aurelius glared at the couple, annoyed at how lightly they were taking HAVING PARALYSED HIM in a CAFE!

  “Pft, I also needed consent, although you can say it’s more subtle. I took his willingness to participate in my experiment and used it as a basis for the spell. Plus it needs physical contact. It’s less convenient than wind magic.” Lucina explained casually.

  “More importantly, what is up with your fortune Aurelius? You seem to have gotten yourself in quite a bit of trouble if I’m seeing it right? But maybe the anti-divination still managed to mess things up…”

  “Lucina, please don’t beat around the bush like the lame loser you are and tell me my fortune. I’m still quite uncomfortable from your paralysis, plus, you’ve made my goddamn brain itch! How’s that even possible? I will never, ever have you tell my fortune AGAIN.” Aurelius angrily complained, clutching his head as he felt his brain itch more and more.

  “The paralysis would fade in maybe 5 more minutes. And about the brain thing… Sorry!” Lucina apologised half-heartedly, her finger poking her cheek in an act of ‘innocence’.

  “Anyway, from what I can see, there’s a lot of death involved for the foreseeable future for some reason. At the same time, it points to… you? That hardly makes sense, given that fortunes like that would foretell your impending death or something.”

  “It seems rather clear that a spiritual entity is involved in your earliest demise… But there is just an incredible darkness shrouding these events in some sort of… cocoon…”

  “My interpretation of this would probably be that you will encounter great danger and face death multiple times, but a figure of great power will protect you, although their goals seem… opaque… This kind of result would happen in cases of divine intervention…”

  “But nevertheless, you’ll be reborn through your deadly encounters or something…”

  “Or something. Very revelatory. I should clap for the future of the Caelestis House. They’ll have the most mysterious fortune teller joining their damn ranks soon.” Aurelius commented sarcastically.

  He was quite sure of what a few of Lucina’s interpretations meant. For example, reborn in death? Yeah, pretty on the nose. And great danger? Thank you captain obvious! Essentially, he had gone through that process and gained NOTHING!

  “Nono, your fortune looks completely normal (for a dead man walking), until we consider that weird snake… I see your whole future through the coil of a giant serpent! I can’t interpret that symbol at all! What does it even mean?”

  Yep, very revelatory again. Aurelius thought.

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” Aurelius muttered to himself, earning him a curious stare by Lucina.

  Tiberius, meanwhile, had his eyes darting left and right, as he interpreted his friend’s fortune the way Aurelius had. He seemed rather nervous and continued to sip his tea with cold sweat forming on his forehead. He was, after all, bound to confidentiality by a similar contract as Aurelius.

  Lucina was aware of the fact that Aurelius and Tiberius had been the ones to report Dr. Varian to the Commission after their talk with the former sage Mr. Tona, but she had been wise enough to avoid prying too much into the details. After all, the fruits of knowledge could often be poisonous.

  “Hmm, I suppose this involves your adventure on Sunday… Not surprised by certain death? Maybe you really are kinda suicidal.” Lucina muttered, as she weighed between her curiosity and desire to not accidentally cause Aurelius and Tiberius to violate their contracts. It would be quite sensible to imagine that her boyfriend getting cursed during their date would have been quite… inconvenient.

  “I’M NOT SUICIDAL AND YOU’VE GIVEN ME NO GOOD INSIGHT YOU SHAM FORTUNE TELLER!” Aurelius yelled exasperatedly, a headache replacing that stupid itch in his brain.

  “Rude as always… I’m glad that I didn’t kill you though. Messing with the brain can be a little… iffy sometimes…” Lucina muttered sheepishly.

  “WH-WHAT? WHEN IN THE NAME OF THE GODS WAS THAT EVEN ON THE- NEVERMIND. TIBERIUS, DUMP THIS SORRY EXCUSE OF A WOMAN AND FIND YOURSELF A BETTER-” Aurelius rambled, but was stopped by a fist to his head.

  “Tsktsktsk. You will not insult a lady like me, much less one from the Great Magical Houses. I will not tolerate such ungentlemanly behaviour!” Lucina muttered, wiping her fist with her handkerchief…