The sound of rain outside the window had mostly ceased, and the clouds were dyed red by the setting sun.

Roland pushed open the door of a guest room on the first floor. Maggie was pacing in front of the fireplace, looking quite uneasy. The bodyguard Sean, who was standing guard, saluted and left upon seeing the prince. Maggie quickly came forward and asked anxiously, "Your Highness, how is Lightning?"

Roland was taken aback. He had imagined all sorts of reactions from her, from calm to anger to indifference, but he hadn't expected her first words to be about Lightning.

"She's fine... just tired."

"Is that so? That's good." She seemed relieved.

"You seem very concerned about her."

"She looks so much like her father, especially her narrow eyes and pointed nose... I can tell she's Thunder's daughter."

After saying that, she sighed, unbuttoned her collar, lowered her head, and took off a string of golden ornaments hanging around her neck. "The verification you mentioned earlier... is it to judge by the witch's ability? If doing so can prove my sincerity, could she also join this conversation? I don't like the feeling of being spied on in secret."

The ornaments consisted of a string of gold chains and a large, light-blue gemstone. The gemstone, cut into a hexahedron, should be a high-quality God's Stone of Retaliation.

Roland was thinking about how to speak in order to reduce her aversion and suspicion, but he didn't expect her to take the initiative. To be honest, he admired this Fjordin woman. Despite being in an extremely disadvantageous situation, she was still trying to take control of the conversation. Whether it was negotiation skills or demeanor, she fit the image of a successful merchant.

He took the God's Stone of Retaliation from her and hung it on the coat rack by the fireplace. This quality of God's Stone of Retaliation probably had a magic-restricting range of about one meter, which was comparable to a huge black hole in Nightingale's eyes. Perhaps she was already hiding far away to avoid the stone's effect.

"Let's talk in the reception room," Roland said. Since she had shown sincerity, he shouldn't be too stingy. When the two entered the reception room, Nightingale had already revealed herself and was sitting by the main seat, propping her chin with her hands, deliberately posing as if she had been waiting for a long time. *It seems her thoughts are the same as mine,* the prince thought.

After taking their seats, he took the lead in introducing, "This woman is called Nightingale, and she can judge the truth of what you say."

"Hello, Nightingale xiaojie." Maggie nodded to her, and the latter returned the greeting.

"You said earlier that you have no malice towards witches, why?" Roland asked the first question, which was also what he wanted to know most. "As far as I know, there are also church forces in Fjordin."

"But its influence is far less than the Three Gods, or rather, most Fjordin people's beliefs are similar to the Sand people, worshiping the sky, the ocean, and the earth. As for me..." she paused, "I once had a very good companion. During a fishing trip together, we encountered a storm, and the sailboat was broken in half by a huge wave. She became a witch in this disaster and could breathe like a fish. She found me unconscious and dragged me ashore."

"And then?" Nightingale asked curiously.

"After I woke up, she left... Perhaps she longed to be in the ocean more than to be with me," Maggie said regretfully. "I never saw her again. People in the village often say that she appears when the sea raises thick fog, using her songs to guide fishing boats away from the reefs. In any case, my companion could not be an evil person, let alone a minion of the devil."

Roland nodded. Witches were all awakened from ordinary people. If they had deep contact or understanding with them before they awakened, the impression formed would be difficult to change by the church's one-sided rhetoric.

"You seem to know quite a bit about witches' abilities? You guessed with just one sentence that I might have more than one witch here."

"To be honest, because of my childhood companion, I am full of interest in witches, and I have also thought about taking in this group of peculiar women." Maggie smiled. "Unfortunately, the royal capital is not like Border Town, and I finally gave up because the risk was too great. Lightning's actions seem very close to you, plus her identity as a witch... so I think you may be like me, not disliking witches. As a lord, hiding several witches is not a difficult task, especially in this remote land. But you still have to be very careful. If you are discovered by the church, it will be difficult for you to protect them."

At this point, Nightingale had not yet found any signs of her lying, basically negating the possibility of her reporting to the church. Roland finally put his mind at ease and said with a slight apology, "It seems that I was indeed too suspicious. I hope you don't take it to heart."

"No, Your Highness's actions are also for the safety of Lightning and... this woman," Maggie waved her hand. "If you were indifferent, it would be irresponsible."

"Are you very familiar with Thunder?" Roland asked. "Your care for Lightning is more than that of an ordinary person for the children of heroes."

Faced with this question, Maggie hesitated for a moment. Roland said that she could pretend he hadn't asked if she didn't want to answer, but she finally slowly opened her mouth and said, "To be honest, after I left the fishing village, I joined Thunder's expedition team and experienced a long period of exploration with him. As a newcomer to the team, Thunder and his wife took special care of me, and I was there the day Lightning was born."

"She was born on the ship?"

"Yes, in a stormy rain. Thunder and lightning never stopped outside the cabin. Not long after she was born, Thunder's wife died of sepsis, and I... served as half of her mother. Without mother's milk, I mixed chewed wheat porridge and caviar powder together and fed her little by little." Maggie's voice became very gentle. "Although Thunder was extremely sad, he still had to command the fleet forward—without a backbone, months of sailing could easily lead to the collapse of the crew. And I stayed in the cabin, watching Lightning grow up slowly. It wasn't until Thunder discovered the Shadow Islands and successfully returned to Sea Dragon Bay that this adventure ended. Later, I... left Fjordin and settled in the royal capital of Graycastle."

"I see." Roland sighed in his heart. It was no wonder that her reaction was so strong when she heard Thunder's name. As for why she didn't continue to follow Thunder's adventure, he could roughly guess one or two. Having the beginning of a love story does not necessarily mean reaping the ending of a love story.

This is really a coincidental twist... Now that there is this relationship, can I get a bigger discount for doing business? He coughed twice, "Ms. Maggie, in this way, we can be considered acquaintances, so the deal—"

"Your Highness, that won't work," Maggie said with a smile. "Business is business, this is the eternal principle of merchants."