West Borough, Intis Embassy.
The confidential secretary, who deliberately sported a small mustache seemingly in imitation of Roselle, knocked on the office door of Special Envoy Mr. Owen.
"Sir, Duke Negan has been assassinated! The attackers were a 'Desire Apostle' and… and Baron Larry!" The secretary rushed through the report, paying no mind to the envoy's displeasure.
"What?!" The envoy immediately stood up. What shocked him wasn't Negan's assassination—after all, that had been part of their organization's long-decided plans.
What troubled Mr. Owen was that Larry had shown up at the scene and had played a major role in the operation…
After a brief pause to collect his thoughts, Owen asked urgently, "Was Larry captured? Or killed on the spot?"
"No… Word is he escaped in front of the Mandated Punishers…" The secretary didn't dare hide anything and briefly summarized what he had learned.
"He escaped even under such circumstances? Did some higher being interfere?" Envoy Owen fell into thought for a few seconds before asking again, "What about the 'Desire Apostle'?"
"That part's still unclear… But from what I've gathered, it looks like he was silenced by some other force."
The incident had only just occurred, so for the secretary to have obtained this much information already was proof of his competence.
Owen paced around the room, muttering to himself, "I might've fallen into George III's trap…" Then he gave a command:
"Immediately send someone to deal with Bianca. We can't let the Loen side get hold of any evidence that we supported Larry."
"Yes, Mr. Envoy." The secretary acknowledged, then hesitated slightly before adding, "But if this really was a trap set by the Loen side, then it's likely they already have some evidence… After all, there were other agents helping Larry—not just Bianca…
"And… it might already be too late for Bianca…"
"That doesn't matter… If the others are caught, we can completely deny them," Envoy Owen said coldly with a sneer. "If Bianca can't be silenced in time, and Loen insists on an explanation, we can hand over Sari to take the fall.
"With his status as Chief Martial Officer, his long-standing work relationship with Bianca, and his 'suspicious' friendliness with the Conservative Party nobles in Loen… he has the capacity, and he can bear the responsibility… can't he?
"After all, Intis isn't ready yet—we can't fall out with Loen now. That would make Feysac very happy.
"For the sake of our great homeland, this sacrifice is necessary… I believe Mr. Sari will be willing."
As he spoke, a strange gleam flashed in Owen's eyes, and he gave the secretary a meaningful look.
"I understand… I'll make sure Mr. Sari becomes 'willing'…" the mustached secretary replied. Then, almost in a daze, he murmured, "After everything's done… I'll make myself 'disappear'…"
"Good." Envoy Owen closed his eyes. "Don't worry about the Sari family's political influence back home. I'll work with the Sauron family to suppress them."
The secretary seemed to have forgotten what he had just muttered. His heart was full of excitement and anticipation—after all, Mr. Sari was his main competitor for the ambassador position.
However, just before leaving, he couldn't help but voice the doubt in his heart: "Since the entire assassination might've been orchestrated by the Loen royal family… why not expose this secret?
"Even if we don't have concrete proof, it could still cause mass panic and deeper chaos among the Loen people…"
But Envoy Owen simply shook his head without answering, silently thinking to himself:
Because that is not the choice of this era…
.....
"This is the choice of the era…" Duke Negan's blonde secretary, Lockhart Siacam, told himself with eerie calm after being interrogated by the Mandated Punishers and the Machinery Hivemind.
Then, without rush or resistance, he returned to the room arranged for him by the authorities and obediently accepted the outcome of being temporarily placed under house arrest.
Watching the secretary enter the room, Ikanser, a steward of the Church of Steam, finally turned to the "Mysticism Magister" Stuart, who had participated in the interrogation alongside him.
"What do you think? Could he be the mole?"
After several collaborations—and jointly suffering public humiliation at the hands of Arrodes—their relationship had grown considerably close… though Stuart was reluctant to admit it.
"I didn't sense any signs of him lying… But he might have some special means to bypass my 'Mysticism' abilities." Stuart pondered for a moment before continuing, "Still, my intuition tells me there's something off about him… After all, in our previous battle, while I may have made mistakes in coordination… the fact remains that he blocked my spell."
"In that case… it's safest to ask Arrodes," Ikanser suggested after some thought.
As soon as he finished speaking, although Stuart remained unfazed, the Mandated Punishers and Machinery Hivemind members standing behind them all instinctively took a step back in unison.
Noticing this, Ikanser sighed helplessly. "I wasn't telling you to ask… What are you afraid of?"
"You seem less fearful of it today?" Stuart observed with a smirk.
"Arrodes seems to be in a good mood today. Just now, a 'Red Glove' asked it about the whereabouts of the 'Desire Apostle,' and it didn't ask any overly unreasonable questions."
As he spoke, Ikanser gazed at the silver mirror in his hand and stroked its surface three times with his right palm.
After a brief two-second pause, he took a deep breath and solemnly asked:
"Respected Arrodes, my question is: In the past few months, has Lockhart Siacam had any secrets he wouldn't want others to know?"
The surrounding darkness suddenly thickened, and ripples of water-like light spread across the silver mirror's surface.
Soon, a series of images emerged within the mirror:
—Lockhart arranging for someone to monitor Miss Audrey Hall's accounts.—Lockhart meeting with a disguised individual, their face deliberately concealed, in a café.—Lockhart discussing something with a butler-like figure…
Although the scenes were silent, they were enough to show that this secretary from MI9 did indeed have some suspicious activities.
"Why not just ask whether he's the mole?" Stuart asked as he observed the images.
Previously, he had mostly used 'Mysticism' to invoke Arrodes' power. Though he had suffered greatly at its hands, he wasn't fully aware of its limitations in answering questions.
"Because if you ask a simple 'yes or no' question, it will inevitably give a definite answer. He was an MI9 agent planted beside Duke Negan—he is technically a mole.
"And if we ask things like 'Did he participate in the assassination?' or 'Did he betray the Duke?' the answers would likely be vague or misleading, making them highly unreliable!
"Furthermore, asking such questions would increase the difficulty and risk of both the punishment and the response significantly!
"I suspect that Arrodes dislikes straightforward 'yes or no' questions. It prefers to give prophecies or visions, like certain forms of divination."
"A 'living' Sealed Artifact, huh…" Stuart sighed, nodding in understanding. He took a moment to organize his thoughts before analyzing, "First, we need to identify the two people Lockhart met in the images…
"As for Miss Audrey Hall… I personally don't think she has anything to do with this case."
Ikanser agreed with the reasoning and was just about to respond when the images in the mirror suddenly vanished.
In their place, blood-red words slowly formed, one after another:
"Have you ever had feelings for 'Mysticism Magister' Stuart?"
Ikanser froze, utterly dumbfounded.
At the same time, the members of the Machinery Hivemind and the Mandated Punishers all turned their gazes toward him.
Some looked surprised.Some looked horrified.Some looked intrigued.Some looked as if they had just figured something out…
As for Stuart, his expression became unfocused. He had never imagined that even someone as "fearless" as himself could still fall victim to this kind of torment…
"Arrodes hates being asked 'yes or no' questions, but it loves asking them itself!"
(End of Chapter)