Lux finally realized the problem.
She had never thought before that Kodora would first come to her to confirm the itinerary, and then fake the frost scene.
Or rather, in her subconscious, no one would be so insane as to create a false frost scene to cover up the truth!
Lux had seen lying before.
But after lying, to cover up the lie, to make the matter real… Wait, why does it suddenly feel so familiar?
Shaking her head, Lux dismissed this thought from her mind and focused on the fake frost.
To create artificial frost damage, using magic is almost the only choice!
If one thinks along this direction, then upon closer inspection, the whole thing seems to become quite serious.
"It can't be that bad, can it?" Lux forced herself to calm down. "Things may not go that far. He just came over specifically to teach me the wrong way to judge frost disasters, wasn't it to make me unable to distinguish the situation? Does he still need to genuinely create an artificial frost?"
"Perhaps not," Klein's reply was utterly calm. "But if he really made preparations, would you admit that Silvermere truly suffered a disaster just because of your Luck mentality?"
"I naturally cannot stand by and do nothing!"
"Then, do you plan to tell all the nobles that there was no frost here a few days ago, but you can't produce any evidence?"
"…"
Lux was somewhat silent.
Unlike the previous constant guidance on social etiquette, this time, Klein, who intended to cultivate Lux, chose to ask questions rather than provide answers.
He didn't even offer guidance, directly pressing Lux in the areas she subconsciously wanted to avoid, like a discerning eye, seizing upon the issues she was unwilling to face, leaving Lux no room for confusion.
And facing Klein, whose style had suddenly changed drastically, Lux was somewhat at a loss.
Fortunately, she was no longer the ignorant child she once was.
Following the direction of Klein's questioning, Lux began to search for solutions step by step.
"If he really intends to fake the frost, he will inevitably use magic," Lux first made an important judgment. "And using magic will leave traces!"
"Good thinking," Klein agreed. "Especially these untrained mages."
"And Demon Searchers can capture traces of magic!" Lux clenched her fists. "Under normal circumstances, Demon Searchers wouldn't care about a piece of farmland, but if I personally invite them, I should be able to dispatch a Demon Searcher team!"
"For your uncle's sake," Klein agreed again. "Very good, you used your identity."
"But even if it's proven that someone used magic in the farmland, it doesn't prove that the frost was faked," Lux continued. "But this way, we can use this as an excuse to investigate a few more farmlands; the other party can't fake frost everywhere!"
"The plan is becoming more rigorous."
"But there's one problem: I'm not very familiar with the situation in Silvermere right now. If they want to play dirty and drag things out, it will ultimately be quite troublesome." Speaking of this, Lux couldn't help but frown. "Moreover, promoting commoners to be retainers is very likely to cause opposition from everyone."
"Very correct concerns," Klein's tone finally became relieved. "However, your luck is good. Do you remember our second guest? He's here."
As they spoke, Lux's door was knocked on once again.
Carrying a stack of the evidence Lux most wanted, Dili proactively came to her door.
… … … … … … … …
Unlike Kodora's posturing, Dili was very direct.
Upon meeting Lux, he straightforwardly expressed the purpose of his visit—I'm here to pledge my allegiance!
To gain Lux's trust, Mr. Dili acted very sincerely from the moment he entered the room.
He answered all of Lux's questions without the slightest concealment, even revealing his identity as a live-in son-in-law and proactively stating that "if it weren't for marrying my wife, I would never have appeared here."
But at the same time, he repeatedly emphasized that he and his wife were indeed truly in love, and regarding the false reporting of the disaster, he was completely different from those other scoundrels and completely disagreed with this method of concealing taxes.
"That is a smear on the Crownguard family, causing a detrimental impact on the entire family for a little bit of petty gain!"
However, according to Dili, before this, because of his special identity, he had no say in the clan.
All he could do was collect information about this matter, then manage the land tax accounts under his jurisdiction well, and seal up all the wealth obtained.
In other words, on this matter, before coming to pledge allegiance to Lux, he took all preventive measures except for actual obstruction, and the final result was that he could only look after himself.
"Since collecting this tax, I have never touched it!" Dili thumped his chest, vowing, "I once tried to contact the previous envoy who came, but he had already been bribed by Kodora, I really had no choice!"
"Why didn't you just send a messenger to The Capital?" Lux asked, somewhat puzzled. "That shouldn't be too difficult."
"Because… because my family is not very wealthy," Hearing this topic, Dili lowered his head in shame. "I came from a Ranger knight's retainer background. Back then, my wife even used almost all of her private savings to buy me reliable armor, weapons, and a warhorse so that I could establish merits and be worthy of marrying her. After that, our family's financial situation has always been tight."
"…"
"Alright, to be honest, Miss Luxanna, my previous description wasn't very accurate," Dili hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke as if mustering Courage. "Actually, I didn't completely not touch that money. I invested a little of it in financial products, but I promise that after gaining returns, I immediately returned the principal—you can send professionals to check the accounts, I have kept all of them."
"This is not a big deal; I never intended to pursue past debts anyway," Seeing the other party so candid, Lux magnanimously waved her hand. "You've been a great help this time. I was just wondering what kind of conspiracy Kodora had prepared and was looking for some land deeds for reference!"
"Kodora is a very cunning person, Miss Luxanna, please be sure to be careful," Dili pondered for a moment, then proactively offered a reminder. "He always likes to set up multiple layers in many places. In Silvermere, in some not-so-clean acquisition cases, he plays the role of a hunter…"
"I've noticed that," Lux showed undisguised disgust. "He's observing me, and then using the results of his observations to try and control me—he's even planning my itinerary to bring everything under his control!"
"Then you must be extra careful!" Dili couldn't help but want to raise his voice. "When he starts a plan that seems harmless, it means he has already made many plans—if possible, I suggest you'd best not follow his rhythm…"
"Why not?" Lux shook her head. "The more he plans, the more he has to mobilize, and the more will ultimately be exposed, isn't that right?"
"…"
Dili was stunned.
This astonishment was half feigned, half genuine—on one hand, he wanted to appear not so cunning, and on the other hand, he was indeed surprised by Lux's boldness.
After all… the saying that a mighty dragon cannot overpower a local snake also holds true in Demacia, and judging by Lux's posture, she clearly intended to see this matter through to the end.
The cunning Dili obviously couldn't understand that Lux was doing this out of Justice.
In his opinion, Justice was merely an empty slogan, and those who took it seriously were just naive children who hadn't seen the world. Someone as capable as Lux surely wouldn't be so naive.
So, after much thought, he could only conclude that Lux was demonstrating her capabilities and control.
Hiss—what a terrifying little girl!
"Miss Luxanna," Dili secretly trembled with fear while continuing to offer his reminder, "Kodora's methods are never clean. If possible, I suggest you… pay more attention to your safety."
"…"
This time, Lux said nothing, but instead slightly raised her head, arched her eyebrows, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly upward.
As if she had been prepared for it, or as if she had longed for it.
This half-smile, half-not expression made Dili break out in a cold sweat.
A gust of evening wind blew, and Dili felt a faint dampness on his back, and his collar seemed overly tight—even though Lux was just a little girl, he dared not meet her gaze at all!
At this moment, he couldn't help but subconsciously review his performance on this trip.
Hmm, I seemed to have told the truth, right?
As long as I remain loyal, there will be no problem!
Yes, then there's no problem!
After confirming again that he had not made any oversight, Dili finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He abandoned his plan to naturally become Lux's advisor and no longer intended to stay.
After leaving the accounts he brought and the marked map, he swiftly left the hotel where Lux was staying and quickly disappeared into the night.
And it wasn't until he was far away from the hotel that Dili finally gasped for air, like a drowning person.
Thank goodness.
Although not entirely the same as the plan, this investment was ultimately successful.
The process was a bit difficult, but after seeing Lux with his own eyes and talking to her, he was full of confidence in this investment!
Dili believed that with this investment, he would surely obtain a ticket to Demacia Capital!
Riding on his white horse, with the cold evening wind blowing, Dili was excited and nervous, constantly recalling his previous plan along the way.
Thank goodness, Gao Kan didn't actually take action.
Otherwise, with that person's cunning… I might be even unluckier than Kodora!