“This is actually an open secret among the Lande royal family. Since you are not in Norin and rarely deal with these trifles, you are unaware of the details.”
Seeing Lynch’s confusion, Miss Valente explained in a low voice:
“Prince William is the eldest son, but Princess Sophia is the eldest princess. Theoretically, the position of crown prince of Lande should belong to His Highness William, but Princess Sophia becoming the crown prince would not strictly violate the legal principles.”
Lynch blinked, with only one thought in his mind: What is she saying? Is this really the Lande language?
Miss Valente gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and sighed in despair while pressing her forehead: “Sigh, in short, both of them are technically qualified to be the crown prince. However, Prince William has a stronger legal basis, and Princess Sophia has no interest in competing. Thus, he has always been the heir apparent, and he is expected to be officially invested with the crown prince title at the end of July.”
“And so?”
“But His Majesty Rudolph II is not actually satisfied with him; otherwise, he would have been invested long ago and not dragged it out until now. Although it has been decided to crown him now, His Majesty is still in his prime, and Princess Sophia is equally young. Who knows what might happen in the next twenty or thirty years? He might be replaced by His Majesty any day.”
“Hiss, so he wants to commit patricide and fratricide?”
“Of course, he cannot publicly commit patricide; that would be equivalent to challenging the entire global noble order. Doing it in secret is also dangerous; it is too easy for clues to be discovered, and Rudolph II is not someone easily schemed against.”
Lynch’s expression grew stern, realizing the implication behind Miss Valente’s words: “After the investiture, once he has the status of crown prince, he can copy his father and sister, and have the copy of the princess kill the fake king in public. That way, he could become His Majesty William IV without any obstacles.”
Miss Valente nodded: “Yes. Mystery matters in the capital are handled by the Watchers. It is easy to be investigated if one tries to do this through other mystery relics, but this mirror, judging by its description, would be very difficult to trace. But the premise is that the copy can truly find this manifestation grade relic. It is just a legend of thousands of years; why are they so convinced, and why are they willing to spend such a high price to find it?”
“I fear it is the other way around.” Lynch sighed. After activating his phantasmal sound, he whispered into Miss Valente’s ear, “I did not tell you the reason why I investigated the railway project before. I will explain it to you in detail later. In short, I suspect that Prince William and his group are using this project to find that mirror, and only after they discovered they needed a copy gemstone did they post such a high bounty.”
“Then it all makes sense.” Miss Valente covered her mouth with her folding fan and also whispered softly, “You had better be careful with this princess. She is not as honest as she appears. Although she admitted defeat and is indeed afraid, her defenses have not been completely broken, and she is still concealing things in her words.”
“Hmm?”
“Let me handle it.”
Miss Valente did not answer, merely blinking playfully at Lynch before turning back to Princess Chloe with a dignified and graceful expression.
“You must have also realized this possibility, which is why you were determined to do this, Your Highness Chloe. Heh, now let us talk business; first, dry your tears. As a child of court nobility raised in the royal family, if you were to cry until you were dehydrated over such a minor grievance, you would have dried up long ago. Being afraid is fine, and admitting your mistakes is fine, but you still play small tricks even after admitting defeat. Do you look down on the education of the Valente family, thinking that as the eldest daughter of the Valente family, I cannot see through your little schemes?”
Miss Valente looked at Princess Chloe with an amused gaze, her expression calm and her tone light, yet every sentence seemed to hide a needle:
“Being willing to show your inner grievances and fears, and willing to pretend to be obedient and tamed, is nothing more than wanting to give Mr. Lynch a sense of achievement in revenge, so that he no longer cares about your previous offenses and does not expose what you have done in a fit of anger. It seems you are truly afraid, which is why you have put away your ridiculous arrogance. But do you really think your act of playing the victim is useful on Mr. Lynch? He only thinks that you still know how to consider the innocent public, that you still have humanity, and that you are indeed terrified, so he cannot bear to frighten you anymore. If you truly think he cannot see through your intentions, I do not mind helping you see yourself clearly.”
No, I truly did not see it. Who would have thought that you high nobles would have eight layers of schemes even as a fourteen or fifteen year old brat? Even in this situation, you do not forget to play tricks.
As expected of you, Lynch thought, his eyes almost sparkling as he looked at Miss Valente. I am only here to play detective and analyze cases; if I really want to manipulate schemes and fathom human hearts, I have to rely on you.
Miss Valente seemed to understand Lynch’s look. She avoided Chloe’s gaze and gave Lynch a look of slight smugness. Chloe did not notice the small interaction between the two. She merely looked at both of them dejectedly, her body shrinking back, her spirit completely extinguished as she hung her head and muttered: “I am sorry.”
“Heh, you only told half of what you meant just now and kept the other half. But this cannot be blamed on you. Let me fill in the parts that are inconvenient for you to say directly.”
Seeing that Chloe was completely honest, Miss Valente smiled and said casually:
“You must have realized the possibility I just mentioned, and you may have even consulted the Salter royal family, who required you to lend the copy to His Highness William. On one hand, it is to ensure the smooth progress of the railway project, and on the other, they do not know how much they hope for chaos in Lande. But you dared not; that is a struggle for royal power. Any slight mistake would implicate others. The Russell family is far away in the New Continent and certainly would not be affected, but you are in Lande; you would be the first to be affected.”
Princess Chloe crossed her arms and leaned back, her head hanging even lower.
“You dared not disobey the royal order, yet you did not want to offend Prince William and ruin the cooperation. You were also worried that if things came to light, the Rose family would secretly target you, and you were worried that if the manifestation grade relic truly caused a disaster, you would bear the souls of countless innocent people and become a sinner of the world. So you came up with this way to deceive everyone, am I right? But I do not understand, why did you and the Count of Lorand treat Mr. Lynch like that the night before last?”
Princess Chloe hung her head in silence for a while, glancing timidly at Lynch and Miss Valente before saying honestly: “I do not know what their plans are; I just simply wanted to cause them some trouble and kick out the candidates they recommended.”
“So that is the reason I do not like you, Your Highness Chloe.” Lynch sighed, “It is not because you provoked me, but because of this attitude of yours. Perhaps you have a very legitimate reason and very lofty goals, but in the process of moving toward your goals, you do not consider the lives of others at all, nor do you consider whether the method of kicking me out would cause me irreparable loss. To speak directly to the essence, that is being unscrupulous to achieve your goals. In my view, you and Prince William are no different in essence.”
“Death by riding, death by eating, death by sleeping, death by bathing, death by climbing, death by fishing…” Princess Chloe said self-deprecatingly, “Living in the royal family, one might encounter a new way to die at any time. Those who consider their methods find it hard to live to adulthood.”
“Hmm, I can understand that, but I cannot accept it.” Lynch shook his head, “But speaking of the matter itself, I do not oppose your goal. And whether you were pretending or not just now, you have made a gesture of admitting your mistakes and apologizing. Although it was forced by me, my anger has dissipated by half. So at least this time, I do not intend to make this matter public and ruin your plan. We will talk about future matters in the future.”
Princess Chloe bit her lip and nodded gently in acknowledgment: “Thank you both. Also, you are right; my behavior may indeed have been inappropriate. I am truly sorry.”
“Good. Since we have reached a consensus, now it is my turn to ask and you to answer. Is the copy in your hands now?”
“Yes.”
“Does the Count of Lorand know?”
“Only I know.”
“Very good. Then keep it safe; do not let anyone know of its existence. And for now, this thing is the real copy.”
Lynch picked up the Flaming Red Lips on the table and said with a sinister smile:
“As for this one, I will handle it. I am considering how to let it be naturally snatched away by the Rangers and Howard’s men. I originally wanted to sell it to them at a high price, but that might make them suspicious. It is safer to let them steal it themselves. But no matter what method is used, it must eventually be returned to them. Since this thing is so important to them, let them use it to carry out their plan. After all, I am not exactly a demon; I do not like to destroy other people’s dreams. As for whether they can find what they want in the end, or whether the price they paid has all gone to waste, that is none of my business.”
Miss Valente immediately moved to the side and hid far away; Lynch suspected that this girl was planning to call the carriage driver to call the police.
“This is better for everyone. But Your Highness, you should still notify Alice and the others. The item must at least be handed over to them after the end of July. Otherwise, being coveted by Prince William and the others is also a huge hidden danger for them, the Deep Ones.” Lynch thought for a moment and sighed, “If you have no objections, let us decide it this way for now. It is just a bit of a pity.”
“What?”
Lynch leaned into Miss Valente’s ear and said: “There should have been an opportunity to figure out what kind of conspiracy they were brewing in advance, and to determine whether their target was that mirror. It is a pity that the important documents for the railway project were all burned to nothing by a large fire. The photos were also destroyed along with Mr. Klin’s distortion. We can only think of other ways to investigate. But without being able to confirm it in advance, I always feel uneasy about returning this gemstone to them.”
Miss Valente’s expression was a bit strange, and she looked at Lynch with confusion: “You are referring to the documents and accident files of the railway project in the archives of the Hall of Order.”
“Yes. You also know of their existence?” Lynch suddenly realized something and asked in surprise, “You went to the Hall of Order in disguise that day; surely you did not go there just to check those documents.”
Miss Valente nodded.
Lynch’s eyes brightened immediately, and he asked with full expectation: “Then did you record the content inside? Like taking pictures or something?”
Miss Valente shook her head: “No, I did not record anything.”
The hope that had just risen was dashed again. Lynch sighed in deep disappointment, and then he heard the girl continue.
“I found it troublesome that day, so I used my connections to send all those materials home before I left the Hall of Order.”
What the hell?
“The things I spent half a month looking for were actually in your hands the whole time?”
Lynch felt his head spin for a moment, but when he thought about the timing of the girl’s appearance that day, it was unexpectedly reasonable.
“That is right.” Miss Valente tilted her head and rested her chin on her hand, also looking surprised, “You never said you were looking for those things. They were in the library next to your guest room last night; you even slept with them for a night.”
???
Holy shit!
Rate on N.U.
