"Seal off the scene! Conduct a thorough search! Target: Mr. and Mrs. Bellucci, alive or dead!"

The deputy commander gave the order in a deep voice, his voice filled with unquestionable iron-bloodedness.

The knights poured into the auction house again like a white torrent.

They searched every inch of the box, corridor, warehouse, and secret passage entrance...

However, the only thing left in the box on the second floor was Irina Bellucci's cold body, frozen in terror, and the shadow guard who was also dead beside her.

The entrance to the secret passage leading to the underground was blocked by violent destruction, and inside were the remains of violent battle fluctuations, the wreckage of the legendary golem, and... the headless corpse of Leonard Bellucci, whose head was separated and his fat body was soaked in dirty blood!

Traces showed the involvement of a third party, but both the red-haired woman and the murderer had vanished without a trace, as if blending into the lingering night in the capital.

The two most important living suspects were both killed here!

The deputy head's face was so gloomy that water could drip out of it.

The clue seems to be broken.

No key figures were captured on the spot. Although the crimes of the Bellucci family could be confirmed based on the letters of denunciation, projected evidence and the confessions of the nobles, they could not directly point to the highest level of the Karl royal family.

Leonard's confession, direct evidence of Irina's conspiracy with the king - these became difficult to obtain with the deaths of the two men.

Before obtaining "decisive" evidence that Charles III personally signed the secret order or participated in the conspiracy.

Even the powerful Third Holy Knights of the Church of Holy Light could not brazenly attack a reigning king and core members of his royal family based on indirect evidence alone.

This involves a delicate balance between royal power and religious power.

After all, the small country that the church massacred because of the witch incident did not believe in the Holy Light, and the two cannot be confused.

However, the Church of Holy Light had some concerns, but the nobles who had just crawled back from the brink of death did not!

The nobles who had managed to escape, after confirming their own safety, quickly found that the suppressed fear was replaced by the rage of surviving the disaster and fanatical calculations of political interests.

They couldn't even wait to actually get back to the safety of their own mansions.

As the luxurious carriage left the Knights' blockade, expensive encrypted communication scrolls were torn apart, and magical fluctuations intertwined and transmitted over the sky above the royal capital:

"Contact the Minister of Finance immediately! All of the Bellucci family's businesses, especially those related to military supplies, must be frozen and investigated immediately! Our family must prioritize taking over their mineral supply channels!"

"Convene the Family Council! Submit a petition to the King! Sternly question the royal family's dealings with the Orc Tribe! This is a betrayal of the entire kingdom's nobility! His Majesty... King Karl III must give an explanation! Compensate for our losses! Open new trade concessions!"

"Contact our 'friends' in the Holy Light Church and spread the 'truth' of tonight and the projection of the royal decree in the Holy City in the most 'objective' way! The Karl royal family will have to pay a price, and this price... is our opportunity!"

"Who will fill the power vacuum left by the Bellucci family? Unite with the other families and 'suggest' a new candidate to His Majesty!"

No one cares whether the Church of Holy Light has obtained "decisive evidence".

The nobles only knew that they had heard the accusations with their own ears, seen the projections with their own eyes, and experienced the royal family's attempt to silence them firsthand!

That's enough.

They want to transform this fear and anger into the sharpest weapon.

In the name of "loyalty" and "righteousness", they put pressure on the Karl royal family, which was caught in a huge public opinion storm and crisis of trust, frantically tearing and dividing the huge profit cake left after the fall of the Bellucci family, and taking the opportunity to grab more political capital.

As for whether King Karl really wanted to kill them before, they didn't care.

In the face of interests, those are just small misunderstandings that can be forgiven.

If King Karl was arrested directly by the Judgment of the Church of Holy Light now, they would really have nowhere to cry!

The dawn in the royal capital did not bring peace.

Although the bloody night of assassinations has ended, a war without gunpowder, woven together by power, fear, and greed, has just begun silently and fiercely under the golden domes and shadowy alleys of the royal capital.

The instigator of all this - Monica, and her teammates in Team Mark, have been like stones thrown into deep water, quietly hiding under the turbulent undercurrent.

…

The smoke from the foul cellar had not yet dissipated over the capital, but the struggle for power had already quietly begun in the dark.

The huge legacy of the Bellucci family is like a piece of fat meat dripping with blood, attracting countless greedy hyenas.

The royal family's purge, the nobles' quarrels, the Church of Holy Light's cold scrutiny... every side has sharpened its claws.

In the suburbs, deep in the seemingly peaceful old manor of the Bellucci family surrounded by ancient oak trees, the air is filled with the breath of another storm.

The thick dark green curtains blocked out the outside world, and the firelight from the fireplace danced on Monica's cold and hard profile.

She played with the ancient [Ring of Truth (IX)] between her fingers. The depths of her icy blue eyes did not contain the warmth of taking over a huge family business, but only an unbreakable ice and vigilance.

A shadow seemed to seep out from the shadow of the fireplace and stood silently by.

The legendary assassin leader's posture was respectful, but the scrutinizing gaze in the shadow beneath his hood never disappeared.

"Yingyi," Monica's voice broke the silence. It was still as hoarse as usual, but with a hint of unquestionable determination. "I have avenged my father. But the real culprit who plotted against the Bellucci family is still on the throne."

Ying Yi nodded slightly: "Your will is the blade of the Shadow Guard."

"But the Bellucci ship," Monica's eyes swept across the pile of family business reports and secret reports on the movements of various forces on the table, "has now become a sinking target. I have no intention of taking charge of this sinking ship, but my father's wish is for the family to survive..."

She tapped her fingertips on a list on the table:

"Call all members of the family under the age of twenty-five who are not deeply involved in Leonard's dirty dealings, along with their immediate families.

"Using any plausible excuses, such as 'further study', 'avoiding disaster', 'expanding remote markets', etc., within a week, all of them will evacuate the capital and disperse to the inconspicuous rural fiefdoms in the southernmost part of the kingdom.

"Take only the necessary guards and basic resources, and give up all your prestigious titles and properties."

"What is the foundation of a family? It's not gold coins, nor power, but the eyes and brains of the appraiser." A complex look flashed in Monica's eyes as she thought of her father.

"Copy the rubbings of the core knowledge in the family's secret library, which is only accessible to the clan leader and high-level appraisers—about magic pattern analysis, material identification, the principles of magic circuit construction, historical secrets... everything.

"Regardless of legitimate or illegitimate members, guards or servants, anyone with the last name Bellucci, or a core member who has sworn allegiance to the family for over ten years, including your shadow guard... will receive one."