Chapter 739: Mist
Tivian, on the east coast of the main island of Plitvice.
In Tivian at night, a waning waning moon hangs high in the night sky, and the remaining crescent seems to be able to disappear at any time. As the World Expo is about to open, the moon phase of January in Tivian has reached the end of the waning moon, and the dark dark moon is about to come.
The huge city of Divian was now slowly falling asleep under the endless darkness of the night. Just as the whole city fell into silence, in a bloody mansion on the northeastern edge of Divian, the lights were still shining.
Dorothy's dolls Ed and Misha are in the mansion of Thorfox, the former chief physician of the palace. Dorothy asks Thorfox, whom she rescued not long ago, about the information he knows. From Thorfox, Dorothy learns a lot of secrets about King Pritt, Charles IV, and the madness that occurred in the Despenser family three generations ago.
After almost finishing consulting all the information, Ed quietly came to the edge of the room, looking at the waning moon outside the window, and seemed to be thinking about something in his heart. At this time, Misha came over from the side, walked to Ed's side, and whispered.
"If what Sofox said is true... then His Majesty is most likely the source of the corruption among the upper class of the kingdom today..."
Listening to Misha's words, Ed did not respond immediately. Instead, he slowly walked to Sofox, who was still sitting on the sofa, and asked him.
"Did Charles IV's abnormality begin when madness appeared in the royal family three generations ago?"
"Yes... I have served His Majesty for many years. Before the madness appeared, I didn't see anything strange about him. Since that day, he has completely changed. He has become alienated from me and other people around him. Except for a few close ministers, he has become extremely withdrawn. I haven't seen His Majesty since I went in to report that day. What I got later was an order for me to destroy all the information related to the madness and transfer from my post... Before this, I never thought that this would be the result."
With a still somewhat uneasy tone, Sofox spoke bluntly, and Misha on the other side also supplemented it at this moment.
"According to the rumors I heard in my family in the past, His Majesty has indeed been very reclusive in recent days. He rarely shows up unless there are major events and rarely sees outsiders. Apart from frequently inspecting the construction of the Crystal Palace, he rarely even leaves the palace."
"Construction status of the Crystal Palace... Charles IV has almost put himself in semi-seclusion, but he is still so concerned about the preparations for the Expo? If I remember correctly, this World Expo was also decided by the government of the Kingdom of Plitt 13 years ago?" After hearing Misha's words, Ed frowned slightly, and then continued to ask, and at this moment Sofox also answered.
"Yes, this is also a strange place. After his majesty's madness crisis ended, he immediately announced that he would organize a grand event to demonstrate the kingdom's national strength. After several rounds of discussions, the format of the grand event was determined to be the current World Expo. At that time, his majesty personally held discussions with the ministers. It is said that the construction of the Crystal Palace was determined by his majesty.
"After that, His Majesty officially began to live a semi-secluded life for a period of time. He no longer cared about many matters, except for the preparation progress of the Expo and the construction progress of the Crystal Palace. This seemed to be the first thing he cared about in the past few days."
Sofox asked Ed to confirm what he said. After Ed finished listening to Sofox's speech, he paused slightly and continued to ask questions.
"Then, are the insane patients who appeared in the royal family of Despenser in the capital three months ago showing the symptom of shouting for their ancestors?"
"Um... yes, yes! It is true. Among the cases I handled at that time, there were indeed some crazy people shouting about storms and ancestors, and the ancestors returning. How did you know that?"
Sofox spoke to Ed with a hint of surprise, and Dorothy, who was far away, heard Sofox's confirmation through Ed, and she couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
…
After this, Dorothy asked Ed to check Thorfox and used the profiling method to confirm that Thorfox did not lie. Later, Misha gave Thorfox an address and asked him to leave the scene overnight and go to the shelter set up by Misha herself in Tivian to take refuge.
Then, Dorothy, Ed and Misha cleaned up the scene a little bit, and then they left the Sofolkos house and got on the carriage they came in and set off on the return journey.
On the return trip in the carriage, Misha, who was driving, looked at Ed in the carriage and said bluntly.
"Sofox has almost completed the investigation here. The situation is worse than I expected before. It seems that even His Majesty has been deeply affected by those guys early on.
"The current situation is very pessimistic. If even His Majesty has been corrupted like this, I wonder how many forces in the royal family, the military, and the security bureau of the capital have fallen into the hands of the Eight Pointed Ones. After His Majesty was corrupted, he began to prepare for this World Expo and attached great importance to it. Maybe this is exactly what the Eight Pointed Ones meant.
"In short... the current situation is urgent. In order to save Pritt and His Majesty, we must take action. Facing the entire Eight Peaks and the highly corrupted upper class of the kingdom, the biggest help we can rely on is the church. Fortunately... it is rumored that there is a big shot in the prison court, Tivian. If we can tell the prison court the intelligence we just learned... maybe we can get strong support!"
Misha was driving the carriage while analyzing what Ed was saying in the back. Ed, who was sitting in the middle of the carriage, was listening to Misha's words in silence. However, he was not in a hurry to give his own conclusion but still sat there in silence.
Hearing that Ed had not responded to her statement for a long time, Misha could not help but pause slightly, and then continued to speak.
"Do you... have any other opinions?" Misha asked Ed with some curiosity. She was more expecting to get Ed's advice on this question. After listening to Misha's words, Ed finally spoke silently.
"A little bit, I think. I always feel that there are many suspicious points about Charles IV now, not just the suspicion that he may have been corrupted." Ed said thoughtfully, and then continued to speak.
"According to what Sofia said earlier, Charles IV sent someone to assassinate Sofia today specifically to silence him. But the problem is that Sofia was transferred from his position as court physician three weeks ago. He has been living in Tivian as a sinecure for three weeks. If he wanted to silence him, he should have had plenty of time. Why did he have to wait until now, when the Expo is approaching?"
Ed listened to Misha's analysis and spoke, and the other party thought for a moment after listening, and then continued to answer.
"Well... this may be because Bajian's corruption has not yet reached the necessary level. From the signs we have observed so far, Bajian's corruption of the Anyin Bureau should be gradual, and it is not possible to completely control the entire bureau from the beginning. This may be the same for Your Majesty. Bajian and his men have only recently succeeded in controlling Your Majesty to the extent that he would order the killing of his former court physician."
Misha continued to say that the corruption process of the upper echelons of Pritt and the Security Bureau by the Eight Tips was gradual, which was determined by their analysis before. Because in the past, the Eight Tips had asked the Security Bureau to send additional spies, and even avoided the situation of the Security Bureau's reconnaissance. This proved that the Eight Tips' control over the Security Bureau was definitely not too high in the past, otherwise they would do many things more brazenly. As for the current situation, the Eight Tips did not know what they had done to directly raise the corruption of the upper echelons of Pritt to an unprecedented level.
"Indeed, the public is now much more concerned about the corruption of the royal government than before. But we also need to prove one point, that is, the degree of corruption required to accuse Charles IV of issuing an order to hold such a large exhibition and deeply participating in the design, or the degree of corruption required to accuse Charles IV of assassinating a person, which one is higher?"
After listening to Misha's speech, Ed continued to speak directly. After listening to Ed's words, Misha's expression condensed slightly. She felt that it was indeed more difficult to control the holding of an international exposition than to control Charles IV to kill someone. Holding such a large-scale event required negotiations with Parliament and many ministers, and various procedures needed to be carried out. The time and energy required were far from being comparable to simply issuing an order to kill.
Charles IV decided to hold the exhibition 13 months ago. If he was accused of corruption 3 months ago, why did he wait 3 months to silence him? Even if the Eighth Route Army did not rely on Charles IV, they could have sent their own assassins to silence him, and they would not have to wait 3 months. If Charles IV had been accused of corruption 13 months ago, the entire Pritt hierarchy would have fallen faster, instead of the stalemate that happened in the past.
"What you said... does make some sense. It's possible that the Eight Points didn't want to silence Sofox at the moment. After all, silence would leave signs and attract unnecessary attention. They used to think that there was no need to silence him in the current situation in Tivian, but the situation is different now. Now the prison officials have entered Tivian to conduct an investigation, and the Eight Points were anxious, so they temporarily launched the silence operation."
Misha continued to talk to Ed and stated her own views. After listening to her, Ed shook his finger and continued to respond.
"So... why did Bajian choose the corrupted Tivian nobles to go in and kill people instead of the assassins he trained?
"The Viscount Arty who came to kill Thorfolk was not only an extraordinary apprentice, but he was not a professional killer. Using him to carry out the assassination could not guarantee the success rate. What if the court finds out about him and his identity is exposed, wouldn't the court's suspicion shift to the entire Tivian, to the aristocratic circle with royal blood? This would increase the probability of Charles IV being exposed.
"Another point is that Sofox said that his previous cases were all missing, and they didn't leave such a bloody crime scene like tonight. The impact of a missing person case is much smaller than a murder case of a whole family... If Bajian really wanted to get rid of Sofox under the eyes of the prison, he could just find an opportunity for Sofox to go out and make him disappear, just like he did with Sofox's original case. Why would he ignore such a bloody crime scene tonight? Is it because he thinks it doesn't attract enough attention?"
With a meaningful expression, Ed looked at Misha and analyzed what she said. After Misha finished listening to Ed's words, her originally heavy expression became even more solemn. She pondered for a while and continued to speak in a serious tone.
"Yes... If Bajian really wanted to silence Sofox, they could just make him disappear. It would not be difficult for Bajian to do so. Why did they choose to create such an obvious murder? This kind of murder would cause much more noise than a disappearance... Didn't Bajian want to make a big fuss right now in the prison? Do they really want to expose the King's suspicion to others? This is not their style..."
With a slightly confused tone, Misha analyzed and spoke seriously, and at this time Ed smiled slightly and continued to speak.
"Ms. Devonshire, you can think about this question for a moment. According to what Sofox said before, Viscount Artie, who came to assassinate him, arrived at Sofox's house after 10 o'clock tonight, communicated with him normally for a while, and then left. After leaving for a while, he returned to Sofox's house again and started killing people with red eyes.
"Why did this happen? According to the degree of control that Bajian has over Viscount Artie, he should have just let him do it when he came at ten o'clock. Why did he go back and forth after leaving? If he had started killing at ten o'clock, Doctor Sofox might not have waited for us to come to rescue him..."
Ed spoke slowly and with a smile on his face. After hearing what Ed said, Misha's eyes widened slightly, and she suddenly realized what was going on and spoke bluntly.
"The Eight Points did it on purpose... They had anticipated our arrival, and they wanted us to rescue Sofox on purpose so that Sofox could guide our judgment!"
Misha seemed to say something, and then she immediately connected some details that she had overlooked before and continued to analyze.
"Although the process of my initial contact with Sofox was not kept secret, it was not completely unknown. After the Eight Points realized the existence of the Pritt's 'Vigilance Faction' in Tivian, they would probably monitor the people who might come into contact with the Vigilance Faction. As a former court physician, Sofox himself might also be one of the people to be monitored in advance.
"If Sofox was monitored by the Eight Points in advance, then my contact with him would have been exposed to the Eight Points. They are very likely to know that I will come tonight, and even know the exact time I will come... 10 o'clock in the evening..."
Misha analyzed and said this with a serious look, while Ed continued to speak with a smile.
"So now you should be able to guess why Viscount Artie left and came back."
"Yes... Sofox and I agreed to meet at 10 o'clock tonight, and Viscount Artie is also coming at 10 o'clock tonight. I think Viscount Artie picked this time to come. My purpose is probably to get to Sofox's house a little ahead of me and kill people, so that I can come later and save Sofox after witnessing everything.
"But... there was an accident on my trip tonight. Mr. Detective, you suddenly wanted to go to Sofox with me to listen to intelligence. In order to pick you up, I was delayed for some time and was unable to arrive at Sofox's house on time at ten o'clock. The Eighth Route Army did not notice my arrival, so the assassination of Sofox was meaningless, so Viscount Artie chose to return home for the time being.
"Later, when our carriage approached the Sofox family, we were probably spotted by some spies deployed by the Eight-Point Guards on the road nearby. As a result, they decided to order Viscount Atty to turn back and start a killing spree to complete the drama that had not been performed before, so that I could 'save' Dr. Sofox at the critical moment."
With a look of fear, Misha analyzed seriously and said, and after listening to her analysis, Ed nodded and spoke.
"That's right... Ms. Devonshire, your analysis is exactly what I thought. So the current situation may be far more complicated than we imagined. The Eight-pointed Ones' thoughts are also much more than we expected. We almost fell into their trap and were led by them. It seems that they not only want to use the prison court, but also want to use you as a 'vigilant faction'..."
Ed said so, and after listening to Ed's words, Misha also frowned and spoke calmly.
"He guided Sofos, who only knew part of the information, to contact you, and arranged for a nobleman who was related to the Pratt royal family to carry out an assassination drama. The purpose of Bajian's actions was nothing more than to make us shift our suspicion and even the target of action to Charles IV..."
"So... His Majesty the King was not manipulated by the Eight-Pointed Demon?" Misha said in disbelief, and Ed followed suit.
"This probability is very high. If Charles IV is completely under Bajian's control, Bajian would not have to specifically guide your hostility towards Charles IV. Charles IV's current behavior is also very suspicious, and his intentions cannot be clearly determined.
"At this stage, the royal family of Tivian or the nobles related to the royal family may have completely fallen. The entire upper class of Prit may be basically in the hands of the Eight Tips. However, Charles IV himself is not necessarily the case. At present, he is most likely not on the same side as the Eight Tips... In the eyes of the Eight Tips, Charles IV may still be some kind of trouble."
Ed said this, and after listening to what Ed said, the confusion on Misha's face deepened.
"In that case, what exactly is His Majesty doing? Since he is not controlled by the Eight Points... then why did he take these three actions? He cleared the news about the madness... transferred the original court physician, and fully prepared for the Expo. What is his purpose? Does he know that the Eight Points exist? Does he know that the Eight Points are corrupting the foundation of the kingdom? If he knew... why didn't he come in to stop it?"
Frowning, "It's okay" couldn't help but mutter a series of questions to himself, and after hearing these questions, Ed shrugged his shoulders and answered.
"Who knows? I guess only Charles IV knows what he is thinking. But now that the Eighth Route Army has no intention of leading you... leading us to doubt or even be hostile to Charles IV, then don't do as they wish... This can't be used as a gun..."
Ed analyzed and spoke like this, and Misha was silent for a while after hearing these words, and then continued in a deep voice.
"Although the risk is a bit high, it seems that I now have to take the initiative to contact His Majesty the King..."
After Misha finished speaking, she couldn't help but fall into silence. Although she grew up in the capital of the kingdom of Prit for more than 20 years and served the entire kingdom for a long time as an elite, this was the first time she felt so unfamiliar with this kingdom. This country, which she thought she was very familiar with, hid too many secrets.
Just as Misha was feeling confused, Dorothy, who was in her carriage far away, was also thinking deeply. After obtaining new intelligence, she began to make a new assessment of the current situation in Tivian.
'Interesting... If Charles IV and the Eight Points are not on the same side, then what is Charles IV's purpose? If he knew that the Eight Points would corrupt Pritt again, he should have had various ways to deal with it. At the very least, he should have contacted the church for help earlier, and it would not have dragged on until now, when almost all the upper echelons of Pritt have been corrupted... What exactly is his plan?
"But no matter what Charles IV wants to do, Ba Jian doesn't want Charles IV to succeed. If that's the case, then there should be no problem in helping Charles IV for the time being." Dorothy thought about this in her heart, and then she changed her mind and began to think about another question.
"But...if the Eight Points really want to lead Charles IV to hate, they won't just target the 'Vigilance Faction' represented by Misha, right? The real big boss of the current Tivian is the big man from Mount Saint...Since the Eight Points have arranged corresponding plans for the 'Vigilance Faction', it's impossible for them to be completely indifferent to that side..."
Dorothy thought about this, and then she began to wonder whether she should contact the young saint whom she had only met once.
…
In the dream world, somewhere in the woods.
On the gorgeous grass, between the endless giant trees, under the deep tree canopy, the black-haired girl who stepped into the dream with her own posture was looking up at the humanoid creature with dazzling moth wings above her, looking into its eyes that could not see through emotions and colors, with a cold and serious expression.
"At first I was wondering how the people from the Eight-Pointed Nest had the ability to escape into the dream world so quickly and urgently. It turns out that it was you who helped..." Looking at the target in the sky that was covered with gray and white fur and looked like a deformed and skinny insect and a human, Atcheri continued coldly.
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