Chapter 744: Beyond Saving

"Zombie! Why are you here?"

In the foul and damp sewer, Doyle held an Everlight Lamp, pinched his nose, and had nowhere to put his feet. His face was full of shock as he shouted at the large man sitting beside the broken wooden table.

Glover glanced at him, said nothing, removed his weapon, and pulled a duck leg from the food bag Doyle had brought.

In every corner of the sewer, the members of the Star Lake Guard who had been assigned to accompany the prince held Everlight Lamps and performed security checks. At the same time, they all looked at this sunless place in shock and sighed that His Highness was usually timid and unremarkable, yet at the critical moment, he had actually hidden such a card.

"Aside from cockroaches, spiders, rats, darkness, filth, stink, shit, and piss, what exactly is unsafe in this broken place?" Neshy squatted beside the pool with a disgusted face, pinching his nose and stirring the filthy water.

On the other side of the passage, someone sat up from a straw bedroll and gave a dissatisfied grunt.

"Wow, and you too, Mu... I mean, handsome big brother Ralf!"

Doyle waved happily in greeting. The lamp shadows shook, making the entire passage flicker with silhouettes.

Ralf frowned and stared at him for a long while, then gave a warning grunt before lying back down on the bedroll. He even turned over, facing the wall.

"He just finished his shift," Glover said concisely, biting off a mouthful of meat.

"So, starting from North Gate Bridge, the few of you disappeared..." Wya guarded the small wooden door where the prince had vanished, holding his little notebook and frowning.

"His Highness's order."

At the other end of the wooden table, Miranda drank a mouthful of freshly brewed mate tea and said faintly.

"And my dearest, dearest, dearest, dearest Mira!"

Doyle turned around, opened his arms, and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Heavens, what is this place? Why are the three of you hiding here?"

Was it because they had botched the assignment and had no face to return and see His Highness?

"Careful."

In the corner, a less familiar voice sounded, making Kusta, who was preparing to inspect the dungeon door, pause.

"Do not get too close to that door. We calculated it. That is the maximum effective distance of the prisoner's ability."

Everyone frowned.

"Ah, I recognize you. You are that arrogant Cecil's old flame..."

Doyle slapped his forehead and spoke to the ragged man in the corner who held a sword.

"Knight Cassian?" Wya recognized the man, his face full of shock. "Why are you... why are you here too?"

Cassian did not raise his head.

"Your captain did not come?"

Wya looked confused.

"He, Lord Mallos, said this job was too simple, and we could handle it ourselves... But you just said prisoner? Ability? That means that killer is locked behind this..."

Everyone grew tense at those words and looked toward the wooden door. Some were puzzled, some surprised, and some alert.

Neshy turned back, utterly confused.

"What? Which killer?"

Wya ignored him and only hurriedly flipped through his little notebook, suddenly understanding.

"His Highness said his weapon was seized... So that is it. So that is it..."

He raised his head and looked with complicated feelings at Knight Cassian, who was resting with closed eyes.

"In other words, all of this was a trap set by His Highness and Miss Hilley?" Paul's palm brushed over the wall as he frowned.

Most people's brows lifted, each startled and doubtful.

"Misdirection," Cassian said, gently stroking his longsword. "At least that is what the young lady called it."

"Wait, you mean," D.D. reacted upon hearing this, "the young couple never actually fell out?"

Cassian ignored him, and Wya also focused on his own notes.

"So that night, the rat never escaped," Morgan snorted coldly. "He merely changed cages."

"He could never escape, that killer, that swordsman," Miranda said quietly, sinking into deep thought. "With or without a cage."

"I do not know about cages, but I know he is dead for sure," Glover spat out a bone and said viciously. "Pah. A clown who plays with people's hearts."

"Yes. So what if his skills are high? So what if he is Supreme-class?" Paul's eyes flickered. "Before power, he is only a jumping clown, struggling like a trapped beast."

Cassian's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

"His Highness has been inside for so long, so the persuasion to surrender probably failed, right? I am just saying, when do we start torture and forced confession?" Neshy rubbed his fists indignantly, wondering how to repay old grudges.

Only Doyle stared at the little dungeon door with a complicated expression, lost and melancholy, while allowing Glover to plunder his food bag without the least politeness.

The Star Lake Guard finished the security check according to procedure, arranged positions and shifts, and each found a place to rest.

"But," Wya could not help speaking, "Prince Thales and... and your young lady are inside alone with the captive. Is it truly safe?"

Everyone's gazes shifted together and fixed on that small door.

"I do not know about your Highness," Cassian said. "As for Miss Hilley, rest assured. She is very safe."

The one whose safety was in question was the captive.

"That killer is, after all, a Supreme-class expert and an evil vampire," Paul said calmly, tightening the weapon on his body. "What gives you such confidence?"

Cassian was silent for a while.

"Experience."

Everyone looked at one another, not understanding.

At that moment, Doyle coughed seriously several times, drawing everyone's attention.

"So, Zombie, Mira, and Mute, you were following His Highness's order and bearing an important task? And you kept it hidden from us all along?"

Glover and Miranda looked at each other.

"Yes, because the fewer people who knew about this, the better..."

"For such an important task, why did he... why did His Highness not let me do it?" Doyle said pitifully, looking as if his dream had shattered.

Clearly he was the guard officer with the brightest money-future in the guard team.

Glover revealed a troubled expression and looked at the others for help, but the latter all disloyally turned away.

"All right," the zombie, with no help to seek, could only brace himself and continue. "Actually, you are..."

"In truth, His Highness did intend to entrust an important task to you, for you to bear," Miranda suddenly spoke, interrupting Glover.

Doyle's eyes brightened, and his ears perked up.

"What? What important task?"

But Miranda's expression darkened.

"But the price of that task was too high," she said quietly. "To complete the mission, you had to die."

As her words fell, the sewer fell completely silent.

"Die... die?"

Doyle's face instantly turned pale.

Feeling the gazes around him, he coughed awkwardly.

"Die, ah, die... I, I... I am not afraid... not afraid... afraid... afraid..."

Doyle's voice softened timidly.

"Afraid that... afraid that my ability may not be enough... After all, such an important task, and I am still too, too..."

"But His Highness could not bear for you to lose your life, so he gave it up," Miranda drank a mouthful of mate tea from Star Lake Castle. Bitterness entered her throat, but her expression did not change. "He also feared you would feel guilty, so he specially had us hide it from you."

"What a pity!"

Doyle suddenly roared, startling everyone.

Guard Officer Doyle, born from a high family, looked resolute and unafraid of death. In the foul sewer, he decisively planted his hands on his waist and waved.

"This one still owes His Highness a life! If the prince commands, let alone mere death, even mountains of blades, seas of fire, and bones ground to powder, I would never hesitate for even half a breath!"

Miranda and Glover looked at each other, their gazes complicated.

Doyle stared at the small wooden door holding the captive, his face radiant. He deliberately raised his volume, shaking the sewer:

"His Highness is wise and benevolent, and he cares for his subordinates. We have no way to repay him! Only..."

Bang!

A prosthetic limb flew spinning out from the straw bedroll, smashing Doyle, along with his heroic words, into the drainage ditch in the middle of the passage.

Miranda, prepared in advance, was quick-eyed and quick-handed. She pushed out her scabbard and accurately hooked the Everlight Lamp that flew from Doyle's hand.

"Told you."

In the swaying light and shadow, the zombie sighed, tossed away the bone in his hand, and caught the prosthetic limb flying through the air.

"He just finished his shift."

"I changed my mind."

Inside the dungeon, Hilley's fingers turned nimbly, and she drew the ribbon-wrapped dagger back from Thales's hand.

"This dagger is quite useful," she said casually, utterly ignoring Thales's round eyes. "Lend it to me for another couple of days to play with."

Play with for a couple of days?

Thales could not believe it.

"I do not understand," Thales said unhappily. "Why did you insist on using it as collateral?"

Did she know what this dagger meant to him?

Or rather, did she actually know?

Was that why she specially chose the JC dagger?

"Who knows whether you would regret halfway and tear down the bridge after crossing the river," Hilley drew the dagger back and forth through the air, not forgetting to make sound effects as if she were waving a toy. "There had to be a token."

"I said before, I could write a receipt, a guarantee, a pledge, sign and stamp it, everything..."

"A receipt is worth shit. But if you regretted halfway that night and I really killed myself, at least people would know I died by the prince's dagger."

"You cannot truly think I would force you to kill yourself..."

At this moment, the chains locking the criminal clattered, interrupting them.

"You, that night, in front of all Jade City..."

Lausanne the Second, his face covered in filth, painfully twisted up his head, gritting his teeth in disbelief.

"You acted out a play?"

Thales and Hilley both quieted. They looked at each other.

"You could say that."

Thales sighed.

"Originally, to make it more believable, we wanted something larger. For example, to steal you away, Hilley would not hesitate to kill my guards, or even directly threaten me..."

They had even prepared red pigment for playing dead.

Hilley toyed with the dagger and narrowed her eyes, seeming to greatly enjoy Lausanne the Second's shocked and regretful expression.

"Misdirection."

Thales sighed.

"But first, my subordinates may not be that good at pretending to be dead. Second, you were there, a vampire, and there may also have been quite a few hidden experts observing. Whether a person is dead or not would likely be impossible to hide."

Third, the budget in his hands at the time probably could not support a large scene.

Receiving the answer, Lausanne the Second stared blankly for a moment. The back of his head fell back onto the cold stone ground.

"All right, serious matters," Hilley inserted the dagger into a newly made leather sheath. "How is progress on your side?"

Thales narrowed his eyes and studied Lausanne the Second for a while.

"Very smooth," he said slowly, while observing the captive's reaction. "In fact, most matters were smoother than expected. People from top to bottom cooperated just as expected, especially..."

"Especially my brother?"

Thales's words paused. He turned and found that Hilley's face was cold when she said this, her tone calm.

Only then did he carefully nod.

"Yes. And Federico."

Hilley was utterly unmoved.

Thales continued:

"After learning that you had pushed me to a dead end, for all sorts of purposes, they spat out quite a few things. Among them were no lack of key intelligence and bargaining..."

"The injury on your face," Hilley suddenly interrupted him. "Zayen hit you?"

Thales paused and instinctively turned his head away.

"It does not matter. I deliberately did not dodge. Only a small injury..."

"Good hit," Hilley said coldly, not even looking at him. "Serves you right."

Thales froze, then looked helpless.

Thank you so much for your concern and comfort.

"Why?"

Bound on the ground and gasping for life, Lausanne the Second spoke with difficulty.

"Why?"

The question had neither head nor tail, but Thales knew what he was asking.

Thales and Hilley looked at each other, and the latter nodded.

"Because I had no choice."

Thales paid no attention to the dungeon's uneven, cold, damp ground and sat cross-legged before the captive.

"Since I entered Jade City, everyone has respectfully called me Your Highness, and I have received grand courtesy everywhere," the prince thought of the experiences these past days and could not help feeling emotional. "After the Election Assembly, it became even more so. Now I govern Emerald Palace as regent, cover the sky with one hand in this city, and can decide with one word whether to depose or install a duke."

Hearing this, Hilley snorted disdainfully and gently touched the dagger at her waist.

Thales did not get angry. Instead, he smiled as well, helpless and regretful.

"But in Jade City, anyone with clear eyes can understand. Prince Thales is fundamentally unimportant."

Lausanne the Second looked toward him.

"If one looks only at the surface, the protagonists of this storm are Zayen and Federico. These two Covendiers, one with deep foundation and seasoned methods, the other retreating to advance and hiding sharp turns, firmly gripped both ends of the storm, nearly all the resource forces and power chips inside and outside Jade City."

Thales said seriously:

"That is right. These days, the winds and rain and tides of Jade City, whether financial crisis, public security incidents, political struggle, trade deadlock, old cases accumulated over years, or the 'big news' you created by killing people according to the name list, when all is said plainly, were nothing more than those two playing chess across distance around the throne of the South Coast guardian duke, attacking each other."

The prince snorted softly.

"By comparison, I was both unarmed and rootless. I could only sit and watch them go back and forth. At most, I counted as a messenger, even after I locked both of them in my prison."

No. It should be said that after locking them up, he had gone back and forth between Zayen and Federico even more like a messenger.

Thinking of this, Thales sighed helplessly.

"Yo. Quite self-aware," Hilley snorted, unclear whether it was praise or mockery.

The young lady walked to Thales's side and habitually kicked him.

The latter pursed his lips and unwillingly shifted his backside, making room on the place he had wiped clean with his butt and pants, watching as Hilley lifted her skirt and calmly sat down.

Lausanne the Second looked at the lid blocking the moonlight above, his eyes spiritless.

But Thales did not care about the captive's state and continued by himself.

"But if one digs deeper, it becomes unsurprising that I am in such a position."

"Because this storm is in essence a game between Renaissance Palace and Emerald Palace, between Eternal Star City and Jade City, even between different forces native to the South Coast Territory and at both ends of the Sea of Eradication."

The Duke of Star Lake sighed quietly.

"And I, at most, am a puppet on strings, without autonomy or right to speak. My only function, or rather, the only freedom granted to me, is to walk onto the prepared stage when the great play ends, say a few formal words, and choose between Zayen and Federico."

Decide according to circumstance.

Discretionary freedom.

Thales thought of the king's two promises to him and could not help shaking his head, feeling even more mocked.

"If the game continued along this path, no matter whom I finally chose as duke, no matter who won the game, it would have nothing to do with me," Thales said gravely. "I would be unable to exert even the slightest influence, let alone lead the situation and obtain the result I wanted."

"This is the root reason that despite my lofty status, I have found it so difficult to move in Jade City. From beginning to end, power did not stand on my side. Worse, whether Zayen, Federico, Jade City, Emerald Palace, the major powers, even people under me, some saw through this. That made them even more unrestrained and allowed them to ignore me."

Thales thought of all he had experienced in Jade City these days, from enthusiasm to cold treatment, from a hundred answering one call to outward obedience and inward opposition, and felt deeply emotional.

"Therefore, to reverse the situation, I could no longer follow step by step. I had to create initiative, seize bargaining chips, and obtain usable weapons."

His gaze firmed.

"Using a more unorthodox but more effective method, I had to remind all of Jade City that I, the North Star, at a certain node, am more important than the two Covendier candidates, and more able to control their interests and fate."

Thales, though you stand upon the earth, when you raise your head, there are stars. When the sun sets and night falls, if you stretch out your hand, perhaps you cannot fail to reach them.

For this, you must grip the power in your hand and use it when necessary, in order to expand it.

Thales shook his head, casting away the lines from Katerina Corleone's letter.

"For this, I had no choice but to first retreat one step, sacrifice a little image, and create the miserable appearance of having fallen hard, so everyone could see my existence: a future king forced to a dead end by Jade City, therefore having both reason and resolve to place Jade City into eternal disaster."

Thales said quietly:

"Rather than an obedient son listening to Daddy while traveling, following rules, restrained everywhere for the sake of a perfect plan, a transitional vase unable to suppress local snakes despite being a powerful dragon."

Hilley sat beside him and rubbed her glove. Hearing this, she did not raise her head.

"Misdirection, again."

Lausanne the Second's gaze tightened as he lay on the ground, trembling slightly.

"It was the same for Hilley."

Thales glanced at Hilley.

"Before, Hilley was only the duke's younger sister. Everyone respected her, sympathized with her, pitied her..."

Miss Covendier snorted disdainfully.

"Oh, really?"

Thales coughed.

"But even when they proposed that she temporarily govern as city lord, they only treated her as a puppet and a vase, while actually making their own calculations."

Thales turned his head and looked at Lausanne the Second.

"Until that night. After she robbed you away and defeated me, she was no longer a rich young lady of the iris flower family. She became the only standard in all Jade City who dared openly resist the prince, or rather, resist royal power. She became a participant in the storm, Duke Zayen's rescuer, and quite possibly Jade City's savior."

"Or destroyer," Hilley expressionlessly added.

Thales raised his brows.

"And a banner. A scapegoat banner under which South Coast people, dissatisfied at heart yet without courage to resist, could hide."

"You mean scapegoat," Hilley sneered. "And target."

Do you like undermining me that much?

Thales hid this sentence in his heart and changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, Hilley, I suppose quite a few people tried all sorts of ways to find you, right? Whether to persuade you or pledge loyalty..."

"You want to know?"

"May I?"

"No."

Thales, having been rebuffed, turned back sheepishly.

"You deceived the whole city... made them afraid, and then what?" Lausanne the Second struggled to speak. "What do you plan to do with sinking Jade City?"

"Nothing."

Thales spoke decisively.

"The wind direction has already changed. The desperate, cornered me used Hilley's sudden interference and the situation losing control as a pretext. Starting from Zayen and Federico, I threatened, tempted, sowed discord, and pulled them over, seizing more than one handy weapon from them: finance and taxes, diplomacy, military affairs, public security. Ironically, these were originally the bargaining chips they used to restrain me and threaten each other."

Thales smiled mockingly.

"Then I found the various powers stirring the wind and rain: political aspirants fishing in troubled water, closed and conservative local nobles, Jade City officials bending with the wind, merchant groups and guilds speculating and profiteering, street gangs drifting with the current. I showed them the weapons and chips I had seized, repeated the old trick, identified their positions, and dug out their hidden cards."

He recalled all the different people he had received in Emerald Palace.

"Thus, one after another, from high to low, layer by layer downward, repeating back and forth. Depending on the target, I either considered the greater situation and showed tolerance, or became angry from shame and prepared to make the fish die and the net break. I used the new chips obtained from the previous layer, mostly ambiguous secrets and promises, then relied on information gaps and power gaps to place them in the next layer and transform them into truly usable resources and real authority."

Thales narrowed his eyes.

"To gather consensus to the greatest extent, eliminate conflict and opposition, and exchange for compromise and cooperation."

Thales breathed out, propped both hands behind him on the ground, and sat in an inelegant sprawl.

"Therefore, in the end, Jade City, which seemed sunk and unable to rise, but was in truth only using false death to threaten me, revived and started operating again under the premise that I chose neither Zayen nor Federico, stood with neither the iris flower nor requested action from the royal center."

Light flickered in Thales's eyes.

Only like this did he truly count as entering the game.

Only like this did he truly have the qualification to play chess.

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

Dull and wooden applause sounded, interrupting Thales's thoughts.

"Ah," Hilley said with a cold face and stiff tone, her two palms mechanically touching each other. "So very impressive."

Uh...

Thales, coming back to himself, coughed awkwardly.

"Well, actually there is no need to applaud..."

"If no one supports you," Hilley continued clapping, expressionless, "it would be too awkward for one person."

Actually, it was quite awkward now too.

Thales hurriedly coughed loudly and interrupted the applause.

"In short, Hilley and I, one in the open and one in the dark, like the two sides of a coin," he turned toward the dazed Lausanne the Second, "used the same suspicion and anxiety that the opponents had used to oppose and restrain me to bring Jade City, which had already bolted out of control, back onto its normal track."

As his words fell, there was no response. The dungeon was incomparably quiet.

The killer himself only stared blankly, saying nothing, like a corpse that had died through and through.

"Tsk, look how proud you are, Your Grand Highness Thales," after a long while, Hilley finally spoke disdainfully. "Was everything that smooth? Nothing unexpected happened?"

Thales raised his brows.

That was...

But his heart paused.

"In truth..."

Thales hesitated.

"When negotiating with some of them, I always felt something was not quite right..."

Hilley turned her head.

"Hm?"

The more Thales thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He described in detail the process of negotiating and bargaining back and forth with the representatives of several different powers.

"They saw through it," Hilley said with certainty after listening.

Thales froze.

"What? Who? Saw through what?"

"Who else? Those devil twins of Karabeyan!"

Thales frowned.

Hilley said disdainfully:

"I understand that pair of bitches too well. Do you think they would leak intelligence to you, show goodwill, and make promises when there is no benefit at all, only a pile of unfulfilled empty words?"

Thales's eyelid twitched.

"Uh..."

"Just because your tongue bloomed with lotus flowers and your words sounded better than singing?"

"They... they did not pledge loyalty. At most they were waiting for a price..."

"And suddenly went mad and said they wanted to marry you? Right at the moment you exposed them as the people behind the scenes? What exactly did they see in you, Prince Thales? Your money? Your power? Or that you are destined to die early?"

Thales stopped speaking.

Hilley hugged her knees and snorted coldly.

"Although they are vicious people, they are never slow. When you said, 'I have yielded enough,' they saw through it, or at least began to suspect it: your defeat at my hands was deliberately arranged. They may have guessed that you had gradually jumped out of the vase role and begun to grasp initiative in the game."

Thales could not help frowning.

"They are... that formidable?"

"You are too tender!"

"Then why did they not expose me? Why instead cooperate with me in acting..."

"What benefit would exposing you bring? Make you truly angry from shame and overturn the table with them?"

"Then why not say it openly and directly cooperate with me?"

"What benefit would begging you to cooperate bring? On the contrary, only by pretending to be deaf and mute, putting on airs, acting reluctant and barely willing..."

Hilley's face and tone were cold, her voice full of contempt.

"Only then could they take advantage when negotiating conditions with a huge fool like you, as though you owed them a favor."

Thales froze in place, speechless.

"And that old barber too," Hilley's face turned grave. "When you kept his intelligence notebook but refused his help, even stopped him from coming to the Corpse Ghost Tunnel to find me, he probably noticed some clues."

She glanced lightly over, her gaze like a blade, cutting open Thales's defenses.

"Otherwise, do you really think that someone like him, shrewd and seasoned after decades in Jade City, would dare bare his heart, reveal true feelings, and speak truth in front of a powerful figure like you?"

Thales was woodenly silent.

All right.

Perhaps...

"You mean those people before," the prince understood something and said with difficulty. "Hashan, Dusu'an, even local officials like Myrahovich and Cecil... how many saw through it?"

Hilley silently watched him.

"That Knight Cecil, according to what you said, botched that arrest and bears no small responsibility. He should have been anxious to find me and Cassian to regain a round," the young lady said helplessly. "But the same thing happened. You said some things like 'there is no need to find them' and 'there are no shortcuts in politics,' and then he truly obediently did not look? Gave up? Did not send the Jade Legion to investigate further? Did not even put on a show in front of you, at least in front of all Jade City?"

Thales frowned and thought for a moment.

"No... no. It seems he did not."

Knight Cecil had, against his usual nature, been rather... obedient?

Wait. That meant...

"And that successor to the grand judge, Judge Eborning. You said that when you lied that the Kingdom's Wrath was coming, every time it was he who took the first step and spoke the words you had not said aloud?"

Thales woodenly turned his head.

"Ah... mm-hm."

Hearing this, Hilley quietly looked at him. Only after a long while did she sigh.

"I understand. Among the people you met, there were surely no few who saw through the misdirection."

Thales was startled.

"What? Then why did they still..."

"Because they were smart enough, smart enough to know they could not expose you."

Hilley held her face and shook her head helplessly, looking like she could not teach this child.

"Because what they saw was not only interests and acting. They also saw the resolve displayed by you doing this. The resolve not to be controlled by others, not to play supporting role to the two iris flowers."

Thales looked somewhat surprised and blinked.

"If someone still wanted to sing a different tune against you after things reached this point," Hilley snorted disdainfully, "then perhaps it should be them standing up personally to bear your resolve head-on."

Thales froze.

What did that mean?

Everyone knew.

Everyone pretended not to know.

Everyone...

"Hmph."

After thinking something through, he spoke quietly with a few threads of complaint in his words.

"South Coast people."

At this moment:

"Hahahahahahahahaha..."

Bleak laughter sounded, and the two shifted their gazes together toward the captive on the ground.

"Back and forth, upside down and inside out..."

Lausanne the Second closed his eyes.

"This is politics. This is... fate."

Thales and Hilley exchanged a glance.

Good.

Finally.

They had spoken so much and analyzed the situation for so long.

Finally, this peerless expert who had ignored all oil and salt opened his mouth on his own.

Now, how should they make him get used to opening his mouth, cooperating and communicating, and ultimately explain what they wanted to know?

Thales nodded to the Covendier girl, and the latter coughed.

"Right, who taught you this method? Your strategist?"

"Yes. My strategist taught me. His name is Anonymous."

This time, Hilley truly frowned in confusion.

"Who?"

"You have not heard of him?" Thales's brows danced. "The treasure of South Coast legendary literature, author of Emerald Mystery City Record. Anonymous!"

Hilley frowned tightly.

"All right, no joking."

Thales coughed.

"But the book I mentioned really exists. It was even handed to me by the foreign minister."

Historically, the Eight-Fingered King Horace and the iris flower duke of the time, Duke Cork, had an awful relationship. Their swords were drawn and bows bent, troops and horses prepared, and war between Eternal Star City and Jade City seemed unavoidable.

But the king and the duke, those two mortal enemies who had disliked each other since they were ten, and after adulthood hated each other irreconcilably, suddenly awakened after one meeting in the storybook because of the clever plan of Prince Heyman and Lady Regina. They turned enemies into friends and reconciled, stopping the mobilized war machine and sending hundreds of thousands of people home the same way they came.

Do you believe that?

Thales snorted softly.

The voice in his heart said disdainfully:

Is that possible?

A story was, after all, only a story.

But if the legendary story of Emerald Mystery City Record had traces to follow and was not pure fabrication...

If the legendary prince and duke's daughter truly played a role in it, enough to leave their names in history...

Then the most likely explanation was...

Thales's gaze sharpened.

Long before the king and duke, those two mortal enemies, understood each other, Heyman and Regina had already acted in advance, running back and forth, maneuvering vertically and horizontally, settling the various forces and groups inside and outside Jade City, reaching consensus and unifying positions.

Only that way could their advice land decisively at the final moment before the monarchs and stop the disaster of war.

As for Horace the First and Duke Cork, the reason they agreed to withdraw troops and turn swords into jade and silk perhaps was not conscience, kinship, wisdom, and brilliance beautified and embroidered by later generations, but merely because they had no choice.

Because they truly saw the attitudes and positions of all domestic powers displayed behind the actions of that pair of children.

When neither enemy nor ally wanted to fight a war, if they, as monarchs, still insisted on giving orders, insisted on pushing a war with their own strength for selfish reasons, then they would neither receive support nor earn benefits. They would only sink into the quagmire of internal and external difficulty, losing the Way and receiving little aid.

Likewise, several hundred years later, today, as long as Thales and the others settled the major powers driving Jade City forward, clarified their attitudes and positions, and made them useful...

Then even without directly reaching agreement with the two iris flowers, and without choosing sides between Renaissance Palace and Emerald Palace, they could still dispel the storm.

And avoid getting covered in shit.

Thales concluded with emotion:

"Historically, the ways rulers resolve crises are roughly like this. Show bad and worse futures. Persuade the different forces, classes, and groups whose interests originally conflict and who refuse to yield to accept a proposal. To avoid greater losses, each side compromises, retreats, and sacrifices. Then take the portion of interests each side yielded and use it to fill the hole that caused the crisis."

Thus balance is reached again.

"Emerald Mystery City... So now Jade City is no longer mysterious and can be considered stable. My brother also has no way to restrain you anymore."

Hilley's gaze sharpened.

"Then what about the thing you promised me?"

Thales, who had originally been smiling, sank in expression.

And Hilley's gaze was incomparably sharp, watching like a tiger.

"I know."

He looked seriously back at Hilley.

"I will do it."

Hilley said nothing. She only stared at him for a long time as well before snorting softly and shifting her gaze away.

"That is good."

Thales gritted his teeth.

The dungeon quieted.

Hilley looked at the unmoving killer before her and suddenly spoke:

"Did they like each other?"

Thales froze.

"What?"

Hilley sighed quietly.

"I mean, those 'southerners,' Heyman and Lady Regina. When they married, did they truly like each other?"

She turned and looked at Thales, her gaze clear.

"Or did they have no choice for the greater situation?"

This question stumped Thales.

"I do not know."

He lowered his head and looked at the damp ground of the dungeon.

Hilley snorted softly, not at all surprised.

"I knew you would say that."

"Please, they were people from several hundred years ago," Thales looked at the darkness in the dungeon and said heavily. "I truly do not know."

"Is that so."

Hilley looked in another direction.

"Then I guess, at that time, they themselves..."

The corner of Hilley's lips rose lightly.

"Did not know either."

Hearing this, Thales was first silent, then laughed softly.

"Perhaps."

The silence continued for quite a while. Finally, Hilley could not hold back. She took a deep breath.

"Now, killer."

The young lady stood, put both hands on her waist, and stretched her arms.

"We have chattered so much at you here. You should understand your own situation too. Do you not feel anything? Have nothing to say?"

Lausanne the Second was expressionless and did not move.

Thales also had to stand and frown.

"We only want to know. What do you know about Federico and the old case of Duke Lenster's assassination years ago?"

Lausanne the Second still said nothing, like a stone statue.

Hilley grew somewhat impatient.

"Or do you want to open your heart another way and speak what is inside?"

Hearing "open your heart," Thales suddenly felt something was wrong.

Hilley sneered.

"Perhaps meet your old friend from last time? What was his name? Joaquin?"

Clatter!

The effect of this name was immediate. The stone statue on the ground suddenly came alive, and the chains on his body shook under his struggle.

"You will go to hell," Lausanne the Second twisted his head with all his strength, gritting his teeth, full of deep hatred. "Monster!"

Thales's heart sank.

"That will be after you," seeing the threat effective, Hilley revealed a satisfied smile and moved her fingers. "If you refuse soft methods, it seems you truly miss your old friend..."

Lausanne the Second's eyes reddened. He instinctively wanted to get farther from the girl before him.

As if she were not a girl, but a flood or beast.

"Relax. Five minutes will be enough. I guarantee you will spill every detail, even how many lovers your mother had..."

At that moment, Thales grabbed Hilley's wrist.

"Hilley."

The young lady turned back in confusion.

"What?"

Thales took a deep breath.

"Please. Not it," he said seriously and solemnly. "Not Soulbone."

Hearing this name, Hilley's face sank.

"Soulbone is its code name," the young lady said unhurriedly. "I usually call it Jacques."

Thales released her hand and slowly but firmly shook his head.

"Not Jacques."

Hilley snorted softly and turned toward the trembling captive.

"If you are afraid to watch, you can go out first..."

"Go out and see how Srimanny is doing?"

Hilley's movement paused.

She turned back and looked straight at Thales.

"All right. I know you are pedantic and soft-hearted."

Her expression was helpless, and her tone softened slightly.

"But this fellow, this bastard who takes money to kill, is not some good person. He has countless blood debts. He deserves to die..."

"This has nothing to do with what kind of person he is."

Thales shook his head.

"It only has to do with what kind of people we are."

Lausanne the Second, lying on the ground, opened his eyes. He had originally been staring fixedly at Hilley, but now he looked toward Thales.

Hilley's smile disappeared.

"Mister Thales, Teacher Thales, Great Good Man Thales," she mocked. "If you love tireless teaching so much, love teaching me how to do things on my territory, even how to interrogate..."

"Please, Hilley."

This time, it was Thales's turn to soften his tone, almost pleading.

"For the sake of, for the sake of me lending you the dagger."

Hilley's words paused.

She looked at the earnest Thales and snorted disdainfully.

"Fine."

Hilley touched the dagger at her waist, and her eyes turned.

"Then give me the dagger?"

Thales's gaze moved.

"What?"

"Give me the dagger, and we will do it your way, no matter how pedantic that is. How about it?"

Thales stared back at her in surprise.

He looked at the JC at her waist. His lips moved, and finally he sighed.

"Please, Hilley."

"Oh, you cannot bear it?"

"I can give you something else. Anything Star Lake Castle has. But this dagger was given to me by a very important friend. It saved my life..."

But Hilley raised a finger.

"No, no, no. This has nothing to do with who gave you the dagger."

She narrowed her eyes.

"It only has to do with what kind of person you are."

Thales instantly choked.

"Hm? No words now?"

Hilley revealed a victorious, pleased smile that also carried a few traces of contempt.

She turned and tugged at her glove.

"Then you go out first. I will be done in a moment..."

Thales watched blankly as Hilley approached the trembling and cursing killer step by step.

He looked at the dagger on her waist, closed his eyes, and swallowed.

"The dagger. I cannot give you that dagger."

"Hmph."

"But I can lend it to you long-term. As long as you like."

"I knew... what?"

Hilley turned back in shock.

Thales breathed out and nodded firmly.

"When you grow tired of playing with it, return it to me. As long as you keep it safe."

Hilley froze.

She spent several seconds understanding the meaning of this sentence, then touched the dagger in disbelief, looked at Thales, then looked at the captive on the ground.

"You... for this scum?"

Thales shook his head.

"I said, this has nothing to do with whether he is scum. It only has to do with whether we are..."

"Oh, enough!"

For some reason, Hilley was rather dissatisfied and waved a hand to interrupt him.

"Stop teaching me how to be a person!"

"I did not... uh, sorry..."

But Hilley still seemed angry. She drew out the sheathed dagger and stared at it fixedly for a long while.

"I remember you never let this thing leave your body."

"Yes," Thales carefully answered.

"When you encounter danger, it is the first thing you reach for."

"Yes."

"And now you are giving it to me? I can play with it as long as I want?"

Thales took a deep breath.

"Uh, yes?"

Hilley suddenly burst into laughter, waving the dagger without concern.

"Hmph. Then I suppose the friend who gave you the dagger was not that important."

This sentence stirred Thales's memories and thoughts.

He quietly looked at the JC dagger, thought of the past, and sighed.

"Exactly the opposite. She is very important."

Hilley's expression changed when she heard this.

Thales's face was melancholy.

"But I think she would understand."

Thinking of that person from the past, the prince unknowingly raised the corner of his lips.

She could understand him risking his life to save a beggar child, even taking risks and lending aid.

Then she could also understand his choice now.

Hilley looked at the dagger in her hand and was expressionless for a while. She turned away.

"Of course..."

The next second, the young lady suddenly turned, swung her arm, and smashed the dagger toward Thales.

"Of course she would understand!"

Whoosh!

The sound of cutting air rang out, and Thales was badly startled.

Fortunately, the Sin of Hell's River sensed something and activated in time, letting him reach out at the critical instant and accurately catch the flying JC dagger. Fortunately, it was sheathed.

But Thales, who had been given a huge fright, had not yet come back to himself. Holding the dagger he had barely caught, feeling his arm numb from the impact, he raised his head in shock.

"Why..."

"Take it away!"

Hilley looked angry, gritting her teeth.

"Take it back."

Thales froze. He raised the dagger.

"But did you not want to borrow..."

What greeted him was a round of furious cursing.

"Who the fuck wants your stinking dagger!"

Thales instinctively hugged his head and backed away, feeling rather wronged.

Why?

Hilley took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling, still glaring at him angrily.

Thales carefully spoke:

"Then..."

"Why are you still standing there!"

The young lady planted both hands on her waist, irritably interrupted him, and pointed toward the captive.

"Did you not want to interrogate him gently and kindly? Go! Stop fucking wasting my time!"

Thales was frightened and did not understand why. Holding the dagger in both hands, he did not know whether to hand it over or hide it.

"I did not... I only, I only thought if you did not like this dagger..."

At this moment, the captive on the ground let out a long sigh.

"Do yourself a favor, Your Highness. Shut up," Lausanne the Second closed his eyes, looking helpless and pained. "Every time you open your mouth, you only make matters worse."

Thales froze.

What does this have to do with you?

But he followed good advice and hurriedly shut up.

Hilley, however, raised her fine brows.

"What does this have to do with you, captive?"

Lausanne the Second snorted softly and did not answer.

Thales hid the dagger and echoed:

"Yes, yes! What does this have to..."

Hilley suddenly turned and glared Thales's words to death in his mouth.

"Well... then I will go..."

Thales smiled ingratiatingly, pointed at the captive, and tiptoed around the still-angry young lady, approaching the killer.

"You will be eaten."

But before he could clear his throat and speak, Lausanne the Second spoke first.

Thales froze.

"What?"

Lausanne the Second opened his dead-still eyes and looked at him quietly.

"Whether by her, or by others."

Her...

Thales swallowed, turned his body sideways, and secretly glanced toward Hilley, who had inexplicably grown angry.

But this tiny movement was caught.

"What? Continue interrogating him! This lady is not going to eat you!"

Thales was startled and turned back toward the captive.

"Unless..."

The heavily injured Lausanne the Second lay alone in the dungeon, complicated emotions in his eyes.

"Unless, Your Highness, unless you learn to let the mercy and cold blood in your heart, kindness and cruelty, coexist peacefully."

Just like... that Highness from the past.

Thales sank into thought upon hearing this.

"And if you still retain the slightest mercy, Your Highness Thales, then please do not waste time on me."

The killer slowly closed his eyes, locking pain and despair into bottomless darkness.

"Be swift. End me."

Looking at his expression, Thales felt something.

"All right. I will speak plainly, Lausanne the Second, whether or not this is your name."

Under Hilley's disdainful gaze, he frowned and sat down before Lausanne the Second.

"The reason I am coming to you now, instead of throwing you to certain civilized and polite fellows under me to torture and interrogate, is because..."

Thales paused.

"Although your sins are heavy and your blood debts countless, strangely, a certain favorite guard captain of mine seems to believe..."

He narrowed his eyes and leaned close to the captive.

"That you are not beyond saving."

Beyond saving.

Lausanne the Second opened his eyes and stared at the serious-faced Thales.

The next second, he let out the loudest, longest, and most sarcastic laugh of his life.