Volume 2: Empire Chapter 41: Cornerstone
Agatha thought for a while and said to herself, "It seems that my reply to the Second Prince... needs to be revised."
Luke heard Agatha's intention and expressed his attitude: "I am still on your side and will cooperate with you to the fullest. If there is nothing else urgent, I will go back. There are too many troubles here.
I really want to go back to Nutao City!
Sunshine, beach and good wine, that’s the life I want.”
Agatha smiled and said, “It’s just that many people don’t want you to go back. This is the stage for you to perform.
Thank you again, Dale's disappearance has always been a burden on my heart. Her kindness is the most precious thing in the Augustine family. I will protect her no matter what. "
Luke stood up and saluted Agatha: "Beautiful things are worth protecting by everyone, especially the noble virtues that we all lack. I am very happy to talk to you about so many things from my heart. I wish you all the best.
Goodbye! "
"Looking forward to seeing you next time."
Agatha waved her hand, asking the guards around her to remove the barrier, and then watched Luke leave along the garden path.
The personal maid came to Agatha's side and asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, do you have any instructions?"
"I want to see the Second Prince, please make the arrangements."
"Is this a secret meeting?"
"No, it's my sister visiting my brother."
The lady-in-waiting nodded and said, "I understand, Your Highness."
"Withdraw all those monitoring the falling star."
The female official asked in confusion: "Your Highness, Meteorite is a key figure that all parties are fighting for. If he betrays you, your situation will be very dangerous."
Agatha said easily: "There is no loyalty or betrayal between Meteorite and me. Trust is the foundation of a solid relationship.
What information have you found about those rumors?"
The female official replied: "According to our investigation, the source of these rumors should be the cabinet. Meteorite's loyalty to you has made these rumors very contagious.
Some people say that Princess Dale disappeared because..."
Now that Agatha knew the whereabouts of Princess Dale, she no longer worried about these fabricated accusations, but instead considered the changes in the court after Princess Dale's return.
After the Abyss Temple took the blame, the palace struggle caused by the attack on Princess Dai'er was calmed down. He was pushed into the vortex of the fight between the two princes by the meteorite, and became a strong supporter of the disadvantaged Second Prince.
Because of this incident, Meteorite will establish a preliminary trust relationship with the eldest prince, and become someone who has his feet on every boat in the imperial capital and will not fall into the water easily.
But Agatha could feel that Meteorite did all this in preparation to stab the eldest prince in the back at the critical moment. That blow would definitely make it impossible for the eldest prince to recover.
Agatha believed that Meteorite could do it, he had the ability and courage.
But why did Meteorite do this?
For me? To push me into the position he had planned for me!
Or is it for Dale? Because beautiful things are worth protecting by everyone, especially the noble qualities that we all lack!
Or both!
What happened between him and Dai'er? That must have been their first meeting. Why did Dai'er receive such high praise from him?
While Agatha was thinking, the lady-in-waiting thought she was worried about the rumors.
"Your Highness, we have developed several plans to deal with the rumors, which should be effective to some extent."
Agatha came to her senses and said to the lady-in-waiting, "Don't worry about the rumors anymore. Spread them if you want. If they really believe them, they should be the ones who are afraid."
The lady-in-waiting did not understand why the princess was so careless about a matter that concerned her reputation, so she could only reply, "Yes, Your Highness."
…
When Luke returned to the Sixth Agent Department from Tulip Manor, Sinclair, who had gone to the Sheriff's Department to gather information, also happened to come back.
The Security Bureau also developed an insider inside the Blades. The sudden death of so many Blades this time meant that something big was going to happen in the Imperial Capital, so the Security Bureau was of course very nervous.
"Could it be that our previous speculation was wrong, and the one who attacked Aunt Dale was not the Second Prince... but the Blade Brotherhood?"
Luke said with a smile: "When did I guess that it was the second prince who attacked Princess Dai'er? It was you who was guessing all along!"
"But my father also said..." Sinclair knew he had let the cat out of the bag and stopped immediately: "But why did you want to see the Second Prince?"
"I said very clearly, go visit, and I visited."
"No, you must be hiding something from me." Sinclair is not so easy to fool.
"Okay, I'll tell you. Her Royal Highness the Princess wanted to see the Second Prince, but she didn't want to take the initiative to meet him, so I went to scare him. Then... he went to Tulip Manor that night."
Sinclair realized that he had touched upon something he had been unwilling to face.
"Oh, so that's how it is. Looks like my father is going to have a headache. Anyway, what did you find at the scene?"
"We found some suspected occult residues." Luke placed a bag of powder found at the fire scene on the table.
"Secret arts?" Sinclair picked up the bag and found that the powder inside looked like ordinary carbon ash, so he asked, "What are these?"
Luke replied, "Some of it was taken to the Oulu College branch and tested by Miss Qingkong. The result was... blood-red powder made from human blood. This small bag of blood-red powder must contain at least all the blood of an adult. The blood contains the despair, helplessness, and fear of the deceased when his blood ran out."
Hearing that the powder in his hand was made in this way, Sinclair threw the bag on the table and said, "This is simply inhumane! Although I have killed many people, I would never do such a thing."
"Now mainstream occult researchers also reject inhumane occult experiments, but occultism is ultimately an academic field that can easily lead people into depravity. However, there is a place that is very tolerant of such occultists."
Sinclair said: "It's the Abyss Temple. Does this blood-red powder come from the Abyss Temple?"
"Negative energy is the medium that attracts the abyss, and blood-red powder is the main material for creating an abyss environment. We found many marks of beasts biting the dead. It should be that the Abyss Temple arranged the secret technique in advance at the meeting site of the Thorn Blade.
After the secret technique was activated, the interior of the warehouse was pulled into a space filled with abyssal energy, and the abyssal monsters transformed by the abyssal energy attacked the Thorn Blade.
Finally, the Abyss Mage cleaned up the scene and set fire to the bodies.
After the blood-red powder released its mysterious energy, it turned from red to gray, and was left behind by the Abyss Mage in the dark night."
After listening to Luke's analysis of the case, Sinclair asked, "But why did the Abyss Temple ambush the Blade of the Blade Brotherhood? What does the Blade have to do with the attack on Aunt Dale?"
"Do you remember Sam, the suspect I let go?"
"Remember, now everyone in the imperial capital knows that Sam is directly related to Aunt Dale's attack. But isn't he dead?"
Luke began to speak freely: "Sometimes the dead are more useful than the living. When Sam was killed, I sent someone to track the assassin, and then found that it was the Abyss Temple that controlled Sam.
The attackers who attacked Princess Dale were a group of Abyss Mages and a group of Thorns who worked together."
Sinclair didn't doubt Luke's words.
Attacking Princess Dale and provoking a struggle in the imperial court would be of great benefit to Grand Duke Celtic. In fact, if it weren't for Meteor and Prime Minister Gabriel secretly transferring the conflict to Grand Duke Celtic, everyone in the imperial capital would still be in danger.
Naturally, they have no energy to care about things in the south.
Sinclair said angrily: "These Abyss Mages lurking in the Imperial Capital must be eradicated as soon as possible."
Luke said: “I already have some clues, but the Abyss Temple ambushed the Blade of the Blade Brotherhood this time, and it is very likely that they have taken over the Brotherhood’s intelligence network in the Imperial Capital.
The people I brought from Raging Waves City can be trusted, but the Secret Service headquarters... The Secret Service and the Brotherhood of the Blades have been fighting for hundreds of years, and both sides have people from the other side. The case of the eldest princess, Princess Chadelle, has not been successful for such a long time, so I know that not all of her people can be trusted. "
After saying this, Luke sighed with regret.
Sinclair understood the situation Meteorite was facing at this time.
The Imperial Secret Service and the Brotherhood of the Blade have been fighting but not breaking up for a long time, and they can even cooperate on some things. They have long been infiltrated into each other, and I am part of you.
Especially in the imperial capital, there are many people working for both sides.
The Abyss Temple cleaned up the Thorn Blade, probably because they felt that the Thorn Blade could not be trusted. So when dealing with the Abyss Temple, the Secret Service naturally could not be trusted.
Sinclair quickly came up with a solution: "Since we can't use spies from the CIA headquarters, we can use people from the military.
My father controls a city guard, many of whom are veterans who retired from the North. It is also the duty of the city guard to eliminate the Abyss Mages lurking in the Imperial Capital. I can convince my father to dispatch an army to cooperate with you."
Seeing Sinclair's understanding, Luke was delighted: "Really? That's great! With the help of the city guards, as long as we can find where the Abyss Mages are hiding, we can catch them all in one fell swoop.
Not only did he solve the case of Princess Dale's attack, he also made an immeasurable contribution to the empire."
Sinclair was happy that he could fight and make achievements in the imperial capital.
"It's settled now! Find these Abyss Mages as soon as possible. I will go back and tell my father about our plan.
There is absolutely no problem on my side, but you must keep it strictly confidential."
Luke said confidently, "Don't worry, I'm very strict about what I say."
Sinclair, who decided to do something big in the imperial capital, left the Sixth Special Agent in charge happily.
Luke was waiting for news from Fast Legs.
Whether he can successfully meet the Blade leader Samuel will determine how his plan will unfold.
In the evening, Kaileena delivered a letter.
"Governor, the princess has reactivated her private communication channel with you. This is the letter just sent from Tulip Manor..."
Luke took the letter and felt very puzzled.
The dedicated communication channel with Agatha had been deactivated after he arrived in the imperial capital. How could she suddenly send a letter through this channel?
Luke checked the envelope and opened it after confirming that there was no problem.
“We enabled this communication channel because it is more confidential than other channels. And this kind of communication can make us more frank with each other. After all, some things are not easy to say face to face.
After sending the letter, I will go to see Alex and tell him... I will accept his invitation. At the same time, I will also tell him that I cannot completely control you, and your close relationship with the eldest prince makes me feel a sense of crisis.
..."
In the letter, Agatha wrote a lot of things she wanted to talk to Alex about, the details and confidentiality of which were not allowed to be known by even the closest ministers.
Although there was nothing else written in the letter, Luke always felt that the meaning contained in it was a little different from before!
