However, Dr. Clover had no intention of truly sending the fleeing scholars—including his prized students—to their deaths. Though he lacked the ability to protect them along the way, this old man, who knew many secrets, still came up with a hiding place where even the World Government would find it inconvenient to conduct a manhunt.
Mousse's ears twitched, for he heard that country name that had already piqued his interest once more. "The Flower Kingdom?"
Dr. Clover's explanation only deepened Mousse's interest. It turned out that the Flower Kingdom and Ohara had once shared deep ties. More than two hundred years ago, Ohara had always been protected by the Flower Kingdom rather than the World Government.
Only then did Mousse finally understand why the owner of that Chinese pastry shop knew nothing about the Flower Kingdom. He had immigrated here so long ago that the traces left behind by his ancestors had nearly been erased by the passage of time.
According to Dr. Clover, after the Flower Kingdom gave up its protection of Ohara, it sent people to remove all books related to it from the Tree of Knowledge, then cut off all contact. This caused Ohara's scholars to gradually grow distant from that country, and eventually, no one even knew why it had abandoned Ohara in the first place.
However, as a member nation of the World Government, the World Government needed an invitation from its government before it could send Marines into the Flower Kingdom. Yet with the Flower Kingdom's current isolationist and xenophobic attitude, unless it faced the danger of national destruction—or, more accurately, a change of dynasty—like during Wang Zhi's Rebellion twelve years ago, it would never do such a thing.
Since the Marines could not be sent in, they could only rely entirely on Cipher