The Incident Ends, and an Unexpected Invitation

After seeing the Lord El-Melloi II nod, Wang Xiaoming pursed his lips and then:

"If he hasn't woken up yet, he should still be lying by the lake."

"Svin."

Although he didn't understand the meaning behind Wang Xiaoming's words, the Lord El-Melloi II still sent his disciples to investigate the location Wang Xiaoming had indicated.

"Um--"

Perhaps because of the time buffer, and considering that the Lord El-Melloi II Prince specifically mentioned the name of the apothecary Mao, Touko Aozaki, who already had some guesses in mind, said:

"You mean I drank a memory-impairing drug without realizing it?"

However, her speculation was denied by the Lord El-Melloi II:

"No. I don't think you'd be that reckless. But if how to take this medicine was included in the terms of the commission, you might accept it."

"I see. If the commission is interesting enough, it certainly will."

Touko Aozaki nodded in agreement with what the Lord El-Melloi II said.

As long as the work is interesting enough to pique the interest of this [Grand Puppeteer], then it's not surprising for Touko Aozaki to accept the commission even at some risk.

"... etc."

Just after Touko Aozaki finished speaking, Atram Galliasta suddenly stood up as if he couldn't bear it any longer.

"Now that the [Cinderella] spell has been cast, could the [Bodhi Leaf], as the medium, possibly be...?"

"That's right. After all, it's a leaf that was soaked in dragon's blood along with Siegfried."

Using ordinary methods, it would be impossible to use the Bodhi leaf properly. However, a Magecraft deliberately used unconventional methods to burn it into disposable ashes.

Silence descended once more, but this time the nature of the silence was entirely different from before.

To use a metaphor, it's like witnessing the barbaric act of smashing a precious treasure. And the perpetrator was certainly not someone unaware of its value—rather, a particularly authoritative figure among experts—who personally took the lead in smashing what could be called a world treasure to pieces.

Atram Galliasta glared fiercely at Touko Aozaki with an almost suffocating expression.

It wasn't just him.

A clang echoed through the room from the sound of hard objects colliding.

That was the sound of Lord Byron's cane falling from his hand, his eyes wide with a blank expression.

"How... could this be... Miss Aozaki? Even you shouldn't..."

If Atram Galliasta's expression was one of suffocation, then his face... well, it looked like he was pleading.

This is probably the expression on a person's face when they see the art they've dedicated their life to shattered before their eyes.

"No, I might actually do that."

Touko Aozaki readily admitted her "crime." Then, as if she had thought of something amusing, a smile welled up again, and she covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

Wang Xiaoming walked straight up, glanced at Touko Aozaki with a helpless look, and then used his body to block the various meaningful glances that the other Magecraft were casting at Touko Aozaki.

Perhaps it was because of Wang Xiaoming's intimidating presence, or something else, but after a while, no Magecraft dared to make a move, and only Lord Byron's dreamlike murmurs could be heard:

"Why..."

Swallowing hard, Lord Byron looked at the Touko Aozaki:

"Why! Miss Aozaki, you specifically requested this as payment, which is why I prepared it. If you were going to burn it, why did you accept my request in the first place! Isn't this going too far!"

"Oh, so it was my request. Thank you for preparing such a valuable gift."

Faced with this heart-wrenching accusation, Touko Aozaki, standing behind Wang Xiaoming, simply shrugged indifferently.

"Although I don't remember, if Lord's speculation is correct, I can probably guess what I was thinking [at the time]. I accepted an interesting commission, but if I relied on the funds and materials provided by the employer, the quality would obviously drop, so I used my own payment to achieve a result that satisfied me. Don't you see, isn't that reasonable?"

"Damn it—I never said I needed you to produce that kind of result! I've always said that just getting through that night is enough...!"

"I'm sorry, please give up. That's just my personality."

Aozaki Touko apologized to Lord Byron with a genuine, flower-like smile.

Now that things have come to this, everyone can guess what the mastermind behind the whole incident is from Lord Byron's reaction.

"Oh, by the way, the person who commissioned me to be an enemy of El-Melloi Classroom is that [Silver Princess]."

Then, as if remembering something, Touko Aozaki pointed towards the crowd.

"The condition is that you return my [lost memories]. I have indeed received those [memories], but you have concealed the truth that they were created by me. In that case, I have no moral reason to keep it a secret for my client."

As Touko Aozaki's voice faded, everyone's attention turned to [Silver Princess]. However, the person being accused showed no sign of panic, perhaps because she had already prepared herself mentally when the Lord El-Melloi II began their deduction.

"I can roughly guess why you entrusted Miss Aozaki with this—"

The Lord El-Melloi II, exhaling smoke, shifted his gaze to [Silver Princess] and slowly said:

"It's simply because [Iselma's] research has reached its limit. If it were to continue forcibly, death would be almost inevitable, just like [Golden Princess]."

"Varied...!"

Lord Byron let out an incredulous sound, then stumbled backward a few steps, looking utterly guilty after the truth had been exposed.

"That's why you commissioned Miss Aozaki to attack us, hoping to draw attention to others and give yourself a chance to escape, right?"

"..."

Faced with the truth revealed by the Lord El-Melloi II, [Silver Princess] offered no rebuttal. However, the silence that permeated the crowd seemed to confirm the Lord El-Melloi II's answer.

"But there's still one thing I don't understand--"

As if encountering some incomprehensible riddle, the Lord El-Melloi II frowned:

"Given that everything went smoothly before, you should have already escaped [Iselma]. Why are you still here?"

"Professor!"

Following the direction of the sound, the Lord El-Melloi II looked toward the entrance of the room.

Accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, the living room door opened. Svin, who had just been sent out by the Lord El-Melloi II to find Mao, walked in.

On Svin's back was the pharmacist, Mao, who had been absent from the meeting from the very beginning.

However, his condition was rather pitiful. Not only was Mao still unconscious, but his arms were also bent outwards at an unnatural angle, clearly having been violently broken by some force.

"Mao!"

Islo, a childhood friend of Mao, exclaimed in surprise.

"Who exactly is it...?"

It's me.

Before Islo could finish his question, Wang Xiaoming honestly stepped forward and admitted it.

"..."

Seeing Islo's face flushed red, and still not quite understanding what had happened, the crowd suddenly heard [Silver Princess's ] melodious voice:

The purpose of this trip back--

It was simply to express my gratitude to Mr. Wang for saving my life.

(By the way, the Twin Towers storyline should be finished tomorrow.)

Chapter 339. The End of the Incident and the Unexpected Invitation

"The purpose of this trip is simply to express my gratitude to Mr. Ming for saving my life."

Although her voice wasn't loud, it was like a thunderclap to everyone present. But before they could react, [Silver Princess] spoke again:

"If Mr. Ming hadn't stepped forward, Karina would probably be dead by now."

As childhood friends who grew up together, the relationship between the girls couldn't be as simple as a master-servant dynamic. Therefore, it's not entirely incomprehensible for [Silver Princess] to give up the chance to escape in gratitude for Wang Xiaoming saving Karina's life.

But--

"So who is the murderer? Who wanted to kill her?"

Someone in the room suddenly raised this question.

"If my guess is correct..."

In the now-silent living room of the Moon Tower, the Lord El-Melloi II, smoking a cigar, slowly turned his gaze to the young man still unconscious on the ground.

"No, that's impossible!"

Subconsciously rejecting the Lord El-Melloi II's guess, Islo turned his gaze to [Silver Princess], hoping that she could stand up and clear his friend's name.

Under Islo's hopeful gaze, [Silver Princess] finally spoke, however--

"Actually, we should have met up with Karina tonight and escaped together. If Karina hadn't met Mao..."

Convicted!

[Silver Princess]'s words were like the sound of a sharp blade falling from a guillotine, eliciting indescribable gasps of astonishment from the onlookers.

At this point, the ins and outs of this incident are clear.

Research on [Iselma] has come to an end, as its side effects led to the death of [Golden Princess].

However, Lord Byron, the lord of [Iselma], did not stop there. Instead, he dissected his own daughter's body to find the cause.

Later, with the upcoming debut party approaching, Lord Byron, for the sake of his family's reputation and continuation, sought out Aozaki Touko in hopes of deceiving everyone.

Subsequently, because Touko Aozaki was not satisfied with her work, she demanded a specific item as payment. In order to achieve Touko Aozaki's demand, Lord Byron participated in an underground auction held a month earlier and won the bid for the "Bodhi Leaf Stained with Dragon's Blood," thus incurring the wrath of his prospective Master Atram Galliasta had already qualified to participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

On the other hand, Touko Aozaki, having received her reward, used a special method to burn the Bodhi Leaf to ashes and incorporate it into [Cinderella], allowing the maid Karina to be reborn as [Golden Princess] on the night of the banquet, stunning everyone at the party.

However, because in fairy tales, Cinderella always returns to her original form at midnight, the effect of the Cinderella spell itself is very short-lived, and begins to fade after the party.

Karina then visited the Lord El-Melloi II while the spell was still in effect, creating the illusion that the last person the Golden Princess saw before her death was the Lord El-Melloi II.

The maid Karina who was following behind [Golden Princess] was actually her twin sister Regina in disguise. Her purpose was to act as a witness after the discovery of [Golden Princess]'s body.

After leaving the Lord El-Melloi II Prince's room, Karina returned to the Golden Princess's room and placed the Golden Princess's corpse, which she had prepared beforehand, on the bed. Before the spell was fully released, she locked the Magecraft lock— Touko Aozaki's Cinderella was perfect, even the Magecraft wavelength had become exactly the same as the deceased Golden Princess.

Once the effects of [Cinderella] have completely worn off, the secret room will be formed.

What followed was predictable. No matter when the body was discovered, Karina would state the facts truthfully, Lord Byron would naturally point the finger at El-Melloi Classroom, even though he, who had personally dissected [Golden Princess], was not involved in the incident. But that didn't stop him from taking advantage of the chaos.

Meanwhile, [Silver Princess] visits Touko Aozaki, asking her to help Touko Aozaki [return lost memories] in order to distract everyone and then escape from [Iselma] in the chaos.

That was how it was supposed to be, but Atram Galliasta's invasion completely disrupted all plans.

The battle between Touko Aozaki and El-Melloi was interrupted by Atram Galliasta's intrusion. Meanwhile, Karina, who had encountered Mao, revealed the truth about the [Golden Princess] to Mao and asked for his help in assisting the [Silver Princess] to escape.

Perhaps to Karina, Mao was a trustworthy childhood friend. Even if he discovered her secret, she believed he would help her. It was because of this thought that Karina confessed everything to him. However, Mao's thoughts might not be the same as hers. No, they might be completely opposite—

"How could... how could we allow this to happen?! Now that we've reached this [level], the next step is to [Root]! The research must continue no matter what—"

Just as Mao, who had already submitted to [the US], was about to [leave Karina alive (and kill her)], he was stopped by Wang Xiaoming, who happened to be "passing by".

After breaking Mao's hands, Wang Xiaoming ignored Karina and returned to Touko Aozaki's side, which led to the scene described earlier.

"That's roughly what happened..."

In a room that wasn't particularly spacious, the Lord El-Melloi II, having returned from [Iselma], was reporting the details of his trip to the person sitting at the table.

"Tsk, it's just like a farce."

After listening to the Lord El-Melloi II's report, the person at the table made a dismissive conclusion about the Lord El-Melloi II's experiences during this period.

"[Baruereta] sent me a document requesting that [El-Melloi] accept [Silver Princess]. Did you agree to this?"

"That's right. Although [Silver Princess] isn't Magecraft, she is, after all, the result of Iselma's research, and has the potential to reach the [Root]. Therefore, the risk of being subject to the [Sealing Designation] cannot be ruled out."

Despite the overly arrogant tone of the person at the table, the Lord El-Melloi II showed no sign of anger.

"However, after the [Iselma] scandal was exposed, the [Baruereta] family, as the main family, was naturally implicated and had no time to care about [Silver Princess]. Therefore, I made a request to them to hand over [Silver Princess]."

"I won't ask for the reason. It's probably just another unreasonable request from that guy."

"Well, because Mr. Wang mentioned it back then, so..."

However, the Lord El-Melloi II's explanation was impatiently interrupted.