The uprising in Austria's Italian territories had failed, but its repercussions had not ended. The Vienna Government was enraged, and Franz immediately ordered a nationwide investigation.
You never knew until you looked; once they investigated, the findings were shocking. From Lombardy-Venetia to Hungary and Galicia, traces of rebels had surfaced everywhere.
Countless people who had been in contact with the Hungarian Independence Organization were summoned for questioning. No arrests had been made yet, but panic had already spread among the people.
Everyone implicated was cursing Stephen's entire family. If you wanted to rebel, then rebel—why did you have to write to us?
For work this difficult, he had not possessed the slightest sense of secrecy? He had let the whole world know about it. No wonder the rebellion had failed.
Many people regretted it. They should have reported them directly back then. Yet one moment of hesitation had made them miss their chance, and to make matters worse, they had cleverly destroyed the letters themselves. Now there was no way to explain things clearly.
Had they participated in the rebellion? Had they known about it? These had become the key questions. Without sufficient evidence, the police had not arrested them, merely subjected them to routine questioning.
But even that was extremely troublesome. Once someone was implicated in rebellion, all their connections and influence became useless.
Atisa was regretting things at this very moment. He had known the Hungarian Independence Organization would never amount to anything, so he had cut off contact with them in advance.
Yet he had not expected the police to come knocking anyway. As someone who had met with a rebel leader and exchanged letters with him before the uprising broke out, he naturally became a prime suspect.
Atisa said nervously, "Chief Pativat, please believe that I