Lila stared blankly at Fontana's mouth opening and closing, as though she had suddenly stopped understanding English.
—We are sinners.
Those words were like red-hot iron nails, searing and sharp as they punctured a balloon called "hope."
Every expression on her face—resentment, calculation, agitation, excitement—froze and vanished in an instant, leaving behind only blank, bewildered numbness.
If the Acolytes had truly intervened in this upheaval within the American Wizarding World, and if, unlike their former grand displays, they had silently infiltrated Congress's political struggle...
Lila's body began trembling uncontrollably. At first, it was only a faint quiver in her fingertips, but it quickly spread to her arms, shoulders, and then her entire body. It was as though a chill had risen from the depths of her soul, swiftly bringing down the thing that had always supported her.
Everything she had always believed in—rules of power, exchanges of interest, manipulation of public opinion, and so on—seemed laughably fragile in the face of the Acolytes' pure, vicious, violent threat.
In her daze, Lila suddenly remembered something.
"Brolin plans to sell that video as an Acolyte conspiracy."
Rex Grim stood in Lila's study, gently setting down the Crow mask as he said mockingly,
"Something like—the Acolytes deliberately created chaos in an attempt to infiltrate Congress, shifting the focus away from the Scourers."
"He plans to use the Acolytes?" Lila laughed. "Does he have a death wish? Grindelwald may be far milder in his methods than he used to be, but he is hardly patient!"
Grim said quietly, "Brolin believes that if the Acolytes really show themselves, Hawthorne and Dumbledore will be the ones exhausting themselves to deal with them."
"He thinks that by hiding in the shadows, he will not be the first target."
Lila considered it, then smiled. "Then aren't we