"I don't understand. Why did you try so hard to win him over before, only to want him dead now?"
Hearthglen sounded rather angry as soon as he came in.
From the way he was acting, it almost seemed as though he and Rhode were on the same side!
"I tried to win him over to lull him into a false sense of security," Blackmoore said unhurriedly. "I want him dead because he's our enemy!"
"But isn't he Antonidas's apprentice? If you kill him, how will you explain it to the council leader?"
What? I'm Antonidas's apprentice?
Hearthglen's words left Rhode utterly dumbfounded.
So he was so timid around me before because he thought I was Antonidas's apprentice?
More importantly, what made him think that...?
Rhode still couldn't make sense of it.
How could he have known that a single Magic Mech blueprint he had drawn would lead Hearthglen to imagine so much?
"He isn't." Blackmoore shook his head and told Hearthglen, "I sent people to conduct a more thorough investigation. We can confirm that he isn't Antonidas's apprentice."
"What? Really? How did you confirm that?" Hearthglen was clearly very surprised, and seemed rather unwilling to accept this information.
After all, his reasoning had been so "flawless" that he had become deeply convinced it was the truth.
Blackmoore replied, "Antonidas hasn't taken a new apprentice in many years. His most recent apprentice was the daughter of Daelin Proudmoore, the admiral of Kul Tiras. She's a woman, so she can't possibly be Rhode."
"But he could have taken him on in secret..."
"Impossible," Blackmoore said firmly. "If Rhode were Antonidas's secret apprentice, he wouldn't have needed to waste so many years in Southshore, and no one ever saw him demonstrate any spells. Whether the aim was to target you or me,