Philip returned

As the newly appointed High-ranking Deacon of the Church of Evernight Nighthawks, Kronos simply wanted to give a thumbs up to this unassuming cardinal.

Since Cardinal Snake hadn't said it aloud, Kronos wouldn't be foolish enough to continue the conversation.

So he said, "I wonder what the Church of Storms's attitude is towards this matter? What actions will they take next?"

The God's Dove immediately said, "Rest assured, Mr. Mills, whether as a lifelong friend of our Church of Storms or as Duke Negan of the Loen Kingdom, Pallas's matter will certainly be settled."

Kronos feigned deep gratitude and ended his conversation with Cardinal Snake.

Lockhart and his Butler had already finished their social engagements.

Kronos was not good at dealing with these politicians, so the responsibility naturally fell on them.

Fortunately, they were familiar with these people, so no problems have arisen yet.

Even so, everyone knew the truth.

The assassination of the Conservative Party leader at his own party was a bombshell.

Even if the Royal Family and the New Party try their best to quell the matter, the Conservative Party will certainly not agree.

It wasn't just about seeking justice for the Duke Negan; the main purpose was to flex their muscles during this turbulent time, with the aim of maintaining greater influence.

But none of these things concern Kronos anymore.

Kronos specifically instructed Lockhart and the Butler that at this time, they should not take the initiative to contact the outside world, and should not do anything, but wait for Philip to return before making a decision.

Neither of them objected to Kronos's decision, and they carried it out.

The only unusual thing was that Lockhart would go out every day without any reason.

To this end, Kronos even followed him for a period of time and finally confirmed that Lockhart had to go back to MI9 every day.

Kronos couldn't find out what was going on in MI9, since there were Demigod there, and there was no need to risk infiltrating.

But Kronos guessed he was probably reporting on the Negan's daily activities.

At Duke Negan's behest, Kronos calmed all the members of the Negan, so the family did not descend into chaos and continued to operate smoothly.

This is the difference between the Duke Negan's presence and absence; even though he is nominally dead, given his understanding of everyone, he can still quickly restore order to the situation.

The scheduled Tarot Club could not be held as planned because Audrey and Alger were both absent.

Audrey is a key witness in the assassination of Duke Negan.

It was only through Audrey's testimony that the others learned that Qilingus had an "accomplice" who subdued Audrey just as Audrey was about to expose their conspiracy.

Because Kronos only interacted with Audrey throughout the entire ball, no one else had any recollection of the person Audrey described.

Audrey herself only knew that such a person existed; she had never seen what this person looked like, only heard their voice, and the only thing she could be sure of was their gender.

As for Alger, he's been incredibly busy lately.

On Church of Storms territory, Church of Storms's greatest ally was assassinated, yet they didn't even know who did it.

Therefore, the Church of Storms was fully mobilized.

All personnel were mobilized, determined to thoroughly search the entire Backlund region.

Neither the Church of Evernight nor the Church of Steam and Machinery had any stance on the Church of Storms's attitude.

This incident was like a slap in the face to the Church of Storms, so the other two True God Churches had no choice but to cooperate; otherwise, they would be eager to let the Church of Storms vent its anger.

Kronos did not report the matter of Duke Negan to Lady Arianna. In his view, if the Church of Evernight knew, so be it; if they took any action, he would simply cooperate.

As for my own plans, there's no need to report them; doing so would be too much of a distraction.

As Duke Negan and Kronos had predicted, Philip hurriedly returned to Backlund late the night after the assassination attempt.

Upon his secret return to Negan Residence, the first thing he did was to meet with Lockhart and the Butler.

He knew that his house had been taken over by a "cousin" named Mills in the past few days, but Philip still didn't come to see this cousin right away.

The Negan is a large and complex family with numerous branches and factions, so it's normal that Philip might not know about some of their relatives.

However, it's impossible that Philip was completely Information of the relative who could suddenly appear at such a crucial moment and take over all of Duke Negan's affairs.

Mills' cousin appeared out of nowhere, without any prior trace.

Philip felt it was best to learn more about this mysterious person before making any contact.

Therefore, he chose to first meet with Lockhart and the mansion's Butler.

In fact, all of Philip's actions were under the control of Kronos. As a Demigod, he could sense that some people had infiltrated his circle.

However, Kronos did not immediately find Philip and explain the truth, but instead wanted to see what Philip would do next.

The decision was made by the Duke Negan, who wanted to see how Philip would handle such a critical situation.

The conversation between Philip and the two men mainly revolved around Mills.

After learning about the current situation, Philip began to gain a comprehensive understanding of Mills.

Lockhart and the Butler were both shrewd people. After seeing Philip's attitude, they immediately realized that this was a power struggle.

Lockhart's attitude was thus laid bare.

The Butler stood firmly by Philip's side. Regardless of family ties, the Duke Negan was the head of the family, and after his death, Philip should legally inherit the title and become the next head of the Negan.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Aguesid Nigan is the current Prime Minister of the Loen Kingdom; it's all for naught. Everyone knows that he became Prime Minister simply because he is Duke Negan's brother.

As for the rest of the family, they were even less qualified to compete with Philip.

Before Philip returned, young Master Mills could temporarily take over the Duke's power using the Duke Negan's medals, but now that Philip is back, it's impossible for the Duke Negan's inner circle to stand against Philip.

However, Lockhart's attitude at this point became ambiguous.

His first choice was to mediate, not wanting Philip and Mills to go to war.

Of course, don't be fooled by his well-intentioned words, which seem to suggest he's worried about the Negan suffering losses.

But that's not what he really thought.

Now that the Duke Negan has passed away, as Duke Secretary, he has two paths to choose from.

He could either gain the trust of the new Duke Negan, Philip, and continue to serve Secretary Duke Negan.

Of course, this path is difficult to succeed on. While the turmoil has not subsided, Philip will still need his help. However, once things are in order, his value will be greatly reduced.

At that point, he would only have another path: to be sent out by Philip to become the head of an unknown small division within the Negan.

How could Lockhart possibly accept this?

He is now the Secretary of the most powerful nobleman in the entire Loen Kingdom, wielding immense power.

The reason he was able to join the Twilight Hermit Order was because of his current special status.

Once he loses his current position, his usefulness will be greatly reduced.

So now, he'd love for Philip and Mills to fight; the more chaotic the fight, the higher his value.

Moreover, it would give him more time to smooth things over and return to MI9.

He originally came from MI9 and was assigned to serve as Duke Negan's Secretary.

Now that Duke Negan is dead, even if this chaos continues, he knows in his heart that his power will only diminish day by day.

In that case, we might as well go back to MI9.

With his abilities, he might be able to secure a decent position within MI9.

In this way, he can continue to gain attention from the Twilight Hermit Order and obtain more resources, thereby advancing to Demigod.

Lockhart had good intentions, but Philip was definitely not a naive or gullible person.

Although he was unaware of Lockhart's many hidden thoughts, he knew there was something wrong with his father's Secretary when the Secretary started trying to smooth things over.

Philip didn't have a good impression of his father's Secretary because much of his father's discipline came through him, but Philip never doubted the Secretary's competence and loyalty.

But unexpectedly, right after her father passed away, this "loyal" Secretary seemed to run into trouble.

What followed was as if Lockhart and Philip were coaxing each other into having a child.

The two of them started acting.

You say, "We can't fight; it will damage the Negan's reputation," then I'll say, "The Secretary is right; I'll listen to you."

I said, "I hope you will support me in regaining control of the Negan," and you replied, "I am willing to serve Young Master Philip to the utmost."

The two actors performed so well together that the Butler was completely stunned.

Only after Lockhart left Philip's room did the Butler say, "Young Master Philip, it seems there's something wrong with Secretary Lockhart."

Philip chuckled softly, "It seems so. His problem is much bigger; it doesn't look like something that's only been going on for the past few days."

Come to think of it, a Secretary has always behaved very well and remained loyal suddenly changed within two days; that seems a bit too fast.

Philip was more inclined to believe that the Secretary had been having problems for some time.

After thinking for a while, Philip asked the Butler a crucial question, "How many guards do you have control over at Negan Residence?"

The Butler thought for a moment, then said, "All of it."

Upon hearing this answer, Philip looked at the Butler in surprise. He had never Consciousness before that the Butler was so capable, managing to control the entire security force.

Feeling a little embarrassed by Philip, the Butler said, "It's not that I have any foresight, it's just that young master Mills never even considered acquiring these powers. Nobody has ever competed with me for them."

These words made Philip thoughtful. If the goal was to seize power, why wouldn't he fight for armed forces?

After a moment's thought, Philip said, "Let's go see this cousin of Mills."

The Butler asked, "Should we mobilize the guards?"

After another period of silence, Philip gritted his teeth and said, "No need, just the two of us will go and meet him."

When dealing with someone whose motives are unclear, any rash actions will likely lead to some unpleasant changes.

So after much deliberation, Philip decided to have an open and honest talk with his cousin Mills.

The two soon arrived at the door of young Master Mills ' room, which was rather strange, given his choice of accommodation.

Even the direct descendants of the Negan, when they come to visit, stay in the spacious and bright rooms on the second or third floor. But this young master Mills chose a room on the first floor for himself.

Unbeknownst to them, in order to conceal Duke Negan's situation and to facilitate communication with Duke Negan, Kronos had no choice but to stay in a room outside the Secret Room where Duke Negan was hiding.

Philip was just about to knock when the door opened by itself, and a voice came from inside. "Is that your cousin Philip back? Come in."

This situation sent a chill down Philip's spine. Didn't it mean that Mills knew everything about his situation?

Then he'd be like a fish on a chopping board; the outcome would depend on the other party's thoughts.

But now that things have come to this, no matter what, we have no choice but to grit our teeth and move forward.

Philip walked straight into the room and immediately saw Kronos sitting there.

At this moment, Kronos was not displaying his original appearance, but rather a disguise of Mills's appearance.

Seeing the Butler enter, Kronos smiled and said, "Why don't you let the Butler go out first? Cousin Philip, I have something important to discuss with you privately."

Philip paused briefly, then gestured for the Butler to leave.

The Butler was reluctant, mainly because he was afraid that Philip might be in danger, but since Philip had given the order, he had no choice but to obediently leave the room.

After the Butler closed the door, Philip said directly, "Mills' cousin, right? Now you can talk to me, what's your purpose?"

Kronos burst into laughter, then his facial muscles shifted rapidly, revealing his true face.