"Did you tell anyone else that you were going to the Silence Tower?"
Reed asked Adonis.
There was a need to be cautious, as just their meeting could allow someone to make certain predictions.
If necessary, he even considered creating a new alibi.
Adonis shook her head.
"No. There have been increasing attacks on travelers in the small villages within the Hupper kingdom, so I went out under the pretense of patrolling."
"Alone......you say?"
"Yes."
She's bold.
But thinking about it further, Adonis had the ability to bend even a giant's spine, so what would she fear from bandits?
She could probably turn bandits into blocks and stack them neatly.
Anyway, it didn't seem necessary to make an alibi.
"For now, I'll pretend I don't know anything. If there are any signs, I'd appreciate it if you send them through a bluebird or a dove, not a letter."
"Understood."
"Thank you, Tower Master."
Adonis courteously greeted him.
"Oh, and Miss Adonis."
Before parting, Reed stopped her.
He took out an item he had prepared in advance and handed it to Adonis.
"What's this?"
"It's a substitute for the perfume I mentioned before."
"But that perfume wasn't yours, was it?"
There was no need for Reed to give her this item, as he had lied to protect himself.
"It doesn't matter. Shouldn't a man keep his word? It's an item I've already chosen, so please accept it."
Adonis took the perfume.
And she immediately ripped open the box.
It wasn't polite to open a gift in front of the giver, but Adonis had something she wanted to confirm enough to overlook such rudeness.
The scent that suited her.
She felt she had to confirm that scent in front of herself.
She took off her gauntlet, placed it between her legs, and sprayed the perfume on her slender wrist.
As she smelled the faintly rising scent, she responded.
"It really... seems to suit me."
She spoke with a straight face, but Reed could tell.
He could hear the joy in her voice.
***
The Capital of the Kingdom, Cohen.
Someone was anxiously wandering around.
Right now, they couldn't focus on anything else. The most important part of their grand plan had failed.
"If you keep running around like this, do you think things will be solved magically? Then world peace must have been achieved already."
Freesia taunted Morgan with a mocking voice.
Morgan responded with a disgruntled expression.
"Didn't you say that no one would find out about this?"
"Of course, I didn't expect someone to catch on.. I'm not a prophet, how was I supposed to know all that?"
"You really didn't reveal this plan to anyone else, did you?"
At that, Freesia scowled. She got up from her crooked position and approached Morgan.
"Are you doubting my abilities? You of all people?"
As soon as she finished her words, someone grabbed Morgan's throat.
A black hand was choking him.
It was a hand extending from Morgan's own shadow.
If Freesia had made up her mind, Morgan's neck would have already snapped.
Freesia's eyes glowed red like a demon emerging from hell.
"Listen, wise king. It seems like the blood isn't flowing to your head lately, making you lose your nerve. Just because you teamed up with me doesn't mean you're in a position to order me around. If anything, you should be the one apologizing to me."
"I did as I was told."
"If you did as you were told, then why did it fail? My plan was perfect. Undoubtedly, your pathetic acting ruined everything. You showed your daughter your pathetic desire to prolong your life, didn't you?"
"If you continue like this..."
"What? What are you going to do? Void the contract? I can throw away the book you gave me anytime. And the moment I discard it, I can expose the fact that you gave me the book. The wise king who bowed his head to the worst tower master, doesn't that sound funny? If it's proven true, who would stand up for you?"
No matter how much he thought about it, he was the one with more to lose.
If it became known that he was pretending to be good while clinging to a villain, he would lose everything.
That's why Morgan immediately backed down.
"I apologize. I dared to doubt your ability..."
"Don't do that next time. A dog should act like a dog, got it?"
"...Yes."
"Good."
As soon as Freesia finished speaking, the black hand around Morgan's neck returned to its original place.
"What should we do now?"
"Anyway, the ceremony has not been completed yet. Trying to rush will only lead to loss. Let's take our time and find a way to torment your daughter."
"Of course I will... but the problem is who figured out this plan. It's obvious they'll interfere again... Do you have any idea who it could be, Tower Master of the Black Sky?"
Freesia replied with a sullen face.
"I don't know. I didn't bother to think about it."
"Understood. Then I will think about it."
But Freesia already knew who had intervened.
'Reed Adeleheights Roton.'
The only man she called by name among the Tower Masters and among all the people alive.
It had to be him.
When she was causing a ruckus in the Cohen Castle under the name of Brosa, he was with her and she told him about her plan.
If the plan to harm Adonis without anyone knowing had gone awry, the most likely suspect would be him, who knew a little about the inside story.
'He figured out the trigger was the perfume, and with the help of other tower masters, he succeeded in helping...'
Freesia'smethod was clever.
Her plan to awaken mana and implant 'trigger hypnosis' in a person was hard to detect unless heard in advance.
Freesia was extremely curious as to how Reed figured it out one step ahead.
'Does that mean he knew in advance what was going to happen to Adonis Hupper?'
Is he colluding with the wise king?
What she was most curious about above all was.
'Did he do that knowing that this was a plot devised by me, Freesia?'
***
Tower of the Black Sky.
She was the second-ranked Tower Master, but the gap between her and the third-ranked was as wide as heaven and earth, and she didn't lag behind even Helios, the chairman.
If he opposed her despite knowing her identity, it would have been quite an audacious act.
If it had been her original personality, she would have set up a magic circle around the Tower of Silence and destroyed everything from the nearby village to the forest and the mountains.
She had shown her true colors to everyone who dared to oppose her.
But when it came to Reed, she simply broke into a smile.
A wicked smile that was unbelievable for a child.
'You've always been a fascinating one.'
