"No—this still exposed a bit of intention after all." Isabella's heart tightened;
she realized she had been too hasty. This imdiate move to inspect the grid revealed her distrust of the old priest. It was sothing she would not have done before. If the old priest truly was the mastermind behind everything, then her distrust would beco a thread that could make the old priest suspicious. Fortunately, the old priest still wore that sa gentle old-man deanor and told Isabella to go ring the bell hanging above the church. The clanging sound drew most of the villagers' attention. The church bell rarely rang unless there was a funeral or a major announcent. So the people naturally gathered toward the church. As news spread that there might be witches and Whale Transformation Disease patients in the village, many villagers began to panic. However, with Nais stepping forward to direct the village guards and so strong villagers to search the area in an orderly fashion, even though nothing was found, people's nerves cald a bit.
On the other side, Isabella moved with the search party, but she deliberately deviated from their route and headed toward another prearranged eting point. There she t Jacques. They had already agreed that, during the day, if anything unusual happened they would et here. "Why are so many people suddenly searching around the village? Did sothing happen?" Jacques asked, anxious. "Jacques, listen to first—make sure you calm down." Isabella told him to steady himself. Only after Jacques cald did she lay out her suspicions and the signs she had noticed. "Impossible!" Jacques instantly exploded. One of the main reasons he had decided to delay his return to Wavetail Town was to co here and take revenge on Nais, to wash away his humiliation. Now he was being told that Nais might very well be innocent, and that the one he had always respected—the old priest—might be the problem? After his outburst, Jacques quickly regained composure and began to consider the possibilities Isabella had presented.
"I still don't want to believe it. The family has so files on the old priest. The old priest used to have a very good relationship with the Dartmanley family. When they learned I was coming here, the family told to obey the old priest." "A man like that wouldn't—" "The likelihood that the old priest is involved has just gone up," Isabella interrupted;
she didn't wear any rose-colored glasses about the Dartmanley family. She didn't assu sothing was good just because the family said so. "Don't forget, Nael reported the family's illegal bloodline experints and was exiled here!" "The old priest exiled himself because of bloodline experints, too." "From the tiline, the Dartmanley family's bloodline experints could very well be a continuation of the old priest's experints..." "Nael is very likely an experintal subject," Isabella concluded calmly. "The old priest has spent decades here and never let go of the failed experints;
he's been quietly pushing the research forward." "Those experints were most likely still illegal, so the old priest couldn't openly obtain resources. That's why he sheltered Op." "Op sold whalehide ore, and most of the profits might have been turned into experintal materials and funneled into the old priest's hands." Given the current situation, this was the only reasonable explanation. Nael, an exiled holy knight, honestly didn't need to smuggle whalehide ore. After all, holy knights at most use so life-supplenting dicines, which cost money, but their consumption level is even behind wealthy ladies and young misses. Sustained illegal profits for a long ti usually support either a large organization or experintal research.
Jacques' face turned ashen as he stood there, tightly furrowing his brow, seemingly turning Isabella's theory over and over in his head. If he could, he felt like crying. His emotions told him this was all false—Nais' provocation and division;
everything here was the doing of Nais' family's traitor. But his reason told him it could be true. As his filter cracked, more disturbing mories surfaced. He realized his status within the family had been different since childhood. Although his parents died early, the family had always taken care of him;
when he fought with peers, the family usually backed him. That preferential treatnt even sparked jealousy in so. Jacques had often been proud—that was the Dartmanley family way. But looking back now without the filter, it felt strange. Also, when he first ca to Beiqi Village this ti, the householder had summoned him and scrutinized him for a long ti before letting him co, warning him to obey the old priest and not to disgrace the Dartmanley family's honor. Now he saw it more like a "shipnt"—presenting a finished product that had been developed for a long ti and asking him to perform well. The more Jacques thought about it, the more terrified he beca. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novᴇlfire
"No, I have to ask Nael! I have to find out what the family's illegal bloodline experints really were!" Jacques' unease flared up again. He had once thought Nael had betrayed the family purely out of selfishness. Most families conduct bloodline experints;
it's normal—like discussing eugenics—everyone wants their bloodline to improve. Occasional violations happen. So he had labeled Nael a traitor who complained after being satiated. But now, thinking it through, questions erged: if those experints were rely minor violations, why had the Dartmanley family been forced to move from their family center in Breathspring City to Wavetail Town in recent years? That didn't look like a trivial infraction. It's like what he's doing now—delaying his return to Wavetail Town would be a violation, but he believed the Dartmanley family would shield him from severe punishnt.
"Don't act rashly. If you rush back now, you'll only make us more passive. Everything we've set up will vanish in an instant." Isabella continued to urge Jacques to hold back. Even if their enemy might no longer be Nais, the overt and covert arrangents were not useless. Luckily, after being thoroughly beaten by Nais, Jacques still had impulses but no longer lost all self-control. At least now he could calm himself enough to think. "I'll contact Nael for you. It seems he might know sothing." "And Jacques, you have another task," Isabella said, pausing slightly. The situation had already far exceeded their initial understanding, and even Isabella found herself hesitating. Were they really going to continue ddling in this matter?
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