"A butler?" Lola repeated, confused. "Nathalie Zorken’s butler?"
Atlas nodded, explaining to her who this butler was that Zoren had ntioned. From what Zoren said during their short call, he had visited Jonathan — soone connected to the Bennet and Pierson families — who had once been part of the Order.
Or rather, Jonathan had been part of the forces Nathalie Zorken had built a long ti ago.
"And this butler... is just like us, you say?" she asked again, and he nodded.
"During that ti, when we were dealing with Nathalie, we always thought Nathalie herself was living her second life," he explained patiently. "Everything pointed to that. Then Zoren found out it wasn’t Nathalie who rembered her previous life. It was the butler — the one who had always been by her side — who rembered the past."
Atlas paused, eyes on Lola. "Because of that, we managed to get the upper hand. Otherwise, I don’t think we would’ve survived Nathalie back then."
From Atlas’s explanation, had Nathalie been the one who rembered her first life, Atlas wouldn’t have gained access to the Order.
That was because in the first life, Zoren — Penny’s husband — managed to take down Nathalie when her forces were still weak. Although her network was wide, Zoren had the upper hand with the Phantom Circle. Yes, the sa Phantom Circle that now served Atlas, because Zoren had completely stepped away from the underground world for the sake of his wife and the family they wanted to build.
Atlas took them in solely because he didn’t trust the Order at first.
Although the Phantom Circle had expanded with a mix of its original mbers and a selected few from the Order, their sole purpose was to stay in Atlas’s shadow. Hence, they weren’t openly part of the Order most of the ti. Or rather, they could be in the manor, but no one would know they were part of the Phantom Circle.
That was the level of secrecy Atlas had imposed. Only mbers of the Phantom Circle knew who belonged to it — and even then, they still didn’t know everyone in the Circle.
In other words, only Atlas — not even Allen — knew the exact number and identities of the Phantom Circle.
But if Nathalie had awakened with mories of the first tiline — or rembered it midway through her life — it would have been catastrophic. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Zoren might never even have been born.
"But if the butler rembered his previous life, doesn’t that an he could’ve warned her about the disaster that could fall on her shoulders?" She tilted her head before realization dawned. "Oh... he didn’t get reborn with his mories from the start, huh?"
"That’s the only explanation we could co up with," Atlas answered. "Otherwise, things would’ve been different. Nathalie Zorken could’ve eliminated her father before he announced his heir to avoid a massive tragedy. If not, she might’ve poisoned her sisters before they posed a threat."
"Worst-case scenario, if she failed early damage control, she could’ve claid the Order before Zoren did... or before I did," Atlas remarked. "The only reason she didn’t was that she had no mories of the past — and in the first tiline, Nathalie Zorken didn’t disclose everything to her butler."
Lola’s mouth fell open as she slowly nodded, seeing the full picture. "So you’re saying... the butler didn’t know how to claim the Order?"
"That’s right." Atlas nodded. "Zoren did, and he told . So here I am today."
"So now, this Jonathan guy ntioned the butler to Zoren?" she clarified, and he nodded again. "And that we should look into him because many of Nathalie’s decisions were influenced by him?"
"Yes."
Atlas cleared his throat and pulled out his phone, typing sothing. "I’m letting Henrik know about this."
"Wait." Lola reached out to stop him, waiting until he looked at her again. "Baby, I don’t question your decisions. I’m just asking... can we really trust that guy?"
"I don’t trust him."
"Then why are you telling him?"
"Because I want to trust him," he blinked. "At least in this situation, I want to gamble."
They held each other’s gaze until Lola pressed her lips into a thin line. Slowly, she removed her hand and nodded.
"Alright," she muttered, eyes still on him. "Let’s gamble on him then."
Atlas smiled faintly. "We’ll still conduct our own investigation and look into this butler. However, I want to test how far I can trust Henrik Bellemonte."
Right now, their trust was only surface-level. Atlas had helped Henrik and taken over Ravah, and Henrik had returned the favor by sending aid. Now, Henrik had asked Atlas to keep his son safe until the House of Bellemonte stabilized.
But people’s hearts change — sothing Atlas never forgot. Henrik claid to care deeply for his son from his forr lover, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that changed. True or not, Henrik also had to admit that protecting his son might partly be to spite his wife — at least, that’s how it looked to Atlas.
With that, Atlas sent the information to Henrik and asked him to look into the butler.
As he did, the cabin door creaked open again. Lola turned and saw Slater walk in.
"Why are you still here?" Slater asked. "Henrik already left earlier. I saw him ride the sa boat he ca in on."
Lola shrugged and jerked her chin toward her husband, explaining the current developnt of their investigation. While she was at it, she also ntioned Henrik’s conclusion about the Church’s plan to abolish the Secret Society.
*****
anwhile...
Henrik rode the boat, holding the black plastic bag given to him by the man he hired to take him there. Opening it, he pulled out what was inside.
"Hah," he let out a short laugh as he stared at the small phone, which didn’t look like a modern smartphone. "Well, I guess we’ll need this."
Just as he was about to pocket it, the small screen lit up. Seeing the ssage, his brows slowly drew together.
"Nathalie’s butler?" he whispered, tilting his head. "Did he not know? I thought he already knew since he never asked about him."
But just as Henrik was about to type a response, a loud thud echoed on the small boat. He looked up instinctively, the boat swaying sideways, his eyes widening at the sight of the man he hired slumped over, blood spreading beneath him.
He clenched his teeth and cursed, "Damn!" — just before a rain of bullets flew in his direction.
Reviews
All reviews (0)