While I was watching all of them, keeping my attention locked on every little movent, I didn't really gain much useful information about Moriarty. That was the annoying part. I had been watching him closely the entire ti, expecting at least sothing to slip through, even a small hint, but there was barely anything to grab onto.
He wasn't talking about his plans at all. Not even a vague ntion or a careless word. There was almost nothing, honestly, and that silence started to get under my skin more than I expected. He might be already thinking several steps ahead, and whatever he had in mind, he didn't feel the need to share it.
Still, from what little I could pick up, it looked like he was planning to give so kind of power-up to the Prince. I had no clear idea what that power actually was, and that uncertainty made things more irritating than it should have been. The way everything was set up, though, made it obvious they were preparing so kind of ritual. Sothing ant to change him into… sothing else.
Honestly, I could already piece together what they were aiming for.
So, in simple terms, they were probably trying to give him a power-up strong enough to actually deal with .
That narrowed things down quite a bit.
The only thing that ca to mind that could even co close to defeating was the Great Ones.
Well, even then, I doubted they could just casually make use of sothing like that. Sesillian needed a ridiculous level of preparation to even get close to it, and that wasn't sothing you could just replicate overnight.
Still, thinking about it more carefully, it wasn't impossible.
Moriarty might actually know a way.
After all, if I could think of a thod to summon one, then it wouldn't be strange if he had his own approach. If he was moving this confidently, then there had to be sothing backing it up.
Right now, though, he didn't seem to be in a rush. It looked like he was just biding his ti, waiting for the right mont to act. That part caught off guard a bit. I expected sothing more aggressive or sothing faster, but instead, he was taking it slow.
Not that I was complaining.
That gave more breathing room than I expected. I could move back and forth between Myrcella and here without much pressure. The situation wasn't ideal, but it wasn't suffocating either.
Honestly, it even gave enough ti to ss around a bit.
I an, I even had the ti to have a threeso with both Lilia and her last night. Thinking about it now, that was kind of ridiculous considering everything going on. Things should've been more tense and more chaotic, but instead, I sohow had ti for that. Not that I was going to complain about it.
Still, the extra ti wasn't wasted.
I learned quite a lot from the people around , especially from Claire. Her mories had been flowing into , piece by piece, and with each one, I started to understand more about her past.
She used to be a sex slave under a noble.
That alone already painted a pretty ugly picture, but it got worse the more I saw. She wasn't just treated poorly. She was exploited, abused, and used without any regard for her as a person. It went on for a long ti, longer than anyone should have to endure sothing like that.
Then, when things couldn't get any worse, they did.
She ended up being thrown away, left with nothing, and forced into becoming holess. With no support and no protection, just left to survive on her own in a world that clearly didn't care whether she lived or died.
Eventually, soone picked her up.
That should have been a turning point and sothing better, but it wasn't. Instead, she was pushed into becoming a prostitute, forced into another kind of life that wasn't any kinder to her.
It really was a cursed existence.
The kind of story you hear and think it's too much and too unfair, sothing that shouldn't happen so easily. Yet it did. And seeing it through her mories, feeling parts of it as if I had been there, made it harder to brush off than I expected.
Normally, I wouldn't care.
Compassion wasn't exactly sothing I handed out easily. But this was different. Experiencing it, even indirectly, made it feel more real than just hearing about it.
So yeah, I felt a bit sorry for her.
Just a bit.
Didn't change anything, though.
She was still my enemy.
And enemies were ant to be treated as such.
anwhile, Gaspard was staring at like I had personally offended his entire existence. The look on his face was pure disgust, like he couldn't even stand being in the sa space as .
I didn't even bother taking him seriously.
I just raised my hand, flipped him the middle finger, and gave him a smug smile. If he was expecting so kind of reaction, that was the best he was getting.
***
"So, Master? What are you planning to do?" Sara asked.
She was standing right there in my room.
Precautions were already in place.
The entire room was covered by the Guardian, sealing it off from unwanted interference. On top of that, I had layered Illusion Magic over everything, making it look like I was just talking to myself. Anyone watching from the outside would see nothing unusual. If Claire tried to phase into the room, she wouldn't find anything suspicious.
Paranoia paid off sotis.
"Well, nothing for now," I said, keeping my tone casual. "For the mont, I think I'll head back to Myrcella and help her with the arrests of the administrators."
"I see…" Sara nodded slightly. "The Princess seems to be doing fine on her own. It also feels like she already has an idea that it wasn't you who was standing next to her, but she didn't say anything about it. She seems to understand your intentions, Master."
"That sounds like her," I replied.
"Well, it is her after all," I continued. "She's smart. Maybe a bit too smart for her own good. It might not fully make sense to her yet, but she'll figure it out soon enough."
That sounded about right.
She had always been sharp. It wouldn't be surprising if she had already noticed more than she let on. The fact that she wasn't saying anything just ant she was choosing not to. That kind of silence usually ant she understood enough to not interfere.
"For now, I think it's better if I focus on figuring out a way to stop Moriarty from doing whatever he's planning," I said, thinking it through as I spoke. "Considering the vision that Hertrude saw, it would be more accurate for us to trace back what leads to that mont first before making any major moves. Acting blindly isn't going to help here."
Planning ahead was the safer option.
Even if it took more ti.
"For now, I should set everything up properly," I added.
Sara watched for a mont, then gave a small nod.
"Well, I think you're going to win, Master," she said, her voice steady, filled with confidence like it wasn't even up for debate.
I let out a quiet breath and reached out, placing my hand on her head.
I rubbed it gently, like I was petting a dog. She didn't seem to mind.
"Naturally," I said.
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