"You are very honest, Her Majesty Maria."
It was different from what Maria imagined.
Annan heard her words, but there was no panic or fear on his face.
He just nodded slowly with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"That's it."
He murmured in a low voice, with a focused look on his face: "You think so..."
Saying that, Annan raised his head.
He asked Maria seriously: "May I ask, Your Highness... When did you come up with such an idea?"
Maria glanced at Annan suspiciously.
She was silent for a while, thinking about something in her heart.
And Annan just spoke slowly, with a gentle and friendly tone: "You don't have to be too nervous.
"You know, I have sealed my spellcasting ability. Everyone has seen this."
Annan stood in Maria's perspective and seriously helped her think: "According to the normal direction of thinking, even if I am really a murderer, I will definitely not be suspected at the beginning. So, Your Highness—please Think about it carefully, where does your distrust of me come from?"
His words are full of honesty to help others.
His purpose is obviously to help the other party find out who or what is bothering them, and to help the other party solve their worries... When Annan is actually helping her, Maria can hardly refuse Annan's kindness.
From the very beginning, Annan found out.
Perhaps because of the talent "Heart of Winter", Maria's personality flaws are very obvious.
She is guilty, but also afraid, angry, and nervous. It's like the opposite of Annan... Like a puppet, it's extremely easy to manipulate.
Even with Merlin's protection, facing the current chaotic situation, she must be confused and restless.
At this moment, Maria was losing her temper rather than seriously analyzing it. Vent the fear in your heart and turn the invisible hunter into a tangible enemy.
It was perfectly normal for her to be wary of Annan. The Reaper of Souls restrains the Heart of Winter too much... Maybe this is the meaning of the Hand of Winter. It is to counter these soul-reaping wizards.
Annan had already guessed this point from the very beginning.
But the problem is that Annan has given up his ability to cast spells. Even in everyone's opinion, he gave up his spellcasting ability because of Maria's words.
And Maria Lindong did feel a little guilty towards Annan.
so-
"... Are you saying that my thinking may be influenced by others?"
Maria immediately recognized Annan's subtext.
She thought for a moment, and soon realized the problem:
"It's not impossible..."
As if because she misunderstood Annan's guilt, her tone softened inexplicably.
Because she knew that what "Gerald" said was indeed reasonable.
Logically speaking, Gerald had already sealed his ability to cast spells. Whoever killed Master Michelangelo, and whoever killed Melvin, was unlikely to be Gerald.
So Maria paused, and still whispered the answer in her heart: "Yes... at the very beginning."
"very beginning?"
Annan asked with some doubts.
He really didn't expect this answer.
...Although Gerald is not good-looking, it is not enough to attract hatred, right
"It's the eyes, Mr. Gerald."
Maria replied seriously: "I see in your eyes the purity of a child, the indifference of an elder, and the well-hidden arrogance."
"... eyes."
Annan smacked his mouth, feeling a toothache.
Does Maria believe this
Speaking of eyes, this is metaphysics.
Even Annan judged a person's psychology from various aspects such as subtle expressions, words, movements, clothing and recent actions. What you can see with your eyes is more of what you think you can see...
But surprisingly, Maria seemed to be quite accurate.
And what she saw didn't seem to be Gerald, but Annan who was temporarily entrusted in his body.
"I have a proposal."
Suddenly, Ghirlandaio said, "Why don't the four of us set up a spell here?"
"What content?"
Maria asked immediately.
"[Until the end of this incident, the four people present cannot attack each other], how about using this spell to form a temporary alliance?"
Ghirlandaio asked.
This proposal obviously surprised the other three.
This means... Even if the murderer is really among the four of them, none of them can do anything to him. They can only help the murderer kill others, complete the inheritance ceremony, or watch others attack the murderer with a cold eye.
Unless one of the remaining three is the murderer.
Simply put, Ghirlandaio's proposal is to bring the situation back to the "one-on-one battle" situation.
Originally, after learning that the murderer might not have killed anyone yet, the situation has come to a stalemate.
But after Melvin's death, this balanced situation was broken again.
Annan understood what he meant.
- This is the way to win.
Unlike the previous situation, there are only seven of them now.
As long as four people form a team, the result is the same whether the murderer of Michelangelo is inside or outside the team. They must win.
What Ghirlandaio's proposal really means is...
— If anyone here does not agree to form a team, he will die.
Because they can go to someone else.
As long as there are enough four people, that is the "majority". Then the minority side has no power to fight back.
Not everyone in the team can survive.
But those outside the team are bound to die.
"—Then we agree to team up."
"I agree."
"Me too."
The other three people present quickly reacted, agreed immediately, and immediately drew up the spell:
"Here we place a spell—"
They chanted in unison: "Until the end of this incident, the four present cannot attack each other."
As their words fell, strange traces flashed in the air.
The power of the [Oath] entangled their hearts.
If this bondage is violated, the curse breaks within the body.
Seeing that everyone had indeed cast the curse, the four of them breathed a sigh of relief.
After a short silence, Maria was the first to speak, and said in a cold and childish voice: "Actually, I didn't intend to inherit the position of Tower Master.
"The Tower Master cannot easily leave the Wizard Tower... This is very troublesome for me. My eldest brother cannot inherit the position of Grand Duke, and I must protect my younger brother Annan."
When Annan heard this, his heart moved.
He roughly realized it.
There may be some kind of "only tell the truth" or "say what comes to mind" curse on Maria.
She is chatty and a little abnormal.
So Annan showed doubts, pretended not to be aware of this, and asked tentatively: "Speaking of which, what's wrong with the Grand Duke's eldest son? Well, I'm sorry, if this is inconvenient to say..."
"It's nothing inconvenient to say, almost even the common people in the Principality know about it."
Maria smiled self-deprecatingly.
There are still dark clouds in her eyebrows that have never dissipated.
She said softly: "Because big brother started two years ago...
"It's already infertile."