Hvin Rambis had just been killed, and the Loen royal family immediately threw out such a "clumsy" excuse? Do the Augustuses take the Church for fools?

Klein was first taken aback, but quickly came to his senses and asked with a furrowed brow: "How does the Church plan to respond?"

Lady Arianna answered calmly: "The Church will accept the royal family’s explanation."

Hearing this, Klein felt his heart sink involuntarily.

He had already guessed that George III’s earlier actions had been a form of probing the Church through "Hvin," and the Church’s response seemed to tacitly acknowledge the very thing the other party had been trying to probe for.

Seeing him fall silent, Lady Arianna offered no further explanation, and instead said: "You need not worry too much about the matter of Zaratul. He was unable to observe too much of what happened here... On the contrary, it is Amon’s avatar outside — although He left quickly, He still managed to ’analyze’ a portion of the secrets."

As for Amon’s arrival, Klein had known about it long in advance, and trusted that Ebner would keep things within "safe" bounds — this was also the result of his divination, so though his expression was grave, he was not particularly tense inwardly.

And so he gave a nod, then turned his gaze toward "Hvin’s" body, thinking about how to handle it.

Seeing this, Arianna glanced at Klein and said in a composed tone:

"Do not use him as a Marionette.

"Before his mental imprint is removed, it is best not to use his Beyonder characteristic to craft items either."

Of course — I have no desire to have Zaratul, or even Adam, come knocking at my door... Klein nodded sincerely:

"I will keep that in mind. Thank you, Lady Arianna."

After expressing his thanks, Klein immediately relinquished control of Hvin Rambis, making it impossible for him to maintain his Marionette state any longer.

And so this Demigod of the "Spectator" pathway collapsed to the ground with a thud and became a corpse.

Arianna lowered her gaze to look at him for a moment, the dark depths of her eyes growing even more profound.

Hvin Rambis’s body immediately began to fade like a pencil drawing being erased inch by inch with a rubber, and then, little by little, a glimmer of radiance seeped out from the void, rapidly gathering together to form a peculiar object.

It was roughly the size of a fist, shaped much like a heart on the outside, yet its surface was covered in ash-grey folds, resembling an altogether different kind of brain. Across every fold, countless symbolic markings and strange patterns layered and extended, penetrating into the surrounding environment and connecting to a world that Beyonders of other pathways would find difficult to perceive.

This was the Beyonder characteristic left behind by the "Manipulator."

Lady Arianna has rapidly extracted Hvin Rambis’s Beyonder characteristic through a process of concealment and reverse concealment... Klein was stunned for a second before the realization dawned on him.

At this moment, Arianna said with a calm expression:

"The mental imprints inside have all been cleared."

"Thank you, Lady Arianna." Klein showed not the slightest surprise, bowing as though he had long since prepared for this.

His decision to relinquish control of the Marionette so decisively had been precisely because he had foreseen that something like this would happen next.

Arianna gave a slight nod, and then her figure was swiftly erased, disappearing into the abnormally vast darkness of the red moon-lit garden.

The hidden world dissolved along with her departure, as the great red moon and the pitch-black night sky faded one after another, vanishing inch by inch.

Then Klein saw Audrey, who had just been hiding to one side, walk over with quick steps.

Her eyes shone with unmistakable joy, and the corners of her mouth curved upward involuntarily.

But Klein, with Miss "Temperance" possessing him, simply gave her a nod, and then his figure was abruptly engulfed in crimson flames.

By the time the flames died away, Gehrman Sparrow and all of his Marionettes had vanished without a trace.

Audrey stood in a daze for a few seconds, then realized this was not a place for conversation, and withdrew her gaze with a pensive look.

...

Inside Sodela Palace, George III was attentively listening to the report delivered by the Earl of the Palace.

After the earl finished his report and withdrew with a bow, the king turned to the current Duke of Southwell, who had remained inside the palace, and said with a smile: "It seems the Church is no longer as strict about what we intend to do as they were before."

"It should be that several of the archbishops have guessed at the deity’s stance... And moreover, they all know, to varying degrees, just how important a ’Black Emperor’ is to this world." The Duke of Southwell gave a nod and replied with a smile.

"Ha — being able to determine the Church’s bottom line and attitude, Hvin didn’t die entirely in vain... It’s just a shame about Josenna..." Not a trace of regret showed on George III’s face, but a flicker of genuine wistfulness appeared only when he mentioned "Josenna." "According to your great-grandfather’s observations, she was ’captured’ by Amon?"

"Yes, Your Majesty... Amon may have obtained quite a bit of intelligence from our side through that Demoness." The Duke of Southwell said gravely.

Evidently, an Angel King was an opponent worthy of the entire Augustus family’s serious attention.

"It doesn’t matter — everything Josenna knew was what I deliberately allowed her to know... Though I must admit it was beyond my expectations that Amon would actually choose to join forces with the Church of the Evernight’s hidden agent..." George III let out a short laugh and continued: "That is to say, before I truly succeed, the enemies I will need to face should be none other than the Church’s covert forces — the likes of Gehrman — and this Amon who intends to make use of my ritual to advance?"

"Beyonders like Gehrman Sparrow who are secretly cultivated by the Church are at most Demigods — without the Church’s open forces to rely upon, they are not sufficient to be a match for us, and at most can stir up a bit of trouble...

"Our true enemy, as things currently stand, is only one... And that is Amon!" The Duke of Southwell said in a grave tone.

"When it comes to dealing with Amon, we also have allies... And our ancestors have means of dealing with Him as well..." George III said softly, and then disclosed nothing further, shifting instead to ask: "Did anything unusual occur in Viscount Bryan’s Beldan domain today?"

The Duke of Southwell was caught off guard by the question, unable to understand why His Majesty would bring this up, but he quickly collected himself and shook his head: "I am not aware of anything, Your Majesty..."

"If you haven’t heard of anything, then nothing happened... It seems the ’Saintess of Purple’ has failed!" George III reflected for a moment, then smiled: "Fortunately, I took no part in her plan — it was all ’Hvin’ and ’Josenna’s’ scheme... And moreover, this entire incident amounted to me proactively delivering ’Hvin’ into his hands, which can be considered a gesture of goodwill on my part...

"I trust that our ’Viscount Bryan’ will certainly understand my meaning."

Toward Ebner, George III still adopted an attitude of trying to win him over. This was not merely because of his close relationship with Alvin Abraham — more importantly, this viscount had the ability to influence the attitudes of two True Gods.

And since the two sides had no conflict of interests, nor any particularly deep enmity, George III had no desire to make an enemy of such a person.

...

(End of Chapter)