Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 199 Audrey's Plan
"So, you got into trouble again this time when you went out?"

Vinata said helplessly as she took the blood-stained petticoat that Adele had changed into the wooden basin.

"I guess so... But why do you use such a casual tone?"

Adele asked instinctively. Her legs were stained with blood just now, and a thin layer of ice formed on her stockings on the way back, making her very uncomfortable. Now she was complaining about taking off her thick knee-high stockings.

"You came back too late. Sophie went to bed first." Venata did not continue to dwell on this issue, but poured hot water into the basin to wash the clothes. Because the clothes were stained with blood, she could not just throw them to the hotel's laundry lady, so she had to choose to do it herself.

"When you were out just now, the hotel waiter came to deliver today's evening newspapers, including the Jianhai News, the Indo Evening News, and the Feysac Post."

Vinata pointed to some newspapers spread out on the table, and it looked like she was reading the news before Adele came in.

"There should be some news that you are interested in. The youngest daughter of Earl Hall announced that she would be officially responsible for the economic recovery plan of Jianhai County, and designated Miss Adele Searcy's 'Queen Island Shipping and Mineral Co., Ltd.' as the designated partner for maritime transportation. When we return to Constance, we will probably face scrutiny from various forces."

"Really? It's a lot faster than I thought."

Upon hearing this, Adele picked up the Jianhai News and turned to the page that reported international news.

In the center of the newspaper was a huge black-and-white photo that took up half of the page. In the photo, Miss Hall, wearing a black dress, stood in the center of the dance floor with her hands folded in front of her, as if she was making an important speech. The light behind her drew a silhouette like a knight's cloak, giving Adele a hard and sharp feeling.

She feels a little different from the one I saw... Adele was a little confused, and felt that there was a slight deviation in the image of Miss Audrey.

Previously, in Baron Syndras's mansion, Adele had heard descriptions of Miss Audrey as beautiful, well-educated, and the most beautiful gem in Backlund. When she first saw the face of the demigod, she felt that her appearance was in no way inferior to that of Gagran, who had the bonus of the witch's potion.

But Miss Hall in this photo is more like diamond or obsidian than amber or fluorite: calm and sharp. She is more like a knight conquering the world than a witch who uses her beauty to bring disaster to the world.

With a suspicious mood, Adele moved her eyes downwards, and a line of bold black headlines came into view:

"The hope of revitalizing Jianhai County or a stopgap measure for the nobles? Backlund's shining gem will arrive in Constance soon!"

How dare he say that... Is the editor-in-chief of this newspaper a Storm Lord believer of Feysac descent? How dare he publish such an article? This is only for Miss Audrey. If it was Baron Sindras, the guy who wrote the article would have been humanely destroyed, right?
Adele sighed as she continued reading the report, which contained some pointed opinions.

The report stated that on the evening of December 12st, Backlund time, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Eastchester stated at the New Year's banquet that she would go to Jianhai County as a representative of the Loen Kingdom's Jianhai Revitalization Plan to conduct a few months of inspection activities, replacing her annual plan to go to Eastchester for vacation.

At the same time, Miss Hall pointed out that the main purpose of this plan was to restore the inter-ocean shipping trade between Feysac and Loen, so as to make up for the damage caused by the war, and hoped that the relationship between the two countries would be normalized as soon as possible.

"… To this end, we will unite everything that can be united and develop everything that can be developed, thereby promoting economic recovery in the Strait of Malacca and thus promoting the normalization of relations between the two countries."

The article ended its record of news facts with a speech by Miss Hall, and then changed the subject to the author's views on the matter.

"It is true that the prospects described by Miss Hall are quite attractive. I believe that everyone hopes that the Middle Sea region can get rid of the depression brought about by the war and restore its pre-war prosperity. However, it is difficult to convince people of the real motive of the untainted Miss Hall as a representative to promote a policy that is not urgent at the moment."

"The church and the kingdom have yet to give a definitive answer to the truth behind Backlund's recent disaster. Perhaps they were used to putting the blame on the 'northern barbarians' in their eyes, but now that tactic has failed, the government and the people are at a loss and can only divert attention by introducing irrelevant things."

"In this case, I'm afraid that the Jianhai Revitalization Plan is only a stopgap measure. I'm afraid that within a few months, this matter will be left unresolved. In addition, as of the time of this newspaper's publication, the Earl of Eastchester has not yet expressed his opinion on Miss Hall's actions."

What a spicy news report... But, with Miss Justice's planning ability, how could there be such an obvious and unified voice of opposition?
Adele flipped through the other two newspapers curiously and found that except for the Feysac Post, which had not yet recorded this matter, the Indo Evening News also had a similar attitude.

In addition, since the latter was compiled entirely by Feysac locals, the article was interspersed with many rather indecent Feysac swear words, which made her frown.

What is Miss Justice going to do...wait, something seems wrong?

Adele originally wanted to wait until the next Tarot Club to ask Miss Justice, but she suddenly thought of something: since such an oversight would be impossible given the audience's planning ability, is there a possibility that the news was released with Miss Audrey's tacit consent?

If you think about it carefully, although those news reports were very vicious and the words used were even quite vulgar and unbearable to hear, they all seemed to be linking this matter with Backlund's Fall of the Angel, and trying their best to describe the Jianhai County Revitalization Plan as a cover-up, which is a possibility that ordinary people would hardly think of on their own.

"If this was really arranged by Miss Audrey, then her intention was to use these descriptions that are close to the lower-class civilians to stir up the emotions of ordinary people and put the kingdom on the spot. If something unexpected really happened with this plan, then it would mean that the Jianhai County plan was a product of the kingdom's attempt to cover up the truth, and further lead to the conclusion that someone in the kingdom had created a similar accident..."

Adele thought about it carefully and felt more and more that these opinions were spread by Miss Audrey.

After all, the kingdom did have a history of "Prince Edsak colluding with a cult organization to carry out terrorist attacks". Now it happened again. Even if his company really had the background of the Spiritual Knowledge Society, the kingdom and the official extraordinary people would not dare to touch him, because that would arouse strong dissatisfaction among the people!
(End of this chapter)