Wizard Earl

Chapter 473 Framing

"Mariano is dead!" The grey-robed, masked man said meaningfully, looking at Margaret praying before the statue of the Storm Goddess in a prayer room of the Maginot Church in the northern district of Langrerun.

Without immediately responding to Lenglet, Margaret devoutly finished her prayer, then turned to look at Lenglet, saying with a hint of regret, "He really was a good man..."

"Margaret, I don't have time to watch your act. Although you went to the Storm Church in the Amund district after finishing your search last night and had an alibi there all night, it's clear to you, me, and old Victor that Mariano's death is inextricably linked to you, Margaret!" the gray-robed, masked man, Lenglet, said coldly.

"Oh, really? Is that what everyone thinks?" Margaret removed her purple veil and asked Lenglet with her usual nonchalant air:

Ignoring Margaret's question, Langley continued coldly, "I really underestimated Cardinal Elena. She actually left you with such an excellent alchemist in Rune. Three hours ago, Elena found Mariano's death scene in the city of Rune. It was on Kant Street in the North District, a blind spot of the Eye of the Storm's surveillance."

"I just checked there. Your men did an excellent job. They set up a powerful alchemical trap where Mariano would have passed. Mariano, rushing home to see his children late at night, would never have imagined someone would set up such a deadly ambush for him. Mariano's death wouldn't have taken more than half a minute, and then your men erased all traces he left at the scene within a minute. The entire operation took less than two minutes. It was incredibly skillful and professional. Neither Bishop Edel nor Lady Lena will find any evidence at the scene!" As he said this, Lenglet's eyes, hidden behind his mask, seemed to hold a deeper meaning as he looked at Margaret, before he uttered his "but."

"But Margaret, you may not know this, but Mariano wasn't unprepared to deal with you. When Edel lent him to you, he secretly gave Mariano the Richard's Belt, a second-tier defensive enchanted item from the treasury. A second-tier defensive enchanted item... I doubt any wizard apprentice wouldn't be tempted by it, would they?"

"Margaret, you know very well that Richard's belt was secretly equipped with a tracking function by the Church's great alchemist Rodrigo thirty years ago. Even if it's placed in a spatial ring, the Church will still be able to find it. So Margaret, I suggest you contact your alchemist now. Maybe it's not too late..." As he spoke, a hint of smugness gradually crept into the gray-robed, masked man, Longley's voice.

"Lord Lenglet, to be honest, I don't know why you think I arranged for Mariano's murder. Do I look like someone who would murder a colleague?" Marguerite spread her hands, looking somewhat innocent as she spoke to Lenglet.

"Don't forget, I was the one who told you that the Skull and Bones assassin was a trap, and that Mariano would be your executioner!" Lenglet said impatiently as soon as Margaret finished speaking.

"What does that mean?" A half-smile appeared on Margaret's beautiful face. Seeing Margaret's expression, Longley gave her a deep look, then walked out of the prayer room. For some reason, Margaret's smile made him feel uneasy, as if he had fallen into Margaret's scheme.

As Margaret watched Langley walk out of the Maginot Church through the window, she slightly raised her slender eyebrows and then closed the door to the prayer room completely. The next second, with a "click," a woman wearing a purple veil and exuding an air of elegance and nobility emerged from the statue of the Storm Goddess that Margaret had just prayed to. It seemed that this extraordinary woman had been hiding inside the statue the whole time, having overheard Langley and Margaret's entire conversation. Moreover, Langley, a formal wizard, had not noticed the woman's presence inside the statue at all.

"I've heard of Richard's belt. What Lenglet said is true. If your collaborator really has Richard's belt, Margaret, you'd better deal with it now, or it'll be very troublesome!" The mysterious woman, her beautiful eyes behind her veil, looked at Margaret and gently advised:

"Sister, don't worry. If it were anyone else, I would have handled it right now even if you hadn't told me. But if it's that scoundrel, then it doesn't matter. With his abilities, his caution, and his wariness, he definitely won't take Richard's belt!" Margaret walked to the mysterious woman's side, took her arm, and said confidently, almost unconsciously.

"With his abilities?" Upon hearing Margaret's description, the mysterious woman seemed intrigued, emphasizing the word "abilities."

Realizing she had misspoke, Margaret blinked her big eyes but said nothing.

Seeing that Margaret didn't want to talk about it, the mysterious woman shook her head helplessly, but didn't force Margaret to talk about "his abilities".

Having successfully escaped unscathed, Margaret gave the mysterious woman a fawning smile, then changed the subject seriously, saying, "Sister, what we need to do now is to tell Edel about Lenglet's secret transfer of Kulusevsky from the Black Organization to Rune through someone else, right?"

"That's right. Kulusevski was a secret assassin trained by the Black Organization. Although Edel didn't have the authority to know anything about him, Edel had definitely heard of Kulusevski's reputation. As a senior wizard apprentice, Kulusevski successfully carried out many secret missions assigned to him by the Black Organization. At least a dozen wizards died at his hands. If he killed Mariano, then that would perfectly explain why he was so clean."

"Although we don't know what Langley is planning by secretly bringing Kulusevsky to Loen, as long as we tell Edel this news, he will definitely become suspicious. If someone else tells him that we didn't kill Mariano, he simply won't believe it. Only by making him doubt himself can we absolve ourselves of responsibility for Mariano's death!" The mysterious woman, whom Margaret called "sister," said calmly.

(End of this chapter)