Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

She first poisoned Cod, thinking it was just dealing with a Sequence 9 and not taking it seriously, but she suffered a loss in the very first step.

Cameron never imagined that Cord was a poor art student who joined the army, whose expertise lay more in the earthy oak of love and life than in the seriousness and authority of a king. As a result, the poison didn't kill him...

Not only did she fail to kill him with the poison, but after she poisoned him and retreated, she was also targeted by Marn, and the two engaged in a fierce battle. However, the Unsheathed Blade was already among the top-tier combatants, and being a Sequence 6 on par with Marn, Marn was actually no match for her.

But she couldn't kill Marn, so she could only drag her into the deep sea in a guest room and trap her in a nightmare for a maximum of two more hours.

This was indeed a mistake in her decision-making.

If she can't kill Codd here, then she probably won't be able to kill Codd at all—that's the main task her employer gave her.

This means she won't get the bounty.

So she needs some other income now.

—For example, the ransom from the Montreal family.

The eldest daughter of the Montellima family is very capable, but her excessive arrogance and self-confidence have made her overlook the danger. She believes that as a Sequence 6, she can move freely without any obstacles, and she didn't even bring any attendants to the banquet. This is a rare opportunity.

Brigitte Montlima's confidence in not being afraid of attacks stems from her Sequence 7 prophetic abilities, which allow her to foresee danger.

But for Cameron, while the Prophet at Sequence 6 was still somewhat formidable, the Prophet at Sequence 7 was practically useless. The unpredictable and chaotic nature of the Unsheathed Blade itself severely interfered with the Prophet's ability to foresee fate, and with just a little manipulation, Brigitte would fall into her trap.

As for her Sequence 6 king...

This is indeed a bit troublesome, but as long as she can launch a surprise attack and gain the upper hand, she is confident that she can directly pull Brigitte's soul into the deep sea to imprison it and then quickly escape.

After all, that young lady wasn't a seasoned veteran like Marn.

As for the two foreigners next to her, the white-haired Sequence 7 and the Queen, who were Sequence 8... they probably wouldn't even be a match for her.

She had two hours left.

Cameron ate the last piece of beef, and his face quickly changed to resemble Chengman. He soon transformed into a gentleman dressed in a dark black suit and wearing an iris flower. As he walked out of the restaurant, he ran into the Silver Knight who came to check him.

“Marne” immediately caught the Silver Knight’s attention, and after a thorough examination, he immediately took her to the banquet hall.

Outside the banquet hall, Cameron saw Brigitte standing behind Tia in the distance, and Scarlett rushing to greet her. This "Mr. Marn Cullen" was putting on his top hat with his back, the three peacock feathers swaying slightly.

—The prey has been spotted.

Chapter 225 A Drop of Blood

Upon arriving at the banquet hall, Cameron quickly scanned several key targets.

First were the silver knights scattered throughout the banquet hall. These silver knights had an average rank of around 7, with three or four apprentices at rank 8. Fortunately, no knight commanders were transferred here.

A knight commander in a ten-man squad usually reaches Sequence 6, while a knight commander in a hundred-man squad can be given the prefix "Great" and reach Sequence 5 or even Sequence 4.

If a Knight Commander were to be transferred here, along with Brigitte at Sequence 6, she would turn and run without hesitation right now.

Fortunately.

These Silver Knights are only at Sequence 7 at their highest level, and there aren't many of them. However, it's best to avoid provoking them just to be on the safe side.

The remaining two...

Cameron, who had just transformed into "Marn Cullen," was taken away by the Silver Knight not long before his gaze fell on Furnessa Bonaparte, who was standing next to Brigitte, calming the emotions of the nobles with eloquent words.

Compared to their earlier panic, Tia quickly seized the initiative using Brigitte's name, and the nobles at the banquet all breathed a sigh of relief.

With Lady Bridget standing nearby, she can't possibly be a bad person.

Cameron stared at Tia for a moment.

"Sequence 7, the oak in the earth, the exact path is unknown, but it shouldn't be able to see through her disguise," Cameron thought.

He had only taken a few steps when Scarlett's sword came forward, interrupting Cameron's view.

Scarlett knew Marne. When Marne was arrested by Tia and taken to the Great Harbour Police Station, Scarlett was on duty outside the detention room. At that time, Marne even tried to bribe her with a high price to say a few good words for her.

Unfortunately, the policewoman was upright and incorruptible, and simply pretended not to hear.

"Mr. Marn?! You weren't in the banquet hall just now?"

Cameron, in a serious tone and with a furrowed brow, said, "I just found out what happened myself. I met up with two old friends at the restaurant and we talked about something. Has Codd been taken to the hospital yet?"

“It’s already been sent over! You don’t need to worry, Miss Bonaparte and I—Miss Bonaparte, uh, my employer. We gave Mr. Codd emergency treatment, and he should be fine now.”

Was emergency treatment administered?

Yes, that white-haired one is Sequence 7 Earth Oak. Earth Oak beings are skilled in healing and repair, and he must have been saved by Bonaparte.

Cameron felt a slight regret, but he put on a good show and let out a long sigh of relief.

"That's good! I need to see Brigitte now; I have something important to discuss with her. It's not just about the murderer; there's something much bigger. Go and arrange a private room immediately—"

Cameron glanced at the Silver Knight and instructed, "This is not something the police should know."

"Huh? Good, good."

Scarlett was a little confused, only feeling that the great inventor in front of her was a bit different.

Marn Cullen should know her!

But why does this seem like they're treating her like a waitress or servant at a banquet...?

That's a bit strange.

Scarlett was alert and had a backup plan. When Cameron turned to go upstairs, she paused back to back, then pursed her lips and quickly walked towards Tia.

At this moment.

Several nobles deliberately surrounded Tia and chatted with her, partly because they were indeed envious of the holy blood in Tia's cup, and partly because they wanted to take the opportunity to attract Brigitte's attention.

"Oh! So you are Miss Bonaparte! I've heard of your speech at the Castle District Court!"

The two nobles exclaimed in surprise, "You think this has something to do with Marn? To be honest, he's been acting quite strangely lately. He was in prison not long ago, and then suddenly he was released..."

"This is just a gut feeling. There's a gentleman and a lady, but I don't think Mr. Marn would go so far as to hire someone to commit murder. There must be a killer here, possibly an Imperial, or the Hand of Transformation. The killer uses alchemical toxins, which the Hand of Transformation is particularly skilled at, as far as I know—"

Before Tia could finish speaking, the two nobles solemnly agreed, "Now that you mention it, I understand! I also think it's either an Imperial citizen or one of those Imperial lackeys from the Hand of Transformation! Although Mr. Marn is mercenary, he's quite capable. The Imperials certainly don't want to see Marn return to the political stage under the guise of this banquet..."

“You’re right. It’s because of Iris and intelligent people like you that Iris has been able to stand strong. As for those technical officers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their vision is too narrow. We need to unite. Whether it’s yours or ours!”

"You flatter me! But you're right, we need to unite."

The two nobles were flattered.

But the nobles listening around nodded in agreement.

Tia looked around and raised her hand, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, a single log breaks easily, but a bundle of logs cannot be easily broken! We need to unite. Only by uniting can we fight against the tyranny of the Empire and defend our territory, wealth, honor, and everything else. This is true for you, and it is also true for Ansu!”

"You are the lips, and Ansu is the teeth. I have never heard of a situation where the lips disappear and the teeth remain intact. We must unite! Our unity is your unity! And now, I think that is exactly what Mr. Marne needs to do! Reclaim your honor, follow in the footsteps of King Lud, unite, and fight against foreign aggression!"

"mutual encouragement!"

Let's encourage each other! Let's encourage each other!

Clap clap. Clap clap!

All the nobles clapped along, and then some busybodies raised their glasses to toast Tia, saying things like "May you always be healthy."

These words truly resonated with them.

Ultimately, these nobles lacked a sense of security. They wanted legitimacy, a recognized status, and to regain their approval. Yet, they were timid and dared not rebel or confront the Alchemy Society head-on.

The shift in focus was a great success.

Tia had no idea who the murderer was, but she could just shift the blame and that would be the end of it. In the meantime, she could also promote a friendly alliance between Iris and Ansu, and do Ms. Bernice a favor.

Everything will have to wait until Marn arrives.

This is rare good news right now; Marn has actually been found.

She hadn't been chatting with the nobles for long when Scarlett rushed over and whispered, "Miss Bonaparte, Marne has arrived."

"Could you say something over there?"

Tia understood Scarlett's implied meaning, gave the noblewoman a hand kiss as a farewell gesture, and then followed Scarlett to a secluded spot under a pillar.

She wasn't surprised at all by the accident and asked, "Something went wrong? What happened? Is Marn injured or cursed?"

Scarlett said worriedly, "No, it wasn't. I was following behind Mr. Marn and used a Sequence 9 ability."

Tia found it a bit strange and didn't understand.

Scarlett follows the King's Legislator branch. Sequence 9's extraordinary ability is enhanced perception of vulnerabilities in one's surroundings when entrusting one's back to a trusted person. This enhancement is subtle, but the requirements are low. To significantly amplify this perception, one needs a partner to whom one can "completely entrust one's life."

However, if you only want to improve it a little bit, as long as you can barely entrust someone with your trust, that will be fine.

But when she and Marn were back to back, there was no increase whatsoever.

After Scarlett reported the truth, Tia glanced at the private room Scarlett had mentioned upstairs, lost in thought.

However, instead of immediately devising a countermeasure as Scarlett had expected, or immediately ordering Inspector Richard to mobilize the Silver Knights to capture Marne, Tia leaned on her cane and looked at Bridget for a while.

Was this something you expected, Brigitte?!

Scarlett was momentarily bewildered: Sir! How can you still have time to look at pretty girls at a time like this!

To be honest, Scarlett didn't know what to do either.

Whether Mr. Marn was possessed by a demon or controlled by someone, Marn, a Sequence 6, was clearly not someone that the few Silver Knights present could easily subdue.

Bridget is somewhat interesting, but she's a rich girl, and Scarlett is worried about whether she'll actually make a move.

If this were in New Orleans, she would be begging Bishop Marshall to take action.

Unfortunately, it's an iris.

Tia, on the other hand, was not as pessimistic as Scarlett; instead, her feelings were complex.

Using poison, assassination, disguise, and stirring up chaos, that must be the work of an extraordinary being with an unsheathed blade.

This is quite subtle.

Her doll is indeed a bit of a double-edged sword; all she can use are the few inscribed rituals, but ironically, she's not really afraid of unsheathed blades...

Because the unsheathed blade deals pure physical damage, at most it can inflict poison, add burning, or at most increase electric shock damage...

However, this doll is made of processed sacred wood, making it immune to toxins, electric shocks, and highly resistant to burning.

What other methods does the unsheathed blade have left to use?

That means it can only be combined with the ouroboros, whose symbolism of corruption, the deep sea, and the chaos and disorder of the unsheathed blade are somewhat similar. Therefore, superhumans with unsheathed blades can usually easily master the rituals of falling into nightmares and accelerating deep dives.

But her actual body is still submerged at 40k meters underwater...

She was plunged into a nightmare and went straight back to her hometown.

As Scarlett was feeling dejected, two elven figures were leaping across the curtain behind Tia.

Tia directed, "Scarlett, call Bridget up with me, come upstairs."

.......................

.......................

Upstairs in the private room, Brigitte didn't go up immediately, but Cameron's spirituality gave her a subtle warning.

This could be because Brigitte is about to mobilize manpower, such as the recently appointed knight commander of her district. It could also be that Marn is breaking through her nightmare faster than she expected.

Even her disguise might have been exposed.

But the last one is unlikely, since there is no Sequence 6 on site, so it should be impossible to break her ritual.

However, Cameron wasn't too nervous.

She was extremely confident in herself; even if she were in danger, she could at least escape! Let alone the Knight Commander or Marn, even if a proper Grand Knight Commander came, she was confident she could run away!

That is the skill she is famous for—a silky combo composed of the extraordinary traits she gained from four promotions.

You can mark the enemy's true form the instant you stab them in the body with a dagger, then trap them in a nightmare woven from spider webs, hunt their soul within the spider web nightmare, and escape as a spirit when you fail to hunt or are on the verge of death.

So she doesn't even need to win.

All it takes is a single drop of blood from Brigitte.

Chapter 226 The Shadow of Escape

Cameron was getting impatient. When he left the box, he saw the white-haired Furness downstairs chatting with Brigitte, and he couldn't help but frown.

That little white-haired dwarf is really getting in the way...