He changed Tiwat

"Thank you all for coming today, and you are welcome to come again tomorrow to watch 'Linnie and Lynette's Magic Show'!"

Although Lynette only seemed to help Linnie perform a "transformation" magic trick at the very beginning of her appearance and didn't seem to appear on stage much afterward, many of the magic tricks Linnie performed today would not have been possible without Lynette's assistance.

From a certain perspective, being a "magic assistant" is a contradictory profession.

The cheers and applause on stage belong to the magician, the star of the show; the flowers and fame offstage never seem to favor the magician's assistant. Yet, a brilliant performance is inseparable from the cooperation of the assistant.

As the person closest to the magician on stage, the assistant knows all the magician's secrets. In dangerous performances, the assistant's every move is related to the magician's life or death.

The magician and his assistant on stage are like two-sided mirrors: one side faces the light, attracting the audience's attention; the other side faces the darkness, performing the tricks behind the scenes. The two sides alternate, changing unpredictably.

Training a good magic assistant takes a lot of effort. For them to work together seamlessly, the assistant's own magic skills must be almost as good as the magician's. But with such skills, why would they be content to remain subordinate to someone else?

Therefore, most assistants who started as apprentices will start their own businesses after they have mastered their skills, and will not be content to remain assistants forever.

Among magicians in Fontainebleau, there is a saying: "Teach your apprentice and you'll starve." In order to keep their assistants, most magicians always "hold back" when teaching their apprentices.

However, Linnie didn't have this concern. He and Linette were not only biological siblings, but also fellow students under the same teacher, Cesar. The two not only relied on each other in life, but also served as excellent partners in magic performances, learning from and encouraging each other. It can be said that without Linette, Linnie would not have achieved his current success.

Linni wanted more than anyone else for Linette to be able to start her own business and become a rising star in the Fontaine magic scene—in fact, most of the astute people and celebrities in the Fontaine entertainment industry shared the same view as Linni, and Linette's commercial potential even far exceeded that of Linni.

Just think about it: cat ears, beautiful girls, magicians... just these gimmicks alone are enough to grab everyone's attention.

Linnie was certain that Lynette would become an even more dazzling star than him!

...if Lynette is willing to show her face in public.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to persuade her, Lynette was unwilling to start her own business... She didn't even have the interest to show her face to the audience after the performance.

For this reason, Linnie insisted on bringing his sister on stage—he always felt that if his sister could experience the joy of a successful performance, maybe she would be willing to become a magician? Only when the two siblings collaborated on stage as magicians could it truly be called "Linnie and Linette's Magic Show."

Well, just looking at Lynette's poker face tells me she only finds it troublesome...

In any case, the "Traveling Magic Troupe's" performance was clearly a resounding success.

Many audience members remained immersed in the atmosphere of the performance, reluctant to leave even after Linni had announced the end of the show.

In a secluded corner, unnoticed by anyone, the foolish diplomat couple, Mikhail and Lyudmila, were also savoring the wonderful performance.

"How romantic, how touching... Waaah, I'm so envious... I wish I could perform on stage like Yura... Hey, shall we buy VIP tickets for tomorrow too?"

"It's a pity, but I must tell you honestly, dear Lyudmila, if you want to make the rest of your vacation more fulfilling, we'd better not spend our precious salary surplus on VIP tickets..."

“…Mikhail, I’m starting to doubt whether you’re qualified to be my ‘sun’.”

"I don't know if I can become the sun, but Lyudmila, you still have a chance to advance to become a 'girl'... Then I'll have to call you 'girl' lady!"

"Mikhail, do you know that your joke makes me feel cold even when I'm standing in the sun..."

"Then let me hold you tight and give you the warmth of the sun!"

"Get away...no, don't do this...uh, what if someone sees us..."

Just as the Fools were about to make some intimate contact in the darkness of the theater, a cough interrupted their further actions.

A middle-aged aristocrat, appearing quite out of place, plopped down next to them.

"I hope you haven't forgotten why you came here today."

Schubert Lawrence turned his head away, crossed his arms, and looked at him with an air of "don't look."

Lyudmila took the opportunity to push Mikhail away.

Mikhail clicked his tongue slightly in disappointment, but then put on a serious face: "Mr. Schubert, has your Lawrence family prepared the intelligence we need?"

Chapter 190 The Lawrence Family: Waiting for a High Price

“Are you questioning the credibility of a nobleman? You know, in the past…” Schubert immediately began to puff out his beard and glare.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry, I misspoke…” Mikhail quickly interrupted Schubert’s long chant, “Please, esteemed nobleman, deliver the intelligence to me as agreed.”

"Hmph." Schubert grunted and pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket.

Although parchment, an expensive and difficult writing medium, is no longer popular in this day and age, and is only used in Mondstadt for occasions such as writing legal documents or consecrating rites to show solemnity, Schubert adhered to the tradition of the royal era and insisted on using it to draw maps.

Yes, this parchment is a hand-drawn map by Schubert, recording a hidden place known only to the old royal family of Mondstadt.

Mikhail reached out to take it, but Schubert did not hand the parchment scroll to him; instead, he stuffed it back into his own pocket.

“Your status is insufficient. The one who deals with our Lawrence family is your executive, and only your executive can receive this valuable intelligence.”

"you……!"

Mikhail was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead, and he reached out to grab Schubert by the collar. Lyudmila quickly stopped him.

“We’re just following orders, don’t take it to heart,” Lyudmila whispered to Mikhail, then turned to Schubert: “This is different from what we agreed on last time.”

“What’s different?” Schubert raised his head proudly. “We agreed last time that we would prepare the intelligence you need before today, and I have already prepared it. But I didn’t say that I would hand over the intelligence to you today.”

If you were to ask what Schubert excelled at, it would undoubtedly be "rhetoric," a subject essential for the aristocracy. The Lawrence family members could greet each other in seventeen or eighteen different ways, depending on the other person's status and the closeness of their relationship; they were truly masters of wordplay.

When Schubert met with the Fools on behalf of the Lawrence family last time, he said he would be given a few days to search for traces of the past in Mondstadt and to prepare himself.

Considering that the Lawrence family had indeed been away from Mondstadt for a thousand years, and many things recorded in the Lawrence family had changed in that time, he did need time to compare them. Therefore, the Fools gave him a few days to prepare. Schubert's days of camping on the outskirts of Mondstadt were not entirely spent lying in a tent counting stars; he had actually spent a considerable amount of time conducting field research.

Of course, Schubert had brought the map with him in preparation for making a deal with the Fools today—but now he changed his mind.

The reason, of course, is that Yura has found a fiancé, Sir Humphrey.

Schubert had no idea that his niece had quietly gotten engaged to someone who seemed to be someone of great importance.

In Schubert's mind, the family secret he possessed had now transformed from a "sincere offer of cooperation" to the Fools into a "rare commodity."

At the very least, he needs to get in touch with Yura's fiancé first. If the other party is indeed a better backer, he wouldn't mind kicking the Fools aside.

To put it bluntly... he looked down on these uncouth barbarians from the Winter Kingdom. Judging by appearance alone, Han Fulai was more in line with the Lawrence family's criteria for a son-in-law.

Lyudmila hadn't expected Schubert to suddenly change his mind. She gritted her teeth and lowered her voice, saying, "So, does the Lawrence family still intend to continue cooperating with us?"

Schubert, with his nose in the air, said: “Cooperation is certainly necessary, but as I just said, I need to talk to your CEO.”

"...'Lady' has already left Mondstadt, and 'Rich Man' has no plans to come to Mondstadt anytime soon," Lyudmila told the truth.

“Then go and find the person with the highest status in the Mond region to come see me,” Schubert said arrogantly.

Mikhail interjected, "That won't do. We have discipline; those conducting overt operations and those conducting covert operations are kept separate."

These so-called "diplomats" were, in essence, "open spies," already on the Knights' radar and under close surveillance. This was why they wanted to meet Schubert at the circus during the "Badminton Festival"—only then could they escape the Knights' notice. The dimly lit, crowded theater was the perfect place they had chosen for their transaction.

Those in positions of authority higher than these publicly acknowledged diplomats belonged to the group tasked with carrying out covert missions. They were subject to the authority of others, but their movements were not required to be reported to them. As Schubert said, their ranks were indeed not high enough…

“I don’t care. Go tell your superiors I want to speak with the highest-ranking person in charge here. You know where I live.” Schubert shook his head as he finished speaking, then got up and left.

Mikhail made a few fierce gestures at his back, roughly meaning, "Kid, don't sleep too soundly tonight."

Lyudmila was quite philosophical about it: "The responsibility lies with him, it's not our fault. We just need to report the facts. By the way, Mikhail, why don't you consider... where we should go tonight?"

"Huh? Of course, we should go back to the office in the city." Mikhail scratched his head, looking a little silly.

"..." Lyudmila decided not to talk to him tonight.

Inside the magic troupe's tent, Linnie and Lynette were packing up the magic props they had used that day.

During the "Badminton Festival," they will be performing with the troupe for nearly half a month, and they will prepare some new tricks for each performance. Many of the props used today will not be used again in tomorrow's performance. "Novelty" has always been Linni's main magic gimmick.

Many magicians rely on a single trick, but Linni is different. As a performer, he also wants to pursue novelty. If he can't fully immerse himself in the role, he always feels that his passion for performing can't be fully ignited.

This is why, even with growing demand, he rarely fulfills audiences' wishes for classic magic tricks to be revived.

For some loyal fans, this may be a regret.

And every time they enter the performance with their tickets in hand, such regret only adds to their disappointment.

So there are always some enthusiastic fans who run backstage, asking to meet the great magician Linni, get an autograph or a souvenir, and make up for some of their disappointment. The circus staff are, of course, used to it, and will even kindly give directions to these fans.

So the "enthusiastic fan" Marquis Carrande found Linni's tent.

Chapter 191 The Eyes of the Bufati Mansion [4k]

Marquis Carandé met Linnie in the magic troupe's dressing room.

Although he was a nobleman who had long held a high position and had worked in the law enforcement court of Mo Mang Palace for a long time, he naturally exuded an air of authority in his every move... but now his expression looked very uneasy.

Or rather, he had never been so embarrassed in his life.

As the heir to the Carandé family and a hereditary marquis, the first half of Marie Jean Antoine de Carandé's life was a model of aristocracy. The phrase "to bring honor to the present and spread virtue to the future" is a perfect description of him.

Unlike the aristocratic children who indulged in a life of pleasure and debauchery, Mr. Carandé displayed exceptional mathematical talent while attending a prestigious public school.

Twenty-five years ago, when the Marquis of Carandé was 26 years old and in the prime of his life, he defied his family's objections and devoted himself to scientific research, becoming a full-fledged researcher at the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences. He quickly achieved remarkable results in integral calculations. His book, "Integral Calculations," is still essential reading for Fontainebleau students pursuing advanced mathematics studies.

His two most famous mathematical papers, "On the Application of Majority Voting" and "A Course in Probability Calculus and Its Application to Trials," were immortal masterpieces published after ten years of dedicated work at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In his paper, the Marquis of Carrande creatively proposed the "Carrande Jury Theorem," which greatly improved the jury voting system in the Fontaine Court and even earned him the "Order of the Garter" personally awarded by the water god.

The Marquis de Carrandère mathematically demonstrated that "the probability of a majority vote being correct is higher than that of any single individual vote; when the number of people becomes large enough, the accuracy of a majority vote will approach 100%." ​​From then on, at the Opiclie Opera House trial, the jury was expanded to include all the audience members in the opera house.

At the same time, he also conducted a thought-provoking discussion on the ideal form of social governance in his paper: "Our descriptions of social phenomena cannot be precise, but the probabilistic estimates of these phenomena can be determined. Social and political research must adopt mathematical methods to make itself a new discipline, and probability theory is the bridge to this new discipline."

This effort to address personnel issues using mathematical methods not only created the discipline of "social mathematics" but also significantly enhanced the political standing of the Fontaine Academy of Sciences. The Marquis of Carandé thus entered the Court of Law at the Palace of Momeng as a scientist, becoming a high-ranking official there.

The "Carendé Salon" he established brought together many of Fontaine's prominent figures, who dedicated themselves for ten years to in-depth research into Fontaine's legal system and to promoting reforms to the judicial system. Notable members included Count Richetti, former vice-captain of the special training team and now a barrister in the Bar Court; and Lord Rusto, a patriotic knight known as the "Archangel," a handsome man, and an important member of the salon.

Even the former barrister of the Bar Court, the great writer with a huge influence in Fontaine's literary circles, and the owner of the Café Luze under the pen name "Voltaire," Arué, was a guest of his.

At their initiative, public issues such as "the current state of the law enforcement court's overuse of public safety funds and its connection to ensuring public safety in Fontaine" and "what harm will water pollution cause to animals in Fontaine?" have received widespread attention.

Recently, the issue that Carandé Salon has been focusing on is Fontaine's top priority – the "water level crisis".

If you browse the knowledge section of Fontaine's "Steambird News," the article titles are now usually "Is the end of the world coming? Ships are already sold out?" or "The sea level is rising rapidly! Fontaine's doom is coming!"

To save Fontaine, the Marquis of Carendé's primary initiative is to restore Fontaine's former natural ecology.

Over the past five hundred years, the rapid development of the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences has brought many advanced technologies, but it has also caused significant environmental problems. Many habitats of Fontainebleau's animals and plants have been occupied by various man-made mechanical projects during this period. Humanity's relentless exploitation and destruction of nature has been punished—as a result, the water level in Fontainebleau has risen.

Even though he was once a member of the Academy of Sciences, the Marquis of Carrande, who cared deeply about the country, would never let personal matters interfere with public duty.

He believes that the research being conducted by the Academy of Sciences currently carries enormous risks—and the recent explosion at the Academy of Sciences powerfully proves his point.

To draw attention to the situation, the Marquis of Carandé also published a statement in the newspaper: "If the water level continues to rise, the entire city of Fontaine will be completely submerged and eventually cease to exist. The end is near!"

Although some scholars from the Fontainebleau Academy pointed out that "at the current rate of water level rise, Fontainebleau will not be completely submerged for another 100,000 years. It may be too early to rush to buy ships now," the Marquis of Carandé, with his profound mathematical expertise, engaged in a heated debate with them, forcing them to admit that the predictive model was inaccurate and that the end of the world might indeed come in the next decade or even a few years.

Riding on the momentum of his victory in the debate, the Marquis of Carrande began to travel throughout the country, calling on people to pay attention to environmental protection and rebuild the ecological environment, and raising environmental slogans such as "No buying, no killing" and "Under the dome - we breathe the same air, we share the same fate".

The circus, which captures and trains animals for public entertainment, and the magicians who bring so much gimmick to the circus, are now the thorn in the Marquis of Carandé's side. For this reason, the Marquis has even traveled all the way from Fontaine to Mondstadt to obstruct this circus tour—at least, that's the official reason.

However, the real reason he came to Mondstadt was undoubtedly already in Linni's hands.

That was a stain... enough to ruin his reputation built up over fifty years.

For the Marquis of Carandé, the place he was in was not an ordinary backstage tent of a magic troupe, but the dock of the Opiclie Opera House; the ground beneath his feet was not solid ground, but thin ice that could plunge him into the deep sea at any moment; and the smiling magician Linni was the grand judge wielding the gavel.

Thus, this renowned Marquis, a paragon of Fontainebleau nobility, could only anxiously await his fate.

What Linni held in her hand was not a gavel, but a woman's handkerchief embroidered with flowers.

He casually waved his handkerchief and pointed to a seat for the Marquis: "Oh dear, the conditions here are simple, please find a place to sit. Hmm, like the dressing table over there."

The Marquis of Carandé did not pursue Linni's rudeness, nor did he take a seat.

His lips trembled as he asked, "How many Mora do you want?"

The Marquis of Carandé was not a particularly wealthy nobleman, nor was he interested in accumulating wealth—but this was only in comparison to other wealthy nobles.

For a magician like Linni, even if he performed magic his whole life, he might not earn even a tenth of the Marquis's wealth.

The Marquis of Carandé would spare no expense to get his hands on the handkerchief.

Linnie smiled and shook her head, then pulled out a chair for herself: "Linnie, bring some tea. This conversation may take a long time."

Seeing Linni's stance, the Marquis of Carrande had no choice but to sit down opposite him.

The magician's backstage area is always piled with all sorts of props, and the dressing table is no exception. The two of them sit facing each other across a mirror.

Marquis Carrande could only see his own face in the mirror, bewildered, dejected, and with a hint of timidity... No matter how strong a person appears on the outside, once their weakness is exposed, they will become like him.

Lynette's hand brushed across the small props on the table—and a steaming cup of black tea appeared before the Marquis of Carandé.

"Please have some tea."

Lynette finished speaking those three words without any inflection, then served her brother a cup of tea before quietly leaving the dressing room, seemingly to give the two of them some private time to talk.

Even though Lynette had left, the Marquis of Carandé still felt a nagging feeling, as if someone was always watching him from the shadows.

This uncomfortable feeling made him even more uneasy.

In fact... Lynette did not actually leave, but quietly used a stealth spell to return to the dressing room, standing right behind the old marquis.