My older sister is a villainous rich girl

“What…” Dennis was stunned.

Wayne ignored him and said seriously, "Take me to see Peggy's detention center and the crime scene now, otherwise I'll have to go back and report that 'the investigation cannot proceed due to obstruction by City Guard Lieutenant Dennis'."

Under his threatening gaze, Dennis felt increasingly pressured.

Qingxi Academy practically monopolizes all the top talents in the kingdom. Magicians, who are rare and precious outside, are as common as cabbages in that academy... Offending such a powerful force is not so bad for someone like Lord Bulwer, who has the strong support of His Majesty. But if they want to teach a helpless nobody like me a lesson, they probably wouldn't even need to exert a single finger.

The more Dennis thought about it, the bleaker his future seemed, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Seeing that he had scared him enough, Wayne softened his tone a little.

"Is it because of Lord Bulwer's orders that you can't make an exception?" he chuckled. "If we don't say anything, how will Lord Bulwer know?"

Boris glanced at the two men who had just been at loggerheads and swallowed hard.

"I...I definitely won't tell anyone!"

He immediately swore an oath, fearing he would be used as a threat to leak secrets.

Interrupted by Boris's voice, Dennis took a deep breath and suddenly said, "It's said that prisoners about to be executed are imprisoned in the deepest part of the second basement level. I don't know if it's true."

Hearing these words, Boris, who was confused, looked puzzled.

Wayne's expression didn't change much.

"Perhaps it's because I ate some unsanitary food last night, my stomach hurts a bit..." He suddenly made a 180-degree turn, steer the conversation in a completely unrelated direction. "Excuse me! Young Master Wayne, please wait here for a moment, I'll be right back after I go to the restroom."

I have to say Dennis's acting was terrible.

However, this does not affect the overall situation.

Watching him flee as if in a panic, Wayne turned back thoughtfully to look at Boris, who was separated by a wall.

Boris seemed to understand something, and quickly shrank back into the corner, crouching down: "—I don't know anything!"

With a silent laugh, Wayne quietly left through the cell door.

……

Although the prison was heavily guarded, it was still manageable for Wayne.

He could probably understand why his adjutant, Dennis, had so readily provided crucial information, and then deliberately avoided giving him the opportunity to act alone.

Maybe they didn't even think he could successfully infiltrate.

By leaving the scene beforehand, Dennis successfully avoided a direct confrontation. As for being intercepted by any group of guards along the way, that was Wayne's own fault for wandering around, not because he intentionally tried to stop him.

However, he underestimated Wayne's superb infiltration skills.

With his rich experience and superb skills, Wayne could bypass the guards stationed at key points with virtually no effort.

Having evaded the guards' surveillance, Wayne discreetly used his magic to scout ahead, following the directions given by Dennis. The further he went into the inner part of the passage, the fewer people were imprisoned nearby.

Once we reached the second basement level, we could barely hear any noise.

After quickly getting a feel for his surroundings, Wayne headed towards the darker end of the road.

This seemed to be the "deepest part of the second underground level" that Dennis had mentioned, but strangely, there was only one person imprisoned here. Moreover, he was just an ordinary person who couldn't use magic.

Wayne walked into the cell without making a sound.

The original door lock was already damaged, but later someone wrapped a chain around it several times in the same spot.

He made no attempt to hide anything, lifting the chain slightly to reveal the clean, broken gap.

This doesn't seem to be a shape that could be created by human effort alone...

The chains were touched, producing a crisp, almost jarring sound in the unusually quiet environment.

Upon hearing the noise, the man who had been huddled in the cell suddenly sat up.

It was obvious that he hadn't taken care of his personal hygiene in a long time; his appearance was extremely slovenly, except for his unusually bright eyes.

Wayne and he locked eyes, and for a moment neither of them spoke.

After a moment of silence, Wayne finally broke the silence.

"Who broke the lock here?" he asked.

The disheveled man stared at Wayne's face: "You... are you the big shot who can completely change my destiny?"

Upon hearing this remark that sounded so familiar, a question mark slowly appeared on Wayne's forehead.

He couldn't think of a way to answer without seeming out of character.

"Sorry, I don't have any contract to sign with you, nor am I a Master who summons Heroic Spirits," he couldn't help but retort.

Chapter 597 Inextricably Linked

"Master...is he some kind of hero?" the man muttered to himself, puzzled.

“No, please don’t worry about the details.” Wayne evaded the question vaguely. “Have you ever seen a boy about my age?”

The man looked him up and down a few times.

"Logically speaking... since I'm about to be hanged and there was such a blunder before, the city guards shouldn't let anyone in to meet me again..." he guessed to himself.

Then it suddenly occurred to him: "Could it be that you actually sneaked in?"

"A mistake?" Wayne countered with a question. "What kind of mistake?"

The man chuckled, "It's no harm in telling you. One of the people I was imprisoned with escaped. The chains on your hands were just put on last night."

Wayne looked at the broken lock, then at the man sitting on the floor in the cell.

"Are you a death row inmate? What crime did you commit?" he asked casually.

"I was a commoner who murdered a nobleman's child, and then I failed to escape, and this is what happened to me," the man replied nonchalantly.

It was clear from his tone that this person had no remorse whatsoever for what he had done, only regret that he had been caught.

Wayne raised an eyebrow.

"You have a lot of guts, but you deserve to have fallen to this state."

For most commoners, they had been accustomed to their fate on this land for generations and could not even conceive of any idea of ​​confronting the nobles.

However, even if such a thought arises, it is very likely to be nothing more than misfortune for them.

Wayne rarely imagined what kind of suffering others had gone through, because... once you understand someone, compassion arises spontaneously.

He didn't want to garner sympathy for such a thing.

“Yes, you must be a nobleman too.” The man smiled. “Noble lords don’t want to hear about grievances. They only think that killing someone means death, let alone that I murdered a noble child.”

Hmm, is this some kind of reverse psychology tactic?

"A wrongful conviction?"

Wayne said somewhat awkwardly, "Unless you can prove that you didn't kill the person, then I might be able to help you overturn the case."

—The tone softened slightly.

Thinking that he couldn't turn a blind eye if the person was truly wronged, he didn't take it personally that the person had set him up.

"No, I killed him, that's absolutely true," he insisted.

Wayne was speechless: "Then what else do you have to say? According to the laws of the kingdom, there is no problem with this judgment."

“But I had my reasons for doing that!” he interrupted Wayne abruptly, becoming agitated.

"It is because the nobleman's crimes have not been punished as he deserves that I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands to uphold justice!"

Perhaps provoked by Wayne, he finally revealed a hint of madness at this moment.

"The laws of the kingdom are utterly ridiculous!" he shouted with laughter. "They protect the powerful and wealthy while severely stripping the destitute of their possessions!"

Wayne stared expressionlessly at the man in the cell who was on the verge of madness. After the man had finally calmed down a bit, Wayne slowly said, "If you really feel this is unfair, tell me about that man's crimes, and I will punish him according to the existing laws."

He wasn't some upright official, nor could he do much.

The only thing that could be affected is that Aikos, as a relatively independent individual, would step out and launch an investigation.

The man, who had been furious just moments before, froze for a moment, his gaze turning to the boy outside the cell with a hint of surprise.

Although the light in the passageway was dim, the intricate gold thread patterns on his boots could still be seen through the fence, faintly gleaming.

At that moment, a thought inexplicably flashed through the man's mind.

—If it were an ordinary nobleman, he wouldn't be so particular about even the shoes he wears every day, which are covered in dust.

He finally realized that the words the magician had spoken before breaking down the door might have referred to this very moment.

Outside the door, Wayne's voice continued.

“And you, of course, will also meet your due end here,” he said frankly. “I will not show favoritism for your sake.”

In the deepest part of the prison, the usual lifeless silence returned in an instant.

After a long while, the man's reply finally rang out again.

"That's enough."

Amidst the helplessness, a strange sense of sorrow was also inexplicably mixed in.

“I never imagined… that the fairness I longed for could only be achieved through the mercy and compassion of a nobleman.” He raised his head and said with a self-deprecating laugh, “But anyway, I still want to thank you, even though my gratitude is insignificant.”

After calming himself down a bit, he suddenly brought up the topic that Wayne was most concerned about: "—I did indeed meet a very young magician."

……

As Wayne emerged from the city guard's prison, before he even reached the gate, he spotted his adjutant, Dennis, who was frantic, like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Dennis, who had been pacing back and forth countless times, spotted Wayne almost simultaneously.

He quickly scanned Wayne's surroundings, but found nothing unusual, which finally put his mind at ease.

"Has Young Master Wayne finished using the restroom? Can we head back to headquarters now?" he asked in a barely audible voice.

Wayne gave him a strange look, as if to say that this guy had some kind of peculiar obsession with toilets.

"Um... I won't be going to Lord Bulwer's place."

Wayne didn't want to listen to their endless nonsense like Richard did. "I need to get back to the academy as soon as possible. The chairman is waiting for my news."

“Ah, I see.” Dennis nodded understandingly. “Then, please give my regards to Chairman Harold.”

"Sure, sure!"

While skillfully dealing with the situation, Wayne thought to himself: How come it's not enough for Bulwer himself to be a double agent, his subordinates are all even more double agents than the last?

Is this the magic of the legendary "traitor aggregation effect"?

After being escorted out of the city guard by Dennis, Wayne took the academy's carriage back home.

Alone in the relatively enclosed space of the carriage, he finally had ample time to close his eyes and carefully consider the information he had just received.

He believed the dying man wasn't lying to him, because it would be pointless.

'The secret is hidden behind the second brick from the bottom of the tool stall in the men's restroom on the top floor of the Seiki Academy club building.'

Was this the last thing Peggy said...?

It's not a particularly safe location, and if the school ever decides to renovate the toilets, such a small flaw is almost impossible to go unnoticed.

It seems he probably never thought this backup plan would need to be prepared for a long time.

Wayne suddenly realized that something seemed amiss—

Why am I so inseparable from toilets on this whole journey?

Chapter 598 Chairman Harold's "Secret Room"

Although he had obtained what appeared to be very crucial information, Wayne did not intend to retrieve it himself.

Upon returning to school, Wayne immediately went to the chairman's office and told Harold everything he knew.

That's basically it.

He had already avoided the sight of outsiders, but his voice remained devoid of any personal emotion. "If nothing unexpected happens, that hidden secret is the truth behind Peggy's death."

Harold nodded knowingly. "Then you can go and bring it over."

"--No."