Claremont understood just how important those cabinets were to the club, but he had hidden their existence out of selfish ambition. He was waiting for the right time to prove himself after officially joining, thinking that this secret weapon would quickly earn him a promotion and greater status.
But that future felt impossible now. Being caught by Golden Snidget on the spot wasn't like being caught sneaking a small movie by a parent, it was far more dangerous.
Concealing such vital information could easily cost him his life if Golden Snidget decided to be ruthless. It was only then that Claremont realized why Golden Snidget had been so hostile toward him after waking up, repeatedly pressing him to recall past events.
It wasn't just about testing his loyalty; it was about measuring how much the adults trusted him. But that trust was built on concealment and deception from the start.
Claremont had misunderstood their intentions completely, maybe they wanted him to confess about the vanishing cabinet so they could justify letting him go. But no matter what, Claremont knew he was about to disappear into the cabinet himself.
As he pieced together this grim logic and imagined Golden Snidget's true intentions, panic overtook him. Desperately, he stammered, "I'm sorry, Master. I was wrong. I only recently received the pair of vanishing cabinets. I never meant to hide this from you, I was planning to dedicate them to you when the time was right!"
But Alex wasn't buying it. "You're lying!" he snapped. "I can see in your eyes that you're still hiding something from me, and right now, you're tempting fate!"
Claremont, who had been trembling all along, now shook even more from Alex's fierce tone. "I've told you everything, Master!" he stammered, cold sweat streaming down his face, dripping from his beard to the floor.
In truth, Claremont was harboring many secrets in his mind. After Golden Snidget cast a protective spell on his brain and made him sign a confidentiality contract, he didn't resent it like the others did.
The magic and the club's contract were so intertwined that even his closest allies couldn't breach his mind. He had cleverly used this method to keep numerous secrets hidden, even from Golden Snidget and the rest of the club. It was a trick he had discovered himself, but he never expected Golden Snidget to see through it today.
"I... I have a secret room in my residence," Claremont admitted hesitantly, his voice trembling. "It's a room only I know about."
"And what's hidden there? Don't think you can lie to me just because I can't probe your mind. At least I can tell if you're lying!" Alex's calm expression masked the deadly intent burning in his eyes.
"Yes... yes, I won't hide it," Claremont whimpered, so terrified that he lost control of himself under Alex's gaze. "In that secret room, I've hidden... some memories."
"Memories?" Alex frowned. "Isn't your memory cursed? How can you extract it?"
"Yes... yes, but no... wait," Claremont's words became jumbled. "I discovered by accident that if the extraction is done quickly, the new memories aren't immediately shielded by the secrecy magic."
"Oh? And how long have you known this?" Alex's expression shifted, a teasing smile creeping onto his face as if he'd uncovered something significant.
But Claremont only saw the change as a warning and quickly pleaded, "Master, I was wrong, I didn't mean to, Master."
"Enough nonsense. Answer my question!" Alex snapped.
"Yes…" Claremont trembled once more when he heard the words, "I found that under normal circumstances, memories formed within the last six hours are still retrievable..."
Alex pressed on, "So how many memories are you hiding? And what kind of memories are they? Don't you want to tell me?" Although Alex had already guessed what those memories might contain, he wanted to hear Claremont admit it himself.
"I..." Claremont hesitated for a long time, unable to continue. Finally, under the cold, piercing gaze of Eisenberg, he closed his eyes and, voice trembling, blurted out, "What I've been hiding are memories of meeting you and the other executive at the club over the past ten years.
I'm sorry, Mr. Eisenberg. I just wanted to keep them as souvenirs, there's no other meaning behind it. It's true, Master!"
At that moment, Claremont no longer looked like the nearly seventy-year-old man he was. Instead, he resembled a child caught doing something wrong in front of his parents.
With tears in his eyes, he crawled toward Alex, reaching out to grab his robe, silently begging for forgiveness. But Alex simply stepped aside easily, avoiding his grasp.
Claremont clearly understood just how serious the situation was, especially after Golden Snidget found out the truth. His so-called "loyalty" now seemed like a complete joke.
But in the current circumstances, Claremont no longer dared to keep quiet. If he stayed silent, death was certain; if he spoke up, maybe he could find a way out. Claremont didn't want to die, he really didn't.
The four people around them were stunned when Claremont revealed this explosive information. Memories of contact with the Silver Wand over the past ten years surfaced, providing direct evidence that the Silver Wand had infiltrated the club and was trying to divide the German wizarding world.
Even Alex hadn't expected to gain such valuable information from simply intimidating Claremont. Claremont himself, an old hand, was surprisingly cunning. He had been quietly gathering evidence linking himself and the Silver Wand for a long time, clearly with a dual purpose.
Alex guessed that Claremont understood how dangerous his involvement with the club was, he was essentially risking his life, and that keeping these memories was his way of protecting himself. If the club ever collapsed or his own actions were exposed, he could use this evidence to negotiate with the Ministry of Magic, become a compromised witness, and save himself.
Alex's suspicions were confirmed: Claremont, having weathered many storms, had been pessimistic from the start when he learned about the Silver Wand and Golden Snidget's plot against the German Ministry of Magic. It was a plan that went against nearly the entire German magical community, and the chance of failure was extremely high.
So, Claremont's decision to store these memories was a calculated effort to secure his survival. But unexpectedly, the club's scheme to divide Germany progressed smoothly. Within just a decade, East and West Germany seemed to be drifting apart, and it appeared that even the Ministry of Magic might officially split in the near future.
Over the past two years, Claremont had rarely extracted and stored memories because he believed the club had a better chance of winning without taking such risky actions. Still, he kept the memories he had stored earlier, knowing well the truth behind the cunning rabbit's three burrows.
Unfortunately, Claremont never expected to be caught, not by the Ministry of Magic, but by Golden Snidget. Despite the shocking news, Alex quickly composed himself and continued to pose as the Golden Snidget, playing the role of a well-trained actor.