When the time comes, who would choose Milady over the Clan Leader, Charos?
For the first time, she felt that there were moments when intelligence alone was not enough. She couldn't control what other people said, and she couldn't think of a single way to make that clerk keep his mouth shut about the matter—
Milady stopped dead in her tracks.
She turned, walked a few steps toward the wall, and carefully examined the faint, almost imperceptible marks there. They were as pale as the phantom of a large flower, a brilliant splash across the wall's surface.
Milady had gone out that night after throwing the Anti-Crystallization Medicine against the wall. The day after returning from the casino, she had scrubbed the wall carefully. But the stain had already set, leaving a very faint mark. Fortunately, it was hard to see unless you were up close.
Milady's train of thought led from the Anti-Crystallization Medicine to the cleanup.
'That's right... The cleanup was the source of everything that happened afterward.'
The crystal contamination hadn't just cost Milady her mother—its shadow clung to her every move. A question she had never considered carefully before now surfaced in her mind.
Before coming to Milady's home, Aunt Hong had clearly investigated her thoroughly. She had spoken with Dorin and Terry, and perhaps even relatives and neighbors—she had even found out about Milady's habit of not going out in the evening. So why hadn't Aunt Hong approached the clerk from the clan affairs office?
Milady slowly straightened her back, feeling strength gradually return to her body.
The answer was actually quite simple.
In the early days after the Tower family successfully entered the "Sea Wave Concerto," they experienced a period of rapid population growth. Charos's house acted like a magnet, drawing together the scattered descendants of the Tower family. After more than a decade of development, the total number of people in the Tower family had grown to nearly two thousand. This figure included those who had married into the family, children who had been born and raised within it, a few relations by marriage, and even the servants who had served the Tower family for years.
As the clan continued to expand, so did the clan affairs office. To Milady's knowledge, there were at least a dozen clerks alone.
Aunt Hong's target—or at least, one of her targets—was Milady. It was only natural, then, that she would start her investigation with Milady's social circle.
Aunt Hong had overlooked nothing: where Milady had been recently, who she'd interacted with, who her friends were, who lived nearby... But the clerk had never been a part of Milady's life before.
That was why Aunt Hong had overlooked him, for now.
And the only connection between Milady and the clerk was the "cleanup."
She took a deep breath, feeling as if she could once again see a glimmer of light in the darkness.
From the clerk's point of view, Milady had only asked about a job at the casino. As long as he didn't suspect her, he wouldn't proactively report it to the clan.
From Aunt Hong's point of view, while Milady was a person of interest, she had no apparent reason to know about the Clan Leader's underground businesses.
If those two never connected, Milady would be safe.
'I have to make him disappear from my life before Aunt Hong discovers he exists... If I can completely sever the connection between them, I'll still have a fighting chance.'
He had already come to her door to pressure her twice; Milady couldn't let him come a third time. 'Who knows if Aunt Hong will spot him then?'
'What should I do? Is there a way for me to get out of the cleanup without the clerk showing up at my door again?'
As Milady bit her nails, her mind racing, her eyes happened to fall upon the nautical chart she had casually set aside.