Chapter 312: The Words of the President
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In that instant, the eyes of Benjamin and the king met, with strange expressions.
This…...Is which part of the song again?
"I’ll be right there." The king was silent for a moment, and spoke before turning around to leave the room. Thus, the conversation with Benjamin that had just been developing into a fairly stopped suddenly like that.
Benjamin’s heart fell with a thud.
Even though he did not understand what was going on, but he suddenly realized the confidence he had just gained from the king might need to be retracted very soon.
His heart was so tired...
Apparently, perhaps he should not be associating with wicked people?
"Your Majesty, may I follow and take a look?" Thinking until here, Benjamin took a deep breath and asked like that.
Since he had already blended in, he could not stop and leave this unfinished. After the king had a change of clothes, they hurriedly rushed to the meeting hall. At that time, there were no other officials in the meeting hall, only Aldrich alone.
—of course, and the little girl he held in his arms.
Glancing from afar, Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief.
It was the girl that had knocked on his door looking for the cat. All four limbs were still intact, there was no part of her missing. At this time, her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling with every breath, as though asleep. It looked like, no matter what the purpose of the people who had kidnapped her, at least they had not harmed her.
Seeing this scene, the king walked up in a rush and took the girl from Aldrich’s arms.
"She... Hasn’t been hurt, right?"
Aldrich smiled, saying: "She is alright. At least, when I had found her, they had not been able to do anything to her."
"They?" The king furrowed his brows. He handed the girl into the servant's’ arms, resuming a solemn, strict expression, "Right…... Where is the assassin that had taken her away? Has he been captured?"
Benjamin, standing on the side, observed Aldrich’s expressions even more carefully once he heard this.
"Your Majesty, they have already been locked up in the prisons. You can interrogate them yourself." Aldrich said. He suddenly sighed, and continued speaking, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, this was all due to my carelessness. I had never thought that there would be such traitors in the Mages Freemasonry."
The look in the king’s eyes changed slightly. "Are you saying..."
Aldrich nodded his head gravely, saying: "The people who had planned the assassination are our people in the Mages Freemasonry."
The king was silent.
Hearing this, Benjamin felt some doubts.
"It is a mage who has been in the association for three years. He has always seemed normal, however, he had planned this assassination from three months ago." Aldrich continued saying, "He had even hired many soldiers, but the source of the soldiers are very strange, most of them come from Carretas."
"Carretas..." The king murmured, nodding his head., saying, "You’re saying that this was all planned by my brother?"
"Not necessarily, it might just be an unfortunate coincidence." Aldrich answered. "They are unwilling to say anything."
The king fell into silence once more with a poker face. It was impossible to discern what he was thinking about.
As for Benjamin, he was still harbouring doubts in his heart for Aldrich’s explanation.
Thinking back to what he had seen in the headquarters, the bald mage who had given a lecture must be the rebel mage that Aldrich was talking about. But... The bald mage had already hold a meeting with the soldiers, how could Aldrich as the president not discovered that?
Benjamin’s instinct told him that Aldrich was not such a slow person.
Because of that, from what he had seen, these words about what rebel mage is only an excuse to deflect responsibility. Aldrich had only picked a person from amongst his own organization to be a scapegoat, so that another would take the blame, and he himself would put on an innocent and clueless act. Perhaps he was involved in the matter of the assassination of the king.
In conclusion, Benjamin did not believe this old president.
Only, he still could not stop thinking.
If all this was an act planned and executed by Aldrich himself, then having exerted so much energy to kidnap the princess and to send her back in just a few hours, what was that about?
Was he getting too bored?
Benjamin could not really grasp this situation.
Associating this to some plots in palace dramas where the crown princes were switched by racoons and his own experiences, his heart moved and could not help but cast his sight on the little girl in the servant’s arms.
There was no mistake, this was the little girl he had seen before, she had probably not been replaced.
Then things had gotten stranger.
"Escort the criminals into the dungeons, I want to interrogate them." Before Benjamin could think straight, the king had made his decision, and spoke thus to a personal guard standing on the side.
The personal guard obeyed and left, while the king turned his head to look at Benjamin and Aldrich, nodding as a signal.
"Gentlemen, i need to excuse myself for a while."
Hearing that, Benjamin’s heart was flooded with a lot of bad premonitions.
In all honesty, he also really wanted to personally go and interrogate the criminals, there must be all sorts of interesting things that could be asked out of them. However, seeing the king’s attitude, he seemed to not like outsiders getting involved in the interrogations. And as for Aldrich, if Benjamin looked too eagerly, his suspicions might be raised.
Because of that, he did not brave himself and step forward again.
Thus, the king brought his personal guards and left. The servant also left, carrying the princess, who was sleeping soundly. In a moment, the entire meeting hall because empty, leaving only Benjamin and Aldrich.
The candlelight from the crystal chandeliers above lighted the floors, casting two silent shadows.
Suddenly, Aldrich turned his head and looked at Benjamin, revealing a smile.
"Mage Benjamin, thanks for the effort." He was first to speak, breaking the silence. "You were originally just a guest, but now you are bothered by such matters, and have even helped protect the King His Majesty for so long. I really thank you very much."
Benjamin, hearing these words, felt strange in his heart.
Although the other party was speaking in quite a sincere manner, and there was no sarcasm in his tone, but it still did not sound right in his ears.
Was he thinking too much? Aldrich could not have known about him spilling the beans, right?
"This is what I should do." No matter how strange he felt, the skill to act in appropriate situations was a skill he had honed well. "His Majesty protects the peace of this country, I only wish to contribute a part of my energy."
"No, what I meant was, mages who have this mentality is rare." Aldrich sighed, saying, "Mages are all busy with their own magic, not many are concerned about the secular world. We have great power to make a change for the better, but we are obsessed with our own powers and do not think about the responsibility that this power bestows upon us."
"That is certainly so." Benjamin nodded, agreeing thus.
In his heart, he was breaking out in cold sweat.
After all the hoohah, the other party had suddenly lamented to him, what did this mean?
Benjamin was in a slight panic.