Chapter 768: Chapter 22 Royal Family Scandal (1)_3

“Ah…” Grey took a sip of tea, looking listless as she said, “Prince Charlie just told me about this. I apologize on his behalf, although it’s rather pointless. His reputation is already beyond saving.”

Grey’s resigned attitude made Gongsun Ce feel embarrassed to even make a sarcastic remark. The Third Princess, holding Dawn Knight’s hand, said tiredly, “Good knight, I can’t offer you any useful reward, just please help me and use your clever mind, will you?”

“…”

Alandia didn’t respond directly, pushing the newspaper forward, and said, “I’m guessing it’s a lover’s theft.”

Grey couldn’t bear to look and covered her face.

“Dear Holy King,” she said in desperation, “it’s all because I introduced them to each other.”

Gongsun Ce couldn’t help interjecting, “Your matchmaking skills are… quite open-minded?”

“It’s not what you think!” Grey sighed, “I don’t even know where to begin… You know I’m a Mage apprentice, right?”

Through Grey’s explanations, the two gradually understood the whole story.

As a Mage apprentice, Grey frequented the Morton National Library to consult resources (apparently, the Mage College’s institution in the Inner City District), and engaged in academic discussions with scholars there. During this process, she met a young man named Jekyll. Jekyll was a scholar from the visible world, although from a humble family, was promising and deeply studied in the history and medicine of the Country. Just then, Prince Charlie urgently needed to catch up on medical knowledge, so Grey introduced Mr. Jekyll to the elder brother and hired him as a private tutor for the Crown Prince.

“May I boldly ask why he urgently needed tutoring?” Gongsun Ce asked.

Grey said awkwardly, “At that time, he was pursuing a female doctor…”

“Oh~~~” Gongsun Ce feigned realization.

Prince Charlie, after hastily cramming some medical knowledge, found common ground and successfully won over the female doctor. However, subsequent developments got weird; he seemed satisfied with the medical lessons and asked Mr. Jekyll to continue tutoring him. The place of study also moved from a desk to a bed.

Then the scandal erupted, the seal was stolen. Prince Charlie first suspected his lover, but in his investigation, he discovered that person’s identity was entirely fake. There wasn’t a gentleman named Jekyll in all of Supibia that matched his teacher, and what’s more bizarre, even the big library’s access records showed no trace of this person. Mr. Jekyll seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and vanished without a trace after the incident.

“What did the divination say?” Alandia asked.

“The information he left was all fake, the divination failed,” Grey shook her head, “I’m somewhat collapsing here, Alandia. The friend I know not only has an unusual sexual orientation but is also a fictional person who never existed.”

That’s not exceedingly unusual in your Kingdom either.

“His fake identity passed the preliminary investigation of the intelligence agency, a premeditated crime,” Alandia nodded, “Any other valuable information?”

Grey pondered hard and said, “I don’t know if this helps… A while ago, the elder brother came to consult me about perfumes. He seemed to want to make perfume himself as a gift for someone.”

A piece of fragmented information flashed in Gongsun Ce’s mind, and he and Alandia asked in unison, “Violet perfume?”

Grey looked back and forth between the two, her surprise apparent.

“Yes… why?”

Gongsun Ce clapped his hands, laughing, “I think we roughly understand the situation now. Miss Alandia?”

“This case should be resolved by today,” Alandia said, “As for how Prince Charlie will retrieve his seal, that’s for him to consider.”

Grey put on her hood, smiling, “Alandia~ Sometimes I feel you’re more like a Mage than old Master Loningres! Well, I’ll be off first, let’s have a tea party together when you’re free!”

Gongsun Ce saw off Princess Grey and sat down on the sofa, his brain running at high speed, feeling a bit hot, “The Morton National Library, is it?”

“The largest library in Supibia, also one of the institutions managed by the Royal Family’s Mage College.”

“I guess so… think about it, Jekyll was targeting Grey in order to connect with Charlie, which means he needs to ‘accidentally’ run into Grey frequently. Either his information is so accurate he knows exactly when Grey goes to the library, or he frequently visits there to stage these coincidental encounters.”

“Both are possible,” Alandia said. “Jekyll’s comings and goings haven’t left any records in the system, assuming the records are trustworthy…”

“That means he enters under another identity and changes his appearance inside the library,” Gongsun Ce, tapping his forehead, added. “This place doesn’t embrace technology products like Cangdu and the Union do, so I’m inclined to believe he used the ‘Impermanence Skill.’ The person who would frequently visit the library and could use the Impermanence Skill without suspicion is likely…”

“A mage apprentice affiliated with the academy,” Alandia nodded. “You’re thinking about the commotion yesterday morning.”

Gongsun Ce touched his nose, “That event left a deep impression on me, I remember Knight Sara saying it was due to the apprentices’ perfume.”

The speculation was over, now it was time for verification. Alandia picked up the phone in the room and dialed, “Good morning, Knight Sara. I’d like to ask for your help checking the list of mage apprentices who came to headquarters yesterday morning… If possible, please send your pet over… Thank you.”

“Have the dog come over?” Gongsun Ce asked in surprise.

“As evidence,” the Dawn Knight sat down on the sofa.

They didn’t have to wait long, Knight Sara’s dog arrived from headquarters after ten minutes, a Shiba Inu with alert eyes. Its collar had a scroll attached, which Gongsun Ce removed and patted the dog’s head, “Good dog, have some bacon.”

The Shiba Inu crunched the crispy bacon and licked his palm, speaking in a voice familiar to Gongsun Ce, “You’re welcome, but I prefer sausages.”

The Superpower User sat down hard on the floor. He exclaimed in shock, “Aren’t you a golden retriever?!”

Shiba Inu Sara lay down on the floor, crossing her paws and tilting her head, “Maybe I’ve had a genetic mutation?”

“Sorry, I jumped to conclusions…”

Gongsun Ce got up awkwardly from the floor, then realized. Clearly, a dog couldn’t fulfill the duties of a knight, so Knight Sara probably used these dogs as her familiars or messengers, just like those Superpower Users proficient in controlling animals.

“You don’t really think I’m just a dog, do you?” Sara asked with interest.

“Of course not, how could I!”

Gongsun Ce repeatedly denied, handing the scroll to Alandia. The two and the dog gathered to look at the list, Alandia’s finger sliding down until it stopped at the last name.

Kerky Hyde.

“That’s a bit too coincidental, huh,” Gongsun Ce scoffed. “She indeed claimed to be a mage apprentice yesterday.”

Now he could explain why Mr. Charlie had suddenly changed his sexual orientation; the man hadn’t come out at all.

A pure white amorphous substance appeared in Alandia’s hand. Gongsun Ce watched closely as the substance appeared only for an instant before turning into a bottle of light purple perfume in the knight’s hand.

Gongsun Ce smelled a familiar scent; the last time he’d encountered this fragrance was when Kerky chatted with him yesterday, at which time they were quite close.

“How did you do this? Just from that scent?”

“It’s my ability,” Alandia said. “Knight Sara, please help.”

Shiba Inu Sara approached, sniffed, and sneezed, “That’s it!”

Alandia put away the perfume and stood up, “Let’s set out, Mr. Gongsun. We’re heading to the Morton Royal Museum.”

“Not the theater?”

“No, the museum is the chief mage’s workshop,” the Dawn Knight donned a hat. “And Kerky Hyde is the chief mage’s apprentice.”