Rychard fell into silence once more.
"What proof do you have?" Rychard asked.
"I would advise you to look into the Rain Galaxy," Aleck said coldly before directly hanging up.
Rychard sat in silence for a long while, not saying anything. His mind seemed to go through several iterations and thoughts before he sneered.
If Aleck had acted flustered when Rychard first questioned him, he would have believed him. However, that response was too prepared, too practiced, too ready, he had clearly been ready for the questioning.
When someone did something suspicious by coincidence, it wouldn't be at the forefront of their mind, often they wouldn't even notice the oddity until someone pointed it out to them. For example, let's take a couple in a relationship, if one of them had a habit of always putting their phone face up but one day placed it face down not just once, but a few times in a row, what would they do if their partner confronted them about this?
If they had noticed the change in action in themselves, in all likelihood, they would already have a prepared answer. But if they reacted flustered, it would mean that they hadn't thought much about it and would be more likely to be innocent in the matter. This could be the case if the phone of said partner recently got a new case that made it more difficult to pick up while it was face up, so they had gotten into the habit of placing it face down now for easier access. They might have made this choice subconsciously and never really once thought about it.
Of course, it would be a shame either way, but most took someone being flustered as a sign of guilt, when this wasn't always the case at all. And that was especially for absolute experts. Rychard trusted an expert like Aleck who could see this problem coming to be ready with a perfect answer, which meant that he was even more certain that Aleck was lying precisely because of said perfect answer!
In Rychard's mind, this confirmed that Aleck had defected. The best lies were marred in truth. Likely, he had felt the pressure from the destruction of the Zoltene Faith in just a single day, and that was only compounded by the destruction of the Brazinger, Adurna, Crudus and Laevis families. As such, he chose to exchange information with Earth for safety, and all he had to give up in exchange was some Sixth Dimensional existences.
Rychard didn't doubt that the destruction of those warships was real, they wouldn't do this by half measures. So, he didn't even bother to double check.
With a thought, Rychard waved a hand and an attendant came into his office.
"Send a few covert teams to the sites of destruction. If you're caught and questioned, use the businesses as a shield. Say that you heard there was a war and came to protect the businesses from looters.
"While you're there, focus on gathering as much intel as you can. Report back to me anything interesting you find in three days' time."
"Yes, Patriarch! Is there anything else?" the woman asked.
Rychard was about to wave her away, but he paused for a moment. Although several minutes of this silence passed, the woman didn't dare to disturb his thoughts.
Eventually, Rychard looked up again with a piercing gaze.
"Send a team to the Rain Galaxy. The goal this time isn't covert operations, but an all out seizure. Subdue their family, crush their spirit, and take control of their land. I also want this done within three days."
"Yes!"
The woman bowed and left quickly.
Rychard tapped his large oak desk in silence for a moment, seemingly waiting for something. And then, it came. The crystal on his desk buzzed and the face of a familiar man appeared. He was none other than the Patriarch of the Chaotic Water Sector, Graros.
Graros expression was just as cold and indifferent as Rychard's, but deep within his gaze, there was a clear displeasure.
"I just tried to contact the Skies Patriarch." Graros said before pausing. "He did not respond."
Rychard's gaze narrowed. Somewhere deep inside, he had assumed that Aleck would have put on the same act for the both of them, maybe even telling Graros the same thing he had told him but in reverse. Maybe in the tale he told Graros, it was Rychard who was colluding with the Cloud Race.
But the fact that Aleck had only contacted him but not Graros was curious. Did he do it on purpose to make Rychard second guess himself, or was there another reason?
"I assume he didn't want to have to rehash the same accusation twice," Rychard said indifferently, repeating much of what Aleck had said, only leaving out the matters related to the Cloud Race.
"I see," Graros nodded. "This is a hiccup, but it isn't something that can't be overcome. Even if the Skies family is on the side of the Ascension Empire now, that's just one more enemy, there's little to worry about."
Rychard nodded. Obviously, Graros had come to the same conclusion he had.
"I've already acted," Rychard said. "I've sent an elite group to conquer the Rain Galaxy, we can't allow anymore variables to appear. And, since we've been exposed, there's no need to use such a weak family as a middleman any longer. We're already out in the open, so there's already nothing to hide. We will press forward in a domineering manner."
"Agreed," Graros said with a nod, not showing any dissatisfaction toward Rychard's ask.
"Good."
"Good."
The two hung up and fell into silence in their own respective corners of the universe.
After hanging up, however, Graros' own expression became somewhat malevolent before he called in his own attendant.
"Tell the ones in the Rain Galaxy to retreat and hide themselves properly. Wait for my orders before taking any action."
"Yes, Patriarch!"
…
As the saying went, the best schemes were ones one could see but could only fall right into and the best lies were laced with truth.
What Aleck, Rychard and Graros didn't know was that as they believed themselves to be cleverly navigating Leonel's web, they were only being further entangled.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om