Chapter 52: Flawless Plan
Shione swallowed hard when she saw the way her mother was looking at Priam. Her voice trembled, but she spoke firmly and seriously.
"Lumiere and I were targeted during the very first phase of the Trial. Whoever set us up knew the exact location of the test beforehand and even knew our intentions the moment we arrived. They prepared a trap using a poison capable of exploiting the flaw in the inscription, making our survival practically impossible. The only reason we’re still alive is because Priam found us and saved us against all odds."
The Clan Leader’s gaze instantly turned colder, and the pressure in the air became suffocating.
But internally, she was extremely surprised.
That was because she could sense that her daughter felt very different from usual.
"If I may," Priam’s voice cut through the silence.
She gave a slight nod, looking straight into his eyes as if reading his soul.
"Go ahead."
Priam took a deep breath.
He was already riding the tiger. There was no way to get off now.
The only option left was to see it through to the end.
He stepped forward and looked directly at her.
"Clan Leader, everything that happened can be understood through three simple points."
Silence fell over the arena.
"First: there was a planned assassination attempt during the first phase. It wasn’t an accident. Someone with access to internal information prepared a perfect trap to eliminate Young Lady Shione and Young Master Lumiere without leaving any traces."
He didn’t break eye contact.
"Second: I happened to find them in time, and together we managed to solve the situation. That created an unexpected problem. I became a potential witness, or at least a troublesome variable. Even if my words didn’t carry much weight within the clan, the mere possibility that I had seen those responsible was already an unacceptable risk for whoever organized everything."
A brief pause.
"That’s why the third part happened: the attempt to eliminate me during the second phase of the Trial. The Clan Leader has probably already heard everything. But Elder Raoes only acted against me because he received orders. He exposed himself like that because someone needed to make sure I was silenced."
A low murmur spread through the arena.
Priam continued steadily.
"In other words, the second assassination attempt only happened because the first one failed."
The expressions of several Elders changed. Just as they were about to object...
"Unfortunately for them, there’s one detail that completely exposes their plan," Priam interrupted their thoughts and turned toward Shione and Lumiere.
"They truly believed the plan was flawless. They assumed nobody would survive, or that even if something unexpected happened, it would be impossible for anyone to identify the first three culprits that connected everything together. That’s why they eliminated the three direct executors, believing that would put an end to the matter."
The atmosphere became heavy, and his eyes gleamed with coldness.
Priam spoke very slowly.
"Those bastards had no way of knowing that... Shione and Lumiere actually saw the faces of all three."
Lumiere suddenly froze, finally understanding where Priam was going with this.
Shione, on the other hand, still hadn’t realized it. She quickly said,
"We really did see them. It was Frejan, Toean, and Rotlo!"
Absolute silence.
Priam looked back at the Clan Leader.
Her eyes were still fixed on him, but a subtle change had appeared in them.
"Those three weren’t insignificant people. They were the sons of clan Elders. If they were involved, then they weren’t acting alone. That directly connects this crime to the highest levels of the clan. That alone justifies a thorough investigation, doesn’t it? And besides, all these Elders who stood against me just now seem rather suspicious, don’t they?"
There was no room for doubt anymore.
Nobody in that arena was stupid, and everyone connected the pieces in their minds.
In short, Elder Ghisen, who had tried to kill Priam moments ago, already knew his fate was sealed.
Even so, his family and close allies might still survive and remain within the clan.
The assassination plan during the first phase of the Trial had been perfect and already included a cover-up mechanism. After being poisoned, Shione and Lumiere would never have been able to identify the three executors. Without knowing who they were, it would have been impossible to trace the crime back to the true masterminds.
But Priam had destroyed that entire line of logic.
He hadn’t just saved them; he had also made it possible for them to identify the culprits.
The words of those two carried infinitely more weight than Priam’s own. The moment they revealed the names, and considering the connection those three had to the clan’s upper leadership, a full investigation became unavoidable.
Those three young men who had been killed were never anything more than disposable pieces.
Even if they had succeeded, they would have been eliminated afterward to erase any remaining risk.
When they failed and were disqualified from the Trial, the Elders moved quickly to shut everything down.
Those three had been very well trained and managed to carry out the plan and disappear, climbing the mountain at incredible speed. Because of that, they were certain there was no way the plan could have been exposed.
To them, it was impossible that Shione and Lumiere, already poisoned, could survive, recover, and still manage to catch up to them.
But that was exactly the flaw they had failed to foresee.
Priam intervened.
And Priam shattered every guarantee their plan relied on.
After that, Priam survived certain death.
There was still no concrete proof, but the words of Shione and Lumiere were already more than enough to raise unavoidable suspicions. That would force the Clan Leader to investigate everything thoroughly, sparing no methods, including memory reading.
No one inside this arena had any chance of escaping now.
And because of that, the truth would not take long to come to light.
Silence.
Priam locked eyes with that powerful Leader.
His words, logic, and evidence were flawless.
But if this woman was truly similar to her eldest son, then the only thing that would matter was her personal desire.
Then...
[An ally’s Loyalty has greatly evolved]
[Orlaith Ylisse] | Loyalty: Neutral (UP 2x)]
[+600 GP]
At that moment, Priam let out a deep sigh, feeling a visceral sense of relief.
’An Anima of 85 points didn’t disappoint me...’
He thought as realization dawned on him.
An Anima that high meant the person was absurdly intelligent in many ways and would most likely not allow emotions to dictate their actions.
At the beginning, she had probably seen Priam as an arrogant young man who deserved a beating.
He had beaten and humiliated her son to an alarming degree.
So it was only natural that her Loyalty had been so bad.
But when Shione and Lumiere spoke, and Priam calmly explained everything with logic and reason, even under her cold and analytical gaze, this woman realized she had been wrong.
Priam wasn’t an idiot.
He held no ill intentions whatsoever.
Worse still...
He radiated a maturity and confidence that seemed almost magical for someone his age.
On top of that, he had genuinely saved her two youngest children.
She was certain of it, because she had never seen her daughter so desperate to help someone before.
With all of that combined, everything she felt dispersed as quickly as it had appeared, causing her Loyalty to return to Neutral.
It was a valuable lesson for Priam.
In the future, when he encountered people with an Anima like hers, he would know that he could win them over simply by being sincere and doing the right thing.
