Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Just the Master’s Task_1
Aiden listened to this speech and couldn’t help but feel a bit of "admiration" for Heinz.
In just a few minutes, he had already found a reason to execute the King’s envoy and even concocted such a speech to charge the King with a list of crimes. However, considering their daily work probably involved framing people and inflicting punishment, such a degree of "professionalism" was naturally not beyond them.
Many of the secret police in attendance were already persuaded; the actions of the colonel just now did indeed suggest a coup. If the King really intended to replace the royal secret police, they could very well be replaced for various reasons, and retirement or idleness may not be the simple outcomes—these were the "secret" police who did the dirty work for the royal family, after all, and knew too many secrets.
There were also quite a few who vaguely sensed that what Heinz said might not be true, but they wisely kept their mouths shut. Some were loyal to Heinz from the start, while others weighed their options and decided that opposing the King alongside Heinz was a perilous path, but choosing the King over Heinz might not be any safer. They knew better than anyone just how terrifying their boss could be, and when it came to dealing with traitors, the new King was probably no match for Heinz.
The King might want to prosecute them, but they held the King’s secrets. Even if the King wanted to use secret methods to cleanse them—it’s unfortunate that those who had always been responsible for purging others for the King were them, and the royal guards couldn’t possibly be more professional in this respect.
"So commander, what do we do next?" a captain asked for the next orders.
"The mission is hereby terminated. Next, I will secretly contact Duke Baden and a few ministers to inform them that we have found the late King’s bloodline," Heinz said.
"Then..." The captain glanced cautiously at Sera, who was not far away, "What shall we do with Her Highness?"
"Let her stay where she was for the time being; it’s safe enough there, and Mr. Galord is now our ally," said Heinz slowly, "When conditions allow, we’ll find a way to get Her Highness out through the proper procedures."
To secure a foothold for Sera within the kingdom, he must negotiate with the power players of the opposition. As for whether to rely on extradition or an appeal to get Sera out of prison would depend on how well he could pave the way beforehand.
Aiden glanced at Heinz, thinking that this guy really wasn’t afraid of him playing spoiler, casually demanding recognition of their alliance with a single utterance.
"As long as you don’t make my job more difficult in the future, that would be fine." said Aiden, "Can I call my people over now?"
"Please," Heinz gestured.
Aiden walked to the window and motioned to the people outside the gate.
Before long, Veronica walked in with the female prisoners.
"See, I told you they were finished." Asenna, the necromancer, noticed the bodies on the ground as soon as she walked in, "But warden, you really did go overboard, aren’t you afraid of being prosecuted for murder?"
"Stop talking nonsense, this has nothing to do with me," Aiden replied with an unchanged expression.
"First and second squad, clean up the scene; the rest handle the cellar," Heinz ordered his subordinates and then turned to Aiden, "May I speak to Sera alone for a moment?"
"I need to be present at least," Aiden did not yield on this matter.
"Alright, then let’s talk in the living room," Heinz fell silent for a moment and then turned, walking towards Sera, "Sera, I..."
With a slap, the moment Heinz stood in front of Sera, she unpredictably swung a slap across Heinz’s face.
Heinz was stunned; the slap wasn’t strong, but it came so unexpectedly. If she had any complaints before, she had had a chance to act on them earlier, and besides, the lover he knew was not someone who would behave this way.
While Heinz was still in shock, Sera had already strode towards Aiden with a dark face, "Warden, my task here is complete, may I leave now?"
"A task?" Heinz was petrified on the spot.
What was going on? Sera had come to speak with him, only for this warden to assign a... task?
What had this warden done to her!?
"So, Warden, you finally did it, huh? Snatching love right before someone’s eyes, quite the crowd-pleaser." Asenna heckled expressionlessly from the side.
"This isn’t the time for your jeering, and Daili, stop snickering over there!" Aiden said, suddenly noticing Heinz’s displeasure and hurried to explain, "Don’t misunderstand, Earl Hofman, I’m sorry for deceiving you, but the person I’ve brought is not actually your lover."
"What are you saying?" Heinz was confused.
At that moment, "Presia" stepped forward and said, "Heinz..."
It was just a call, but Heinz read the familiar feeling from her tone.
"Sera?" he ventured.
After a few seconds of silence, "Presia" pursed her lips, her expressions changing constantly, and finally, she managed to hide her tearful self away and nodded with moist eyes.
However, right then, "Sera" very mood-destructiony interjected, "Please, don’t start hugging and kissing at this moment; I can’t guarantee I won’t slit your throats!"
"Sorry, Great Witch Presia really hates having physical contact with strange men..." Daili laughed, holding her stomach.
At this moment, Heinz finally understood one thing—the real Sera and the Great Witch Priesia, who was adept in mental spells, had switched places.
The "Sera" who had been meeting with him in the cellar was actually Priesia, while the real Sera had been protected by other prisoners and that female prison guard all along.
"What on earth is happening? Weren’t your powers already..." Heinz asked Aiden, his eyes wide with astonishment.
"Used up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have other ways to switch them back." Aiden replied nonchalantly, "Didn’t you think I had an ace up my sleeve for our meeting? Here it is."
Heinz knew his intelligence, knew his trump cards, but was not necessarily aware of the trump cards of the prisoners under his command.
The case files on Presia had been classified as confidential by the Secret Police. Even with their intelligence-gathering capabilities, they might not have found out that the Great Witch had divined a top-level magic for body swapping.
"You’re not saying... you used hypnosis on me?" Heinz suddenly realized he couldn’t quite remember his own thoughts while making decisions in the cellar.
"We did, but as you’re aware, hypnotism isn’t so convenient for controlling someone’s consciousness, especially for someone specially trained like you," Aiden answered, "She merely used a suggestion to nudge you a bit, to follow your own inner thoughts. For such a suggestion to be effective, you inherently had to be inclined that way—it was your own decision."
Heinz was silent—he couldn’t recall his thought process, but he could sense that the decision in that moment had indeed been his own.
"Don’t worry, I’ll have them switch back right now." Aiden clapped his hands, "Let’s go to the living room and talk."
