Chapter 571: Chapter 571 Pure Justice_1
Aiden held his teacup and quietly watched as Deborah flipped through the pages. To discuss the content in "The Hound Cavalier" with Deborah, he had specifically brought along several serialized magazines.
"This Daisy character really does feel like me," Deborah said, nodding vigorously, then chuckled, "Mr. Aiden, do you think I should ask the author for a share of the royalties?"
"Is that all you think?" Aiden was taken aback, "You don’t feel... that the content of this book overlaps with reality a bit too much? We’re here investigating this double identity murder case, and in the recent issues of the magazine, the character based on you is investigating the same case, only the partner has changed from the Hound Cavalier to me."
"But the ’Illusionist’ is an old acquaintance of my mother’s—he’s always been in touch with my mother for inspiration. My investigation of the double identity murder case must have also been mentioned to him by my mother, right?" Deborah didn’t seem to pay much attention.
"The Northern Continent can only communicate with the Southern Continent by sea mail. Think about it, how long would it take for a letter to travel from the Empire to the frontier?" Aiden reminded.
"That..." Deborah understood Aiden’s point and began to ponder, "It would indeed take a considerable amount of time."
"If he drew inspiration from your mother, a round trip for a letter would take at least a month and a half, perhaps even longer. The news should be quite delayed, and that doesn’t even include the time needed for writing itself. Even if he were inspired by your experiences, his story should be lagging behind reality. But this magazine has been serializing the plot of ’you’ investigating the double identity murder case with the protagonist long before now, and the story has already reached the mid-point." Aiden took out a magazine and showed Deborah the issue number.
"But the story can’t possibly follow reality exactly, like this plot about ’Daisy being the witch’s child,’ it’s completely unrelated to reality," Deborah said as she reminisced, "Why are you so concerned about the plot of the novel?"
"To be honest, I think this ’Illusionist’ might be related to the events we’re experiencing," Aiden said, pointing to the open page, "He might know something about this double identity murder case."
Deborah blinked twice, "Mr. Aiden, that seems a bit far-fetched. I have encountered this case a long time ago, I even sought help from my mother, he would have known about the existence of this case quite early on."
Aiden thought for a moment and suddenly realized that from Deborah’s perspective, his thoughts were indeed far-fetched.
He speculated that the real-world double identity murder case was related to the "Illusionist" based on three points: first, he believed that the goddess of conspiracy was arranging the events, and to him, both this Deborah and the case itself seemed staged. But the specific style of arrangement obviously didn’t seem like Melissa’s, but rather that of a scriptwriter.
Second, the Illusionist had just happened to find out the true identity of the "Watcher" not long after Deborah appeared and even made proactive contact.
Third, the mysterious person connected to the Hound Duboman that Abigail had mentioned.
And these were all pieces that Deborah was missing. This reality was actually arranged by someone behind the scenes according to the novel—without any other prerequisites, it would be quite far-fetched to consider in such a direction with ordinary thinking.
"Regardless, I’m still very concerned about how closely the content serialized in this magazine matches reality," Aiden said, "Could you contact your mother and inquire about some intelligence on this ’Illusionist’?"
"I could, but given the distance... As you just said, the time it takes to send a letter from the Southern Continent to the frontier... by the time a reply comes back, we might have already resolved the case," Deborah said.
"You’re quite confident, aren’t you?" Aiden couldn’t help but laugh.
"Of course, because this time I’m working with you," Deborah said, gazing at Aiden with a tender look.
"Having such high expectations of me puts a lot of pressure on me," Aiden said with a wry smile, "But do you think this murderer will definitely strike on the night of the next full moon?"
"It’s not certain; he doesn’t kill every month. However, since coming to the Southern Continent, his frequency of killing has indeed increased," Deborah said, becoming serious again, "I think the chances of him acting are quite high."
"Then let’s reach out to your mother after all. I’m very interested in this ’Illusionist.’ Consider it a request from me, okay?" Aiden said.
"Of course, no problem at all. How could I refuse the request of my beloved?" Deborah said, tapping her lips with her finger.
"There’s no need to be so formal," Aiden felt a bit overwhelmed by her enthusiasm and steered the conversation back to the case, "I’ve been studying the double identity murder case these past few days."
"Oh? Did you find anything new?" Deborah asked.
"There aren’t any particularly striking findings, much the same as what you’ve said and what’s been reported. This serial killer targets young women on the night of the full moon, transforms into their likeness beforehand, and his acts of transforming the corpses into the undead using necromancy actually make no sense, raising the risk of being discovered instead. Judging by his behavior patterns, he is an undisguised hedonistic criminal."
"Exactly, the worst kind. Pure evil, letting such a person live another day is a waste of air," Deborah nodded vigorously, "I really want to catch him as soon as possible."
Aiden could see that Deborah had a strong aversion to this murderer.
"Have you tried divination in these past few days?" Aiden asked.
"I divinate almost daily, but these past few days I’ve basically drawn no results; my appearance doesn’t change at all after the divine words," Deborah shook her head.
"His true face has not been known to others, so he doesn’t need to use a ’substitute’ to hide his tracks in daily life," Aiden nodded, "Maybe we really can only find his chosen target before he prepares to kill. If we can’t prevent it, another life will be lost."
"That won’t happen. Evil will surely be punished, and justice will prevail!" Deborah declared confidently, puffing out her chest.
"You don’t feel embarrassed at all when saying such childlike words?" Aiden was surprised that Deborah could utter such a sentiment without embarrassment.
"Is there anything wrong with that?" Deborah blinked at Aiden, puzzled.
"No, you’re right," Aiden said with a mild smile.
Deborah’s pursuit of justice was pure, akin to a child’s longing for heroic tales, utterly opposite to the pure malevolence of the double identity murderer.
If Deborah’s account of her past was true, what kind of educational methods had the Duboman couple used to cause such a profound transformation in her?
