"Temple of Beauty and North Wu artifacts…" Sansone sat in his chair, a look of interest appearing on his face as he listened to Adele. He then spoke while pondering.
"The matter concerning the Temple of Beauty is understandable, but North Wu artifacts… Heh, I only speculated before, I didn't expect you to actually be connected to the legendary Judge of Heaven. No wonder you could calmly reveal so many secrets just now." Sansone said, now roughly understanding the Spirit Sight resistance Adele had shown earlier.
"No wonder you dared to come here alone, you have such powerful backing. It makes sense… you are the inheritor of The Path of Depravity. It's normal for the Judge of Heaven faith, if it truly revives, to try and contact you for cooperation." Sansone continued, while Adele didn't focus the topic on the Judge of Heaven, but continued to emphasize.
"So, the Honorable Governor, can you accept my request?"
Listening to Adele's words, Sansone's expression paused slightly, then he spoke again after a moment of thought.
"Last year, the Judge of Heaven assisted the rebel government in Adus. Faloro had good interests in Adus, but they were destroyed by the rebels. Regarding the overall issue of North Wu, the Judge of Heaven is considered an unstable factor by us. Do you think I would help them?" Sansone looked at Adele and said seriously, while Adele chuckled lightly and spread her hands, speaking.
"the Honorable Governor, please don't be mistaken. Is the biggest problem Faloro currently faces the colonial issue? No, colonies are just a marginal issue for Faloro. Your current core problems lie in the intensifying internal political struggle, the Church's continued crude interference, the Tayi Sect's rampant spread within the country… Compared to these problems, the issue of North Wu is simply insignificant. Please don't forget the primary and secondary nature of contradictions. Although we have friction in some minor aspects, there is room for cooperation in larger aspects."
Adele spoke to Sansone with a calm expression. After listening to her words, Sansone pondered for a moment, then silently nodded.
"Hmm… cooperation in larger aspects, interesting… Tell me, what exactly do you want?"
"What we want is the right to use the Temple of Beauty tomorrow morning, and the information on various ancient artifacts you have plundered from Faloro over the years, preferably with some preliminary research findings."
After hearing Sansone's statement, Adele directly stated her request. Sansone carefully considered Adele's words, and after a long silence, nodded in response.
"Alright… I will arrange it later."
"Thank you for your wisdom, the Honorable Governor…" Listening to Sansone's reply, Adele smiled slightly, then performed a slight Faloro court etiquette towards Sansone.
...
In the distant sky above the Temple of Beauty, the constantly hanging sun disc finally set on the horizon. Under the gradually darkening sky, Dorothy's carriage was traveling on a small road. She herself was currently sitting inside the carriage, communicating with Adele, who was still in the Temple of Beauty far away, using a consultation channel.
"It seems the talk went quite smoothly. This Sansone is much easier to talk to than we previously thought; he accepted all our proposals." Adele said to Dorothy's followers via the information link, while Dorothy also spoke leisurely, gently swaying inside the carriage.
"After all, we truly saved him. These conditions are easily achievable for him, so it's normal for him to agree to all of them. However, the extent of his straightforwardness was indeed a bit beyond my expectation. He only slightly objected regarding the Judge of Heaven; he didn't say much about the other aspects."
"Oh… so according to your understanding, little Detective, what else should this Sansone have objected to?" After listening to Dorothy's words, Adele asked curiously, and Dorothy immediately replied.
"In the public eye of Faloro, this Sansone has always appeared as a staunch anti-Bourbons figure, giving people the impression that he is Bourbons' biggest enemy in Faloro. But this great enemy of Bourbons is now so calm and composed when communicating with you, who have extremely high legitimacy, have inherited The Path of Depravity, and can completely become the flag bearer and leader of the Faloro Royalists. He doesn't seem anxious at all, which feels a bit surprising."
Dorothy said this to Adele, and Adele, far away, couldn't help but be taken aback after hearing Dorothy's words, then she spoke in response.
"Didn't he say before? His opinion about Bourbons mainly stems from the malicious extraordinary events caused by Bourbons' relics throughout Faloro. Perhaps he doesn't have much malice towards Bourbons themselves."
"Not having much malice doesn't mean having no malice. Did you feel any malice from him towards you when you talked to him before?" Dorothy asked Adele in return. Hearing Dorothy's words, Adele paused slightly, and then continued to speak.
"It seems… completely none, but as Faloro's Scarlet Governor, after recovering my ability, I may not be able to fully perceive his desires. It's also possible he has some way to resist my ability."
"Matters on the extraordinary level are indeed unclear at the moment, but based on my observation, when he was talking to you, neither his tone nor his expression showed any aversion or dissatisfaction. When mentioning the Royalists within Faloro, his tone was more like sarcasm. And when mentioning the Dressed King, although he expressed dissatisfaction with him, there was even a slight sigh in his tone…" Dorothy said this to Adele. After hearing Dorothy's words, Adele responded thoughtfully.
"Listening to you say that… it does seem to be the case. When mentioning the Dressed King, that guy even specifically looked around at the various spoils of war in the Hall of Honor. Hey, little Detective, you don't think that guy could be… No, if that were the case, why would he so strongly oppose Bourbons on the surface?"
As she spoke, Adele thought of a conclusion that surprised her, but she quickly began to question this conclusion, and at this moment, Dorothy spoke again.
"Think about it carefully. The time when Sansone began strongly opposing Bourbons coincides with the time when the Tayi Sect became rampant within Faloro and malicious illegal incidents proliferated. The purpose of the Placenta's activity within Faloro is to collect Bourbons' relics to decipher The Path of Depravity. If we don't want them to succeed, we must collect the various Bourbons' relics scattered among the populace.
"Imagine, what if Sansone's real intention wasn't to suppress Bourbons, but to protect Bourbons? To obstruct the Placenta's plot, the best method is for the authorities to step forward and collect Bourbons' relics on a large scale, focusing on protecting some important surviving bloodlines. And there must be a reason for enforcing such a prohibition. Saying it's to protect Faloro's cultural heritage is clearly inappropriate. Firstly, if the reason is too weak, the enforcement of the decree will be insufficient. Secondly, such a reason can easily arouse the suspicion of the Church, which has always guarded against the resurgence of Bourbons. Therefore, it's better to use a reason that is the opposite.
"By publicizing the harmful legacy of Bourbons' ideas, emphasizing Faloro's revolutionary and modern nature, and using the reason of clearing Bourbons' remnants, Sansone can enforce the Bourbons prohibition from a stance opposed to Bourbons. Through forced searches and seizures, he can snatch Bourbons' relics from the Placenta, and through arrests and surveillance, protect those important remaining Bourbons bloodlines, fighting against the Placenta and protecting Bourbons under the banner of anti-Bourbons."
Dorothy voiced her speculation to Adele in this manner, and Adele was clearly startled after hearing Dorothy's conjecture. After a moment, she spoke again.
"This... is it possible to do it this way? Yes... if Sansone's true purpose wasn't purely to oppose the Bourbons, then the Church's attitude of disdain towards him would make sense!"
"Yes, I speculate that while Sansone's move could deceive most people, for those high-level individuals who can truly see the overall situation of Faloro, there's a possibility that they could discern his actions, including the Faloro Grand ArchBishop and his Governor political rival."
"Perhaps Sansone's actions against the Bourbons brought about this assassination. His move can be said to have simultaneously offended the Church, the Tayi Sect, and the remaining royalists in the country. His political rivals used this to weave a conspiracy specifically targeting him," Dorothy continued to analyze, and Adele, after listening to her words, remained silent for a moment before responding again.
"So... that's how it is? For the Church... they even acquiesced to cooperating with the Tayi Sect in order to completely eliminate the Bourbons?"
"For the Church, both the Bourbons and the Tayi Sect are intolerable. Tolerating one to deal with the other is completely acceptable to them, as long as after Sansone's death, his false anti-Bourbons cause is turned into a genuine one. Furthermore, in this incident, the Judge of Heaven also wanted to use this as an opportunity to contend with the other two factions. For the Judge of Heaven, if things ultimately succeed, accepting indirect temporary cooperation with the Tayi Sect is not out of the question."
Dorothy continued speaking to Adele, and listening to her words, Adele responded with a complex tone.
"So, behind this conspiracy... there are so many intricate entangled interests. Before coming to Faloro, I thought the waters here might be a bit deep, but I didn't expect them to be this deep. This time, it's all thanks to you, little Detective... I would have been completely unable to handle this complex and severe situation on my own."
"After experiencing so much of this entire affair, I feel like you were still handling it with ease in the end. Is this the composure of the Scarlet Tier? I didn't expect that in just a short year, the little Detective would evolve into an existence that even I need to look up to..."
Adele said this to Dorothy, her tone filled with sincere gratitude, and Dorothy responded softly.
"Actually, it was fine. This time, working on the outskirts of Flotz, it's estimated that my abilities were somewhat limited by the Archbishop in the city. It's naturally best to resolve the entire incident with low-intensity extraordinary intervention. Also, Adele, this time you will likely obtain clues for advancing to the Scarlet Tier. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, you'll be at the same level as me."
"Is that so... then I'll take your good word, little Detective."
"Of course. All right, it's getting late now. Get some rest early. We still have things to do tomorrow morning."
After Dorothy finished speaking, she disconnected the communication with Adele. Then, she continued to control her Corpse Puppet to drive the carriage through the countryside, heading towards the dim distance.
...
Time flew by, the moon set, and the sun rose. Soon, the night passed. As the darkness gradually dispersed, the southern suburbs of Flotz welcomed the dawn's light.
At dawn, under the hazy sky, the Temple of Beauty, which had been bustling for the past few days, was now completely silent and deserted. After yesterday's incident, Faloro's anti-magic guards quickly sealed off the scene, taking away all the attendees of the audience banquet. Afterwards, the entire Temple of Beauty was sealed off by the anti-magic guards, and even the servants who originally worked there were temporarily taken away.
Faloro's anti-magic guards are mainly controlled by Sansone, who is one of the Governors. This is his subordinate organization. Under Sansone's orders, the entire perimeter of the Temple of Beauty is guarded and sealed by the anti-magic guards, and not a single person is left inside, making the Temple of Beauty incredibly empty today.
In the morning's Yizhang Square, cold air permeated, and it was cold and silent. A beautifully dressed woman walked alone on this wide ground. Still wearing her elaborate king's costume, Adele slowly walked past Xia Er's bronze statue step by step, arriving at the largest building on the square, the second stage, the Dawn Fountain.
At this time, the Dawn Fountain still maintained the posture of a lotus water feature, forming a blooming water lotus with gushing water columns. Adele silently came to the edge of the stage where she had danced yesterday, carefully observing the scene within, and then saw a sight different from yesterday.
In the center of the fountain, on the circular stage created by the mechanism moving the bronze statue, heavy stone slabs were now laid out. These stone slabs all had exquisite patterns. These patterns were connected to each other, forming a huge lotus, exactly the same as the water lotus of the fountain.
These were originally the floor of the stage in the Hall of Singing, which could be disassembled and assembled at will. They were usually placed on the stage of the Hall of Singing in a disordered state, and could be reassembled to become the first stage during the audience banquet.
And the puzzle-like nature of this stage dictated that it could be moved entirely, not just assembled in the Hall of Singing, but also in other places.
The size of the circular platform on the Dawn Fountain was exactly the same as the stage in the Hall of Singing. In other words, those lotus puzzles could be completely assembled on the fountain platform, and this is what Dorothy was doing at this moment. She had just had her Corpse Puppet remove all the stage floor tiles from the Hall of Singing and transfer them all to the fountain for assembly. The resulting lotus could perfectly fit into the fountain platform, as if these floor tiles should have been here from the beginning.
Looking at the broken lotus within the water lotus before her, Adele took a deep breath, then lifted her skirt and passed through the water curtain, stepping onto the fountain stage once more. Then she faced east and began to dance again.
Adele once again performed a noble and elegant dance. Even though there weren't as many spectators as yesterday, she still danced with all her might, seemingly dedicating a dance to the Temple of Beauty itself, to the long-extinct Bourbons.
As Adele danced, the sun in the east gradually rose, and the dawn's light gradually spilled from the horizon, shining onto the golden roof of the Temple of Beauty, emitting dazzling brilliance. When this vibrant dawn light passed through the colorful dome of the Caiqiong Hall, a new projection was cast down. However, unlike the dim light from the west at sunset, the morning light from the east at dawn naturally shone from the opposite direction.
The morning light from the east cast a blurry colorful halo from the Caiqiong Hall onto the Yizhang Square to the west. As time passed and the sun rose higher, these halos gradually moved towards the Dawn Fountain. In the transformation of light and shadow, the halos gradually deformed. At the moment when the entire halo transformed into a lotus of light, the entire halo completely overlapped with the Dawn Fountain.
Thus, in the Temple of Beauty, the first broken stage, the second water lotus stage, and the third light halo stage, perfectly overlapped at dawn, becoming one. Adele became the dancer who danced on these three stages simultaneously...