Chapter 44: Chapter 44 This is Caesar’s doing, what does it have to do with me?
[Location: Tino City · Tino Prison]
At the time when Louis began to cause a commotion.
Tino City Prison was still shrouded in cold gloom.
The former director of the waste processing plant, Snow, lay in the corner of the prison like a spent man.
The sound of a cane striking the ground prompted him to slowly lift his head.
What greeted his eyes was Marquis York standing outside the iron cell.
"Good day, Lord York. Which unlucky death row convict brought you here today?"
Marquis York looked at him quietly and sighed heavily:
"Tomorrow you will be taken to the guillotine. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
Snow’s dull eyes shifted as he smiled and said, "Haven’t you already used the truth serum?"
Marquis York, leaning on the head of his cane, said with a cold snort:
"I was taught a lesson by a gentleman today who told me that some things can be taken out of context yet still seem well-founded and that you can call a deer a horse and still make people believe."
Snow was somewhat surprised, saying: "At your level, someone still dares to teach you a lesson?"
Marquis York shook his head: "So is there nothing you want to tell me?"
"Nothing at all."
"Hmph, just stubborn, you deserve to end up like this."
The sound of a cane tapping the ground came from outside the cell.
The two stared at each other for a long time before Marquis York sighed and said:
"Forget it, I didn’t expect you to confess anything."
Snow patted his belly, smiling, and said: "Then why are you here?"
"I was just working overtime today and bought myself a cake."
Snow, in the cell, was dazed and slowly lifted his head:
"A cake?"
With a whoosh, a paper bag dropped in front of Snow.
Snow stared intently at the cake in the bag, which still exuded a faint coolness, and grinned:
"So, Lord York, you still remember my birthday?"
Snow took out the cake from the paper bag and took a bite:
"It’s quite good. I remember, on my previous birthday, you asked me to share a piece of cake with you, should I give you another piece this time?"
That was 20 years ago.
Snow had just joined the ranks of the City Lord’s Mansion and received his first paycheck, coinciding with his birthday.
For someone from the outer city, it was not easy to work in the Imperial Capital and joining Marquis York’s team as a regular operative was full of challenges.
The joy of settling in smoothly and the happiness of his birthday led him to rare spend money on a cake.
After work at noon, he hid in a corner to eat it secretly and happened to meet Marquis York at the time.
Snow, at that time, had not yet met his superior, but seeing this middle-aged man staring at the cake in his hands, he, in high spirits, cut a piece he hadn’t touched and handed it over.
—Only later did he know that the man was the well-known Marquis York.
Who would have thought that, as time flies, they would eat cake again, now separated by the cell bars.
Marquis York said calmly: "Because today is also my birthday."
Snow, who was eating cake, stopped, showing a look of realization and a trace of indiscernible melancholy.
"Sadly, I won’t have a chance to eat it again."
Snow lowered his head: "There are plenty of cakes."
"It’s not the same."
Snow ate the cake slow and steady: "Is it?"
"I should leave now, it’s time to say good night, Snow."
The sound of the cane gradually faded away, and the smile on Snow’s face slowly vanished, his eyes darkened, and finally, he sighed tiredly.
He said in a deep voice:
"When there was no way to dispose of the processing plant waste, I approached the mage who ’helped’ me, or rather, he approached me."
"I accepted his suggestion because I indeed needed to mitigate the impact of the waste."
"Moreover, I also wished to receive more of his help."
The receding sound of the cane stopped, and when Snow came to his senses, Marquis York stood before him again.
Marquis York asked, "What was the condition? Why could you hide it even under the truth serum?"
"Because it had nothing to do with the processing plant, it was merely my personal desire."
Snow confessed everything.
"Lord York, have you heard of the ’Book of the Dead’?"
"The Necromancy Magic Monarch Sandru’s ’Book of the Dead’?"
"No, it’s the ’New Book of the Dead’ improved by another Mad King Rudelson in later generations."
"The one claiming ’physical death can bring spiritual immortality’? What does this have to do with you?"
"Originally, it had nothing to do with me, but later it did. I saw that mage resurrect the dead."
"..."
Snow’s voice was hoarse: "My father had just passed away shortly before. Driven by selfishness, I agreed to his proposal."
"Foolish, don’t you know that without divine protection, the souls of the dead venturing into the Netherworld have no chance of return?"
"... I know, I do! But I wanted to gamble, just as I gambled that I could handle the waste issue."
Marquis York, trembling with rage, crushed the head of the cane.
Snow, disheartened, said: "Lord York, if you could go back to twenty years ago, when I was still an ordinary person uncorrupted by greed, would you still eat the cake I handed to you?"
"There are no such ’ifs’."
"Yes, so now I’m headed to the guillotine."
...
As Marquis York left the cell front, he looked with a complex expression toward the armored figure standing in the shadows.
"Is this also within your prediction, Your Highness Louis?"
"Call me Gaius Julius Caesar."
Perhaps thinking that pulling another prank after listening to the entire conversation wasn’t right, Louis removed his helmet, showing his true face, saying:
"I’m just an honorary prince without actual power. Extracting useful information from Snow’s mouth was thanks to your efforts, Marquis York."
Louis paused briefly, saying with some curiosity:
"So today really is your birthday?"
"Hmm."
Louis curiously asked: "Then that cake back then..."
"Your Highness Louis, the more a fruit tree yearns to reach heights, the larger the shadow it casts, attracting wild monkeys to climb and pluck its fruits... So, that cake is different."
The succubus’s perception of human emotions told him that Marquis York was speaking the truth.
As for whether everything was just a performance by Marquis York...
If even the bloodline instinct of a succubus, who sees through human hearts, could be deceived, then Marquis York was truly fearsome.
It was also then that Marquis York looked at Louis:
"Your Highness Louis, the commotion you caused yesterday was too great."
Louis flatly denied: "This was Caesar’s doing, what does it have to do with me?"
Sever!
Sever at light speed!
Marquis York merely smiled without a word.
When the public opinion erupted, he sent people to conduct an investigation.
What was adventurer Caesar’s true identity?
Which caravan did Grace register with upon entering the city?
He quickly found out and deduced the connection between Louis and Grace.
His intuition told him, behind every thread of this public opinion conflict was a calculation.
Whereas Louis fell into contemplation.
The Shi Jinquan incident in his previous life created a significant uproar, and after the truth was revealed, many accused him of exploiting the netizens’ goodwill.
Shi Jinquan himself endured immense pressure.
However, helping Grace, in contrast, was conveniently done by Louis, even guiding adventurers to the Dragonbone Prairie all to carry out an elaborate ruse.
Even Alice didn’t know his true calculation.
"Then next, it’s time for the final preparations."