The Law of the Silent Gentleman

Chapter 46 – Masquerade 2

“… Something is wrong.”

This was Enzo’s first sentence after the performance.

Giuliano looked at the assassin inexplicably, not knowing what expression was hidden under his mask. They performed very smoothly, and the audience applauded thunderously, with unprecedented enthusiasm, and even a few emotionally vulnerable ladies fainted from crying on the spot. What’s wrong with such a successful performance?

However, after just a few seconds, he had to admire Enzo’s ability to manage things like a god.

A young man struggled his way through the crowd, waving excitedly at them. Another man and two women followed behind him.

“Lexie! Lexie is me! I am Antoine!” the young man yelled and turned to his companions behind him, “I really know them! Don’t you believe me! Miss Constanzia, do you still remember? I met three friends in Ponto City? That’s them!”

Giuliano suddenly felt dizzy.

—how is it him! Didn’t Antoine go to Akdon to find the scholar’s sister? Why did it appear in Zanodia? And he even attended the masquerade ball? Something is wrong! If they are entangled by Antoine, all previous efforts will be in vain!

Of course Enzo understood this too. Before Antoine could squeeze in front of them (thanks to the enthusiastic audience for stopping him), the assassin whispered to Giuliano: “You go, I will stabilize them.”

Giuliano was startled: “Am I alone?”

“Go!”

The assassin pushed him, pushed him into the crowd, and shouted exaggeratedly: “Isn’t this Antoine! What a coincidence! Why are you here?”

He managed to attract the attention of the crowd. Antoine proudly showed off to his female partner: “Look, I’m not talking too much, right? It’s them, they must be right!” The people around cast curious glances at them, Giuliano took the opportunity to get out of the crowd, Walk away quickly along the wall.

Antoine finally squeezed his way in front of his old friends, and took his companion by the hand, drawing her to him. “This is the friend I was talking about. This is the bard Lei Xi, and this is Enzo. Hey, why are there only you two? Julie…”

“He’s in a hurry, and he’ll be back in a while.” Enzo replied quickly.

Antoine let out an “oh”, and interpreted the “urgent matter” as “internal urgency” on his own.

“Leave him alone. Come, come, let me introduce you. This is Miss Constanzia, and her elder brother is the scholar Giannis we met on Mount Chevignon. This lady is Constanzia Miss’s teacher—Theodora. They are both scholars at the University of Akton.”

Enzo and Rexi bowed to the two ladies. The two ladies also bowed and bowed.

“This one is…well…” Antoine enthusiastically introduced the last “companion” to his friend, “He is…uh…I don’t know your name yet…”

The last “companion” is a tall and strong man, wearing a black panther mask, standing with his hands behind his back habitually, which is a soldier’s standing posture.

“My name is Hean Suweita. It’s an honor to meet all of you.” Black Panther Mask said calmly.

Giuliano passed the table, picked up a bottle of wine, and put it in his arms. This thing has a magical effect, whether you can escape smoothly depends on it. When he passed by a group of painted ladies, the silk scarf in the pocket of a certain lady was in his hands in an instant, and the lady was laughing with her friends, and did not notice that the silk scarf had disappeared.

He found the stairs and went up the stairs. This part of the mansion was furnished exactly as he remembered it, which gave him some courage. At least he won’t go the wrong way. On the third floor, a man happened to appear in front of him, probably wanting to go for a walk in the hanging garden.

Giuliano took out a “borrowed” silk scarf, and slipped out of his sleeve a small bottle filled with a colorless, odorless liquid. He pulled out the cork, poured the liquid on the silk scarf, put the bottle away, and quietly approached the man from behind.

The man didn’t realize that the danger was approaching. When he realized that there was someone behind him, Giuliano suddenly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief. The liquid soaked in the towel is a powerful hypnotic, and just one breath can make people sleep soundly for half a day. The man rolled his eyes and passed out. Giuliano hurriedly supported his body and dragged him to a corner of the corridor.

This move may have caused the man to be ridiculed, but Giuliano couldn’t care less. He silently apologized to the man in his heart, then took off the man’s clothes and mask, and exchanged them with his own. In this way, he suddenly became one of the many guests.

After dressing up, Giuliano opened the bottle of wine that he had “snatched by hand”, spilled some on the ground next to him, and threw the bottle aside. Anyone who saw this scene would think that the man was drunk and unconscious. In order to prevent being bumped into by others, this is the only way to do it.

He silently apologized to the man again, then returned to the stairs and boarded the Hanging Garden.

The garden is not as lively and crowded as the ballroom. On the contrary, it is quiet and pleasant. The air is filled with a faint fragrance of flowers and soil, and the chirping of autumn insects further reflects the tranquility of this place. Giuliano noticed that there were people behind several flower stands, but they were intoxicated in their own world and didn’t notice Giuliano. Even if they did, they only regarded him as a guest who came up to breathe.

A chest-high fence surrounds the Hanging Gardens. Giuliano leaned on the fence, pretending to be leaning on the fence and looking into the distance, but he was actually looking down. Just below is the study room, and flowers are planted on the window sill extending outward. He secretly prayed to the gods that the windows would not be locked, then jumped up, climbed out of the fence, grabbed the edge of the roof with both hands, and landed gently on the window sill.

He pushed the window—thank the gods, it wasn’t locked, and opened with a push. He jumped into the study and rolled on the spot to slow down the impact when he landed.

The study was pitch-black, and the furniture and furnishings could only be seen clearly through the moonlight. There was an alchemy lampstand on the desk, but Giuliano didn’t dare to take the risk of lighting the lamp for fear of being discovered by outsiders, so he could only rely on the light of the stars and the moon to search around.

He has limited time, and it is impossible to turn this place upside down, so he can only pick the most important ones and take them away. His purpose is to find Fernando’s weaknesses (such as evidence of his collusion with Bonniewell) and use them to beat him. Bringing down Fernando is tantamount to weakening Boniwell’s power. Governor Vanessa will definitely show his flaws.

If Fernando had a dark secret, where would he hide it? Giuliano looked around and noticed a safe under the desk. His intuition told him that what was locked inside must be Fernando’s important documents.

The lock head of the safe is made of fine steel, which is difficult to break even with brute force. Giuliano stroked the lock, trying to recall Enzo’s teaching. The best locks in the world are divided into several types, and each type has a different opening method… This safe uses a chain lock, which is not the most complicated type, but it is by no means simple.

If only Enzo was here. Giuliano sighed inwardly. A mere broken lock will definitely not trouble him. But I can’t rely on Enzo for everything. If I can’t even open a lock, how can I avenge my family?

He took out a wire from his boot, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned the wire like walking on thin ice, making it touch the small mechanism in the lock. The subtlety of the chain lock lies in the chain mechanism in the lock cylinder, as long as one is wrongly opened, the rest will be completely locked.

He concentrated all his energy on the wire in his hand, felt every vibration from it, and finely adjusted the position and angle of the wire. After what seemed like a century, there was a faint “click” sound from the keyhole, which meant that all the organs had been opened. Giuliano finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and opened the safe door.

There were several neatly bound volumes in the safe. He took out a copy, but found that it was too dark to read a single word. Now it’s time to take a risk. He closed the curtains and removed a small alchemy lamp from his belt. The light of this kind of light ball is weak, only slightly brighter than fireflies, and the duration is very short, only a few minutes. People outside should not be able to detect such a faint light. He just wanted to read the contents of the brochure, and a small light bulb was enough.

He lights up the ball of light and places it over the page to illuminate the words on it.

It’s all numbers.

Column after column of numbers, behind various items, is confusing at first glance. But Giuliano’s family has been in business for generations, and he has long been familiar with this kind of stuff from his mother.

“The ledgers of the shipyard?”

He quickly flipped through the pages of the album, and the columns of numbers turned into bundles of wood, canvas after canvas, metal after metal, and craftsmen after teams in his mind. The ledger records in detail the materials purchased by the shipyard, the craftsmen hired and the goods sold. But something is wrong. Giuliano didn’t know much about the shipbuilding industry, but no matter how stupid he was, he could realize that the amount of materials used to build a ship should be far more than the figures on the ledger.

A terrible speculation gradually formed in his mind. He believed that Fernando would definitely be able to do such a dirty thing, but… the books alone were not enough, he needed more evidence!

But time is running out. He had to get back to the party quickly or he would miss the next performance. Fortunately, he still has another chance. After the performance, he would go to Fernando’s bedroom to have a look, maybe he would find more clues. If only Antoine hadn’t come! The search efficiency of him and Enzo must be higher. Although Giuliano liked the young swordsman very much, he couldn’t help complaining about him at the moment.

Giuliano put the account book into his clothes and put it close to his body to prevent it from being lost accidentally. Then he closed the safe door and put back the things he messed up one by one.

After cleaning up the scene, he turned to the window and was about to turn back the same way, but was suddenly startled by the scene in front of him, and fell to the ground!

There is a man standing in front of the window! He was wrapped in a black robe from top to bottom, only showing his pale and handsome face. His ears are pointed and long, like the legendary ancient elves. Moonlight poured into the study from behind him, outlining a layer of silver for him. This image should be as heartbreakingly beautiful as a storybook illustration, but Giuliano just finds it creepy! When did this person come in? Why didn’t he notice it at all? Who the **** is this person?