The Law of the Silent Gentleman

Chapter 47 – Masquerade 3

The man in black walked to the center of the study as if nothing had happened, as if Giuliano was not there. He looked around, as if looking for something, and soon, a trace of disappointment crept up his brow. He muttered something Giuliano couldn’t understand in a low voice, singing in a cadence.

Giuliano couldn’t move.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to move. There are thousands of alarm bells in his head that are frantically ringing, urging him to run away, but his hands and feet don’t listen at all. Some small animals will be frightened and motionless when they encounter fierce beasts, and finally they cannot escape the fate of becoming delicacies. But Giuliano was dumbfounded not because of the huge disparity in strength, but because the two of them were fundamentally different existences, and that absolutely indelible sense of strangeness froze his body like ice.

Yes, strangeness. The man in black has hands and feet like a human, and his face is almost the same as that of a human—only more handsome, but there are also beauties among humans—except for those pointed ears, he is basically an ordinary human. But Giuliano could sense an extreme strangeness from him. It didn’t take a great deal of knowledge or logical thinking for him to understand that this person… no, this creature, was by no means human.

Like a human, but not a human, not only that, but something completely different from a human. This strange feeling was like a pair of cold hands strangling Giuliano’s neck, almost suffocating him.

As the man in black moved, his robes fluttered, like frantic shadows cast by the branches of a tree blown by a strong night wind. He stopped in front of Giuliano, bent down, and a pair of eyes as dark as a deep well met the emerald eyes of the young apprentice. He put a pale, slender finger on Giuliano’s lips, and shushed.

“Don’t talk.” This time, what he spoke was a language that Giuliano could understand, with a strange accent, but it was not the kind of tone full of exotic customs, more like some kind of intelligent creature other than humans insisted. Learn how humans speak.

“You don’t remember anything, nothing happened,” the man in black whispered softly, “You never saw anyone.”

Fingers slid from the young apprentice’s lips.

Giuliano took a deep breath and jumped up.

Just now… what happened?

He was obviously searching Fernando’s study, why did he suddenly sit on the floor? He touched his chest, but fortunately, the ledger was still hidden in his clothes. Is he asleep? …what are you kidding! How could he doze off at such an important moment? But how to explain the inexplicable gaps in his memory? It was as if someone had forcibly erased a few minutes from his brain, no matter how hard he recalled it, he couldn’t remember it.

Could it be that his little bottle full of drugs leaked, which hurt him instead? He inspected the bottle and found that it was tight and there was no possibility of leakage. That’s weird. What caused him to lose a memory?

If time permits, he really wants to stay and find out. But he had to get back to the dance as soon as possible. He had no choice but to temporarily put aside the mystery and turn back the same way. Maybe Enzo knows something.

He climbed back to the hanging garden, quietly went down to the third floor, and found the man who was stunned by him. The other party was still sleeping soundly, neither waking up nor being discovered. Giuliano changed their clothes and hurried downstairs. His clothes were heavily smelled of alcohol. Fortunately, there was a constant supply of wine at the dance, which might overwhelm the smell on his body. If someone asked, he could find a reason to get away with it.

The female singer before them was performing in the side hall. When she finished singing, it was the turn of “Poetry of Frost”. Giuliano came back just in time. He found Enzo and the others in a corner of the side hall—Antoine was leading his three companions, dancing and talking to the two members of “Poetry of Frost”. Enzo smiled and nodded while listening, which imperceptibly encouraged Antoine to continue.

Giuliano joined them as if nothing had happened. Spotting him, Antoine seized him by the arm, dragged him into the center of the circle, and introduced him solemnly to his new friends: Constanzia, a scholar from Akton, sister of Giannis, and Admiral Suveta of the Zanodian Navy. Constantia’s teacher was also there, but unfortunately she was not feeling well just now and went to the guest room to rest.

Giuliano forced a smile that almost froze. In another time and place, he would definitely have a good chat with them, but now is really not the time for chatting and laughing.

Only when he heard the name of “Gian Suveta” did Giuliano change his face slightly. He remembered the two Reticents he had encountered. Didn’t they plan to assassinate General Suveta at the masquerade? Were they also masked, hiding their identities, lurking around, looking for the right moment to take the General’s life?

He looked at Enzo, and the assassin shook his head at him. It’s not their business. They reached an agreement with the two Reticents not to interfere with each other’s missions. Even knowing Suveta was dying, he couldn’t intervene. To be honest, he didn’t want a hero like Suveta to die tragically at the hands of the assassins, but if a general with outstanding martial arts defeated the assassins instead, it would mean the end of the assassins—and Giuliano didn’t want to see his “brothers” come to an end . Regardless of whether the assassination was successful or not, the result was not what he wanted, but there was nothing he could do. One of the two endings must happen. This is the helplessness of being a silent person.

Antoine bumped Giuliano’s chest with his elbow, interrupting his contemplation: “Why did you go to the toilet for so long?” He sniffed vigorously, “You still smell of alcohol! Did you sneak away to drink? “

“No, I didn’t drink a drop, it was all spilled.” That’s not a lie. The wine was spilled by himself. Antoine naturally misunderstood someone else.

After the female singers on the stage finished singing, applause rang out. Reich ended their friendly conversation in good time. “It’s our turn. Excuse me.”

The three members of the orchestra say goodbye to Antoine and his friends and take the stage.

The second song of “Frost Poetry” is called “The Last Descendants of the Rose”, which tells the poignant legend of a group of ancient tribe survivors, and the audience all wept for the moving melody and sad lyrics.

At the end of the song, thunderous applause swept the audience, even alarming the people in the grand banquet hall. Many guests didn’t even dance and came to see what happened.

Constantia wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said to Antoine in a low voice: “If you were to rate and evaluate all the artists tonight, ‘Poetry of Frost’ would definitely win the championship.”

“I think so too!” Antoine was so excited that tears filled his eyes, and he clapped desperately until his hands hurt.

General Suvita nodded approvingly.

None of the three noticed that a pair of gorgeously dressed guests followed the crowd into the side hall, eyes full of murderous intent flickered behind the exaggerated masks.

After the second performance, Giuliano excused himself to change clothes and left the hall again. Enzo and Rexi are stalked by the enthusiastic and frenzied audience. They were responsible for attracting attention and allowing Giuliano to escape.

This time his target was Fernando’s bedroom on the third floor. According to his memory, the servant’s room is located below the bedroom, and there is a staircase leading to the third floor, which is convenient for the master to call the servant at any time. On the way he met a manservant, probably loafing. He couldn’t help but say that the servant was stunned, and changed into the servant’s clothes.

As soon as he entered the area where the servants lived, Giuliano secretly screamed that it was not good. The scene here was quite different from what he had imagined. The decoration of the corridor has been completely changed, and the floor has been covered with plush carpets. Because Fang Song’s family must have changed the layout of the mansion and moved the servant’s room to another place, this place is used for other purposes!

Fortunately, the corridor was empty. Giuliano found the staircase—it was still in place, not dismantled—and hurried up to the third floor, finally back where he knew it. The structure of the third floor has not changed much, and Fernando’s bedroom is also there. Giuliano pried open the door and slipped into the bedroom.

There is a faint scent of incense in the air. It seems that Fernando’s sleep quality has not been very good recently. According to common sense, there must be a safe or secret compartment in the bedroom of the master of the noble family to store the most precious or most secret things. A bookshelf stood in one corner of the bedroom, and Giuliano stepped up to examine it, smiling. The organ on the bookshelf? Really retro. Who would put “Dragon God’s Prayer” on the bookshelf majestically these days?

He gently pulled out the “Dragon God Prayer”. With the crisp sound of the mechanism being activated, the bookshelf slid aside, revealing the hidden compartment hollowed out in the wall behind.

There is a mahogany box in the dark compartment, which looks quite heavy. Giuliano took out the box and easily picked the lock on it.

There was a letter in the box. Giuliano took out a small alchemy lamp and illuminated the letter, only to see the word “suicide note” written on it, sealed with wax. Hide a suicide note behind a bookshelf? This is not surprising. Giuliano was very curious about the content of the suicide note. He could have unsealed the sealing wax without revealing any traces, and sealed it back after reading it, but he has more important things to do now. The box looked heavy and bulky, but the space inside was very small, only a suicide note was placed. This shows that the box must have a sandwich. When ordinary people see the bookshelf mechanism and the wooden box, they will take it for granted that the suicide note is Fernando’s ultimate secret. They never expect that the box has a mezzanine, which hides something more precious and hidden than the suicide note.

Giuliano rubbed the bottom of the box until he finally found a crack. This “bottom” is nothing more than a movable plank. He inserted the wire into the gap and lifted the plank to reveal the mezzanine.

There are several letters pressed in the interlayer, all of which have been opened. I don’t know what was written in it, but it was hidden by Fernando in such a precious place.

Giuliano opened the top letter. It is written very briefly, and the handwriting seems to have been written in a hurry.

Dear F:

Thanks to your reminder, we have avoided the Zanodian naval fleet and taken refuge in the Mist Islands. Now is the foggy season, and the navy dared not enter without a guide. After a few months they run out of supplies and will naturally retreat. I’ll go find you then.

yours, B

The “F” in the letter must refer to Fernando, but who is this “B”?

Full of doubts, Giuliano opened the second letter. The handwriting is the same as the previous one, written by the same person.

Dear F:

Are you satisfied with the gift I gave you? I remember last time you mentioned that the shipyard was in trouble. I thought it would be cheaper to refit an old ship than to build a new one. The characteristic of this kind of ship is that the top mast is one foot higher than that of ordinary ships. As long as the mast is replaced, no one can see its origin.

yours, B

Dockyard, old ship, refit…these words touch a certain string in Giuliano’s memory. He couldn’t wait to open the third letter.

Dear F:

The navy is moving out of the ordinary, and you don’t have to take the risk of visiting me. Now that the informant you set up in the navy has been removed, then Zanodia may not be able to stay for long. I plan to go to the waters near Vanessa to try. I’ll get in touch with you then.

yours, B

A nameless chill came over Giuliano. He guessed right. This “B” is a pirate. Fernando colluded with the pirates and planted informants in the Zanodian navy to steal military secrets and help the pirates evade the navy’s pursuit. The ships robbed by the pirates are rebuilt by the shipyard of the Yinfangsong family, and then sold to others under the false name of the new ships, from which Fernando can make huge profits. He really is a despicable villain who can do such a thing!

These letters and the books found in the study can undoubtedly become evidence against Fernando. Giuliano put away the letter, put the wooden box back in the dark compartment, restored the position of the bookshelf, extinguished the alchemy lamp, and hurriedly left the bedroom.

He went down to the second floor and walked through the hallway. The doors on both sides are closed. I don’t know what these original servant rooms have been transformed into.

“stop!”

Suddenly there was a stern cry from behind.

Giuliano was scared out of his wits.

“How dare you be lazy here? There is a lack of manpower at the dance, come with me!”

Giuliano turned around mechanically: “I…”

The one who stopped him was a servant with a red ribbon around his collar. He looked more senior than ordinary servants, and he might be in charge. Only then did Giuliano remember that he was wearing a servant’s clothes and a servant’s mask. No one could see his face under the mask, so he was naturally regarded as a servant of the Infangsong family.

The senior servant pointed at his nose and said angrily: “What are you doing, you lazy bastard! Come with me!”

If he really goes with him, then Giuliano will definitely be exposed! He has to find a reason to get out! If it didn’t work, he stunned the senior servant. But how will it end afterwards?