When the plot-skips players into the game world

"——In fact, you've met him before."

"I've met him?"

Aiwass was somewhat puzzled.

Sherlock nodded, "During your knighthood ceremony. He was sitting right next to Inspector Gordon."

"...That middle-aged lawyer with golden short hair?"
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Upon hearing Sherlock say this, Aiwass recalled the lawyer in the white suit.

He expressed some surprise, "But he has blond hair..."

"My father's black hair, which I inherited, came from my grandmother."

Sherlock stated calmly, "And Uncle York inherited my grandfather's blond hair. As the eldest son, the family armor of the Hermes should have been passed to him.

"But at that time, it was right during the 'Ten-Day War.' My uncle did not want to go to the battlefield and so he passed the family armor to my father. The force my father was commanding at that time was the Vanguard Army. Thanks to His Excellency the Grand Arbitrator, a war that was predicted to be very brutal lasted only ten days. After the triumph, my father was promoted to Chamberlain."

"...So your father was the Chamberlain,"

Aiwass exclaimed, "You never mentioned that before."

The duties of the Chamberlain mainly included planning various ceremonies and events involving the royal family, as well as presiding over royal weddings and funerals, and appointing or dismissing servants and ladies-in-waiting within the Hall of Silver and Tin. It was essentially equivalent to a butler in a regular Knight Family, or even higher——he had the authority to supervise the education and conduct of royal family members, with the right to punish misbehaving princes and princesses.

Sherlock sighed, "Because my father and Her Majesty the Queen were once enthusiasts who enjoyed watching plays together. Unlike me, he was a fervent literature lover. So I believe his appointment included the Queen's personal feelings, not something worth boasting of.

"Also because of this experience, Her Majesty especially signed an order. She added an extra power for my father, allowing him to veto any new play performances, forcibly change any existing play's storyline, or revoke the performance qualifications of new theaters. However, my father never used this power before he was inexplicably struck by calamity."

"Calamity?" Aiwass inquired.

"The curse,"

Sherlock replied, "However, we had not found traces of the curse at that time and all thought it was poisoning——because Prince Kante's symptoms looked like he had been poisoned to death. His liver, lungs, and brain had almost melted, and blood poured from his mouth and nose. Priests who came to examine also confirmed it was poisoning."

"Since a royal family member died from poisoning, the servants responsible for His Royal Highness the Prince's daily life were the first to be interrogated. They had their memories extracted... and, of course, obtained no information."

"And at this time, an anonymous letter accused my father of being the poisoner. Later, the Supervisory Bureau found the same poison in our home. Under such circumstances, he had to undergo a memory search to prove his innocence, but the Law Magic of memory search would burn the brain... Essentially, my father was going to die either way, the difference was just whether he'd be innocent or not."

"——Obviously, things took a turn later." Aiwass nodded in agreement.

Because while Lord Arthur has stepped down from his minister position, he's clearly still alive.

"Indeed, Her Majesty the Queen immediately issued an emergency order, releasing my father. She bluntly said 'I don't believe Arthur would do such a thing,' disregarded the 'evidence' submitted by the Supervisory Bureau, directly acquitted him, and reinstated him to his original position."

"My father was grateful and tearful, but still adamantly presented his resignation."

Sherlock sighed, "He was right. Because it was only later that we realized, it was just the beginning. The deaths of every royal family member afterwards were different, and only then was it confirmed that it must be some kind of curse. Logically, the only nation with such strong curse power could only be Star Antimony... but actually, this claim isn't absolute or scientific."

"The Path of Love also possesses the ability to curse," Aiwass replied, "so the Iris People are also possible."

"Right," Sherlock nodded, "the Iris Kingdom has been hard pressed by the Star Antimony people. They are desperately hoping that Avalon could share some of the firepower.

"The curse caster might also come from the Giant Remnants. After all, one of the paths the Giants follow is the Path of Transcendence, and they also have the ability to curse; it could even be the Hand of the Scaleless or the Noble Red, as they also have a tradition in curse studies."

"Could it be," Aiwass tentatively realized something, "that Avalon actually doesn't know the origin of the curse caster?"

"Correct. Such a difficult-to-detect curse, with such a low frequency of execution, is publicly blamed on Star Antimony people because we have a deep-seated enmity, which makes it easier for the populace to understand and feel a greater sense of urgency——after all, there are quite a few who know we actually can't defeat Star Antimony. Setting up an unbeatable target can effectively avoid being held hostage by public opinion."

Not knowing exactly who the enemy is, the moment Avalon chooses the wrong battle target, it means inevitable doom.

Because the side originally cursing the royal family is unlikely to join the war immediately, but rather would kick us while we're down——even waiting for both sides to be injured to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

"Luckily my father ran away quickly. Otherwise, he too would be hard to excuse later."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze sharpened, "And my uncle, who has always claimed he likes being a lawyer. Looking back now, he also had the motive and possibility to frame my father.

"My relationship with my uncle used to be quite good... as a child, he would take me hunting, while my father only liked to watch plays. During the half month when my father went to the battlefield, it was he who came home to take care of me. The main reason I suspect him is because before the bomb attack, he was the last one to visit me."