Second World Novel

"Why would she do that?"

"I assume because she did not want to blindly follow this fake Jimena or fake Winston's wish. She must have been coerced by him to steal it, probably using a threat or something. However, she had no intention to just follow the instruction through. She probably didn't believe the culprit would let her go once she gave the painting away, thus she hid it and tried to use it to negotiate with the culprit."

"But I suppose the negotiation failed," the captain commented.

"Yes, and probably in a fit of rage, she was killed, along with the guard that was supposedly in charge of her."

"If it was the Jimena or Winston that came to talk with her, it made sense that the guard I appointed to watch over Joselyn did not react until the culprit has made his or her move."

"Yes, but unfortunately for the culprit, and fortunately for us. Joselyn did not tell him where he had hidden the stolen painting. I bet he was using his Winston persona during the deed. After committing the murders, he searched Joselyn's room to try to find it, but his endeavor was cut short when he sensed someone passing by, which happened to be the Marquess. He pretended as if he had only just found the bodies as well, and told the Marquess that they needed to inform the others. He was probably hoping for the Marquess to be the one that would go to inform the others while he stayed at the crime scene, so he could continue with his search. Unfortunately, the Marquess must be feeling inappropriate for a ranked noble like him to go around calling for people, that's why the butler ended up the one that was sent to inform the others while the Marquess stayed behind."

The fake Jimena's eyes twitched when she heard Jack's mocking tone during his last sentence.

"But it would make no difference anyway," Jack continued. "As the stolen painting was never really in her room. Nevertheless, the culprit didn't know about that. So I believe he would be coming back to Joselyn's room to look for it. Hence I decided to hide inside the room waiting for the culprit to show up."

"That's why you asked us to part ways yesterday," captain Salem said.

"Yes. And the culprit did indeed appear, in the form of head maid Jimena. I was slightly perturbed when I saw her, because even at that time, my first suspect was actually already the butler. So I decided to follow her, but on my way, I accidentally saw another Jimena. That's when I realized the culprit was using some kind of disguise magic to change his or her appearance."

"I see, that's why you lay your trap during the dinner time, when both Jimena and Winston was present, in order to bait the culprit to come here by saying the stolen painting was still in this room."

"Yes, that would be the case," Jack admitted. He then looked at the fake Jimena, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

"So where is that supposed painting now?" Fake Jimena said with a surprisingly calm tone.

Jack frowned at her reaction. "At a safe place," he answered while putting his guard up.

"Take it out," she said.

"So you admit to all this?" The duke came forward.

Captain Salem put his body to block the duke. "Careful," he said. Despite the duke being a higher level and higher trait, he was still a magical class, not suitable for melee. If their opponent made a sudden move, the duke would be unable to cast a single spell before the opponent strikes."

Fake Jimena laughed before suddenly her countenance shifted, and she transformed into another person, the butler Winston! He said to Jack, "you said you were already suspicious of me already from the start, care to explain why?"

"Nothing much, just some words you have said during the interviews," Jack replied.

"Oh? What about it?"

"You said you saw the barrier formation appearing, but you deny that you have gone outside of the mansion."

"And why is that suspicious?"

"It will be difficult to notice the barrier formation from inside the mansion. The light show of the barrier formation is not seen through the window glass."

"Only because of that?"

"It was a start," Jack said, and continued, "You must have seen the barrier formation when you went outside. You tried to cover about going outside because your original plan was to have Joselyn threw the stolen painting out of the window. You used the coincidence of the Marquess' visit to check on the duke and make sure the painting was on the stand. Then after you came out of the workroom, you told Joselyn to proceed with the plan. When she went into the duke's workroom, you went outside and waited underneath the tower. Once the painting left the window, the barrier formation would be up, and Joselyn would be inside to take the fall while you would use the chance to escape from the formation. You must have been getting restless down there when it took so long for the item to fall from the window, as Joselyn had diverted from your original plan at this time. When the barrier formation was finally up and nothing came down from the window, you knew then something had gone wrong. You wanted to confront Joselyn but she was kept in custody by the duke. And when the castle guards appeared, she was constantly being watched. It was not until yesterday morning that you finally couldn't wait anymore and decided to confront her despite the castle guard was by her side."

Winston laughed, "I must admit it, Duke Alfredo. The adventurer you had hired was indeed impressive."

"Who are you? You are certainly not Winston!" The Duke demanded.

"The adventurer and you were half correct, this body is Winston's. However, I am not."

"Arcane Possession?" The Duke was startled. "Who are you really?"

"Anyone who defies the God of Fear will be punished!" A dark silhouette suddenly appeared above Winston without warning, the aura in the room abruptly dropped several degrees. The silhouette turned to Jack and looked at him with an eery gaze. Jack could not help but tremble from that cold piercing gaze.

Jack used his God-eye monocle to gauge the apparition.

Cardinal of Phobos (Rare Elite Human, Apparition), level: 60

HP: 310,000

Crap! Level 60? Jack started to panic. "Run!" He heard Penniel's scream in his mind.

The phantom apparition exclaimed with a screeching voice, "the punishment for your meddling is this! I'll pry that item from your meddlesome corpse!"

Winston lunged at him together with the phantom silhouette. His movement was too fast! Jack had no chance to dodge. His hand pierced through Jack's body with raw strength alone.

"No!" Captain Salem yelled. He wanted to take action but Winston's attack had simply been too fast and too sudden.

"Huh?" Winston expressed a baffled expression. Jack's body disintegrated in front of him, but he felt something was off. He sensed something and turned to the other side of the wall. Jack emerged from the shadow.