Corneille nodded. There are always trade-offs in everything. If Don Rodick couldn't grab the life-saving straw, killing her would be a relief. As for Don Rodick's lacerations, if she is considered a woman, in addition to the physical pain, the price she paid was also mental humiliation. But Corneille planned to turn Don Rodique back into a male, so that some shame and some memories could be selectively forgotten. In addition, he also marveled at Annie's strength. Teleportation magic sounds very convenient, but teleporting part of the body to a place dozens of kilometers away, processing it and sending it back without any dislocation, heavy bleeding or rejection reaction... "Although the Longueville family's special inheritance mechanism makes all witches in this family monsters when they debut, it is very rare for someone to reach Anne's level at the age of 16." Cecil looked up at Corneille and said, "If she is willing to marry Dias, that would be best, but if the two of them don't like each other, you should consider marrying her." "Why are you talking about me?" said Corneille. "Replacing White Peony Tea with Moon Spirit Tea is a good start, Gao Naiyi, you should give up your other thoughts too." "I'm already in Waite." "Your heart is still in Eagle County. Don't hide it from me. I know everything. That's why I recommend Miss Longueville. Her means and charm are enough to make you forget your old love.
You are suitable to marry a scheming and capable evil witch. You make the evil witch more lovely, and she also helps you become more smooth, this is a happy life. Relatively speaking, it won't work for Melusina. You two are of the same nature. It's okay to be friends, but there will be problems if you are husband and wife for a long time. Of course, her family pays more, if the amount is enough to impress you... Damn it, why am I not a man? I also want to make money while getting married!" Cecil said this until he broke down. Melusina, who was peeping through the crack in the study door, laughed. Originally, she was a little angry that her friend (Corneille) did not come home all night, and she felt that it was simply inappropriate for a man to stay out all night. She had not stopped spying on him since Corneille came back. At this moment, the doctor's words blew away the clouds in her heart. It turned out that Corneille had not yet recovered from her emotional injury and was not messing around with Waite. His male morality could still be saved. That way, there would be no need to lecture him. Without lectures, there would be no need to spy. After the prying eyes disappeared, Corneille stretched out his hand, and Cecil clapped hands with him tacitly, and said with a smile: "Why did you provoke her? She has been single for so long that her mind has become weird. If you smile at her, she might think that you have feelings for her." "This is all Her Highness Isabella's fault. She leaked some information and asked me to win over Miss Melusina. Miss Melusina is not a bad person, but her feelings... are a bit heavy." Cornelius put down the comb and said dejectedly: "Why, whether it's a friend or a lover, no normal woman likes me? If I weren't a superhuman, my stomach would probably be broken." "It's better than no one liking it." "That's not much of a consolation... but thank you," Cornelius responded bitterly. Chapter 37 Incident Investigation Diaz was excluded from the specific operation, which was something everyone discussed at the beginning. In private, Diaz obtained information from Anne. Dias felt powerless and painful as a bystander. Anne said unintentionally and provocatively: "It would be great if Mr. Toledo was a girl. If you could become a powerful witch, you could travel with your friends." For the next two nights, Anne's temptation repeatedly echoed in Diaz's mind. She liked the feeling of having her body filled with magic power and free from illness, but being a witch was a path she had never imagined.
I am a man, she said to herself. His male pride made him reject the path of the witch, but when he thought of Corneille, his desire to walk side by side with him made him extremely eager for strength. Most of the time, male self-esteem can suppress the desire for power, but occasionally, she also thought about being a witch for a while, and then waiting for the right time to change back to a man. What am I thinking about! These thoughts will end in shame and confusion, and become unspeakable concerns. Therefore, Dias' monthly exam results were not ideal, forcing Melusina to take some time out of her magic teaching to tutor Dias in his homework. While Diaz suffered a setback, Corneille was making great strides, making breakthroughs in every direction: First, Director Kadi, who was busy with job transfers, chose to keep quiet and did not take any action against Tang Rodick. Corneille went to the Tower of Discipline to drink tea every day, asked for an exorbitant price from Director Cadi, slowly discussed the settlement plan, and when others were not paying attention, told Don Rodick about the situation in the outside world. In the direction of the Holy Land, Corneille's men focused on investigating the vicious incident in which Don Rodick killed his wife's best friend and her entire family. The testimonies of eyewitnesses, the extraordinary people sent to the area by the State Church that day, and the doctors who participated in the treatment were all unfavorable to Don Rodic, and the conclusion of the State Church was also clear: Don Rodic's fanatics were killing innocent people indiscriminately. The records of the state church's supernatural beings mentioned that the mad woman claimed that she was Don Rodick, but the state church did not take any action to verify the mad woman's claim. There are two reasons: first, the heart and shield displayed by Corneille fully prove the death of Don Rodique. If the state religion claims that Don Rodique is not dead, it will be regarded as a joke; Second, Cardinal Anmita, who was in charge of the pagan extraordinary people and was also Don Rodice's immediate superior, immediately announced Don Rodice's death and held a grand funeral for him after receiving the news that Corneille had displayed the spoils. Anmita handled Don Rodic's funeral beautifully and provided generous compensation. Everyone saw her kindness, and in just one year, the number of pagan extraordinary people working for her doubled. The increase in her reputation and power earned her the good job of going to the Sacred Heart Monastery to become the new "Pope" and the king of the forest. The Sacred Heart Monastery is located on a narrow plain in the south of Wette. It has a flat terrain and abundant resources. It is one of the few places in the south of Wette where crops can be grown. Ten kilometers to the south is the border town of the Holy Land State. After the merger of Wette and the Federation, a road connecting the capitals of Wette and the Holy Land was built to promote communication and trade, and the Sacred Heart Monastery is located on this road. The large undeveloped areas in the south of Waite and the mountainous areas in the north of the Holy Land exhausted the merchants from both states, so they all chose to rest at the Sacred Heart Monastery, store goods, or conduct transactions directly. A prosperous market formed near the monastery, bringing rich income to the monastery and also bringing additional influence to the cardinal who managed the monastery. Since ancient times, money has been an indispensable element in the power struggles within the upper echelons of the state religion. It can be said that the fall of Don Rodic allowed Anmita to reap the full benefits. If someone jumps out and says "Don Rodic is not dead" or wants to verify that Don Rodic is not dead, they have to consider Anmita's attitude. Amitābha's rivals, the other cardinals, were reluctant to over-interpret this matter against Amitābha, because Amitābha had bound, or kidnapped, the invincible shield of the "dead hero Don Rodic". To question her is to question Don Rodick, to question the hero who fought and died for the state religion. Therefore, all they could do was to keep the materials and provide covert assistance to "busybodies" like Corneille's subordinates when they appeared. Anmita took advantage of the death and blocked Don Rodick's possibility of winning the resurrection match from an official perspective. It is intriguing that Don Rodick's friends, subordinates, allies, and servants remained indifferent. All four points point to the same name: Shimana, Don Rodick's first wife. It is said that after Don Rodic became rich, he wanted to return to his hometown to get engaged to Shimana, but was opposed by his friends, subordinates, allies and even servants.
Count Don Rodick, who was on the rise, should have married a wife who could be more helpful to his career, rather than a Cinderella from a ruined family. The matter became known to everyone in the city, but Tang Rodick went back to get engaged despite the dissuasion, saying, "We have known each other for a long time, she has not let me down, and I will not let her down." After he brought his fiancée to him, those who loved him tried to stop their union, but Don Rodick insisted on his own opinion and overcame all difficulties to hold a romantic wedding ceremony with his childhood sweetheart whom he had been in love with for a long time. Although it is like a fairy tale, its subsequent development follows the logic of reality - after marriage, Shimanna began to systematically eliminate opponents: Don Rodick's friends were alienated, her subordinates were transferred away, her allies maintained a lukewarm relationship, and her servants were dismissed and replaced by people close to her. It was accomplished bit by bit, and each replacement of the social circle was well-reasoned and reasonable, and it alienated Don Rodick from his old friends. The Countess had a good vision, and the new people she introduced also provided assistance to Don Rodick and did not have a negative impact on her husband's career and life. But when the Count "died", they also had no positive impact. Because Shimanna also benefited from the death, all the property that the count had earned throughout his life fell into her hands. Thanks to her husband's death, she could also receive an additional considerable pension from the state church every year. With this start-up capital, she helped her second husband get his life back on track, and she became the wife of a member of parliament. In the future, she might even become the wife of a minister or the speaker of parliament. Therefore, Yu Shimana and her circle had no doubt about Don Rodick's "death" and had to acknowledge it immediately. Even though there are some rumors from outsiders, Shimanna, like Anmita, has tied herself to the position of the dead and made her deceased husband her invincible shield. Anyone who attacks and questions her is slandering the hero. The key witnesses and evidence were either hidden by Shimanna, or their whereabouts were unknown, or they were missed or destroyed by Tang Rodick's own unwise actions. Therefore, the state religion, the field of "justice", the Tower of Discipline and Shimanna's people can freely claim that the current Don Rodik is a female fanatic who went mad because she could not accept the death of the person she worshipped. The Longueville family, who were traveling with Corneille's men, found another story, which I don't know if it can be considered a clue: At that time, the young Count Marseilles lived a dissolute life in the Holy Land. He often boasted to his local friends that he was best at dealing with married women. No matter whose wife it was, as long as the husband was busy with work, he would take advantage of the opportunity. Once, his friends pointed at the carriage carrying Shimana passing by the door and asked him if he dared to capture the wife of the legendary warrior. Count Marseille smiled contemptuously and said that it was too easy to get this woman. He made it more difficult for himself: He had to disguise himself as a hunchback, cleft lip, short, bald, ugly, poor, with a hidden illness that disabled him... an image that placed him at the bottom of the social ladder in every way, in order to get the woman. Everyone just thought he was drunk and talking nonsense, and later forgot about it. After a year or two, they had lost contact with each other, and then they learned that little Marcela married Don Rodick's widow, Shimana, and recognized his father, and became prosperous in the Federation. Did Marseille really dress up like this to seduce Don Rodick's wife? No one could explain it clearly, and even if they did, no one would care, because who would believe what drunkards said? They could make up eighty stories a day. Chapter 38: Twin-Tailed Mermaid The intelligence gathering from the Federation direction did not go smoothly. After Count Marseilles recognized his father, although he was still a romantic man, he became much more stable in his work. After giving birth to a child, Shimanna, or Countess of Marseille, gradually reduced her social activities and only appeared in theaters and literary salons hosted by her family. At the same time, she actively sponsored down-and-out intellectuals and was keen on charity, which further enhanced her reputation. She is very mysterious, very cute and very interesting, but she is a little uncultured since she is, after all, a woman from a small place. This is how the social circles in the federal capital, Hecheser, evaluate her. When Helena's people started investigating Yin Shi, they targeted Shimanna's most likely flaw, which was her son's birth date and birth certificate.
As long as either the midwife or the person who processed the birth certificate finds evidence of Shimanna's extramarital affair. If one wants to "resurrect" Don Rodic, one must at least separate Shimanna from her identity as a widow and deny her credibility, so that there is room for re-discussion of the "death of Don Rodic" that she advocates. But after further investigation, Helena's people found that Shimanna had done something very ruthless: the doctor who delivered her child died that year, and the assistants in the doctor's clinic had already gone their separate ways and were nowhere to be found; The person who processed the birth certificate for Helena's son was investigated for corruption and bribery. He took the risk of embezzling public funds and fled abroad, but was killed by a patrol soldier of the Federal Armed Forces at the border. Helena's people then investigated Shimanna's minor flaws: the housekeeper, the maid, and the parents, but they all lived in Bishuibang. Helena used her own property to buy a large manor and let the meritorious officials live there in their old age. Lack of time and insufficient combat power made Helena's men give up the idea of going to Bishui State, but they did not gain nothing. In the world of fame and fortune in the Federation, a person's growing fame could become a reason for others to be hostile to her. The Countess was met with hostility from other noble ladies. As long as they put in the effort, these natural intelligence officers could always find other people's flaws. The Countess's flaw is that her love with Count Marseille is superficial. Count Marseille despises her, but she uses money to control her husband, maintaining a state of fighting but not breaking. This means that the couple's collaborative work will lag behind, which gives Corneille and her partner the opportunity to make breakthroughs separately. "From the intelligence we have collected so far, Cardinal Anyita may not be clean, but Shimanna is definitely not clean," said Corneille. (It would be better to break through Shimana first. It just so happens that she came to Weite with her husband, so it is convenient to contact her. But someone must restrain Count Marseille so that he can't take care of his wife's situation.) Cecil smiled and said, "Make him have a love affair. No matter what actually happened, as long as Shimanna feels it, it will further alienate their relationship." Anna crossed her arms and said, "Simona can only rely on herself because her husband is unreliable. Then, when I bring her a lucrative business, it will be difficult for her to refuse." "Now the question is, is there anyone suitable to hold him back?" Gao Naiyi asked. "The Count of Marseilles has invited Mr. Toledo to his house. Perhaps..." Corneille gave Anne a dangerous look, which put an abrupt end to her bad idea. Cecil tried to smooth things over: "Little Dias is still inexperienced, and it would be bad if the cunning Count Marseilles saw something. I do have someone I can try to make a deal with." Anne activated the teleportation magic and brought Corneille to the manor in an unknown location, where Melusina's sisters, who he had captured earlier, were imprisoned. Hearing the noise, the prisoner, whose vision and limbs were suppressed, struggled to raise his head, but Gao Naiyi reached out and pushed him back. "Want your freedom?" asked Corneille. "How much do you want in ransom?" "No, I want you to do me a favor: do you know the Count of Marseilles?" The prisoner nodded. "As for you, sneak into Count Marseille's ball in the name of my friend's female companion and do something to make the Count too anxious and too busy to take care of other things. It would be best if you could worsen the relationship between him and his wife." "..." "I understand. Not long ago, we were enemies. You tried to invade the mansion, and I broke your bones. It's really inappropriate for us to discuss a deal when this happened."
Corneille shrugged: "But I think you want to be free more than to stay here." Cecil added: "Your family is trying to sell your sister to this person, so it's not like we have a hostile relationship." "It would be nice if you could marry her."