Why would Dot. Soames mention this?
Back then, Silverlight City did experience a serious riot. Successive mine disasters led to the deaths of hundreds of miners, and the employer's willingness to compensate only freemen and disregard for the cheaply hired drifters ignited the anger of the victims' families. The drifters, unwilling to wait for death, swarmed out of the mining area, burning and looting along the way, and order was only restored with the suppression of the royal capital's Knights.
Their parents never returned that day, and it wasn't until the two siblings were sent to Old Grand's house that Nightingale learned the cause of their parents' death from him.
But the Viscount's words seemed to imply something different?
She hadn't expected that an accident from more than a decade ago could still be overturned. If what he said was true, then the investigation would no longer be limited to the relationship between Hyde and the Soames family.
Nightingale silently retreated from the room, passed through layers of floors, came to the bottom of the basement, and then activated the Listening Rune she carried.
It was originally prepared for Roland to summon her back at any time, but she didn't expect it to come in handy in this way.
"That's indeed very suspicious," Roland replied after listening to her account from the other end of the rune. "So you're going to stay in the manor for a longer time?"
"Yes, I want to wait until late at night to ask Hyde in person... he might know something." Nightingale hesitated for a moment. "Sorry, Your Majesty, I..."
"There's nothing to apologize for," Roland quickly interrupted her. "I'll be waiting for you at the camp until you finish your investigation. Don't worry, it's very safe here, as long as I don't go out, it doesn't violate the agreement. But you have to pay attention to your own safety, don't be too impulsive. No matter what the situation is, report to me every two hours."
A warm current surged in Nightingale's heart. She was silent for a while before softly responding, "Yes, I understand."
...
It wasn't until the moonlight outside the skylight disappeared that Nightingale left the cellar and headed towards Hyde's room—before that, she had confirmed her brother's location. The setting moon meant that the time was approaching three in the morning, and most people had already fallen asleep. Even the guards on duty could hardly avoid dozing off, so it was the most suitable time for her to act.
Hyde's bedroom was located on the first floor of the mansion, near the back garden. Generally, only servants and less important guests would be placed here, which had already confirmed the words of the two guards from the side—Viscount Dot didn't take the Grand family's heir too seriously. It also made Nightingale realize that the friendliness of the Soames family in her childhood was probably a disguise.
However, his contemptuous attitude made her a lot easier. There was no one guarding the entire hall to the hallway, so even if something unexpected happened, she would have enough time to escape.
After entering the bedroom, Nightingale directly dragged her brother out of the quilt. As he woke up from his dream, before he had fully recovered, a bishou flashing with cold light was already against his neck.
"Screaming, begging for help, crying will all lead to death, understand?" she said in a low voice behind Hyde.
The latter nodded hurriedly.
"Good, now turn around and see who I am?"
Hyde did so quickly, but when he saw the face of the visitor in the dim moonlight, his eyes widened suddenly! If it weren't for the bishou on his neck, he would have almost screamed.
But he finally managed to hold back.
After confirming that the other party's emotions were somewhat stable, Nightingale slowly retracted the bishou.
"You... why are you here?" Hyde said, suppressing his trembling voice. "Shouldn't you have died a long time ago?"
The moment she heard him speak, the memories that had been sealed away surged into her mind. At that moment, Nightingale seemed to have returned to Old Grand's house, and the pain of being betrayed by her own brother and the exploitation of distant relatives made her miserable, even her consciousness was somewhat blurred.
It was this person who tore apart her most vulnerable side with his own hands, exposing her to outsiders who had no good intentions.
"Why do you say that?" She bit her tongue hard, so that the taste of rust dispelled the distracting thoughts in her mind.
"Because, because..." Hyde swallowed. "Timothy had searched the capital and surrounding cities several times, and claimed that all witches had been executed. B-but, Veronica, I mean, sister... I didn't want you to die. I was very shocked when I heard the news at the time, and I thought that if you hadn't left without permission, maybe nothing would have happened."
Veronica... she hadn't heard this name for a long time, but after so many years, she was no longer as easily trusting as before.
The magic power shaking like a string had already told her the answer—the second half of the sentence was all lies.
"How did you get together with Viscount Dot. Soames?"
"Uh, this..." He paused slightly. "After Old Grand died, there were constant disputes in the family. I don't know the specific situation, I only know that when I inherited the title, there was almost no savings left in the manor. At this time, the Viscount came to me, and I had no choice." Lying.
"He forced you to merge into the Soames family?"
"Yes, he said that if I didn't agree, he would get rid of me..." Lying.
"Then what are you doing for him now?" Nightingale said calmly, "Helping the poor?"
"No," Hyde gritted his teeth. "He's just using me as a cover, actually he's selling Dream Water! Those rats who transport goods for him are mixed in the crowd, I only recently discovered his trick!"
The magic power didn't react to the first half of the sentence, but the second half was still a lie.
Nightingale found that she was not annoyed, and even felt quite relaxed... Yes, this was the feeling, this was the normal state of conversation. Constant lies, half true and half false... people's hearts are always changing, even if they are connected by blood, they cannot hear each other's true thoughts. Since her ability awakened, she had long been accustomed to this situation, whether it was facing lies without changing her expression, or peeling away the truth from layers of deception.
On the contrary, the kind of conversation with Roland where she rarely detected fluctuations in magic power made it difficult for her to adapt for a while.
At this moment, the shadow assassin who lurked in the darkness and made the nobles in some areas tremble had returned.
"What are your plans next?"
Hearing this sentence, Hyde suddenly fell to the ground and begged in a mournful voice, "Sister, please help me!"
"Help you?"
He crawled forward two steps. "I know I wasn't good before... but I'm your own brother! The Viscount doesn't treat me like a noble at all, you saw it, he even took the servant's house to give me, repairing this mansion is just to cover up his activities, if I continue to stay here, he will attack me sooner or later!"
"So you want me to take you away?"
"Go? Wouldn't that mean I have nothing left?" Hyde shook his head in a panic, and then said resentfully, "Old Grand was killed by you, right? Although I don't know what ability you used, you can easily enter here, and you can definitely enter his bedroom. Sister, kill him! As long as he dies, I have a chance to become a real Soames noble! Then, then you can kill all the other heirs one by one, this territory... and all the Soames family's property, will all belong to us!"
Nightingale stared into his eyes and didn't answer for a long time, until Hyde lowered his head again uneasily, she said, "Before that, I want to ask you a question first."
"Y-yes..." her brother replied quickly.
"Back then, why did you betray me?" Nightingale asked word by word.