Chapter 468

Three Hundred and Sixty-Two Fake Yi

South Tivyán, Bishop Square.

In the cold wind of the night, the passionate performance continued. Adele, performing for the second time tonight, was dancing her third dance on stage.

Elegant, melancholic… The tone of Adele’s third dance was completely different from the previous ones. Under the mournful music, Adele’s movements appeared tragically beautiful. The swan she portrayed, struggling in hardship, evoked an involuntary sense of pity among the audience below.

Unlike the dances before, due to the somber tone of the dance, the crowd below was much quieter during this particular performance. Although quiet, everyone’s attention remained focused on Adele. The audience watched with anxious and tense expressions, truly moved by the emotions conveyed in Adele’s dance. Everyone was genuinely concerned about the fate of the swan.

Finally… As the music neared its end, both the music and movements became gradually uplifting. Adele’s dance transformed from heavy and slow to light and powerful, as if finding a glimmer of hope amidst the hardship and struggling fiercely towards that hope. After enduring countless hardships, the fallen swan finally spread its wings and soared into the sky. Meanwhile, the audience below erupted in thunderous applause.

Another performance concluded, and Adele breathed a sigh of relief at the cheers and applause from the audience. She then bowed gracefully to the audience and slowly retreated backstage.

Backstage, Adele greeted the welcome from her troupe members with a smile. Amidst the laughter, a hint of deep fatigue could be seen in her eyes.

“Oh… It’s been a long time since I danced such a tiring dance…”

After dealing with the welcoming crowd, Adele sat down and thought to herself, feeling exhausted from overusing her abilities, her inherent spirituality almost depleted.

“Although each individual impact is slight, affecting thousands simultaneously is still challenging. If not for fusing with my teacher’s spirit beforehand, increasing my capacity and reserves, it would have been difficult for me to achieve this before…”

Holding her forehead, Adele thought to herself, reflecting on the scene just now, which would have been hard for her as a regular Desire Dancer.

“Hmph, but I didn’t expect those spider freaks to infiltrate the royal family so closely. How did they do it? I wonder what method the detective lady will use to deal with that assassin.”

Sitting in the backstage area, Adele pondered, realizing that only the renowned detective below the stage could handle those spider assassins. Now, she was eagerly anticipating what move the detective would make.

…

“Ahh… Another impressive dance, though the ending felt a bit abrupt. I can sense that this dance by Adele should have been a tragedy from start to finish. The swan might never fly again. Such an ending seems to have been changed on the spot by Adele.”

On the VIP balcony, Duke Barret commented on Adele’s dance as usual, and Princess Isabel nodded in agreement.

“Mm… That’s how it feels to me too. Probably because it’s not suitable to perform a pure tragedy during New Year’s. A happy ending is more acceptable, especially for commoners who prefer good endings. While tragedies can pursue deeper artistry, only a few can appreciate such art here. Adele seems to lean towards making her dance more relatable to the general public during this event.”

Princess Isabel continued her commentary, and she and Duke Barret began a deeper discussion on the topic. Behind them, three bodyguards stood in a row, listening intently while keeping a vigilant watch around.

Among these bodyguards, the one furthest to the right was a robust man with a scar by his eye, slightly tanned skin from the sun, and a fierce appearance. Deep within his gaze lay a sinister intent.

…

On the other side, amidst the bustling audience, Dorothy, standing in the crowd, had no interest in watching the new act on stage. Instead, she was observing the VIP balcony through the perspective of a zombie puppet, closely watching the disguised assassin of the Eight Pinnacle Nest standing behind two royal members. Her mind raced with thoughts.

“Assassinating the royal family… So this is their true goal? Among the princess and the duke, has anyone done something to become a target of the Eight Pinnacle Nest? Could it be that the duke’s research has yielded some results, prompting the Eight Pinnacle Nest to take action?”

Dorothy pondered, thinking that the sudden attack on these two royal members must be related to this. According to Misha, Duke Barret was an advisor for the An Yin Bureau.

Due to the frequent actions against the Mirror Moon Statue, the An Yin Bureau also began researching the statue. However, to avoid contamination, their research into mysticism was limited. Eventually, the research work on the statue was entrusted to Duke Barret.

Now that Barret had become a target of the Eight Pinnacle Nest, it was possible that his research had made significant progress, and the Eight Pinnacle Nest wanted to strike first.

“It seems that Barret must have discovered something. Now, the people from the Eight Pinnacle Nest are eager to eliminate him. In that case, Barret must not d*e. But the problem is, how can I save Barret from this backstabbing and sniping situation?”

Dorothy thought, wondering why the people from the Eight Pinnacle Nest managed to get so close to the duke, even replacing his bodyguards.

There were two assassination points: the sniper position was manageable, but the bodyguard behind Barret was harder to deal with. At such close range, preventing his assassination seemed nearly impossible.

“The bodyguard assassin… If I directly send someone to stop him, it might be mistaken for another assassin and stopped by other bodyguards. If I warn them, why would they believe me? This is quite a predicament…”

Scratching her head, Dorothy pondered, troubled. The only person who could possibly warn Barret was Adele, but doing so would inevitably expose Adele’s identity to both the royal family and the Eight Pinnacle Nest. With her spiritual energy already depleted from the earlier performance, exposing herself like this could put her in danger.

Using a regular zombie puppet to warn Barret wouldn’t work either; why would they listen to her? Directly intervening would make her look like the real assassin.

Dorothy also considered causing chaos to forcibly end the performance, but this could only prompt the assassins to act sooner. After succeeding, they could blame the chaos on her, turning her into a scapegoat like Sado. The Eight Pinnacle Nest would be delighted.

Neither creating chaos nor directly stopping the assassins nor simply warning them would work under these constraints. Preventing the assassination seemed almost impossible.

Thus, Dorothy, in the crowd, rubbed her chin thoughtfully, continuing to lock onto the positions of the two assassins through the zombie puppet’s perspective. This was her first time encountering a situation where knowing the enemy’s location did not make the task easier.

“I feel that ultimately, I need to warn the royal family, but how can I do so without being detected by the Eight Pinnacle Nest or suspected by the royal family?”

Dorothy silently pondered in her heart, when suddenly she felt her shoulder being tapped, and she was startled. Turning around, she found that the person who tapped her was none other than Gregor.