Chapter 1571: Chapter 1571

The news of the royal descendants took up two full pages of the paper. Jenkins ate his breakfast as he read, only to notice that some of the food on his plate had vanished. He glanced down and saw his cat staring intently at the tablecloth, as if suddenly fascinated by a brown stain.

"Chocolate, you still have soup on your face," Jenkins remarked.

The cat stared up at Jenkins with wide, innocent eyes, but he wasn't falling for that trick again. Of course, even if Chocolate refused to admit it, Jenkins was certain the cat was the culprit.

From the third page onward, the paper was filled with domestic and international news. Just as the envoy from Cheslan had predicted yesterday, the story of foreign kings visiting Bel Diran was placed right after the news about the royal family. As a result, today's Bel Diran Morning Post was twice as thick as yesterday's.

It wasn't just King Tackwen, "the Proud One," of the Cheslan Kingdom. The paper also mentioned that a delegation from the Hamparvo Kingdom, led by a member of the royal family, would be arriving in Bel Diran soon.

The article didn't specify which member of the Stuart family would be leading the visit, so no one could have guessed that the dying king was bringing all of his children who were eligible for the throne.

After last night's dinner, Jenkins had escorted the three ladies back to their residences before going to see Alexia. He had intended to discuss the evening's events and ask for her opinion, but he found the petite woman standing on the deck of a steam-powered airship, gazing at the stars.

Alexia had a great passion for these marvelous flying machines. Upon seeing Jenkins, she didn't ask about his recent activities but instead began to speak excitedly about her journey.

Barring any unforeseen accidents like the emergency landing in Black Town, the northern delegation was expected to land in Bel Diran in about three or four days. Alexia told Jenkins to prepare himself; their princess was very much looking forward to having him guide her through the streets of Bel Diran and experience the charm of a foreign city... though Alexia doubted her intentions were truly so simple.

"At this rate, the rulers of the three major kingdoms will all be gathered in Bel Diran. If I recall correctly, a meeting of the three monarchs hasn't happened since the fall of the ancient Sicari Kingdom."

Although it was relegated to the third page, the arrival of foreign kings was actually far more significant to the city's residents than the return of a royal descendant. The security measures and repairs to the main thoroughfares alone would be enough to keep people busy for a while.

This would affect Jenkins as well. At such a sensitive time in the kingdom's succession, the arrival of foreign monarchs was bound to introduce new variables into an already complex situation.

Whether this was for better or worse was difficult to say. With events having developed this far, it was likely that no one could predict what would happen next.

He continued to flip through the newspaper, eating his breakfast at a leisurely pace. He was thinking about meeting Miss Capet at the church later to make the final preparations before entering the maze-lock.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar face in the paper and realized it was the envoy from the Kingdom of Cheslan he had met the previous night.

Jenkins hadn't known his name until now. He read on to learn that his name, or at least the name he was currently using, was Michael Madison. He and a group of other men were featured in the paper because they had all been discovered this morning sleeping stark naked in the public cemetery on the city's outskirts.

The groundskeeper had noticed nothing unusual the night before, and there were no signs that such a large group had climbed the cemetery fence. The men all claimed to have no memory of what had happened. The only thing they had in common was that they had all been walking along the main road beside the cemetery last night. By the time they regained their senses, they were surrounded by the police and the groundskeeper.

They had been arrested by the police, but were soon transferred to the Church of Death and End on the outskirts of the city. Incidents of this nature were typically classified as disturbing the dead and vandalizing public property, with the church of the god of death meting out punishment in place of the police. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel[f]ire.net

"It was probably a strange phenomenon," Jenkins mused, "or perhaps a Benefactor from out of town with a penchant for performance art has arrived in Bel Diran. The Church must have taken them to get to the bottom of it. I'm rather curious about what happened."

He decided it had nothing to do with him. He was curious, but he wouldn't press the matter. An hour later, however, upon arriving at the church, he learned that the incident was, in fact, related to the Blood Mosquito Curse.

It wasn't that the men found naked in the cemetery had been infected with the curse. Rather, one of them had been reported missing last week after attending Count Paramont's banquet. He was presumed to be trapped inside the maze-lock as one of the cursed.

But now he had reappeared, and his identity was quickly confirmed. When the Church questioned him about his whereabouts over the past week, the poor man thought for a moment before blood began to stream from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. He collapsed on the spot and had yet to awaken.

This event added a new variable to their carefully laid plans. The Church believed that a new change had occurred within the maze-lock, allowing one of the cursed to escape. Consequently, the plan for Jenkins and Miss Capet to take the three items to the Countess had been postponed for three hours. A joint investigation team composed of members from the Twelve Orthodox Churches had already begun their inquiry.

It was clear that Miss Capet was nervous. Before the operation began, she and Jenkins waited outside the Paramont estate, ready to depart at a moment's notice. When they met, she first congratulated him on the big news regarding his family's connection to the royalty, then lapsed into a worried silence about the upcoming mission into the maze-lock.

Jenkins sat on a folding chair beside Miss Capet, stroking his cat. He stared into the still surface of his tea for a moment, then decided to say something to help ease her anxiety. He began abruptly.

This time, he didn't hesitate. He took out the pendant containing two-thirds of the World Tree Seedling. Miss Capet looked confused for a few seconds, then her eyes widened in recognition as she realized the dark, metallic-looking object was strangely familiar.