643 Stirring the Pot of Shit
When Vaan left the underground training chamber, the guards immediately informed him of their family head's desire to see him. As such, he willingly followed them with a look of ignorance, seemingly unaware of what was happening.
At the same time, Vaan had Fraegar remove her anti-detection and detection spells on the underground training chamber to remove their traces.
...
Evron family's estate, Meeting Hall
"Lord Evron, Young Master Vanderlin emerged from his training and has come to see you."
"What? Quickly send him in at once!"
"Yes, my Lord."
News of Vaan's arrival quickly reached Beru's ears before he urged his servants to bring Vaan inside the Meeting Hall to see him. Besides Vaan's absence, all direct members of the Evron family were present.
However, everyone's eyes were red, weary, and filled with concerns and worries. It was clear they had stayed up all night.
"Lord Beru, I've heard you wanted to see me?" Vaan casually strode into the Meeting Hall and commented, "I noticed the mood within the Evron family didn't seem quite heavy and serious."
"What happened? Did we get attacked again during the night?" Vaan added with baffled surprise.
"We didn't get attacked, but it's worse than any attack we could have gotten; we were robbed by someone! Our underground treasury had been emptied, Young Master Vanderlin. Most importantly, no one knew when or how it happened!" Beru solemnly stated, giving Vaan a sharp look as if he were trying to see through him.
"What?" Vaan revealed a look of utter shock and disbelief as he muttered, "Oh no, how could such a thing happen? Young Master Acharon only just gave me a tour yesterday. There were so many valuable items in there, big and small. How could someone move all of it out of the treasury without anyone noticing?"
As if fearing his priceless Rank 4 Body Reformation Pill had also been robbed unknowingly, Vaan fumbled through his clothes to find the item before heaving a sigh of relief.
Naturally, if the 'culprit' could unknowingly rob the Evron family's treasury, they could do the same to the Rank 4 Body Reformation Pill... right?
"Haiz!" Beru sighed heavily and dropped his suspicions of Vaan after seeing that.
Beru's suspicions had been weak and had no basis to begin with. In fact, he didn't believe Vaan could have robbed his Evron family's treasury.
After all, the poor lad had been targeted by the unknown enemy's magical attacks twice and had his clothes and backpack destroyed. All his belongings spilled out, and there was nothing he could have hidden, not even spatial storage-type magic tools.
Thus, Vaan's words only further validated the truth that he could not have been the culprit. Instead, he was a victim of a vicious scheme.
The enemy wanted to make Young Master Vanderlin a scapegoat – was what Beru believed.
How could Beru not see that?
Nevertheless, despite knowing all that, Beru still had no choice but to suspect Young Master Vanderlin, even a little, because he had no other leads.
"That's the biggest mystery none of us can figure out!" Beru scrunched his brows with complicated emotions, feeling both confused and depressed.
"The enemy must have taken advantage of the chaos to rob the treasury... But no matter how chaotic the Evron family's estate was, it shouldn't have been possible for anyone to slip past our security..."
Witches only advanced magic for the sake of themselves, but Witch Doctors and Shamans did so to help others.
That said, Vaan was no fool; he wouldn't believe all Witch Doctors and Shamans were selfless saints.
"It is most definitely the work of a Witch Doctor or Shaman. However, every faction also has at least a couple of Witch Doctors and Shamans. The Evron family shouldn't be an exception, either. Thus, if we add all these Witch Doctors and Shamans, the list would be far too long and the suspect unclear."
"If we want to find the culprit, we must first tackle the most important questions – who benefits the most from robbing the Evron family's treasury? They could rob the Evron family's treasury, but they didn't take my Rank 4 Body Reformation Pill? I was clearly targeted, yet I was also spared. So what was their purpose behind this?"
"If you think about it, someone was clearly trying to make me a scapegoat. I believe everyone would most likely suspect this was Duke Zaahir's revenge against me for betraying his trust."
"Isn't that likely the case, Young Master Vanderlin?" Acharon uttered with surprise.
After the direct members of the Evron family listened to Vaan's points, it truly seemed like an act of revenge made by Duke Zaahir's faction.
After all, killing a traitor wouldn't be difficult for Duke Zaahir, but would he let a traitor who flocked to Duke Gamliel's side have such an easy death? Why not arrange it so that Duke Gamliel's faction would doubt the traitor and leave him with no backers?
Why not borrow the hands of Duke Gamliel's faction to remove a traitor? Would the traitor not die with great regret?
Surely, such a method would be much more satisfying than simple execution.
"But what if the true culprit wanted everyone to think that way? – To rob the Evron family and pin the blame on Duke Zaahir?" Vaan introduced another train of thought, causing Beru's heart to turn cold.
"Duke Zaahir's influence in the eastern region is quite weak, let alone the imperial capital, which lies in the easternmost area. As such, Duke Zaahir catching news of my betrayal and taking lightning-swift actions with a carefully thought-out scheme in mind so quickly doesn't seem possible if you think about it."
"I guess the real question is – who would benefit the most by sparking a big conflict between Duke Zaahir and Duke Gamliel?"
Boom!
Vaan's enlightening words were like thunder in Beru's ears, shaking his heart with great alarm. At the same time, a clear image of the true culprit was also formed in his mind.
"Duke Zohar!" Beru's eyes burned with hatred.
Besides Duke Zohar's faction, who else possessed the biggest and strongest number of Witch Doctors and Shaman? Besides Duke Zohar's faction, who else would benefit the most from a big conflict between Duke Zaahir and Duke Gamliel?
If Duke Zohar made Duke Zaahir and Duke Gamliel destroy each other, he would have no more competitors!
Even if Duke Zaahir and Duke Gamliel didn't destroy each other, they would be greatly weakened! Then, Duke Zohar would emerge as the strongest victor with the highest chance of ascending the throne after Emperor Varan!
Based on Vaan's intel, Duke Zaahir was originally uninterested in the imperial throne.
However, Duke Zaahir was embroiled in Duke Zohar and Duke Gamliel's conflict after he cultivated his farmlands and developed the western region, which led to the latter two viewing him as a huge threat and teaming up.
They gauged the heart of a gentleman with their villainous means!
However, what caused these three blood brothers to compete for the imperial throne when their eldest brother was still firmly sitting on it?
The truth was actually not a big secret – Emperor Varan had no sons, only daughters.
The absence of an heir affected the stability of the empire!