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Yet the ministers of the Chocolate Faction led by Minister Camelot all maintained an exceptionally silent demeanor.

Eventually, silence fell upon them as well.

The only ones left proclaiming loudly like jesters were the knights close to the Lohar Society—those of the Tower Faction. Among them, very few were ministers; most were Honorary Knights from the Arbitration Hall.

In Avalon, as long as one's Path of Authority reaches the fourth Energy Level, one automatically becomes a knight, whether they join the Arbitration Hall or stay in the judiciary court. This is also the faction with the most commoners: they hold no real power and can only enter the Round Table Hall. These knights are the easiest for the Lohar Society to sway with their financial onslaught.

The high and mighty ministers of the Chocolate Faction, of such noble birthright, today bore expressions that were, without exception, visibly turning sour... even, it could be said, fearful.

—While others may not know, they were all well aware of it.

Just yesterday afternoon, at a small meeting of the Chocolate Faction, Minister Griffiths made his hostility toward Aiwass clear and apparent. To become a minister, one needs to be cunning—and the others felt the discord and carefully refrained from chiming in, simply watching Griffiths perform.

At that time, they even thought Aiwass Faction was fishing for reactions!

Yet not even a day had passed... when, yesterday evening, Griffiths was assassinated.

—And Aiwass, who had been "unwell" in the Round Table Hall, suddenly appeared as a "concerned passerby" in this news piece.

Damn your concern!

The knights thought to themselves.

You usually never leave the Hall of Silver and Tin—either you're at 14 Roning Street, Moriarty Manor, Hall of Silver and Tin, or the Royal Law University. Aiwass rarely dines at such places where other ministers gather... and he even inexplicably invited a young journalist who previously had no connection with him for a meal.

That journalist wasn't even a Transcendent!

There absolutely was something amiss here—although they couldn't say why and had no evidence, a strong sense of discord kept them from uttering a single word, only maintaining their silence.

Until the routine morning meeting concluded, these elite ministers gathered once again at Minister Camelot's home.

Minister Camelot simply showed them two replies in silence.

"See for yourselves, gentlemen."

Minister Camelot sighed.

The first was a reply Aiwass wrote under Isabel's name to him the day before, signed with Isabel's name; the second was an order from Aiwass, transcribed by Lily and just handed to him.

After passing the letters around, the expressions of the ministers turned complex.

On one hand, due to the existence of "informers" within the Chocolate Faction, and on the other, out of amazement and even fear of Aiwass.

"...I do have a question."

The Minister of Education, looking somber and grave, held the reply and said, "Is this reply from Her Majesty... truly written by herself?"

Clearly, Isabel was now completely controlled by Aiwass. Thus, this letter could also be penned by Aiwass.

"It doesn't matter."

Minister Camelot responded calmly, "Even if Her Majesty wrote it, she would certainly have Minister Moriarty review it. In other words, Minister Moriarty surely knows Griffiths's words. That also means... when Minister Moriarty saw Griffiths's body, he was already aware of his hostility toward himself and his adoptive sister."

"He now demands a personal investigation of the matter—I strongly advise all of you to distance yourselves from this incident as much as possible. Minister Moriarty is not one of those incompetents who only argue with us in the Round Table Hall; he is also a character far more ruthless than 'that Crown Prince.'

He was referring to Crown Prince Lohar from two hundred years ago.

"Isn't this your problem?"
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Someone asked Minister Camelot tauntingly.

After all, they were a small Association of only a dozen or so members, all elites, and numbered less than one-fifth of the Tower Faction. Without a doubt, they all viewed one another as partners. And within this small circle, the emergence of a traitor—this would naturally make the others feel a sense of betrayal.

If old Camelot mishandled this, it would undoubtedly affect his standing within this small group.

But Camelot merely scoffed fearlessly, "So what? This undoubtedly proves our loyalty to Her Majesty and Avalon.

"If we hadn't detected something amiss and reported it immediately, what would we be facing if this were uncovered first? Do you understand?"

What he referred to was the Demon Array in Griffiths's basement.

With his words, Camelot bound the non-existent "informer" to his own fate—and now, no one dared admit to being that informer, nor did anyone dare claim they weren't that informer.

The former meant betraying the alliance, while the latter meant betraying the queen.

Upon realizing the two-sided trap set by Minister Camelot, the person's face changed color, quickly grasping why Minister Camelot dared to openly admit to his leak.

And old Camelot was very straightforward, saying directly, "I advise you all—I mean, those who didn't write letters before, to apologize to Her Majesty. Most of you are old-timers, so I won't belabor the point."

"Just that," the Minister of Justice sighed faintly, "are we apologizing to Her Majesty, or Minister Moriarty?"