Annan heard her words, but there was no look of panic or fear on his face.
He just had a thoughtful look on his face and nodded slowly.
"That's it."
He murmured in a low voice, with a focused look on his face: "You think so..."
Speaking, Annan raised his head.
He asked Maria seriously: "Can I ask, Your Highness...when did you have such an idea?"
Maria glanced at Annan suspiciously.
She was silent for a while, thinking about something in her heart.
Annan just spoke slowly, with a gentle and friendly tone: "You don't have to be too nervous.
"You know, I have sealed my spell-casting ability. This is obvious to everyone."
Annan stood from Maria's perspective and carefully helped her think: "According to normal thinking, even if I am really the murderer, I will definitely not be suspected at the beginning. So, Your Highness - please
If you think about it carefully, where does your distrust of me come from?"
His words were full of honesty in helping others.
His purpose is obviously to help the other party find out the people or things that are troubling them, and to effectively help the other party solve their worries... With Annan actually helping her, Maria could not refuse Annan's kindness.
From the beginning, Annan discovered it.
Perhaps because of her talent "Heart of Winter", Maria's character flaws are very obvious.
She is guilty, but also fearful, angry, and nervous. She is just like the opposite of Annan...like a doll, extremely easy to control.
Even with Merlin's protection, facing the current chaotic situation, she must still be confused and restless.
At this time, Maria was losing her temper rather than making a serious analysis. She vented her fear and turned the invisible hunter into a tangible enemy.
It was normal for her to be wary of Annan. The soul-stealing wizards were too restrained in the Heart of Winter... Perhaps this was the purpose of the Hand of Winter. It was to counter these soul-stealing wizards.
Annan had already guessed this from the beginning.
But the problem is that Annan has already given up his ability to cast spells. Even in everyone's opinion, he only gave up his ability to cast spells because of Maria's words.
And Maria Winter did feel a little guilty about Annan.
so--
"...Are you saying that my thinking may have been influenced by others?"
Maria immediately realized Annan's subtext.
She thought for a moment and soon realized this problem:
"It's not impossible..."
As if because she misunderstood Annan's guilt, her tone softened inexplicably.
Because she knew that what "Gerald" said was indeed reasonable.
Logically speaking, Gerald has sealed his spellcasting ability. No matter who killed Master Michelangelo or who killed Melvin, it is unlikely to be Gerald.
So Maria paused, then whispered the answer in her heart: "Yes... at the very beginning."
"very beginning?"
Annan asked with some confusion.
He really didn't expect this answer.
...Although Gerald is not good-looking, he doesn’t attract hatred so much, right?
"It's the look, Mr. Gerald."
Maria replied seriously: "I see in your eyes the purity of a child, the indifference of an elder, and the well-hidden... arrogance."
"...the eyes."
Annan smashed his mouth and felt like he had a toothache.
Does Maria believe this?
When it comes to eyes, this is a matter of mystery.
Even Annan judges a person's psychology from many aspects such as subtle expressions, words, movements, clothing and recent actions. What can be seen with the eyes is more of what "you think you can see"
…
But surprisingly, Maria seemed to see things quite accurately.
And it seemed that what she saw was not Gerald, but Annan who was temporarily entrusted in his body.
"I have a proposal."
Suddenly, Ghirlandaio on the side said: "Why don't the four of us set up a spell here?"
"What content?"
Maria asked immediately.
"[Until the end of this incident, the four people present are not allowed to attack each other] How about using this spell to form a temporary alliance?"
Ghirlandaio asked.
This suggestion obviously surprised the other three people.
This means...even if the murderer is really among the four of them, none of them can take action against him. They can only help the murderer kill other people, complete the inheritance ceremony, or watch others attack the murderer.
Unless one of the remaining three is the murderer.
To put it simply, Ghirlandaio's proposal is to bring the situation back to a "one-on-one battle" situation.
Originally, after it was learned that the murderer might not have killed anyone yet, the situation was already at a stalemate.
But after Melvin's death, this balanced situation was broken again.
Annan understood what he meant.
——This is a sure way to win.
Different from the previous situation, there are only seven of them now.
As long as four people form a team, no matter whether Michelangelo's murderer is inside or outside the team, the result will be the same. They will definitely win.
The proposal put forward by Ghirlandaio really means...
——If anyone here does not agree to form a team, they will die.
Because they can just go find someone else.
As long as there are four people, that is, the "majority", then the minority party will have no power to fight back.
Not everyone in the team will survive.
But those outside the team will definitely die.
"——Then we agree to form a team."
"I agree."
"Me too."
The other three people present reacted quickly, agreed immediately, and immediately drew up the spell:
"We place a curse here—"
They chanted in unison: "Until this incident is over, the four people present must not attack each other."
As their words fell, strange traces flashed in the air.
The power of [Oath] entangled their hearts.
If this bond is violated, the curse will break within the body.
Seeing that everyone had indeed set up the curse, the four of them breathed a sigh of relief.
After a short silence, Maria was the first to speak, with a cold and childish voice: "Actually, I had no intention of inheriting the position of tower master.
"The Tower Master cannot leave the Wizard Tower easily... This is very troublesome for me. My eldest brother cannot inherit the position of Grand Duke, and I must protect my younger brother Annan."
When Annan heard this, his heart moved.
He roughly realized it.
There may have been some kind of curse on Maria to "speak only the truth" or "say whatever comes to mind".
She is unusually talkative.
So Annan looked confused, pretended not to be aware of this, and asked tentatively: "Speaking of which, what happened to the eldest son of the Grand Duke? Well, I'm sorry, if this is inconvenient to say..."
"It's nothing inconvenient to say. Almost even the civilians in the principality know about this."
Maria smiled self-deprecatingly.
There was still a cloud in her eyes that never dissipated.
She said softly: "Because eldest brother, he started two years ago...