Frenzel Residence, Yuri's Office.
At this moment, Riezel and Yuri were sitting across from each other.
Riezel stared at the ceiling, then at the window, as if he were looking at something interesting.
Yuri, on the other hand, was glaring at him, as though she were staring down a troublesome rascal.
Lizbeth and Marilyn were also present nearby.
Lizbeth stood behind Riezel, clutching her sword with a tense expression, while Marilyn stood behind Yuri, watching Riezel with the same condemning look as Yuri.
In this situation, the entire office was engulfed in a strange, eerie silence.
"It was you, wasn't it?"
After a long while, Yuri finally broke the silence.
"What?"
Riezel tried to play dumb, showing an innocent expression, but all he got in return was a pair of rolling eyes.
"You're still trying to hide it from me?"
Yuri scolded sternly, a frown adorning her beautiful face.
"You were invited out for dinner by Carrera Elliott to discuss matters about that mad dog, and then, the next day, this incident happened. Do you think I wouldn't figure out that it was you?"
"Attacking a prince, seriously injuring him, nearly killing him even—this kind of incident that will shake the entire kingdom to its core, who else would dare to do it if not you?"
"You really have some guts... I knew you were meeting Serena Cordelion, but just when I was thinking about not prying into what you and that girl talked about, you went and caused such a big mess. Knowing this, what do you want me to say?"
"Were you incited by the Cordelion family or something? What exactly did Serena say to you?"
Yuri got more and more agitated as she spoke, and if not for the table between them, she might have already grabbed Riezel by the shoulders.
Riezel couldn't help but smile at Yuri's reaction.
"Look, it's not like I was intentionally hiding it from you; it's just that the fewer people who know about this, the better, since it will make it less likely for any flaws to be exposed." Riezel explained, shrugging his shoulders casually. "It's just a mad dog, anyway. I failed to kill him, so what's the big deal?"
"Hahh... Only you would dare say something like that, you know... Even in private, others wouldn't be so brazen..."
Yuri sighed, her expression turning complicated.
"Regardless, you really caused a big mess this time. I've already received word—before dawn, all nobles in the royal capital, whether aligned with the Duke Faction or not, have been summoned to the palace and interrogated by the royal family."
"No matter if they're major nobles like dukes or marquises, none of them can escape. Even some who are loyal to the Royal Faction have been questioned."
"Of course, minor nobles have it worse. They've all had their minds read or interfered with by the court magicians using magic like memory reading or mind control."
"Commoners can't escape either. Even now, the royal knights are still going door-to-door, taking away anyone suspicious without exception."
"In short, the royal capital is in chaos right now. Since the Cordelion siblings have already gone to the palace, I'm probably going to be summoned soon."
Yuri informed Riezel just how significant the incident he had caused had become.
Lizbeth was immediately frightened and couldn't help but cast a worried look at Riezel.
Riezel, however, seemed to have expected all of this, as his expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Hmm, they wouldn't use magic like memory reading or mind control on you, would they?"
Riezel seemed concerned only about this matter.
"Seriously, who do you think I am?" Yuri replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm still a Strategic-Class Magician, you know? They wouldn't dare use that kind of magic on me unless they have a death wish."
As a Strategic-Class Magician, her magic attainments were far beyond that of an average magician.
For a magician in her class, she could unconsciously use magical energy to repel Combat-Class Magic from the Interference System. If she were prepared, she could even counter Tactical-Class Magic from the Interference System.
In order to read the memory of a magician of Yuri's class or to interfere with her mind, it would take, at the very least, magic cast by a magician of the same class or the use of a powerful magic item to have any effect.
Moreover, with Yuri's status on the line, anyone using such harmful magic on her would probably be something even the king wouldn't dare order.
In other words, Yuri was in no danger of having her memory read or her mind interfered with.
"I see, that's good..." Riezel nodded calmly. "In that case, you don't have to worry about anything. No matter what the royal family asks you, just say you don't know."
Yuri clearly didn't need him to tell her what to do.
What else could she do at this point?
Report Riezel?
She herself wished Sorren would drop dead, so how could she possibly help the royal family catch the culprit?
However, the real problem was—
"What about you?"
Yuri asked while looking straight into Riezel's eyes.
"What's your plan?"
Indeed, this was the real problem.
It wasn't about Yuri, but Riezel, the direct orchestrator of this attack and the royal family's target—the one the kingdom was actively hunting.
"If I can guess it was you, the royal family will definitely suspect you too..." Yuri continued, worry creeping into her voice. "If they use force, try to read your memory, or mess with your mind, what are you going to do?"
At this, Riezel simply gave her a reassuring look in response to her concern.
"Let them try if they can."
Riezel sounded so calm when he said this.
Why?
Obviously, with Self Redemption, he was immune to physical and mental interference, so who could possibly read his memories or manipulate his mind and spirit?
Moreover, with the effect from Endless, Riezel possessed the highest rank of 'Abnormal Resistance' development ability. Not only would direct interference not work, but even indirect one wouldn't be effective.
Because of this, he wasn't worried about being compromised by such means.
Naturally, he also believed that the Cordelion family wouldn't be subjected to these methods either.
Since the Duke Faction was already an enemy of the royal family, how could they not be prepared against such tactics?
Needless to say, as long as Yuri and the Cordelion family didn't expose him, he would be fine.
As for Lizbeth and Marilyn, they were safe because they were attendants.
With the attendant contract in place, all information related to their masters' interests would be restricted. Even if someone tried to use magic to extract them, they wouldn't succeed.
At least, if someone wanted to bypass the restrictions of the attendant contract and forcibly extract the information the attendants knew, their magical prowess would have to surpass that of Riezel and Yuri, the two masters who had placed the contracts.
What did this mean?
It meant that unless they were a Strategic-Class Magician, it would be impossible to break the attendant contracts set by Riezel and Yuri.
For Riezel, since he was already Level 6 and possessed not only Mage as his development ability but also extremely high proficiency in MAG, the strength of the attendant contract he cast wasn't something a magician below the strategic class could break.
As for Yuri, she was already a recognized Strategic-Class Magician, with no exaggeration involved, so no one below her magician class could tamper with her attendant contract.
Moreover, since magic that could affect oneself or others belonged to the Interference System, the magician who tried to bypass the restrictions would have to be a Strategic-Class Magician specializing in the Interference System.
However, of the eight Strategic-Class Magicians on the Akasha Continent, four specialized in the Transformation System, two in the Control System, and two in the Structure System, while not a single one specialized in the Interference System.
Given this, no one in this world could tamper with the attendant contracts of Riezel and Yuri.
Needless to say, not only did Riezel not have to worry about anyone here slipping up, but he was also confident that he hadn't exposed his identity when he attacked Sorren.
After all, he had used the Selfless State to its fullest, completely sealing off his aura and fighting spirit. He hadn't even used any magic from start to finish, leaving no trace of magical energy behind.
Coupled with the essence of the Shadow Strike Sword Style that he had merged into his Mist Breathing, he could avoid almost any kind of detection.
In other words, the chances of him being exposed were nearly zero.
While the royal family might have serious suspicions about him, they definitely wouldn't be able to confirm it was him or find any evidence proving he was the culprit.
In this situation, Riezel really didn't believe he would be caught.
Of course, even if he were caught, so what?
Worst case, he would just run away.
With his current strength, he might not be the most powerful or invincible existence in this world, but if he really wanted to escape, even Jinas would have to mobilize all their forces and lay out an inescapable net to have any chance of stopping him.
If it weren't for worrying about implicating Yuri or dragging her family down, he would have left Jinas right after attacking Sorren, not caring at all whether his identity got exposed or not.
"No matter what, you need to be careful."
Saying this, Yuri seemed to feel a bit more at ease as she saw Riezel looking completely calm and unworried.
She trusted his abilities quite a lot and knew that if he was this confident, the chances of him being exposed must really be low.
As long as he didn't get exposed, everything would be fine.
Yuri was definitely on Riezel's side, and she even felt a bit 'schadenfreude' over the royal family getting hit like this. {T/N: Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another.}
It was understandable.
When the Frenzel residence was attacked, the royal family chose to turn a blind eye. Now that their prince had been attacked, Yuri naturally wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine.
She decided that she wouldn't just refuse to cooperate; she would also stir things up even more.
"Well, want to join me in filing a protest against the royal family?"
Yuri suddenly asked, flashing a sly smile at Riezel.
"Just think, the Third Prince snuck out of the palace in the middle of the night to deal with the people he had kidnapped. Now that the incident has been exposed, everyone knows about it. As someone directly involved, you have every right to protest against the royal family as a victim, don't you?"
Upon hearing this, Riezel was stunned at first, before chuckling and giving Yuri a thumbs-up.
"Heh, what a brilliant idea!"
With that, Riezel and Yuri jointly wrote a protest letter and sent it to the royal palace, launching a strong protest that would stir up yet another wave of chaos in the royal capital.