Chapter 49: Are You Interested in Being My Dance Partner?
Sally Latusos.
Looking at the alluring girl before him, memories began to surface in his mind.
No wonder her voice sounded somewhat familiar just now.
Moreover, she seemed to be the eldest daughter of the Violet Family; he wondered what her relationship was with Count Violet mentioned in the letter.
Father and daughter?
Shaya furrowed his brow subtly, not showing any signs of unease on his face.
If they were indeed father and daughter, it would be quite interesting.
He had just planned to investigate matters related to Count Violet’s residence, and then she appeared right in front of him.
Such a coincidence made him particularly concerned.
Their first meeting had been in a restaurant; Angelica had brought along many members of the Blood Rose Association to gain an advantage, and she was one of them.
However, Shaya vaguely remembered that she didn’t seem to harbor any hostility towards him back then, and there appeared to be some discord between her and Angelica.
The second encounter was during the duel three days ago, where Shaya, focused on confronting the Mountain Giant, had vaguely heard some shouts that came from a few familiar people, like Deyora, Xivista, and Tilius.
Sally’s voice was mixed in, seemingly mentioning something like “three days of dating.”
But Shaya had not taken it seriously and eventually even forgotten about it.
After flashing a bright, sweet smile at Shaya, Sally closed the door of the interrogation room, elegantly walked across to the iron table, and sat down.
“Hello, Mr. Adelaide.”
Sally crossed her legs and rested her elbows on the table, cradling her fair chin with her hands, pouting and blinking her eyes.
“You should still be a fourth-year student at Norton Academy, right?” Shaya pondered, “What brings you to a place like Judgment Tower?”
“Oh right, perhaps… should I call you Inspector Miss?”
“Just call me Senior Sally,” she said with a shake of her head, eyeing Shaya with interest, “You just experienced a homicide and were brought to a place like this; why do you seem completely unafraid?”
She only answered the second question but posed one in return, like a trade.
“Because I didn’t kill anyone, and before coming here, I conveniently asked a friend to inform Mr. Sital at the academy. Calculating the time, he should be here soon.”
Shaya spoke frankly after a moment of thought.
After all, there was no need to hide.
In fact, this case was very simple; whether from the perspective of eliminating suspects or bringing in a diviner to communicate with spirits, it could only lead to conclusions unrelated to Shaya.
A mysterious glint flickered in Sally’s eyes as she nodded gently: “To answer your first question.”
“The higher-ups of Judgment Tower maintain close ties with the Violet Chamber of Commerce founded by my family, and as graduation approaches, I don’t have anything particularly special to do, so my family arranged for me to be here through connections.”
Upon hearing this, Shaya nodded.
According to their unspoken rules, it was her turn to ask questions.
Sally casually picked up a piece of paper, scanned it briefly, then propped her chin up with one hand and stared at Shaya: “The report states that after your arrest, you claimed there were crime marks left on the wall by the real murderer at the crime scene, but witnesses insist no such thing exists.”
“What kind of mark was it?”
“A broken sun.”
Shaya’s response came with no hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, he didn’t take his eyes off Sally’s face, trying to sense any subtle hints.
If she really had some kind of ulterior motive, it had to be related to the “sun.”
But she merely raised an eyebrow: “A broken sun… the Church of Light?”
Shaya remained silent.
Seeing this, Sally smiled slightly, reaching out her hand across the table to straighten his collar, which showed the shackles: “I’ve seen various types of criminals during my time as an inspector; you’re the first one wanting to lead the interrogator around.”
“Go ahead, ask.”
Shaya nodded: “Is your father that Count Violet?”
“Of course. By the way, I should mention that my fiancé is the Fifth Prince.” Sally withdrew her slender fingers, painted with light purple nail polish, her lips curling up, “Isn’t it especially thrilling to be in a room with a woman of the prince?”
“Definitely thrilling; by the way, that counts as a question.”
Shaya nodded in response.
Sally’s expression froze for a moment, then she burst into laughter, her silver bell-like voice echoing in the interrogation room.
“You’re really interesting.”
It seemed he had hit her funny bone; Sally laughed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, and it took her a long while to recover, gently wiping away the tears with her fingertips.
“Why did Senior Sally dismiss the colleagues who were interrogating me just to question me alone?”
Once she calmed down, Shaya continued to ask.
Sally tilted her head to look at him: “Because I’m very interested in your story, in the talent you’ve displayed, and in the fact that you embarrassed Angelica.”
“So, as soon as I heard a young man named Shaya had been brought in, I accepted this case immediately.”
Ah, so she was here for entertainment.
Shaya nodded gently, falling silent for a moment.
Although he found Sally’s appearance very strange, he was not willing to pass up this opportunity and even felt inclined to climb up the ladder.
Thus, Shaya silently summoned the system and checked the 27 points he had received but not yet used since returning from Witch Miss.
That’s right, Shaya had leveled up 9 times upon his return.
Though he did not know the exact reason, he guessed that perhaps during the days after his body’s seal was lifted, Witch Miss had regained some of her powers.
She had become stronger, and naturally, Shaya received more experience.
This was definitely a good thing.
So, right in front of Sally, Shaya silently allocated 5 points to his charisma.
A charisma value of 5 was typical for regular people, and Shaya originally had 10 points, which categorized him as quite handsome.
Adding these points made him gradually approach the maximum attractiveness that a human could achieve.
It seemed that, currently, the calculation method for charisma might differ from the others.
After all, this wasn’t about cultivation levels, which had significant room for improvement, but appearance was subjective; once a certain peak was reached, going further might not fall under the realm of humanity.
Of course, even if he raised his charisma to a certain level and automatically learned passive skills like [Charm], Shaya wouldn’t be surprised.
After adding the points, Shaya raised his head again, calmly looking at Sally across the table: “It’s your turn to ask, Senior.”
Under his gaze, Sally’s eyes widened slightly, lingering for a moment in surprise, then she awkwardly shifted her gaze away.
“……”
After a moment of silence, she suddenly stood up, a bit restless, turning her back to Shaya, her toes in black knee-high boots tapping anxiously.
Then, she turned her head, revealing a hint of a dangerous smile.
“I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but at that moment just now, I suddenly found you a bit more pleasing to the eye, even vaguely stirring an impulse within me.”
“An urge to strangle you here and take you back to make a specimen.”
“Is it really okay to loudly proclaim criminal behavior inside the Judgment Tower, which symbolizes fairness and justice?”
Shaya blinked, asking.
“Because that’s just human nature, isn’t it?” Sally’s voice suddenly softened significantly as she walked up to Shaya, leaned down, and lifted his chin, “I’m an evil bad woman.”
Knock knock knock—
The knocking on the door came at the perfect timing.
Sally furrowed her brows in annoyance and straightened up to open the door.
“What is it?”
“Above told me to hand this over to Inspector Mr. Shaya; they said it was a misunderstanding. He is an internal member of our Judgment Tower, present at the crime scene to check for clues, but forgot to bring his identity badge.”
“What did you say?”
Sally took the small box handed to her in disbelief, and upon opening it, she found a badge the size of a coin inside, with a scale pattern engraved on the surface.
Picking up the badge, she noticed a line of small text inscribed on the back.
[Shaya Adelaide, Headquarters of Judgment Tower, Junior Inspector.]
“……I see.”
After confirming the authenticity of the badge multiple times, Sally fell silent for a moment, nodded, then closed the door.
Returning to her seat, she scrutinized Shaya again.
This time, she looked especially focused, as if she intended to see through him entirely.
After a long time, she finally smiled softly, “You are indeed a guy who never ceases to surprise people.”
“It was like that in the restaurant, and in the duel arena as well.”
However, Shaya was currently in a state of confusion.
He originally just wanted Mr. Sital to pull some strings to get him out, but how had he suddenly become a member of the Judgment Tower?
Even if he was just a junior inspector, Shaya was very clear about the weight it carried.
Unlike the Mage Tower, which resembled an association system, the Judgment Tower was a bona fide administrative institution, an incredibly strict national machine.
It was no surprise that Sally could come in to work, but what right did Shaya have?
Just based on Mr. Sital, the retired former inspector knight?
He didn’t think he had that much clout.
With a belly full of questions, Shaya raised the magical shackles carved with spells in his hand: “Can you unlock these for me?”
Sally gazed at him deeply, then walked over and took out the key to unlock him.
Once liberated, Shaya reached out to take the inspector badge on the table, but Sally was quicker and pressed the box down onto her hand.
Shaya looked up at the enchanting girl before him.
“I’m becoming more and more fond of you, junior.” She extended her alluring little pink tongue, licking her lip corner, “Tomorrow night at 8 o’clock, Count Violet’s residence will hold an unprecedented grand banquet. As one of the hosts, I am formally inviting you now.”
“Mr. Shaya Adelaide, are you interested in being my dance partner?”
