Chapter 1955 – Accompanying Music
As long as he wasn’t incapacitated for a day, he would still be the Crown Prince, and no one dared to disobey him. Soon, most of the nobles stopped, wanting to see what Jayad’s brilliant idea was.
But Jayad didn’t speak. Instead, he began to sing. His voice was melodious and profound, as if it wasn’t coming from him, but from the entire space resonating together.
Hastur’s Song, Jayad’s ancient song that could influence the spirit, could also be used to dispel mental suggestions. Seeing Jayad sing, the band accompanying them in the hall all showed expressions of surprise.
Hearing the song, the nobles who had just spoken with Rodrigo instantly covered their heads, while most of the other nobles frowned, then showed expressions of bewilderment.
The nobles who had directly spoken with Rodrigo had been planted with the seeds of mental suggestion by Rodrigo, which were Tzeentch’s marks. Although they were not directly under his mental control, their thoughts and actions were constantly driven by the suggestion.
As for the remaining nobles and other bystanders, they had not come into contact with Rodrigo, nor had Tzeentch’s marks been planted in their minds. They were indirectly influenced in their thinking by those who had marks in their minds, through similar methods of herd mentality and collective subconsciousness.
Those behind them only needed to hear Hastur’s Song, and their mental suggestions and stirred emotions would instantly subside. It was then that they suddenly realized that their emotions just now were not right.
Rodrigo was anxious. He felt Jayad’s song eroding the marks he had left behind. He immediately used sorcery, trying to inject magic power from the source to stabilize the Tzeentch marks implanted in others’ minds.
It was only then that I could clearly feel the magic power within Rodrigo. It was a twisted, chaotic, extremely disordered magic power, full of schemes and calculations, with various types of energy mixed together.
As he began to inject magic power, the nobles became even more pained, even kneeling on the ground clutching their heads and groaning. Jayad and Rodrigo’s powers were clashing intensely in their minds, naturally affecting them.
“Hey! What are you doing? Hurry up and stop!” Seeing the nobles in such pain, the guards shouted at Jayad.
Rodrigo’s spell casting was invisible and traceless. The soldiers couldn’t see it at all. They thought Jayad had caused all this, so they immediately drew their swords and stepped forward, trying to stop Jayad.
But at this moment, a beautiful figure blocked Jayad’s way. Alicia stopped the soldiers and said, “You can’t make a move!”
“All of you, stop!” shouted the Knight Captain. He was the commander of the Lord of the City’s guards. Although he was just a knight, all the guards here obeyed his orders.
Alicia and the Knight Captain, one with authority, the other with force, forcibly stopped the soldiers. None of them dared to make a move again.
Meanwhile, the clandestine struggle between Jayad and Rodrigo had reached a fever pitch, and Jayad was also in a hurry.
Because the marks were planted by Rodrigo in advance, he could directly transmit magic power to stabilize his marks through the connection with the marks, which meant he had the advantage of terrain.
Jayad’s Hastur’s Song power, on the other hand, was dispersed. It was like a vast army spread everywhere, but Rodrigo’s marks were like several forts firmly established amidst the army, unwavering and difficult to remove without siege equipment.
If the stalemate continued, the nobles’ brains would likely be unable to withstand the confrontation of the two forces and would be burned out. Just as Jayad hesitated whether to stop Hastur’s Song and retreat first, a musical tune suddenly sounded.
The music was mainly composed of wind and string instruments, but it was completely different from normal musical scales, appearing incomparably profound, as if resonating with the entire hall.
The melody of this music perfectly matched Older Brother Jayad’s song. With the accompaniment, the humming voice seemed incredibly fitting, as if the human voice was originally one of the instruments arranged during composition.
I looked over in surprise and saw the group of people who had been playing music for the ball before. They had put on white masks at some point, and their instruments carried a strange magic power, resonating with Jayad’s song in mid-air.
I was very familiar with this magic power: dark yellow, profound, cold, with wisps of wind, high and deep, like the endless starry sky.
I had felt this magic power at the St. Laurentia Opera House, and in the Carcosa fragments and Yellow Seal at home, but I had felt it most deeply in Older Brother Jayad, just like he was now.
This was the aura of the King in Yellow, the divine power of this Outer God, distorted and bizarre, with extremely high recognition. So, was this band actually believers of the King in Yellow?
How could it be so coincidental, to have encountered them just now? No wonder their behavior had seemed so bizarre earlier, like when there was an argument upstairs, they were still calmly playing music.
But their arrival was timely. We were in dire need of help. Older Brother Jayad, as a favored one of Hastur the King in Yellow, was a natural ally to them.
Jayad’s song and their playing instantly resonated, and their power increased several times over, instantly destroying all of Rodrigo’s implanted marks as if by a destructive force.
“Ah!!!” Rodrigo screamed and fell backward. His Tzeentch marks were all erased at once, and his spirit also suffered a severe blow.
“What… what were we doing just now?” The nobles stood up, clutching their heads. They had retained all their memories of what had just happened, but they were inexplicably confused as to why they had done such a thing.
For example, pressuring the Crown Prince. Although they had been unhappy with this guy for a long time, they would never have dared to show it usually, as it concerned their own safety.
But just now, their collective outrage was clearly abnormal. So many people had directly united to confront the Crown Prince without thinking, which clearly indicated their minds had been influenced.
Jayad slowly stopped singing and said to the Crown Prince, “Your Highness, do you see clearly now? You and all your esteemed gentlemen’s minds were influenced by Rodrigo.”
“Yes! Thank you, Lord Norton. I was almost deceived by this villain! It’s all thanks to your intervention that his mental suggestion was immediately broken!” The Crown Prince immediately said loudly, pretending to be surprised.
He actually didn’t care about the actual situation. Now, the Crown Prince only cared about clearing his name. In any case, it was all the Jester’s fault, and he was just a victim.
“Damn it! You, you!” Rodrigo struggled to get up. He couldn’t believe that the chess game he had painstakingly arranged had been ruined by one person.
“You are not a contestant named Norton at all, your real name is Jayad! Ladies and gentlemen, I report him for using a false name to register for the Knight Competition! And the girl by his side is a witch!” Rodrigo shouted loudly.
