## Chapter 1956: Mutual Schemes
“What? She’s a witch?” Some nobles began to whisper, casting strange glances at me. Witches were always subjects of fear, symbols of disaster, and even nobles were quite wary of them.
“Heh, everyone, don’t believe his nonsense. He’s a cultist, a follower of the Changer of Ways, and he’s best at spreading lies to deceive people,” Jayad said with a cold laugh.
“What? A follower of that Changer of Ways?!” A commotion erupted among the nobles. Compared to witches, Tzeentch’s followers were far more notorious.
Witches were indeed beings who brought about disaster, but they didn’t necessarily have malicious intent to cause calamities, and they could even suppress them to a certain extent.
Tzeentch’s followers, however, were different. Each of them had making trouble as their life’s goal. Betrayal, subversion, and riots were as natural to them as eating and drinking. They were inherently and incomparably evil, and Tzeentch’s followers were targets of universal condemnation wherever they went.
Of course, they dared not utter Tzeentch’s true name or titles, instead using “Changer of Ways” as a substitute. This was the title of one of Tzeentch’s greater daemons, equivalent to an angel, but it had also become customary to refer to Tzeentch himself with this title.
“You! You’re the one spouting nonsense! I’ve been working diligently under the Lord of the City, just a servant with low strength. How could I possibly be a follower of that Chaos God?” Rodrigo shouted.
His statement surprised some nobles, who thought he might indeed not be a follower of Tzeentch. However, I absolutely didn’t believe him.
There was a simple way to identify a follower in this world: observe if they would curse the god they believed in. Generally, this was absolutely impossible. It wasn’t that the god would smite them, but rather that their faith would collapse, causing their divine power to go berserk and kill them.
However, Tzeentch’s followers might be an exception. As the god of trickery and scheming, Tzeentch might allow his followers to slightly demean or curse their deity in order to deceive their enemies.
Because his power was deception, the act of cursing itself was part of the deception, not a violation of divine decree. Therefore, their faith would not collapse, something unimaginable in most other cults.
“Silence! Don’t listen to this scoundrel’s deceitful words! Seize him!” the Crown Prince yelled. At this point, he no longer cared if Jayad was impersonating someone in the competition or if the girl beside him was a witch. What did any of that have to do with him, the Crown Prince?
He just wanted to capture Rodrigo quickly and force him, through various means, to admit to using mind control on the noblewoman and himself, thus clearing his own name.
The soldiers hesitated. Logically, they should obey the Lord of the City, but the Lord of the City had just argued with the Crown Prince. Now, whether to obey the Crown Prince and arrest a courtier of the Lord of the City, they were all at a loss.
“Detain Rodrigo first. He seduced the Lady of the City; his crime is heinous,” the Knight Captain immediately said. He seized the main point of contention: capture the culprit first, confirm the crime, and then consider other matters.
“How dare you! Lord of the City, I’ve been wronged! I’m truly not a follower of Tzeentch, and I’ve always been loyal to you. You must uphold justice for me!” Rodrigo shamelessly appealed to the Lord of the City.
Just then, I sensed a killing intent or hostility. Albrisque suddenly lunged at me, shouting, “Whether she’s a witch, you’ll know soon enough!”
He once again conjured a greatsword of lightning in his hand and, faster than lightning, rushed before me and swung his sword.
I had anticipated this. Rodrigo, in his desperation, would surely lash out. Albrisque was his tool. And he chose me as the best target. If he could prove I was a witch, he could forcefully divert everyone’s attention and buy himself time to escape.
Currently, I wasn’t truly afraid of Albrisque, but I was uncertain if I could defeat him without revealing my identity as a witch. I planned to stall and let Older Brother Jayad defeat him. With this thought, I raised my left hand adorned with a ruby.
Just then, a flash of golden light appeared, and a beautiful figure stepped in front of me, blocking Albrisque’s greatsword of lightning with her bare hand. Her dazzling golden hair shone, and her arms and back bore firm, well-defined muscles. It was Alicia.
“Roar!” A fierce roar, a burst of power, forcefully pushed Albrisque back. It seemed to be a skill combining draconic might, divine power, and noble presence.
“You’re quite strong, stronger than in the competition. Could it be that you’ve gained power from an Evil God?” Alicia said with a smile. She raised her arm, and I saw that her dragon scale had been cut, and a trickle of blood seeped out.
I looked closely. Albrisque’s greatsword of lightning contained a blue-purple magic power. Because the colors were very similar, it was easily overlooked. It was Tzeentch’s magic power, likely a new power bestowed by Rodrigo when he went to report to him yesterday.
Alicia had intervened. Unfortunately, I had wanted to test Albrisque’s true strength. He shouldn’t be able to defeat Alicia, even if Rodrigo had empowered him.
“Ah! That jester is gone!” someone shouted. It was then that we realized Rodrigo had vanished amidst Albrisque’s attack.
Simultaneously, the soldiers and attendants in the venue had their eyes glowing with blue-purple magic power. Their faces became ferocious, as if they were about to attack everyone else. It was clear they were all controlled by Rodrigo.
Over the years, Rodrigo had planted Tzeentch’s mark on countless people in the Lord of the City’s mansion. Now, he could no longer control them meticulously. He simply let the chaotic power of the marks erupt, driving these people into a frenzy, attacking any target indiscriminately.
In this chaos, he could easily escape outside and flee. Moreover, he might hold a grudge and harass us endlessly.
However, my face was calm. Because from the very start, I had set a trap for him. With Rodrigo’s cunning and caution, he must surely be observing the situation in the venue through his Tzeentch marks right now. And there were certainly a few people he would be focusing on, such as myself.
“Demigod, remove that illusion,” I transmitted to the Demigod. The illusion surrounding the Tzeentch marks was immediately dispelled, including those within Older Brother Jayad.
Then, we both performed the same action: we picked up a pale yellow, ancient ruin fragment and placed it before me, staring at it intently.
“Ah?! A ruin fragment from Carcosa!” Seeing the ruin fragment, those few musicians gasped in unison. Even though they wore white masks, I could still see the astonishment on their faces.
At the same time, Albrisque let out a scream and clutched his head, his body beginning to sprout various bizarre purple feathers.
Two days ago, during a battle, Older Brother Jayad had inadvertently let him see the Yellow Sign.
