In the side 【Hall of All Spirits】, in a small and elegant lounge, Princess Lilya, with waist-length blue hair and a noble crown on her head, sat on the sofa, pondering deeply.

 

Beside her, several trusted and powerful confidants such as Scarlet Flame Flora, Emily, Edwina, either sat or stood. Miss Violet leaned against the wall, casually playing with her smooth nails, seemingly bored.

 

The Priestess still wore the 【Cognitive Obstruction Mask】, so her current identity was “Adventurer Violet.”

 

In the end, now that Lilya had completely revealed everything, there was no longer much significance in hiding, and Violet approached the situation with the mentality of “since it’s come to this, might as well go along with it.”

 

“Hah… Everyone has seen the situation. Speak your thoughts freely,” Princess Lilya opened the topic after a moment of silence.

 

After a brief silence, it was still the princess who first brought up the topic.

 

At the first opportunity, a somewhat impatient voice of a rat person sounded in the air.

 

“Cough, first things first, let me clarify that I didn’t deceive anyone. When I was working in the Eternal Throne, I did hear Leopold and Cromancia discuss cooperation with this group more than once. There’s absolutely no mistake. Those two couldn’t have conspired to deliberately give me false information, right?”

 

Though direct, Prakaka’s words made sense.

 

Various signs indicated that the group was a partner of the Eternal Throne. If this was an attempt by someone with malicious intent to frame and set them up, that person must have extraordinary insight.

 

Mr. Vicious Wolf, who had been diligently handling a lot of intelligence during this time, nodded in agreement with Prakaka’s testimony.

 

“I also believe that the evidence is not flawed. Although it’s hard to believe, the only explanation is that the lie detection ability of the High Spirit has failed on the Second Prince.”

 

He was not native to the kingdom and, although he had reverence for the ancestral spirits worshipped here, he was not blindly faithful. He immediately put forward the most plausible speculation.

 

Having grown up almost entirely in the kingdom and possessing rich experience, Scarlet Flame Flora remained silent for a long time, ultimately shaking her head in denial.

 

“The High Spirit is the embodiment of the countless ancestral souls in the kingdom. In this country, it represents an absolute law that cannot be easily bypassed by ordinary means. Otherwise, the deliberations of the Spirit Temple wouldn’t carry such notarized authority.”

 

“Miss Flora, are you suggesting that every word spoken by the Second Prince is true? Taking a step back, could it be that everything we’ve done so far is just part of someone else’s manipulation?” Nicholas, arguing on logical grounds, did not show any fear despite the opponent’s superior strength. Although Scarlet Flame Flora had spared him once when he escaped the capital a few years ago, granting him a debt of gratitude, the past was the past, and falsehoods wouldn’t turn into truths.

 

“I didn’t say that, it’s just…”

 

Miss Adventurer hesitated for a moment and didn’t continue because she couldn’t fathom a reason why Ben Melchior could make such statements unscathed, given that the 【Hall of All Spirits】 was functioning properly.

 

But if there was anyone in Scarlet Flame Flora’s experience who could evade such an absolute power, it was…

 

But she couldn’t possibly help Ben in this matter.

 

Stopping the arguments among her subordinates with a raised hand, Princess Lilya turned her attention to a certain Holy Knight sitting upright beside her, who had been silent and unable to join the conversation.

 

“Alright, I understand your thoughts. Miss Edwina, as a Holy Knight of the Holy Empire, do you have any means from the temple’s perspective to bypass the High Spirit’s [Lawful] detection?”

 

“Uh?”

 

Edwina struggled to think for a while, and in the end, she responded with an inexplicable statement.

 

“Um… Can I ask what everyone has been talking about, like lying and rules? I haven’t felt anything like that at all.”

 

“??????”

 

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to this inexplicable question.

 

It was like someone suddenly coming out and asking, “How do you guys even breathe? Why can’t I feel any air around me?”… something along those lines.

 

In the end, Mr. Vicious Wolf, who had fought alongside Edwina in close quarters before, couldn’t bear it anymore and pointed in the direction of the main 【Hall of All Spirits】 temple.

 

“Miss Edwina, haven’t you heard about the ancestral spirit power that the people of the kingdom worship? When the High Spirit appeared earlier, that intangible and incorporeal force had already spread to every corner of the Spirit Temple. You didn’t feel it?”

 

The golden-haired girl just shook her head in confusion.

 

Seeing Edwina’s complete lack of understanding, the princess seemed to suddenly realize something. She squinted her beautiful eyes, raised her hand to stop Nicholas from saying anything further, and directly instructed the Holy Knight.

 

“Edwina, please say loudly in front of us now, 【I am a cunning and deceitful woman with many tricks】.”

 

“????”

 

“Princess, where am I cunning and deceitful?!”

 

Faced with someone’s vehement protest, Lilya could only smile helplessly and explain it to her in a way that would be suitable for someone who might not grasp the situation.

 

“Don’t get too worked up… I know Edwina is an honest and good girl. This is just a test. You can think of it as a magical incantation or prayer, alright?”

 

“Lilya, are you suggesting…”

 

Scarlet Flame Flora furrowed her brows, but ultimately did not stop the princess.

 

“Well, give it a try, Miss Edwina. Just say it loudly, and it’s better to say it a few times.”

 

“Ugh… Since Princess has said so…”

 

As if resigned to her fate, the pitiful Holy Knight closed her eyes, and soon the lounge echoed with Edwina’s somewhat comical shouts.

 

“I… I am cunning and deceitful! I have many tricks! I am cunning and deceitful, with many tricks! Many tricks, many tricks! Is that enough!”

 

Silence…

 

Until the golden-haired Holy Knight, with a face full of shame, repeated that sentence several times, and even after some time had passed with no apparent changes, almost everyone’s expressions changed.

 

“This…!”

 

Miss Flora abruptly stood up, as if she had been greatly shocked.

 

Nicholas, Emily, and others who had lived in the Courage City for a long time and were influenced by its culture also had quite remarkable expressions.

 

The absolute [Lawful] rule of the High Spirit could indeed be circumvented by ordinary people.

 

Princess took a deep breath and tossed the shaken values into the drain.

 

“Well… there really is nothing absolute. In that case…”

 

Feeling the restraining force still present within her due to being within the scope of the Hall of All Spirits, Lilya turned her gaze towards the priestess who had been silently watching the ongoing argument.

 

“Violet, you surely can exempt yourself from this rule, right? Any insights on Edwina’s situation?”

 

“Well… kind of. If what you guys are talking about is the same thing I sense, it’s quite understandable.”

 

The priestess had encountered spirits like this before, whether it be the Death Spirit of the Beastman Kingdom or the High Spirit of the Human United Kingdom. The rules they employed, the so-called “absolute” power, fundamentally stemmed from the fact that the vast majority of beings couldn’t surpass a certain threshold.

 

In other words, as long as an equal or even higher level of power intervened, the rules were not absolutely immune to resistance or evasion.

 

Although the details were not entirely clear, Edwina seemed to be in a similar situation.

 

Class was the same.

 

Since such high-level powers were involved…

 

“Let me help you a bit~”