Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87. A Loophole in the Law
Early the next morning.
Logaris woke up in his bed and, for the first time, felt his mind exceptionally clear.
The aftereffects of drunkenness and mana exhaustion had already faded, but everything that happened in the study last night was engraved deeply into his memory like a brand.
“Heterochromia is very cool, isn’t it?”
Sylvia’s words, carrying a trace of slyness and unquestionable seriousness, replayed in his mind the entire night.
Very cool?
Logaris walked to the mirror in the washroom.
The man in the mirrCorruption Cultor had messy black hair. His right eye was the familiar pale blue, calm and rational.
His left eye, however, was the eerie crimson he had hidden for more than a decade, like a sea of blood frozen in place.
Since childhood, that eye had brought him nothing but ridicule, rejection, and his mother’s cold disgust.
“Monster.”
“Son of a demon.”
Those words were like venomous snakes that had wrapped themselves around his entire childhood.
So after learning his very first spell, he had eagerly used illusion magic to disguise it, keeping the disguise for more than ten years.
He raised his hand. A faint glow of mana gathered around his fingertips as he prepared, just like on the past thousands of days and nights, to cast a flawless illusion on himself.
But his hand stopped in midair.
“Here, in my territory.”
“No one would dare mock you.”
Sylvia’s words echoed again.
Logaris looked at himself in the mirror, at those sharply contrasting eyes.
Suddenly, he felt that leaving them like this did not seem so bad after all.
He lowered his hand, and the glow of mana dissipated.
Logaris did not put on his glasses, nor did he cast any illusion. He simply pushed open the door and walked directly onto the streets of Winter City.
There were already pedestrians on the streets in the early morning, and the cold wind carried the aroma of freshly baked bread.
A merchant pushing a cart passed by while shouting his wares. When he looked up and saw Logaris approaching, he immediately stopped with surprise.
“It’s Professor West!”
His shout made the surrounding pedestrians look over.
“Ah! It really is Lord Logaris!”
“The one who reduced our taxes and said he would build free schools, Lord Logaris?”
“My lord isn’t wearing glasses today… huh? His eyes?”
A small wave of astonishment rippled through the crowd, but no one showed fear.
“So this is what Lord Logaris’s eyes look like. They are so special!” a flower-selling girl said with curious eyes.
“Yes! They look so handsome! Even more handsome than when he wears glasses!”
“Who cares what he looks like! He is a great benefactor of our Northern Territory and a truly good man!”
The merchants and passing citizens all bowed respectfully to Logaris. Their eyes were filled with genuine respect and gratitude, without the slightest trace of unease because of his heterochromatic eyes.
Logaris paused his steps.
This feeling… was unfamiliar.
He did not turn around and simply continued walking forward, but the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted slightly.
Perhaps she was right.
The Northern Territory was truly different.
…
At the entrance of the Council Chamber in the Governor’s Residence.
Just as Logaris reached the door, a purple figure suddenly appeared and blocked his path.
It was the captain of the Shadow Guard, Esmeralda.
When she saw Logaris’s heterochromatic eyes, she froze on the spot.
After a full three seconds, she finally reacted and let out a loud whistle.
“Whoa!”
Esmeralda’s teasing gaze circled around Logaris’s face before meaningfully glancing toward Sylvia, who was already seated inside the Council Chamber.
Lowering her voice, she spoke with a mischievous grin and a tone that clearly said “I understand everything.”
“Well, Professor, it looks like you finally figured something out. Or did our princess have a particularly wild night yesterday and strip away your last layer of disguise?”
The muscles on Logaris’s face twitched.
Did this woman have anything in her brain besides filthy thoughts?
Too lazy to respond, he walked past Esmeralda and entered the Council Chamber directly.
Inside the chamber, Sylvia sat at the head seat reading documents.
When she saw Logaris enter, her gaze lingered on his completely undisguised eyes for one second before naturally shifting away as if nothing unusual had happened.
“Sit.” She gestured to the seat beside her.
Just as Logaris sat down, Finance Officer Grayson and General Victor walked in as well.
When the two men saw Logaris’s new appearance, they both paused in clear surprise.
General Victor narrowed his remaining eye slightly, while Grayson pushed up his monocle as if trying to see more clearly.
But the surprise lasted only a moment.
The next second, both of them returned to normal as if the man sitting across from them was still the refined professor wearing rimless glasses.
They each took their seats with serious expressions, and not a single one of them asked any questions.
This was Sylvia’s team.
A group of absolutely loyal, pragmatic, and tight-lipped professionals.
“Alright. Everyone is here. Let’s discuss business.”
Sylvia placed the document down, her silver-gray eyes sweeping across everyone present.
“The battle at Raging Valley has come to an end, but the parasites within the city should also be cleaned out.”
Her voice was not loud, yet it carried a chill.
“The Chief Judicial Officer, Herman. He was jumping around in the council before the war and led the impeachment against me. I have not forgotten that debt.”
When that name was mentioned, everyone present darkened in expression.
“Your Highness,” Esmeralda reported with a bow, “I have already investigated everything about Herman.”
“But that old fox is too clean.”
For the first time, a troubled expression appeared on her face.
“All assets under his name have legal sources. Every case he handled is flawless in terms of legal procedure. He indeed used various legal business methods and court rulings to bankrupt many minor nobles and merchants, then acquired their industries at extremely low prices.”
“Although there are some controversial evil incidents, Herman himself is the Chief Judicial Officer and possesses ‘judicial authority.’ In the end, those incidents were ruled as not guilty.”
“All of his operations remain within the framework of the law. Even some of the dirty work was carried out indirectly through intermediaries. There is no decisive evidence.”
Esmeralda concluded, “Legally speaking, we cannot find any evidence to convict him.”
The Council Chamber fell silent.
This was the most troublesome part.
A man like Herman was like a malignant tumor wrapped in the hard shell of the law.
You knew he was poisonous, yet you could not break that damned shell.
Sylvia could send troops and execute Herman directly, just like she had done with the seven traitorous noble families, but the nature of the situation was completely different.
Those seven families were criminals with undeniable evidence against them, and the thunderous punishment had established authority. No one dared object.
But on the surface, Herman was a genuine “law-abiding citizen.”
Executing a Chief Judicial Officer without cause would likely turn the entire legal system of the Northern Territory into a joke.
Sylvia gently tapped her finger against the table as her brows slightly furrowed.
For a moment, a trace of icy killing intent flashed through her eyes, and she almost ordered Esmeralda to lead the Shadow Guard to arrange an “accident” that would make Herman and his entire family disappear from Winter City.
But she immediately extinguished the thought. That would not work. Divination magic was highly developed now. Both the royal capital and the Holy Church had high-tier prophets. If anything went wrong, her two brothers would not miss the chance to impeach her fiercely.
Methods to evade divination were complicated and required long-term planning.
Logaris realized this as well.
Conventional methods would not work on Herman.
Just as everyone was deep in thought, a guard’s report came from outside the door.
“Your Highness, a gentleman who calls himself Reynard has arrived and says he has come to bid farewell.”