Chapter 168: The Final Puzzle Piece
“What do you mean?” Rena did not understand.
“Rena, their suspicion is impossible to guard against completely. Any opportunity that causes their suspicions to deepen beyond a certain point could prompt them to take action immediately,” Leon explained.
“So isn't that basically the same thing? Doesn't it mean we need to be especially careful not to leak any clues? In that case, if we don't handle things carefully here, and there happens to be a spy among us who's been bought off by them, wouldn't they spot the problem right away?” Rena said.
“Yes, which is why I said we still need to take precautions, just in case. But for this part, all we can do is our best and leave the rest to fate. We can do everything possible to keep them from obtaining evidence and minimize the clues they uncover, but guaranteeing that we never trigger any suspicion at all...” Leon smiled bitterly. “That's not something we can control.”
“Suspicion and doubt only need imagination to exist,” Weiss suddenly said. “That's what you're trying to say, right?”
“Exactly.” Leon nodded to Weiss before turning back to Rena. “Rena, think back to how they cornered us back then. How did they find you? How did they see through me?”
After a moment's thought, Rena understood.
Whether it had been Bishop Beckett's surprise raid on the Hamel Labyrinth that captured her, or the way he had immediately identified Leon as Fenrir, neither the Earl nor Bishop Beckett had ever possessed definitive evidence or concrete clues.
Yet the Earl had accurately guessed everything they had done purely through his own experience, and Bishop Beckett's identification of Leon had been based entirely on a self-consistent hypothesis.