Hearing this, Paimon was first stunned, then nodded.
"It's about the Judgment, but… more so, I wanted to ask what you plan to do with the guy who tried to assassinate you."
"After all… we already know about that family's affairs since last night~"
Paimon said, shaking her little head.
Looking at Paimon, who was shaking her head, Yuto's face showed a meaningful smile, and then he spoke:
"Do you… really want to know how I'm going to deal with Edward?"
"Yes! Compared to the ninety million mora check being a Fatui conspiracy, that guy who used an Evil Eye looks much more like the real conspiracy, doesn't he?"
Paimon asked tentatively, wiggling her finger.
After spending some time with Yuto, Paimon realized one thing: you absolutely cannot use common sense to view matters involving Yuto.
His thoughts… are truly unfathomable to ordinary people.
Compared to Paimon's direct question, Lumine's approach was more reassuring.
She lowered her head slightly, thought for a moment, and then asked directly:
"Was he directly imprisoned in Meropide?"
Yuto gently shook his head, then looked at the two in front of him with a half-smile and said:
"What if I told you… the so-called assassination was actually a play I directed and acted in myself?"
"Huh???"
Hearing this, Paimon and Lumine's eyes suddenly widened, as if they had heard something incredible.
Even though they had traveled across most of Teyvat, they had never seen someone who would arrange for others to assassinate themselves.
Yuto's existence… was constantly shattering their worldview.
Looking at the two people with surprised expressions, Yuto gently waved his hand and then said:
"No need to be so surprised, it's just some unsavory political tactics."
"Although there was an element of me directing and acting in it, they truly wanted to kill me."
"But then again, even if this whole thing was directed and acted by me from beginning to end…"
"I never threatened them to settle the matter with mora from the start, did I?"
A difficult-to-fathom smile appeared on Yuto's face, as if… all of this seemed perfectly normal to him.
And Paimon, after a brief moment of being stunned, began to recall what Yuto had said last night.
Just as he had just said, regarding Edward's assassination, he never presented any substantial evidence from beginning to end, only a few words.
And that fat, big-eared guy was so scared he didn't dare to speak when he heard this, directly stating that he wanted to use mora to beg Yuto not to "implicate the innocent"...
Thinking of this, a question couldn't help but surface in Paimon's mind.
Were they… truly innocent?
When they expelled Edward at that time… did they really not have similar intentions?
As if seeing Paimon's confusion, Yuto chuckled softly, then said:
"Just as you thought, when Edward was first expelled… they indeed wanted to use him to assassinate me."
"After all, two months ago… I hadn't shown any particularly powerful strength, so they thought I was a fish on the chopping block, to be slaughtered at their will."
"But in that Judgment over a month ago, I defeated a Fatui Harbinger with just one sword, which made Edward not dare to lay a hand on me at all."
"In the eyes of the world, the power possessed by a Fatui Harbinger is quite formidable; if I can effortlessly defeat a Harbinger…"
"Then wouldn't a so-called assassination just be a suicide mission?"
Yuto smiled slightly, then took a sip of the red tea in front of him and said no more.
Hearing this, Paimon fell into a brief contemplation, then shook her head.
"I still don't quite understand… knowing that the assassination couldn't succeed, why didn't Edward, who hadn't been exposed, return to the family, but was left outside?"
Lumine nodded upon hearing this, then added:
"Edward, left to wander outside, is a ticking time bomb. If they don't retrieve this bomb, then wouldn't they…?"
Hearing this, Yuto nodded gently, then continued:
"It's simple, because they were gambling, gambling that I would be overwhelmed by The Prophecy, and gambling that Palais Mermonia would be severely weakened by The Prophecy."
"If they won the gamble, the benefits they would gain would be far more than you can imagine; if they lost, they would only lose a discarded member of the family."
"If the matter ended there, I truly wouldn't have been able to make them pay a greater price, only able to bring them before the Judgment and discuss the facts."
"But… this world does not favor those who harbor deep malice towards others."
Yuto said as he pulled out a grass-green envelope—it was still sealed with the Akademiya's wax seal.
"Some time ago, I received a letter from the acting Scribe, which mentioned that Edward's academic papers were suspected of being fraudulent, and hoped that we would apprehend him and punish him."
"And we did indeed do so, so… that's how the subsequent events unfolded."
Yuto said as he got up and continued tidying the desk, still without raising his head, he continued:
"When Edward was imprisoned in Meropide for academic fraud, he repeatedly hoped that the jailers would help him contact his family, but… he was directly abandoned by his family."
"An academic type of person, after enduring the high-intensity labor of Meropide, would more or less find it unbearable, and thus harbor resentment towards the family that abandoned him."
"Then he confessed everything and asked to make a deal with me."
"Meropide would provide him with the conditions to complete new academic papers, and he would tell me all of the Noclan Family's plans against me."
"After that… I also made a deal with him, trading a reduced sentence and a letter of recommendation for this assassination play."
"Thus… that is the full picture of this matter."
At this point, Yuto paused slightly, then looked up at the clock on the wall.
—It was already time to get off work.
He stretched his somewhat stiff neck slightly, then said:
"Any other questions? If not… at this time, I should be off work."
Yuto smiled as he looked at the two dumbfounded people in front of him, and said softly.
Hearing Yuto's words, Lumine and Paimon quickly shook their heads, then left Yuto's office in a daze.
Yuto, meanwhile, gently shook his head, then locked the office door and left Palais Mermonia.
He looked up slightly at the sky, a genuine smile appearing on his face, then he whispered:
"Hmm~ I should be home on time~"
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