Chapter 86: Accidental Exposure and Frantic Overthinking

Hearing Bennett say this, Amelia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

If the other party was only looking for her because of that brief contact she had with Ron in the classroom, then fooling him shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Miss Lily,” Bennett said, looking at Amelia. “Can you explain why Ron would deliberately approach you? On the surface, it seems he sought you out because you were a new student, worried you’d fall behind, and offered to tutor you voluntarily. But now that we all know Ron’s true identity, a man like him would never do such a thing. So, his offer to tutor you must have had an ulterior motive. You must know something about this, right?”

Amelia knew Bennett had no concrete evidence that she was problematic; he was just a little concerned about this aspect.

“Since Teacher Weber… no, since this person named Ron is a member of the Red Moon Society, I think I understand his reason for such behavior.”

“Oh? And what reason is that?”

“Because I saved Her Highness Verna.”

Amelia’s thoughts became clear, and she spoke with confidence. “I’ve already learned from some unofficial channels that the people who kidnapped Her Highness Verna were from the Red Moon Society. And since I was the one who found Her Highness Verna and the other captives, and called the Security Office to rescue everyone, it’s inevitable that the Red Moon Society would target me. I believe that’s why Ron made contact with me.”

“That’s most likely the case, Brother Bennett. Lily was just caught in the crossfire.” Verna quickly chimed in to help.

“Is that so?”

Bennett couldn’t help but ponder.

After thinking it over, he felt Amelia’s explanation was indeed reasonable. If that were the case, then Amelia was simply an innocent girl caught up in the events.

But if he couldn’t obtain any useful information here, where else could he begin his investigation?

There was no news from the Security Office about Ron’s capture. However, another suspicious person, Polly Sophis, had been apprehended. Would that individual become a breakthrough?

After a moment of contemplation, Bennett stood up from the sofa. “It seems I was overly suspicious. There’s nothing problematic here, Miss Lily. I’ll take my leave now.”

Amelia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“By the way,” Bennett said, as if suddenly remembering something, “though there are no issues, I’ll perform some routine procedures. Please excuse me.”

“Routine procedures? What procedures?” Amelia asked, puzzled.

Bennett smiled and explained, “I had someone purchase a special alchemical powder from the Sylanti Empire called Revelation Dust. It can remove a person’s disguise. I bought quite a lot and plan to use it wherever I go from now on, to prevent anyone from approaching me in disguise. It’s a habit I intend to cultivate to protect myself.”

As he spoke, Bennett took a small bottle from his pocket.

“Wait, Brother Bennett!” Verna’s expression changed, and she spoke involuntarily.

But it was too late.

Just as Verna opened her mouth, Bennett pressed a switch on the bottle. The mouth of the bottle immediately opened, and the powder inside sprayed out, rapidly diffusing and filling the entire room.

The dust was invisible, causing no effect on ordinary people—it didn’t even obstruct their vision.

But…

Eileen only felt a slight stinging in her eyes. The aqua-blue color contacts immediately fell from her eyes, revealing her original ruby-like gaze.

Furthermore, her hair, dyed aqua-blue, rapidly lost its color. Her long, silvery-white hair was revealed, cascading down and dancing in the breeze.

Beside her, Amelia hadn’t been wearing color contacts; her eyes were already aqua-blue.

But at that moment, her long hair also began to rapidly lose its color, revealing a head of slightly curly, light golden hair that tumbled down over her shoulders.

Seeing this scene, Bennett: “…”

Amelia: “…”

Eileen: “…”

Verna: “…”

The entire room suddenly fell into a dead silence.

【Ah, this… this… what expression should I use here?】

【I was just starting to relax, but now… is a big scene coming?】

【Revelation Dust is indeed an alchemical powder that can quickly remove a disguise, but who would have thought Bennett would use it at a time like this?】

【Hehe, I thought the plot was getting a bit slow. Time for some tension!】

【Amelia, my Amelia, please don’t let anything happen to you.】

Amelia had never imagined things would develop this way. She had just about cleared this hurdle, but Bennett had casually decided to use the so-called Revelation Dust. And from his words, it seemed he had only recently acquired it and was just trying it out. And this trial immediately revealed such a situation?

Bennett instinctively took a step back.

With her extensive combat experience, Eileen could clearly see Bennett had prepared a defensive stance. No matter what happened now, Bennett could react quickly. He clearly possessed a certain degree of combat ability.

“Your Highness Bennett,” Amelia said, twirling a strand of her light golden hair around her finger, speaking calmly, “Don’t look so surprised. In truth, Lily Hicks was originally blonde. I just like the color blue, so I dyed it, and even had my maid dye hers.”

“Members of the Hicks family all have blue hair,” Bennett replied.

“But I’m a distant relative of the Hicks family. My bloodline has changed somewhat, so it’s perfectly logical that I have blonde hair,” Amelia stated earnestly.

“Is that so?”

Bennett wasn’t so trusting. The situation before him looked unnatural no matter how he viewed it. How could he believe that?

The reason he hadn’t rushed to call his guards in was partly confidence in his own strength and partly knowing that if any significant disturbance occurred here, his people could detect it immediately.

“Verna, do you know about Miss Lily’s situation?” Bennett then asked.

This question stumped Verna. She glanced at Amelia, then at Bennett.

Amelia was her partner, helping her become the Grand Duchess of the Luban Duchy. Bennett, on the other hand, was her rival; she even wanted to get rid of this guy…

The choice of who to support was obvious.

“I’ve known about this for a long time. There’s no problem whatsoever, Brother Bennett,” Verna replied, blinking her eyes.

“Verna, you’re still too naive. How could this not be a problem? Of course, it wouldn’t be good for me to jump to conclusions. So, let’s have someone from the Security Office investigate this matter,” Bennett said unhurriedly.

Clearly, he wouldn’t simply dismiss the situation before him.

This turn of events made both Amelia and Verna feel a bit troubled.

Eileen even moved closer to Amelia, closing the distance between them, ready to act at any moment.

What to do?

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Amelia’s mind. At the same time, a torrent of bullet comments flew across her vision. She quickly scanned the contents, hoping to find useful advice.

【At this point, you might as well tell Bennett your true identity. The Luban Duchy isn’t an enemy of the Steele Kingdom, so it wouldn’t hurt to tell him.】

【It’s hard to think of a good solution on the spot. If you keep your identity hidden, you’ll be taken into custody.】

【With Verna here, proving your identity shouldn’t be a problem.】

For the current situation, there were quite a few comments offering ideas, but Amelia could tell at a glance that many suggestions were unreliable. The few that seemed plausible actually advised her to proactively reveal her true identity.

Honestly, Amelia wasn’t prepared to reveal her real identity, but were there any other options now?

If she had enough time, she might have been able to think of a better way to handle this scene. But time was truly running out; she couldn’t afford to think too much.

Just as Bennett was about to call his guards in, Amelia spoke up: “Since it has come to this, I won’t hide it from you anymore, Bennett.”

“Oh? You have more to say?” Bennett’s eyes lit up. “Is this related to the Red Moon Society?”

“No, the matters concerning the Red Moon Society have nothing to do with me. I want to tell you something else.”

“Something else?”

“Yes, about my true identity. Since you’ve already seen my real appearance, I can only tell you my true identity.”

Amelia’s expression was serious.

Hearing this, Verna thought it over and felt this might be a good approach.

But… wouldn’t this affect her plan to become Grand Duchess?

Amelia stopped hiding it. “To be honest, my real name is Amelia Steele. This name should be enough for you to understand my identity, right?”

Bennett immediately narrowed his eyes.

That name was indeed enough to make him understand its meaning. But was the person before him truly the missing Queen?

After the Queen of the fallen kingdom disappeared, if she had headed north, she could indeed have come to Bild City. But this alone wasn’t enough to make him trust her.

“Verna can testify to this. When I was studying abroad at the Royal Academy in the Sainsol Empire, Verna was also there. She has seen me,” Amelia added.

“Is that true?” Bennett immediately looked at Verna.

“Yes.”

Verna nodded.

She still chose to cooperate with Amelia. After all, this was her ally who had signed a contract with her under God’s Witness. Resolving her ally’s troubles was beneficial to her.

Bennett frowned. “You claim to be Amelia Steele, yet you appear under the identity of Lily Hicks. What is going on? What is your purpose?”

“Please don’t misunderstand. I have no ill intentions. I simply needed an identity to stay in the Luban Duchy. Your country requires proof of identity for every citizen, so I had to assume someone else’s.”

“And so you chose Lily Hicks? Did you kill the real Lily Hicks?”

“Who I chose depended on the options presented to me at the time. As for the real Lily Hicks, she was killed by bandits. The information about Lily Hicks and the token to gain the trust of the Hicks family were both obtained from those bandits.”

“Is that so?”

Bennett pondered.

To him, since Verna, who had met Amelia before, confirmed her identity, it was highly likely to be genuine. However, her purpose still concerned him.

A Queen of a fallen kingdom coming to Bild City… if she claimed she just wanted a quiet life, no one would believe that, right?

So, what was her purpose?

Restoring her kingdom?

The first thing that came to Bennett’s mind was restoring the kingdom. That was the most likely judgment.

If she wanted to restore her kingdom, then by staying in Bild City, she was likely trying to obtain something here that could help her in that goal.

What power in Bild City could help a fallen queen restore her kingdom? It could only be the Luban Duchy itself.

And coincidentally, the Grand Duke of the Luban Duchy was in poor health and about to abdicate. Therefore, her partner in cooperation had to be the new Grand Duke. In other words, her target was actually him?

Her meeting Verna was likely a coincidence, but even without this coincidence, she would have created another one. Because only Verna could verify her identity.

So, she would deliberately build a good relationship with Verna to connect with him for cooperation?

The reason she continued to pose as Lily Hicks was because she felt the timing wasn’t right yet? Verna, being foolish, already trusted her too much and was thus cooperating with her?

In just a short moment, Bennett’s mind concocted a vast narrative, and he felt his deductions were very close to the truth.

“I see now,” Bennett showed a look of sudden realization. “If nothing unexpected happened, Amelia, you would have soon tried to contact me through Verna, right?”

He didn’t suspect that Verna herself coveted the Grand Duke’s seat, because Grand Duke Ogden had explicitly stated that the next Grand Duke would be chosen from among the Princes, not the Princesses.

Furthermore, Verna’s usual facade was good enough; Bennett didn’t think she was the type to covet the Grand Duke’s position.

Amelia struggled to keep her expression from turning strange.

During Bennett’s frantic overthinking, the scene displayed to the viewers had followed Bennett, completely broadcasting his inner thoughts while they sent a flood of related bullet comments.

In other words, she understood Bennett’s thoughts as clearly as if she were reading them, all thanks to the bullet comments.

Given the situation, Amelia immediately nodded. “It seems you’ve understood part of it. The answer is just as you deduced. Who could have guessed that unforeseen circumstances would advance our meeting?”

Verna looked at the two of them, a little bewildered.

What were these two talking about?

It was already strange enough that Bennett suddenly seemed to understand something, but more importantly, Amelia was even keeping up, as if she truly understood what Bennett had just figured out.