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Chapter 411: The Sun Card
This feeling of being watched came and went quickly, so Loren stayed more alert afterward.
Soon, the coffee Loren ordered arrived, but Laila didn’t seem interested in drinking it. She kept stirring her cup, lost in other thoughts.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Let’s find a place and start a round.”
“Pfft!”
The coffee Loren had just swallowed sprayed right onto Laila’s face. She didn’t get mad, simply taking out a handkerchief to wipe it off.
“I’m serious. Using your hands yesterday didn’t work...”
As she spoke, Laila’s face flushed red.
“...”
Loren silently took a sip of coffee, then finally nodded.Laila lowered her head, her face turning even redder, her voice barely a whisper:
“Where can we go?”
“The most dangerous place is the safest—we’ll sneak back home.”
“Cecelia usually hides in my bedroom. We’ll go to your room instead.”
Loren analyzed it logically, though having to analyze such a situation made him somewhat uncomfortable.
“Mm...”
Laila responded softly, then grabbed Loren to leave, and Loren could only let her.
To ensure the plan went smoothly, Loren even used the Hermit card. He pulled Laila along and slipped in through the front door while Seraphina was opening it.
Seraphina suddenly stopped what she was doing, her eyes fixed on Loren as he ran toward Laila’s bedroom.
...
At dinner time, Loren quietly slipped out of Laila’s bedroom alone and sat down at the dining table, just in time for the meal.
Before eating, Loren downed a large glass of water; his throat felt parched.
“Where’s Laila?”
Anna counted the people at the table and asked.
“She has something to take care of, so she won’t be eating dinner.”
Loren made up a casual excuse, but Anna clearly didn’t buy it. She leaned in and sniffed him, then flashed a knowing smile.
“...”
Even so, Loren ignored Anna and continued eating his meal.
After dinner, Loren lay on his bed in the bedroom, mulling over what came next.
He took the rumor situation very seriously because he’d thought of a terrifying possibility.
The Tarot card, the Sun.
The Sun card’s effect was to make people believe what the user said and spread it quickly. If enough people believed it, lies could become reality. This kind of rule-based power was the trickiest.
If it really was the Sun card, then things were complicated.
The person spreading the rumors only needed to casually mention them in conversation. In an era without advanced forensic techniques, tracking that kind of thing was nearly impossible.
Loren knew the rumor-spreader was likely targeting him. The rumors being spread didn’t benefit any faction, but they hurt Loren.
Loren had already made it clear he wouldn’t hand over the Ember Radiance. In this situation, the rumors would only cause him trouble.
The Sun card was annoying but not unbeatable. If something was too absurd, even with the Sun card, people wouldn’t be so easily fooled.
The more rational a person was, the harder it was for the Sun card to deceive them. Mental resistance also worked against it—for instance, Witches would never be tricked by the Sun card.
At the same time, the more a rumor tried to affect reality, the more people needed to believe it.
For ordinary people, the Sun card posed a huge threat, but for Loren, it was a different story.
Loren’s reputation was too high, and people’s trust in him was solid enough. That meant any rumor about him was hard to spread, and even harder to make it affect reality.
So while the Sun card was troublesome, Loren wasn’t afraid of it.
Just as Loren was lost in these thoughts, Cecelia crawled into his bed.
...
The next day, Loren planned to head to the academy, but as soon as he stepped out the door, he ran into William, who was blocking his way.
“What happened? It’s not Casper blocking my door this time—it’s you.”
William’s expression was serious, and Loren instinctively felt something was wrong.
“A new rumor has surfaced...”
“What?”
Loren knew the rumor-spreader would strike again, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
“What kind of rumor this time? Does it involve me?”
“It involves you, but the main target isn’t you...”
“Give me the details.”
Loren’s tone turned serious, and William had to report to him in detail:
“The rumor says Laila assaulted a young girl and used your influence to cover it up...”
As he spoke, Loren could even sense William’s nervousness.
“It even deliberately steers the narrative toward you, claiming you’re protecting Laila...”
William remembered what Loren had said before—that what he hated most was being threatened and framed.
The Langton family, which had threatened Loren, had already been destroyed. Those who framed Loren wouldn’t have an easy time either.
“Interesting...”
Loren let out a few sinister chuckles that made William feel a chill.
“As I thought, his ultimate goal is still me...”
Others might not realize what this person was trying to do, but Loren knew it all too well.
First, use slander and revisionist history to paint Laila as a villain. Then, through Laila, drag Loren, who was close to her, into the mud, slowly eroding Loren’s prestige, eventually leading people to question him.
Once Loren’s prestige was weakened, they would strike at him directly.
Loren was all too familiar with this tactic—using one individual to stigmatize an entire group, then using that stigmatized group to stigmatize specific individuals.
“A man is a criminal, so all men are criminals. Therefore, you are a criminal. You bear original sin. You owe us. You must compensate me. Buy an indulgence.”
“Do you believe this rumor?”
Instead of saying how he’d handle it, Loren asked William a counter-question.
“Of course I can’t believe such idiotic rumors...”
William answered decisively. Loren couldn’t tell if he genuinely didn’t believe it or was just saying that out of fear.
William had a brain, and Loren figured it was unlikely he’d be fooled.
“Laila is a woman.”
“What?”
William had thought of many ways to refute the rumor, but he certainly hadn’t considered that.
Loren wasn’t surprised by his reaction. Whenever Laila went out, she unconsciously dressed like a man, so it was normal for people to mistake her gender.
This whole thing was absurd—absurd enough that Loren let out a laugh.
“Investigate who’s spreading these rumors. Also, find that ‘young girl’ and have her come forward. Say I’ll do everything I can to compensate her, that I won’t show favoritism or bend the law.”
That girl didn’t exist, but someone would definitely step forward for personal gain. When they did, she’d serve as an example to scare the rest.
“Understood, Master Mentor...”
William knew this was a golden opportunity to curry favor with Loren. Even if he didn’t get the Ember Radiance, with Loren’s help, his path forward would be much smoother.
After giving these instructions, Loren headed toward the academy.