The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 274: Crow’s Conspiracy

Ding~

A crisp sound came suddenly from the door, and the servants in the kitchen all looked in the direction of the sound.

A middle-aged man with a kind smile, neat clothing, black hair, and black eyes walked in calmly. His unhurried, majestic aura made the servants uncontrollably begin to guess his identity.

He placed a silver coin in between his right fingers.

At this moment, that silver coin was rolling rapidly between his fingers.

“Excuse me.” The middle-aged man suddenly stopped a passing servant and asked softly, “How do I get to the basement?”

Part of the silver pocket watch slipped out silently from his wide cuff as he spoke.

Seeing the familiar Three-eyed Crow logo, the servant’s pupils suddenly shrank and seemed to have a sense of fear as she looked at the middle-aged man. He didn’t dare look him directly in the eye.

“Go, go straight ahead from here… then turn left, and you’ll see it.” With that, the servant quickly bowed and excused himself from the black-haired middle-aged man.

“David form” Annan looked at his back thoughtfully.

I see.

Do the Noah people see the Crow family this way?

These servants only felt fear and dread toward these “Crow-related men”… But if it were those nobles, officials, and Transcendeds, it would probably not be so simple.

But this was also normal.

Looking back at the makeup of Noah’s royal family, Henry VIII had a total of nine children… five daughters and four sons.

But after five years, only three remained.

Princess Royal, who was active in political courtrooms, had enthusiastic participation in politics, and was ready to be crowned at any time; the betrayer who intended to kill his father and all his siblings probably just to gain the power of eternal stupidity by drawing that sword; a lazy sloth who did nothing nor cared about anything aside from lazing around… and six poor souls that had already kicked the bucket.

In this situation where the percentage of problem children was close to 100%, it seemed expected that the servants working for the royal family would be disloyal and unruly.

No, that’s not quite right.

This seems like the work of the Crow family, doesn’t it?

As the Intelligence Director, Count Geraint controlled the Special Intelligence Agency “One-Eyed Crow”. Aside from collecting information for the king from all over the kingdom, his main task was to monitor, investigate, and arrest suspicious capital nobles.

Annan was suddenly lost in thought.

Is the Geraint family overly loyal… or too incompetent?

With their power, all they had to do was to pull out a portion of their men to be able to collect evil deeds, gather evidence, and even fabricate evidence to frame and attack their political enemies.

But they didn’t.

Why is this…

Simply judging from the servant’s unconcealed fear, it seemed unlikely that it was the latter.

There was a slight halt in Annan’s footsteps as he then continued to walk towards the basement while maintaining composure.

He suddenly understood——This was probably Count Geraint’s arrangements.

Although the Geraint family currently had challenges all over the capital, as if every heir would want to make Crow their enemy, they would immediately turn around and befriend Count Geraint as long as they persevered till one of them had a clear win.

Even the betrayer who deliberately wanted to commit patricide, the Third Prince, tried to contact Ferdinand. His intention to promise him benefits directly through Rotten Man was simply to win over a Crow family member.

It was because it was a must for new kings who had just ascended the throne to have intelligence support from the Crow family.

If so, Count Geraint’s repeated emphasis that he was unbiased and only loyal to the king was probably not out of loyalty.

The Crow’s plan was simple — nurture the enemy for self-gain.

The Crow Family placed their betting chips across all factions.

Henry VIII was soon going to be dying of old age, and they must find the next ruler. But Count Geraint of this generation wasn’t aggressive enough or somewhat overly cautious.

He did not interfere with or hasten in any way the birth of the new king.

Judging from Benjamin’s early awareness of the Third Prince’s rebellion and even knowledge of his assassination plan, Benjamin must be a “One-Eyed Crow” member.

They knew everything but did nothing.

In this infighting of the royal family, all the heirs could sense what would happen if they were short of the Geraint family’s strength. Losing the source of local intelligence was like being outright blind. They would be unable to protect themselves in the face of assassins, especially Transcended assassins; they would be easily deceived and fall into conspiracies as they wouldn’t know the true intentions of others; others might control even their minds.

These were all things the One-Eyed Crow could see, prevent, or even block outright.

They could, but it was not necessary.

They had a good reason — to maintain neutrality.

After going through a period without the protection of the One-Eyed Crow… Regardless of who was the ultimate winner, they must try to make good connections with the Geraint family after inheritance.

It was impossible that they would betray Count Geraint at this time and abolish his position as Intelligence Director. On the contrary, they would want to increase the count’s authority to get their support.

Only with this could they sit firmly on the throne.

In other words, regardless of who the new king was— they would instead be kidnapped after taking the throne.

They had to pay Count Geraint to his satisfaction.

Otherwise, Count Geraint could simply turn to the losers for a higher price.

What is this?

Imperial Guards Succession Law?

Annan suddenly felt a little wary of Count Geraint.

He was now beginning to doubt the information he was given in the first place. Count Geraint sent Don Juan out to be away from the center of the fight.

The purpose of all this was to make Third Prince think that he had killed Don Juan. But as for the reason behind this, Annan was unable to figure it out at the moment.

Count Geraint only had three children in total!

To lure Third Prince, he even risked his youngest son’s safety.

Plus, Count Geraint must have known that his eldest son was already serving Third Prince.

“So, is the count looking over these three matters concurrently?”

Annan squinched his eyes slightly, “To heighten Ferdinand’s status by faking the death of Don Juan’s status…”

If Third Prince was the one who finally succeeded, the Geraint family could also proceed.

Could he have made the heirs go at each other until there were only three so that he could achieve this goal?

—No, that’s not right.

He was even betting on all four factions.

To this day, the Geraint family was still loyal to the king. If the king finally accepted Rotten Man’s request and completed the immortality ritual, their status still wouldn’t change.

Annan thought quickly in his mind.

This information might save lives when he arrives at the capital a few months later.

Now there was only one unclear piece.

Count Geraint had three sons. If they corresponded to the three royal heirs, the count himself corresponded to the king…

Then, Don Juan Geraint, who was his assistant?

Annan froze suddenly.

Images of himself, Prince Albert, Kafni, Roseburg, Rotten Man, Silver Sire flashed through his mind suddenly…

Did he count me in the plan?

Benjamin knew too much.

If he were a member of One-Eyed Crow, Count Geraint would have long known that he was impersonating Don Juan.

Unless his purpose is to let Don Juan get away with the feigned death…

And then let me be the one to help Prince Albert to the throne in Don Juan’s place?

If so, what is Don Juan doing?

The Author is revealing more and more info about the real Don Juan. But, where is he and what is he actually doing? If you wish to read ahead of the current publishing schedule, check out out Patreons along with the recently launched Tiers.