Chapter 1131 - 216: The Unbreakable Pact

Chapter 1131: Chapter 216: The Unbreakable Pact

"Sir?" Assistant Paul hesitated for a moment, asking in astonishment, "Why would you... why would you think that? Have I done something poorly recently that caused you to misunderstand?"

His reaction was so natural that even Chris couldn’t help but have his expression waver. It felt like his suspicious and ruthless grandfather was starting to doubt even his closest confidant.

But William just quietly looked at Paul, those deep-set gray-blue eyes in shadow were incredibly cold.

"If it were before—"

William said expressionlessly, "Even if I didn’t specifically instruct you, you should know—on such an important day, Bloren must never see Illari."

Paul’s eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and his gaze unconsciously drifted to the side.

"One of their rooms is at the deepest part of the east wing on the third floor, the other is on the second basement level of the west wing."

William slowly said, "Without someone to guide him, Bloren wouldn’t find Illari’s laboratory even if he turned into a bat blundering around until tomorrow morning."

Leaning slightly forward on the armrest, the not-yet-completely extinguished firelight in the room illuminated every harsh wrinkle on his face:

"Yet he not only ’just happened’ to find it, but also ’just happened’ to see the critical moment of Illari extracting memories—we hired an alchemist, yet he doesn’t even understand the simple principle of ’closing the door when doing something illicit’?"

Chris was suddenly startled, finally realizing where the issue lay.

William continued, "That scene was enough for Bloren to realize what we were doing, and also enough to infuriate a madman who already felt betrayed."

Paul opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to explain, but William did not give him the chance.

"And those Alchemy Bombs."

The old man’s fingers lightly tapped on the wheelchair armrest, making a dull "thump, thump" sound.

"Bloren didn’t have weapons, and such high-level dangerous items, even in Illari’s laboratory, are well-secured. Could they be easily taken by some fool who barged in suddenly?"

Paul lowered his eyes, no longer defending himself, his lips tightly pressed into a line.

William’s gaze was pinned like nails on Paul’s face:

"It was you who gave Illari a hint, making him use that kind of innocent-looking performance you often use, to make Bloren realize that it was a dangerous item—one that could be used to cause destruction."

"And during Bloren’s last desperate attack..."

William laughed derisively:

"The poppets’ encirclement conveniently had a gap, exposing Chris and me—if I hadn’t already prepared a barrier, what would be sitting here now would have been two charred corpses."

"Next, just as I replaced the guests, you could use the same method to replace Chris and me. In the end... everything would belong to you, isn’t this plan perfect?"

The hall was deathly silent, Chris could hear his own frantic heartbeat.

Only now did he realize that today he had walked a round trip to the gates of hell, and it was not an "accident."

After a while, Paul slowly exhaled, no longer pretending to be loyal and perplexed.

He didn’t respond to William immediately, instead turning to the door to say:

"Please come in, Mr. Illari—I don’t have any Alchemy Bombs in hand, so no need to worry about collateral damage."

A few seconds after the words fell, a cringing figure indeed shuffled out from the shadow by the door, shoulders hunched, hair disheveled, and clothes stained.

Illari looked at Paul, squeezing out an awkward smile.

"I don’t understand," Paul sighed, saying, "I was the first to contact you, it was I who reached the initial agreement with you..."

After pausing, he looked at those eyes that never dared to look up, saying, "I even promised that once it was accomplished, you would share in the wealth, enjoying a status and resources second only to mine."

"But it seems... you disclosed our entire plan to the Sir?"

"Why? Is betrayal your hobby?"

"Could the Sir offer you more than what I promised?"

He then turned towards William, asking, "Such a person, can you really trust him?"

Illari’s head hung lower, unable to speak, but Sir William let out a hoarse laugh.

"Why? Didn’t you also say before?—You can’t trust things that can’t be entirely controlled by yourself—I’m the same."

He glanced at the alchemist, who despite the fine clothes, still looked very shabby, saying:

"I know I can never fully control things like poppets, so from beginning to end, what I chose to control... are people!"

...

On Illari’s first night at Stonefield Manor, Sir William quietly met him.

At that time, the Alchemist had just followed Bloren through a harrowing escape and arrived in an extremely comfortable environment, where everything was so pleasing, and everyone in the manor was so friendly.

Bloren would naturally handle all the troubles, so Illari let his guard down, ate and drank his fill, and fell into a deep sleep.

He didn’t know how long it took before he suddenly awoke, opening his eyes to meet the barrel of a gun.

The Scourers lurked between the Magic World and Muggle Society, seemingly connected to both sides but actually enemies of both.

Thus, Illari was well aware of the power of Muggle weapons, and immediately trembled all over, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, unable to utter a word, not even daring to reach for the Magic Wand by his pillow.

He knew his own speed would never be faster than the opponent pulling the trigger.

And his level with Silent Wandless Spell... does an Alchemist even need Silent Wandless Spells? Only using a Magic Wand can ensure magical precision!

So, at this moment, faced with a threat, Illari was utterly powerless to retaliate.

The only thing he dared to move was his eyeballs, hence he saw, besides five or six bodyguards holding guns in the room, there was Sir William Stonefield sitting in a wheelchair and a Wizard enveloped entirely in a black Cloak.

Under the threat of death, Illari had no choice but to shakily climb out of bed and hold Sir William’s hand.

That hand was so icy cold that Illari remembered the first time he brewed a Magic Potion, the cold frog he had dissected.

The mysterious Wizard spoke in an extraordinarily strange, almost altered voice:

"Hunt Illari, repeat my words—"

"First, you must not speak any intentional lies or conceal major facts from the head of the Stonefield Clan—namely Sir William Stonefield and his legally designated heirs."

"Second, you must not, in any direct or indirect way, perform actions that harm the interests and safety of the Stonefield Family."

"Third, you must obey the orders of Sir William Stonefield."

Illari’s eyes widened immensely, tears involuntarily streaming, his lips trembling uncontrollably, but eventually, he repeated the words in a trembling voice.

A dazzling flame burst from the Magic Wand, entwining their clasped hands.

He made an absolutely unequal, unbreakable oath.

...

"Oh, I see, then there’s nothing to be done." Paul smiled understandingly: "I heard breaching this contract results in death, no wonder you betrayed our agreement."

"Sorry, sorry." Illari let out a short gasp: "They threatened me, I didn’t want this either..."

In his past life, he only focused on research and Alchemy, who could have thought someone would push him like this?

To be honest, despite the brief interaction, Illari had a high regard for Paul and was very tempted by his promises.

If given a choice, he really wanted to choose Paul.

Paul said amicably: "It’s okay, I forgive you because I also hid something very important from you..."

His voice hadn’t even fallen, Illari was concentrating on listening when suddenly a heavy "puff—!" echoed in the room.

It was like someone was forcefully punching a thick book.

Illari’s body suddenly went rigid, a dark, rapidly expanding crimson bloom unfurled across his chest.

He could feel an eerie chill from the small hole penetrating his body, as though his internal organs were being violently stirred and torn by an invisible hand.

All the strength, air, and sound were abruptly sucked out through that hole.

Illari opened his mouth, yet couldn’t produce any sound, only the frothy blood from his lungs making a "huh... huh..." rasp deep in his throat.

He looked at his chest in a daze, a buzzing in his ears, but he could still hear Paul’s apologetic voice:

"I also cannot tolerate betrayal—even if it’s forced."

"So if you betrayed the contract with me, you too must die."

"But I felt saying this out loud wouldn’t be nice, it would ruin the trust between us, so I didn’t tell you—sorry."

"But now we’re even, right?"