My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 178 Jules's Trail

Three days passed in a flash.

Elena sat blankly in front of the full-length mirror, staring at herself in the reflection.

She wore a long, dark blue dress, the color of which was almost identical to the flower Jules had given her that day.

However, nowadays no one can appreciate it anymore.

dong dong.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Elena turned around and said softly:

"Please say."

The butler's voice came from outside the door:
"Miss, today's search results are in, and there is still no trace of Jules."

Taking into account Jules's status, the family also conducted a search of Windsor Royal Estate, which belonged to Prince Dorr, but still found nothing.

Upon hearing this, Elena was slightly lost in thought.

"Miss?"

"I understand, thank you."

The butler outside the door sighed, shook his head, and turned to leave.

I wonder what kind of medicine that guy gave the young lady to make her so worried.

"Wait, don't go yet." Elena's voice suddenly rang out from inside the door again.

The butler paused, turned around, and called out:

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"...If we still haven't heard from Mr. Jules by tomorrow, then let's go."

Upon hearing this, the butler immediately smiled with relief.

My young lady has finally become sensible!
"Okay, I'll make the arrangements in advance."

……

"Tsk, Jules has disappeared?"

Prince Dorr stroked the letter in his hand, feeling somewhat surprised.

He glanced at Uriel, who was kneeling respectfully before him, and said:
"Why didn't your previous reports contain any information about his contact with the Prince of Wales?"

Uriel trembled and quickly said:
"No, I am absolutely certain that he had not made contact with the Prince of Wales before. It must have been after he entered London that they established contact."

Prince Dorr snorted, clearly not satisfied with the explanation.

But he didn't say anything more, only saying:
"You, take this letter and go to Matilda."

"Looking for that person?" Uriel asked, somewhat taken aback.

"Go when I tell you to!" Prince Dor was clearly getting impatient.

"No, it's not that I'm disobeying your orders, I'm just curious, since you and the Prince of Wales have always been at odds..."

In response to Uriel's question, Prince Dor simply replied:

"Anyway, it has nothing to do with me. What's wrong with letting him investigate? This way, I can make the Prince of Wales think that I'm showing weakness. Why not?"

Uriel nodded knowingly, a fawning smile spreading across his face:
"Your Highness is quite right."

……

[Record 43: Armor Fragments]

[Extraction: Recollection successfully extracted. After verification, the antiquity level is suitable and it can be used for rituals.]

【…】

After finishing this page of notes, Matilda casually tossed the quill onto the table and rubbed her temples.

"It's so boring."

She looked up and gazed at the dust motes dancing in the light.

One, two, three… she murmured the numbers softly.

She only stopped her pointless counting when all the dust had settled.

This was one of her few forms of entertainment—watching the dust rise and fall.

The door suddenly opened, and the old maid's aged face peeked in, saying softly:
“Miss, Uriel has come to visit.”

"Uriel?"

Matilda tried hard to recall, and said:
"That annoying dog, Dole?"

The old maid shook her head and said with a wry smile:
"Please don't say that in front of them later."

After the old maid left, some time passed before the door was gently pushed open, and Uriel walked in.

However, his expression lacked its usual arrogance and instead showed a rare hint of restraint.

He held a letter in his hands and handed it to Matilda.

“Miss Matilda, Prince Dor has instructed me to deliver this letter to you.”

Uriel's voice was low and tinged with caution.

If outsiders saw him like this, they would surely be surprised.

Uriel, who is arrogant and highly regarded by Prince Dor, is surprisingly humble in front of a "prisoner"?
"The letter said that Mr. Jules had disappeared and had not been seen for several days."

Matilda raised an eyebrow, opened the envelope, quickly scanned the contents, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

She put down the letter, looked up at Uriel, and said coldly:

“I remember I never spoke about my relationship with Jules.”

Stung by Matilda's icy gaze, Uriel felt a chill run down his spine, but he still forced himself to speak:
"You must understand that some things are not secrets to His Highness the Prince; it's just a matter of how much effort it takes to find out."

"Ha, never mind."

Matilda shook her head and said indifferently:

"I understand, thank you, you can go now."

Uriel was taken aback, seemingly not expecting her to react so coldly.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he simply bowed and turned to leave.

After leaving, Uriel hurried away from the place as if avoiding a plague.

There was a reason why he was so afraid of Matilda.

Ever since his rude remarks during their first meeting, which nearly froze him into an ice sculpture, that memory has haunted him like a nightmare.

Although he suspected that the other party had influenced his memory through some means, one thing he was certain of—

Matilda is no weaker than His Highness the Prince, and may even be stronger.

……

The moment the door closed, Matilda was left alone in the room.

She looked down at the letter in her hand, her fingertips gently tracing the edge of the paper, her brows slightly furrowed.

Through the ordinary words on this piece of paper, she seemed to smell the impending storm.

"Jules...missing?"

She murmured to herself, her gaze growing deep:

"This is not like him."

She stood up, walked to the window, and opened it.

The night breeze, unlike in the past when it carried the dampness and faint smell of coal smoke from the streets of London, now carried only moist air.

Matilda closed her eyes, picturing Yule's face in her mind.

Although Jules's outward appearance always seemed rather ordinary, she never doubted the other party's methods.

But now, the other party has vanished without a trace, without any warning. Even the two most powerful princes in London have launched a search, but still found nothing.

“The Tide?” she murmured to herself, shaking her head. “No, He has not yet been resurrected, the ritual has not yet begun, it is impossible for Him to intervene.”

She paused, then another possibility occurred to her. "The Blood Cup Cult Leader? But he shouldn't be in London right now..."

Matilda rubbed her temples, her gaze returning to the letter.

Could it be that Jules recklessly barged into the Tower of London to rescue the centipede, only to find himself trapped there as well?
But based on her understanding, Jules was definitely not that kind of person—moreover, since the other party was cooperating with the Prince of Wales, there was no reason for them not to be informed of such an action.

"The wedding is probably not far off... It seems we have no choice but to take the risk and find out Jules' current condition."

She closed her eyes, and the life force in her body gradually faded, until she looked like a real corpse.

The old maid outside the door seemed to have sensed the commotion inside and quickly opened the door, saying worriedly:

"Miss, this ritual will harm you..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a cold, emotionless gaze directed at her, causing her to lower her head involuntarily.

"I understand what you mean." She sighed and left the room.

The young lady insisted on using this ritual, which suggests that the news brought by Uriel is more serious than expected.

……

After a long while, a weary voice came from inside the door:

"Excuse me, excuse me... cough cough, please deliver this letter to the Royal Estate of Loren, and it would be best if the Prince of Wales could see it."

The door was opened a crack, and two hands reached out to lift up a piece of paper.

One hand was withered and emaciated, while the other was fair and plump, exactly the same as the one Jules had seen that day.

Seeing her young mistress in this state, the old maid couldn't help but sigh.

“If you continue like this, I’m afraid your father will be behind you.”

“So what? It’s better to die decisively than to live in humiliation,” Matilda said calmly.

The old maid said nothing more, simply accepted the letter faithfully, and turned to leave.

"Wait, let me use my strength to prevent them from intercepting this letter."

Matilda extended the mummified hand that she had already withdrawn, and gently stroked the envelope and the old maid's hand.

In the old maid's eyes, it was as if it existed in a state between existence and non-existence; once she took her attention away from it, she would forget its existence.

"Winter's Oblivion should be enough to deal with ordinary people... Go."

……

The Prince of Wales sat in the room, reviewing the files from the past two days.

As a prince, he was relatively more leisurely than Prince Dorr, but overall he was still quite busy.

There was a rapid knocking at the door. Without looking up, he said:

"Come in."

A servant pushed open the door and entered, bowing respectfully.

"Your Highness, someone claiming to be a servant of Mr. Jules' friend has brought news about Jules."

The Prince of Wales paused, put down the file, and looked sharply at his subordinate:

"Jules' friend? Bring that man in."

The servant responded and hurriedly withdrew.

A moment later, the door was pushed open again, and the old maid walked in slowly, led by a servant.

She wore a simple black dress, her hair was gray, and her face bore the marks of time, yet she exuded a calm and composed demeanor.

Holding a letter in her hand, she bowed slightly and greeted the Prince of Wales.

"This humble one pays homage to His Highness the Prince."

The Prince of Wales sized up the old maid for a moment, then spoke:

“You’re from Windsor Royal Estate.”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense. The old maid pursed her lips, trying her best to remain calm, and said:
"You understand what Dole did to Mr. Lele's friend."

She bent down and handed over the letter.

"The contents of this letter are what my young lady discovered through the Winter Ritual, and they are absolutely true and credible."

"A winter ritual? That's not necessarily true."

The Prince of Wales looked down at the old maid, his tone cold:

"Memory is the most unreliable thing."

The old maid remained silent.

At this moment, the Prince of Wales was surprised to find that although the old maid was standing in front of him, she seemed not to exist.

It's as if my memory has gone haywire; this place should have been empty.

“Interesting…” A smile appeared on the Prince of Wales’s lips. “Our newly crowned Earl’s friend actually has such strength. Not bad, not bad. Our chances of winning have increased even more.”

He lay back in the chair, his expression slightly more solemn than before, and slowly opened the envelope.

When the Prince of Wales saw the contents of the letter, his brows furrowed.

"The Tower of London? Impossible!"

He raised his head and said decisively:
"Although your young lady is quite capable, this matter is absolutely nonsense!"

The old maid remained unmoved, and simply said in a deep voice:
"I am merely relaying the message from Miss; you may make your own decision."

The Prince of Wales closed his eyes and after a long while said:

"You go."

……

Back at Matilda's residence, almost no one noticed the old maid's departure. Only a few alert captains of the guard sensed something was amiss and glanced suspiciously in the direction she had left.

She quietly returned to Matilda's door and knocked:

"Miss, I have completed the task you assigned."

After a moment of silence, Matilda's weary voice finally broke through:
"What did the Prince of Wales say?"

“He didn’t believe it at first, but after I demonstrated your power, he seemed to waver a bit.”

“That’s good,” Matilda’s voice sounded a little more at ease. “Now, all we have to do is wait.”

"Waiting, and hope..."

……

"How could it be in the Tower of London? That's impossible..."

The Prince of Wales paced anxiously back and forth in the room, his eyes filled with disbelief.

It wasn't that he didn't believe in the master behind this terrifying power of winter, but rather that the matter was simply too bizarre.

It's important to understand that while the Tower of London was "laxly guarded," this was only relative to other prisons holding serious offenders.

However, no one found even a trace of what was excessively tight.

Moreover, even setting that aside, the fact that one could infiltrate the Tower of London and survive is already a near miracle.

That place was the most sturdy prison designed by the Steam Church for its prisoners, and also the most terrifying hell laid out for intruders!

Moreover, even if these two objective conditions are overcome, one thing cannot be denied—

Jules is a normal person with a brain; there is absolutely no way he would do something like going to his death!
Thinking of this, the Prince of Wales's expression became somewhat uncertain.

He was considering whether or not to give up the collaboration with Jules.

Jules has indeed created an excellent opportunity for him to confront Prince Dorr, since Jules is now the only one on his side who knows the secret about the bride.

Although Jules had many friends, none of them seemed to know him as well as he did.

Moreover, he could not fully trust others—Jules himself had something on him, and his position was naturally opposed to that of Prince Dorr, which made him feel at ease.

After much hesitation, the Prince of Wales finally made his decision.

"Someone, summon Holmes and Rutos. I have something to ask them."

(End of this chapter)