Symphony for the Insect Princess

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It's still a foggy situation now.

Moreover, the topic has definitely gone off track.

I really don't care about charm or anything like that. If Lillian wants it, it's fine to give it to her for free.

I should be thanking Lillian. If she hadn't used the forbidden potion to take away my charm, I would have been disturbed by all kinds of random praises all these years. I'm really grateful for always being a shield for me.

Anyway, let Lillian calm down first.

"I know you're feeling very complicated, Lillian, Brother York. But I think we should focus on finding new clues. Isn't that why Lillian handed over the booklet?"

"Uh……"

"And, Lillian, to be honest, I think you did a good job this time."

I twisted my facial muscles to smile at her, and she looked stunned for a moment. Uh... maybe because of some unexpected events these past few days, I haven't been given the drug, so the charm-stealing effect has diminished? In other words, my own charm is starting to return to its original owner? What a pity.

Never mind, it doesn't matter. Just comfort her first to prevent her from doing something stupid when she's in a bad mood.

"I...did well?"

"Yes, the reason you handed over this booklet is because you found clues to the criminal's murder in it, right?"

"Um……"

"You've noticed something from the beginning, but once you hand over the booklet, your drugging will be exposed, and everything you've accumulated will be gone. That's why you've kept it a secret until now."

"Yep……"

"But even so, you're still willing to confess so that we can find the real culprit, even if you'll definitely be punished for it, right?"

"Um, yes...eh?"

"You've accomplished a great deed, Lillian. I think your willingness to help others, even at the cost of destroying everything you've built and getting yourself into trouble, is truly impressive."

“…Huh?” “Ah?” “What?”

York, Lillian, and Chloe all made silly noises at the same time, but ignored them and continued.

"Perhaps it sounds despicable that you stole my charm, but if you think about it carefully, it's not that serious."

"Ugh... eh... but I... I... I stole your charm! Even though it hasn't fully taken shape yet, all the praise and admiration I've received over the years should have belonged to you! Because of me... because of me... you've been ignored and treated coldly. Are you willing to accept that?!"

"It doesn't matter what happens to empty things like reputation. If you have any regrets, we can talk about it later. We have more important things to do right now."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. Although she was shocked, the despair in her eyes was gone. It seemed that we could have a good conversation.

It’s time to talk about the main point.

"Well, you're handing over this pamphlet because it contains a prescription for something 'related to the murderer's crimes,' right? Which one is it?"

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Oops.

Oops.

Oops oops oops oops!!!

His anxiety had reached its peak. Damn Lillian, she actually revealed this thing!

If the incident happened, Lillian, who was carrying this booklet, would inevitably become a major suspect. If things didn't work out, they could even pin the blame on her. That was the original plan, so "he" didn't secretly take the booklet away. Who could have imagined that—

……No.

Just calm down for a moment.

Now that we have come to this, there is nothing to be afraid of.

If soft doesn't work...

Then, let’s take a hard approach!

Chapter 19: Peeling off the cocoon

"control".

The control of living things has been an important topic in magical research for thousands of years. The magic of taming animals, the magic of manipulating plants, the magic of communicating with all things... in the final analysis, they are all different forms of controlling living things.

The most special and controversial branch is "controlling humans."

There are countless methods of controlling humans: using specialized magic to forcibly invade the brain; brainwashing through hypnosis; drugging to destroy the mind; bypassing the brain and directly controlling the body like a puppet... and the list goes on. While there are many methods, the complex neural structure of humans makes control much more difficult than that of other creatures. Therefore, magicians who can truly achieve "permanent and complete control" of others' bodies and minds are actually very rare. While some forbidden magical tools that can control the mind do exist, most of them have been destroyed or sealed, making them difficult for ordinary people to obtain.

But if there are special drugs and one does not seek permanent and complete control, even a layman in magic has the possibility of manipulating others.

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"That's it..."

The last page of the booklet, the part that looks the oldest, has blurred handwriting that is difficult to recognize, but it is enough to see the effect of the description.

"Experimental drug p-12"

It is a drug developed by the Demon King of Medicine, Astroy, with the goal of "allowing ordinary people to easily manipulate others." Since it can only be considered a semi-finished product, there are many restrictions on its use, but even so, it is still amazing.

“So that’s how it is… So that’s how it is…”

York put the pamphlet down, rubbed his slightly swollen head, and tried to sort out the excessive information.

This is it, that’s right, the murderer used this to commit the crime!

He licked his lips, which were dry from nervousness and excitement, and asked Lillian, "Lillian, have you known about this prescription... from the beginning? Have you tried it?"

"No! I definitely haven't tried it! Although I stumbled upon this thing while browsing, I never dared to try it! I've never even considered the idea!"

Lillian shook her head like a rattle. Indeed, if the potion that took away charm was still in a gray area, then the drug that allowed an outsider to easily control others was definitely a banned drug among banned drugs. Once it was exposed, it would not be solved by a few years in jail.

"Really? If you're not lying, then it can only be that murderer. The murderer discovered you were hiding this booklet a long time ago. He must have stolen the recipe while you weren't paying attention, and then made this damn thing!"

York threw the pamphlet to the ground, walked back and forth, rubbing his hair and thinking with his somewhat confused brain.

Although P-12 is a banned drug, it is only a semi-finished product. According to the description in the booklet, if it is to be used, the drug must be administered to the subject to be manipulated several hours in advance, and the drug's effect only lasts for three days.

These three days are also the time for the Harvest Festival holiday.

Within three days, the person who drugged the person can completely control the drugged person for a short period of time. If the person being controlled is a magician or a magic warrior, he can even order them to release powerful magic or martial arts, and the person being controlled will not remember anything after waking up.

However, because it is a semi-finished product, it has a huge side effect - harm to the brain.

Anyone who is controlled by this drug once will suffer permanent damage to their brain nerves, and may go crazy or even become a vegetable. It is extremely vicious.

"That's why Ellen..."

Ellen covered her head and groaned. Her headache seemed to be getting worse, and even the pain-relieving magic cast by Chloe could not relieve it.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Ellen has already been manipulated once, she's been drugged, the time must be—"

"That dinner!" Nelris continued.

"Everyone's dishes were temporarily placed in the kitchen before being served. The murderer had plenty of time to sneak into the kitchen and drug them before dinner! In other words—"

York's lips trembled, and Lillian lowered her eyes. Everyone had to face this fact.

The drugs were mixed into the dinner.

That night, everyone was drugged.

In other words, the murderer can control everyone if he wants.

The self that still has self-awareness now may become an unconscious puppet in the next moment - this horrifying fact is enough to crush a person's spirit.

but--

"But Brother York, this medicine is definitely not that easy to use," said Nelris.

"I know, there are limitations... This is a semi-finished product, so there are limitations!"

There is no detailed experimental data in the booklet, and only the murderer can know what the limitations are through private experiments. So think about it carefully based on everything that has happened from the beginning to now.

"The pamphlet mentioned that in order to control someone, drugs must be administered several hours in advance. Therefore, the murderer could not start until after dinner, late at night! The first victims were my father and two shadow servants..."

"Even if they're under the control of drugs, it's impossible for a person to dig out their own heart. They'll bleed to death before the heart is dug out... This isn't necromancy. Drugs can't control the dead."

"So the first person to be controlled was Father's Shadow Servant!" York slapped his thigh. "Shadow Servants need to eat too. The murderer must have drugged their food long before! On the night of dinner, the murderer must have first controlled Shadow Servant to kill Father, rip out his heart, and move the body to the hall!"

"Then the Shadow Servant died. I'm afraid the murderer ordered them to commit suicide after they were done. But why didn't he just control the Shadow Servant and kill everyone overnight?" Nelris frowned.

"Because... because... yes! This must be the first limitation! The control time is actually very short, maybe only a few minutes! Even a shadow servant with a swift hand can't complete so many tasks in such a short time! And the murderer could have ordered everyone to commit suicide that night, but he didn't. This means that he can probably only control one person at a time, and after controlling each person, it will take some time... at least several hours before he can control another person!"

"That's why he set up this plan. He destroyed the barrier's control beforehand, locked everyone in here, and even destroyed the barrier's recording platform. He wanted to fight a protracted war..."

"After the Shadow Servant dug out the heart, he must have given it to the murderer and then committed suicide. Then... the next victim was Anhans... It's impossible for a controlled person to dig out his own heart, so someone other than the head of the family must be controlled to dig out the heart. But Anhans died alone... No, not alone!"

"It's a puppet!"

Anhans's puppets are autonomous - they act independently after receiving orders, without the need for the operator to precisely control their every move.

"The murderer must have taken advantage of Anhans's arrogance to lure him away from the team. He then controlled him while he was alone, making him give orders to the puppet, which then killed him and ripped out his heart! Autonomous puppets don't move as precisely, which is why the wound on his chest is so much cruder!"

"But the puppet must take the heart away. Even if we don't give it directly to the murderer, we must hide it somewhere..."

"That's why we discovered one puppet was missing when we checked! There were three puppets lying on the ground, but there were four empty spaces in Anhans' bag. The remaining puppet must have run away with Anhans' heart, and then stopped moving after carrying out the order..."

"The murderer who controlled Anhans and gave the puppet a series of orders, from digging out the heart to taking it away, is truly..."

"That terrifying creature must have planned this to a considerable degree... In the end, it was Molly. We were defending the hall the entire time, and the killer must have gotten anxious. So, he took control of Ellen, who had the strongest combat abilities, and used the most violent method to forcibly take her heart!"

"But...according to the murderer's style, he should have ordered Ellen to hide the heart somewhere and then immediately committed suicide, but she came back on her own."

"The murderer made a mistake himself. Perhaps the semi-finished drug was unstable, or perhaps there were other reasons. In any case, the drug's control effect had disappeared before Ellen committed suicide!"

That’s why we have the current situation.

So there is only one puzzle left, and it is the most fundamental one.

Who is the murderer?

York paced back and forth, scratching his hair. He was so close. He could already feel the truth was as close as it could be! But it was just a little bit away, just a little bit...

"Hurry up, hurry up... After the murderer manipulates one person each time, it takes some time before he can manipulate others. He just finished manipulating Ellen, so we're fine for now..."

How long did the killer's manipulations last? A few hours? Half a day? Regardless, the countdown to death had begun. Who knows, I might be the next one to be manipulated! I had to figure everything out before then!

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Looking at York and Nelris who were thinking over and unraveling the mystery, Lillian suddenly felt powerless, not knowing whether it was because she felt at ease or because she was unwilling to give up.

When she handed over the booklet, she was mentally prepared to be wrongly accused of being the murderer. Moreover, given her eldest brother's personality, who valued his family, he would definitely be very angry. She didn't know what the insect girl would do, and she would definitely be tortured badly.

Unexpectedly... the insect girl not only did not blame herself, but instead advised her brother not to be angry.

...unwilling to accept.

Why should I be protected by her?

But... this is fine.

The guilt in my heart has completely disappeared. I have done what I can do. I have already...

"Shhh."

"——!?"

Just as she was about to scream, she felt a cold touch on her waist, which made her hold back her scream. It felt cool and sharp, like a knife or a dagger.

"Be quiet. Just stay as you are. The blade of this knife is poisoned. If you get even a scratch, you'll die in half a minute."

“You…how…”

"Stop yelling!"

The voice growled softly, and the cool touch on her waist became more obvious. Lillian, whose mind was in a mess, took a few seconds to realize who was talking to her.

"I really underestimated you, sister. I thought you were so brave that you wouldn't dare to reveal that thing... I think you were the one who was secretly hindering me all this time. It was such a mistake not to make up my mind to kill you sooner!"

Chapter 20 Madness

Ellen was lying in the corner, suffering from brain damage, while Chloe was taking care of her reluctantly.

York and Nelris paced back and forth, racking their brains to think and find the truth.

No one noticed the brother and sister at the edge.

On the surface, Nia was still cowering behind Lillian, maintaining a look of fear, but with the poisoned knife in his hand against his sister's waist, he was actually sweating profusely.

Exposed.