Every scene from the past was projected before them.
It was as if everything he had ever done had been recorded.
Marcel knew clearly that it couldn't have been fabricated, because every detail matched his memories perfectly.
Faced with Furina's interrogation, Marcel fell silent. He knew there was nothing left to say.
Yet, he still didn't understand.
"How… how did you manage this?"
"Was it because of this shop?"
Twenty years.
He had hidden himself well.
Even though Callas, who had opposed him at every turn, was already dead, and the investigators in the Court of Fontaine hadn't suspected him in the slightest—how had everything come crashing down so abruptly today?
He couldn't comprehend it!
"Haven't you already figured it out?"
Furina crossed her arms, her expression full of disdain.
For someone like him, she couldn't bring herself to show even a shred of goodwill. He didn't deserve it.
If only Fontaine had the death penalty—she could order his execution right now!
The evidence was irrefutable. There was no need to drag him to the Opera Epiclese for the Oratrice Mécaniique d'Analyse Cardinale to make a decision!
"So… this is where I lost…"
Marcel struggled to lift his head, gazing at the sign of the card shop before turning his eyes to Lu Heng, who stood there calmly. In the end, he could only let out a sigh.
"Vacher, you produced hallucinogenic beverages and conducted cruel dissolution experiments on innocent young women. You have violated multiple laws and will face exile to the Fortress of Meropide," Neuvillette said coldly.
Fontaine had no death penalty. Criminals were typically exiled to the Fortress of Meropide.
But that didn't mean life in the fortress would be easy.
After all, they were prisoners. Only the criminals themselves knew how much darkness they would endure in that prison.
"However, there is one thing I still don't understand."
Neuvillette continued, "I hope you can explain the entire sequence of events, Mr. Vacher."
"Heh…"
Marcel let out a cold laugh.
His expression twisted into something vicious.
Like a rabid dog, his fierce gaze swept over the Maison Gardiennage members, Neuvillette, and Furina.
"The Serial Disappearance Case of Young Women… it didn't have to happen. It's all because of you!"
"Because of us?" Neuvillette frowned.
"Who else?!"
"My lover, Vigneire, was dissolved by accident. I came to you for help, but none of you believed me!"
Marcel burst into hysterical laughter, his disheveled hair making him look like a trapped beast.
He roared, "No one believed me! No one listened! Everyone thought I was insane! Everyone said it was impossible for a person to dissolve! Everyone thought I'd lost my mind!"
Silence fell over the crowd.
Before seeing the projections, who would have believed that a person could truly dissolve?
Upon hearing about dissolution, everyone's first reaction was disbelief—how could something so absurd be real?
It was precisely because it was too bizarre that no one had believed him.
Neuvillette was silent for a moment.
"Now you regret it, don't you?"
Marcel grinned wildly, as if mocking everyone present.
"Too late!"
"The dissolved people will never come back!"
"And it's all your fault! With your pompous trials, your pursuit of justice, your obsession with theatrics—you turned a blind eye to the suffering of ordinary people!"
"Vigneire's death was ignored by every single one of you!"
For a brief moment, the crowd was stunned.
Marcel suddenly broke free from the undercover agents restraining him and snatched the test tube from their hands.
Just as Neuvillette was about to intervene, Marcel opened the tube and drank its contents himself.
The panicked crowd froze.
"See?"
"I can't dissolve! I can't dissolve!"
"Vigneire and I made a promise—no matter where we went, we'd go together! That was our vow!"
"But I'm not from Fontaine! I can't dissolve!"
"If I can't go to her… then I had no choice but to find a way to bring her back!"
"So this is why you conducted dissolution experiments on innocent young women?" Neuvillette finally understood his motive.
Meanwhile, Navia had also learned the truth from Melus.
It turned out that she had once been selected by Vacher as his next target.
But Callas had discovered this. At the time, Callas was suffering from a rare illness, and his remaining lifespan was no more than five years.
Five years wasn't enough to resolve this prolonged conflict. Consumed by anxiety, Callas feared that after his death, Navia would be exposed to danger.
So, Callas decided to use the information he had to issue a threat. He claimed to have obtained critical evidence of Vacher's crimes and informed certain members of the Spina di Rosula.
As long as Navia remained unharmed, he wouldn't make the evidence public.
But if Navia were to disappear, he—or others who knew the secret—would immediately expose everything about the Sinthe and the disappearances.
It was a mutually assured destruction tactic.
But Callas's threat had worked. Vacher didn't dare gamble on how much he actually knew.
Thus, Navia had lived safely until today.
"Melus… you knew all along…"
"If the young lady had given up the investigation, I would have taken this secret to my grave in the cemetery of Poisson. But if the young lady persisted, I would have told her the truth at the right time."
Melus looked at the deranged Marcel. "Now that the true culprit has been captured, it's time for you to know everything, my lady."
"That old man…"
Navia was overwhelmed with emotion.
Her father, who had rarely spoken to her about his worries—who had made her feel like she never truly understood him—had done so much to protect her, even bearing the stigma of infamy in death.
Wiping away her tears, Navia glared at Marcel.
Now that she knew the truth, she felt sick remembering how she had treated Marcel like an elder.
"I never suspected you… I never would have imagined it was you…"
"That old dog Callas caused me endless trouble… Hah… Who would've thought I'd be captured right in front of his daughter's eyes…"
Marcel turned to Navia, his kindly elder's demeanor gone, replaced by sheer malice.
"You deserve to die!"
Navia clenched her teeth, wishing she could shoot him dead on the spot to vent her fury.
But killing him with a single shot felt too merciful.
"Criminal Vacher, you have confessed to the motives and events of the 'Serial Disappearance Case of Young Women.' With the evidence conclusive, you are to be immediately escorted to the Opera Epiclese for final sentencing," Neuvillette declared.
"Why bother sending him to the Opera?"
"Yeah, why not just take him straight to the Fortress of Meropide?"
"Honestly, sending him to the fortress feels too lenient. He should be executed on the spot!"
"Too bad Fontaine doesn't have the death penalty."
"This is the first time I've ever felt like letting a criminal live is unbearable… If only Fontaine had the death penalty."
"Yes… if only Fontaine had the death penalty." Furina sipped her tea, sighing with emotion.
Lu Heng's expression turned odd.
Fontaine did have the death penalty—it just hadn't been used until Focalors.
Furina muttered under her breath, "Neuvillette can be too rigid with the rules sometimes."
"Stiff?" Lu Heng chuckled.
Furina nodded. "Let's go watch the spectacle?"
Lu Heng thought for a moment. "Sure."
His innate love for drama kicked in.
After all, purple cards weren't easy to come by, and without payment, no one could obtain the shop's goods anyway. They might as well enjoy the show and return afterward.
So, aside from the officials, many others followed along.
They took the aquabus to the Romaritime Station and headed toward the Opera Epiclese.
Marcel was escorted, his eyes vacant, his movements sluggish.
He already knew what awaited him.
But…
As they passed the Fountain of Lucine, he heard a familiar voice in his daze.
"Vacher…"
Marcel's eyes flickered back to life, and he stopped in his tracks.
"Move it!"
One of the guards escorting him struck his back with a baton.
Marcel groaned in pain, but the pain sharpened his awareness.
"Wait! Please, just a few minutes! Just a few!"
Marcel pleaded desperately.
Neuvillette was puzzled.
A moment ago, Marcel had seemed resigned to his fate—why this sudden outburst of hope?
Neuvillette didn't believe anyone would dare attempt a rescue, nor did he think anyone capable would bother.
Though he didn't understand, he said, "You have three minutes."
The guards released him but remained vigilant, batons at the ready. If he tried to flee, he'd be met with a beating.
"Vigneire… Vigneire, is that you?"
Marcel called softly, scanning his surroundings.
"Has he lost his mind?" Furina whispered.
"Try equipping the Elemental Resonance," Lu Heng suggested quietly.
Furina activated the resonance.
"Vacher…"
Furina's heart skipped a beat. "A ghost?"
"Vigneire, is it you?!"
Marcel's eyes lit up as he locked onto the Fountain of Lucine.
"Vigneire!"
"Vacher…"
Neuvillette watched as Marcel threw himself into the fountain.
As the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, he could sense the anomaly in the fountain's waters.
"An Oceanid…?"
Neuvillette was perplexed.
Had Vigneire transformed into an Oceanid after being dissolved?
In that brief moment of confusion, Marcel suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream.
He collapsed to his knees in the fountain, his eyes wide with terror, his body lifeless.
"Dead?!"
Navia gritted her teeth. "Just like that?!"
"His soul appears to have been taken," Neuvillette said after examining him.
"Oratrice, time reversion, refract the state of his soul." Neuvillette commanded.
The Oratrice responded.
On the projection device, the scene from a minute earlier played back.
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T/N:
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