In the somewhat bewildered expression of Leon, the puppet male lead on stage, who was suspended by strings, had already finished reciting his opening lines with great emotion.
Then, he stepped forward with gracefully measured stage movements, seemingly fast yet slow, toward the next "plot point." Meanwhile, Leon, taking advantage of the scene transition while the tavern backdrop was being set up, leaned over to the princess's ear, full of doubt, and asked,
"Veronica, do you see that male lead on stage, is he a human or a puppet?"
Hmm? What kind of question is that?
Princess Veronica was slightly taken aback by the question, not understanding why Leon would ask that. But remembering Leon's "job," her expression immediately turned serious, and she similarly tilted her head to whisper,
"Human! He appears human to me! Do you see Elijah as a puppet?"
Watching the tavern gradually light up under the stage lights and the leading lady in the tavern gracefully dancing with a prop tray in hand and her skirt fluttering, Leon frowned tightly and said,
"Not just the male lead; in my view, all the actors currently on stage are talking puppets dressed in clothes. We must be encountering an abnormal event. Veronica, you are a loyal fan of Master Wilde, so you should always be paying attention to the activities of the Morning Star Troupe, right? Has there been any news worth noting about this troupe lately?"
Understanding that Leon was gathering intelligence to complete the task of purification, Princess Veronica took one last regretful look at the stage and, without rushing to ask questions, cooperated by trying hard to remember.
"Come to think of it, there are some odd things."
After searching her mind, the princess slightly furrowed her elegant brows and began to recount,
"The leading actor of the Morning Star Troupe, Andre, who worked the longest with Master Wilde, was boycotted due to a scandal and a suitable replacement has yet to be found. In several subsequent performances, due to coordination issues with the new actors, critiques among theater enthusiasts have been quite low. Master Wilde seemed very irritated by this and reduced the number of troupe performances, starting closed training sessions. However, reporters discovered that the food sent into Central Cross Theater during the training was not touched at all and was directly thrown into the surrounding trash bins, leading to suspicions that the closed training was just a pretense. It caused quite a stir..."
The food sent to the theater wasn't consumed?
Upon hearing this, Leon frowned slightly, feeling that the news sounded somewhat familiar. After carefully flipping through his notebook he carried, he finally recalled abruptly.
After the Ryan Blood Night and having basically recovered, he ran back to the Purification Bureau from the hospital, and before being trapped in the police department's dungeon, the bureau chief had given him some investigative tasks.
These included the missing shepherds searching for goats in Pav County, the arsonist roaming around Louther Arcade, and the food problem of the Morning Star Troupe, among others.
At the time, after investigating several rounds, he felt that these tasks did not seem like abnormalities, ultimately choosing the task to rescue Amy at Rose Manor.
Later, when infiltrating the Rebels, he discovered that the arsonist was actually the holder of an Anomalous Object of the Rebels, a man named Teague, who liked to smell people's burns with his nose. Now, the Morning Star Troupe indeed had a problem.
Including the Scales Gold Sect bishop he met at Rose Manor, three out of the four tasks he received were confirmed to be related to abnormalities, indicating the bureau chief's level in "assigning tasks" was notably high.
After waiting a while without hearing Leon's response, the princess could not help but gently ask,
"What do you think? Will these theatergoers be in danger?"
"I have made a discovery, and it's somewhat good news."
Returning to his senses, Leon nodded and said,
"If what I perceive is true, then the theater's food being thrown away is because all the actors in the entire troupe have become puppets that do not need to eat. And from that time until now, quite a while has passed, but no large-scale disappearance or injury among the theatergoers has occurred, indicating that this is a relatively stable abnormal event and is unlikely to affect the audience."
"That's good then..."
Upon hearing Leon's words, Princess Veronica couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, then leaned over to softly ask,
"What can I do to help? Secretly organize an evacuation, or..."
"No, don't do anything!"
After vetoing the princess's proposal, Leon tilted his head and softly said,
"Since in so many past performances, the audience was able to leave safely and no large-scale incidents enough to alert us at the sub-district occurred, simply watching the play should be safe. According to Emma's remain... according to the experience taught by a senior colleague, when the specific ability of an Anomalous Object is uncertain and it is unlikely to cause large-scale harm, never rush to break the current balance. So what we should do now is wait in the box for six hours until the performance is complete. Once most of the audience, including you, has safely withdrawn, I'll find a way to come back with senior colleagues from the bureau and complete the purification as safely as possible."
"Okay, I'll take your word for it!"
Princess Veronica nodded, her cold little hand clutching Leon's palm. Resting her lips close to Leon's earlobe, she warmly and somewhat worriedly advised,
"Remember to stay safe, and if there's anything I can do to help, let me know, and I'll do my utmost to assist."
The breath exhaled by the princess tickled Leon's neck, and after completing the intelligence inquiry, he shifted slightly to alleviate the discomfort and tried to resume a proper sitting posture.
But at this moment, he noticed that the princess's soft palm was slightly damp, her upper body leaning against him trembled uncontrollably, and her legs beneath the long dress were pressed together, seemingly very tense.
After a moment's hesitation, Leon freed his right hand from her grasp, looped his arm around her back, leaned over to her ear, and reassured her gently,
"Don't worry, this abnormal event isn't highly dangerous, and with me here, you'll undoubtedly be fine."
Suddenly embraced, the princess was somewhat surprised. In the dimly lit box, she raised her head to glance at Leon, and upon noticing his concerned expression, she lowered her head and softly murmured in agreement and submissively leaned into his embrace.
*Actually, I'm not scared; it's just that I drank a little too much hot water on the carriage and feel slightly urgent... but this is quite nice.*
Cooperating with Leon's movement, as she leaned into his embrace, she felt his firm, warm young body, and the princess couldn't help but lightly bite her lower lip. In a position where Leon couldn't see, she revealed a satisfied, faint smile.
*He knows how to take care of my emotions, not bad, not bad, my treatment of him wasn't in vain after all.*