After lunch, Aiven returned to his bedroom, which was about 100 square meters, and entered the small study connected to it. He took down a map of the Loen Kingdom from the wall, spread it on the large, exquisite desk made of precious red-leaf wood, and then found a compass to make measurements on the map.
Aiven first located Backlund, using its city center as the focal point. He adjusted the pencil on the compass to draw a circle encompassing all districts of Backlund.
Then, with the adjusted compass, he used Tingen City's center as the focal point and drew another circle of the same size. Finally, following the railway markers on the map, he found the location where the mail train accident occurred.
Looking at the train accident site, which was far from the circle drawn around Tingen City, Aiven exhaled deeply, confirming that the mail train accident was Adam's 'idea'.
The original text of Lord of the Mysteries clearly stated that 008's interference range limit was Backlund, the largest city in the North Continent and even the North and South Continents.
Aiven was certain that Ince Zangwill had been diligently in Tingen during this period, utilizing 008's script-writing ability to wholeheartedly weave a conspiracy behind the scenes, seeking Saint Selena's ashes. Therefore, 008's interference range would not exceed the circle Aiven had drawn centered on Tingen.
Since the train accident site was far from that circle, and even closer to Backlund, it could be confirmed that Adam must have intervened. Moreover, Adam's purpose in intervening was not to intercept Aiven's letter requesting to go to Backlund, but rather to intercept the letter from Butler Buck that might bring Robert Horn to Tingen.
This conclusion made Aiven breathe a long sigh of relief. Relatively speaking, he was currently safer in Adam's script than in 008's script.
However, this also indirectly reflected Robert Horn's influence. He was a person capable of influencing 008's script, and thus Adam's script, a presence that Adam had to personally intervene to prevent from causing trouble.
Sitting in the chair behind the desk, Aiven continuously recalled the information about Robert Horn he had learned from his original body's memories.
Robert Horn, 33 years old, was almost a full cycle older than Aiven. When he was 17 and Aiven was 6, their parents both died in a carriage accident. Robert Horn was forced to support the entire family and take on the responsibility of caring for Aiven.
When Robert Horn was 18, he was admitted to the most famous military academy in the Loen Kingdom—Backlund Military Academy. However, having Aiven as a burden made him hesitate whether to enroll, because Aiven, being young and having lost his parents, was very unaccustomed to changing environments at the time.
Just then, Earl Ahuwa from Ahovah County came to them, expressing his willingness to provide assistance. He offered to let Aiven live in his house in Tingen City, which was the house Aiven currently lived in, and to ensure Aiven received the best education in Tingen. The reason the Earl gave for helping them was: he was willing to financially support and assist outstanding descendants of the Horn Family.
Thus, Aiven moved into Earl Ahuwa's mansion in Tingen, receiving care from the Earl's butler and servants, while Robert Horn went to Backlund and enrolled in the Backlund Military Academy.
At the military academy, Robert Horn performed exceptionally, far surpassing all his peers. In just two years, he graduated early from the school with top honors, joining the Loen Kingdom Royal Army's First Cavalry Regiment.
He continued to perform outstandingly during his time in the military, receiving successive promotions, rising from lieutenant to colonel in just eight short years.
His most famous feat was during Loen's struggle with Intis over a fertile colonial territory in the South Continent. Facing an enemy with twice his forces, he had his deputy take over command of the battle, while he himself, leading fewer than a hundred men, ambushed the opponent's command post from a pre-scouted position.
After the battle began, at the critical moment when both sides had committed all their forces to a desperate struggle, he led his troops in a sudden assault on the enemy's command post from a nearby blind spot, resolving the battle in just ten minutes.
He then ordered the Loen flag to be raised above the enemy's command post fortifications and ignited the surrounding supplies, causing the Intis army's morale to collapse, leading to their complete annihilation, which in turn influenced the entire course of the Loen-Intis conflict, laying the foundation for Loen's ultimate victory.
After this battle, Intis also lost the most fertile land it had occupied since Rosell's reign and the capital of the Fourth Epoch Balam Empire in the South Continent—Balam City. From then on, the Balam Empire's crown officially passed to Loen.
After this battle, on the Loen Kingdom's commendation list, Robert Horn's name ranked seventeenth, and he was awarded the rank of major general. He was also the only meritorious official under thirty among the top thirty on the commendation list.
Just when everyone thought they would witness the rise of a new military star, Robert Horn unexpectedly retired from the army and instead chose to enter politics, becoming one of the Members of Parliament for Ahovah County in the House of Commons.
His next rise to fame in Loen came last year when he betrayed his own party, the Conservative Party, by backstabbing Duke Nigan, a prominent figure, and collaborating with others to abolish the grain bill.
The abolition of the grain bill almost caused the entire Loen Conservative Party to split, bankrupted many nobles, caused even more nobles to incur huge debts to bankers, and shook the foundation of the Loen noble class, whose main source of income was land.
Even with Earl Hall's mediation, Duke Nigan gained some benefits and ultimately swallowed his pride, enduring this betrayal and refraining from further actions that would have caused chaos in Loen's political arena.
But his dissatisfaction with Robert Horn was well-known. He had threatened more than once to make Robert Horn regret it, and many resentful nobles echoed his sentiments.
Previously, Aiven, limited by his recent transmigration, was fully occupied dealing with the Theosophy Order, Demoness Sect, and Aurora Order. Therefore, after inheriting the original body's memories, he had not delved deeply into his original body's brother's experiences.
However, after confirming that Robert Horn was a Beyonder and possessed the ability to interfere with Adam's and 008's scripts, even prompting Adam to personally intervene to prevent his arrival, Aiven re-examined Robert Horn's experiences and found suspicious points everywhere.
First, Earl Ahuwa's initiative to offer help was very strange.
The Horn Family, the Earl Ahuwa's family, has a long history, almost as old as the Loen Kingdom itself, often intermarrying with the Augustus Royal Family. Their fiefdom is in Ahovah County, and they have a profound influence there, with countless branches and offshoots.
Aiven's family's bloodline connection to the current Earl was not very distant, but not close either; at least three generations had passed without contact. In the words of his previous life, 'they had just passed five generations of kinship, so they weren't very familiar.'
Moreover, the world of the Lord of the Mysteries is not like Aiven's Earth in his previous life; the relationship between family members is not very close. Did Earl Ahuwa need to act as a caring patriarch, eagerly bestowing favors upon Robert Horn?
Although Robert Horn later achieved great success and was declared the future Earl's successor by Earl Ahuwa, who had successively lost two heirs, everyone praised the Earl's foresight. However, the Earl's investment behavior back then still seemed too proactive, too eager.
Previously, the original body didn't find anything amiss; he simply believed that the Earl had a discerning eye and had recognized his brother's extraordinary nature early on, so he didn't think much of it.
But Aiven, who possessed the memories of Lord of the Mysteries and knew of the existence of Beyonders, did not think so.
The underlying rule of any world is violence; whoever has the bigger fist gets to call the shots. If you can't call the shots, it only means your fist isn't big enough. In this world, it means whoever is a Beyonder, whoever has more prospects.
The Earl Ahuwa's lineage is ancient, and it is highly likely that they are one of the few noble families in the Loen Kingdom who received a magic potion formula from the Royal Family in distant times. Therefore, the Earl Ahuwa's criteria for choosing an heir must also be a Beyonder. Aiven thus speculated that when the Earl Ahuwa found Robert, Robert must have already become a Beyonder.
Further inferring, Aiven believed that the large Horn Family would certainly not lack Beyonders, even if their Sequence level might not be very high.
Yet, Earl Ahuwa still chose Robert Horn, who might have only been a Sequence 9 at the time. Why was this?
Aiven stroked the Golden Gaze ring worn on his left hand, his mind constantly flashing with all possible scenarios, including Robert Horn's deeds after joining the army, and the almost one-year, two-rank promotion speed in military rank and position. He finally settled on the most likely answer—the Role-Playing Method.
Robert Horn might truly be a genius on the Beyonder Pathway, having grasped the mysteries of the Role-Playing Method very early on. He was eventually discovered by Earl Ahuwa, who likely knew relevant inside information, and after many years of testing, Robert Horn was confirmed as the heir to his noble title.
Moreover, the military generally operates as a self-contained system, with very strict promotions and a strong emphasis on seniority. However, Robert Horn was repeatedly able to break convention. Aiven believed that Earl Ahuwa's influence alone might not have been enough; there must have been impetus from the Augustus Royal Family.
Because of the elevation of noble titles and the military rank system, Aiven was almost certain that the Augustus Royal Family, who possessed the Arbiter Pathway, used these as means to control the kingdom from top to bottom.
When you accept the noble title and military rank bestowed by the Royal Family, it is a manifestation of your loyalty to the Royal Family, an acceptance of the order created by the Royal Family, and a symbol of your willingness to be bound by it.
And for the Royal Family to give Robert Horn such extraordinary preferential treatment in military promotions, besides Robert Horn's mastery of the Role-Playing Method and his great utility to the Royal Family, Aiven could not think of any other possibilities.
Considering that the biggest thing Robert Horn did after abandoning the military for politics was to abolish the grain bill, almost becoming irreconcilable and diametrically opposed to Duke Nigan, the prominent figure of his own Conservative Party, coupled with the unusual actions of King George III of the Loen Kingdom recorded in Lord of the Mysteries, Aiven suspected that his brother was George III's pawn to stir up the entire political arena, a crucial link in George III's entire conspiracy plan.
Then, recalling Duke Nigan, who was assassinated twice by the Twilight Hermit Order led by Adam for going against the tide of the times, and then thinking about Robert Horn, who had sharply opposing political views to Duke Nigan and wanted to seize control of the Conservative Party.
Aiven's expression was strange, and he muttered incredulously:
"Could it be that Robert Horn was too much in line with the trend of the times, coupled with his extraordinary personal ability, that Adam was unwilling to involve him in the Tingen matter and let him enter 008's script, which is why he prevented him from entering Tingen?"
