Chapter 1145 - 227: Big News 8
The moment Seraphina appeared, the FMC reporter shuddered all over, then immediately swung the camera around, bringing the confronting aunt and niece into frame.
He didn’t know whether the footage he was shooting would be used, but the reporter had a hunch—this was going to be a very important turning point tonight.
As the reporter moved, Vid at the door shifted half a step sideways without leaving a trace, hiding himself more deeply in the shadows cast by Stella and the doorframe.
Even though Vid wasn’t using his own face at the moment—
The identity he was wearing was that of a Healer Assistant from the United States Magic Hospital; the light-blue Robe looked simple and fresh, and his gentle expression even seemed tinged with a bit of timidity.
His features were totally different from his original ones, an utterly ordinary, generic face that would vanish the moment it was thrown into a crowd.
But some people’s intuition simply ignores reason.
Sometimes all they need is to see a tiny movement from afar, a posture in standing or walking, or a brief meeting of the eyes—even if the face has changed, they can still recognize the person.
Vid’s mother, Fiona, was exactly that kind of intuitive type.
Once he was fully swallowed by the shadow, Vid’s arm twitched, and the spare Magic Wand hidden in his sleeve instantly slid out, obediently dropping into his hand.
The tip of the Wand flicked rapidly twice; at the same time, Vid’s lips moved soundlessly.
...
In the central control hall of the FMC New York Branch, Nelson grabbed his hat in excitement and shouted:
"Switch! Switch! Move all cameras to the Congress Headquarters right now!"
"Yes, sir!" someone answered loudly.
"Chief!" a young man called out at the top of his voice, "What about Ms. Skeeter? Do we still need to keep the split screen?"
"No, no, no, I definitely don’t want the audience’s attention scattered! This is a moment destined to go down in Magic History!"
Nelson’s voice pitched higher as he said decisively, "Notify Ms. Skeeter, tell her we’ll switch the feed in three seconds, she can take a short break!"
...
As the myriad Flow Mirror feeds suddenly switched again, Vid’s Wand had just come down.
"Whooo—"
An invisible wave of Spell power instantly rippled out, soft as a breeze; most people didn’t notice a thing, but the hard-won, newly propped-up Fontana suddenly opened his eyes wide.
The several Flow Mirror screens in the atrium froze all at once; on the panels, only Skeeter’s face remained, so excited she was practically climbing out of the frame—but by now everyone had forgotten to pay attention to that.
Every gaze was focused on the two Picquerys.
Seraphina spoke slowly; even though her voice wasn’t loud, with Magic laid over it, it still carried throughout the atrium.
Her voice was rasped by long illness as she fixed her stare on Laira, and said with disappointment:
"Every lie must end, Laira!"
Laira clenched her teeth hard, her body trembling slightly, unable to form words.
In that moment, the cleverness and quick thinking she had always prided herself on seemed to have vanished from her body; there was only one voice echoing over and over in Laira’s mind, tangling her thoughts beyond repair—
[It’s over! It’s all over... Why is she still alive? Why won’t she just die?]
Seraphina was held in high esteem in the United States; when she was injured and unconscious, even though the people around Laira were all her own, she hadn’t rashly proposed laying hands on Seraphina.
Because she knew that if she did, her greatest supporter, Fontana, would be the first to object.
She could confine, surveil, and control Seraphina; for the sake of their shared cause and ideals, everyone supported her doing so.
They silently cut off Seraphina’s channels for seeking aid from outside, letting layers of misunderstandings pile up between Hossun and Seraphina.
But quite a number of them would never agree to her killing Seraphina.
Laira could only secretly arrange for her trusted subordinate to accompany Seraphina as she was sent to the Magic Hospital, instructing him to make sure Seraphina never walked out of that hospital again—or at the very least, stayed unconscious for a year or so.
By then, Laira would long since have firmly secured the position of Congress President; whatever Seraphina said or did afterwards would no longer be able to shake her power.
Not like now... now, this was the most sacred and also the most fragile moment of her rule. To her in this instant, Seraphina’s opposing voice rang like thunder.
As Laira’s whole body went rigid, Seraphina did not wait for any response from her. Instead, she let her gaze sweep slowly over everyone present and said:
"I am Seraphina Picquery."
In an instant, all the clamor dropped low.
"I stand here not to seize power, but to..."
She paused, her lashes trembling slightly, as if pressing down some deep, heavy emotion.
"...atone."
"To stop a corrosion of the very foundations of the Magic Congress, brought by one of my own blood kin."
A muted uproar stirred; doubtful looks shuttled back and forth between Laira’s deathly pale face and Seraphina’s calm features.
𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Too many things had happened today; people no longer knew what to believe.
Seraphina raised one hand and pushed it gently downward, once again choking off the roar that was about to boil over.
She said, "First, I must clear one person’s name—Nikolo Hossun, our former Congress President, did not commit a single one of the crimes he has been accused of!"
"Absurd!"
A sharp voice exploded through the air.
A young official, apparently fired up by Laira’s desperate counterattack just now, took a fierce step forward, imitating that righteous tone; his face flushed red with excitement.
He shouted, "Ms. Seraphina! We respect your past, but you cannot defend a traitor who has already been convicted by solid evidence and fled in fear of punishment with just a single sentence! That will disappoint all of us who trust you and expect you to bring us the truth!"
"Evidence! We need evidence, not empty words from an outdated leader!"
He flung his arms as he spoke, his voice echoing around the atrium.
Feeling many people looking at him with admiration, the young official puffed out his chest even more, his eyes blazing; the freckles on his face seemed ready to jump in excitement.
Vid quietly leaned against the doorframe, easing a bit of the exhaustion from days of running around. As he looked at that young official, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
In that moment, he felt as if he were seeing another Percy Weasley, likewise blinded by power, unable to tell what it was he ought truly to follow.
And now, facing this near-provocative challenge, no anger showed on Seraphina’s face; instead, a hint of almost compassionate understanding surfaced there.
She dipped her head slightly and said, "Evidence... of course I have it."
The young official’s expression froze, and he couldn’t help but cast his eyes up toward Laira on the dais.
Laira cursed inwardly: "Idiot!"