Chapter 1804: Summer in Fools' Village (17)_1

When Merkel placed the wine glass and a plate of cheese on the coffee table, Talya's hand visibly trembled before her gaze retracted unnaturally, while discreetly hiding her awkward expression.

Truth be told, Talya was somewhat unsure of what she was doing. She had weathered many storms, including life-and-death crises where she could calmly think, grasp a glimmer of hope among thousands of deadlocks, and could even reverse defeat into victory. So why was she so jittery when facing a man alone?

Talya glanced distractedly around her surroundings. It was a dim brown room, with a glossy herringbone-patterned floor reflecting the refractions of the brilliant chandelier above. The large floor-to-ceiling windows were divided into moderately sized squares by cherry wood lattices, while plush drapes hung neatly around it.

The wine cabinet on the wall opposite the window was stocked with various brands of wine and several uniquely shaped sculptures. On the office desk, there was a delicate bone china vase with a camellia inside.

Of course, there were plenty of signs left behind by the manor's owner. For instance, the nearly indecipherable footprints on the carpet implied Shiller had been pacing back and forth in front of the desk. One footstep was especially prominent—indicating that Shiller had stood there for a long time.

There were also concealed finger marks on the metal frame hanging on the door. It seemed like the frame had been crooked and Shiller had straightened it. The fresh smudge of black dust on the edge of the fireplace revealed that the fire was blazing last night, but had been extinguished by this morning.

Talya was proficient at observing such details. She could always find sufficient clues from a wide variety of details that helped outline a person's life trajectory. And from the collected fragments of their life, she could piece together their personality and habits.

Yet what puzzled Talya most was the image painted by the life patterns present in the room—it was entirely chaotic. Some conflict with each other, and some could be temporarily pieced together before evidence quickly proved they should have been separate.

This left Talya increasingly bewildered. How could someone live such a fragmented life? Or was it a trap deliberately set by Shiller?

Why go to the trouble of designing a maze to confuse her judgment? What was the point of this?

And the first sentence Shiller said to her completely shattered Talya's focus.

"I've called your father and told him about your actions in Gotham."

"…What?!"

Unfazed by the surprise and confusion in Talya's tone, Shiller simply poured the red wine into two glasses and said, "Your father, who is also the leader of the Assassin's Union, Leixiaogu, had left his contact with a mercenary I know. I got in touch with him over the phone before you came, and we had a chat."

Talya needed almost a minute to digest this fact. But soon, more questions came rushing into her head. She stared at Shiller and asked, "Why did you call him?"

"Why couldn't I call him?"

There was a glimmer of bewilderment in Talya's eyes. She stiffly accepted the wine glass and said, "But there's no connection between you two. Why would you think of calling him?"

"Your father is a public figure," Shiller naturally said after a sip of red wine. "At least in some circles, his identity is public, and his recruitment promises are long-term for a certain group of people. Therefore, what's wrong with me contacting him out of curiosity?"

"You're interested in his recruitment? But you aren't..."

Talya sensed her slip-up. Before she left, Leixiaogu warned her that Shiller was in the open, and they were in the dark. They couldn't let Shiller realize the Assassin's Union was after him. Otherwise, all their plans regarding this professor might be in vain.

Talya had almost revealed the Assassin's Union's intel on Shiller. That would inevitably raise Shiller's suspicions. The sense of dread in Talya's mind intensified, as she couldn't tell whether Shiller was intentionally leading her to say more.

If Talya had some knowledge of psychological theories, she would know that she wasn't the careless kind. Years of assassin training made her more vigilant than anyone. The just-concluded situation is called a "compelled mistake" in psychology.

"We talked about you."

With that single sentence, Shiller abruptly yanked Talya out of her stream of contemplation. The way he did it was exceedingly crude—no gentle baiting, no patient waiting. It was like using a large fishing net to scoop up all the fish in the river, with her being just one amongst them.

The information in Shiller's words forced Talya to refocus on reality. She asked, "What did you discuss with him?"

"About what you've done in Gotham." Shiller repeated what he had already said, adding a piece of information, "But your father's attitude seemed a bit strange to me."

Once again, Talya found herself trying to gauge whether Shiller diverting the topic to Leixiaogu was to make her reveal more information. She wasn't sure how much she should respond to get more information from Shiller, while also keeping her own secrets.

As Talya was pondering what to say, Shiller interrupted her again, saying, "I was surprised that your father didn't seem to know exactly what you're doing."

A sudden fear clenched Talya's heart.

Although she is here on Ra's al Ghul's order this time, she is never obedient, and Ra's al Ghul knows it all too well. If her intentions became apparent during Shiller's conversation with Ra's al Ghul, what would Ra's al Ghul think, and what would he do?

What a mistake, Talya thought to herself, teeth clenched. Why would Shiller call her father directly? No matter how one looked at it, that phone call defied all logic, didn't it?

Another moment of doubt surfaced in Talya's mind. Earlier, in the basement of the Gotham Cathedral, Talya was certain that she had pacified Shiller. She was confident in her judgment. She had only taken the next step when she was sure that Shiller had accepted her terms and wouldn't bother her for quite some time.

Otherwise, Talya wouldn't have rashly accepted Bruce's invitation to the Wayne Hotel. She was well aware of the difficulty if she were to be attacked from both sides, so she would only face the other after being convinced that she had dealt with one of them.

If Shiller hadn't accepted her terms, then it would have been a better choice not to let her go at that time. With Pamela's miraculous ability to control plants, the advantage of being on the Father's home turf at the Gotham Cathedral, combined with Shiller's unpredictable combat methods, Talya wouldn't stand a chance.

If Shiller still planned to deal with Talya, he should have acted on the spot and directly arrested Talya in the basement of the Gotham Cathedral.

This was also one of the reasons Talya would assume Shiller didn't know about the Assassin's Union's plan. If Shiller had known that the Assassin's Union intended to deal with him earlier, he would have held her hostage as soon as the opportunity presented itself in order to negotiate with the Assassin's Union.

But he didn't. This proved two things: Shiller had no plans to deal with Talya, and he didn't know that the Assassin's Union already had him in their sights.

But whether Shiller planned to deal with Talya or didn't know that the Assassin's Union was already after him, calling Ra's al Ghul made zero sense.

If Shiller didn't bear any ill will toward the Assassin's Union, he should have washed his hands of the matter. Calling was unnecessary. If he wanted to deal with the Assassin's Union, calling the Boss instead of capturing an important figure was just revealing his hand.

Talya was utterly puzzled. The only explanation she could think of was that Shiller didn't call, he was just trying to scare her. So she asked, "What did my father say?"

Just then, Shiller shook his head and said: "I spoke to him unilaterally about you, but he didn't respond at all. Regarding the part about your deeds, he only responded with 'Huh?' in a confused manner, and then he began to discuss the Assassin's Union's philosophy and methods with me."

Talya's hand gripping her arm tightened. This sounded exactly like her father, Ra's al Ghul, who only valued his ideals. Apart from that, nothing and no one else was a priority.

Talya had already accepted this fact and didn't feel anything about it. However, at this moment, she felt humiliated from Shiller's confusion, because she could tell that his doubts were genuine.

It was as though Shiller took for granted that a father should love his daughter, considering her the jewel in his crown, whereas Ra's al Ghul's lack of concern for Talya far exceeded his expectations.

Talya wasn't humiliated because Ra's al Ghul didn't care about her, but felt ashamed because, up until now, what had surpassed Shiller's expectations was not her, but her father.

She stormed into the laboratory at Gotham University and disrupted regular teaching, but was let off lightly with just a verbal promise. She inexplicably jumped down from the roof and appeared in this man's garden, yet he let her into the house, seemingly indifferent to her reason for coming, even offering her wine.

His only response to all of these events was to call her father and react only to certain attitudes from her father.

This was horribly like a small child causing trouble in kindergarten, and the teacher understanding their innocence, so choosing not to scold them, instead opting to communicate with the parents, wasn't it?

Talya was so infuriated by this thought that she began to shake.

At this moment, Shiller again displayed a hint of confusion, and Talya distinctly felt that this confusion was directed at her. It seemed as though his actions were the most logical, and Talya's anger was completely unprovoked.

This infuriated Talya even more, even causing her to temporarily forget the intuition persistently ringing alarm bells in her mind. She thumped her wine glass down on the table, making a "snap" sound. The wine splashed out onto the table, some even spilling onto the cheese on the plates.

The already departed Merkel poked his head in from the door, asking worriedly, "What's the matter, sir? Did something fall on the floor? Should I come in and clean it up?"

However, Shiller stood up at this moment. He took a neatly folded handkerchief from his suit pocket, leaned slightly forward, and handed it over to Talya.

Talya shivered, following Shiller's gaze, she looked at her own hand and realized that the red wine that had spilled earlier was on the back of her hand.

An inexplicable rage drove Talya to want to lose control. She knew that all of this was clearly Shiller's fault. It was his indifference that had angered her. Now what was he playing at, pretending to be a gentleman?

Talya, burning with rage, used her other hand to knock away Shiller's, letting the handkerchief fall to the edge of the table. Shiller paused for a moment, then calmly bent down to pick up his handkerchief. He slowly straightened up, skillfully folding the handkerchief as he spoke.

"If I've offended you with my words just now, please do forgive me, Miss. Your arrival was quite abrupt, and I didn't have a proper topic in mind for our meeting. My sincerest apologies."