บท 354: Sorry, Burke… You Know Too Much!
บรรณาธิการ: Atlas Studios
'What?'
For a moment, Alicia was too stunned to respond.
Burke noticed Alicia's expression and was even more certain of his earlier judgement.
"I must say you have an excellent son!"
"You'd better tell me everything you know," Alicia threatened, immediately realising the gravity of the situation. She grabbed Burke by the collar and placed her wand against his head.
Burke hesitated. He didn't know if he should tell her or not. He felt that there had to be a reason why Ivan was hiding the truth from Alicia, and he was worried that Ivan would resent him for it.
When Burke began to stammer, refusing to be told, Alicia took out a transparent test tube and shook it. "You should know what this is. Do you want to tell me yourself, or do you want me to tell you?"
Truth Potion?
Burke's pupils contracted and his face fell. "You should be the one asking questions, not me!"
"I'll ask him when you're finished," said Isiah, with no intention of letting Burke off the hook. Ivan was her child, and she couldn't very well press him if she didn't want to, but she wasn't going to go easy on Burke!
"Well, I can tell you all about it!" Burke sighed, knowing he had no choice.
Besides, he'd been forced to say it, so surely Harls wouldn't blame him?
"Didn't you do a lot of business with the Ministry last year?" Burke asked. "Selling a lot of protective gear, and Hulse was planning to place a secret door in it, so that it would disintegrate the Ministry's finest without much trouble!"
"He's after the Ministry and the Aurors? Why?" Alicia frowned.
"What else could it be? Trying to get into that position, of course! A bit of drama in Knockturn Alley wouldn't satisfy him!" Burke sneered.
He had known the Dark Lord in his youth for a period of time, so he knew that these gifted wizards were not ordinary people!
More importantly, during their conversations over the past few days, he had made several attempts to probe Ivan's feelings, and was able to detect that Ivan was extremely unhappy with the current state of the wizarding world. It was highly likely that he was secretly amassing power to orchestrate a shocking change!
With Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the wizarding world today, in his declining years, and Minister for Magic Fudge being nothing more than a good-for-nothing, Burke could not think of anyone who would be able to stop the rise of Ivan Hals!
That was why he chose to surrender so decisively!
Burke had no intention of hiding the truth from Ivan when his suspicions, as well as Ivan's many schemes, were revealed.
"Are you sure?" Alicia was shocked, and her expression was odd. Burke sounded like he meant it, but she wondered if he was imagining things.
"Didn't you notice at all?" Burke scoffed, thinking it unwise of Alicia to have been kept in the dark about Ivan for so long.
On the other hand, he had easily seen through Ivan's meticulous plan.
Alicia fell silent at Burke's words.
Ivan had indeed done many unusual things in the past two years, such as befriending those werewolf wizards and crazily improving his strength!
This was especially the case for the latter. Alicia had always found it hard to believe that young witches and wizards of this age were at their most playful, but Ivan was so focused on his studies.
When she was at home, other than asking her for advice on alchemy, she studied Potions or other powerful magic, and each time she returned from Hogwarts, her strength changed dramatically.
However, Ivan's strength far surpassed his peers, so why did he still work so hard?
Now Alicia had some idea.
Contrary to Burke's expectations, however, Isiah suspected that Ivan had learned of the incident and thus decided to take control of the wizarding community.
This was because in order to achieve that goal, one had to have absolute strength and influence!
Doggett had also mentioned to her that Ivan might be planning something, and Alicia had been dubious about it.
Now that I think about it, Doggett was right!
When she thought about how Ivan had been secretly preparing to improve his strength over the years to not worry her, her heart ached…
How hard on him!
"I see you finally figured it out," Burke said with a grin. He had known that Alicia would figure it out after his little tip-off, or she would not have fought him for so many years in Knockturn Alley.
It had been ignored before, most likely because Alicia had no great ambition and never thought about it…
"That's why I don't have any ill intentions towards Hales. That knowledge of alchemy is just a token of my sincerity. I believe it won't be long before Hales will feel my sincerity…"
Burke talked on, oblivious to the growing danger in Alicia's eyes as she watched him, her wand glowing dangerously black in her right hand.
After affirming Ivan's ambitious ideals and goals, Alicia immediately jumped into his shoes, thinking that Ivan was simply not careful enough!
How could such an important and meticulous plan be revealed to Burke, an outsider!
Ivan even casually asked Burke to join in the discussion in preparation for taking Burke under his wing!
Alicia, on the other hand, knew full well that Burke was very powerful and very resourceful, and that he would not be able to control Ivan until he had fully matured.
Although he appeared to be very honest, there was no telling when he would change his mind. If he leaked this information for the sake of benefits and endangered Ivan's safety, he would be like a time bomb!
Asia's murderous intent and the black light at the tip of her wand made Burke acutely aware that something was wrong. He stopped speaking and turned to look at her with fear.
"What… what do you want?"
"I'm sorry, Burke… I think you know too much!" Alicia said slowly, her face grim.
Burke's mind went blank for a moment, but he was quick-witted enough to realise that Alicia was afraid of him.
"Althea, you have to believe me when I say that I will never reveal this secret! Otherwise, you can set up a Secrecy Charm for me…"
"Really? I don't think breaking such a contract will be easy for you!" Alicia interrupted Burke with a sneer.
As a Master Alchemist, Burke was naturally well-versed in all kinds of contractual magic and knew how to circumvent the restrictions.
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง