Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

Chapter 538 Designing Lies

Christina's eyebrows furrowed into waves, her gaze began to unfocus, and her speech became extremely slow; clearly, her mind was working at a much faster pace than usual.

“I guess there are three possible outcomes to this matter. If it’s not handled well, it might arouse Osarino’s suspicion. The worst-case scenario is that Osarino discovers that I’m deceiving him, which is the worst possible outcome. We can also choose some safe methods that won’t have any consequences… Or, we can steer things in a way that is favorable to us.”

Cecil, who had been leaning back in his chair, sat up straight as he listened:

"Go on."

But Christina shook her head and said:

"Brother, I really can't think of anything."

“No, you can come up with it,” Howard said. “Christina, this is a private conversation. Speak your mind, and no one here will laugh at you, no matter how absurd or stupid you think it is.”

Cecil nodded in agreement.

So Christina thought for a long time before saying:

“Brother, you said before that you saved the Lyon family, but Osarino is still too young to understand. I agree with that. Although he doesn’t want to say anything, I can feel that there is hatred in his heart.”

Christina: "At times like this, no amount of lecturing will help. Even if you tell him all the evidence, he'll just think you're a liar."

"Moreover, forcibly presenting facts and reasoning to someone who is unwilling to listen to advice often has the opposite effect," Howard added. "Perhaps he could have figured it out in a year, but if your advice has the opposite effect, he may never figure it out in his lifetime."

“That’s true,” Cecil said. “And it would be even more troublesome if someone told a lie that suited his nature at this time.”

“So I was thinking…” Christina spoke even slower: “Could we…could we guide him to find the answer himself…that everything was actually arranged by us, but we need to make Osarino believe that he discovered the truth himself, the truth about his family’s corruption and depravity.”

Cecil: "Anything else?"

Christina was truly at a loss for words this time: "Brother, I've told you everything I can think of."

Cecil and Howard exchanged a glance, and Howard spoke first:

"Christina, why don't you approach this problem from a different angle?"

Seeing that Christina was still puzzled, Howard continued, "According to your design, the little girl named Agatha foresaw this day, so she left this object behind. Now, why don't you think about how Agatha knew the family's secret and what her attitude was towards it?"

Christina still seemed confused, so Cecil took over Howard's words:

“Sister, let’s lower our expectations a bit. We all know that Agatha and Osarino were completely unaware of their family’s corruption. But let’s make an assumption: what would Agatha’s attitude have been if she had known the family’s secret five years ago for some reason we don’t know? Would she have agreed or disagreed?”

“Agatha would never condone anything the Lyon family has done.” Christina immediately replied: “I have had very few opportunities to spend time with Agatha, but I can assure you that she is a person full of a sense of justice… although her sense of justice is rather naive, which makes it even less likely that she would condone what her family has done.”

Cecil: "If she knew the family secret, would she tell Osarino what she knew?"

“I can’t be sure about that.” Christina tried to recall her past with the two children of the Lyon family: “Ossalino loved his sister very much, but he was also very domineering and controlling. Agatha and I seemed to have complained about this when we went to change clothes. She said that Ossalino was sometimes self-righteous and wouldn’t listen to anyone’s advice.”

“That means no,” Howard concluded.

“Then we must make this dead, clever girl even smarter,” Cecil said. “Agatha was intelligent and kind, but also somewhat lonely. She knew her brother loved her, but she couldn’t tell him everything she knew. However, her intelligence made her vaguely aware that the family’s actions might bring disaster in the future, but who could she turn to for help? You.”

Howard: "Dead people are definitely more useful than living people."

Christina sighed. "Yes, if Agatha knew all this, who could she turn to for help? Only me, because I am her mother's daughter."

Cecil: "You're in charge of the design now."

“Huh? Me?” Christina was a little surprised, but after seeing Cecil’s serious gaze, her eyebrows turned into waves again: “...Agatha was worried. She trusted me, but she couldn’t say it out loud, so she gave me this box and asked me to give it to Osarino when the time was right.”

“There’s a question,” Howard interjected. “In this situation, do you think Agatha gave you this box hoping that Osarino would open it alone, or that you would open it in front of him, with him present?”

Christina: "I think it's the latter."

Cecil nodded in agreement. He had almost fallen into the trap of habitual thinking. Although Christina was ostensibly orchestrating the plan, he must have had his own design in mind to compare with what Christina had come up with. In his thinking just now, he had already assumed that the contents of the box were entirely intended to be exported to Osarino.

“The box I described to Osarino was small, so it couldn’t hold anything big. It should be something symbolic or something that stores information,” Christina said. “Brother, what do you think about putting a storage device inside that records evidence of the Lyon family’s crimes? And then playing a video of Agatha Christie, so that she can encourage Osarino to live a good life and believe in me?”

"Too blunt," Cecil commented.

Christina fell into thought again, a bead of sweat sliding down her forehead:

“Brother, a question suddenly occurred to me… Under this hypothetical scenario, when Agatha asked me to give this box to Osarino, did she believe she would still be alive?”

Cecil: "What do you think?"

“I think she would assume that I was already dead when I gave this box to Osarino,” Christina said. “Because if she were still alive, she could have told Osarino the truth herself and then asked me to take the box back… So what should be in this box is something that Agatha left behind based on the premise that she was already dead.”