Now that Professor Layton had broken the Auric baron's psychelocks, he was hoping to finally get some real information, "Now then, would you please tell me the whole story now? And if I am not asking too much, I would very much appreciate it if you refrained from any more unnecessary fabrications."

Manfred was almost speechless, "What... do you want to know?"

The professor still hasn't had his question answered, "I am certain that the burning building was related to your daughter in some manner. If you know anything at all, please tell me."

Manfred didn't seem to want to hide it anymore, "Very well. It's true that my daughter wanted that particular building demolished."

The professor pressed on that information, "Why?"

Manfred crossed his arms, "I... honestly have no idea."

The professor found that hard to believe after all the effort he had to take to just get Manfred to talk, "No idea?"

"And no psychelocks to give him away either..."

Manfred explained why, "Whenever I asked her, she would always find some reason not to tell me. I swear... The young lady hasn't been the same since... Well, I suppose that's not related to your investigation either."

The professor recalled Cattleya's outburst from earlier, "Since the day your daughter was... defiled. Was this the reason you wanted to hide the truth from me?"

Manfred seemed surprised, but remained cool, "So she's told you about it? Then it cannot be helped... Yes, I know what happened. A man was charged with the rape of my own daughter. The execution was carried out swiftly."

This only made the professor more confused, " Stanley Hertz was the name of the culprit, if I am not mistaken. Tell me, has your daughter ever received any sort of counseling?"

Manfred was slightly hesitant to answer, "Why do you ask? Is this also related to your investigation?"

The professor was shocked to even hear that, "Of course not. But, your daughter had just went through a very traumatic experience!"

Manfred almost sounded pitiless about the whole thing, "I know that, and now she must move on with her life."

The professor was beginning to get horrified for Cattleya's sake, "Mr. Auric! With all due respect, this sort of experience is not something that one can easily get over."

Manfred sounded completely unmoved, "We have no other choice!"

The professor's eyes widened.

Manfred calmed down a bit, "Forgive me, but you wouldn't understand the difficulties that a monarchy must endure. We are bound to perform our duties above all else without exception until death! If my daughter cannot overcome this obstacle, then how will she ever expect to overcome the obstacles ahead?"

The professor was actually getting visibly aggravated, "That is all the more reason that your daughter needs professional help!"

Manfred shook his head, "We cannot allow this travesty to be heard by the public's ears. If word ever got out, then we would never hear the end of it! The media would turn it into some sort of slander against us! If the local people in this town thought that Cattleya had fallen apart, they would never trust her to rule this city after my death! Know this, Layton... The reason that this city even stands is because of the fortune that allows this city to prosper. Without it... Without the Auric Monarchy, this whole city would fall apart! If this monarchy had no power, there would be no city. Hundreds of people would lose their homes, their jobs, and their very lives!"

The professor tried to comprehend all of this, "That was why... Cattleya wanted everything covered up..."

Manfred's stern disposition remained, "You could never understand the burden of ruling a city, but I do. And my daughter will as well."

The professor was having difficulty speaking words out of his mouth, "I... I see. Thank you, Mr. Auric for telling me the truth. I promise you, I will end whatever plague is haunting your daughter."

Manfred turned away from the professor, "See to it that you do!"

The professor turned back the way he came in and... tried to open the absurdly bulky door. Unfortunately, this door was also the type to close itself after it was opened and pulling on the door was actually much more difficult than pushing it. It's not simply because it was heavy, but because it didn't have a handle to grab on the other side!

The professor was struggling to figure out how to even open the door, "How do I..? Mr. Auric, may I have some assistance?"

Manfred reached underneath his desk and pushed a button while the professor was examining the door very closely. A few seconds after the button was pressed, the door swung open very fast... right in the professor's face...

The large mass of the door was enough to actually thrust the professor off of his feet and right into a nearby wall. The force was so great that his precious hat had actually slipped off of his head!

The professor wasn't sure if he was truly helping him or just toying with him, "Ah-uh... Well, um... Never mind the assistance."

This is another one of those occasions where being unable to physically feel anything was a tremendous boon. A normal person being thrust into a wall like that would be sore for hours! The professor was able to completely ignore the fact that a huge door just bashed into his face, pick up his hat, put it back on his head, and walked out the door. The fact that he could keep a straight face was either because he was a gentleman, he could not feel physical pain due to his condition, or a combination of the two.

"Well, I suppose that could have ended worse than it did, assuming the idea of getting smashed by about two hundred pounds of solid gold right in the face doesn't bother you..."

"No, I am fine, thank you for asking. Regardless, we've still managed to learn something new. The reason that Mr. Auric wanted Cattleya's... 'defilement' covered up and any outsiders not to hear of it was to prevent the city from descending into chaos."

"That seems reasonable enough in itself, and it may have worked... The only problem is that we just saw a rampant soul in the city slaughtering people only a moment ago. Based on the fact that the majority of the auras of people outside are filled with fear and the approximate decibel level of sound rivaled that of a jackhammer, I can give you a fairly informative scientific conclusion... The town's fallen into bloody chaos, Hershel."

The professor noticed a lamp post tipping over and smashing into a car from a nearby window. While he could also hear the car's alarm go off, the professor could also hear some people screaming every so often at the sight of the autopsies outside over the car's alarm, "Duly noted."

()

Luke was beside himself trying to figure out what was going on, "The first thing that pops in my head is that ghost that was killing people earlier... and..."

Luke's mind wandered to his father's death from six months ago... He was also a victim of a supernatural attack during the 'Snow Tower Cataclysm', "Aaaah! I can't think about that now! N-no... What came after the ghost? Cattleya told us about what happened to her..."

Luke's spine started to shiver at that thought, "That's even worse than the last one... Wait! That didn't come after the ghost attacks. It came before them. And now, there's a building set on fire in the middle of town that the police either will not or cannot investigate. Hmm... Well, the theory that Cattleya's kidnapper and that ghost are both the same person still exists... Maybe it also started the fire and somehow made it so that the police couldn't see it?!"

Before Luke even tried to point dramatically... at nobody, there was still something that didn't make sense, "But wait... If the police couldn't see it, why could we see it. I know the professah can see mysterious things a lot, but Flora and I saw it too! Unless the ghost didn't actually do it... But then, why would the police ignore it? Did the Aurics want it covered up? But that wouldn't make sense if the ghost didn't have anything to do with it! That means the ghost did do it! But wait... What if the kidnapper and the ghost aren't the same person? That would change everything! What if that man from six months ago did this? The professah was sure that he was responsible for what happened in New York, but he was never captured! But then, why did the hauntings start two weeks from now, which is exactly when Cattleya's kidnapper was executed in the first place? Was that just a coincidence, or maybe it really is her kidnapper's ghost? But... Now I'm just back to the police and the burning house again! I don't... Auuuuuugh!"

Luke kicked the burnt building in frustration, "Owieeee! Hot! Hothothothothothothothothothothot!"

Luke didn't have any more ideas at this point, "None of this makes any sense... Well, I may as well check out the building while I'm here... Normally, the professah would tell me to let the police handle it from here... but... I still can't actually go in there! I'll just get burned! Hmm... I guess I'll try looking at it from another angle..."

Luke wondered around the building looking for any holes in the building that he could peek through, "That 'hammer man' was smashing this place earlier, so maybe he left some holes... Wait, just how did he smash the building down without getting burned to begin with?! The building was still on fire at the time! There's no way he could have... Well, he's not here now, so maybe I can ask him later if I see him again."

There were many holes in the building to look into, but the only one worth mentioning was a hole in one of the bottom corners of the building that revealed the basement, "Huh..? The professah never mentioned a basement..."

Luke glanced inside but it was too dark to see anything, "I wish I didn't leave my flashlight in the professah's briefcase... It's too hot to actually climb in there either..."

Luke looked around for any ideas, but all he could see around him were rocks as black as charcoal, broken glass, burnt wood, and charred bricks.

Though to his own surprise, he actually did think of something (other than simply walking to the Auric Mansion to borrow the flashlight, I mean), "This wood... and these rocks... I wonder..."

Luke remembered to take off his hat and put it over his hand like a glove so that he wouldn't get burned again. He held a piece of burnt wood under his shoe and scraped at it with a rock to try to ignite it. Normally, the idea of lighting a fire around any buildings was incredibly stupid, especially if there were police officers literally surrounding that building. However, for reasons that have been repeatedly made obvious, this would not be a problem this time.

After only a few minutes, Luke lit the stick on fire and held it with his hat acting as a glove for his hand and used the lit stick to allow him to see inside the basement. Like the rest of the building, most of it was just charred remains. However, there was one particular thing of interest to tap on the touch screen...

Directly below Luke was something that would turn out to be so mortifying that the very image of it may end up haunting him forever...

A closer look with the light from the makeshift torch revealed the charred remains of a human corpse within the basement of the burnt mansion! The head was completely bald, the body was completely unidentifiable to the point that he couldn't even tell if it was male or female, and its eyes were literally leaking out of the sockets as if they had melted!

Naturally, a true gentleman would be very fazed by this sight, but would still remain calm in the end. That... was not Luke's reaction, "Oh my GAAAAAAAAAAAAH! PROFESSAH!"

Luke ran so fast that there was literally dust coming out from behind his feet...

I realize that I didn't portray Flora's point of view this time, but that was because there was really all that needed to be said during the last chapter. Also, my new college classes start next week, so I might take more time than usual for the next chapter. As always, feel free to review!