The realization hit Julian Vance with the force of a physical blow.
He finally understood why Madame Claire—Watanabe Kyoko—was entrenched so deeply within the De Molay household. It wasn't just to keep an eye on Arthur; she was hunting the "Black Ledger."
Arthur de Molay was an old fox. He knew that his survival in the shifting tides of occupied Paris didn't just depend on his loyalty to Berlin, but on the leverage he held over his own people. The Ledger wasn't just a list; it was his life insurance. If the Japanese or the Gestapo ever decided he was dispensable, he would simply leak the names of their most prized informants and watch their entire intelligence network collapse overnight.
You can't rob a man like Arthur openly, Julian thought, his eyes narrowing in the darkness of the ga
