Have we been given another clue, a red herring or am I reading too much into an artist's creative license?

I give you the artwork for Chapter 31 Scratches Ring.jpg

Now Behold! The Borromean Rings: 041029Borromean-200.jpg Duhn duhn Dahhh!!!

The Borromeo Family is very old, yet extant aristocratic family originating in Italy. The Borromean Rings appear on their Family Crest as well as having relevance in other areas such as mathematics, science, religion, the occult...

Probably, the main point is that the rings are arranged in such a manner that removing one will break the link of the remaining two.