Chapter 116 - 116: 116 Framed_l
“Honorable guests, where do you think you’re going?”
Even before the St. Prowse siblings could scamper out of the main hall, Prince William appeared at the entrance.
Behind him stood a full line of Silver Moon Guards.
Count Evan halted, suddenly laughing, “Your Highness, to be honest, this plan is rather crude.”
A look of doubt crossed Prince William’s face, “What do you mean? I don’t quite understand.”
Then, he stepped forward a few paces, asking again, “Where is His Majesty?
Why are only the two of you here?”
Anna, as lovely as ever, started to speak, but was stopped by her own brother.
By this time, Prince William had already walked into the hall. Then, he found the corpse.
“Duke Miller! What happened to you?”
Watching Prince William sprint toward the corpse, Count Evan shook his head and coldly chuckled, “Your Highness, your acting is truly horribly.”
Ignoring Count Evan’s mockery, Prince William turned back to his guards and commanded, “These two assassinated Duke Miller, seize them immediately! ”
“Yes!” The guards resoundingly answered, drawing their long swords and quickly surrounding the St. Prowse siblings.
Boom!
Anna also immediately drew her broadsword strapped behind her, firmly smacking it onto the ground and growled, “Who wants to die first!”
But Count Evan shook his head at his sister, “No, Anna, there’s no need.” “But, brother, these half-elves are trying to frame us!”
“Ha! They’re just attempt at framing us poorly.” Count Evan still had a confident look on his face, “Listen to me, put down the weapon, and nothing will happen. ”
With wrinkled brows, Anna gave her brother a hard look. After a while, she finally sighed, retracted her massive broadsword.
Count Evan seemingly without any sense of becoming a prisoner, chuckled and said to Prince William, “Alright, Your Highness, can you take us to see His
Majesty the King now?”
But Prince William ignored him, instead commanding, “Take them to the prison, and keep a close watch!”
“Yes!”
Count Evan’s brow lifted slightly as he laughed coldly, “What, doesn’t His Majesty the King even have the courage to meet us?”
Prince William still did not respond.
Count Evan’s eyes flickered, and he continued, ‘Well, well, seems like quite a bit happened yesterday! Let me guess…”
At this point, a guard had walked behind Count Evan, pulling his hands behind his back and locking them with iron chains.
However, Count Evan did not seem to care. He continued, “To have the guts to put us in prison… could it be… Vera was assassinated?”
Prince William was taken aback, clearly not expecting Evan to guess such a thing.
But he still said nothing.
The old King had specifically warned him to be careful with Count Evan, not to pick up his words, let alone believe any promises he made.
So, Prince William faithfully carried out his father’s orders, daring not to show any signs of disobedience.
“Ah! I guessed correctly, didn’t I?” Count Evan, noticing Prince William’s momentary shock, laughed triumphantly.
Then, he said with a tempting tone, “Your Highness, if Miss Vera really is dead, then you really can’t arrest us. At this time, we, the Eastern Territory, are your only support!”
Like a puppet, Prince William did not respond to Count Evan.
“Your Highness, I have a solution to your current dilemma! Really! As long as you take us to the King!”
Prince William felt that this Count of the Eastern Territory was unendingly annoying, so he waved his hand to the guards, signaling them to quicken their pace.
“Your Highness! Your Highness! Trust me, I am the only one who can help you now! Go and tell the King, I have a way to stop the North Territory’s troops from marching….”
By the time the St. Prowse siblings were taken out of the main hall, Prince William was musing on Count Evan’s final words.
Could he really have a solution?
As Prince William hesitated, the old king appeared behind him: “Do you truly believe he can help us?”
“Father…l…” Prince William hesitated before deciding to answer truthfully, “I think we can listen to Count Evan’s suggestions. Perhaps he really has a way…”
“Hmph! Fool!” the old king cut in decisively, “If you truly plan to heed his advice, then you’re falling straight into his trap!”
Prince William lowered his head, too taken aback to speak.
The old king sighed, explaining, “You must be careful when dealing with smart people, especially when they tell you they can help.
At such moments, you must stop and think carefully whether your positions align. If they do not, don’t even listen to them!
Otherwise, sooner or later you’ll be played for a fool and wouldn’t even know it.”
“Yes, Father.” Prince William nodded repeatedly. Seeing his father’s anger dissipate, he cautiously asked, “So, how shall we deal with the two siblings?”
“Lock them up! Don’t skimp on their meals and drinks, but you absolutely must not let them have any contact with the outside world!”
“Yes.”
Clang!
The heavy iron gate fell, completely isolating the siblings of St. Prowse from the outside world.
Count Evan looked around their cell, even managing to nod in approval: “The conditions aren’t bad. Apart from the lack of windows, everything’s here.”
Seeing her calm brother, Anna couldn’t help but feel anxious: “Quickly think of something, Brother! Are we going to wait here to die?”
“Ha ha, don’t worry! The Modewen family wouldn’t dare to kill us.”
“Then why are they locking us up?”
“Bargaining chips.”
“What bargaining chips?”
Count Evan sat down by the round table, picked up a kettle to sniff, and was somewhat disappointed to find it wasn’t wine.
After pouring both himself and his sister a glass of water, the count leisurely said, “Do you remember when I said that Duke St. Hilde had a sure-win strategy?”
“Hmm, the one where Vera would die in Silver Moon City. Could it be… you guessed correctly?”
“Seems so.”
“So, what does this have to do with our capture?”
“Don’t rush, listen to me explain.” Count Evan took a sip of water, and continued, “At that time, while I guessed that Vera would die in Silver Moon City, I was unable to guess the identity of the murderer.”
“The murderer of Vera?”
“Correct.” An intriguing light sparkled in Count Evan’s eyes.
Knowing her brother well, Anna understood that Count Evan was excited—an excitement found when facing a worthy opponent.
Indeed, Count Evan was indeed excited, as if he had found an enjoyable game: “I originally thought that Duke St. Hilde would arrange for someone in the bridal party to kill Vera, such as Viscount Angler, or any other hidden assassin.
After all, that would have been the easiest to arrange.
But who would have thought, Duke St. Hilde actually found someone from the Miller family to play the murderer!
How was this achieved?
It’s incredibly brilliant!
In this way, he not only successfully found an excuse to invade Silver Moon City but also absolved himself thoroughly of suspicion making it difficult for anyone to suspect Duke St. Hilde as the puppet master.
It is now clear that Duke St. Hilde has been scheming against the Half-Elf Kingdom for a long time. Ah, our loss in the Eastern Territory was not in vain!”
An utterly confused Anna responded:
“How do you know that the murderer is from the Miller family?”