Chapter 13: The Secret Exposed
The night was as black as ink.
The sound of a carriage echoed through the quiet streets outside the royal palace. Linley sat alone inside the carriage, with the shadow mouse Bebe lying on his lap. Beside the carriage were over a dozen knights riding fine horses, led by a palace attendant delivering the summons.
Inside the carriage.
Linley frowned deeply. "It's already late, but Clayde suddenly summons me. What does he want?" As the saying goes, a clear conscience fears no midnight knocking.
But Linley had killed Patterson, and he knew very well that it was Clayde who had ordered Patterson to send people to kidnap his mother back then. In truth, he and Clayde shared a deep enmity.
Linley naturally had to be cautious around Clayde.
"I heard that a couple of days ago, Clayde captured the butler of the duke's mansion and started investigating matters concerning Patterson. Patterson told me he hadn't told anyone about meeting me. But can that be trusted?" Linley had no confidence.
Perhaps the butler knew about Patterson meeting Linley.
If that butler from the duke's mansion told Clayde this news, then Linley would naturally be thrust into the spotlight.
"Linley, don't worry."
Dellinger appeared beside Linley, comforting him. "Linley, even if that butler from the duke's mansion knows Patterson met you, it's fine."
"Fine?" Linley looked at Dellinger in confusion.
Dellinger nodded confidently. "Of course. Even if Clayde guesses that you killed Patterson, he won't say it openly."
"Because... Clayde doesn't know why you killed Patterson." Dellinger's face was full of certainty.
Linley was stunned. Even if Clayde didn't know the reason he killed Patterson, the fact remained that he had killed him.
"Simple. From the conversation between you and Patterson in the secret chamber that day, it's clear that Patterson and Clayde didn't have a good relationship. During his time as Minister of Finance, Patterson was heavily corrupt. Clayde probably doesn't have much affection for him. Also... Clayde doesn't know that you have a deep grudge against him. So he won't target you without reason. Because punishing or killing you requires the approval of the Radiant Church." A hint of disdain flashed in Dellinger's eyes.
"Hmph, is Clayde even a king? The Radiant Church has the power to depose him. And you are highly valued by the Radiant Church. Would he dare to act against you casually?" Dellinger said reassuringly.
Linley nodded.
He understood this logic.
But...
Linley really didn't want Clayde to become wary of him. Once suspicion arose, how could he investigate his mother's matters? How could he take revenge for what happened to her back then?
"Hurry, open the gate. It's me." The palace attendant's shrill voice rang out.
Linley knew from this that they had already entered the palace gates. Like a giant beast quietly crouching on the earth, carriages arrived one after another within half an hour, entering the imperial palace.
Among them were carriages picking up Linley, Bernard, and other nobles.
In the palace's meeting hall.
Aside from the two guards at the entrance, the hall contained eight nobles of relatively high status in Fenlai City. They were: Bernard, patriarch of the Debs family; Linley, the imperial court's number one mage; Duke Bona, the Left Prime Minister; Marquis Hampton, the Inspector General...
"Linley, you're here." Duke Bona greeted him warmly.
The other nobles who had already arrived immediately came over to greet him. Seeing these nobles, Linley felt somewhat reassured—it seemed he wasn't being singled out.
"Your Excellencies, do you know why His Majesty has summoned us?" Linley asked directly.
Duke Bona, as Left Prime Minister, knew quite a bit.
"This summons is likely about the disappearance of Duke Patterson." Duke Bona replied with a friendly smile.
Bernard immediately asked, "Duke Bona, Duke Patterson's disappearance—why would he summon me? I don't hold any important position in the court." Today, His Majesty didn't summon the heavyweights but rather those investigating matters. Otherwise, why would only I be here? Why isn't the Right Prime Minister here? Why only one Inspector General?" Duke Bona saw things clearly.
Bernard nodded.
But Bernard still felt uneasy.
Ever since Patterson disappeared, Bernard had been worried that the Debs family's involvement with Patterson in smuggling water jade ore would be exposed. If that came out, the Debs family would be finished.
"His Majesty has arrived—"
Suddenly, the palace attendant's shrill voice rang out. From the side door of the meeting hall, followed respectfully by two palace attendants, Clayde walked directly to his seat and sat down.
"Greetings, Your Majesty."
The eight nobles on the floor bowed simultaneously.
Clayde glanced at the eight nobles before him and nodded indifferently. "It's nearly midnight, and I didn't want to disturb you, but the matter of my second brother Duke Patterson's disappearance is too important. I had no choice but to gather you all here."
"Your Majesty, why have you summoned us regarding Duke Patterson's disappearance?" Linley asked directly.
Among the eight people below, only Linley dared to speak to Clayde like this. The others watched Clayde's expression, while Linley actually belonged to the Radiant Church, merely holding a nominal position in the Fenlai Kingdom.
"Linley, I just want to get to the truth of the matter." Clayde smiled slightly, then said loudly, "Bring the butler of the duke's mansion, Lodi."
Lodi? The butler of the duke's mansion?
Linley and Bernard of the Debs family both felt a jolt of alarm.
The entire meeting hall fell silent. Everyone waited quietly for Lodi to be brought in. Linley stood to one side, with the shadow mouse Bebe on his shoulder.
After a moment—
A middle-aged man with blue-green hair was escorted in by palace guards. His face was haggard, his hair slightly disheveled, looking quite downcast.
But Bernard recognized him at once. This was Lodi, the butler of the duke's mansion who had come to see him some time ago.
"Lodi, repeat the matter honestly once more." Clayde directly ordered Lodi.
Lodi had clearly already confessed to Clayde once; repeating it was just for Linley and the others to hear. Lodi answered very obediently, "Your Majesty, on June 18th, the Debs family held an engagement banquet. The Duke attended that banquet. After the banquet, the Duke never returned."
"Lodi, stand aside for now." Clayde said coldly.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Lodi looked somewhat fearful and quickly stood in a corner.
Clayde's gaze swept over the eight nobles below.
"According to my investigation, on the night of the Debs family's engagement banquet, you were the last few to leave. I want to ask—did any of you see Patterson?" Clayde's question was simple.
"As soon as the banquet ended, Patterson left first," Duke Bona said directly.
Linley also nodded. "I saw Patterson leave very early as well."
The others either said they hadn't seen him or that Patterson had left early.
Hearing this, Clayde nodded with a smile, then looked at Lodi beside him. "Lodi, continue."
"Yes." Lodi spoke again. "Before Duke Patterson went to the Debs family mansion, he told me that he was going to meet someone very important to him. This matter was extremely important and couldn't be known by others. So he ordered me to arrange a puppet to impersonate the Duke and return to the duke's mansion. In reality, the Duke remained in the Debs family."
"The Duke also said that the Debs family would arrange a secret meeting place for him," Lodi added.
This statement immediately made Bernard, patriarch of the Debs family, turn pale.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
Bernard quickly said, "This has nothing to do with me! The Duke told me he wanted to meet someone, so I had to arrange a secret location. I had no choice!"
"Bernard, don't panic. I won't wrong anyone." Clayde said with a smile.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Bernard stepped back, but his face was pale.
Clayde looked at Linley and the others. "Patterson wanted to meet someone. That person should have some status. Who could it be? I think it's very likely one of the guests who left late that day."
Linley's heart trembled.
Duke Bona, Count Juno, Marquis Hampton, and the others all looked at Clayde in surprise. They had a guess as to why the King had summoned them.
It turned out the King suspected them!
"Your Majesty, we didn't meet with him," Duke Bona, Hampton, and the others quickly said.
Clayde laughed. "I'm just speculating. If you haven't done anything wrong, why worry? Look, among all of you, Linley is the calmest."
Linley smiled faintly but said nothing.
Clayde glanced at the group and sneered inwardly. "I couldn't care less who made Patterson disappear. In fact, I should thank that person for giving me the perfect opportunity to destroy the secret connections Patterson built up."
Patterson, as Minister of Finance for many years, had established an extremely dense network of relationships and wielded great influence. Clayde didn't dare investigate Patterson recklessly, fearing it would destabilize the entire kingdom.
This was also why the Debs family had cooperated with Patterson.
Now that Patterson was missing and leaderless,
Clayde had acted with lightning speed, ordering his subordinates to quickly dismantle Patterson's supporters and destroy the network he had spent years building.
Without Patterson's coordination, the resistance from his followers was chaotic and couldn't withstand Clayde's methods.
Clayde looked at Linley and the others, smiling. "I had to investigate my second brother Patterson's disappearance, but what surprised me most was uncovering quite a few things. Especially from Lodi—he revealed many secrets."
Linley couldn't help but look at Lodi.
"Lodi, tell them." Clayde smiled at Lodi.
At this moment, Clayde was brimming with satisfaction. The death of a brother meant nothing to him. What mattered was... he had finally regained full control over the kingdom's power.
Lodi said respectfully, "Your Majesty, the reason Duke Patterson attended the Debs family's engagement banquet that day and wanted to meet a mysterious person was to establish a connection with the Dawson Chamber of Commerce. So... the person he met must have a close relationship with the Dawson Chamber of Commerce."
"The Dawson Chamber of Commerce?"
Linley felt his heart clench violently.
"Do you all want to know why my second brother wanted to connect with the Dawson Chamber of Commerce?" Clayde smiled at the people below. "Lodi, continue."
"Yes." Lodi was clearly completely subdued by Clayde and said everything. "Over the years, Duke Patterson has done many things that betray the kingdom's interests, all to satisfy his personal desires. Especially in the past few months, he and the Debs family have been smuggling water jade ore on a large scale. This is the largest-scale water jade ore smuggling in the history of the Fenlai Kingdom."
"Thud!"
Bernard, patriarch of the Debs family, fell to his knees and quickly said, "Your Majesty, this is unjust! Our Debs family has always conducted business lawfully and never done anything to betray the kingdom's interests. We are innocent!"
"Innocent?" Clayde glanced coldly at Bernard.
"Bring the Lancel brothers up," Clayde ordered outside.
Upon hearing the name Lancel, Bernard's face instantly lost all color.