“Because… Clayde doesn’t know the reason why you killed Patterson.” Doehring Cowart’s face was filled with confidence.
Linley was startled. Even if Clayde didn’t know why he killed Patterson… he still would know Linley was the killer, right?
“It’s simple. Judging from the conversation you had with Patterson in that underground room, his relationship with Clayde wasn’t very good. While he was the Minister of Finance, Patterson engaged in widespread corruption. In his heart, Clayde probably didn’t feel much affection for Patterson. What’s more… Clayde doesn’t know that there is enmity between the two of you. Thus, he won’t act against you without cause. Because if he wishes to punish you, or to kill you, he would have to first get permission from the Radiant Church.” His eyes gleaming, Doehring Cowart looked at Linley.
“Hrmph, can that Clayde really be considered a king? The Radiant Church has the authority to depose him from his rule. But you are someone whom the Radiant Church values highly. Would he dare to casually act against you?” Doehring Cowart consoled Linley.
Linley nodded.
He understood this logic.
However…
Linley truly did not wish for Clayde to be on his guard against him. If Clayde became wary of Linley, how would Linley investigate his mother’s whereabouts or take revenge on behalf of his mother?
“Open the door! It’s me!” The palace attendant shouted in a shrill voice.
Hearing this, Linley immediately knew that they had already reached the palace gates. Like a giant beast, the gates squatted there, hulking. In just half an hours’ time, countless carriages had entered and left the palace.
One of those carriages was Linley’s. Another belonged to Bernard. And still others were carrying other nobles.
Within the business discussion hall of the palace.
Aside from the two guards standing at the door to the hall, everyone else present in the hall were nobles of high rank. In total, there were eight people present. These were Bernard, leader of the Debs clan. The Prime Court Magus, Linley. The Left Premier, Duke Bonalt. The Inspector General, Hampton…
“Linley, you came.” Bernard greeted him warmly.
All of the nobles already present instantly greeted him as well. Seeing all of these nobles, Linley couldn’t help but suddenly feel calm. It seemed that he had not been specially summoned after all.
“Milords, I wonder if any of you know why his Majesty has summoned us?” Linley immediately asked.
Duke Bonalt, as the Left Premier, knew a great deal of information.
“Most likely, this summons is related to the disappearance of Duke Patterson,” Duke Bonalt replied with a warm laugh.
Bernard, off to the side, immediately asked, “Lord Duke, what does Duke Patterson’s disappearance have to do with me? I don’t have any important responsibilities at court.”
“Today, his Majesty isn’t summoning his entire court, merely investigating a matter. Otherwise, why would I be here, but not the Right Premier, and only a single Inspector General?” Duke Bonalt saw things quite clearly.
Bernard nodded.
But Bernard still felt very uneasy.
Ever since Patterson had disappeared, Bernard had been filled with unease. He feared that the involvement between his Debs clan and Duke Patterson in the water jade smuggling operation would be brought to light. If this affair was revealed, then the Debs clan would really be finished.
“His Majesty has arrived!”
Suddenly, the shrill voice of the palace attendant sounded out. From a side door to the hall, Clayde walked in, heading directly for a seat in front and sitting down, two palace attendants respectfully at his side.
“All hail his Majesty!”
All of the nobles present bowed and chanted.
Clayde glanced at the nobles. He calmly nodded, then said, “It’s quite late at night already. I originally didn’t wish to disturb all of you, but this issue regarding the disappearance of my second brother, Patterson, is too important. I was forced to summon all of you to come here.”
“Might I ask, your Majesty, what Duke Patterson’s disappearance has to do with your summons for us?” Linley immediately asked.
Of the eight people present before Clayde, perhaps only Linley would dare to speak to him in such a manner. Because while everyone else present was subordinate to Clayde, in reality, Linley was the subordinate of the Radiant Church, and was only a servant of the Kingdom of Fenlai in name.
“Linley, I just wish to clearly investigate this affair.” Clayde smiled, and then said in a loud voice, “Bring out the Duke’s housekeeper, Lodi.”
Lodi? The Duke’s housekeeper?
Both Linley and the Deb clan’s leader Bernard felt their hearts start to pound.
The entire meeting hall was silent. Everyone quietly awaited Lodi being brought forward to testify. Linley still stood there, with the Shadowmouse Bebe on his shoulders.
After a short while…
Under escort by palace guards, a middle-aged man with jade-like hair walked in. This man looked very fragile, with mussed hair and a bewildered look on his face.
Bernard recognized this man at a single glance. This man in front of him was indeed Lodi, the housekeeper for Duke Patterson.
“Lodi, explain everything in detail,” Clayde shouted towards Lodi.
Lodi clearly had already explained once to Clayde already. This explanation clearly was for the benefit of Linley and the others. Lodi said very honestly, “Your Majesty, on June 18th, when the Debs clan held that engagement ceremony, the Lord Duke also went to attend. But after the ceremony, the Lord Duke never came back.”
“Lodi, stand to one side,” Clayde said coldly.
“Yes, your Majesty.” Lodi clearly was terrified. He hurriedly scurried off into a corner.
Clayde swept the eight nobles with his gaze.
“Based on the information from my investigations, the night of the engagement ceremony at the Debs clan, you all were amongst the last to leave. What I want to ask is, did any of you encounter Duke Patterson?” Clayde’s question was very simple.
“Right after the banquet, Patterson departed,” the Left Premier, Lord Bonalt, said in a loud voice.
Linley nodded as well. “I, too, saw Patterson departing quite early.”
The others either said they didn’t see him, or that Patterson left very early.
Hearing everyone speak, Clayde smiled and nodded, and then turned to Lodi again. “Lodi, continue.”
“Yes,” Lodi continued. “That night, before going to the Debs manor, Duke Patterson told me that he was going to be meeting with an extremely important person, but to the importance of the discussion topic, nobody could know about it. Thus, he ordered me to arrange for a double to impersonate him and leave the manor. In truth, the Lord Duke would remain within the manor.”
“The Lord Duke also said that the Debs clan would arrange for a safe, secret place for his meeting.” Lodi added.
Upon hearing these words, Bernard Debs’ face immediately turned white.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
Bernard hurriedly said, “This has nothing to do with me. The Lord Duke told me he wanted to meet with someone, so I arranged a meeting room for them. I couldn’t refuse him.”
“Bernard. Don’t be hasty. I won’t wrongly blame someone.” Clayde smiled.
“Thank you, your Majesty.” Bernard quickly stepped back, but his face was still pale.
Clayde turned to look at Linley and the others. “If Patterson was going to meet with someone, the person he was going to meet with should have some status. Who would that person be? I think… it must have been one of the last guests to leave.”
Linley’s heart trembled.
Duke Bonalt, Count Juneau, Marquis Hampton, and the others all stared at Clayde in astonishment. By now, they could guess why the king had called them here.
His Majesty was suspicious of them!
“Your Majesty, I definitely
did not meet with him,” Count Juneau, Marquis Hampton, and the others hurriedly said.
Clayde smiled. “I only have my suspicions. If none of you did anything to be guilty of, why be so nervous? Look, Linley’s the calmest one here.”
Linley smiled but didn’t make a sound.
Clayde glanced at this group of people, laughing coldly in his heart. “I couldn’t give a damn about who made Patterson disappear. In fact, I’d rather thank that person for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to eradicate all the secret connections Patterson has built up.”
As the long-time Minister of Finance, Patterson had erected an enormous, dense web of connections. His influence was extremely large. Clayde didn’t dare to casually investigate Patterson either, as he didn’t want to cause too many problems in the kingdom.
This was also the reason why the Debs clan had decided to work alongside Patterson.
But now, Patterson had disappeared. The group of dragons no longer had a leader.
Acting as fast as lightning, Clayde used various ruthless techniques to quickly clip off Patterson’s wings and shatter the web of influence which Patterson had spent so long building up.
Without Patterson’s guidance, those collaborators of his naturally would be in for a terrible time if they resisted. There was no way they could resist the pressure exerted by King Clayde.
Clayde looked at Linley and the others. Laughing, he said, “The disappearance of my second brother, Patterson, is something I must look into. But what surprised me was, I ended up discovering quite a few things. Lodi, in particular, spilled many secrets.”
Linley couldn’t help but look at Lodi.
“Lodi, tell them.” Clayde smiled at Lodi.
Right now, Clayde was feeling extremely satisfied. The death of a brother, to Clayde, was no big deal at all. More importantly… all of the power within the Kingdom of Fenlai finally rested with him again.
Lodi respectfully said, “Your Majesty, that day, when Duke Patterson attended the engagement ceremony at the Debs clan, the reason he needed to meet with that mysterious person was that he wanted to start a relationship with the Dawson Conglomerate. Thus… the person he went to see absolutely has to have some sort of connection to the Dawson Conglomerate.
“The Dawson Conglomerate?”
Linley felt his heart shudder violently.
“Does everyone want to know why it was that my second brother wished to start a relationship with the Dawson Conglomerate?” Clayde laughed as he looked at the people present. “Lodi, continue.”
“Yes.” Lodi clearly had been totally cowed by Clayde, saying whatever he was told to. “Over these years, Duke Patterson had betrayed his country in many ways for his own profit and for his own selfish motives. In these past few months in particular, he initiated a large-scale water-jade smuggling program with the Debs clan. In the entire history of our kingdom, this is the largest water-jade program that has ever existed.”
“Smash!”
The leader of the Debs clan, Bernard, immediately knelt down, his knees smashing into the ground. He hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, I am being framed! Our Debs clan has always operated our businesses in an open, aboveboard manner. We’ve never acted in a way which was against the best interests of the kingdom. Our Debs clan is being framed!”
“Framed?” Clayde flicked a cold glance at Bernard.
“Bring in the Lanseer brothers!”
Upon hearing the words ‘Lanseer brothers’, the face of Bernard, clan leader of the Debs clan, lost all blood.
46
Imprisoned
For the sake of this water jade smuggling operation, the Debs clan had paid a very high price. Bernard ordered his Third Brother to be responsible for this affair, and the Lanseer brothers were his Third Brother’s right and left hand men.
Standing in the middle of the meeting hall, Linley remained calm. The Shadowmouse, Bebe, also quietly stood on Linley’s shoulders.
The man and the magical beast both just stood there as though nothing were happening, quietly watching it all. Even though he saw the begging look Bernard had trained on him, Linley didn’t react in the slightest.
After a while…
The sound of heavy chains could be heard. Two golden-haired men in shackles entered the meeting hall, under escort from the palace guards. These two men were shackled by the feet and by the hands as well. Just judging from the thickness of those leg-irons, the shackles must have been one or two hundred pounds heavy.
Such heavy shackles were used expressly for collaring those warriors with powerful strength.
“Milord clan leader.”
Upon entering the discussion hall and seeing Bernard who was kneeling on the ground, strange smiles appeared on their faces. They actually called out to Bernard respectfully.
Standing to the side, Linley understood.
Most likely these Lanseer brothers were two of the major leaders in the smuggling operation who most likely had some secret connection with the Debs clan.
“The Debs clan is going to be in trouble now.” Linley just quietly watched.
Seeing those two shackled golden-haired men, Bernard reacted with confusion. “Uh? Lanseer and Langmuir, why have the two of you been imprisoned by his Majesty? Didn’t I give the two of you a one hundred thousand gold coins a few months ago and tell you to go enjoy life?”
Those two golden-haired men were briefly startled, then they laughed.
“Milord clan leader, are you jesting?” Lanseer laughed.
Next to him, Langmuir snickered as well. “What, lord clan leader, do you still think that you can lie and hide? Forget it. You might as well admit your guilt.”
A look of rage appeared on Bernard’s face. He suddenly rose to his feet, staring angrily at Lanseer and Langmuir. “Lanseer, Langmuir, my Debs clan has raised you and cultivated you since you were little. The two of you should know very well how I have treated you.”
“It’s true, you have treated us brothers very well. But the two of us have also risked our lives for the Debs clan for many years now,” the elder brother, Lanseer, said coldly.
Bernard’s rage grew. With a trembling hand, he pointed at the Lanseer brothers. “The two of you truly forget favors and violate justice. True, you two have worked on behalf of the Debs clan for many years now, but all these years, you have been acting corruptly so as to gain money that belonged to the clan. After that event half a year ago, considering that the two of you had worked for us for so long, I spared your lives and even gave you one hundred thousand gold coins and told you to go home and enjoy your lives. But… but you… not only are you not grateful, you’ve now participated in smuggling? And after getting caught, you sully the Debs clan?”
Lanseer and Langmuir were totally caught off-guard, and they stared at Bernard in bewilderment.
“We… we were corrupt? You… you gave us one hundred thousand gold coins?” Lanseer and Langmuir were totally flabbergasted.
Bernard’s rage exploding, he suddenly turned and knelt before Clayde. His tears cascading onto the ground, he said, “Your Majesty, these two are nothing more than a pair of insatiable wolves. When they were young, I saw that they were two pitiable orphans and so I took them in, and later gave them important positions. But they only acted to shovel my clan’s wealth into their own pockets. Despite that, considering the many years of affection between us, I spared their lives and even gave them one hundred thousand gold coins. This can be considered to be extremely benevolent and merciful of me. But now? Now they actually come here to sully and frame my Debs clan. They want to destroy the Debs clan! How vicious! Your Majesty, my heart is broken. My heart is broken!”
Seeing the miserable cries of Bernard, many of the nobles in the meeting hall did indeed begin to wonder if Lanseer and Langmuir really were framing the Debs clan.
“Bernard, you… you…” Lanseer and Langmuir were so enraged that their faces turned red, but they weren’t able to say a single word.
How much h
ad these two brothers sacrificed for the Debs clan?
They were even willing to engage in smuggling for the clan, precisely because the two of them didn’t fear death. If it weren’t for the fact that this time, the offer from King Clayde was simply too enticing, they wouldn’t have betrayed the Debs clan.
But everything which Bernard was saying now was false!
“Oh? There’s an event such as this?” Clayde glanced at Bernard.
Clayde could sense that Bernard had come prepared, as otherwise, he wouldn’t have suddenly come up with all these lies. If he were to investigate, most likely he wouldn’t be able to find any flaws.
“Hrmph. It’s a pity that Third Brother of Bernard’s leapt into the river. We weren’t even able to find his corpse. Otherwise, with his Third Brother in front of him, Bernard would have nothing to say.” Clayde was furious.
Smuggling water jade.
Water jade mines were part of the national wealth of the kingdom. Which was to say, it was part of Clayde’s wealth.
Illegally mining and smuggling water jade meant stealing from him, Clayde. Naturally, Clayde would feel furious.
But that Third Brother of Bernard’s had leapt into the river to commit suicide, while Bernard had seemingly been prepared for Lanseer and Langmuir’s betrayal.
“Bernard, I won’t unjustly accuse an innocent man,” Clayde said solemnly.
“Thank you, your Majesty! Thank you, your Majesty!” Bernard’s face was covered with tears.
But Clayde announced coldly, “However, I also won’t forgive a person who has betrayed the interests of his kingdom. Based on the intelligence that I have, it seems that the person responsible for this smuggling operating was your Third Brother.”
“My Third Brother?” Bernard stared questioningly at Clayde.
Clayde stared coldly at Bernard. “What, do you have something to say?”
A wounded look on his face, Bernard said, “Of course I do. Your Majesty, I really don’t know why you said what you just said, but over a year ago, my Third Brother left the Kingdom of Fenlai and began on a training excursion tour to various other countries. Just a few days ago, he sent a letter back to us.”
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 36