Lily Evans's Deduction

After finishing his words, Alexander sheathed his sword and strode over. In front of everyone, he personally took Lily's hand and helped her onto the carriage.

The people of the Prince of Qin's residence left with heads held high. Only then did the scholars finally snap out of their daze. Looking at Mr. Hugh's corpse, they felt a chill and all ran off, muttering to themselves: Offending anyone is fine, but never the Princess of Qin! I was really muddle-headed today, letting myself get dragged here by Mr. Hugh's instigation. Luckily, I kept quiet—otherwise, I'd have lost my life!

Inside the carriage, Lily looked at Alexander.

If it weren't absolutely necessary, Alexander would never kill someone in front of Lily. Yet today, not only did he kill, he even severed the man's head.

"Those scholars still don't know Mr. Hugh is dead. Alex, send men to surround that courtyard and arrest all the students inside as traitors linked to the rebel faction of Liam Gu! Interrogate them in prison!" Alexander ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Alex accepted the order and immediately led hundreds of soldiers to surround the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, those disguised as students were just about to go support Mr. Hugh as agreed—only to open the gate and find government soldiers waiting outside!

"Men! Arrest these fake students—traitors and rebels!" Alex commanded. The soldiers rushed in, easily capturing the unprepared group and taking them to prison for Alex to personally interrogate.

The carriage returned to the Prince of Qin's residence.

The couple returned to their room. Alexander's expression was not good, as if something was troubling him.

Lily sat down and took a sip of tea to calm her nerves.

Alexander looked at Lily and asked, "Darling, aren't you going to ask me why I acted so out of character today, killing Mr. Hugh right outside the palace gates in front of everyone?"

Lily smiled slightly. "You must have had your reasons. But if I had to guess, you were afraid that if Mr. Hugh survived, things would escalate and force the emperor to intervene. Even without a petition, he might take the two academies away from me. You know how much those academies mean to me—I wouldn't just hand them over because I'm a woman. So you decided to eliminate Mr. Hugh and round up everyone he'd gathered in advance, nipping the disaster in the bud."

Alexander gazed at Lily with admiration. "My dear, you truly have a mind as refined as orchids."

Lily set down her teacup. "Guessing just that isn't worthy of such praise. I have further deductions."

"Oh?" Alexander raised an eyebrow, looking at Lily.

Lily looked at Alexander, then called Lola in.

"Princess, what are your orders?" Lola entered and stood at attention.

Lily stood up, walked over to Lola, and felt around Lola's waist. She pulled out a pistol and raised it with a smile. "Just as I thought. Before we left today, you and Lola spent a long time in the room together—you must have been giving her special instructions. And at the banquet, I saw you disguised as a guard, watching over me from afar. So I deduced that you knew I'd face trouble at the palace today, but not exactly what or how dangerous. That's why you had Lola carry a pistol—to better protect me."

Alexander nodded, "I can't hide anything from you, darling. I bet you've guessed even more than that..."

Lily placed the pistol on the table and gestured for Lola to leave. Once Lola was gone, Lily's expression suddenly turned serious, her face clouded with concern as if she was pondering something of grave importance...