Dead, and the Emperor Must Take the Blame

Dorian Owen had only been joking at first, but when he saw Serena Feng storm off in a huff, he didn’t press further. Still… as Serena passed in front of his horse, Dorian caught sight of her messy hair and his eyes went wide.

Dorian pointed at Serena’s disheveled hair, his arm waving wildly and his mouth gaping open, unable to get a word out for ages.

Only when Prince Nolan walked past did Dorian finally burst out, “Ahhh—bad people, bad people! So you really were doing bad things in there! Ahhh, how come I didn’t hear anything?”

A live-action spring palace show—what a pity I missed it! But catching you in the act is a big deal too.

Hahaha…

Dorian was beside himself with excitement, cheeks flushed red. If he weren’t on horseback, he’d be spinning in circles with glee.

When Serena glared back at him, Dorian got even cockier. He scraped his cheek lightly, winked at her, and said, “Serena, don’t even think about denying it. I’ve got proof! Next time you do bad things, clean up better, okay? You look… so embarrassed!”

Before Serena could explode, Dorian hopped off his horse and—whoosh—disappeared, leaving her fuming in place.

“Damn you, Dorian! What nonsense are you spouting?” Bad things? Your whole family does bad things!

She hadn’t done anything at all, okay? Why did he have to make it sound so suggestive?

“Alright, enough. We really did do ‘bad things’ in the carriage.” Prince Nolan stepped forward, put his arm around Serena’s shoulders, and tried to comfort her—but it only made her angrier.

Of course, what Dorian meant by ‘bad things’ wasn’t this at all…

But this kind of thing—damn it…

The more she tried to explain, the more tangled it got!

Asshole!

Serena glanced around—besides Prince Nolan, the only other person present was the carriage driver. That driver…

When the driver caught Serena’s icy stare, he froze and immediately bowed his head to stare at his own feet.

Hmm. The patterns in the dirt were pretty interesting.

“Hmph, this is all your fault.” Serena fumed, and since she couldn’t find the real culprit, she took it out on Prince Nolan—stomping hard on his foot before striding off.

As for the driver? Smart move on his part.

Prince Nolan rubbed his nose, glanced in the direction Dorian had disappeared, and quietly looked away.

He was a gentleman—revenge could wait ten years if needed!

Dorian might seem like an airhead, but he wasn’t stupid. After roasting and teasing Serena, he definitely wouldn’t show his face around Prince Nolan or Serena anytime soon.

He had no desire to end up like Qu Zhe or Qu Xihua. Dorian was perfectly happy with his current life and was determined not to let Prince Nolan mess it up.

Oh yeah—Dorian hummed a little tune as he trailed behind Serena and Prince Nolan from across a river, sometimes sparring with the hidden guards. His days were going just fine.

Since Serena couldn’t find Dorian, she could only vent her frustration on the other culprit—Prince Nolan. He was the one who’d messed up her hair and made Dorian get the wrong idea.

No matter how rational a woman is, when she throws a tantrum, it’s terrifying—there’s no reasoning with her. Prince Nolan tried to talk things out with Serena and ended up utterly defeated. He could only endure her anger in silence, since he couldn’t drag Dorian back out.

And so the days passed, neither too lively nor too dull. With Dorian’s occasional outbursts gone, things were much quieter—so much so that Serena almost found it unsettling.

They traveled at a leisurely pace the whole way. Prince Nolan had no intention of rushing—walking by day, always stopping to rest at night, never pushing onward.

When the Emperor heard about this, he didn’t think much of it.

Whenever Prince Nolan traveled with Serena, he was always like this—never letting her get exhausted. In his own way, he really was quite considerate.

The journey back was uneventful—until they crossed into Eastlyn territory. That’s when disaster struck…

Prince Nolan’s carriage was ambushed by unknown assailants. The guards were pinned down, and during their escape, a thunder-blast grenade went off—Nolan and Serena vanished without a trace!

“How many days has it been? Where are they? Still not found?” The Emperor erupted in rage, roaring at his officials.

“Your Majesty, the spot where Prince Nolan disappeared was right at a cliff’s edge. The thunder-blast grenade exploded, blasting a huge crater in the road, and Prince Nolan vanished. We found some bits of flesh mixed in the dirt, and sent people to search below the cliff, but found nothing.” In other words, it was a dead end—Prince Nolan was almost certainly dead, his body blown to pieces.

“Nothing? I don’t want excuses! I said I want him alive or dead. Useless fools! You failed to protect the Ninth Prince, let him fall into danger, and now you can’t even find his remains? Are you all tired of living? Am I too merciful—should I just wipe out your whole clans?” The Emperor was secretly delighted that his greatest rival had been dealt with so easily, as if even the heavens were on his side. But…

But—of all things, Prince Nolan shouldn’t have died to a thunder-blast grenade. Everyone knew that of the Four Kingdoms, only Eastlyn possessed such weapons.

On Eastlyn soil, on a dead-end road, Prince Nolan was blown up by a thunder-blast grenade, and afterwards the officials couldn’t find the killer. No matter how you looked at it, it reeked of the Emperor’s handiwork.

The Emperor admitted he wanted Prince Nolan dead, but if he’d really done it, he would never have left such obvious clues. And now?

With Prince Nolan’s fate unknown, all suspicion pointed straight at the Emperor. Not just Southlyn, Westlyn, and Northlyn—even Eastlyn’s own officials believed it was his doing.

As soon as word reached the Capital, it caused an uproar. Officials and noble families all pressured the Emperor, demanding he find Prince Nolan and catch the real culprit.

It wasn’t all for Prince Nolan’s sake—most of them were thinking of their own safety.

When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves. If the Emperor could be so ruthless to Prince Nolan, who’s to say he wouldn’t someday use a thunder-blast grenade on them if he took a dislike to them?

The Emperor’s move chilled the hearts of the elite and left the great families uneasy. The whole Capital was in chaos as nobles and officials, acting in rare unity, petitioned the Emperor to find the killer and ‘soothe Prince Nolan’s spirit in heaven.’

Of course, that was just the official line. In reality, they were banding together to pressure the Emperor, warning him not to use such underhanded tricks again.

On top of domestic pressure, Southlyn, Westlyn, Northlyn, and the Nine Cities all sent formal demands, insisting Eastlyn destroy and ban thunder-blast grenades. They were afraid—afraid the Eastlyn Emperor might use the weapon against them, just as he allegedly did to his own prince.

Truth be told, those countries had always been wary of thunder-blast grenades. But Eastlyn had never used them externally, so they had no grounds to object—until now. Given such a perfect excuse, they seized the chance to force Eastlyn to promise never to use the weapon again.

It was totally unfair to them.

With pressure mounting from inside and out, the Emperor nearly fell ill with rage. More than anyone, he wanted to know who the real killer was.

Killing Prince Nolan was bad enough—but framing him for it? Outrageous!