The next step is naturally our turn to reveal the opponent’s card—— Only then did Austin understand what this sentence meant.

It turned out that tonight’s highlights had just begun. He picked up his wine glass leisurely and quietly waited to see how things would unfold.

Joshua’s already pale face became even more unhealthy. He forced a smile and said: “Your Highness…Your Highness is joking. The Bai family has always been loyal to…”

Alfred didn’t seem interested in listening to his explanation at all. He stood up and said, “Austin, have someone take him away.”

His attitude was so indifferent that not only Joshua was a little confused, but even Austin paused for two seconds. Immediately, a signal was sent out with the handheld, and a nearby squad, fully armed, rushed in.

“Your Highness!” Joshua saw that Alfred was about to leave, and shouted with a furious face: “I am the High Priest’s only son and the next High Priest of the Empire! Are you planning to imprison me for no reason?”

He thought Alfred would be furious. In the short period of time just now, he had mentally prepared himself. Unexpectedly, Alfred was about to leave after casually uttering a few words. It seemed like it wasn’t a meticulously planned effort to expose a spy, but rather a casual flick of dust off one’s clothes.

As the first heir to the High Priest, he had always been held high in his life for more than 20 years. Even when he followed the Young Prince into exile, he was highly praised. How could he have been neglected like this?

“Thanks for reminding me that you are the son of the High Priest.” Alfred stopped in his tracks, and said as if suddenly enlightened. Then he turned to Austin and instructed, “Remember to give him a dispersant.”

In today’s society, no one is completely “original”. Most people will have “time-expanded agents” implanted in their arms for convenience, “microphones” implanted in their ears, and various sensing devices linked with the handheld in their hands according to different occupations and personal habits.

People with these conditions will undergo even more extensive and intense modifications. Dispersants were used to temporarily suppress the body’s rejection of these acquired modified functions. Generally speaking, injections were given to newly imprisoned criminals to prevent them from having any unexpected special functions.

The Bai family’s research achievements included dispersants. It was ironic that it should be used on a direct descendant of the Bai family.

Austin was obviously more than happy to do such a thing. He immediately signaled to his men to inject.

Two soldiers restrained Joshua from left to right. Joshua was a weak and ordinary person, naturally no match for the soldiers. Although he was suppressed in terms of strength, He showed no signs of fear. Instead, he revealed a rare display of arrogance that he rarely showed in front of others when he was provoked. He shouted loudly: “Third Highness, wait… Let go, don’t touch me! How dare you arrest me?! Don’t you know how noble my status is? I am the son of the High Priest!”

Alfred lazily replied, “So what? I’m still the Emperor’s son.”

Joshua was speechless for a moment.

Austin said disdainfully: “If that old thing in your family hadn’t tortured my aunt to death back then, it wouldn’t have been your turn to become the next High Priest. Who do you think you are?”

“Major, watch your words. How dare you slander the High Priest without evidence?” Joshua said gloomily. “Your Majesty has already concluded this matter. Your aunt, my father’s former wife, died of illness.”

Austin said: “Did your father tell you this in private? Then the extent of his shamelessness exceeded my expectations. He even deceived his own son.” 

Joshua was about to refute again when Alfred said impatiently, “Are you guys planning to argue in my house until dawn?”

Austin immediately apologized to Alfred and waved his hand, instructing the soldiers to take Joshua down.

After Joshua left, Alfred said to Austin: “The Crown Prince’s palace caught fire in the middle of the night. I’m visiting the Crown Prince. You don’t have to follow.”

After arguing with Joshua just now, Austin was obviously not in the mood to act in front of the Crown Prince. So he quickly responded, “I’ll go and interrogate that person for you.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t wait to leave, but Alfred called him back.

“What did you promise me on the balcony just now? Do you remember?” 

Austin was taken aback, and quickly recalled it. Just as he was not sure what Alfred was referring to, Alfred continued by himself.

“Let go of old grudges.” Alfred looked him in the eyes and said, “You’re working for me, so your task is to extract the information I want from him. As for other matters, as long as they don’t affect the mission, you can handle them as you see fit. But one thing is certain: the Bai clan made great contributions to saving the world during the founding of the empire the country. They are the spiritual pillars of the entire empire. We need to safely bring the High Priest’s son back to the main planet. Don’t make things difficult for me, Austin. Do you understand?”

Austin bowed deeply and assured: “Yes, Your Highness. But… the High Priest has special status. We are now imprisoning him for no reason, and it will indeed cause trouble later…”

Alfred said: “It won’t be too long. We’ll be returning to the main star in a short time. We are just waiting for something to happen.”

Confused, Austin asked, “Waiting for something to happen?”

Alfred continued without answering. “How could it be without reason?” he asked. “Didn’t he blow up the Crown Prince’s palace? I was eager to protect my younger brother, so I captured the suspect. Even though it was impulsive, what can others say about me?

“Is it alright to pin the blame on him?” Austin asked thoughtfully. “What if he confesses that you instructed him?”

Alfred retorted: “What evidence is there? I just said one sentence from beginning to end. Who can prove that I said that sentence? If he clung to me, he would be charged with another crime of ‘slandering the prince’——If he is not stupid enough, he will not say it.”

Austin had already figured it out from start to finish. He said: “Half a month ago, when the Crown Prince first arrived, the inner ghost1 (内鬼 means ‘traitor’) we captured from the “Mirror” Legion confessed that He sold the news of you having a girlfriend to a skinny man in a cloak… Based on the interrogation report at that time, did you find something wrong with the Bai family?”

“It’s just more certain,” Alfred said. “I have endured him for two years, and I’ve reached my limit.”

“Wait, you knew he was the Crown Prince’s man two years ago?” Austin asked in surprise.

“Your father knew too.” Alfred said, seeing Austin’s expression becoming more and more shocked. He patted his shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t be upset, we didn’t deliberately hide it from you. Look, I even specially called you to watch the show. Prior restraint and keeping silent are advantageous for secret arrangements and gaining the initiative. After all, we were at a disadvantage in the early stage. Without some strong cards to play, how could everything have gone so smoothly?”

As he spoke, he frowned slightly, feeling that sense of “being too smooth” once again.

“Indeed, Your Highness’ reputation among the people is retaliating now.” Austin followed him, not knowing what he was thinking. Everyone is urging the Holy Golden Palace to respond and reward Your Highness. It has been so many days already, I wonder if the Holy Golden Palace has made a decision… It’s a pity that the Crown Prince must have avoided it this time. If he gets injured, it will be beneficial to us.”

Once the Crown Prince was injured and unable to move, many things would be much more logical. Joshua handled this matter alone from the beginning to the end. They didn’t touch their hands, and no matter how they approached the situation, it would work in their favour.

However, the Crown Prince just so happened to be not in the palace. If he was safe and sound, then there wouldn’t be much room for maneuvering.

Alfred affirmed: “Indeed. However, I didn’t expect this at first. Having an excuse to pressure the Holy Golden Palace by detaining Joshua and extracting something from him is already good enough. How can there be such a good thing as killing several birds with one arrow? All right, let’s go to work. I also have a play to perform.”

What Alfred didn’t expect was that when he arrived at the scene, the shock almost didn’t need to be acted out.

“Say it again, what?” He asked, seemingly unable to accept it.

They were in front of a vacation villa next to the palace, where the Crown Prince was resting in his bedroom on the second floor.

The assistant to the editor-in-chief of the Snow Voice News Agency repeated: “Your Highness, the Crown Prince’s arm was dislocated, and he suffered a minor concussion due to a fall. Fortunately, at the time of the incident, everyone in the palace accompanied the Crown Prince in the courtyard enjoying the snow, and all of them only suffered minor injuries of varying degrees after being impacted by the aftermath of the explosion. There were no fatalities.”

Alfred remained silent for a few seconds, and just as the assistant to the editor-in-chief began to feel uneasy, he calmly spoke: “So, you’re saying there is no one available around the Crown Prince now?”

The editor-in-chief’s assistant said cautiously: “Based on frontline reports, it is like this, Your Highness.”

“Got it. You may leave. Convey my regards to your editor-in-chief, and ensure reporting continues normally,” Alfred said.

The assistant got his instructions, saluted and left.

The local sheriff also guarded the area and approached Alfred. Alfred also summoned a team of personal guards that he had brought and ordered: “From now on, all the members of the Public Security Bureau have been withdrawn, and I will personally take charge of this villa. My elder brother is injured, and I should take care of him personally. With the Crown Prince’s injuries being so severe, this matter is no small matter. Until the matter is cleared up, no one, except for the doctors I personally bring in, is allowed to enter or leave.”

The people in front of him all bowed in response and scattered in all directions. The security and medical staff inside the building were all withdrawn one by one.

After the scene was cleared, Alfred walked up to the second floor alone. The noise outside the window had not dissipated, but the second floor was quiet.

He pushed open the door, half-sitting on the bed, covered with a thick blanket. His right arm had already been reset by the doctor and was now bandaged. His joints were covered with snow-white bandages.

But it must still be painful, because his face was pale and sickly. The cold starlight streamed through the window, gathering on Xiu’s body, giving Alfred a slight sense of unreality.

This person had always been surrounded by radiance since he was born. But tonight, the light enveloping him was so cold and pale.

They stared at each other for a moment in the cold starry night of XueLi Star, neither of them saying a word.