In Thebiles, the capital of the Demon Moon, Edward Cage, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Royal Guard, arrives in prison.

In the iron cage, Ford saw Cage and hurriedly stepped forward to ask, "Lord Edward, how is the investigation going? Have you caught the murderer?" Ford and Edward Cage have a nominal subordinate relationship, but in fact Ford is directly under Crown Prince Veronka.

Edward Cage was a very strong man, with a big head and a thick neck, a very muscular man, short blond hair, and a rough appearance, but in fact he was not stupid at all. Cage said to Ford in prison: "The murderer hasn't been caught yet, and there are some clues." I'm here for a few questions I want to ask you. ”

In prison, Ford said gloomily: "I have already said what I should say, I have confessed many times after the attack, I am willing to take responsibility for protecting the crown prince, I only hope that it will not affect my family wife and children." ”

Cage said: "Don't be too pessimistic, this matter may not have turned around." He said to the jailer next to him, "Open the door, and I'll find a room to talk to him." ”

In a small separate room, a long table with two chairs, and a cup of coffee from Shangwen was placed in front of Ford. Ford's shackles were not untied, and he took a sip of coffee and said, "What are you going to ask me, my lord?"

"I want to ask you, what do you think of Beethoven?" Cage asked, paying attention to him.

"What do you think?" Ford recalled, somewhat puzzled, "Beethoven is not bad, and he has a good relationship with most of the Crown Prince's bodyguard. ”

"What about the crown prince?"

"Of course he is loyal to the crown prince. Ford said: "Before we accompanied His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to the Warcraft Forest to experience, in the forest we encountered a lot of dangers, Beethoven and I and other guards are very careful to protect the Crown Prince, although it is not a life of nine deaths, but it has indeed experienced several dangers, we swear to defend His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and finally let His Royal Highness not have an accident." You know that Beethoven had a good relationship with King Bixia. He helped Bixia when Bixia was not on the throne for more than ten years, so after he later joined the Crown Prince's Guard, His Royal Highness was also very polite to him. He is also very conscientious in the protection of His Highness. ”

Cage bowed slightly, and asked again: "On the day of His Highness's assassination, on what basis did you ask Beethoven to lead a team of people to escort His Highness first, and stay yourself to stop the killer?" instead of you protecting Your Highness from leaving. Let Beethoven stay and stop the killer?"

Ford said: "I've already said this, and it's just a natural arrangement. The situation was very chaotic at that time, and the people of our crown prince guard were very elite. But I was caught off guard by the killer who suddenly came out, and in order to avoid His Highness being hurt in the chaos, I decided to bring the people of the first and second guards to block the killer, and let Beethoven lead another team to protect His Highness and go first. Beethoven's strength is not weaker than mine, which is a very reasonable arrangement. ”

Cage asked, "According to Princess Alice, this trip to the Phantom Beast Garden in the suburbs is a temporary arrangement, and it is not part of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's scheduled itinerary. ”

Ford nodded, "Yes." It was Princess Alice who suddenly came to Her Royal Highness the Crown Prince and asked Her Highness to take her out of the palace to play, along with the young lady of the Dolores family and Princess Alice's friend Alchemy Hurrington. His Royal Highness agreed very well at that time, and did not make any preparations, but just told me to take the accompanying guards and go. ”

Cage asked again, "Then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agreed to the princess's request." How long has it been until you have prepared your troops to leave the palace, and who has left in the meantime, or contacted people who are not members of the guards?"

Ford recalled: "From the time I said yes to the time I left, it was only ten minutes, maybe about fifteen minutes." Beethoven and I have been with His Highness, and after His Highness promised the princess to go out, I remained with His Highness, and it was Beethoven who went to gather the escort. As for whether anyone has been in contact with anyone else, I don't know. Ford wondered, "Lord Cage, you ask this, don't you suspect that our guards have betrayed Your Highness?"

Cage said: "His Royal Highness and Princess Alice went out of the city to the Phantom Beast Garden on an impromptu basis, and it is impossible for the princess to betray His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. K. Vivien and Alchemy Hurrington had never left the princess, and the only people who knew about this itinerary were His Highness's guards. The Assassin Killer was able to learn this information accurately and set up an ambush, and someone must have reported it to the Assassin. ”

Ford exclaimed, "That'...... Who could that be?" He suddenly thought of what Cage had asked him, and his heart jumped, and he exclaimed, "Do you suspect Beethoven? But isn't Beethoven dead!? I remember clearly, his body is in His Highness...... Next to the remains of His Highness. ”

Cage leaned forward, looked into his eyes and said, "Beethoven's corpse was burned beyond recognition by fire magic, but I found someone to carefully identify it, it was not Beethoven's corpse at all!"

"What...... What!?" Ford stood to his feet in shock, and stood there stunned for a moment, apparently not recovering from his astonishment.

Cage continued: "That dead fake 'Beethoven' was not from the Royal Guard at all, he was killed, put on Beethoven's armor, and then set fire to it. The coroner told me that the body had been frozen, and although it was impossible to determine the exact time of death, it had been dead for at least a day. ”

Ford came back to his senses: "How is it possible? How is this possible? How could Beethoven do such a thing? Is he a weishenme?"

"This will have to be investigated. Cage said, "But it seems that you really don't know anything." ”

Ford was furious: "Of course I don't know anything, how could I know that Beethoven, who has been protecting His Highness for so many years, actually ......"

Cage said, "You don't have to get excited. Now tell me everything you know about Beethoven. ”

......

In the palace, Alice threw herself into her mother's arms and was heartbroken, and although a few days had passed, she still did not recover from her self-blame.

Queen Athena hugged her daughter and said: "Alice, Alice, don't cry, it's not your fault, those killers are targeting Veronka, even if you don't go out with your brother, they will ......" Although it was to comfort her daughter, but when she thought of her own son, and it was the eldest son, she died so tragically, and the words of relief could not be said anymore.

Alice cried, "If only I hadn't gone outside with my brother, I wouldn't have met the assassins if I didn't go out." Mother, did you say that Alice killed her brother?

Athena held back the tears in her eyes, and when she heard her daughter crying, she choked up, she patted her daughter on the shoulder and said, "Of course not, this is definitely not true. It's a conspiracy Alice, a conspiracy of some bad people to kill your brother, and you can't blame yourself for someone else's conspiracy because it's none of your business. ”

In the room, the mother and daughter recounted their grief, and outside the room, the seventeenth generation heard the grief of their mother and daughter, and did not rush in, wandered for a while, and had to leave secretly. The future heir of this empire, his favorite son died like this, and the grief in the heart of the seventeenth was no less than that of his wife and daughter, but he was the king of a country, and as the monarch of the most powerful empire in Shijie, he could not express his grief, and he could not even cry bitterly like his wife and daughter. All he can do is be strong, strong to deal with this disaster, and strong to face the crises that the empire is in.

Back in the small conference room next to the Congress Hall, Cage had returned from his prison and was waiting there.

After the seventeenth sat down, he rubbed his temples with his hands and asked, "Is there any progress in the investigation?"

"Yes, there was progress last night, but in order to confirm, it was not reported to Bixia until now. Cage said, "Bixia, after investigation, the assassination of His Highness has nothing to do with the guards who protected His Highness that day. ”

"People of the Royal Guard!" The Seventeenth raised his head and said with a solemn expression: "The family of every guard in the Royal Guard has served the Empire for several generations or even more than ten generations, their identity background is absolutely clean, and they are loyal to the Empire, it is impossible to betray the Empire!"

Cage said, "Bixia, you forgot? There's a person who isn't. Beethoven. ”

"Him!" Seventeen was taken aback, but then nodded, "Yes, he is not, but he is very loyal to me." I had not yet ascended to the throne and was only one of many princes, and I had visited the five southeastern provinces on behalf of my father, and I had encountered Assassins outside. It was he who pounced on me in that dangerous assassination and saved me by blocking seventeen arrows. Because of this, I promoted him from a regular guard to the royal guard, when he was only a high-ranking knight. Later, when I became king, I trusted him and kept him by my side and promoted him step by step, until I made him a crown prince, made him a viscount, and asked the deputy captain of the royal guard to protect Veronka for me. I trust him so much, how could he betray me?"

"Indeed, Bixia is so important to him, ordinary people will not betray him. Cage said: "But the facts of our investigation are in front of us." Of all the dead, only Beethoven's body was fake, and without anyone revealing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's itinerary, it would have been difficult for the Assassins to set up an ambush in the suburbs. Bixia, I know you can't believe it, after we found out about this last night, Ike Norma has already led people to search the residence in the imperial capital overnight, and I believe that news will come soon. ”

The news did not arrive until the third day, and Ike Norma led people to search Beethoven's house and sent people to visit the people who usually corresponded with him. After a careful investigation, Beethoven discovered a secret residence, where he found secret letters suspected of his correspondence with St. Vick, as well as letters that made him want to assassinate the King of the Moon or the Crown Prince. Perhaps because he planned to evacuate as soon as his mission was completed, none of the letters were destroyed.

Seeing this, it was related to the hostile country of St. Vicia, and the seventeenth no longer doubted it, and the anger in his heart finally broke out!

...... (To be continued.) )