Forensic Imperial Concubine

Chapter 696 The Chief Culprit (Part One)

After driving Rufus away, Harper went to bed straight away. The entire Sleek Palace was extremely peaceful, but Rufus got into big trouble once he got out.

As soon as he stepped foot outside the Sleek Palace, the secret guards hiding in the dark took action to capture him. Using his agile flying skills, he tried to fend them all off. After fighting for a long time, he was a bit overwhelmed and felt so exhausted. After all, he was fighting against four secret guards all by himself. In the end, the guards managed to suppress him.

"Why don't you lend me a hand now?" Rufus screamed out into the air, obviously fuming with intense rage. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

Thrown off by his words, the secret guards were taken by surprise and thought that Rufus still had an accomplice behind them. They all turned their heads to check, only to find that no one was there. Realizing that they had been fooled, the four guards turned back right away. Unfortunately for them, Rufus had already gone far away. Even so, the secret guards couldn't just let him go, and they decided to run after him again, even alarming the guards of the imperial capital. Ken happened to be on duty that night. When he heard that there was an assassin, he saw Rufus being chased in all directions by the secret guards.

"Rufus, surrender to us now! Otherwise, I'll be forced to order my men to shoot," Ken demanded in a stern voice. As he spoke, Rufus had already been completely surrounded by the archers.

After glancing at the guards who had him surrounded, and the secret guards who might attack him at any time, Rufus helplessly shrugged his shoulders and said, "I tried to surrender, but they wouldn't allow me to do so. There's nothing I can do."

"Seize him!" Ken said in an indifferent tone.

Rufus didn't try to resist. Needless to say, he was able to go in the Sleek Palace easily, mostly because Francis didn't stop him and let him in on purpose. Yet, when he tried to leave now, it wouldn't be that easy. No wonder Howard didn't follow him when he saw him easily breaking into the Sleek Palace. That man was as insidious as Harper. He said he would save him, but as it turned out, he merely watched as he got caught. In Rufus' mind, Howard turned out to be a despicable and shameless man!

Ken brought the trespasser directly to Francis. The latter was still browsing through the reports which had been delivered by the officials. Recently, many officials had been sending reports to him, asking him to take the throne as soon as possible. The embroidery workshop actually began making imperial robes as soon as the old emperor passed away. This all meant that Francis could take the throne without incident as long as he gave the order.

"Rufus, the second son of the Xiao Clan's head?" With his eyebrows raised, Francis gave Rufus a cold stare. Then, he simply continued to focus his attention on the files in front of him. "What are you doing in the palace at this late hour?"

"I have the right to come to see my sister Cynthia after you've taken her into the palace. Am I right?" Rufus said with a mischievous look on his face. Everyone knew that he was the second son of the Xiao Clan's head as well as a playboy. He used to fool around all the time. Right now, he was only interested in doing business. For that reason, the Xiao Clan themselves felt so hopeless because of him.

A smile crept onto Francis' face and he asked, "So, were you able to see her?"

"Didn't you see it yourself? Before I could see her, I was hit in the head!" Rufus answered, pointing at the bandage on his head. "If you didn't take my sister into the palace, I would not have bothered sneaking into the palace in the middle of the night. I sneaked into the wrong room and got hit by that woman. Can't you see that my head is still bleeding?"

Hearing this, Francis shifted his gaze toward Rufus. There was some blood on the bandage wrapped around his head, which only proved that the attacker didn't show any mercy. "Did Harper do it?"

"Who else could it be? If it was her maid who did it, my head would no longer be connected to my body," Rufus said as he rubbed his head. "Fortunately, I was able to hide quickly, otherwise, my head would have gotten severely injured."

Francis was in no hurry, so he simply looked at Rufus coldly. Everyone knew that Rufus was a good friend of Matthew, but it was said that he and Harper didn't get along very well. In fact, it was so bad that during their first meeting, Harper hit Rufus' eye so hard.

"Has Uncle Matthew arrived at the Great Jade Kingdom yet?"

"I have no idea. I didn't go there," Rufus replied curtly and unhappily. "That woman is so heartless. I thought I had only misunderstood her before. I didn't expect her to be such a person. She would happily burn the bridge after crossing it. On top of that, she was so ruthless this time that she burned the bridge before she even crossed it. Isn't she afraid at all that she may drown in the water herself?"

"It's getting late and I don't want to waste my time talking to you. Tell me, what information did you pass for Uncle Matthew?" Francis flatly asked, with his face completely devoid of any emotion.

However, Rufus simply gave a snort of contempt and added, "I've already told you. I just wanted to see Cynthia in the palace."

"I'll have to commend your acting, but you can't fool me. I know full well that you don't get along well with your sister. On the contrary, it's actually your brother whom she gets along with," Francis remarked, fidgeting with the ring around his thumb. "I will give you some time to think about it. No need to answer my question rashly now. In the meantime, you should think carefully about whether you can bear the torture of the Ministry of Punishments. Ken, general of the imperial guards, is quite skilled in

extracting information through torture. Up to now, anyone who was tortured by him ended up confessing everything they knew."

When he heard this, Rufus' face turned cold. "Are you trying to frame me?"

"Frame you?" Francis chuckled. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Aren't you trying to keep Cynthia in the palace? We may not get along well, but as her brother, I have to ensure her safety. Moreover, although our Xiao Clan has withdrawn from the court, we are still connected with Prince Matthew. Now, Your Highness, if you can't even tolerate our clan who has retired from politics, who else can you possibly tolerate?"