"It's Howard! It's that traitor, Howard!" A cacophony rose throughout the crowd as the ministers gasped, bursting into discussion. All eyes flew to Walden, suspiciously, only to find him just as confused as everyone else.

"But that's impossible!" Walden stepped forward, still stunned. "Father, I saw Howard beheaded right before my eyes. How could this happen? How could Minister Jacob have pulled this off?"

"I was equally curious about how such a magic trick was performed, so I had someone look into it and check the body," the emperor said, his eyes cold. "Charles was the man who raised Howard, and is quite familiar with him. I sent him to identify the body and he confirmed that the body was not Howard's." There was no doubt, from his frigid tone, that the emperor was furious. Now he looked down at the assembled crowd below and considered how many of them had tied to Howard or Kevin.

"Father, if I may," Feli

he had no alibi. Worse still, he was completely caught in a lie. And he was lying to the emperor to his face. Trapped and caught, all the words died on his lips.

"Jacob!!" The emperor growled with so much rage that his voice was at its roughest. "Take this impudent twit to the prison!"

He stopped suddenly, as though belatedly remembering that he had an audience. As Howard visited Felix at midnight, and Jacob helped Felix get Howard to escape, there was no telling how many sympathizers were present. There might be more of them out there who had loyalties to Felix. So instead, he had Matthew do it. "Matthew, I leave this case to you. I want you to thoroughly investigate this matter and find out the truth. Felix, reflect on your role in all of this. You'll be confined to your mansion. Walden, you've neglected your duties. You'll lose three months of your salary as a warning to others to do their jobs properly."