EOL Chapter 21

That night, Alfred was turned down.

 

He had been spending every night in Xiu’s bed. Although he entered after Xiu had gone to bed and left before he awoke, a living person sleeping alongside him every night, even if he didn’t see it for a day, how could he not notice it for several days in a row?

 

Instead of claiming that Alfred intentionally left before Xiu got up, it would be more accurate to say that Xiu waited for him to head out every day before he ‘woke up.’

 

Though neither of the two men acknowledged their slight collusion, Xiu closed the door today.

 

–He purposefully avoided earlier discussions.

 

Even on the night he was “lightly” treated by Alfred, he rarely lost his temper and instructed Alfred to leave the house, not even locking the door afterward. What exactly does this mean?

 

Alfred left Xiu’s door with his head full of thoughts.

 

Austin did not see Xiu when he returned the next day to debrief Alfred.

 

“Is the Prince away today?” He asked in passing.

 

“In his room.” Alfred added, “He’s been off today, and hasn’t come out except to eat.”

 

Austin could not find out what was “wrong” with it. In his opinion, it’s normal for a person under house arrest to stay in the room and avoid confronting the person who placed him under house arrest. But a few days ago, he came over and saw the Prince sitting by the fireplace and reading a book as if nothing had happened. He was stunned and had to secretly admire the Prince’s state of mind.

 

They had the crown prince under house arrest, but they had to purposefully enter the study to avoid him when they discussed things, giving the impression that they were the ones who had been sent beneath the fence.

 

But Alfred had no intention of explaining it to him. He just said it as if he was whining and returned to the topic, “So, the results of your preliminary line of investigation show that there is no special force behind the High Priest.”

 

Austin nodded and said, “Uh, not counting the crown prince …… that’s the case.”

 

The Stone family’s results were consistent with reports from Alfred’s newly created intelligence unit.

 

As a “symbol” deliberately established by the Royal Family, the High Priest will inevitably attend various activities on weekdays and come into contact with people from all walks of life, complicating his interpersonal relationships and making it extremely difficult to thoroughly investigate his true network of relationships.

 

Nowadays, interstellar society is an integrated empire, with only a few powerful forces. Currently, the Emperor is determined to stand by the Second Prince, but Grand Marshal Stone has covertly turned to the Third Prince. 

 

There are still some mighty organizations, such as the Royal Academy, the Elder Academy, scientific research institutes, and various dukes, marquises, etc., that, although powerful, ultimately depend on the top of the three major clans.

 

Alfred couldn’t think of any other special power to be afraid of, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that the Stone family and the Bai Clan had a blood feud, he would have assumed that Xiu was implying that the Stones had betrayed him and become involved with the High Priest himself.

 

He couldn’t help but look at Austin.

 

There was no doubt that the son of the High Marshal was one of the best of his age, not only in ability but also in acting, especially pretending to be crazy is his specialty. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had enlisted the support of the Grand Marshal two years ago, Alfred was afraid that even now, he would still think that this guy was a playboy who hung out all day in the land of lights and wine and was uneducated.

 

Alfred looked back and said lazily: “The problem is that we can’t find the problem.”

 

Austin said: “There may be a bigger force behind the high priest. Is this information reliable? There are only a few people in the empire who are more influential than the old man… Could it be the rebels?”

 

“Forget it, those losers…” Alfred narrowed his eyes and said, “As long as there are a few left who can fight, it won’t take us two whole years to turn around.”

 

There are still remnants of the rebel army. This matter is purely fabricated by Alfred’s side, mainly to undermine the prince’s achievements in wiping out the rebel army.

 

However, Austin remembered something and said thoughtfully: “Your Highness, there is indeed some relevant information… The results of the bombs sent for inspection from various places have not been released yet, but there has just been a report from the second cantilever that started the inspection the fastest. According to internal news from the legion, it seems that the structure of the bomb does not exist in the world. And it may have been independently developed by the rebels.”

 

Alfred finally cheered up and said with some surprise: “I heard this news vaguely when I went to the second cantilever last year. It is said that the cleaning work was difficult because no one had ever seen such a structure before. Is it independent research and development? Those people have been on the run at the border for a long time. They are all gangsters and have not gone to school seriously for generations. How can they get the technical power to, independently develop such advanced bombs? “

 

Technology… At the beginning of the founding of the People’s, Republic of China, wasn’t it the Holy Tower that was the pinnacle of technology?

 

But Bai Shi has always studied genes. The current high priest also studied biology and genes when he was young. It is not the same field as thermal weapons such as missiles. It is far-fetched to say that there is a connection.

 

Both of them were lost in thought for a while. After a while, Alfred pressed the outside of his earbuds to listen to a message and said to Austin: “Dinner has been delivered. Don’t leave. Just stay and let’s eat together.”

 

Austin accepted the invitation without any pretense, got up, and went out to let the waiter waiting at the door to come in to serve dinner.

 

When he came back with the servers pushing dinner, Alfred and Xiu were already sitting in the restaurant.

 

Austin bowed to Xiu and waited until Xiu nodded before taking a seat.

 

His psychological state is also excellent. He had acted in front of Xiu for so long and pretended to be unfamiliar with Alfred. Now, he had just reported the information to Alfred. The three of them were sitting at the same table to eat. He behaved as usual, and there was no embarrassment at all about having his lie exposed.

 

Although Alfred said that the Crown Prince was not right today, Austin thought that he was perfectly normal.

 

Halfway through the meal, Alfred picked out the baby spinach and threw it on the table. Xiu accused him of poor dining etiquette. The two got into an argument about it on the spot. Austin stayed aside and continued eating for a while. It’s not like not eating either.

 

In the stiff atmosphere, after the argument between the two stopped, he tried to talk about something else to ease the embarrassment.

 

“Your Highness, today my father asked me when I can return to the main planet?”

 

Alfred said briefly: “Soon.”

 

It was obvious that he was still in a bad mood, and it was just a perfunctory statement. Marshal Stone and Austin believe that now is the best time to return to the center stage of power. Recently, he had tried to persuade Alfred several times in secret and overtly, but Alfred always turned him down.

 

But what Austin didn’t expect was that before Alfred could say anything else, Xiu said, “I’m not feeling well. I’m temporarily unable to sail across the stars.”

 

“Are you feeling unwell and unable to sail?” Alfred asked with a deep look in his eyes.

 

Xiu’s tone did not fluctuate and said, “Yes.”

 

“Then ask a doctor to come over tomorrow for an examination”

 

Xiu glanced at Alfred and said, “It’s up to you.”

 

Alfred’s expression flickered, but before Austin could distinguish it clearly, he heard Alfred saying to himself: “Did you hear it? The Crown Prince has not recovered yet and cannot sail long distances. If anyone asks us when we will go back. Just Reply like this.”

 

Austin’s intuition was that something was wrong.

 

Logically speaking, the Crown Prince is currently under house arrest and should be eager to get out of the current situation, but even he seems to be stalling for time.

 

Neither of them wanted to go back. Why?

 

At the same time, on the main planet, a grand celebration has just concluded.

 

The second prince was supporting his father, the current emperor Wanni, towards the Shengjin Palace.

 

“Father, Marshal Stone, and the High Priest quarreled in front of you today, and the Marshal almost took action. This is outrageous. How could he be so rude in front of you?” Nient’s expression was not very good. “Besides, you have already concluded the death of the high priest’s ex-wife. Doesn’t the marshal refuse to accept your decision? You should give him a hard beating to make him learn to respect the royal family.”

 

The most important thing is that this is the last day of the celebration for him to receive an honorary degree. The two highest-ranking guests left the celebration on bad terms. Everyone else would look at him, the protagonist of the celebration, as a joke! 

 

He had been raised by the emperor himself since he was a child and was very obedient and composed. He did not have a fit on the spot and was still smiling. Now that the celebration was over, he couldn’t bear it anymore.

 

Hearing what he said, the emperor’s face also darkened, and he reprimanded: “Why can you still only see this little thing in front of you?! How many times have I told you that you are a prince, inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people? And nobility! No one dares to look down on you, don’t worry about your face in everything! Ask yourself, how many times have you had to go to Alfred to save your face, but instead he trampled it on the ground? !”

 

Nient didn’t expect that the emperor would be so angry. And he didn’t dare to express his anger.

The emperor has been in an unhappy mood recently. He said coldly: “Think about it carefully now and tell me again.”

 

“The high priest and the grand marshal check and balance each other…it is beneficial to us.” Nient said cautiously, “We, we should not stop or overly suppress either party, just like when it was discovered that the high priest abused his wife to death but concealed it. No matter what happens, there is no need to be too harsh on the marshal for his misconduct in front of the emperor today…”

 

“That’s more like it.” The emperor hummed, “Listen, I will find a way to keep those two from coming back anytime soon. During the time they are away, it would be best for you to be diligent and make more trips to those princes and grand dukes.”