King-Chapter 1392 - 269: Assassination Case_3

Hudson wasn’t the only one who couldn’t bear it; as King, he found it even harder to endure. freewebnσvel.cøm

The Kingdom’s last major assassination case still hadn’t been resolved, and now a second wave had arrived.

If the instigator wasn’t caught, wouldn’t there inevitably be a third wave, a fourth wave...?

Hudson had two Sanctuary powerhouses as bodyguards, so his situation wasn’t too problematic, but as King, his own position was far more precarious!

The Alpha Kingdom indeed had Sanctuary powerhouses, but expecting them to guard him 24/7 was simply impossible.

Anyone capable of reaching the Sanctuary level was obsessed with their cultivation; asking them to abandon their practice to serve as bodyguards? Even Caesar IV’s influence wasn’t enough for that.

Not even Charles III of the Continent’s greatest powerhouse enjoyed such an entourage.

Of course, as long as the King himself wasn’t too reckless, his security was still assured.

The Royal Palace was tightly guarded, and the Royal Family had numerous powerhouses in secluded training. Even if a Sanctuary infiltrated, they wouldn’t necessarily leave alive.

The assassination attempt dampened everyone’s spirits, and the conferment ceremony ended abruptly.

...

Late at night, the Marshal Mansion remained brightly lit.

Hudson’s brow furrowed deeply as he reviewed the investigation report forwarded by the Imperial Guard.

According to the report, during the operation, a total of 172 assassins were captured or killed, belonging to three different organizations.

Further clues would need to await more detailed investigation and interrogations.

So many assassins infiltrating, along with the most advanced military-grade magic crossbows—if they were all external forces, then Caesar IV’s control over the Capital would be woefully inadequate.

If internal forces were cooperating, who could be so audaciously reckless?

There was no such thing as unmotivated love or hatred; training assassins came with extraordinarily high expenses. To deploy so many at once, there had to be some compelling motive behind the operation, right?

Carrying a bellyful of questions, Hudson involuntarily started reflecting on his past.

Hudson had climbed to his position in the Kingdom by stepping over the corpses of Different Races. His list of enemies wasn’t particularly long, and those of significant weight were even fewer.

At least for now, the Koslow Family had no ability to mobilize such a massive group of assassins without exposing themselves.

For an operation of this scale, assassinating him successfully would have been worth it, but merely creating chaos seemed far too extravagant.

To train that many assassins, the resources involved could easily sustain an Elite Infantry Unit.

Or perhaps the assassination target wasn’t him but Caesar IV?

If Belsden had reacted just a split second slower, the speed of the magic crossbow arrows would have left everyone else unable to intercept them. Given Caesar IV’s Great Knight skills, his chance of evading would have been nearly zero.

If the King had died during the conferment ceremony... Hudson didn’t even dare imagine the aftermath.

...

In the Jade Palace, Caesar IV remained sleepless, still shaken by the day’s events.

The events had been so terrifying they made him recall his father’s tragic demise.

"Summon the generals responsible for today’s security immediately!"

His instincts told him there was a traitor among them.

Without collaboration from someone inside the Capital, the assassins couldn’t possibly smuggle magic crossbows to the scene after passing through multiple layers of security.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has occurred!

The assassins captured during the day have all died of poisoning in prison!

Marquis Milles, Count Roman, and Marquis Gadley—the officials in charge of security—have all committed suicide out of guilt!"

Count Mitchell’s voice trembled as he spoke.

Losing so many prominent figures at once, especially during such a sensitive time, left this Palace Minister unable to maintain his composure.

"Suicide out of guilt"? Was that some sort of joke?

The investigation hadn’t even clarified the case yet, and their responsibilities hadn’t been definitively assigned. What reason did they have to rush to kill themselves?

In the Alpha Kingdom, outside of the battlefield, executing a Noble required numerous formal procedures.

If they hadn’t directly participated in the assassination, their punishment for dereliction of duty would at most lead to dismissal, or at worst, imprisonment.

This "suicide out of guilt" was effectively equivalent to admitting involvement in the assassination plot—dragging their entire families down with them.

What made matters worse was that all three of them were court nobles promoted by Caesar IV after his ascension.

If anyone had the power to coerce these three into suicide to take the blame, it could only be Caesar IV himself.

This wasn’t just an assassination case; it was clearly a complete reshuffling of the Kingdom’s power structure!

If Marshal Hudson came to believe the assassination was orchestrated by the King, and turned against the Royal Family, the Kingdom would never see peace again.

"What?"

"That’s impossible!"

"How could all three of them be connected to this case?"

"Could someone have killed them and staged the scene to mislead us?"

Caesar IV exclaimed in shock.

This trap was enormous.

If he fell into it, the Kingdom’s prosperity would instantly be destroyed.

Carrying this crime, not even the King himself could manage to escape unscathed!

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