Naturally, Julian’s change in expression had nothing to do with the extent of the fallout from Ethan’s scandal. What caused his countenance to darken was the overwhelming multitude of schemes targeting Ethan and Julian himself this time around. Initially, Julian merely assumed that Gabriel wanted to vent his frustrations on behalf of Aaron , thereby orchestrating this myriad of plots to frame Julian and Ethan.

On the surface, it seemed quite accurate, as they all directly aimed at his and Ethan’s reputations.

But after hearing the man recount the events of the past, speaking of CORE , Julian began to reconsider. It seemed things were not that simple at all.

If it were just an ordinary media war, did it really require Louis to stay up all night? They had already laid out all the contingency plans, and furthermore, Louis’s side possessed one of the most formidable media teams in the country. When it came to crisis management, those teams might even know how to resolve it better than Louis himself. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Then why did he have to stay awake all night and then rush over here?

Or to be more precise, if these were merely ordinary tricks, was there a need for them to secretly gather here?

Julian blinked, turning back to glance at Ethan. Seeing the gaze full of doubt that Julian directed at him, Ethan seemed to understand what the young man was wondering about, and so Ethan gave a single nod.

Meanwhile, Louis on the other side had also returned to normal, no longer sporting that limp posture leaning against Felix. Louis let out a heavy breath, reverting to his usual lackadaisical demeanor, and gestured for Ethan and Julian to sit down.

"Alright, let us get down to business."

Suddenly completely serious, Julian smiled faintly, intending to sit on the plush chair nearby, but Ethan had already taken the seat first. Julian glared at the man: "If you sit there, where am I supposed to sit?"

This was a private room, and there were not many chairs inside. Three had already been occupied by the three men, Kieran was sitting on the bed, and now only Julian was left without a place to sit. Ethan, quite naturally, patted his own thigh.

They were truly force-feeding everyone dog food without an ounce of shame.

And Julian was exactly cut from the same cloth as his husband. Seeing the man’s signal, Julian did not hold back either, sitting straight down onto Ethan’s lap.

There was a noticeable difference in their heights; even though he was sitting on the other’s lap, Julian was still completely enveloped within Ethan’s embrace.

"Ahem."

Kieran coughed lightly. He had just cast a glance at the couple openly cuddling each other when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Louis’s leg resting upon Felix’s thigh, rubbing against it twice.

"..."

It turned out that the only single dog in this room was himself.

"Could you all stop putting on this affectionate play in front of me? Let us discuss matters properly."

The others stopped messing around and began exchanging the information they held in their hands. There were certain matters that were too dangerous to discuss via text or phone calls, as they were highly susceptible to being monitored. They needed to convene in person. However, the current situation was relatively sensitive, and if they were to meet openly, it would be tantamount to beating the grass and startling the snake, so they could only do so stealthily.

"Before coming here, my father’s subordinates mentioned that recently, there have been a few subordinate soldiers frequently patrolling my military district."

Felix leaned back, resting against the back of the chair, losing the upright, pine-like posture he held earlier. Perhaps he was also exhausted, his brows were slightly furrowed, and two buttons on his shirt were entirely undone. This appearance... why did it look so familiar?

Julian shifted his gaze to the side. Oh, he understood why it was familiar now.

Because Louis was also, out of habit, bringing a hand to his collar to pop open two buttons, his entire body slouched against the chair he was sitting on, looking as though he had no spine.

While Julian was still assessing the two people in front of him, Ethan had leaned down slightly, whispering into Julian’s ear to explain what was problematic about the sentence Felix had just spoken.

Felix himself was a son of the Tate family. Although he was not the eldest son, his capabilities were considered top-tier within the clan, following his father and uncles down the military path. Do not let his youth fool you, his rank was by no means insignificant. A few years ago, when the country had a few conflicts with the tribal regions on the peninsula of a neighboring nation, it was Felix who stepped forward to negotiate and broker a deal.

The success of this endeavor propelled the influence of the Tate family in general, and Felix in particular, to an entirely new level.

The reason this matter carried such immense influence was because the tribe on that peninsula was a warlike one, yet they were also an ethnic minority group that required the protection of the neighboring country. They were few in number but exceedingly belligerent, and the territory they occupied just so happened to contain an oil field with absolutely colossal reserves. Thanks to this tribe, many surrounding nations, despite eyeing this mineral wealth and salivating over it, dared not make a rash move.

The government of the neighboring country also favored them greatly.

Naturally, the conflict between this tribe and the people in the border region had nothing to do with this mineral deposit. It was merely a clash born from a slight language barrier and a misunderstanding in trade, which ultimately escalated into a massive brawl because both sides suffered casualties.

When the government intervened to stop it, it only caused the tribe to become even more tense and aggressive.

The government of the neighboring country was suffering a massive headache over this. They knew that Felix’s side harbored no ill intentions, nor were they targeting their mineral reserves, but the tribe was simply not easy to reason with. In the end, no one knew what method Felix used, but he managed to persuade them.

Later, when someone asked, Felix stated bluntly, we just fought.

Of course, it was not a matter of leading an army to suppress them. Felix explained that such warlike tribes would inherently respect the strong, and the leader of the tribe was undoubtedly the best fighter among them.

At the very least, according to the mindset of the tribespeople, their leader was undeniably the most skilled.

And so, Felix arranged to meet that man and fought him in a one-on-one duel.

He emerged victorious, and thus the entire tribe obediently followed orders and withdrew back to their settlement. Because the side that suffered more injuries and damages previously was Felix’s faction, the neighboring country also paid a reasonable sum in compensation.

Thanks to his merit in resolving this matter so smoothly, Felix took a step into the clouds, his career soaring.

The most noticeable perk was that the area surrounding the military district under Felix’s command no longer received rookies. Rookies, in this context, meant individuals who had just been deployed into the military and had not yet had the stubborn hot-bloodedness of youth broken out of them. This group of people typically did not strictly adhere to discipline, and the duty of the higher-ranking officers was to educate them so they would conform to the orderly conduct of a soldier.

In the past, there was not a month that went by without Felix receiving a few such individuals into his district. Teaching these people was not exactly easy, but neither was it exceedingly difficult. It was primarily time-consuming, constantly plagued by trivial matters that could never be entirely stamped out.

However, following his meritorious achievement, Felix became part of the priority group. The personnel assigned to him were all individuals who had already bypassed this educational phase. Naturally, everyone possessed a different personality, and it was impossible for them to become exact replicas cut from the same mold. But at the very least, these individuals would not commit amateur mistakes that would result in their commanding officer being reprimanded by superiors.

But now, Felix was stating that rookies had appeared around his military district, which meant that individuals belonging to the high-ranking government division of CORE had made a move. Only they possessed the authority to orchestrate military placements. Yet, naturally, they could not act too brazenly. Felix’s military achievements were still prominent, and the Tate family’s standing remained robust.

Therefore, Felix only observed the newcomers lingering in the vicinity, the area he personally governed had not yet received any new arrivals. However, if their deduction was not mistaken, it would not be long before the higher-ups found a legitimate excuse to deploy newcomers directly into the district that Felix commanded.

Newcomers served a multitude of purposes. If they could climb the ranks and become someone in Felix’s inner circle, that would be ideal; but what if they could not? Then they could simply stir up trouble. It did not require much; just a little sabotage here and a bit of chaos there every day would be entirely sufficient to saddle a commander like Felix with an abundance of issues demanding his attention.

The heavier the workload, the easier it was for a person to make mistakes. And the more mistakes one made, the easier it was to be dethroned.

Furthermore, with a mountain of tasks, Felix would no longer have the time to meet with others, thereby easily severing a powerful avenue of military expansion for Ethan.