𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]

18. Court Summons

The general clenched his forearms in frustration as he rode the carriage bearing the Zhou family flag to the palace. As soon as the royal guard came beholding the message of the imperial court, he abruptly got to uprooting the entire arsenal ground for any possible suspect on a vicious hunt but miserably failed. There was not one single clue of any third-party involvement, and everything with any value as potential evidence had been charred to smithereens by the fire.

As for the belongings of the arsenal, everything within it has been rendered utterly futile by now. Swords with a history of over 100 years, imperial spears used directly by the Guang Dynasty Rulers, who were direct ancestors of the current emperor, and all kinds of bows and strings made from rare woods and strings, including torture weapons worth a lifetime, had been completely destroyed.

This was a price that General Haoran couldn't compensate for with money.

Any leads on the involvement of the politicians in the matter were near impossible to trace. The only information about the incident that General Haoran could gather was that the fire was definitely something instigated from outside the arsenal, as the interior did not have anything of inflammatory value, and the metal weaponry within the arsenal, including the gunny bags, would not catch fire unless the fire was tremendous enough to engulf the whole exterior before it could inflame the interior.

Even then, General Haoran had been very positive that the arsenal could not have burned from within just like that.

Unless of course that mosquito shit had something to do with it.

And he was right. Just remembering the incident where the general squeezed out his confession regarding this made the general want to beat someone up.

That was when Fu Lin had been sitting on the bamboo mat the well-dwellers had brought, a bit too chipper for someone who was almost burned to death.

"I heard that well-dwellers don't suffer from buttock ulcers because they basically live with water." He asked excitedly, "And that they always have two layers of undergarments in case the first one gets burned, is that true?"

"Your Grace." The well-dwellers weren't sure they could disclose matters related to buttocks and undergarments with their imperial general's spouse. "That...that's actually—"

The well-dwellers immediately stopped what they wanted to say and vacated the place when they saw the general enter the place they were in. The general took hard steps towards Fu Lin, and Fu Lin visibly flinched when he saw that the general had neared him. Haoran grimaced at his cowardliness and stopped himself.

"I have something to ask you," General Haoran said placidly. "I want the truth and the truth only."

Fu Lin shook lightly as he averted his eyes and looked at the wall nearby. "You... may ask," he said quietly.

The general had been ignored again. This time in substitution for a wall.

"It is about how the arsenal burned from within." General Haoran folded his hands in anger and fumed, "It is impossible that the arsenal burned from inside without somebody doing something from within. Tell me the truth." He stood looking down on him intimidatingly. "You did something, didn't you? Something absolutely foolish and unnecessary."

"That..." Fu Lin gulped. "That wasn't... un-unnecessary."

General Haoran almost burst a vein. "So you did do something?"

"Y-yes..." Fu Lin spoke, his voice slightly trembling from both fear and trepidation. "But that was to save myself! When the outside of the place began burning, I thought—I thought that maybe I could stop the fire by removing the gunny bags inside and putting them outside..."

General Haoran didn't feel the need to listen to such nonsense anymore and stormed out, his face pale and ghastly. So it seems it was this idiot who caused the inner arsenal to get baked to blackness like that. He pinched his forehead.

And that was not all—he didn't know whether that was intentional or not. Did he deliberately let the inner arsenal get burned so that he could cause chaos within the Empire of the Blazing Sun and cause inner turmoil according to the orders of the Silver Mountain? Or was it really because he was a fool?

Perhaps...it was actually him who burned the arsenal down. General Haoran wanted to ask, but he didn't because it didn't matter. The general would never trust his words anyway.

The general, who had been lost in thought all this time, glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Fu Lin, who was sitting side by side within the Zhou family carriage with him and steadily... sleeping. Haoran sneered. He had the gall to sleep in the same carriage as him on their way to the royal palace after causing this hellhole!

Haoran rudely awakened him and almost kicked him out of the carriage when they reached the royal court hall. He got down himself, his legs slightly shaking. The red carpet leading to the inner hall reflected somberness, and even the usually boisterous officials today remained solemn as he stepped in. Complete and utter silence reigned as he lurched himself among the contemptuous and ridiculing eyes of the political officials.

This was the first time the officials had seen the general's spouse, and hence they also ogled at him with curious eyes. Once they realized that there was nothing worth their notice on his face or in his tattered, burnt attire, they laughed mockingly and whispered among themselves.

Fu Lin, however, walked on unbothered, and General Haoran wasn't sure whether he heard them or not.

At the center of the gold and shine-induced hall stood the man he revered and served, his sun-shaped crown dazzling and gleaming in the reflection of the firelight chandelier hung in the vibrant hall. Emperor Guang's eyes were unfathomable as he prevailed seated, one leg pristinely over the other and one ebony hand elegantly supporting his head. When the general and Fu Lin fell on their knees and bowed to him, his eyes flashed with obvious displeasure.

"Imperial General." Emperor Guang gazed at the general with freezing stoicism and moved his chin. "Raise your head."

Haoran raised his head.

"Is it true?" the emperor asked, getting directly to the subject. Both of them knew what he meant by that.

"Yes, Your Imperial Royal Majesty." His expression was firm, with slight traces of regret. "This subject has disappointed you."

"Indeed, you have." When Emperor Guang said this, something inside him stung. "And how are you going to compensate me, General?"

"Your Imperial Royal Majesty, I cannot..." He closed his eyes. "I cannot compensate for the things I failed to protect."

"Hence, I ask you to cut off an inch of my body for every belonging lost in the arsenal."

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