Chapter 13 The Tyrant's Blade

Chapter 13 The Tyrant's Blade

The world in the Regent's Palace has changed.

If the past few days had been filled with chaos and commotion due to the bumblebee incident, today the entire palace has been reduced to a deathly silent prison.

All side doors and corner doors were locked.

The Black Armor Guards, who usually hid in the shadows, came out in full force, carrying heavy crossbows and wearing ghost masks, and surrounded the study in the main courtyard.

Even a fly trying to fly away would be riddled with bullets.

The atmosphere in the study was extremely tense.

Twelve figures knelt on the ground, trembling.

Among them were a personal maidservant who served him with writing materials, a rough-and-ready old woman responsible for cleaning, a black-armored guard on duty, and even three advisors who had followed Pei Yunjing for many years and held considerable positions in the court.

Their only commonality was that they had both entered and left the study within that one hour.

At this moment, the desk that was originally covered with urgent reports from the border was now empty.

The map of the northern defenses has been lost.

That was more than just a map; it represented the lives of 300,000 Pei family soldiers in the northern border and the very gateway to the Great Sheng Dynasty.

Once it falls into enemy hands, the northern border will surely fall within half a month, and countless lives will be lost.

Lost?

Pei Yunjing, sitting in the armchair, chuckled softly.

The laughter was so soft, yet it sent a chill down the spines of the twelve people kneeling on the ground.

Pei Yunjing held a snow-white silk handkerchief in his hand and was slowly wiping a long sword that was not yet drawn.

His movements were elegant, as if he were polishing some rare treasure, but in his lowered phoenix eyes was a chilling stillness.

There were no angry roars, no out-of-control smashing.

This extreme calmness is what makes him most terrifying.

【Quarrel. 】

【It's noisy. 】

In Pei Yunjing's senses, the breathing and heartbeats of these twelve people, and the sound of their teeth chattering with fear, were like twelve broken gongs pounding wildly in his ears.

The world before him was covered by a scarlet filter, and the lost defense map seemed to have become a huge black hole, devouring his sanity.

The fire poison attacks the heart, causing overload of the five senses.

But he didn't care.

All he wants to do now is kill.

"Your Highness! I'm innocent! I'm utterly loyal to you and have never harbored any disloyalty!"

A staff member surnamed Liu kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead covered in blood: "It must have been these dishonest servants who stole it! I beg Your Highness to investigate!"

"Your Highness, spare me! I didn't see anything! I just came in to deliver tea!" The maid cried so hard she almost fainted.

Pei Yunjing stopped wiping his long sword.

He slowly raised his eyelids, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over the crowd, his voice as cold as ancient ice:

"I have no time to investigate."

In his current state, he is simply unable to concentrate on identifying who is lying.

To him, every explanation was just sharp noise.

"The loss of the defense map is a serious crime of treason."

Pei Yunjing stood up, and with a "whoosh," his long sword was drawn half an inch from its sheath, its cold light gleaming.

"Since we can't find out who took it..."

A cruel smile curved his lips as he spoke with the nonchalant indifference of someone discussing dinner:

"Then kill them all."

"Whether they are innocent or not, as long as these twelve people become dead, the news of the defense map will not be able to get out."

Better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free.

This is Pei Yunjing's logic.

The logic of a tyrant.

"Your Highness?!"

The people below were utterly desperate, and their cries and screams exploded instantly.

"Make your move." Pei Yunjing frowned, disgusted by the noise, and immediately issued a kill order.

The black-armored guards around them drew their swords in unison, the cold blades pointed at their former colleagues and innocent servants.

...

In the corner.

As the sole "survivor," Tang Li was huddled on a small stool three feet away from Pei Yunjing, her face deathly pale.

Because she is the "medicinal ingredient," Pei Yunjing just gave her the special permission not to kneel, but that doesn't mean she's safe.

She could clearly feel that the destructive aura emanating from that man was a hundred times more terrifying than that night on their wedding night.

He really wanted to kill all of them.

Tang Li's palms were covered in cold sweat.

She's not a saint, and none of these twelve people are acquaintances of hers, so she shouldn't interfere.

but……

What's the point of killing these twelve people if we don't find the real mole?

What if that image has already been moved?

What if the real mole isn't among these twelve people, or what if one of these twelve people has already hidden the map?

If the defense map is leaked and Pei Yunjing falls from power, she, the substitute bride, will be the first cannon fodder to be buried with him!

To put it another way, if this traitor can steal the map today, he can poison Pei Yunjing's medicine tomorrow.

For a long-term meal ticket, for the sake of barely surviving...

Tang Li gritted her teeth, her heart pounding as she watched the falling knives.

We have to take action.

Even at the risk of being bitten by this mad dog.

Just as the black-armored guard's blade was about to strike the maid who was crying the most pitifully—

"Wait!"

A clear yet trembling voice suddenly rang out in the blood-soaked study.

Pei Yunjing paused.

He slowly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes, devoid of warmth, locking onto the girl in the corner, his voice chilling:

"You're going to plead for them?"

"If you want to die, I will grant your wish."