Faced with the irrefutable evidence, the Porter’s face drained of all color. He collapsed to the ground, his voice trembling as he said, “I am guilty.”
At this point, whether he admitted his guilt or not was no longer important, but if he did not admit his guilt, it would implicate the entire Porter Mansion. He had no choice.
“Speak, who are your accomplices?” The King roared, not believing that Pidence City could be stirred up into such a storm by Porter Mansion alone.
Porter knitted his brows and slowly shook his head, “Your Majesty, I did it by myself. There are no others.” He was dead, but the others in Porter Mansion could still live. If he implicated the Grand Protector as well, the two houses would become sworn enemies, never to have peace. After much deliberation, he decided to take all the blame upon himself.
The King took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said in an icy tone, “Issue my decree! Remove the Grand Tutor from his official position, throw him into the heavenly prison, thoroughly investigate his cohorts, and show no leniency!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace,” the Grand Tutor’s head was pressed to the ground, his eyes filled with lifelessness. Framing loyal officials meant certain death for him. The guards entered the hall, removed the official hat from Porter’s head, and dragged him out.
After a long while, the King’s tightly locked brows finally eased slightly. He looked at Athena, his anger slightly eased, and a hint of appreciation appeared in his eyes. “You handled this matter very well. If it weren’t for your calm response, the consequences would have been disastrous.”
“I dare not take credit. It is all thanks to the King’s wise judgment,” Athena replied respectfully.
The King’s eyes flashed with a hint of fatigue. “Rest assured, I will definitely give Prince Xander justice.”
Just then, a royal attendant hurried into the hall from outside. His face was filled with irrepressible joy, and he repeatedly shouted, “Victory! Victory! In the battle between Prince Xander and the Ramberg army, our army has won a great victory! Ray, the King of Ramberg, has fallen off a cliff and died, and all the Ramberg army has surrendered.”
This news of victory was like a thunderclap, breaking the solemn atmosphere in the hall. The King suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with ecstasy. He grabbed the victory report from the royal attendant’s hand and unfolded it to read, the corners of his mouth rising uncontrollably.
“Good, good, Prince Xander has indeed not disappointed me!”
The King put down the victory report and looked at Athena, his tone full of relief. “Double blessings have arrived, a great victory in Ramberg, and treacherous villains brought to justice. This is all thanks to you and Prince Xander.”
“Issue the order to celebrate throughout the country! When Prince Xander returns in triumph, I will personally go out to the city to welcome him and celebrate his victory!”
Athena knelt on the ground, filled with excitement. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great kindness.” As she emerged from the palace, the sunlight bathed her, and Athena couldn’t help but burst into tears. “Thank God, he’s finally coming back.”
Athena returned to the royal residence, where Alexandra was already waiting at the gate. Seeing her step out of the carriage, she hurriedly greeted her. “A great victory in Ramberg! Is Xander finally coming back?” The news of the victory was carried into the palace by a messenger who held it high and shouted all the way. That was how Alexandra knew the good news. When Athena returned, the people all ran to the streets, singing and dancing. Her carriage went around two streets before returning to the royal residence. The excitement in my heart could no longer be calmed by the cheers of the people.
Athena said to Alexandra with a smile on her face, “Yes, my husband is now leading a large army and heading towards Pidence City. In another ten to fifteen days, he will be home.”
“That’s great, that’s really great.” Alexandra was so excited that tears filled her eyes, and she repeatedly prayed to the sky. “Thank God. Thank God.” Then, she instructed Nelson, “Quick, tell the kitchen to prepare a table of good wine and food. Tonight, Athena and I will not go home until we are drunk.”
Nelson responded with a smile, “Alexandra, you have to be careful with your health.”
Athena also advised, “Alexandra, you don’t usually drink at all. What’s wrong with you today? You actually want to drink.”
Alexandra waved her hand indifferently. “I’m happy today, I just want to drink.” After speaking, fearing that Athena would be unhappy, she flattered her and said, “Just drink two cups, definitely no more.”
Athena was amused by Alexandra’s appearance and couldn’t help but laugh, so she had to nod. “Okay, I’ll have two drinks with you, old lady.” These days, her nerves have been tense, and she can’t relax at all. Now that everything has settled, she can finally relax.
Nelson instructed the kitchen to prepare a table full of good wine and delicious dishes. As dusk crept in through the stained-glass windows, the silver bone lanterns in the warm pavilion were lit. The kitchen maids eagerly entered, bringing the exquisite dishes to the table. Squirrel mandarin fish, Sweet Pork Ribs, Roasted Duck, and so on, are all Athena’s favorite foods.
Alexandra had changed into a moon-white soft satin casual dress, and a small pearl hairpin was pinned to her hair where the hairpins had been removed. Seeing Athena staring blankly at the mandarin fish, Alexandra quickly used serving chopsticks to pick up a piece of the fish belly. “Try it quickly, Pierre specially stewed it for an extra half an hour today, and the thorns have been removed.”
Athena picked up the fish and put it in her mouth, the sour, sweet, and delicious flavors spread out, and her eyes suddenly became a little hot. During these days of dealing with matters in the palace, she only hastily ate a few mouthfuls of cold rice at each meal, and never had the leisure to chew and swallow slowly like this.
“This osmanthus wine was brewed with osmanthus flowers harvested last year.” Alexandra poured wine into two jade cups and smiled at Athena. “I originally planned to take it out when it was your birthday, but now it is opened in advance.” The aroma of the wine was intoxicating, and Athena was already feeling a little tipsy before she even drank it.
Bernie, nestled in her arms, stretched out her chubby little hands, babbling incoherently. Randolph’s eyes were wide and round, his little fists clenched tightly as he stared intently at the food on the table. Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he was so eager that he waved his little fists and kicked his chubby legs, wanting to climb onto the table to grab the food.
Alexandra was amused and touched by these two adorable children. She quickly took Randolph from the nanny’s arms and said, “It’s not that your grandmother is being stingy, it’s just that you two are still too young and haven’t started eating solid food yet. Once you start, not to mention this, Grandmother will give you whatever you want, okay?”
Randolph was so anxious that bubbles came out of his mouth as he watched the food that was about to be in his hands being taken away. In his haste, his eyes turned red, his mouth drooped, and he burst into tears.
Alexandra couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, “Oh, you’re such a little glutton. Look at your younger brother, why isn’t he anxious…” Before she could finish, Athena cried out in surprise.
It turned out that she had also been attracted by Randolph’s cute appearance and had ignored Bernie. That scoundrel got his way. Both little chubby hands were full of pasta, and they were desperately stuffing it into their mouths.
“My little ones, you can’t eat this yet, take it back.” Alexandra didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and was a little uneasy by these two little ones. The maids also rushed up to help Athena snatch the pasta from Bernie’s hand. Randolph stopped crying and stared with wide eyes. With a wail, Bernie also cried. He cried and hit people at the same time, he was really pissed off. The nanny hurriedly brought milk to the two babies, and that was how they were coaxed.
Suddenly, there came the sound of water flowing. Athena peeked her head in the direction of Alexandra, only to see that Randolph had peed all over Alexandra.