Chapter 24 The King’s Killing Intent
The final layer of pretense was ripped away.
The king and queen could no longer maintain even the appearance of peace with Herdanba.
The Eastern Consort wept over her son’s corpse while her family’s powerful ministers demanded justice.
To silence the Eastern Consort, Herdanba stayed at the border and sent me to the royal tent to take the blame.
The Eastern Consort screamed for my life.
Yin Xiu stepped forward from the crowd.
"Your Majesty, Zhu Yuan is merely a cook who followed orders.
But Herdanba has grown arrogant. If you do not kill this traitor now, he will become a great threat later."
The Herchi King still hesitated.
"Without Herdanba’s ferocity, I fear we cannot stop the Southern army."
I laughed coldly in my heart.
If Herdanba were not single-handedly holding up the entire nation, we would not have spent so much effort to kill him.
I crawled forward on my knees, spat out the cloth gag, and said fiercely,
"This slave spent over seven months in the army and personally witnessed Herdanba keeping more supplies for himself than he offered the court! Your Majesty! He has been eating your kickbacks!"
Thunder roared across the sky.
The Herchi King’s face turned darker than the storm clouds.
What was real could not be faked, and what was fake could not be made real.
If he bothered to investigate even a little, he would learn that even the lowest soldiers in Herdanba’s army had eaten salted cheese, sesame cakes, and Jinhua wine.
The generals had tasted even more luxuries and tonics than the king himself.
Although all of it had come from my hands, I was only a weak, lonely, helpless little fat cook.
I had never even tasted those tonics myself. Where could I have gotten such rare delicacies to feed the generals?
Herdanba’s crime of hoarding supplies to buy loyalty was nailed in place.
Even if he grew eighty mouths he could not explain it away.
The Eastern Consort and Yin Xiu blew pillow talk from both sides.
Finally, the Herchi King developed a killing intent toward Herdanba.
For some unknown reason, the Northern Kingdom suddenly declared war on Herchi.
Dozens of royal princes and nobles came riding iron horses with thundering hooves.
At this critical moment, the Herchi King ordered that half of Herdanba’s troops be taken back.