Chapter 496 - 241: An Incredibly Explosive Truth
Chapter 496: Chapter 241: An Incredibly Explosive Truth
Lin Mo was stunned.
No wonder the two of them looked so alike. They had the same mother.
The scandal was just too big, too outrageous.
’These high-society circles are a real mess...’
"She was afraid of my father discovering the child, so shortly after giving birth, she arranged with Duke Morin to have him sent to another city to be raised."
"The matter should have ended there."
Lin Mo nodded. If it had only gone that far, it would have just been an Ordinary affair.
Although the identities of those involved were shocking, it could still be considered a family affair.
"Later, she returned to the Duke’s Mansion, ready to resume her normal life. But my father had grown cold after her long absence and treated her with indifference. So, she began to reminisce about her past with Duke Morin..."
Lin Mo wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
’What’s that saying? Once a cheater, always a cheater.’
"Her affair with Duke Morin has continued to this day. She resented my father for his coldness, blaming it all on his refusal to let the Jade Commerce Association get involved in the Preston family business... Then, as the forgotten child grew up, word came from his caretakers that he bore more than an eighty percent resemblance to me."
"This news gave both the Jade Commerce Association and Duke Morin ideas..."
It was all starting to make sense to Lin Mo.
"But they didn’t dare make a move in the Royal Capital. So, she began to treat me with increasing cruelty, making my life difficult at every turn. She tried everything she could to torment and undermine me, hoping to drive me out of the Royal Capital."
"I did just as she wished... Two years ago, I told my father I was leaving to gain experience for a while."
"As for what happened next, I imagine you’ve already pieced most of it together."
"Naturally, I had guards assigned to protect me during my travels, and I had to report back to the Royal Capital regularly. They were just biding their time, waiting for my travels to end and for me to prepare my return."
"Some of the guards were her people from the start, and over the past two years, more were gradually infiltrated and bought off. Their plan was to kill me and the remaining loyal guards. Then, the Jade Commerce Association would sponsor a merchant caravan to the Royal Capital, bringing the impostor with them. They’d deliberately take a remote route to avoid raising suspicion later. As long as this merchant team and my own escort arrived at the Royal Capital’s trade depot at the same time at night, there would be plenty of room to maneuver and have him take my place in the Duke’s Mansion!"
"Between our striking resemblance and the changes that nearly two years of traveling and training could bring, the chances of being discovered were very low. Besides, my father is always preoccupied with business and rarely speaks with me."
"If the plan succeeded, they could smoothly install someone with Morin Clan blood as the Preston heir! From there, they could slowly devour the Preston Clan’s assets and, after my father’s death, erase the Preston name completely!"
’That was one hell of a bombshell.’
Lin Mo marveled at the sheer audacity of it all. It explained why the black-robed Assassin had attacked them after they encountered the impostor, even knowing he was likely outmatched.
If word got out that the "young master of the Preston Clan" was seen here at this time, the timelines wouldn’t match up, creating a risk of exposure.
Even if the escorting Adventurers didn’t recognize the young master of the Preston family and would likely never have contact with the family again, the stakes were too high. Even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of a mistake had to be stamped out.
Otherwise, if the plot were exposed, the consequences would be dire!
Not even Duke Morin could withstand the wrath of the Kingdom’s Sword.
"So, why didn’t they just pick a stronger guard?"
Deke scratched his head, asking in confusion.
"If that guy in black had been any stronger, we would’ve been in real trouble..."
"Because this was just an Ordinary merchant escort. The Jade Merchant Team doesn’t have any powerful experts of its own. Whenever they need a high-level escort, they have to file a request with the Preston Clan. My father is very strict about managing these requests; everything is recorded. If they requested someone too powerful for a routine escort mission, wouldn’t that be a dead giveaway that something was wrong?"
"Generally speaking, caravans on Route 11 are escorted by people who are at or near Elite Level..."
"Normally, the chances of encountering an Elite Level Demon in this area are very low. His strength, combined with the near-Elite Level Adventurers they hired, should have been enough to handle most situations on Route 11... Even if they ran into a monster they couldn’t defeat, the speed of an Elite Level Assassin would have at least ensured the impostor could escape unharmed."
"Anyway, to prevent any mistakes, their side only planned to make their move and kill me as I got close to the Royal Capital. Once this caravan was out of the Blackwater Swamp—an area where Magic Power is chaotic—they could use Magic Power to transmit information and communicate with my escort. If things weren’t going smoothly on their end, my assassins would simply abort the attack. The worst-case scenario would be that they’d declare the caravan was attacked, postpone the plan, and just look for another opportunity later..."
"They just never expected you to run into that monster. Normally, you wouldn’t find a Demon that powerful even if you went deep into the Core Area."
And they certainly never imagined you’d actually defeat it!