Female Novel
Chapter 589 The Scapegoat (Part One)
With her arms wrapped around Matthew's neck, Harper said with a charming smile, "Darling, is theshow for today's birthday banquet very interesting?"
"Do you really want to know?" Matthew asked with amusement when he saw that Harper's face wasfilled with interest.
"Although I have my personal guesses about the result, it will be interesting to hear it from you." Harperwas an excellent manipulator. By flattering Matthew, she had found a way to make him say what shewanted.
"Walden was stripped off his royal titles and was demoted as a commoner. He was also banished tothe southeast. Meanwhile, Felix is under house arrest." Matthew had stated his words so casually but itmade Harper speechless for a few moments. Because of her reaction, the smile in Matthew's eyesbecame more obvious.
"Is that all? It should be a very exciting story. Why did it become so pale and boring when you said it?"Harper asked, refusing to accept that there wasn't more to the story.
"I summarized it for you and made it as simple as possible. Isn't that what you want?" Matthew didn'tforget that when Harper saw the files on his table the other day, she said that there was a lot ofnonsense in those files. He was rather surprised to see how annoyed she was at that point. She evensuggested that his men should write the files in a simple and straight to the point manner. If theirreports were still full of so much nonsense, they should be severely punished. Now, he only did whatshe had suggested before, didn't he?
Harper was choked for a while. Then she continued, "My suggestion was that the official files should besimple and straight to the point. I wasn't talking about the stories. Since stories are meant forentertainment, they should be amusing. The more strange and diverting elements there are, the better."
Matthew then removed her arms from his neck and put her down. "So you want to hear those kinds ofstories, right? But the only problem is that I don't want to tell a story like that."
Harper did not know what to say and slowly felt a little frustrated. She started to conclude that Matthewwas still mad at her for pretending that she didn't know him. "Darling, I'm sorry. I won't ever fake notknowing you again. I just want to see if you can recognize me at a simple glance. Please don't be madanymore."
"You left me with another woman who I didn't even know. If you want me to tell a story, perhaps, Ishould just tell it to that woman in the Phoenix House." Just from his voice alone, it was hard to tellwhether he was fine or upset. He wasn't shouting, but his words made Harper shiver.
"Darling, do you smell the sour taste of jealousy in the air?"novelbin
"I think the whole room reeks of it. Do you know that I have been overly jealous?" Matthew took a longand meaningful look at Harper. "Which prince has been as miserable as me? My enemy and my wifeforced me to take a woman back."
Embarrassed, Harper explained, "I didn't mean to do that. Please believe me when I tell you that theempress set me up."
"But you didn't reveal it to me, did you?"
"Because as your wife, I know that you're not dumb. No one can fool you that easily. Even though thatwoman was dressed like me, I knew that you would instantly recognize that it wasn't me. There is nodoubt in my heart that you know me, the real me. I have my trust in you." Harper quickly explained herside to Matthew, in an attempt to soothe him. She knew that for that matter, she was in the wrong.
"Really?" Matthew asked, with a hint of doubt in his voice.
Harper briefly kissed him on the cheek before responding. "Of course. Why would I lie to you?"
In an instant, the darkness in Matthew's eyes disappeared as if it hadn't been there at all. "In this case,I'll forgive you. Do you still want me to tell you the story?"
"I honestly don't since you've already told me the ending. There's no fun in hearing what happened."Then, Harper picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea. The tea was already cold so Matthew tookthe cup and reheated it using his internal force. After a few seconds, he handed it to Harper beforesaying, "Francis had done things in a very ruthless way. He straight on turned Walden into acommoner. He even made the emperor suspect Felix and put him under house arrest. Apparently, wehave underestimated Francis."
Harper sipped a little from the cup of hot tea. With a confused expression on her face, she asked, "Areyou sure it was Francis who did all of that?"
"Yes, I'm. Because the only two people who would have the intent to go against Felix was me orFrancis. And since it wasn't me who did that, the only plausible conclusion would be Francis." GivingHarper some time to process what he just said, Matthew went to the door, gave orders to someone,and then went back to his seat. "You don't really think that Francis would be innocent from all of this, doyou?"
Harper put down the cup and stated, ""No, it's not that. I just didn't expect him to do something like that.After all, he is still recovering. Even though he is almost healed, he shouldn't be in a hurry to act sorecklessly. Is he not afraid that the emperor will doubt him?"
"Do you think the emperor will ever be suspicious of him?" Matthew asked, with a hint of a laugh. Withhow elaborate Francis' plan had been for years, Matthew thought that there was a bleak chance thatthe emperor would even suspect him.
Harper pursed her lips and exhaled before responding. "The emperor will never suspect him as long asyou're here. He would only assume that you framed Felix. No matter which son of his is in trouble, thefirst person that he will suspect is going to be you."
Matthew carefully listened to her while he placed his hand on his lips, as if in deep thought. He thenslowly said, "Francis did plan well this time. First, he asked Hodge to sue Felix for killing people androbbing the medicine. Then, he made his son testify that Walden is the murderer who killed the wholefamily. This way, he made everyone, including the emperor, think that Felix has wicked motives. Frombeginning to end, Francis had effectively directed everyone's suspicions away from him that not asingle person would even doubt him. Perhaps, even Felix has never actually doubted him. Maybe, justlike the emperor, he also thought that it was me who did it."
"Yes, he had planned this very meticulously. But he had left out one thing. Because right now, we aresuspicious of him. So it seems like his perfect little plan is hanging in the balance, don't you think?"Harper said while she leaned against the chair with her head tilted to one side.
"Yes, but in this round, he won," Matthew responded. At that point in time, someone knocked on thedoor so Matthew briefly opened it. When he was walking back to his place, Harper noticed that he wascarrying a tray of food. He put it on the table, took out the food and said, "Come here and eatsomething. You must be hungry right now."