King
Chapter 648 - 648 160 Time to Show the Cards_3

648: Chapter 160, Time to Show the Cards_3 648: Chapter 160, Time to Show the Cards_3 “West, what’s happening outside?”

As he rushed out of the tent, Duke Cavadia asked the young man in the distance.

“Duke, members of the Union Investigation Team have arrived.

This time they’ve brought a lot of people, along with Grand Duke Aefero and Earl Hudson…”

The series of names spat out by West made everyone instantly aware that a major problem had arisen.

As they pondered how to respond, the delegation was already in sight.

Clearly, the guards in the camp hadn’t, or perhaps, hadn’t dared to stop them.

After sharing a glance, the five men sighed in frustration.

What was destined to come was coming.

No matter what was unfolding, they could only face it bravely.

…

“Duke Cavadia, Duke Pias, will you confess on your own, or shall we conduct interrogations?”

The words of Marquis Jerome gave the five men a sense of foreboding.

In the world of nobility, there was always a room for maneuver, even amidst enemies; face-saving measures were taken, especially in front of outsiders.

Direct confrontations were rare.

“Your Excellency the Marquis, we do not understand what you are referring to.

Confess, what do we have to confess to?”

Duke Cavadia struggled to reply.

Unfortunately, his trembling betrayed his inner turmoil.

His logic told him that it was highly likely the investigation team had evidence of their crime of selling military supplies illicitly.

But the glimmer of hope made them unwilling to plead guilty.

As a major noble of the Human Race, unless there was concrete evidence, they couldn’t be convicted.

The gamble now was on how much evidence the investigation team had.

If the evidence wasn’t strong enough, maybe they could scapegoat a few and quell the storm.

“It seems that you are not ready to plead guilty.

No matter, we have enough evidence in our hands.

In this case are confessions from relevant personnel, in that case are documents from before and after the warehouse fire, and in the last case is the schedule and targets of your illicit dealings with military supplies…”

Bishop Carway’s suggestive words gave them a glimmer of hope, followed by a wave of despair.

With so much evidence presented, it would be difficult to deny.

Even though they had connections with the clergy, the Clergy would not dare shield them at this moment.

Even interceding for clemency would likely make things worse.

The only ones who could help them now would be the Alpha Kingdom.

After all, the illicit sale of military supplies was both an international crime and a major corruption case within the Alpha Kingdom.

As a sovereign state, the Alpha Kingdom had the right to demand to deal with them solely.

“Grand Duke Aefero, Earl Hudson, are you just going to stand by and let them slander the Kingdom Aristocrats?”

Duke Pias questioned in a panic.

As soon as he spoke, he regretted it.

Alienating his enemies at a time like this was clearly imprudent.

“Duke, we only concern ourselves with the truth.

Truth cannot be falsified, and falsehoods cannot become true.

We are all watching.

We trust the investigation team will give you a fair and just result.

In the meantime, I suggest you cooperate.

If you confess on your own, at least you can plea for leniency.

You won’t bring scandal and disgrace upon yourselves!”

Earl Hudson stated calmly.

About half of the evidence relied upon by the investigation team had been anonymously provided by him, the rest had been slowly collected from various sources.

Their truthfulness was not in doubt.

All of them could stand the test.

Bringing this out now signaled that it was time to lay the cards on the table.

“Right, gentlemen.

If you dare to commit such heinous acts as nobles, you will be deemed a disgrace to the Kingdom.

I think it’s unnecessary to continue to hint at what you should do next.

All the evidence is here, if you’re not convinced, you can examine it yourself.

I hope you will shoulder your own responsibilities, not disgrace your clans, and not let the Kingdom Aristocrats be ashamed of you!”

Grand Duke Aefero coldly stated.

If possible, he didn’t mind if the Nobles of the North stirred up trouble at the scene.

If they caused a ruckus, the Royal Family could use the pretext of suppressing rebellion to remove these troublesome thorns.