Sterling looked coldly at Ilin Ning's smug smile and said, "Come with me." He turned and walked first toward the corridor outside the dining hall.
Ilin Ning froze for a moment, then hurriedly rose and followed him.
The corridor was silent and empty.
Sterling stopped. "You incited the mutiny?" he asked Ilin Ning behind him without turning around.
Ilin Ning was alarmed and hurriedly protested, "My lord, this has nothing to do with me! I am, after all, an official of the Family. How could I commit such treasonous acts? Besides, those soldiers are Gu Lan's subordinates. How could I command them? Besides..."
As though he had not heard Ilin Ning's defense at all, Sterling turned around and asked with a smile, "You planned the mutiny? Why did you do such a thing?"
"My lord! I merely happened to know that Gu Lan's troops were unstable. I was just making wild guesses; they cannot be taken seriously..."
"By chance?" Sterling smiled. "By 'chance,' you sat beside me. By 'chance,' you laughed while others were speaking, letting me happen to see it. Then you 'carelessly' told me so many things—what a remarkable 'coincidence' that you knew every detail of their affairs. And more coincidentally still, Gu Lan's troops were about to mutiny. Even he himself did not know, yet you somehow foresaw it!"
Sterling smiled. "Governor, my friend Di Lin once told me something, and I have remembered it clearly ever since: once is accidental, twice is coincidence, but the third time is—" He leaned close to Ilin Ning's ear and whispered, "A malicious act!"
"Now then, Governor Ilin Ning, the one who planned this malicious act, what exactly are you intending? You may tell me now."
Ilin Ning's face went pale. "My lord, I truly meant no harm. I merely