This was a true open display of his hand.
The moment he said that, Prince Ortis's expression changed drastically.
Especially that last sentence—it was practically the words "I killed Ayub" written across his face.
Naturally, news from the eastern kingdom took time to reach this place.
Coupled with the previous lockdown imposed by Golden Unfallen Imperial City, Prince Ortis had indeed not learned of Prince Ayub's assassination immediately.
But with the lockdown lifted and the obituary issued, he had learned the general circumstances.
Combined with the intelligence network spread throughout the Desolate North, Prince Ortis knew full well that Ayub had died at the hands of some mysterious assassin.
Unfortunately, Golden Unfallen had not only failed to catch that assassin.
They had not even obtained many relevant clues.
They had been blindly flailing about.
Yet now, the murderer had appeared before him openly and without disguise.
And even wanted to discuss business with him!
As for why Prince Ortis was so certain, it was entirely because Dusk Sand Great City was widely acknowledged within the Sarranid Sultanate as Golden Unfallen's most die-hard supporter.
They practically wished they could declare their loyalty and devotion to Golden Unfallen at every moment and in every place!
The two were closely connected.
With Prince Ortis's wisdom and the clues he knew, it was not difficult for him to swiftly link everything together.
Zong Shen had not done this out of arrogance, but because he knew exactly where Prince Ortis's itch lay.
That was how business negotiations worked: one had to present stakes convincing enough for the other party.
At the same time, one had to precisely grasp the target's itch.
After all, business negotiations truly differed from wartime negotiations.
The latter required one to seize upon the other side's pain points and make them