"What? Did you find out exactly what was going on?"
Duke Zhen's expression darkened, and he immediately stood up.
The servant trembled, his face filled with terror. "Y-your Grace, two days ago, you ordered everyone below you to keep quiet for the next couple of days. Apart from one or two maids or older serving women going out each morning to buy supplies, none of us have gone out these past two days."
"Useless! Get out!"
Zhen Wude stepped over the threshold and headed outside, his gaze dark and distant, his cloudy eyes filled with contemplation.
Someone had been pressing him for a delivery these past two days, so he had arranged for his people to hurry with the incense production. Picking up the pace inevitably caused some commotion.
Thus, he had ordered everyone at the Duke's Estate to keep as low a profile as possible. He himself had stayed home, claiming illness, so naturally, no one should have had any reason to suspect him.
Had something changed without his knowledge?
When he reached the estate's entrance, he saw that a mass of Imperial Guards had indeed surrounded it so tightly that not even water could seep through.
He recognized their leader: Fan Chengfeng, commander of the Imperial Guards.
Zhen Wude gave him a soft chuckle. "Lord Fan, I have been recuperating from an illness. What is the meaning of surrounding my estate with Imperial Guards?"
"Your Grace should worry about whether you and everyone in your household will keep your lives."
Fan Chengfeng stared at Duke Zhen, his piercing eyes holding a barely restrained killing intent.
Three years ago, he had taken his younger sister to the lantern festival on the night of the Lantern Festival.
Then... his sister had vanished, right near the Fragrant Fate Pavilion.
For the