Reborn As A Villainous Cannon Fodder

Chapter 461: Ch 461 – Sorry, Our Wayward Son Has Caused Trouble

4/17

“This is outrageous! Absolutely ridiculous!”

“All this crystal-clear evidence right in front of us, and you claim it’s not enough for a conviction! Even if you came to power with the family backing, when it comes to Western Region cults, there should be limits to your favoritism!”

“Fine! In-law, let’s go! We’re heading to Liuli Sect to arrest him ourselves!”

In the Dragon Palace throne room, the lead Lin family elder swept his arm dramatically. After exchanging glances with several Liu family elders, he practically stormed out cursing under his breath.

The white dragon girl in imperial robes sat on her throne, watching the Lin and Liu family elders leave without a word to say in response.

From a power perspective, though the Lin family showed disrespect to the Dragon Emperor, their clan controlled most of the court’s military authority. Nina was only the legal leader, in practice, the Lin family might not obey her orders at all. If they really fell out, they could push Nina’s sister, Azure Dragon Qin Yune, to usurp the throne at any time.

That was one problem.

The second was that, even rationally speaking, Nina was already starting to doubt herself.

Today the Lin family had brought the Liu family as witnesses, presenting their case with righteous conviction and mounting evidence. Even the other court officials observing seemed more convinced by the Lin family’s testimony.

After all… Liu family shadow guards pursuing Ruoning had been killed by cultists. Elder Ming had also been severely injured by cultists while chasing Yino. While there wasn’t direct proof, all suspicion pointed straight at Yino.

“Yino…”

“You’ve lied to me several times already… you can’t be lying again this time… right…?”

At that thought, Nina pursed her lips with a rather aggrieved expression and sighed.

She turned to look at the beautiful woman sitting beside her, but found her face remained completely calm, as if she hadn’t heard the Lin elder’s earlier cursing tirade at all.

This definitely didn’t match Nina’s long-held impression of her master.

In the past… when Nina had first taken the throne and the court officials refused to submit, Changli would take a hard stance and suppress them to establish Nina’s authority.

Now, even with the Lin elder showing such disrespect, Changli said nothing. It made Nina feel something was off.

Come to think of it…

Yino’s whole situation had been suspicious from the very beginning.

Nina had first heard about Yino because of rumors that the He family was secretly harboring a phoenix clan orphan.

Back then, Nina had been very worried, but Changli’s attitude was ambiguous. She’d told Nina the world wasn’t simply black and white, they needed to investigate personally before drawing conclusions.

Even just two days ago, when Nina first learned Yino had gotten into trouble at the Liu family in Jiangnan, Changli had specifically coached her on “how to handle the Lin family’s accusations the next day.”

Looking back now…

Nina couldn’t say whether her master had known something all along.

“Facts speak louder than arguments.”

“If you have doubts, once we capture Yino and bring him to trial, the truth will naturally come to light.”

Changli gently waved her folding fan, speaking with soft lips barely parted. Her lovely eyes glanced over with glassy clarity, obviously noticing Nina’s unease but even so, Changli refused to provide any explanations. Those meaningful eyes still left Nina feeling troubled.

Compared to her sisters, Nina was indeed somewhat naive and innocent.

But that didn’t mean she was stupid.

After years as empress in the Dragon Palace, how could Nina not understand how to read people?

She could see the Lin elder’s passionate sincerity. She could sense her master’s insincerity. With a little boldness, she could even guess the source of her master’s confidence…

For instance: even if Yino really was colluding with evil cultivators, with National Advisor’s extraordinary methods, she could easily ensure the Lin family found no suspicious evidence of cult connections on Yino. That would prove Changli’s words about “facts speaking louder than words.”

This was conspiracy thinking, sure.

But the logic wasn’t wrong, especially since Nina had heard that her master’s relationship with Yino was far from simple that night.

“Mm, I also don’t think Yino would do something like that…”

Seeing Changli unwilling to elaborate, Nina could only nod obediently in silence.

The speculation in her mind was just conspiracy theory after all. As her master said, without direct evidence, Nina couldn’t say much more.

Besides…

Emotionally speaking, Nina preferred believing her master’s words, hoping Yino really was being framed.

“Master…”

“If I may, could we speak privately…”

After all the Lin and Liu family elders had dispersed, leaving the throne room quiet again, the He family elder who’d remained silent throughout the proceedings approached the National Advisor, whispering softly.

Nina had been observing the accused He family elder the whole time.

Initially, the He family elder had wanted to speak up in refutation, but they probably hadn’t expected Nina to actively take Yino’s side…

However, as the Lin elder presented more and more evidence, Nina noticed the He family elder’s expression growing grave, no longer speaking up.

Now… With the argument over, the He family elder approaching Changli made Nina feel even more suspicious.

“Nina, continue with your document review.”

Changli rose leisurely, leaving behind a casual instruction.

Nina hesitated briefly, but after a moment of uncertainty, obediently nodded and watched her master leave the throne room with the He family elder.

Once her master left too, with the throne room completely empty, Nina finally collapsed across her desk with a long sigh toward the ceiling:

“Yino…”

“Even when you’re not around, you still make people worry themselves sick!”

…

“Master, regarding Yino’s situation, I wonder…”

In a small tea pavilion behind the Dragon Palace, the He family elder looked grave.

He gazed sincerely at the beautiful woman sitting across the chess board, his eyes showing no hint of pleading for his family’s descendant. It was more pure curiosity, as the He family representative attending court today, he genuinely had no idea what Yino’s actual situation was.

After all… Beyond sharing the surname He, Yino had absolutely no blood relation to the He family whatsoever.

Years ago, the He family had adopted this child per Changli’s instructions. Now that Yino had gotten into trouble while bearing the He family name, the elder naturally needed to get the truth from National Advisor privately.

Meanwhile, Changli had been propping her chin since sitting down, staring silently at the chess board with lowered eyes.

“If I said I didn’t know, would you believe it?”

After some time, Changli finally looked up and spoke.

At these words, the He family elder’s mouth twitched involuntarily, his heart finally sinking completely.

“Your words are never spoken lightly, Master. Naturally, I believe you… It’s just that Yino has now angered both the Lin and Liu families…”

The He family elder sighed, expressing his inner helplessness once more.

Their He family really shouldn’t be considered Yino’s guardians, strictly speaking, that would be Xinyao.

But the problem was that Xinyao was just a proxy Changli had installed. Now that things had blown up, she had no authority to handle this matter, so the He family elder really did need to watch Changli’s expression.

They were all grasshoppers on the same boat, if something happened to Yino, neither the He family nor Changli could escape involvement!

“No need to worry. I already sent people to Liuli Sect yesterday.”

“As long as we can bring him back before the Lin and Liu families, I can place new seals on him… Even if Grand Tutor Lin himself came to investigate, he wouldn’t detect anything suspicious.”

Changli spoke calmly, though her expression of biting her red lips showed some reluctant difficulty.

Seeing this, the He family elder sitting across from her nodded silently, already understanding.

“I apologize; our wayward son has caused trouble for the He family. I will handle this matter cleanly…”

“Please convey my regrets to your Grand Tutor.”

After a moment of silence, Changli pressed her red lips together in a knowing smile.