Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

Suddenly, Hodge spoke, and his words were like an echo of Walden's own thoughts.

"Your Majesty, Milo, my little son, was in my master's mansion when the incident happened," Hodge

said resentfully. "When the

evildoers broke into my master's mansion, my son was playing hide-and-seek with my master's

grandson. My son survived the

slaughter only because he was hiding in an empty rice jar."

"Impossible!" Walden promptly denied it, but as soon as his words faded away, he realized that he

should not have spoken.

Immediately, everyone had their eyes fixed on him.

"Why do you deny this so emphatically, Your Highness?" Hodge asked, looking at Walden suspiciously.

"I mean, as you said, the attackers burnt Scott's mansion to ashes. If your son was inside the mansion,

he would have been

burnt to death as well. How could he still be alive?" Walden said calmly. He clung to this idea as if it

were his only hope. 'It's

impossible. There couldn't be any survivor there, ' he thought to himself.

"At the time of the fire, a very capable man living near my master's mansion saw the fire. He went over

to check, and found that

my son was still alive, so he saved my son from the fire. My son said that he saw the murderer with his

own eyes." Hodge

believed that Felix was Scott's murderer. He wanted his son to testify against Felix in order to obtain

justice for his late master.

"Such being the case, why not let your son come to testify? You will then find out if I am the murderer

and the thief of the pills!"

Felix exclaimed indignantly.

"Hodge, how could the heir to the throne kill people and snatch the pills by himself?" Maxwell asked

solemnly. "You'd better think

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it over carefully before you accuse His Highness."

Hodge was blue with rage. "Your Majesty, may I bring my son here to identify the murderer?" The

emperor frowned tightly. Murder and robbery were no trivial matter. A very vile crime had been

committed. Moreover, the pills had been intended for him, but someone stood in the way. Thinking of

this, the emperor felt immensely uncomfortable. "Call him in!" A young eunuch immediately went to

summon the witness—Hodge's son. A servant came in with Milo in his arms. When he saw his father

Hodge, he cried and stretched out his hand for a hug. "Milo," Hodge said, in pity for his son's distress

and taking him into his arms.

With his arms around his father's neck, Milo slowly calmed down. However, one glance at Walden

made him shiver in terror and made his face go pale. He couldn't help but retreat into his father's arms,

while peeping at Walden with terrified eyes every now and then. He screamed as if he had seen a

ghost. "Milo, Milo, what's wrong with you?" "Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me!" Milo said

repeatedly. "Father, he wants to kill me. He will kill me." The boy's finger was not pointing at Felix but at

Walden. He was obviously scared out of his wits. Walden had never thought Milo would recognize him

with one glance. Only at that moment did he realize that he had indeed seen the boy in the daytime,

but not

in the evening. He hadn't taken it seriously then, but now he knew that the boy really was hiding in

Scott's mansion at the time of

their attack. Both he and his men had been negligent about him.

"Prince Walden?" Hodge could hardly believe it either. He hadn't imagined that the person who wiped

out his master's family and

snatched away the pills was Walden instead of Felix.

Pretending to be calm, Walden said, "Hodge, has your son lost his wits? How could he talk such

nonsense?"

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Hodge only felt the blood rushing to his head. His master's family had been annihilated, and his son

had been forced to witness it

with his own eyes. Of course, Milo was terrified, but he was not an idiot. He was just scared silly by the

sudden sight of the murderer. "Prince Walden, you're the murderer who killed my master, snatched his

pills, and burned his mansion down to destroy the evidence!" Hodge pointed a finger at Walden in

accusation, holding his crying son by the other arm. "How could you be so cold- blooded?" Walden

said, "Hodge Su, you are talking nonsense. I have never done any such thing."

Hodge felt dizzy when he heard that the prince denied his guilt. But he was still calm. He put down his

son and consoled him in a

soft voice, "Milo, don't be afraid. The killer can't hurt you here. Tell everyone who murdered your sworn

parents and your little

buddy and his grandfather. Don't be afraid, Milo. You must identify the killer bravely, to bring justice to

the victims."

Hodge's son cried until he was out of breath, but gradually he calmed down and looked at his father.

Although he was still

trembling with fear, he turned around slowly and pointed his finger at Walden. "Father, it was him. He

was the one who killed

them all."

"Prince Walden, what else do you wish to say?" Hodge asked angrily. "You are so shameless that you

even murder an innocent

child! You don't deserve to be His Majesty's son!"

"Walden, do you want to explain?" the emperor asked, looking at Walden accusingly. It was obvious to

him that Hodge was

speaking the truth. But what puzzled him was that if Walden was the one who had committed the

murders and snatched the pills,

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why had the pills come from the hand of Felix?

Felix was uneasy too. Everyone knew that Walden was a member of his faction. If Walden were

convicted of murder and

robbery, in an instant Felix would lose all the emperor's trust that he had won with great effort. He

looked to the empress for help.

The empress shook her head furtively, hinting that he must calm down, and cast a glance at Walden.

Walden shot a sideways glance at Hodge and then knelt down. "Father, it's all my fault."

"Really? You committed this crime?" the emperor demanded furiously. Walden had committed several

murders, stolen the

valuable pills and committed arson to destroy the evidence. What a ruthless man he must be, far

different from the man he

pretended to be. It was very shocking to the emperor.

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