Ning Chen's eyes narrowed. Inwardly he was astonished.

Something was off. Something was very badly off.

His Majesty had gone out of the palace quietly and been attacked for it. There was no way of laying that at Cui Yukang's door.

There was something senseless about spreading the guilt that far.

Had the attempt frightened His Majesty out of his wits? Had it changed his whole nature?

That was impossible. His Majesty was a man who had come through storms, and his nerve could not be as brittle as that.

Everything about it felt wrong, but Ning Chen could not get his thoughts into order for the moment.

"Cui Yukang, go home for now. I'll arrange another post for you later on."

The gratitude showed all over Cui Yukang's face. "Thank you, my lord prince."

When he had parted from Cui Yukang, Ning Chen rode his beloved Diaochan home to the Ning residence, clop, clop, clop.

Pan Yucheng and Feng Qizheng were back already.

Pan Yucheng came straight to the point. "Something has happened to Geng the Purple Coat."

Ning Chen gave a start. "What has happened?"

"His Majesty was attacked, Geng the Purple Coat failed in his duty, and he is sitting idle at home now."

Ning Chen's brows drew together a little. "His Majesty was attacked. What does that have to do with Geng the Purple Coat?"

"Killers appeared in the capital and the Inspectorate never caught a whisper of it. That is a failure of duty."

Something moved in Ning Chen's eyes. That explanation was far too much of a stretch.

More than that: when he left for the southern frontier, His Majesty had said he would not touch Geng Jing.

And in no time at all Geng Jing had been dismissed from his post.

"Then who has charge of the Inspectorate now?"

"The gold coat of the fifth department, Chen Zhaohan."

Ning Chen knew Chen Zhaohan. The fifth department's chief business was gathering intelligence.

Killers had appeared in the capital and the fifth department had not had the intelligence in time. If anyone had failed in…