The Empror's Trap

Chapter 75: Ch 75 - The Capture

In the countryside, orderly fields stretched out before them.

An old farmer was tending to his plot of land. To him, these fields were his lifeline - what his family depended on for survival. Though times were better now than before, he still needed to maintain his diligence.

As he was working between the furrows, a young man walked past along the edge of the field. He appeared wealthy, his silk robes alone worth more than what the farmer could earn in a year of hard labor.

But this young man seemed deeply troubled. Behind him followed several men who appeared to be former soldiers, all strongly built.

Though he appeared to be some noble or official, the old farmer didn’t particularly care who he was or what wealthy people were up to. His only concern was finishing the work at hand.

However, the young man suddenly approached him directly.

"Elder, may I ask you something?" The young man inquired with a warm, disarming smile.

Unable to resist such genuine friendliness, the farmer set down his tools. "What would you like to know, sir?"

"I need to reach the ferry crossing. Which is the shortest path?"

"The ferry? See that mountain over there?" The farmer straightened up and pointed to the distance. "Go through the valley in the middle and you’ll reach the riverbank with the ferry crossing. Though, given how you’re dressed, you don’t look like you’re traveling far?"

"Ah, just some urgent business came up. One more question - have you seen anyone else pass through here today?"

"No, not really. Few people come this way. You might not have found anyone to ask if I wasn’t busy with the farming."

The farmer’s words rang true - the area was sparsely populated. Yunis breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were safe for now.

After encountering Kenji’s army, his rebel forces had quickly collapsed. Unable to locate many of his soldiers, he could only flee with his most trusted followers.

For Yunis, the most important thing now was to escape the direct control of the imperial court. Reaching areas not directly under central imperial authority would make it easier to conceal his movements.

...

To Kenji, what seemed impossible was actually quite simple. He hadn’t outpaced Yunis - he had prepared contingency plans for Yunis’s rebellion and escape in advance.

All the boats and blockades had been pre-positioned at major ferry crossings and transportation hubs. Kenji believed Yunis wouldn’t get far. By distributing Yunis’s description to all capture teams and leaving the rest to the professionals, success was assured.

Indeed, while Yunis’s ordinary cargo vessel would normally be hard to identify, lookouts near the ferry crossing had spotted several suspicious individuals negotiating with the boat owner.

Upon receiving this intelligence, the military officer in charge immediately implemented the Grand Marshal’s prescribed procedures and moved to surround them.

Thus, the rebel group including the Fifth Prince of Camelot was completely encircled.

When Kenji received news of the successful capture, he wasn’t surprised. Given all his preparations, failure to capture them would have been laughable.

The news quickly passed from Kenji’s hands to Pluvia. When she saw the message, she paused briefly before confirming the original final disposition planned for the Fifth Prince.

When Yunis was brought before Pluvia in chains, he had prepared himself for direct confrontation. However, she showed no expression, simply waving her hand to order the soldiers to imprison him.

Yunis, who knew Pluvia well, could detect a hint of resignation in her seemingly emotionless face.

There was nothing to be done. No one could save him this time - his actions had been utterly treasonous.

After Yunis was imprisoned in the imperial prison, all communication was sealed off. No one was permitted to enter or leave freely - even the prison officials were temporarily restricted from departing.

However, this didn’t mean absolutely no one could enter. Those with sufficient rank and status could still gain access with proper authorization.

Among those with such access was Kenji.

This wasn’t surprising - as Grand Marshal of the empire and acting head of the Imperial Family Court, these matters fell under his jurisdiction, naturally granting him access to the imperial prison.