3-8

The opportunity to search the Duke's chambers came in the afternoon. The King, the Crown Prince and the envoys were in the meeting, and the Duke, obviously, had to attend as well. Which meant that his chambers should be empty, at least for an hour or two.

But entering the Duke's chambers wasn't easy, even for the second prince. After all, Duke Sethor was an important person. There were guards stationed around the quarters he currently occupied in the castle. Technically speaking, Yu Qingyu had the power to dismiss them. He just needed to come up with an argument that sounded convincing enough. Or he could enter the chambers, claiming to have the Duke's permission.

However, if he did so, the Duke would eventually hear about it sooner or later. And this was bound to result in serious conflict.

So, he had to find an alternative way to get in.

The Duke's chambers were on the third floor. They were among the best guest quarters available at the castle, with a spacious balcony. And through that balcony was how Yu Qingyu wanted to enter the room.

The quarters to the right were occupied by Lady Elowen, but the quarters to the left were currently empty. Thus, Yu Qingyu was able to enter them easily. They had a balcony, just like the Duke's. Yu Qingyu was hoping to jump from one balcony to the other…

But it was easier said than done. The distance between the two balconies was much larger than he expected. And his current body was weak and frail. The chances of him making a long enough jump were pretty slim.

Yu Qingyu gulped, looking down. There was a marble terrace underneath, and it was the third floor… The fall shouldn't be fatal, but he'd most likely end up with some broken bones. It would be painful, that's for sure.

"Your Highness wants to break into Duke Sethor's room?" Liu Wei suddenly asked.

Yu Qingyu, of course, hadn't informed him of his plans beforehand. But now that they were here, it wasn't difficult for Liu Wei to realize what was going on.

Hearing the question, Yu Qingyu flinched, glancing back at the man, alarmed. "Perhaps…" he said hesitantly. He didn't want to admit it in front of Liu Wei, but there was no way to deny it either.

"Why?" Liu Wei raised his brows, slightly amused.

He was clearly overstepping his boundaries as a guard, but Yu Qingyu was glad. Because this way, he could use the fake excuse he had prepared. "I want to end my betrothal. And to do that, I need to find something I can use against the Duke."

This way, he was able to confuse Liu Wei about his mission!

Liu Wei nodded lightly. Then, he walked over to the balustrade, and measuring the distance with his eyes, he said, "I should be able to jump that far. How about… I jump over there first, then throw a line down, and pull Your Highness up from the ground?"

"Huh?" Yu Qingyu's eyes widened in surprise. "That… actually sounds alright."

He didn't expect Liu Wei to be so helpful. Was it because he was still trying to stay in his role, or did he have any ulterior motives? Yu Qingyu couldn't tell. He bit his lip, hesitating. '520, any thoughts?'

[That should work. However, Host should go get a line first. Liu Wei should take it with him. Because with Host's current strength, Host probably wouldn't be able to throw it over to him from the ground.]

'Alright then,' Yu Qingyu let out a sigh, tousling his hair. "Let's go find a line," he ordered Liu Wei. They had to act fast, otherwise they wouldn't have much time left to search the room.

Afterward, everything proceeded smoothly, but it still took around half an hour before Yu Qingyu was finally able to enter the room.

"Can I help Your Highness in any way?" Liu Wei asked, as Yu Qingyu went over to the desk, and quickly started checking all the drawers.

But Yu Qingyu just shook his head. No matter how cooperative Liu Wei currently was, he couldn't put too much trust in the man. He had to conduct all the search on his own.

The drawers were filled with letters. Just as 520 predicted, the Duke did indeed keep a lot of correspondence during his stay in the castle.

First, there were letters from the Duchess. As he opened them, Yu Qingyu hesitated for a moment. It was such a private correspondence. Should he really read it? But in the end, he shook his head. Private or not, there might be some clues in there! It was for his mission. Besides, he has already invaded other people's privacy with all the information he received from the system. It was too late to worry about it now.

He quickly scanned through the letters. But all that he learned was that Duchess Sethor was an emotional, romantic person. Quite the opposite from her husband.

He put her letters aside with a sigh, and grabbed the next pile.

That was the correspondence with the Duke's eldest son, the heir to the title, who was in charge of the Duchy in Duke Sethor's absence. It was likely to contain some useful information, so Yu Qingyu read through them all carefully.

But aside from a few mentions regarding expanding the territory, there wasn't anything he could use. And even those mentions weren't enough to be used against the Duke. They seemed more like offhanded comments about the possible future if the war continues, not any concrete plans…

But Yu Qingyu wasn't going to give up so easily. He continued searching. And finally, at the very bottom of the lowest drawer, there were a few short letters, written in a foreign language.

Yu Qingyu had only received the official language of Cellion from the system, so he couldn't understand a word. '520, can you translate?' he asked helplessly.

[I can transfer the skill. It seems to be written in one of Vestavia's dialects. However, Prince Allen was not fluent even in the official language of Vestavia, so understanding it might be difficult.]

'Well, let's at least give it a try,' Yu Qingyu sighed. Soon, his brows furrowed from a sudden headache, caused by the transfer of a new skill.

As he was massaging his temples, trying to process this new knowledge, all of a sudden he heard voices coming from the hallway, right outside the door.

It seemed that the meeting had already concluded, and the Duke had come to his chambers!

All the blood had drained from Yu Qingyu's face, as he froze in place from panic. The situation was bad, very bad! If he was caught now, wasn't it practically game over? How was he supposed to explain breaking into the Duke's chambers?

He heard the guards by the door greet the Duke. He was out of time.

Without thinking, he carelessly stuffed the letters in his hands back into the drawer, grabbed the wrist of Liu Wei, who was standing right next to him, and pulled the man down with him, under the desk. Then, he moved the chair, trapping them both in the small, enclosed space.