Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

Pearce was well aware of the fact that he had to let the mayor release Alexander. Otherwise, he had no

idea what Matthew

might do. But he wouldn't just let it go like this.

"Your Highness, I want to know who killed my son," Pearce said with a sullen expression on his face.

"Don't worry. I will definitely find out who the murderer is. After all, this person must be scheming

against both you and me. I

certainly understand how you're feeling. Even I don't feel happy about it. No matter who is behind all of

this, I will find this person

and demand an explanation," Matthew replied with a sharp look in his eyes.

"The reason that my father chose to settle in River City was that it was the right amount of distance

from the imperial capital. It

wasn't too far or too near. This would allow us to find out what happens in the capital quickly without

being affected. But

wherever we are, we are unable to escape the conspiracy," Pearce sighed.

"Your father was right. The only thing he forgot is that it's hard to stop others from plotting against your

family. Though your family

doesn't have the military power, you actually have a lot of money. Even the emperor is jealous because

of that," Matthew said.

He revealed the reason why Pearce and his family were included as targets of the plot.

People always said that winners took all, while losers got none. If anyone wanted to win, they both

needed military power and

money. Both of these two factors were indispensable because one should have money for training

soldiers. It was a fact that one

couldn't do anything without money.

Pearce became even more distressed. "Your Highness, if my family were about to suffer from a great

tragedy—"

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Before he could finish speaking, Matthew interrupted him, "Don't worry. I will make sure that won't

happen. The more they want

to take you and your family down, the more that I'm going to make it hard for them to even have a

chance to do so. I want to see

who is so capable and brave enough to dare touch you and your family. They knew that using your

family would cause enormous

trouble in the city." Matthew's words immediately relieved Pearce a little.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Later today, I will go to the government office and ask for clarification from

the person in charge. The coroner who made the autopsy for my son is from the local government. So

there's a chance that a spy is in the government office. Because of this, I'm afraid I need to go there

myself to tell the officer in person. Even so, I'm afraid this may not work," Pearce said in a worried tone.

He was well aware of the fact that the enemy was not easy to deal with. He might not even be able to

let the mayor release Alexander. What was worse, the emperor had issued an imperial edict,

demanding that the mayor shall not be biased to anyone so that this case must be dealt with fairness.

"Marquis Pearce, aside from me, you are the most powerful man in this city. Don't you remember that?

You are not a scholar. You used to be a general. You don't need to reason with anymore. Besides, the

evidence is irrefutable that Alexander is innocent," Matthew firmly reminded him with so much

conviction in his eyes. For a few seconds, Pierce was stunned, but eventually, he realized that Matthew

was telling the truth. In River City, his family had a very strong influence. How could he forget that?

When he found out that the mastermind behind the whole thing was from the imperial capital, Pearce

was so enraged that he forgot the power that he had. Now that Matthew had reminded him, he knew

that no matter how strong his enemy might be, he could hardly compete with his family's force in River

City. It finally dawned on him that he had the upper hand.

"Thank you for your advice, Your Highness," Pearce gratefully said. He must admit that Matthew had as

much capabilities and

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influence as him, especially because of the fact that he owned military power. It was because of this

that the emperor had a love

and hate relationship with him.

"Well, I have something else to do so I'm going to leave first."

"In no time, I will definitely bring Alexander to the place where you are staying at," Pearce stated with a

little confidence.

"I see. Thank you then," Matthew responded.

"My Lord! Bad news!" the assistant cried out while he rushed into the mayor's office.

Meanwhile, Hollis was peacefully enjoying his tea. He was so surprised when he heard the assistant's

frantic screams that he

dropped the teapot in his hand. In a second, the tea that had just been made was gone as it quickly

spilled from the cup. Hollis felt so much pain in his heart because of such a great loss. "Why are you

shouting? You made me drop and waste the fresh tea I just made. This is a great tea and you ruined it!

Oh God! It cost me ten taels of silver to buy that kind of tea!" Hollis scolded while watching the tea as it

continued to spill on the table. He felt so much regretful that he almost leaned over to lick the tea so

that it wouldn't go to waste. The assistant grew extremely worried when he saw that Hollis could still

have the time and care to feel sorry for his tea. "My

Lord, please forget about your tea for a moment. Marquis Pearce is here. He is waiting for you in the

front hall. And it looks like

he didn't come here to talk peacefully."

Hollis' eyelids twitched when he heard this. He began to wonder if he had done something to offend

Pearce recently. He thought

for a while and couldn't come up with anything. Then he promptly straightened his official clothes and

said, "Since Marquis

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Pearce is here, you should follow me to entertain him. Stop standing there like an idiot. And why were

you screaming for help

like a crazy person? That's so annoying. Don't do that again."

"I was just really worried," the assistant replied. When Hollis finally reached the entrance of the hall, he

was very shocked when

he saw that Pearce had brought so many of his people. It only proved that although it might seem like

Hollis was the mayor of

the River City's local government, the one who actually had the most power was Pearce.

"It's very nice to see you, Marquis Pearce. It's such an honor to have you here. What can I do for you?"

Hollis asked while he

respectfully made a bow to Pearce.

"Where is the coroner who examined the corpse of my son?" Pearce asked nonchalantly while he took

a sip of his tea.

Hollis immediately had mixed feelings about Pearce's question. 'Why did he come here to ask about

the coroner? Could it be

that the coroner did something wrong with his son's autopsy?' With these questions in mind, Hollis

shivered subtlety. Then, he

quickly replied, "I'll send someone to bring the coroner here at once."

"Yes, do it quickly. I'll wait for him in here," Pierce stated firmly and slowly.

"Yes! Bring that coroner in here. Marquis Pearce demands to talk to him," Hollis quickly commanded

with urgency in his voice.

The assistant ran out of the hall immediately to execute his task. Although he didn't know what had

happened, he had to go and

fetch the very person who Pearce was looking for. Otherwise, who knew what would happen to the

entire government office if he

got upset?

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