Yibo's pov.

"Commander we found the culprit." Adrian spoke as he came to my office.

I nodded and got up, my mind was still on the conversation with the crown prince, I am sure that he doubts Riven, he had never liked him and now he was doubting me too.

He was keeping an eye on me. I was under his watch.

I stopped when I glanced at Adrian's face, and I knew that something was up, "what is it Adrian?"

Adrian looked at me but did not speak what was on his mind, he hesitated a little but then I pushed, "Adrian what is it."

Adrian sighed and said, "commander, I feel that maybe there is something more to this person who we have captured, I think there has been a misunderstanding."

"Why do you say that?"

"This person, his name is Gareth. He did not act like a criminal, when our soldiers discovered him he was just casually having his lunch and even when our people went to grab, he did not run, did not defend himself , he just looked at us with curiosity and was genuinely surprised when we grabbed him.

Commander I know that criminals can act, but I have also met and captured enough criminals to have an intuition, and you have also told us many times that we should trust our intuition.

Commander I think that there has been a misunderstanding."

Adrian was a smart man, he was talented and someone who I trusted with my life. And Adrian had proved himself to me time and time again. I have always respected his opinion and I know that never says anything unless he is sure.

This time he genuinely looks a little worried and conflicted. And seeing him like this I could not ignore what he has said.

"Take me to this prisoner."

"Yes commander."

~~

I could hear the screams and cries of a man when I entered the prison. I could the sound of beatings and cursing as well.

Once I reached near the cell, I stopped when I saw my people standing outside while the ones who were beating the prisoner were the crown prince's men.

My people never start interrogation or torture without me.

"STOP!" I said as I walked inside the cell and stood before the prisoner and glared at the man who was holding a whip in his hand, I glanced the man who was already covered in blood.

"With whose permission did you start the interrogation?!" I spoke to the man in charge.

"Commander, my name is Alan, we are sent my crown prince..."

"Sent my crown prince to work under me, how dare you start the interrogation without my presence without my permission! Is this the same thing you do while working for the crown prince ?! If so then you all need to be trained properly."

Alan looked at me, he was arrogant and was giving me an attitude and I wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of him.

"Get out! And never ever do anything without my permission. Out!" I said and the man gave me a sharp glance before he and his people left.

Adrian and my men stepped inside and I looked at the man tied to the wall, he was badly beaten and his fingers were broken, and he was crying hysterically.

I grabbed his jaw and took a good look at his face and my heart sank when I saw how young he was.

"What's your name." I asked.

"G...Gareth."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

I felt my stomach twist when I heard that, this is just a kid, "why did you attack the emperor?"

He burst into crying , "I did not attack the emperor and I never met the emperor.... I don't know what are you talking about... please please... I didn't do anything."

I spoke again, "the emperor said that he met you while he and the crown prince had went out for a walk in the market..."

He cried a little but then said, "Are you... are you talking about the two men, father and son that I met in the market?"

"Yes."

"I did not attack them... I... I told them I was a fortune teller and I could tell their future and they agreed, we chatted a little and I told them about me and my tried and then I predicted their future. But after hearing my predictions they got angry at me and left."

"What did you predict?"

"I predicted their death, both father and son will die soon. That's it... that's all I did. I don't know anything else."

"What are you doing in the capital."

The boy cried harder and said, "I had a fight with my parents and ran away from home. I shouldn't have done that... I shouldn't have gone..." With that he burst into tears.

After spending a few more hours with the boy I knew the boy was innocent, but then why would the emperor and the crown prince lie?

"Commander what should we do with the boy?"

"Move him somehwere else, where the crown prince's people cannot find him. And give him some medical care also"

"Yes commander."

I then walked straight to my office, thinking about my next steps.

If the boy was saying the truth then there has been a misunderstanding, however predicting emperor's death was not a good sign as well.

But the boy has no idea the one he was talking to was the emperor.

And if the crime is so small then annihilating the entire tribe was not good, killing so many people over a misunderstanding did not sit right with me.

I kept my hand over my chest as I felt the same pain there.

~~

A few moments later Adrian came to my office as well, and he did not look good. I wondered if it has something to do with the boy.

I asked, "do you have anything else to say Adrian?"

Adrian nodded he looked a little perplexed, "the spy we sent to spy on Nathan Aberdeen has come back and we have found something out about Nathan"

"What is it?" I said as I poured myself a glass of water.

"It is true he is involved in human trafficking."

My hand stopped as I brought the glass near me mouth, "what?"

"It is true, Nathan Aberdeen is involved in buying and selling of slaves."

"Does the emperor know?"

Adrian was quiet before he said, "my spy has seen, Nathan taking the slaves to the palace and once they are in they never come out."

I kept the glass back on the table and grabbed the edges of the table, but Adrian was not done yet, "there is a auction which is going to be held today, in an underground basement under the Aberdeen residence. It is a secret event."

"You were able to gather all of this in such a short time?"

"There are many nobles involved in this, they have literal parties over this, there very few people who are not a part of this circle, people such as the Wang and the Xiao family, so it is not such a big secret as we thought. We can also take part in the auction if we show interest in taking in slaves."

All of this was happening right under our nose; we just never paid attention."

My world was spinning, "Adrian..."

"Yes, Commander."

"Find out when and where is this auction happening, I want to attend."

"Yes, commander however we would be needing an invitation for that, and I don't know how can we arrange that."

I thought about it for a while, before an idea popped into my head, "I know who can help us."

~~

"Why are you here, Mr. wang " Mr. Hargreve spoke as he looked at me with disdain.

"I am sorry for your loss Mr. Hargreve."

"Cut the bullshit and just come to the point."

"What do you know about the human auction held by the Aberdeens? Have you ever attended it?"

"Now we are talking, why do you want to know?"

"I just do. Please Mr. Hargreve I want to know the truth."

"Yes, I know about the auction and yes I have attended it. It is one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed. The display human there like they are properties. They openly rape and cut open people just for fun, I couldn't even stay for the entire thing."

My heart sank the more I heard, "I want to attend this auction, I want to witness everything by my own eyes. Can you arrange an invitation for me?"

Mr. Hargreve sat back on his chair and sighed, "I can, but I must tell you that once you witness something like that there is no recovery from it."

"I want to."

"Alright. I will arrange them for you."

I nodded before I asked, "how come you agreed so easily."

Mr. Hargreve smirked, "Because I want to witness what you will do after realizing what kind of people you were helping. What kind of monster you were going to give my daughter to. I want you to regret."

I nodded, "I understand."

~~

Mr. Hargreve was true to his words; I got the invitation soon. I quickly summoned Adrian and asked him to be prepared.

On the night of the auction, we dressed up and put on our mask before we went to the venue.

Thanks to the invitation given by Mr. Hargreve we were able to enter the auction. I looked around once we were in, everything looked so normal, we took our seats and Adrian was right beside me.

"Commander, look there." He pointed in a direction and once I looked there, I saw two men enter the venue as well. And even with the mask I recognized them in an instant. The emperor and the crown prince.

They sat at the front and once they were seated, the auction started. The next second all the attention was on the stage and Nathan Aberdeen stood there, "ladies and gentlemen I welcome you all. Thank you all for attending today's another lovely auction. Without wasting anymore time I will with bringing you an item from deep within the mountains."

As soon as he said that a cage was brought on the stage with a woman inside it, the woman was naked and was drugged out of her mind. My heart dropped to my stomach, while others started to bid on her.

The auction had started.

After the woman they brought is another woman, a child, a man dresses as a woman, a boy dressed as a woman. Some of the slaves were crying and struggling, screaming and they were beaten in front of everyone.

They soon brought in a man who was in shackles, and everyone started to bid on him as well, however something snapped inside the man and he started struggling violently and was able to break from the chains but before he could do anything, more people surrounded him and they all brutally beat him, till his bone break, till his jaw broke.

He screamed and yelled in agony and all the people cheered loudly as if they were enjoying his suffering.

They beat him till he was dead. And then they dragged his body away, After that they brought in another woman naked, and performed sexual acts on her. Displaying her body and using it as if she nothing more than a doll. The men from the crowd got up and went to the stage and did whatever they wanted to her and the worse part that the crown prince went on the stage too.

And not only he violated her he cut her face and stabbed her over and over again all while brutally violating her. And the entire time he was laughing and enjoying himself, while the emperor did nothing.

After they brought in two twins, they could not be older than eleven and twelve, my heart was beating so fast when I saw them, I was sweating and shaking. And when I saw them starting to undress and Nathan announcing that they were going to do sexual acts on each other, I just got up and ran out of that place.

Adrian followed me out, I ran and ran and once I was a good distance away from that place, I kneeled on the ground and started to puke my guts out.

"Commander." Adrian patted my back, while I was trembling and shaking, "commander that was..."

After emptying my stomach, I slowly got up on my shaky weak legs, "Adrian."

"Yes, commander."

"Don't say a word of what you saw here, and go back home."

"Yes, commander."