My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World
Chapter 297: The Missing Prince

Chapter 297: The Missing Prince

As we talked with Lord and Lady Bao for hours about the situation in Guanghua, I asked them to tell us more about the empress.

She had been in that position for six years, right after the previous empress died from a sudden illness.

Her arrival was a surprise to everyone in the country, including the closest confidants of the emperor, who didn’t even know who the woman was at the time.

During the first few years of her term, she took down certain noble families and rich commoners by stripping them of all their possessions and land.

Her reasoning was that the royal family could use those assets more effectively for the good of the people, but in reality, the empress held a grudge against those families and wanted to destroy them.

All of that farming land that had been seized was now barren, without a single soul working on it.

Once she removed the people she considered her enemies from their government positions, she enacted the commoners’ enslavement law.

The government officials knew that it was the empress’ idea, but the law was signed and approved by the emperor himself, stating that he saw no problem with it.

Many nobles were worried, including Lord Bao, but they couldn’t speak up against it or they would suffer the same fate as the ones the empress destroyed.

Lord Bao knew that the situation would get darker, and he was right, as just a few days after the enslavement law was signed, the first prince, Renjun, was sent to the palace’s dungeon.

"You see, the first prince opposed the union of his father with Empress Yulian and even denounced the enslavement law in public, calling it heartless and urging his father to wake up..." Lord Bao elaborated.

After the first prince had a public speech where he voiced his distaste with the rulers, the empress ordered the execution of his little brother as a punishment.

However, the first prince was aware of the empress’ evil plans and managed to get his little brother out of the palace before the assassins could get him.

The empress then ordered her advisors, which was a noble family that she had chosen herself, to look for the missing second prince and punish him. Meanwhile, the first prince was sent to the dungeon, where he had been kept for almost four years.

"Wait, what? The emperor’s son has been in a cell for four years!?" I asked.

Lord Bao nodded, explaining that he had endured a lot of torture from the empress during that time, and he wasn’t sure for how much longer she would keep him alive.

"To make matters worse, the people who were escorting the second prince were attacked during his escape, but his body was never found..." Lord Bao continued.

"Poor Prince Yujun, he was just a small child..." the man said.

"Huh? What did you just say?" I asked as both Melina and I widened our eyes.

Lord Bao, seeing our surprise, said that the emperor and his children always shared a similarity in their names. The emperor was "Xiaojun," the first prince "Renjun," and the second prince was "Yujun."

’Could it be? Is Yujun a common name here...?’ I pondered.

The little kid that we took with us hadn’t said a word to us, so I didn’t know exactly where he came from.

Melina told me that Leslie said they met at an abandoned shack in one of the commoners’ outskirts area, but the little girl couldn’t remember how she got there.

’If his escort got attacked, and they were ordered to punish him, how is he still alive?’ I kept pondering.

"Lord Bao, come with me for a moment..." I said, guiding the man and his wife out of the room.

I was planning on taking them to the guest room that they had given us, where Leslie and Yujun were sleeping with Yoru, but we found the three of them sleeping right outside the living room’s door.

"S-sorry, the children said they wanted to wait for you two..." a servant clarified nervously.

Seeing the two of them peacefully sleeping while using Yoru as a bed was adorable, but I had to stay focused on what I wanted to say.

"Lord Bao, is this the same Yujun...?" I asked.

The man, who hadn’t paid much attention to the two kids since his arrival, stared at them attentively as they slept on Yoru.

’I suppose it’s not that easy to tell, considering it has been years since he saw him...’ I thought.

Suddenly, he widened his eyes and kneeled on the ground to get a closer look at them, not just Yujun.

"Blonde hair... Is it possible?" Lord Bao muttered.

"What is it?" I hurriedly asked.

"Mr. Ichiro, how did you find these kids?" he answered with another question.

Not to wake up any of the kids, we went back into the living room, and we told them that we found them in the commoner’s area before entering the city. Still, they were the ones who wanted to come with us.

Lord Bao had no doubts that Yujun was, indeed, the second prince that went missing four years ago. However, he also knew Leslie’s identity.

There was one family who worked as "international trading affairs officials," and they were originally from the Droman Empire—the Salonia family.

The Salonia family was known for working in different countries to improve the trading relations with others, mainly with Droman.

However, after the commoner’s enslavement law was enacted, they decided to send a letter to the other countries to warn them of the situation that was unfolding.

Unfortunately for them, the empress caught wind of their plan and ordered their assassination before the letters could leave the borders.

"The reports we received at the castle said that two people interfered with the assassination of their family. However, they were still all pronounced dead..." Lord Bao said.

"So, do you think Leslie is from the Salonia family?" I asked.

"I’m certain it must be her..."

’Two people interfered with the assassination? Why did they leave her in the commoners’ area? If they were all pronounced dead, and Leslie is still alive, could her parents also be alive?’ I thought as dozens of questions started flooding my brain.