The Jiang Chen of today understood the idea of the situation being more important than the person. He knew that being as humble as possible now would result in the greatest amount of protection, while wrangling over honors would one, earn the Eastern royal family’s enmity and secondly, jealousy from the other dukes.

Jiang Chen spoke as he thought of this, “Your humble subject is a criminal and dare not ask for any honors. Your subject will be able to carry out his duties without fear of others only if Your Majesty pardons my crimes.”

Dukes friendly with Jiang Feng snickered inwardly when they heard Jiang Chen’s words. This kid was quite a talker; he handled things even more smoothly than his old man.

Pardon Jiang Chen of his crimes, this was something Eastern Lu could easily accomplish with a single word.

“Alright, as We stand before our nobles today, We do hereby pardon you of all your crimes. From this moment on, you are still the heir of Jiang Han dukedom, with all your titles and accomplishments unchanged. If anyone brings up the past again, they will have the Eastern royal family to contend with.”

Eastern Lu’s words were quite magnanimous; he had not only pardoned all of Jiang Chen’s crimes, but had forbidden anyone from bringing them up again. This was obviously the mark of a generous heart, as the Jiang family could now avoid worrying about these crimes resurfacing in the future.

Jiang Chen flashed a dazzling smile accordingly and delivered shocking words, “Actually, Her Highness is not sick.”

These words stunned all those present.

Did Jiang Chen want to die? He dared to say that the princess was not sick after all that hoopla? Why would she be like this if not sick?

Eastern Lu had an overwhelming urge to stomp on Jiang Chen’s face, but the reasoning of a king told him to be calm, be calm. He had to let this brat finish even if he was full of hot air.

“I say, what’s with all your expressions? Do you actually want the princess to be sick?”

The duke of Tianshui could hold it in no longer, “Brat Jiang, this is making fun of the king. You are asking for death!”

Jiang Chen rubbed his nose self consciously and said, “Your Majesty, I’ve already said that I received divine guidance to shed light on the princess’ illness. Someone might anger the gods if they continue to jump up and down and make a fuss here.”

Under any other circumstances, Eastern Lu would have definitely thought Jiang Chen was full of nonsense about the entire matter.

However, he couldn’t afford to not believe him at this moment. Firstly, this matter had to do with his beloved daughter’s life and secondly, the kid was caned to death, but not really. Even he didn’t believe that this wasn’t proof of divine intervention. He was well aware of the efficiency of those in charge of carrying out executions, how was it possible to mess up torturing someone to death?

Eastern Lu had no choice but to believe in Jiang Chen due to those two points. He sternly commanded, “Duke of Tianshui, you are dismissed.”

“Your Majesty, this rat is spreading wild rumors…” The Tianshui duke hastily spoke.

“Dismissed!” His king was quite angry.

The duke of Tianshui backed meekly into the crowd. Despite wanting to bring the Jiang family down a notch, he didn’t have the courage to butt heads with his king.

“Your Majesty, the divine being is quite angry. He will not speak until the witless person who spoke out of turn slaps himself three times. But the duke of Tianshui is a mighty duke, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to slap himself?”

“Not to mention considering Your Majesty’s dignity and grace, how could you possibly command a duke to slap himself? It seems that it comes down to a matter of if the duke of Tianshui is truly self aware and loyal to the kingdom. If it was me, I would not hesitate to slap myself 30 times, not just a mere three times.”

The nobles who had come with Eastern Lu started whispering amongst themselves after Jiang Chen had spoken. Some thought Jiang Chen was making it all up, while others thought there was a great deal of truth in the situation.

Of course, they weren’t the ones who needed to slap themselves. They were all audience members and thus felt no pressure. They cast their eyes as one to the duke of Tianshui in the middle of the crowd.

Those around the duke consciously vacated the vicinity and consciously maintained a certain distance from him, highlighting the duke’s location.

The duke of Tianshui suddenly felt a cold breeze wash over him. He realized with despair in that moment that out of all his peers, not a single person was willing to stand up for him. It was as if the whole world was ostracizing him.