Having the genes of a demon king, I never intended to be a kept man.

Chu Wanhe was well aware that with today's advanced methods of communication, even nobles wouldn't typically use such formal stationery unless it was an extremely important matter...

Chu Wanhe seemed to have anticipated something, but he still braced himself, opened the envelope, and took out the letter.

After just one glance, Chu Wanhe's face turned completely pale. He swayed slightly and sat down in the chair behind him, the letter in his hand fluttering to the ground.

His wife couldn't help but ask, "What...what's wrong?"

Chu Wanhe's lips moved slightly: "See for yourself."

The wife picked up the letter from the ground.

The letter contained only a single, very simple line of text:

"Do you want a price, or war?"

The signature is Night Owl.

The wife asked, "What does this mean?"

"What do you mean? Is that even a question?" Chu Wanhe looked as if he had aged ten years. "Night Owl already knows that we sent assassins to kill his son! This means he's asking us whether we're willing to pay the price or go to war with the Night Family..."

The wife frowned: "Do they really have such audacity? To openly declare war on us?"

Chu Wanhe said, "There is one set of laws between nobles and commoners, and another set of laws between nobles. According to the imperial law, they have conclusive evidence, and we will bear all the consequences. Afterwards, they will not bear any responsibility."

“Well…” his wife hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then let’s fight them! You’re an earl, surely you can’t beat a viscount.”

"Fight?" Chu Wanhe was already drenched in cold sweat. "Even if we fight the demonized family, no matter the cost or our strength, we won't last three days!"

The wife looked on in astonishment: "How is this possible??"

Chu Wanhe ignored his wife.

His body trembled slightly. He looked at his hands, his mind racing with thoughts of what to do next.

Cost or war...?

The owl didn't completely rule things out, meaning there was still room for reconciliation.

The question is, what price would he have to pay to satisfy the Ye family? Pay money? Issue a public apology? Ceding territory? Giving up business? Giving up family resource points?

Night Owl didn't clearly state what price he wanted. In fact, it's possible that no matter how sincere he was, the Night Clan would still be dissatisfied! In other words, after making painful sacrifices and paying a heavy price, he might still end up with war!

Yes... this is very likely a conspiracy by the Night Family. They want to weaken his strength without losing a single soldier! To severely damage him! Then Night Owl will lead the demonized army to attack Ten Thousand Swords City directly, at which point he might not even have a chance to fight back!

That cunning fox!

“There’s no other way…” Chu Wanhe gritted his teeth and looked up. His wife was startled when she saw his bloodshot eyes.

"You'll have to ask your relatives in the royal family for help," Chu Wanhe said. "That's all we can do for now..."

Drop drop-

At that moment, Chu Wanhe's communication watch rang. He picked it up and saw that it was a call from Lan Mi, the principal of the War Academy.

Chu Wanhe was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why Lan Mi would call at this time, but he still answered the call.

A holographic image quickly appeared in front of him.

Lan Mi appeared to be sitting in her principal's office, one leg crossed in black stockings, leaning comfortably in her office chair, and said with a smile, "Lord Chu, it seems I can't find you."

"Principal Lan, is there anything I can help you with?" Chu Wanhe was still quite respectful towards this top ten powerhouse of the human empire, even though he was now the teacher of that little demon seed, Ye Ge.

"Oh, it's nothing." Lan Mi said, popping a small snack into her mouth. "I just heard that Lord Chu's business has been booming lately."

Chu Wanhe was stunned for a moment.

Business?

He didn't react for a moment.

“I recently investigated all the Soul Crystal export lists of Asen City in recent years.”

Lan Mi munched on potato chips, saying, "Guess what I found? I discovered that some of the numbers, numbering in the billions, don't match up!"

Chu Wanhe's pupils contracted sharply. Even if he were slow on the uptake, he should understand what Lan Mi meant by that now. He hurriedly said in a panic, "Principal Lan, this..."

"Oh, it's nothing, I just came to say hello." Lan Mi waved her hand: "I've already submitted these lists to the royal family and the imperial law enforcement officers."

Chu Wanhe: "..."

Lan Mi: "Okay, that's all for now, bye-bye~"

The video call was disconnected.

"..."

A long silence fell over the room.

Chu Wanhe was momentarily stunned. He stared blankly ahead, feeling almost completely drained.

When he was planning the assassination, he had considered the consequences of failure, but he thought the chances of failure were extremely low, so he didn't care much about the consequences.

But now, it seems that what happened with a one in a billion chance has actually happened.

Chu Wanhe was gripped by deep fear. He had fought alongside the Ye family on the battlefield of ten thousand races, so he knew how terrifying the Ye family's demonized humans were on the battlefield. And without a doubt, even asking the royal family for help was now unlikely.

"What do we do now?" His wife was also a little flustered. The only person she could rely on was his sister in the royal family, but now it was clear that his sister could no longer protect them. They couldn't afford to be accused of smuggling soul crystals.

“There’s no other way…” Chu Wanhe suddenly stood up and said in a deep voice, “I’m going to Duke Wang En’s place right now.”