My older sister is a villainous rich girl

Richard helped Jonia up.

“I think anyone would not turn a blind eye to such a heinous act,” he said gently to Jonia, before turning to His Majesty the King.

“Father! I think this matter cannot be the work of just one person. Jonia only recently came to the capital from his hometown, and this person is a complete stranger to Jonia. It is almost impossible that he would carry out this revenge because of a personal grudge.”

Richard analyzed the situation methodically. "Furthermore, when I went to the stables, I was surprised to find that none of the grooms who were supposed to be there to conduct the pre-race checks had shown up."

“If it weren’t for negligence on the part of the caregivers, this outsider would not have been able to sneak into the stables.”

He declared loudly, "Therefore, I have reason to suspect that this person has accomplices! Please immediately detain all those involved in this matter to prevent any from escaping!"

The king's patience had reached its limit. He gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, all his previous pleasant mood vanished, and he spoke almost in a low voice: "How long are you going to keep this up?!"

"Guards! Drag His Highness away!" he shouted at the guards.

However, the royal guards below the stage all obeyed Richard's orders and remained indifferent to His Majesty the King's commands.

Realizing this, the king's face turned pale.

The situation became extremely tense, and the entire room fell silent.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Lawrence arrived late.

Wien, who was having a headache, stayed close to Lawrence to keep him in check.

Hearing the sound, Richard turned and glanced at Lawrence, but said nothing. The King, however, used this interruption to adjust the slightly distorted expression of anger on his face.

"Lawrence, take your brother away," the king said expressionlessly.

“I will go down, but not now,” Richard said defiantly.

He wasn't even speaking to His Majesty the King, but to his brother Lawrence. "—Because I stand here not for myself, but for the fairness and justice of this match."

Seemingly sensing something from his reaction, Lawrence glanced at the King in the stands.

Then, quite naturally, they saw Lady Cherry, who had no right to sit next to the king.

Lawrence was clearly taken aback.

"What do you want to say?" he asked in a vacant voice.

“I’m saying… someone’s playing games with this competition.” Richard smiled, his eyes lowered. “Or perhaps they’re putting on a show, a charade.”

Wayne listened from the side, seemingly understanding but not quite.

He belatedly realized: Could it be that Richard ruthlessly exposed the organizer's original plan to pull a fast one?

After glancing at the prisoner kneeling on the ground, Wayne carefully examined the man's expression.

In his eyes, there was only a sense of utter despair and utter hopelessness.

Whether he made a sudden decision or not, Lawrence resolutely walked towards the prisoner.

"Since this is such an important event, and even I, the prince, am attending, of course I will not allow anyone to make any underhanded moves in front of me." As he spoke, he drew the sword from the waist of the guard next to him and pointed the tip at the prisoner.

"Speak! Who else is in your group?"

He simply took matters into his own hands and interrogated Richard in front of everyone.

Seeing this, Richard's lips curled into a faint smile, but Wayne just wanted to slap his own head.

Dude, this isn't the way to interrogate someone! It's a miracle you've gotten any secrets out of them like this.

Seeing that the two princes had temporarily formed a united front, he didn't bother to consider the king's reaction and went straight to the point about the prisoner's identity: "You are a student of Qingxi Academy, aren't you?"

Upon hearing the words "Seiki Academy," the prisoner, who had remained unmoved even under the threat of the longsword, suddenly trembled.

He slowly raised his head and looked at the two princes who were close at hand, as well as the president of the Lily Society who was standing not far away.

In the academy, these people were all influential figures whom he could not reach...

Chapter 581 Common Enemy

"I...I'm not the main culprit! I was just doing someone else's job. He promised me that once I finished this, he would give me some money so I could pay off my previous debts..."

Richard and Lawrence both looked surprised when Wayne said he was their classmate.

As talents cultivated by the kingdom's number one magic academy, they can be said to have a bright future no matter what industry they pursue after graduation. Why would they take such a risk to do this kind of thing?

However, the facts are undeniable, and people have no choice but to believe them.

Realizing his impending doom, the prisoner seemed to finally regain his normal thinking ability, suddenly becoming emotional and blurting out all the hidden secrets behind it all.

“I am Boris from Class C. I was invited by some classmates to play a game called ‘poker’ and ended up owing two thousand pounds… They even forced me to write an IOU.”

The man was almost in tears as he spoke. "But my family isn't well-off, and there's no way I can scrape together two thousand Grand pounds, so I have to find another way..."

Wayne's lips twitched. Could it be that the game Chris "invented" has caught the attention of gamblers? It seems that many people have indeed learned to play it now, and it's quite popular in aristocratic circles.

“That’s no excuse for doing this!” Lawrence was not convinced by his self-justification.

"If your plan succeeds, would you even think about making up for Jonya's losses? Of course not. You'd just comfortably enjoy the ill-gotten gains and then repeat the same thing the next time you're short of money!"

"The two princes, and Wayne." In the ordinary audience seats, a figure jumped over the railing and onto the field, landing steadily in front of them.

It turned out to be Mr. Harold, the chairman of the school's board of directors.

His secretary, Beatrice, stood up awkwardly from the seat next to him, seemingly unsure whether she should climb over the wall with him.

"Chairman?" Wayne exclaimed in surprise. "Why aren't you in the upper stands?"

Although the organizers screen attendees based on their backgrounds, Harold's qualifications were more than enough to pass the screening, and there was no possibility of him being excluded.

"Well, I just don't want to deal with too many people..." He vaguely brushed off the topic and turned to look at His Majesty the King in the high stands.

“Your Majesty, and Your Highnesses. Since this culprit is a student of Qingxi Academy, as the chairman of the academy, I should bear some responsibility. Why don’t I step forward and cooperate with Lord Bulwer to conduct an investigation?”

He stated formally, "I, Harold, guarantee with my personal reputation that I will take this matter seriously and will not tolerate or cover it up!"

Harold's words were slightly more palatable, barely giving the king a way out.

"In that case... I'll entrust it to you for now."

This incident greatly dampened the king's spirits. "Take the prisoner away first."

He leaned on the railing, looking like he had a headache.

Having obtained the king's permission, Richard could no longer obstruct the process.

So, under the deeply moved gaze of the victim, Jonia, Richard slowly said, "Alright, I believe your guarantee, Chairman Harold. But there's one last request! I also want to participate in the investigation of this matter."

The parties that had been deadlocked finally reached an agreement, the problem was temporarily resolved, and the competition was able to resume as normal.

But it's hard to say how many people will still be able to focus on the competition itself.

Once Wayne returned to his seat in the stands, Chris, quite gossipy, inquired about the information he had obtained.

However, Wayne did not tell her that the conflict between Richard and the King was deepening behind the scenes, but instead evaded the question.

In Wayne's view, the king could be described as cunning, but many of his actions were hardly clever... and he often seemed to lack a sense of proportion.

For him, since he already has such an excellent son as Richard, what's wrong with being a little more lenient with him?

Even disregarding the natural father-son relationship, and even if it were for the sake of maintaining his "perfect" reputation, it would be difficult for Richard to stand on the opposite side, right? But it seems that he is only satisfied when his sons are unhappy with his actions all along.

What kind of psychology is this?

Judging from the current situation, regardless of what the king thinks, Richard clearly has no intention of being manipulated by him anymore.

If Wayne's guess is correct, Richard's insistence on making a big fuss this time is probably also a way to send a warning. He needs a tool to demonstrate the rift between him and the king.

As for using this opportunity to get the foolish older brother Lawrence to his side, that was just a side objective.

How do you unite a person?

The best approach is to create a common enemy for both yourself and the other party.

In this sense, the brothers' resentment towards His Majesty the King was the best tool for unification.

"Tsk tsk tsk... That's quite a clever method."

Wayne sighed inwardly.

With limited time available, Marseille rushed into the project process.

Meanwhile, the nobles who were invited to support the event in the upper stands naturally had to generously contribute their money.

Fortunately, before the group set off, Duke Elliott had specially replenished the savings of Wayne and Chris, as a way to reimburse their expenses for the day, so Wayne paid out his money with particular ease this time.

"Buy all horses number 8, the one that was almost drugged just now," he said without thinking.

This horse race is for charitable purposes. Besides the winner receiving a share of the prize money, a portion of the prize pool will be donated to designated welfare institutions within the capital. In other words, this is a place to spend money.

Therefore, Wayne had virtually no psychological burden.

The staff were very professional; after registering his betting information, they moved on to the next person.

Chris, on the other hand, hesitated for a long time.

"Oh dear, I don't even know what those horses look like, or which one is stronger... Oh well, I'll just have to close my eyes and fill in the blanks randomly." She randomly wrote down the number 7.

Wayne smiled without saying a word.

After a while, Chris finally noticed his "ill-intentioned" gaze and tilted her head in confusion, asking, "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"nothing."

Wayne looked away.

He had originally intended to say that if drugging the horse was indeed a planned and organized premeditated act, then the horse involved must have been very strong…

However, since this is just a "spectator race" for everyone, which is more like entertainment, does it really matter whether Chris bought the strongest horse or not?

Chapter 582 Yes, good luck.

Marseille will be played in several rounds.

As expected, just as Wayne had guessed, horse number 8 advanced all the way and quickly qualified for the final.

Chris's horse, number 7, was eliminated in the first round, so she joined Wayne in cheering for horse number 8. It's worth noting that Richard's horse, number 11, also made it to the final.

"Dad, which one did you buy again?" Chris finally remembered to ask.

"Of course it's number 11."

The Duke of Elliott appeared remarkably calm, more like someone sitting in a theater quietly enjoying a performance than watching an exciting horse race.

"But the final winner will probably be number 8." His tone was completely without suspense.

"Huh? Why?" Chris asked, looking confused.

"Because, since it's a competition that even the crown prince has to participate in, how could the organizers not try every means to protect him and eliminate threats? Regardless of whose intentions are behind this."

...So that's how it is.

Wayne glanced at the horses galloping on the track. They had no idea what had just happened; they were simply racing at full speed within the designated area.

If Richard hadn't caught the person who committed the dirty trick and hadn't been so adamant about immediate punishment, horse number 8 would probably have already withdrawn due to poor form or physical discomfort. And this race would have truly become a self-indulgent performance.

This is probably the true meaning of what Richard just said, "a hymn to deception"... It's quite fitting, isn't it?

The conflict between Richard and His Majesty the King seems to be more than just an emotional disagreement; it is a clash of fundamental beliefs between the two.

Ultimately, whether the East Wind prevails over the West Wind or the West Wind prevails over the East Wind depends on whose methods are superior.

……

The match on the field was in full swing, and the atmosphere, after a period of adjustment, became lively again.

Horse number 8 shone brightly, whether racing solo or as a horse and rider in sync. Later, the race even turned into a special show for horses number 8 and 11, with almost the entire audience chanting their favorite numbers, their faces flushed with excitement.

"Number 8! Number 8!" Many people couldn't remember the rider's name, but they could all see the large number markings on both sides of the soft cloth under him, on the back of his horse.

The young man named Jonia was also excited at this moment, his lips tightly pursed and his hand gripping the reins tightly.

At the referee's command, the contestants shot off like arrows.

On the track, Richard responded immediately. Two figures quickly pulled further and further ahead of the others.

The closer he got to the finish line, the louder the cheers from the stadium became. Wayne was surrounded by the boiling cheers and felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he were watching a football game in a past life.

However, Richard's horse number 11 was very close to number 8, but he just couldn't overtake it.

"Richard is going to lose."