Marco was dead, his body was already cold, and his eyes were still staring straight at the door, full of disbelief and horror, he collapsed next to his chair, covered in coagulated blood, and there was only one wound on his body, that is, a knife wound to the throat, a fatal stab, deep in the bones.

Payne walked in, although he was mentally prepared, but when this bloody scene appeared in front of him, Payne still felt a little stuffy in his chest, Marco died like this, and he didn't give people time to react at all.

The fact that the knife was swinging from the front, and that Marco had no defensive or counter-attacking movements, showed that he believed in his companion very much, but he did not expect to be killed. Payne looked at Marco's corpse and tried to recreate the scene, "The man was standing in front of Marco, less than three feet away, and his knife was very accurate, cutting Marko's artery and larynx with a single blow. ”

The knight who followed Payne stepped forward to check it, sighed and said, "It should be caused by the uneven distribution of the spoils, I have seen many thieves kill their companions for this reason." ”

"The drawings are not on him, my lord. But we found this, a fragment of parchment used by the lord. A knight spread out his hand, and two pieces of crumbs lay in his palm, the parchment reserved for the Rand drawing room.

After a careful search, Marco did not have any stolen blueprints, and if you think about it, you know that if Marko's companions killed him because of those blueprints, they would definitely not leave those blueprints on his corpse.

"The man who killed Marco was professional, he handled the footprints and blood stains so cleanly that we couldn't track him down through these, and it seems that the trail was broken here. One of the knights shrugged helplessly.

I was reluctant to believe it, but it was true, at least on the surface, Marco's companion was the main culprit in the theft, otherwise there would be no way to explain his unusual behavior, but Payne always felt that things should not be so simple.

"What's that?" a ring on Marko's right hand caught Payne's attention, and on Marko's right index finger, a large sapphire ring reflected a faint light, a ring that was obviously expensive compared to Marko's old armor.

Given the amount of silver he could get from the rand every year, Marco couldn't afford to buy expensive sapphire jewelry, so where did he get it?

Payne stepped forward, half-squatting on the ground and grabbed Marko's palm, the cold and slippery touch came from the palm of his hand, Payne felt like he had grabbed a twisted snake body in the mud, he had seen many dead people, and he had killed thieves and robbers with his own hands, Payne felt that he had already been immune to the fear of death, but at this time he held Marko's hand, but he had goosebumps, the impact of the death of an unknown person was far less intense than that of a close person, Payne stared at Marko's face, just yesterday they were training together, and in less than ten hours, he turned into a cold corpse, angryPayne actually felt a little sad.

Payne grabbed Marco's palm hard, gritted his teeth and took off the ring on Marco's index finger, Payne put it in the palm of his hand and weighed it gently, his face suddenly changed, this weight is not right, the density of sapphires is very high, and the weight is much heavier than silver of the same volume, but the weight of this ring seems to be too light, and it is ......

It seems to be hollow.

Payne walked quickly to the door, took it out into the sunlight and looked at it, and sighed in his heart, the huge sapphire was just a shell, and in the center of it there was a faint object rolling, like a wax pill.

Payne pulled out the knife he had brought with him, pried open the sapphire's shell, and a sealed ball of paper appeared in front of him.

"My lord, this is ......" The two knights followed.

Payne didn't make a sound, but crushed the layer of wax wrapped on the outside with his hands, gently unfolded the paper ball, swept his eyes twice, and suddenly his face changed greatly.

"You guys keep this place, I must see the lord right away!"

......

In the palace, Rand put down the note, and suddenly felt his head buzz, and Payne stood across from him, his face solemn.

"If the contents of this secret letter are true, then there are many hidden spies around me. Rand felt a little dry in his throat, "My third brother actually has such great ability to infiltrate so many people who belong to him around me!"

The note hidden inside Marco's ring is a secret letter, the contents of which are shocking, written by Marco himself, recording the transaction between him and Rand's third brother Bran, how he was bought by Bran, became Bran's eyeliner, monitored Rand's every move, and carried out a series of activities at the right time, such as sabotage, such as assassination.

The secret letter also clearly records the names and positions of all the people infiltrated by Bran around Rand, it seems that Marco does not fully believe Bran, he knows very well what kind of person the sinister and cunning Bran is, for him who is good at playing tricks, Marco also has an extra eye, and records everything on paper, and it is well preserved, just to prevent Bran from crossing the river and demolishing the bridge.

This secret letter cannot be forged by Marko, because the price paid to forge such a secret letter is too great, and the people recorded by Marco are scattered in the distribution area, and the position is not high, if you just want to borrow your own hands to get rid of those subordinates, it is completely unnecessary, this is too much trouble.

"What do you think?" Rand asked, frowning

I originally thought that there was a duke father, and I should be quite comfortable as a lord, but I didn't expect bad things to happen one after another, there were beasts on the outside, and brothers were doing things behind him, Bran was different from Ron, he was careful and cautious and refused to relax easily, and he was more difficult to deal with than Ron to any events and people that might pose a threat to him.

"Just look into the correspondence of these people and the dispersion of family and friends. ”

"If that's true," Payne paused, then added, "So, what are you going to do with them?"

"Help me ask them why they did this!" Rand said after a moment's hesitation.

"Yes!" Payne saluted, turned his head and walked out the door.

"Payne!" Rand suddenly called out to Payne, who was about to leave, behind him, sighed and said, "Forget it, don't ask." It's all happening, and there's no point in asking about it again. Dispose of it for me. ”

Payne naturally understood the meaning of the word "dispose" in Lante's words, his face did not change, and he nodded lightly, "As you wish, the betrayer should not be pardoned. ”