Chapter 461 Only A Misunderstanding

As the offer was given to them, everyone was stunned as they looked at each other. Gideon and Gale had been longtime friends so they were considered quite close. For the group’s trip to Country F, Gideon could have asked Gale for help but since it was related to Old K, he decided against it. After all, the relationships between all these organizations were complicated and it could lead to a conflict of interests. With that in mind, he did not even tell Gale anything about the situation. Firstly, he did not want to cause his friend trouble. Secondly, if this entire issue was related to the Bauhinia Clan, telling Gale Shelby beforehand would not only be of no help. It might even alert the Bauhinia Clan into taking actions to cover up the truth. Hence, Gideon did not tell Gale anything. However, at this time, since Gale already offered so nicely, there was no way Gideon could just outright reject his hospitality. Hence, he quickly made an excuse for themselves. “I’m sorry, we still have some things we need to take care of, we’re only here for a small detour so we’ll not impose on you this time.” Gale just chuckled. “I know all about the things you’re trying to take care of. You guys don’t need to waste so much effort to go find that man. I’m the ‘master behind the scenes’ you guys speak of - the real owner of the Tiger’s Den.” The group was dumbstruck. After ten minutes, the group once again returned to the room they had just left, taking a seat once more. This time, when Scarface saw their arrival, other than the feeling of surprise, he was also much more careful and cautious. “Sir…” he said to Gale in a soft voice. However, before he could even say anything, Gale waved his hand, motioning for Scarface to leave. He turned back and faced the group once more. His calm and kind smile radiated a sense of gentleness. “I have a basic grasp on the reason for your visit today. To be honest, I’ll admit that I had wanted to lay a hand on your friend before but ultimately, that person was not killed by our people.” Nell frowned. “Not by your people?” “That’s correct.” From the drawer of the desk, he pulled out a document and placed it in front of the group. “Look at this, this is a real image of our Chinese Redcap while this is the one that was on your friend’s body. Although the two images look nearly identical, this petal here is facing two opposite directions.” The group noticed it was as said as they carefully looked at it. Although the images looked extremely similar, upon closer inspection, one of the petals was facing left while the other was facing right. Nell could not help but frown. “Sir, you said earlier that you’ve wanted to lay a hand on him. May I ask as to what you meant by that?” As she brought up this question, Gale briefly hesitated. After all, these things should be considered confidential and be kept within their respective organizations. It was not something he could just simply blurt out. However, when he glanced over at Nell and deliberated a bit more, he said it outright, “Because of a certain shooting case. At that time, there was an important member of our organization that got gunned down. All the evidence seemed to point at your dear friend. “In our investigation, the only major conflict he had prior to the incident was a quarrel over a race he had with your friend. With that and other interests in mind to give a proper resolution to the members, I made the plans to make a move on him. “However, upon further investigation, we realized that it was only a misunderstanding. Right when I was about to send out an order to have my men abort this mission, I’ve received word that your friend, Old K, had died in an accident. “Looking more into his death, I found that there was no way this could just be a coincidence no matter how you look at it. Hence, I suspected that the culprit had somehow heard about us trying to take action against your friend and decided to use it as an excuse to shift the blame onto us.” His words and attitude were sincere to the point where Nell could not pick up even a single trace of a lie. All she could do at this point was to look over at Gideon Leith. Gideon groaned as he tried to formulate his thoughts before saying, “If you’ve investigated all of this, then you must’ve also known that, not long ago, your people had tried to make a move on me…” Before he finished, Gale had interrupted him. “I know about that issue. I’d like to formally give you an apology here. That whole issue was only a misunderstanding.” Nell’s face stiffened. “A misunderstanding? After trying to take someone’s life, you’re now saying that it was only a misunderstanding?! What kind of sick joke are you saying?” Seeing her enraged expression, Gale did not fret. He waited for her to finish before continuing to explain, “It was truly just a misunderstanding. If I knew the people that night were you guys, I’d definitely not have given out such an order.” Nell was stunned. She frowned as she asked, “That night?” “Yes.” Gale nodded. “In the very beginning, I didn’t know that you guys were coming to Country F. You guys had intentionally hidden your identities. I didn’t notice. It’s only when I heard the report of a mysterious influential group coming around trying to dig up dirt on the Bauhinia Clan that I noticed something was up. “I was worried that it could be people up to no good, so I immediately gave out the order. It was fine if they didn’t try to dig more into the Bauhinia Clan but if they did, I wanted my men to take action immediately. That way, it’d stop them in their tracks and also serve as a warning for anyone with the same intent. “Never would I have expected for those people to be you guys. To tell you the truth, I feel extremely guilty over this issue but since I was the one who gave out the order, no matter what reason I give you, I wouldn’t be able to absolve myself from this responsibility. “You can blame me for this issue, I won’t have any complaints. No matter how you want to settle this, I also won’t think badly of you.” No matter how Nell thought about it, she had never expected it to be just a blunder. Although Gale Shelby had brought the entire incident to light, it still did not change the fact that Gideon was injured by it. It was natural for her to still hold some resentment over it. At this time, Scarface suddenly walked in. Looking at Nell, he resolved himself and said, “I was the one who sent out the order. My master had only asked me to do it. It was also my fault for not getting Evelyn to abort the mission in time. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me. “No matter what punishment you wish to give, I shall willingly take the responsibility for it.” Nell coldly spat, “Just you? Do you think you can take responsibility for this issue just because you said so?” Seeing her about to start another rampage, Gideon quickly squeezed her hand tightly. He looked over at Gale and said softly, “Mr. Shelby, I’ll not mull over this entire debacle too much but I’d ask you guys to hand over whatever clues you have found right now.” Gale was stunned, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Gideon. With a chuckle, he said, “As expected of Gideon Leith… And here I thought I could hide this issue from you. Never would I’ve expected that you’d find out.” Gideon just smirked as he said plainly, “If you guys already know that people are trying to harm the Bauhinia Clan, even trying to sow hate between the Dragon Regiment and the Shelby household, there was no way you’d just ignore it and let such a movement continue to grow. Even if you don’t actively do anything, you’d at the very least try to find out who are the people trying to harm you behind your backs.” Gale nodded. “You’re right. I’ve been keeping an eye out on this issue. No matter what kind of intentions they might have, all I know is it can’t be a good one. “Over the years, we’ve been coexisting fine with the Dragon Regiment, never overstepping our mutual boundaries. This kind of thing had never happened.”