Chapter 42

Murder mystery games are role-playing detective and puzzle-solving games. The main process includes self-introduction and timeline presentation, first round of evidence gathering and group discussion, second round of evidence gathering and group discussion, and finally voting.

Xue Jin'an had a strange premonition that this case was related to the Consort Zhen case, and that the Emperor would definitely hold back. This game had come at just the right time.

After all, as long as someone votes during the voting stage, someone will definitely be elected.

Xue Jin'an entered the game without hesitation.

[You have been matched with the script "The Prince's Temptation" and have joined the room. Your role is the host.]

Xue Jin'an had thought he would be the detective, but he never expected to become the host in charge of following the procedures. However, when he saw that the detective was Consort Min, he understood why.

There was no Empress in the palace, so the Imperial Noble Consort had the power to manage the six palaces. The assassination attempt in the Imperial Study and the recent horse-startling incident both occurred in the inner palace, which was within her jurisdiction. This is one point. Secondly, and most importantly, the Emperor did not revoke her right to search the palace and investigate the case.

Incidentally, the original murder mystery game only had three role cards: detective, suspect, and murderer, with the murderer card hidden. Now, after the game has been modified and adapted using magic, in addition to the concubines' suspect cards, many strange new cards have been added.

For example, the emperor is the presiding judge, with the authority to veto a vote and order a revote; the empress dowager is the jury, with voting authority; Li Hechun and the chief guard are special NPCs who will act at special times.

As for the princes' identity tags, they were all gray and only showed their ranking without their names. They were very hasty and perfunctory, like a background sticker, making the fifth prince's red "victim (mild)" stand out very much.

Xue Jin'an couldn't help but wonder if the Third Prince was here, and whether the information in parentheses on his identity card indicated a severe or critical illness.

—The rash on the Third Prince's body has been preliminarily determined not to be an epidemic, but the imperial physicians are not sure if it is contagious, so he has been left in the horse farm, where he remains in a coma with a high fever.

This also caused Consort Xian to stare intently at Consort De with bloodshot eyes, wishing she could rush up and strangle her.

Xue Jin'an, who was thinking this, never expected that Consort Min would be stripped of her detective status before she even made it through the first round of group discussions.

They are still recounting the timeline. Several suspects are in their own palaces and all say they only learned about the incident at the horse farm from the Imperial Hospital. Even Consort De gave the same account.

"You're lying!" Consort Xian slammed her hand on the table and stood up, pointing at her and sneering, "This is your horse ranch. Such a serious incident as the prince falling from his horse occurred, yet not a single person informed you? Lin Yuenu, are you so unpopular that you can't even control your own horse ranch, or are you harboring ill intentions and deliberately plotting to harm the prince!?"

Consort De remained unfazed by her accusations, finishing her tea before rising. "Leaving aside what benefit I would gain from harming the Third Prince, if I truly intended to murder a prince, why would I choose my own place? Wouldn't the Imperial Stables be better?"

"Of course, it's easier for you to do things on your own turf!" Consort Xian said righteously. "Huan'er likes spirited horses, and you take all of them away to lure Huan'er to your horse farm. What a vicious heart you have!"

Consort De knew immediately that she was immersed in her own logic and that no matter how much she argued, she couldn't change it, so she simply gave up and repeated, "I have no reason to harm the Third Prince."

"How could there not be?" Consort Xian immediately seized on this point and pressed on aggressively, "My son is about to turn fifteen and enter the court to participate in government affairs. Isn't this going to get in the way of the eldest prince? So you might as well go all the way and kill my son before he has gained enough power, then there will be no one to compete with your son for the throne!"

Everyone was speechless after hearing Consort Xian's words. How could such a matter as vying for the throne be spoken so openly in this setting? Putting aside the scandal of royal brothers fighting each other, the emperor was sitting right there. To discuss the struggle for the throne in front of him was practically cursing the emperor to his death.

Even the emperor couldn't help but sternly rebuke, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

Although it was a reprimand, the tone was not harsh; it was more like a reminder. The emperor was not angry, which was completely different from the emperor in the original text who saw a drooping eagle and thought it was an allegory for his own decline and a curse upon his death, so he threw the falconer into prison.

In the original text, he also severely reprimanded the sixth prince who had submitted a petition to plead for the falconer, and scolded him for acting as a lawyer when he couldn't even speak clearly. "Is he misleading the younger generation, or is he just putting on airs for my benefit?"

The sixth prince suffered ridicule from a young age because of his stutter, but Consort Shu never thought he was bad. She only focused on teaching him to read more, which prevented his personality from going astray. He never thought that one day he would be attacked by the words of the person closest to him.

The sixth prince immediately turned pale. When he left Qianyuan Palace, he was so distracted that he missed a step and tumbled down the steps. After that, he claimed to be ill and did not attend court until the eighth prince ascended the throne and bestowed upon him the title of prince. Only then did he show his face and bring Consort Shu, who was now the princess consort, into his residence to take care of her.

The current emperor is still young and vigorous, gradually consolidating his power. He is not afraid of death, nor does he take these unintentional remarks to heart.

He was not angry at all; in fact, he even made a few words to defend Consort Xian, saying, "I know you are worried and heartbroken over the mistress, but this matter is of great importance and should not be judged rashly."

Consort Xian, however, thought the Emperor was supporting her. Suddenly, she burst into tears, turned around, and knelt down firmly. With red eyes, she cried out, "Your Majesty, my Huan'er is still so young, yet he has been harmed by that vile and wicked woman. His life or death is still unknown. I beg Your Majesty to do justice for my son!"

The Emperor was used to Consort Rong's tearful, soft-spoken lamentations, but this was the first time he had heard Consort Xian use this tactic. Her sudden outburst made his ears go numb, and seeing her unrestrained crying, he couldn't help but slightly shift his gaze.

The Emperor turned to the other party involved, "Consort De, what do you think?"

"If you want to find fault, you can always find a reason." Consort De rose and bowed to the Emperor, then turned to Consort Xian and said, "I did not do it, and that is that. Consort Xian, don't use your stupid brain to make wild guesses about me. It will only make people laugh."

"You!" Consort Xian was furious and raised her hand to slap him.

With a "smack," Consort Xian turned her face to the side, her cheek burning red.

In the long silence, only Consort De's calm voice could be heard. She released Consort Xian's hand and said, "Consort Xian, have you calmed down yet?"

Xue Jin'an keenly noticed that Consort De's lips curled up by three pixels, forming a smile that only Consort Xian could see.

"You wretch!" Consort Xian was indeed provoked to the point of going berserk and trying to attack Consort De. Consort De seemed to be frightened and took several steps back, almost falling onto the chair, but her hand actually touched the riding whip on the table.

The emperor's face darkened, while the Empress Dowager calmly drank her tea. The princes, who had never seen anything like this before, were all dumbfounded.

"Insolence!" the emperor roared, and Li Hechun and the head guard, two special NPCs, were activated and were about to go down to stop people.

Xue Jin'an did some calculations and regretfully realized that this palace intrigue was destined to fail. He simply moved on to the next step, muting everyone and beginning to read his lines, "Next, we will begin the first round of evidence gathering and group discussion..."

His words carried more weight than an imperial edict. Almost the instant they left his lips, Consort De and Consort Xian stopped moving, and everyone returned to their original positions.

The evidence search was completed when they entered Qian Yuan Palace. Xue Jin'an's magic allowed him to see some scattered scenes as if he were watching a murder mystery game.

Aside from the empresses in the palace issuing orders and sending people to search for clues, there was also the scene of the autopsy at the Imperial Hospital.

Originally, there should have been only four bodies to be examined: Zheng Xi from the Imperial Study, the assassin, Cuiyun found in the dry well in the Cold Palace, and the dead eunuch from the Imperial Horse Administration.

—Yes, that's right. The major event that delayed the Third Prince's treatment and was kept secret by the imperial physicians was the discovery of the eunuch's body lying on the steps outside Qian Yuan Palace.

The manner of death was extremely gruesome. Blood flowed from all seven orifices, the eyes were bulging, and the expression was twisted in pain. Judging from the purple lips and bloodless fingertips, it was a case of death from heart failure after being poisoned.

The manner of death was similar to that of the assassin in the Imperial Study.

In the scene, the imperial physicians took turns examining patients. Suddenly, a young physician noticed something, hesitated for a moment, and whispered a few words to Hu Yuanzheng. The latter was terrified and quickly led his men to search through all the files in the Imperial Hospital. They found two long-forgotten medical records.

Xue Jin'an immediately saw two other corpses: one was an infant still in swaddling clothes, clutching a longevity lock in its hand; the other was a two- or three-year-old child dressed in a bright yellow crown prince's robe.

Xue Jin'an recognized the longevity lock. The former should be the tenth prince born to Consort Zhen; while the latter was completely unfamiliar to Xue Jin'an, whose facial features were also completely unfamiliar, but judging from the clothing, it should be Xue Zhang, the second son of Empress Xiaojingyi.

At that time, the emperor had been in the palace for several years, but there was only one prince, Xue Zhang. The officials were worried that the emperor had few heirs. In addition, Emperor Yuan died after only three years on the throne, and the previous emperor died young. The ministers submitted memorials to establish a crown prince.

The emperor naturally agreed and wrote the imperial edict to establish the crown prince. All that was needed was for the crown prince's attire to be prepared, and then the ceremony would be held on an auspicious day to announce the appointment. However, the crown prince suddenly fell ill and died, and the empress also fell ill and never recovered.

Xue Zhang was buried with the rites due to a crown prince, and the ceremonial robes originally worn for celebration became his mourning attire. As a result, the emperor's dressing habits changed, and he usually wore black or red dragon robes.

It turns out that the original text's claim that the Consort Zhen case involved the former Empress Xiaojingyi was not just a random accusation. Did the Emperor know about this?

Xue Jin'an watched as the imperial physician rushed towards Qian Yuan Palace with his medical record, and the emperor, in a fit of rage, instantly cleared the table and smashed half of Qian Yuan Palace.

Although the scene flashed by so quickly that the data wasn't fully collected, Xue Jin'an quickly took a screenshot. He zoomed in and saw that the emperor was indeed furious but not surprised.

Xue Zhang didn't actually die of illness, but rather from a curse. Did Empress Xiaojingyi know this? When he connected with Li Hechun via Bluetooth to share his view, did hearing that abruptly stopped phrase, "the Empress of yesteryear," signify...?

The Tenth Prince also died from Gu worms. Did Consort Zhen know about this?

The Fifth Prince is also involved with Gu poison, which is how he developed his heart ailment. This means that Consort Rong has Gu poison in her possession. Did Consort Zhen know about this?

Xue Jin'an glanced at everyone in the room. "The evidence search is over. Let's move on to the first round of group discussion."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Consort Xian jumped out again, "Your Majesty, I have evidence that Consort De harmed my son!"

Consort Xian presented evidence: the "Imperial Stables Account Books"

Consort Xian: "You say you have no reason to harm my son? That's utter nonsense! It's clear that my son discovered you were secretly trading imperial horses with the Imperial Stables. You were afraid of being exposed, so you wanted to use the incident of the startled horse to kill my son. Do you admit it or not?"

"I don't believe it!" Consort De said coldly. "I don't know if the Imperial Stables have been involved in horse trafficking, but my horse farm is clean and honest. All the horse files are registered in the Imperial Animal Garden without any omissions. If you don't believe me, you can ask the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Animal Garden to come and inquire."

Consort Xian questioned, "If you weren't secretly plotting something, why would the Imperial Horse Administration send so many top-quality horses to your horse farm? And the accounts show that the Imperial Horse Administration has three to five horses missing every month. How do you explain that?"

Consort De remained calm and answered each question in turn: "If the horses in the Imperial Stables are acting strangely, you should ask the Imperial Stables. As for why they sent the horses to my stable, it's simply because my stable is large and the feed is good."

"Ha, what a load of rubbish! It seems you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin." Consort Xian sneered upon hearing this, and then took out another account book. "If that's the case, how do you explain this?"

Consort Xian presented evidence: "The ledgers of the Qilian Horse Ranch warehouse"

Consort Xian: "All the horses have gone mad, there must be something wrong with the horse farm itself. I had people check your warehouse and had the imperial physician examine the hay. Sure enough, they found that poison had been added to your hay!"

"You went to great lengths to kill my son!" Enraged, she threw two account books at Consort De's face.

Consort De was drinking tea to soothe her throat when she was caught off guard by Consort Shu's audacity in front of everyone. Fortunately, Consort Shu was quick-witted and used her hand to shield her.

Consort Shu twitched her nail-protected fingers slightly and frowned. Consort De noticed and asked, "Are you alright?"

Consort Shu shook her head and casually withdrew her hand. Consort De, seeing this, did not say anything more. She then took the handkerchief handed to her by the maid and wiped the water stains from her hands. Her gaze towards Consort Xian was cold and distant.

Before anyone could make a move, Consort Xian preemptively offered a completely insincere apology: "Huan'er's serious illness has caused me too much worry, and I accidentally exerted too much force. Please forgive me, Consort De."

"It's no fault of yours." Consort De's gaze fell on her unnaturally red cheeks, and she said in a nonchalant tone, "Just consider it a return gift from me for calming my sister down earlier."

"You—" Consort Xian was about to say something in anger when Imperial Noble Consort Min frowned and said "Nonsense" and shut her up.

Consort Xian sat down angrily, "These are my pieces of evidence."

Host Xue Jin'an, "Then who will share evidence next is..."

"I'll do it." Consort De glanced at Imperial Noble Consort Min, clapped her hands, and the palace maids behind her stepped forward to present several items.

Consort De presented evidence including "the Third Prince's clothes tainted with a strange fragrance," "a black blood test report," "testimonies from all the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Stables," "an autopsy report," and "an autopsy report on the horses," etc.

Consort De spoke up by saying, "Consort Xian said there was a problem with the fodder, and that someone was plotting to harm the prince. That is indeed the case, but that person was not me."

It turns out that the reason her fodder was better was because it was soaked in a plant juice.

“I have already presented the formula for my fodder to His Majesty, and there has never been a problem since. All the plant juices in the warehouse have also been sent to the Imperial Hospital for examination, and there are no problems. So I sent the black blood vomited by the horse that I had saved and the horse's carcass for testing, and sure enough, I found a clue.”

Consort De said, "Someone put a large number of insect eggs into my hay while it was soaking. Afterwards, the hay was cleaned up, so naturally no problem could be found."

"As expected, there's something wrong with your horse farm!" Consort Xian glared angrily. "Even if you didn't intend to harm my son, you can't escape responsibility!"

Consort De laughed upon hearing this, and slowly lifted the blood-stained clothes in the maid's hand with her riding whip, saying, "These clothes contain a large amount of Gu worm extract. Those who are afflicted by Gu will riot upon hearing them. Although the people from the Imperial Stables deliberately provoked the Third Prince to change his clothes, judging from the testimonies, these clothes were brought by him himself."

The Third Prince was very particular about his clothes. He would only wear new clothes, clothes that didn't fit him, or clothes that he didn't like. Therefore, to avoid any accidents, his personal eunuch would always bring two sets of clothes with him when he went out.

"Consort Xian, instead of doubting whether I have harmed the Third Prince, you should think carefully about who prepared this outfit for him." Seeing the sudden change in Consort Xian's expression, Consort De gave a silent sneer.

Xue Jin'an saw her lips move, silently uttering a few words, which were censored into asterisks by the anti-addiction program for minors.

Yes, someone swore, and it was quite offensive.

After silencing Consort Xian, Consort De spoke again, but suddenly took a jab at Consort Zhen and Consort Rong, saying, "The eunuch from the Imperial Stables and the assassin from the Imperial Study died in the same way, so these two incidents must be related."

Consort Zhen, holding her jade prayer beads, remained silent like a seated Buddha. Consort Rong coldly met Consort De's gaze, "What do you mean? My Jue'er was almost frightened and killed. Even tigers don't eat their cubs, yet you say it was me who did it?"

"I won't say anything more, it's just speculation, why is the Noble Consort so angry?" Consort De took out another piece of paper that was a bit old and yellowed from her sleeve, randomly picked one out from the autopsy report, and read out the same part word by word, "The lips were dark purple, the fingertips were bloodless... It is suspected that he died of heart failure after poisoning."

Everyone paused slightly, their expressions shifting from surprise to shock. Consort Shu was the first to react and look at Consort Zhen, only to see Consort Zhen's fingers resting on the turquoise prayer beads, her fingertips trembling slightly, and she didn't move them for a long time.

For a moment, the room fell silent. Consort De glanced around and looked at Consort Shu. "Sister, has anything come to mind?"

Consort Shu spoke slowly, "This seems to be similar to what happened with the Tenth Prince back then..."

With a "clatter," the jade prayer beads broke their string and clattered to the ground.

But Consort De wasn't finished. She pulled another yellowed sheet of paper from her sleeve. "I have another copy here—"

"No need to read it." The Empress Dowager gripped the armrests of the chair tightly, her whole body trembling with the force.

"Grandmother..." The Emperor immediately stepped forward to help her up, but the Empress Dowager raised her hand to stop him.

She closed her eyes and gasped for breath, trying to calm the surging anger in her heart. She suddenly raised her eyes, her gaze still bright and sharp as she stared at the emperor. "The Empress... the Empress's two children are also..."

The emperor quickly replied, "Jue'er was born with a deficiency and did not survive past infancy."

"So, my Zhang'er is actually..." The Empress Dowager couldn't finish her sentence. She closed her eyes tightly, her voice deep, slow, and almost inaudible, "Emperor, just how many things have you been hiding from me?"

The Empress Dowager did not ask the rest of the question. She opened her eyes again and looked at the Emperor, her voice cold and carrying a barely perceptible warning: "This villain's methods are ruthless and unprecedented. He has already harmed two princes... Today, we must find the culprit and show no leniency."

The implication is that no matter how powerful the interest group behind the murderer is, no matter what big fish the emperor wants to catch, and no matter how much he has contributed to it, this murderer who used witchcraft to harm the imperial heir must die today.

It must be said that the Empress Dowager knew the Emperor very well.

"I understand," the emperor replied.

The focused discussion continues.

"I have finished sharing my evidence," Consort De concluded. "The cause of this Gu worm harming people can be traced back to the time of Empress Xiaojingyi. In the sixth year of Jiahe, the Empress passed away. I had not yet entered the palace and had no way of knowing about this matter."

Consort De and Consort Xian both entered the palace through the imperial selection in the tenth year of the Jiahe era, which was the first imperial selection after the Empress's death. The second imperial selection was in the sixteenth year of the Jiahe era, when Consort Zhen and Consort Shu entered the palace.

The imperial concubine selection was originally held every three years, but the emperor changed it to every six years on the grounds that the selection was too expensive. The court officials were worried that the emperor did not have many children, so they sent people into the palace under various pretexts. Consort Rong and Consort Zhen entered the palace in this way.

The concubines looked at each other in bewilderment: If that's the case...

“In that case, only the Imperial Noble Consort fits the description of the murderer,” Consort Xian said directly.

Everyone couldn't help but glance at Consort Xian, then looked at Imperial Noble Consort Min. Xue Jin'an could finally read their expressions: What a brave warrior! They no longer dislike Consort Xian; what a fine prospect to lead the charge!

Consort Min paused for a while, as if she had just figured out the situation, and slowly spoke, but did not explain. Instead, she said thoughtfully, "In that case, only Consort Rong and I are suspected."

Consort Rong, who was watching the melon, was stunned: How did I suddenly become a part of this?

“There is some truth to that.” Consort De toyed with the riding whip in her hand and nodded like a weather vane. “Empress Xiaojingyi came from the Ningguo Mansion, and the Noble Consort is the Empress’s cousin. It is understandable if she knows something.”

Consort Shu added in a light tone, "The Imperial Concubine is also a suspect in the assassination attempt in the Imperial Study last time."

[Consort Shu presents evidence regarding the assassination attempt in the Imperial Study]

"The eunuch who injured Xuan'er seemed to have originally targeted the Fifth Prince. The Fifth Prince was unwell that day and took leave, but later returned, presumably after recovering. He was attacked by another assassin at the gate," Consort Shu said coldly. "However, Xuan'er and the Fifth Prince do not look alike, so I don't know how that little eunuch mistook them."

Upon hearing this, Consort Xian suddenly said, "Speaking of which, I just remembered something. When my people were checking the fodder accounts, they saw Eunuch Wei from the small kitchen meeting with Hongling, the head maid of Minghua Palace."

"And it seems that Cuiyun visited Eunuch Wei before she died." Consort Xian drawled out her words, looking at Consort Rong.

Xue Jin'an nodded: It seems that Cuiyun was indeed an undercover agent, and Eunuch Wei was her contact. The one who killed Cuiyun must have been Consort Zhen's man. In that case, the escaped assassin was also Consort Zhen's man... Ziyun?

Just as Xue Jin'an was thinking this and about to look up at Ziyun, he heard Consort Xian make a shocking prediction: "If I'm not mistaken, it must be that Eunuch Wei took a fancy to Cuiyun and wanted to do something improper to her. Cuiyun refused, so he killed her. Eunuch Wei was afraid that the truth would be exposed, so he went to Hongling. Hongling used this to blackmail him into helping to poison the hay in the horse farm!"

"Now everything makes sense!" Consort Xian slammed her hand on the table, pointed at Consort Rong, and roared, "You are the murderer!"

Everyone: "..."

Xue Jin'an: "..."

Consort Rong, unable to contain herself any longer, retorted, "Where is the logic in this? Is it in your heart?"

"Eunuch Wei's pastry-making skills are the best in the palace. Just supplying pastries to Qian Yuan Palace and the Six Palaces keeps him busy from morning till night. He simply doesn't have time to kill Cuiyun, let alone dispose of her body or poison her."

Consort Xian retorted, "Time can always be found!"

"More than ten eunuchs in the small kitchen can testify that he was busy there every day," Consort Rong said irritably. "You've been cursing Li Hechun so much, do you really think he's just a good-for-nothing? You didn't even bother to check these things?"

Li Hechun, who was suddenly brought into the frame, gave an awkward but polite smile.

Consort Xian was extremely annoyed and simply said without any regard for the consequences, "Anyway, you are definitely the murderer."

Consort Rong felt a lump in her throat as she looked at the gazes that were all fixed on her.

Just then, Consort De suddenly looked at Consort Zhen, who had remained silent all along, and asked, "Why did Cuiyun die? Was the Tenth Prince really killed by Consort Zhen? ... Even now, Consort Zhen, you haven't said a word?"

"Even Consort Xian knows to stand up for the Third Prince, but what about you?" Consort De bent down to pick up the jade prayer beads that had rolled to her feet and sneered, "I've heard a saying that those who chant Buddhist prayers every day are not chanting the Buddha's name, but rather chanting about their sins."

"Clang—" Consort De released her hand, and the jade Buddhist beads fell to the ground, making a dull, wooden-fish-like sound as they struck the bluestone through her robes.

Consort Zhen finally raised her eyes.

While they were arguing, Xue Jin'an was discreetly observing the palace maids following behind Consort Zhen.

If we disregard gender, Ziyun is slightly shorter, but her build matches. Last time, when she pretended to fall and reached for the blood dragon wood bead bracelet on his wrist, her move was cunning and she used considerable force, suggesting she may have martial arts training.

Xue Jin'an tapped the Fourth Prince's profile picture and sent him a private message, "Ziyun was injured?"

"No," the Fourth Prince answered subconsciously, then suddenly remembered the conversation he had overheard between Ziyun and Xiyun in the Buddhist hall, and paused slightly.

"Why are you asking this?" The Fourth Prince suppressed his bad premonition and asked, feigning confusion.

However, he didn't know that his superfluous question had already provided the answer.

Xue Jin'an didn't know how Ziyun had managed to evade the body search. Perhaps someone in the Imperial Guard helped her cover it up, or perhaps she used disguise to conceal the marks of her injury.

None of that matters. Xue Jin'an knows that the quickest way to check if someone is injured is to strike that spot again with a sword.

If it were to assassinate Ziyun, she might endure humiliation and not reveal her martial arts skills, but what if it were to assassinate Consort Zhen?

Xue Jin'an smiled slightly, a smile that wasn't quite standard, and gripped the hilt of the lotus sword.

The lotus sword was drawn from its sheath, emitting a clear "whoosh" sound. The blade traced a white streak in the air like a swimming dragon, heading straight for Consort Zhen at a tricky angle.

"Your Highness, be careful!" Ziyun immediately stood in front of Consort Zhen to deal with Xue Jin'an, who was charging menacingly with a sword.

Xue Jin'an's sword strike was extremely cunning, aiming for her abdomen. However, Ziyun reacted with ease as if she had anticipated it, thinking to herself: "As expected, it's this place again."

She was quite surprised last time that this person could hit the same spot with both swords without any difference. Even a master swordsman with many years of experience might not be able to do that. This is also why she is convinced that the Seventh Prince is not the same one as before.

Although this bodyguard, who was a stand-in for the Seventh Prince, lacked internal energy, his martial arts skills were not to be underestimated. Most impressively, he seemed to possess innate insight, knowing exactly when to use which move. However, being still young, he was prone to mistakes. The spot where his sword should have struck just now was—

Ziyun's mind went blank for a moment. She looked up and met Xue Jin'an's dark and lifeless eyes, which were still illuminated by the sword light. She was terrified.

No, we've been tricked!