Chapter 187 The murderer appears
The officials around Ling Zhen were also horrified when they heard this and came out to protest:
"What? You actually hypnotized our prince? This is a disrespect for the diplomatic relationship between our two countries!"
"Your Highness, please do not continue your conversation with them. Let us go to the palace and ask the Emperor of Qi if this is the proper etiquette for entertaining guests."
Dongfang Qi clasped his hands and bowed deeply. "I'm truly sorry, Prince Ling Zhen. The matter of the corpse silkworms concerns the safety of the capital, so I had no choice but to resort to this unfortunate measure. I'm willing to apologize for frightening you. If there's anything else you need to explain, I'm also willing to take responsibility."
Seeing that he apologized so sincerely, Ling Zhen felt a little embarrassed to get angry.
He snorted coldly, "I'm feeling a little unwell today, so I'm sorry I can't entertain you. Your Highness, please go back."
Considering the relationship between the two countries, Dongfang Qi did not want to offend Ling Zhen completely.
Seeing Lin Qingyue's gaze, Dongfang Qi shook his head.
"Since Prince Ling Zhen is unwell, let's go back first."
After Lin Qingyue and Dongfang Qi left Honglu Temple with their men, Ling Zhen's face darkened.
He first dismissed everyone around him, even the guards, and then went to the backyard without saying a word.
"Bang!" He kicked Ling Xue's door open.
Ling Xue was drawing her eyebrows in front of the mirror when she was startled and jumped up, demanding angrily, "Who dares..."
When she saw that it was her eldest brother, the anger on her face subsided and she showed some confusion:
"Royal brother, why didn't you knock when you came in? You scared me to death. I heard that the prince came. Where is he?"
Ling Zhen said: "He's gone."
Ling Xue glanced outside and asked anxiously, "Why did he leave? As soon as I heard he was coming, I quickly washed and dressed, wanting him to see how beautiful I was. I hadn't even finished my makeup, how could he leave? Brother, why didn't you keep him?"
The girl's tone was sweet and innocent, and she looked like a girl in love, without any scheming.
In the past, Ling Zhen always thought that his sister was that kind of simple and innocent girl.
But at this moment, when he looked at the person in front of him again, his eyes were filled with inquiry: "Axue, do you know about the Flying Corpse Silkworm?"
Ling Xue tilted her head and asked, "What flying silkworm? What is that?"
Ling Zhen asked back, "You really don't know? What about the maidservant beside you? Her name seems to be...Qiu'er?"
Ling Xue sat down slowly, picked up the inkjet brush and started drawing her eyebrows again.
Her eyebrows are very beautiful, curved like a crescent moon, which makes her face look even more charming and pretty.
"Why is my royal brother concerned about my maidservant?"
"Why should I care about her? Did you know that just now, the Prince of Qi came to me with her portrait and asked for her?"
"That maidservant named Qiu'er—if my royal brother remembers correctly, you brought her back from outside three years ago and have kept her by your side ever since."
"But she suddenly disappeared again last year. I occasionally asked about it, and you said she went back to her hometown to visit a patient. Until two days ago, she suddenly appeared beside you again."
"You don't know what she did, do you?"
"Royal brother, I really don't know!" Ling Xue was still quibbling, "Oh, right, I remember now. Qiu'er's hometown is in Qi State, so I met her again later."
"You're lying! My brother has always doted on you since you were little! Even if the prince of Qi came looking for me, even if they used magic on me, I would still do everything I could to protect you. But what did you do?"
Ling Xue turned back in surprise: "They used magic on you? What kind of magic? Did you tell them Qiu'er is mine?"
"They must be using hypnosis or some other technique to invade my mind."
As Ling Zhen spoke, he took out a green jade pendant from his neck. The jade was translucent and carved into the image of a three-legged golden crow, which looked very spiritual.
"Luckily, before I left, my father gave me this Golden Crow Jade Pendant, which can ward off all forms of harm from magic."
"So, when Prince Chaolan wanted to probe my memory, I tried hard not to think about anything related to Qiu'er, and I was able to get away with it."
Ling Xue stared at the jade pendant and murmured, "So this is the most precious treasure of our Feng Kingdom's royal family, the Golden Crow Jade Pendant. Father really dotes on my brother."
"Axue! Even at this point, you still refuse to tell the truth to your brother?"
"Brother, there are some things you'd better not know."
After she said that, she turned and was about to leave.
"Axue, stop!" Ling Zhen wanted to pull Ling Xue back, but in the process, he accidentally pulled off her coat, revealing her smooth shoulders and a black snake-shaped mark on her shoulders.
"This is—the mark of the Guiyuan Sect!" Ling Zhen was horrified. "You actually have the mark of the Guiyuan Sect on you. Are you... a member of the Guiyuan Sect?"
"Pa!" He slapped her in the face, furious. "How can you, the Princess of Feng, associate with such evil people? You..."
Before he could finish his words, Yan Qiu'er suddenly appeared from behind the screen. Then, a flash of cold light appeared, and the knife was about to slit Ling Zhen's throat.
Ling Xue rushed out and knocked away Yan Qiuer's dagger. Before Ling Zhen could react, she activated his immobilization technique.
Yan Qiu'er hurriedly closed the door and said in a cold tone: "Princess, he has discovered your identity. You can't stay here any longer."
Ling Xue slapped him with a "Pa" sound: "How dare you lay a hand on my brother!"
Yan Qiu'er's head tilted when she was hit. There was no fear of a slave in her eyes, but more resentment.
"This servant is also doing this for the princess's own good. Over the past two years, due to the interference of the eldest prince, our Guiyuan Sect has almost lost its foothold in Feng Kingdom. Now that he has seen through your identity, he will definitely not let us go!"
"Princess Lingxue, you are a smart person. You must not let your weakness put the Guiyuan Sect in danger!"
"Soft-hearted?" Ling Xue smiled. "How could that be?"
She touched Ling Zhen's cheek and said, "Royal brother, oh, Royal brother, although I have been able to live a decent life thanks to your care over the years. But...but why do you have to expose all this?"
"Since you didn't expose me in front of the Crown Prince of Qi, why can't you just pretend to know nothing? It would be much better if you could just pretend you knew nothing, so that we could still love each other as before."
She took off the black gold jade pendant from Ling Zhen's neck and sighed, "What a treasure! I heard it was passed down from ancient times. It's a pity that it can't offset ordinary attacks."
Ling Zhen was acupunctured at this moment, unable to move or utter a word.
To prevent the news from leaking out, he hadn't brought any guards with him. But he never expected that his sister, whom he had raised since childhood and was so close to him, would actually attack him.
He wanted to ask Ling Xue what she wanted to do, but he couldn't say anything. Only his eyes kept blinking.
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