"This is where I'll take you."
Xinghui stopped outside the vermilion palace gate, the lantern in her hand flickering in the wind.
Despite saying that, she still looked at Shen Jintang with concern.
Shen Jintang shook his head almost imperceptibly, signaling her not to act rashly.
He then took a deep breath and followed the palace maid into the hall.
The damp hem of her skirt swept across the threshold, leaving a dark water trail on the scarlet floor.
"arrive."
The palace maid leading the way suddenly stopped in front of a vermilion door carved with lotus vines. The flame in the bronze lamp stand popped and sparked, startling Shen Jintang so much that her fingertips trembled slightly.
Pushing open the palace door, the warmth of ambergris mixed with the dampness after the rain rushed towards me.
Behind the twelve gilded screens, the eldest princess was slowly and methodically stirring the incense burner with a silver pick. Sparks flickered in and out of the grayish-white ash, like fireflies in the dark night.
Shen Jintang took off her soaked raincoat and knelt down to pay her respects. Water droplets rolled down her hair and spread out in dark patterns on the expensive Persian carpet.
"You're here?"
The princess's voice was unhurried, like the surface of a frozen lake in winter, smooth yet chillingly cold.
Just then, a bolt of lightning cleaved the night sky, instantly illuminating the entire inner palace.
Shen Jintang saw the memorials spread out on the table, the vermilion annotations so bright they were almost blinding, like undried bloodstains.
When she looked up, she met the eyes of the princess—those phoenix eyes that always held a smile were now as black as ink, churning with a storm she had never seen before.
"This humble woman greets Your Highness."
Shen Jintang bowed respectfully, her fingernails secretly digging into her palms.
The eldest princess did not immediately tell her to get up.
Silence spread through the hall, with only the sound of dripping water clearly audible, one drop, two drops, like a death knell.
Ye Qingzhou is dead.
The eldest princess suddenly spoke, and the silver token was tossed back into the incense burner with a "clang".
Shen Jintang's eyelashes trembled slightly, but she quickly regained her composure: "I have heard about it."
Did you do this?
The eldest princess stared straight into her eyes, each word as sharp as an icicle.
Shen Jintang raised her head and met a gaze that could pierce through a person.
She was all too familiar with that look—like a falcon eyeing a rabbit in its talons, its claws tightening the moment the prey struggled.
Why does Your Highness ask such a question?
Her voice was soft, yet carried just the right amount of confusion.
The princess suddenly laughed, and the sound sent a chill down Shen Jintang's spine.
She walked slowly towards him, her gilded armor brushing against Shen Jintang's neck, as cold as a viper's tongue.
"Ye Qingzhou died too cleanly—no signs of struggle, no wounds from the fight, a single sword to the throat." The princess whispered in her ear, her breath as cold as the north wind. "Tell me, what kind of person could do that?"
The armor suddenly tightened, forcing Shen Jintang to tilt her head back slightly.
“Either he was completely unprepared for the murderer…” The princess’s fingertips traced her throbbing neck pulse, “but who would go to the moat in the middle of the night without guards?”
Shen Jintang held her breath, feeling cold sweat trickling down her back.
“Either…” the princess suddenly grabbed her chin, “or the murderer’s skill, so fast that he didn’t have time to react.”
Thunder rumbled outside the palace, illuminating the murderous intent in the princess's eyes.
"Looking across the entire capital, who do you think possesses such abilities..." she asked, emphasizing each word, "who could it be?"
Shen Jintang's throat bobbed, but her face remained calm: "This humble woman is foolish and truly... does not understand Your Highness's meaning."
But her hand, hidden in her sleeve, had already quietly tightened its grip on the poisoned silver hairpin.
If you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext.
She couldn't understand the princess's thoughts. Did she really want to kill her and pin a crime on her arbitrarily? Or did she genuinely suspect her and want her to explain?
"Is that so?" The princess withdrew her hand and slowly walked to the window.
A bolt of lightning struck, casting a pale light on her sharply defined profile, giving it a cold, hard silver edge.
"Is it that you don't understand, or are you pretending to be confused?"
The incense in the hall grew stronger, and Shen Jintang unconsciously dug her fingertips into her palm.
Every word the princess spoke was like a carefully laid spider web; one could easily get tangled up and choked if one wasn't careful.
"It's being said that the Crown Prince was behind it." The eldest princess slowly strolled back to her desk, her nail-painted fingers lightly touching the secret letter. "But if the Crown Prince really had such abilities, Gu Zhixing would have died at Qingyakou long ago."
Shen Jintang's eyelashes trembled slightly.
really.
If the Crown Prince had such skilled men under his command, they would never have been able to bring back the Ministry of Revenue's account books alive when they ambushed him at Qingya Pass.
"So, if it wasn't the Crown Prince who killed them..." The Eldest Princess suddenly leaned closer, her gilded armor pressing against her chin, "then who borrowed this knife?"
A thunderous boom resounded, causing the candlelight to flicker violently.
Shen Jintang raised her eyes and looked directly at the Princess: "Does Your Highness suspect me?"
"I just think the timing is too perfect." The eldest princess sneered, her fingertips lingering on her neck. "Ye Qingzhou had just found a clue in the Ministry of Revenue's account books when she was silenced, and her death was so clean and swift."
"Ordinary people would think of the Crown Prince. But even if the Crown Prince is stupid, would he offend both the Ye family and the Princess's residence for the sake of an account book?"
She suddenly increased the force, forcing Shen Jintang to tilt her head back.
"Don't you think this looks like someone is deliberately muddying the waters?"
That makes sense.
Even if there were problems with the account books, given the prince's status, he would at most be reprimanded.
How could the emperor depose the heir apparent over such a trivial matter?
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