Bai Mengxiang was already at the banquet by now. The atmosphere was great and joyful, no signs of any hidden dangers. As he sat on the chair, his eyes turned to Xu Yongheng, who was beside him. 

Honestly, he pitied this man. It wasn't that Bai Mengxiang hated Xu Yongheng, but remembering what Xu Yongheng had done to the original Bai Mengxiang made him want to make Xu Yongheng suffer. The original soul had lost everything in his life all because of a childhood love, and in the end, even when he was still killed, he didn't try to explain why he had done such things. 

That only told Bai Mengxiang that love is something that couldn't be trusted. But for now, he was acting in a play, he was the lead in this love story that was filled with angst. Since it was already filled with angst, why not add in some heartache and endless yearning to it?

Bai Mengxiang smiled gently. Human nature was quite cruel. In his own world, Bai Mengxiang was feared yet awed, hated yet envied, but that didn't bother him anymore by then. He broke hearts, he shattered many dreams, all in all, he was an evil and cold-hearted man, plotting against other people with a smile on his face and a cold gaze.

But honestly, who could blame him?

Bai Mengxiang grew up in a place where love didn't matter, where only your worth determined how you were treated. If you were useless, you were tossed away. That was why he rosed to the top, destroying anything that hindered his path. To say that he regretted what he had done, he would never say so. After all, it had taught him so much.

Snapping away from his thoughts, he turned his body to face Xu Yongheng. As if by instinct, he smiled. Truthfully, he didn't want to do this, but, Bai Mengxiang couldn't bring himself to fall in love. Even though Xu Yongheng loved him so much, treated him so well, Bai Mengxiang's heart had already grown cold and frozen. Even if he smiled so brightly, acted as if he was in love, his heart was still cold and unmoved. Not to mention, this was the same man who had betrayed the original soul.

Bai Mengxiang's words were merely sweet lies, a cruel yet beautiful illusion.

"I love you, Yongheng, so thank you for everything," Bai Mengxiang whispered suddenly, his voice soft and mellow, shocking Xu Yongheng. His words were filled with strong emotions of love, his eyes gently looking into Xu Yongheng's, captivating his whole being. But his heart was cold.

[Male lead's love percentage has hit 100%, congratulations, Host. You have completed your first mission and successfully changed Bai Mengxiang's life, and stole the male lead away from the main character.]

With that, System's voice disappeared once more. Bai Mengxiang didn't show any type of emotion as he heard these words, his eyes still focused on Xu Yongheng.

"I know, Mengxiang, and I love you too." Xu Yongheng's heart skipped, a warm feeling spreading throughout his body as he looked at the love of his life. This man, he wished to be beside him forever.

Just then, a scream echoed.

"Ahhh!" 

Bai Mengxiang turned to see where it came from, spotting Consort Ran as she clenched her face that was now filled with red marks, hot tea dripping from her face as she screamed in pain and her maids hurried to wipe her. 

He didn't show anything but worry, yet his heart smiled. The play had begun, the final and last one that he would witness in this world.

"You! How dare you ruin my face, you slave!" Consort Ran stood in rage, a handkerchief in her hand as she covered her face that was slowly being covered in burn marks.

"This-this slave didn't mean to, Consort! This slave had been clumsy and had slipped, Consort. Please, please don't punish this slave!" The maid knelt down, her head hitting the floor as the room turned silent.

Xiao Lan, who had stood by Bai Mengxiang's side the whole time turned to look at the maid before turning away. But as soon as she turned away, she looked back to the maid with wide eyes, staring at the white and red bracelet on the maid's hand.

"Your Majesty, she is the maid who had poisoned the Imperial Noble Consort!" Xiao Lan hurriedly said these words as she pointed to the maid.

Xu Yongheng's eyes flared at once, anger within them but his face remained expressionless. "Guard, detain this maid and bring her up to Us. We have some things We want to ask her."

Shilian smiled, watching as the maid was roughly grabbed by two guards. On the other hand, Yu Zhuang knitted his brows in confusion as he looked at his maid.

The maid was brought right in front of Xu Yongheng, and she knelt down, fear running throughout her body.

"You are the one who poisoned the Imperial Noble Consort." Xu Yongheng's words weren't a question, it was a statement.

"Y-Your Majesty, this slave, it was not this slave." The maid's voice shook with fear, her body trembling as she bowed her head towards the ground.

"Are you lying to Us? Since you won't admit, should We just bestow a nine generation extermination upon your family for attempting to kill the Imperial Noble Consort and Our child? If you tell Us who the mastermind is, We will give you an easier punishment." Xu Yongheng's eyes glared, staring at the maid but he held onto Bai Mengxiang's hand.

Bai Mengxiang only looked on without saying anything, enjoying the show so far. If he could, he would be smiling.

The maid trembled, but she looked at Shilian from the corners of her eyes to see his reaction. Shilian smiled, as if telling her to tell, and the maid lifted her head at once. 

"Your Majesty, this slave will tell you who had instructed this slave. Your Majesty, this slave was threatened to poison the Imperial Noble Consort against my will. This slave's family was used as hostage and if this slave hadn't done what was asked of me, my family would've died. Your Majesty, this slave knows fully that what she has done is wrong, but because I couldn't escape, I could only poison the Imperial Noble Consort. This slave knows that what she has done was trying to harm the Imperial Noble Consort and his child, and will except any punishment." The maid continuously bowed, her forehead hitting the ground so hard, blood began to spill.

Yu Zhuang immediately knew something was wrong because Shilian was smiling so bright whilst they were about to be exposed. He clenched tightly onto his chair, gritting his teeth as he tried to think of a plan that would let him escape. Yu Zhuang knew that this wasn't the maid who had poisoned Bai Mengxiang, it was but a mere substitute since he had witness the original maid die with his own eyes. That could only mean that Shilian had betrayed him, and was letting him take all the blame. When Yu Zhuang saw Shilian smiled once more, his eyes turning to look at him with mirth, anger overtook him.

"Who ordered you to do so?" Xu Yongheng could see the silent exchange between Shilian and Yu Zhuang but he didn't say anything. If this was going the way he had expected, they would expose each other even if he didn't do so.

"Your Majesty, it was-it was Consort Yu." 

"Lies! Why would I, Consort Yu, Prince of the Yu Nation try and kill the Imperial Noble Consort?! This consort married His Majesty in exchange for an alliance, why would I have the guts to even think about harming His Majesty's beloved and his child?! You must be trying to sabotage me, tell me, who ordered you to do so?" Yu Zhuang stood up at once, his face red with anger as he pointed his finger at the maid. He wasn't going to be going down alone if this was how everything would go.

"Your-Your Majesty, it really was Consort Yu, this slave isn't lying. After this slave had accepted the task, the consort had given this bracelet to this slave in return." As the maid said this, she lifted her hand to show the bracelet around her wrist.

"You are but a mere slave, do you really think this consort would give you a treasure like that? Your Majesty, this consort is fully innocent and is being plotted against." Yu Zhuang got down on his knees, bowing his head as he spoke. For the first time, he felt fear in his life as he thought about his death.

"My, my, my, Consort Yu sure is great at performing such fantastic plays. There are already so many evidences pointing at you yet you claim to be innocent, just how thick is your face?" Shilian couldn't help but throw salt in the wound. He smirked, already sure that Yu Zhuang wouldn't be able to get out of the grave he had dug for him.

"You! Consort Shi, do you really want to do this? If so, let this consort fall to death while dragging you with me then." Yu Zhuang sneered, knowing that he couldn't escape death, he was definitely going to drag down the other culprit too. 

Shilian's strong and champion-like expression on his face disappeared as soon as he heard those words. It was impossible, he had left absolutely no evidence behind so how could Yu Zhuang have anything against him.

"Your Majesty, let me tell you story. It is about a man and his beloved who were so in love, everyone made way for them and hailed them across the nation. The two were a perfect pair, matching each other, one strong and wise, a great leader, and the other, beautiful and kind, gentle like the wind. Such a perfect pair, of course some would envy. So this jealous person plotted his way, attempting to tear the two apart."

"From painting the gentle person in black and then seducing the man to spreading lies about that gentle person. After a while, that jealous person had succeeded and teared apart the man and his beloved and he spent his time living with riches and being pampered. But his scheming wore off, and the man fell in love with his beloved once more. So what could that person do, of course he wanted to kill the man's beloved, hoping to get rid of the child in his stomach. So he asked me to help him, and being the stubborn and arrogant me, I agreed." Yu Zhuang finished his words, his eyes glinting heavily towards Shilian as he smiled. If he was going down, it wouldn't be just him alone. It was a good thing he had investigated Shilian beforehand, and Yu Zhuang had to admit it. Even though he wasn't the kindest, he was still not as evil-hearted as Shilian.

"That jealous, black-hearted, ugly man, who could it be? Oh! I have an idea, of course, how foolish of myself to not even know. After all, who else could it be but you, oh dearest Consort Shi?" By now, Consort Ran had already forgotten about her injury, and was choosing to play a part in this play too. Instead, she was now standing up straight with a smirk even though her face was still a faint pink.

"Your Majesty, let this consort also join in, I also can back-up Consort Yu's claim and I also have evidences that points to Consort Shi being the culprit who had tried to harm Imperial Noble Consort Bai." 

Consort Ran walked up towards Xu Yongheng, her footsteps light and slow, her figure bewitching and seductive. She smirked. This was the reason why she always monitored everyone in the palace, and since her family was quite powerful too, she knew everything that happened in the palace. She may not be as powerful as Mei Lin and Bai Mengxiang, but she was a lover for schemes so she always needed information. Now, it was the perfect moment to take down two people at the same time. This type of game, it was merely a child's game to her.