Oh~

Initially, Hongyue didn't hold a lot of concern in the dagger before. To her, it was just a prop to use to her advantage. Nevertheless, if the empress fancied it, then Hongyue unmistakably wanted to get it back. Since the empress claimed her throat hurt when speaking, then Hongyue would claim her hands hurt without the dagger.

The aide stopped midway with the red platter in his hands, not knowing who to pass the knife to. He looked toward the emperor, who nodded to the Empress. Understanding this, the aide returned back to the royal throne, leaving Hongyue standing alone with her hands empty.

Pretending to be confused by the sudden change, Hongyue didn't make a move. She stood quietly, letting the empress turn over the strange blade tip. The empress didn't appear genuinely interested in the blade as her eyes were distracted. Still, she touched the dagger and pretended to admire the form and size.

Hongyue smirked.

Did the empress not want her to have it?

Then Hongyue would allow her to have it for the time being— for a price, of course.

Exclaiming out with a sweet tone, Hongyue addressed the empress loudly, "If your highness fancies it, then Hongyue will give it to you."

Those spoken words appeared to have aggravated the empress, and her moving fingers paused. The empress tapped on the edge of the blade of the dagger with her eyes fixed on Hongyue's face. Following a quiet moment, she nodded, and Hongyue beamed before turning away.

While the empress pretended to be pleased with Hongyue's supposed consideration, her expression was the opposite. The empress's eyes were dark, and her lips were curved in a nasty sneer.

From afar, the third prince glanced at her sneer, exceedingly uncomfortable. Already, he could tell something was amiss.

As Hongyue requested, he brought out the idea of letting the eldest miss come to the palace in front of his father. The emperor, sensing it was the best move to make, agreed. Although Jiayi was not told that his father would go and personally pick the eldest miss, he was anxious.

What did the eldest miss want from the palace?

When his father arrived tardy to the hall, and Jiayi had an odd impression, something was wrong. He already felt it was strange the Empress summoned a gathering at this time.

What was the empress planning?

He looked towards Hongyue, that girl probably didn't need his help, but he couldn't help feeling restless. Reminding himself that Hongyue was a strange ghost, he kept a straight face as he took a sip of his tea.

With a quick wave of his hand, the emperor ordered for some of the servants to bring in food for the eldest miss. As the food was brought in, there was a slight movement near the emperor. Stepping out from behind the emperor, the aide that led Hongyue to the hall began to help the other servants carry the food. He carefully helped set the hot plates from the tray to the wooden table. After he was done, Hongyue noticed that instead of going back to his master, the aide simply stood in the shadows behind her.

Pretending to be fascinated by the display of food, Hongyue quickly picked out some of the dishes and placed them in her bowl. Lifting a piece of duck meat to her nose, she gave it a sniff.

"Smells good."

Hongyue placed the meat inside her mouth and began to savor the slightly salty, succulent meat. All the while, Hongyue endured a childish look of happiness on her face. However, underneath that innocent expression, she already put up her defenses.

From the time she placed the duck meat to her bowl, she felt Qingyu coiling unreasonably tight around her arm. Ignoring his warning, Hongyue continued to chew happily on the meat. Just as she did so, she felt a small bite on her arm. It was sharp enough to catch her attention but too weak to cause any pain.

Nevertheless, Hongyue already understood his meaning.

Reaching over to another dish of meat, she purposefully bumped her arm onto a porcelain bowl. With the sudden light injury to the head, Qingyu quieted down and stayed still.

In truth, when she had presented the made-up account of what happened to the emperor, she was intentionally testing the emperor. If he really didn't have a clue what was going on, then he would have speculated her story and question her on the spot. After all, it wasn't reasonable, no matter how you looked at it. There was blood on her face, her shoes, and the killing was too intense to allow anyone to sleep through it. Even the roof of the carriage was gone. No matter how stupid he thought of her, she wasn't deaf.

She could not be so profoundly asleep with so much chaos around her.

However, if he were part of the scheme or knew some parts of the plan, then he would be likely to pretend to believe her and bring her back to the palace before confining her.

All of this was simply possibilities and could be wrong.

However, the studying gaze coming from behind her could not be wrong.

in_awe

Haha~ She injured his head all for a piece of meat.