XH 142

 

"My men informed of your little prisoner's demise." As the ex-prime minister, it would not be strange that he has enough manpower to get hold onto sensitive information.

 

Duke Heng sipped the cup of tea without any sign of getting bored of Xiao Hua's tea. Today Xiao Hua chosen a beautiful tassel that would go well with her purple whip. It was a bright purple jade shaped in a beautiful butterfly.

 

"Oh? Did they not like their little spy running back to their arms and beg for protection?" The Empress asked mockingly as Xin Lin placed a piece of dim sum onto her plate, which was the Empress' preference food for breakfast.

 

Xiao Hua, the special guest of the Empress that would be staying until the Third Prince returned, was wearing something Duan XiYing had embroidered for her. Her dress was light pink, with cute yellow baby chicks embroidered all over the robe. Her flat shoes were also embroidered with a cute yellow chick onto each shoe.

 

Le XiaoTing hardly worn flat shoes unless it was slippers, for her legs' shape were not suitable for flat shoes, making her legs looked even thicker. Fortunately, Xiao Hua exercised daily and formed a pair of shapely legs that look good with flat shoes, which no one knows, as this time era frowned upon ladies that showed their legs, hence the long length skirt.

 

As for Duan XiYing herself, her original embroidery of snakes was firmly rejected by Xiao Hua. "It's too real!"

 

Xiao Hua had never thought Duan XiYing would be able to embroidery this realistically. Duan XiYing was a little disappointed but she replaced them with cute snakes that Xiao Hua had sketched on a paper for her.

 

"Originally yes, until Miss Liu drank Xiao Hua's tea and started screaming in pain."

 

"What?" Xiao Hua exclaimed in shock.

 

The Empress stared at Xiao Hua uncertainly. "Did you add poison into your tea?"

 

"No! I did not!" Xiao Hua shakes her head fiercely.

 

"The imperial doctor diagnosed Miss Liu as someone that had consumed a lethal poison. The path from inside her throat down to her stomach was burned, along with her right wrist. The doctor was amazed she's still alive."

 

Xiao Hua shivered when she imagined that injury. The heroine will have a hard time drinking and eating now.

 

The Empress frowned at Xiao Hua. "You said your tea does not have poison so why would she react that way?"

 

"I... I don't know."

 

"Xin Ren was killed because they believe she gave them something to harm them purposely?" Duan XiYing guessed, as well as to help out Xiao Hua from the Empress' suspicion.

 

Duke Heng smiled with dark humour. "She would live a little longer if she had not opened her mouth and said 'She is a demoness'. The Second Prince immediately ends her life."

 

"Demoness?" Xiao Hua's eyes nearly bulged out of its socket at how ridiculous the situation was becoming. It was supposed to be simple experimentation!

 

"Her words were spread far and wide in the Second Prince's manor. I would expect many servants wanting to escape from their demoness master."

 

"Did Miss Liu not drink her own miraculous medicine? Is it because she was still unconscious and unable to brew for herself?" The Empress asked after her IQ went back online.

 

"Ah...her miraculous medicine." Duke Heng chuckled. "Surprisingly, it was after she drank her own medicine that her throat and down the path to her stomach gotten burned."

 

The Empress and Xiao Hua flinched. They had clearly assumed Liu Chu Chu's medicine would be so miraculous that it could cure everything.

 

The Empress gained back her elegant demeanor. "That traitor girl believed the tea is some purifying water? Or else she would not assume Fifth Miss Liu is a demon."

 

"She had drunk the tea before, and naturally believe it has nothing wrong with it. Clearly, Miss Liu is the odd one."

 

"Once the shock eased, they might assume the tea was the work of a demon and Liu Chu Chu might be a pure being and reacted harshly towards it as her miraculous medicine is cleansing the tainted tea," The Empress contemplated.

 

"That is indeed right. But our Empress would not let everyone believe it and wronged our little Xiao Hua." Duke Heng smirked, well aware of what his longtime friend wanted to do.

 

The Empress sniffed delicately and drank her tea behind her wide sleeve. "Where is Eunuch Sun?"

 

"Replying Empress, Eunuch Sun is yet to return from his errand. This task, please allow Xin Lin to complete it."

 

"Then this Empress' name will depend on you, Xin Lin, to protect it. Do not forget that this Empress, Duke Heng, and even the Third Prince had tasted this nourishing tea. That dead maid was the one that stole it from this Empress and gave it to Miss Liu. It might even be her that ordered the traitor maid to steal from this Empress."

 

"Wait!" Xiao Hua exclaimed with her face that quickly losing its colour. "The matter of the tea must not be known by others!"

 

Duan XiYing rubbed Xiao Hua's head as she stared at the Empress with a wide smile, but her eyes were bright purple with slits, which no human possessed.

 

"The Empress would not be so irrational as to reveal the tea that's brewed by Xiao Hua. She will find a different tea, just like the tea she gotten from a certain monk."

 

Everyone there could see Duan XiYing was threatening the Empress. Xin Lin might be afraid, but she stood before the Empress protectively, her hands already in the position to use her inner energy to hold the snake cultivator down.

 

It was Duke Heng, who has the highest cultivation among them that have the best composure when facing Duan XiYing. Beast cultivators might be slower in raising their cultivation compared to humans as their cultivation speed relied on their age, but they would always stronger than human cultivators in terms of pure strength and blood lust.

 

"The Empress would not endanger Xiao Hua. We could make people believe that the tea was sent by a monk that the third prince had met during his travels when he was eight years old. The tea is very special, which was nurtured by the monks and as a result, it would not be surprising it would be able to repel some evil."

 

"Of course, the tea leaves given by the monk would be special," the Empress agreed.

 

Only then did Duan XiYing's purple slit eyes returned to dark brown eyes. "Indeed~"

 

Since Duan XiYing was behind her, Xiao Hua did not see the threat and so does not really understand what they were talking about, other than pushing the agro onto an innocent monk.

 

"Duke Heng, Miss Liu's wrist was burned as well?" Xiao Hua asked.

 

"Yes. It was a strange matter but perhaps it got to do with the wrist jade bracelet she was wearing then. It was spatial dimensional storage, with a blood bond tied to Miss Liu."

 

Xiao Hua's suspicion was confirmed. Her tea could erase the heroine's cheat! If her assumption was correct, her tea originally targeted the ownership link between the heroine and the special bracelet, hence the burning on her right wrist, where the bracelet was worn on.

 

But what she does not understand was why her tea would attack the miraculous spring water, unless it was counted as the heroine's cheat as well?

 

Xiao Hua sighed, unsure if she should feel happy at the unexpected outcome of discovering the heroine's kryptonite. She had honestly wanted to test her tea on the Second Prince, but who would have known that the protective Second Prince would let his precious baby test the tea?

 

So the hero is not as loving as my boyfriend! (*¯︶¯*)

 

As she watched Xin Lin walked away to spread the rumor, Xiao Hua knew that in a few days' time, the rumours of Liu Chu Chu as a demoness will be circled all over the town.

 

Surprisingly, it was not even a full day when the news reached the Emperor's ears when a minister spoke up the matter of Liu Chu Chu during the morning court.

 

That minister was clearly on the crown prince side for he constantly expressed his fake concern over the Second Prince, who had not attended the morning court since the night his fiancée gotten hurt.

 

"Your Majesty, this subject pleads to invite a monk to take a look at Lady Liu. The Second Prince would be in danger if the rumours happen to be true!"

 

"Please consider, Your Majesty!" Another minister stepped forward. "It was known that Imperial Doctor had been summoned to cure Miss Liu and she had been diagnosed as 'poison'. However, when the others drank it, they showed no similar symptoms to those Miss Liu had displayed. Inviting a monk would put the worry in everyone's heart at ease."

 

"Please consider, Your Majesty!"

 

The Emperor turned to his Empress, remembering that his wife had once told him about a tea that Long Zhu favoured so much, and had tasted it herself. The tea leaves were a small gift from an honourable monk that Long Zhu had acquainted with during his travels years ago, so there should be no problem with it.

 

"My Empress, we heard you have drunk the tea?"

 

"Yes, Your Majesty, but this one feels refreshed instead. The third prince had been drinking it for years and there were no bad side effects that could be seen. It was strange that Miss Liu would react to this negatively." The Empress' face revealed her confusion as she rubbed her fingers over her glowing cheeks from her pregnancy and good health.

 

The Emperor slowly nodded. "We are worried as well. Who is the best monk in the world?"

 

"Replying Your Majesty, it's Venerable Song from the Zhu Que Kingdom."

 

"Prime minister Shen, you will pick a group of people to invite Venerable Song to take a look at Miss Liu, representing Us."

 

A man in late forties with a clean face and neat hairstyle stepped out and gave a low bow. "This subject knows and obeys."

 

The Empress looked away from the new prime minister of the Guilin Kingdom, Duke Shen, fearing that her distaste of him would be seen. It may be because of her being biased, but she found Duke Shen to be lacking compared to Duke Heng. His dressing and the way he holds himself was as if he was trying to copy Duke Heng.

 

The morning court ended after that.

 

֎֎֎

 

A woman dressed in a green uniform with her whip coiled at the corner of her belt stared at her master, who was busily tending over a bedridden beauty.

 

Those servants that were afraid had left the manor and the Second Prince let them, too busy to take care of them. To him, they were a bunch of disloyal servants and it was good riddance. The servants that were personally picked by Liu Chu Chu or loyal to the second prince had stayed, claiming with a strong belief that Liu Chu Chu was not a demoness.

 

They gave the excuse that the tea was poison but when one finally dared to drink the tea to test it; they found the bamboo tube was missing.

 

The girl in green firmly believed that Liu Chu Chu was a demoness. That demoness had changed her beloved master to someone she could not recognize.

 

Her master was supposed to be aloof and untouchable. Now he could not relax without Liu Chu Chu beside him. He smiled and laughed but it was not right.

 

The woman in green swears she will save her master from the demoness' evil plans!