“Let me go meet them. You have a rest,” Ouyang Shaochen said blandly when he reached out to put Murong Xue in bed.
“I’m not sleepy. Let’s go meet them together.” Murong Xue stopped him, with her bright eyes sparkling on her pale face. Ouyang Shaochen sighed resignedly and nodded, “Alright!”
He got off the bed slowly and put on a spotless white body-length robe.
With a pout, Murong Xue also got out of bed slowly. She put on the dress and combed her hair before stepping out of the room.
Duan Wuluo and Gong Qianyu were enjoying tea on the desk made of marble in the yard. Upon seeing Ouyang Shaochen and Murong Xue, Duan Wuluo stood up and greeted softly, “Good morning, Heir Ouyang, Miss Murong.”
“Good morning, Your Highness, Prefect Duan!” Ouyang Shaochen greeted expressionlessly as he walked towards them.
Gong Qianyu still looked slightly pale after the over-consumption of internal power. When he saw Murong Xue, he shifted the gaze from her unnaturally and asked “Murong Xue, do you feel better?”
When perceiving the guilt in Gong Qianyu’s eyes, Murong Xue said with a gentle smile, “Yeah. I didn’t inhale much incense and Heir Ouyang helped me exorcise it with his internal power and cold water. Did you also exorcise it with cold water last night, Your Highness?”
“Uh-huh,” Gong Qianyu nodded. Prefect Duan had prepared much ice for him to bathe in iced water, so all the incense had been exorcised.
“Your Highness, you came to visit us so early. Is everything alright?” Murong Xue asked with her gaze fixed on Gong Qianyu.
“Yes. It’s just about the assassin,” Gong Qianyu replied blandly and turned to Duan Wuluo. “He’s interrogated the servant in custody.”
“Really?” Murong Xue shot a piercing gaze at Duan Wuluo and asked, “Did the servant confess who the plotter is?”
Duan Wuluo shook his head. “He’s just a nobody and doesn’t know who the mastermind is. But he confessed that he got a note, in which somebody asked him to yell in the yard to draw people’s attention. Upon reaching the yard, he was discovered unexpectedly and hit seriously by Heir Ouyang.”
Murong Xue’s eyes lit up. If Duan Wuluo had failed to smell the incense’s aroma, both Gong Qianyu and Murong Xue would have gone out of their minds with excessive inhalation of incense when the servant arrived. Under such circumstance, the two of them would either have had sex or been seen improperly dressed, which would ruin their reputation. The servant and the man in black must be in it together.
“What about the identity of the man in black?”
“The only thing we know about him is that he was a man of sacrifice,” Duan Wuluo said with a meaningful look. After Qingyan sent troops to the boundary, Duan Wuluo had the mansion heavily guarded in case other assassins invaded. But beyond his expectation, the servant of his mansion worked together with outsiders to attack people in the mansion so that Duan Wuluo failed to ward off the attack.
“Accurately speaking, the man was a man of sacrifice from Nanjiang,” Ouyang Shaochen suddenly said with a meaningful look.
“Heir Ouyang, how did you know that?” Duan Wuluo looked at him with confusion since he had had the body carefully examined but failed to find out the man’s identity. Duan asserted the man was a man of sacrifice only based on his physique, clothes, calluses on his hands and other evidences.
“Shadow guards from Lord Freedom’s Mansion found this mark under the man’s tongue,” Ouyang Shaochen said blandly when he dipped his finger in the tea and drew a pretty semilunar mark on the table.
The servants examined all over the dead body except for the tongue. It was quite surprising that the mark was branded on this convert place. With his sharp eyes narrowed, Duan Wuluo said, “It’s a mark of the Nanjiang imperial family, which means they must have been working for the royalty of Nanjiang.”
Ouyang Shaochen acquiesced silently with a meaningful look.
Murong Xue’s gaze turned sharp. Ever since she time-travelled, she had been living in the capital of Qingyan and made no acquaintances with people from the imperial family of any other state. Why did they want her dead?
Murong Xue looked up at Ouyang Shaochen when he said casually, stroking the white porcelain cup, “Two weeks ago, 30 men of sacrifice with this mark sneaked into the capital of Qingyan. Twenty-eight of them died in the face-off with shadow guards from the Lord Freedom’s Mansion.”
With a solemn look, Duan Wuluo said, “Heir Ouyang, the emperor of our state has nothing against you. It doesn’t make sense that he sent assassins for you.”
“Their target wasn’t me, it was Xue.” Ouyang Shaochen said nonchalantly.
“That doesn’t make sense, either. His Majesty has never met Miss Murong. Why would he hunt her down?” Duan Wuluo asked with a meaningful look.
“The emperor of your state isn’t the only one who had men of sacrifice loyal to him,” Ouyang said with a vague smile, which made Duan Wuluo look away unnaturally.
Only assassins trained by the Emperor of Nanjiang and his heirs were branded with this semilunar mark. So far, the emperor had only two heirs, the Crown Prince, Qianyu and Lord Rui, Qianze.
“It’s been a short time since Your Highness met Miss Murong and Lord Rui hadn’t even met her before. It’s impossible for them to hurt Miss Murong.”
“Not knowing her doesn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt her, does it?” With his eyebrow raised, Ouyang Shaochen shot a piercing gaze at Duan Wuluo.
Duan Wuluo said with a frown, “Since they don’t know each other, they obviously don’t have a grudge against her. In that case, why would they poison her?”
“Because the plotter enjoys collateral damage,” Ouyang Shaochen said blandly, with a mysterious look.
The reason sounded a little odd, but it was convincing since Ouyang Shaochen had exceptional abilities. If he insisted that the plotter was the heir of the Emperor of Nanjiang, nine times out of ten, it was one of the princes.
Duan Wuluo turned to Gong Qianyu sneakily only to see the calm look on his face. Duan Wuluo said in a low voice, “Heir Ouyang, which one do you think is the plotter?”
“When I met men of sacrifice from Nanjiang in Qingyan, all I knew was that their master was from the imperial family. Last night, I confirmed that the mastermind is Lord Rui.” Ouyang Shaochen stressed the last few words as his glare turned piercing.
With an alert look, Duan Wuluo asked, “Do you have any solid proof?”
“Do you think it’s possible that Your Highness ordered men of sacrifice to poison himself with the incense?” Ouyang Shaochen took a glance at Duan Wuluo casually, with contempt in his eyes. Gong Qianyu was arrogant but not silly, so it was impossible for him to do such a stupid thing.