Xi Tan raised her hand to wipe the blood that had splattered all over her face. She slowly stood up from the ground and frowned when she looked at Lin Qing grunting, “Crown Prince, are you injured?”
Lin Qing was still stunned. The panic and fear of escaping from death all came tumbling back the moment the tiger sprawled lifeless on the ground. Even the stomach pain that he briefly forgot about just now seemed to be in a much more serious condition than it was before. Lin Qing staggered as he knelt down, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.
There was an onrushing herd of hooves that echoed not far away. The escort guards arrived in a hurry from the direction of the palace and ran towards the two in a panic.
“Your escorts were late! Crown Prince, please forgive us!”
Lin Qing was powerless to speak, but when he looked up, he saw Lin Feilu, who was at the end of the line, riding on a big horse, staggering over to where he was.
When she got off the horse, she stumbled a bit before throwing her hands and feet on the ground beside him. Usually, her sweet and light voice that was rarely ever upset, now conveyed a sense of seriousness and worry, “Brother Crown Prince, are you alright? You’re not injured, are you?”
Lin Qing felt a sour pang in his heart as he slowly looked towards the way he came from.
The entire trail was full of the corpses of the dead guards.
Lin Feilu followed his line of sight and saw the broken limbs and bodies sprawled all over the ground. After smelling the strong stench of blood that was wafted along by the wind, her facial expressions changed as she threw up on the spot.
Lin Qing couldn’t care less about his own discomfort, so he hurriedly stroked her back and instructed the guard next to him, “Hurry up and take the Fifth Princess out of here!”
It was the first time that Lin Feilu witnessed such a bloody scene, so it came across as a shock to her. She vomited again and again in a dazed manner, but when she was carried on the horse by the guards, she still remembered to turn her head and shout to Noble Consort Xi Tan, “Noble Consort, are you alright?”
Noble Consort Xi Tan was supported by the guards to get on her horse. Her expression was as indifferent as always, “I’m okay, let’s go back to the palace.”
Some of the guards formed ranks and began escorting them back to the palace while some others stayed behind to clean up the scene.
When Emperor Lin heard of the incident and rushed back, an hour had already passed.
If it wasn’t a known fact that no one would dare to deceive the Emperor, he would have thought that it was a cruel joke.
When the Crown Prince and the Little Fifth Princess left, the main force had yet to penetrate into the hinterlands of the mountain forest — the beasts have always appeared from those parts of the forest, after all. Yet, the main troops weren’t able to encounter a single wild beast throughout their hunt even though they wanted to, so how could the two at the edge of the forest cross paths with one?
But when they got to where the tiger was encountered, everyone could still smell the lingering scent of blood in the air.
Although the guards have already cleaned up the stumps of the broken arms and limbs, he could still visualise the tragedy of blood splashing everywhere.
Every guard from the small troop that escorted the Crown Prince were killed as the guards who went back and forth were the ones that were originally stationed in the palace.