Chapter 552 - All Dead, Who the Evidence Pointed at (1/2)

Seeing Yan Miao didn’t finish her words and suddenly lowered her head without moving, everyone instantly sensed that something was wrong.

Consort Su had been staring at Yan Miao the entire time. When she saw that there was something wrong with the way she lowered her head, she immediately ordered, “Go and check her.”

She had been focusing on Yan Miao and found that she had been suspicious since the man appeared. It seemed that she had been hiding behind the Empress. Hiding in the Empress’ shadow, she looked pale as if she had seen a ghost. When such a big thing had happened, she, the lead palace maid of the Empress, didn’t even bother to care.

When Ling Rui’er’s bellyband was found in Ma Er’s inner pocket, Consort Su had thought that Ling Rui’er had really not adhered to the rules of the womenfolk. She was enraged. When she thought of how Ding General Manor had sent temptresses to her son’s manor again and again, how could she not be angry? However, what made her pay more attention to was the anomalous manner of Yan Miao.

There must be something fishy going on when it was out of the ordinary. Now that Consort Su had given birth to the Emperor’s eldest son in the palace and had protected him to grow up, she was not an impulsive woman. She sensed that the Empress had intervened in this matter. When she had heard that the Empress had been involved in the matter that a maid had splashed the watermelon juice on Ling Rui’er, Consort Su wanted to claw at the Empress’ dignified face.

The Empress did not even care about her niece’s reputation in order to plot against Consort Su’s son. How could Consort Su not be furious? As such, she asked the eunuch by her side to go and check before the Empress’ order.

The Empress had long been fl.u.s.tered by the series of incidents that had unfolded before her. The situation was out of her expectation. She only wanted to push Yan Miao forward and take the fall. When Yan Miao stopped halfway her sentence, she felt that something was amiss. Seeing Consort Su was asking people to check on her, she did not say anything else. She was now trying to avoid arousing suspicion. Furthermore, she also wanted to know what was going on with Yan Miao.

The eunuch came over and gave Yan Miao a push. Immediately, the girl fell down following his gesture., and so did Ma Er, who was holding her hand. Then the eunuch saw the black blood on their lips, and knew that both of them were dead.

“Your Highness, both of them are dead.” The eunuch’s voice sounded rough.

Dead? Were they really dead?

Everyone was confused.

“Your Majesty, your lead palace maid is dead. What a coincidence! Why did she die when she was about to say the key point? It seemed that she committed suicide by taking poison. I don’t know what she meant by her unfinished sentence. Now that this maid is loyal to you, she should defend her master before she died. Now, what do we do about it?”

Consort Su’s words were sharp and she glanced sideways at the Empress. There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone. The loyal maid should defend her master before dying? She meant that it was the Empress who had caused the trouble. And obviously she wanted to embarra.s.s Feng Yuxuan through Ling Rui’er.

That was right. For a man who was cuckolded by his wife, even if he was a prince, it would be an embarra.s.sment to him.

The Empress held her neck tightly and tried her best not to scream. Looking at the pale face of Yan Miao who was lying on the ground, she felt pain in her heart. Yan Miao was loyal. Perhaps something wrong had caused this to happen, but Yan Miao had to die. Otherwise, the Empress would be involved in this matter.

But the question was that she should finish her words before dying. Now the matter was not very clear.

“The palace maid was so bold that she dared to plot against a prince’s first consort. We… we have to be careful in the palace in the future,” Consort Yu said to herself, and even reached out to cover her belly especially, as if she was afraid that someone would make her miscarriage. When others heard about it, they started to grow more suspicious of Yan Miao’s death.

How could a maid in the imperial harem do such a thing for no reason?

“Yeah. She hasn’t made it clear yet. The man said that he saw the body of Consort Chu. Is… is it true?” another consort said with a gentle smile, holding a handkerchief.

Their conversation awakened Ling Rui’er, who had been standing there in a daze all this while. No matter how this happened, the man had indeed said that he had seen her body, which meant that she had lost her chast.i.ty. Somehow, Ling Rui’er suddenly became smart.

She turned around forcefully and knelt down in front of the Empress. She reached out to grab the Empress’ hand that dropped beside her body and cried loudly. “Aunt Empress, how, how could there be such a person in your palace? She, she treated me well all the time. How could she do such a thing? She even told the feature of my body to someone else. Why… why did she hate me so much? Please do me justice, Aunt Empress. Please investigate this matter thoroughly.”

Ling Rui’er was crying so hard that drops of tears fell down her cheeks one by one. She had indeed been wronged this time. She thought of how Feng Yuxuan had forcefully shaken off her hand earlier. If she could not clarify it, and the rumors were to spread, what could she do? Suddenly, the sadness she felt grew and she cried even more miserably.

At this point, she could not be bothered to care that the Empress’ hand became cold and trembled when she heard what she said. She hated the Empress right now. She felt that it was the Empress who had plotted the whole thing. As such, she asked the Empress to investigate this matter thoroughly. Of course, she had also told everyone that Yan Miao knew the features of her body.