Chapter 104 - A Woman Scorned (1/2)
The heavenly emperor slammed his hand down on the armrest of his throne. ”Audacious! Seeing your sovereign and still not greeting him? But what manner did I expect from a woman who would even try to kill an innocent child!”
Hong Bao flinched. Leng Jin Yu used the opportunity to grab her wrist and pull her to the ground. ”Hold your head down. Don't look at him”, he whispered to her and hoped she would listen to his advice this once.
Shun Tao shot her an uneasy glance. He was sure she had never learned how to behave in front of the nine heavens' royalties. Why would she? She was just a lowly servant that should never even see one of them if nothing unexpected happened. Unfortunately, this unexpected thing had happened now. If she behaved the wrong way and angered the heavenly emperor, this could get even uglier.
The heavenly emperor couldn't see Hong Bao's face and assumed she was scared. Very well! You should be scared! Attempting to take my son's life, I'll show you what I'm capable of!
”Now, servant, you will tell us how you conspired to kill the crown prince. If you dare to leave out even one detail … We don't mind getting the justice court's Li Yin to loosen your tongue a bit.”
Hong Bao turned her head to the side and looked at Leng Jin Yu. Was she supposed to talk now? He nodded and Hong Bao sat up and looked at the heavenly emperor next. ”I didn't plot anything! I only wanted to help the fate's scribe.”
”You still dare lie to us!”
Hong Bao pouted. That man must be the crown prince's father if he was the sovereign. No wonder he was like that. ”I didn't lie! You can ask the goddess of love!”
Rong Su furrowed his brow. ”Goddess of love? Who are you even talking about? There is no goddess of love!”
”Hah? But isn't she standing right here?” Hong Bao pointed at Yin Lin Lin. ”She said I could help Shun Tao if I —”
”How dare you slander me!” Yin Lin Lin turned around and leveled a freezing stare at Hong Bao to shut her up.
Hong Bao indeed faltered. What had happened to the elegant woman who wanted to help her? Why was she pretending not to know her? It couldn't be that this woman was her twin, right? But no, that wasn't possible either. Her twin should know of the goddess of love, too.
This once, Hong Bao was indeed right. Yes, this woman was the goddess of love that had offered her help to Hong Bao if one wanted to call it such. She had some history with Shun Tao and though it seemed like she had blurted out the truth of the matter regarding the crown prince in the heat of the moment, in fact, every one of her words was placed with deliberation.
She had planned for this situation from the very moment she heard the rumor about Shun Tao and Hong Bao. It had just been outside her expectations that there would be someone like Leng Jin Yu who would plead with the heavenly emperor to at least hear Hong Bao out.
Normally, a servant girl who was rumored to have tried to assassinate the crown prince should be killed by the heavenly emperor's command given in a fit of rage. But somehow, this one had managed to be escorted into the hall and of course, she blurted the truth right out! What if the heavenly emperor believed her?
Yin Lin Lin hadn't known that the god Hong Bao spoke of was the crown prince. She had thought Hong Bao was exaggerating and that it was just some unimportant person nobody would care about. So even if someone questioned Hong Bao and her involvement became known it wouldn't matter. Considering her identity, the heavenly emperor wouldn't make it difficult for her.
But it just had to be the crown prince! The heavenly emperor doted on him even more than on his own wife! Harming even one hair of his' was asking to have your fingers broken one at a time! And now she had lend advice that nearly led to him being killed!