464 Alive (2/2)

Though Hai Tang was carrying the King's child, she was still a court maid. Thus, all the maids were accustomed to calling her real name.

Few people knew the pregnant maid, but everyone present stretched their necks to see her, including the ministers, military officers inside, and the crowd outside.

This outcome was beyond their expectations. The assassinated court maid was now standing in front of them. Then, who was the one who died? Who was the one who escaped the palace with the pregnant woman? What was the motive behind this all?

Perhaps the Dragon King was the only one who can explain this. After all, he was omniscient and omnipotent. No conspiracy could fool him.

Their response was what Gu Shenwei had hoped for. He waited for the shock to settle in before waving his hand. Two maids entered, held Hai Tang by the arm, and left with her.

”Take her to the King and have him identify her in person.” Gu Shenwei's words were meant for the audience. He could not publicly interrogate Hai Tang due to her unique status after having the King's child. Moreover, it was unsuitable for the King to come here personally to identify her.

He still had not found out the purpose behind this murder.

Ju Chi could no longer sit on the chair without a word anymore. He coughed and intended to talk.

The Dragon King stood beside Ju Chi and placed his hand on his shoulder as if he did not realize that he was touching a living being. Ju Chi knew why, so he held his tongue in confusion.

The Dragon King ignored the curiosity of the audience and walked back to his seat slowly, sitting on it as if he had found out the truth.

All of a sudden, things calmed down. Even the guards were curious about the Dragon King's next move. They frequently turned around while stopping the crowd.

Long Fanyun spoke on behalf of the Dragon King again. This time, he was very confident and called loudly, ”Shangguan Fei.”

Shangguan Fei walked out of the door and then respectfully bowed to the Dragon King and his Queen.

There were those who knew him and immediately alerted the people around them that he was the Supreme King's son who now served the Dragon King. This was a strange thing that was worthy of a discussion.

”Shangguan Fei, tell us your duty,” Long Fanyun said. He was clear how the interrogation should go from here. Out of everyone here, he was the only one who had received instructions from the Dragon King beforehand. While the King did not say much, it was enough to help him grasp the general development of this matter.

”I protect the Queen under the orders of the Dragon King.”

The Princess trembled a little. She knew that the Dragon King transferred the three female guards, but not him sending someone else to protect her.

”Tell us what happened last night.”

Shangguan Fei bowed to the Dragon King and Queen again before saying loudly, ”Around 11.00pm last night, the Queen sent her maid to tell me that she spotted two people sneaking out of the palace and commanded me to investigate this. Those two disappeared, but I didn't give up the investigation and spent the whole day seeking clues. I discovered their identities and whereabouts four hours ago. One is a man, the other a woman. The man kidnapped the pregnant woman while disguised as an imperial guard, so I saved the woman with my subordinates and killed him.”

”Who is the woman that you saved?”

”She said she's a court maid called Hai Tang. It has been eight months since she got pregnant. Besides, she said that she had been kidnapped last night. Later, we sent her to the palace and told the Queen what we knew. She then commanded us to wait outside the hall.”

The Princess felt terribly uncomfortable to be the target of so much attention. Furthermore, she was the only who knew that Shangguan Fei's description of her involvement was all lies. However, she maintained her impeccable manner and expression. In terms of grace, she would not lose out to any other queens in the Western Region.

More and more people were beginning to realize what had happened. As countless guesses kept entering their minds, the crowd began to share their guesses. Their voices covered one another's, making their discussions essentially inaudible to anyone but themselves.

Long Fanyun raised his voice and asked, ”The palace is well guarded. How could he kidnap a court maid who was under protection on his own?”

”Hai Tang said that he had help in the palace.”

”Who is it?”

Once again, the imperial guard Ju Chi twitched with unease. However, Shangguan Fei's finger was not pointed at him. He then heard Shangguan Fei saying, ”It's her, the midwife. She colluded with the Golden Roc Fort to kidnap Hai Tang and discreetly replace her with another pregnant woman. She then ruthlessly killed the woman in order to frame the Dragon King.”

The ensuing discussion was so loud that the roof nearly fell. The ministers and generals could not help discussing this development and exchanging their opinions. The crowd outside the palace became even more boisterous, causing conflicts when they tried to inch closer.

Out of everyone present, the midwife's response was the most violent. She was supposed to be unconsciousness on the ground but she immediately jumped up after hearing this. ”Nonsense! Nonsense... I'm not colluding... I'm not... He was the one who asked me to do this. He gave me silver and told me...”

The elderly woman pleaded for herself in a panic but unwittingly exposed her doings. Not many heard her amid the noise. Then, two guards entered from the door, picked her up, and dragged her out of the Council Chamber.

To complete his task, Shangguan Fei continued in a loud voice, ”The Golden Roc Fort intends to use this assassination to turn the Stone Kingdom and the Dragon King against each other. Then, they will lead their army to attack this place and have the pregnant court maid make a sudden appearance. That way, they can make her child the puppet king...”

To them, the accusation was all that more convincing coming from Shangguan Fei than other people. After all, he was still the Supreme King's son despite having betrayed his father. Besides, he presented a series of evidence to prove his words. Most importantly, Hai Tang was alive. This proved that the Dragon King was not the murderer.

Later, the King proved that Shangguan Fei's words. He sent a trusted eunuch to publicly announce that the court maid brought to the palace was Hai Tang who was pregnant with his child. The eunuch expressed the King's deep gratitude to the Dragon King and Queen, who fell on their knees. Many followed suit, no longer suspecting the Dragon King.

The crowd left and most of them would not be getting any sleep tonight. They would tell their relatives and friends what had happened in the Council Chamber and repeat this anecdote.

The ministers and generals left without doubts. Even so, they were anxious and humbly kneeled down in front of Dragon King before taking their leave. They hoped to use all means possible to prove that they were ignorant of the Golden Roc Fort's conspiracy.

Thus, there were only two people who walked out of the Council Chamber with all sorts of questions unanswered.

The imperial guard Ju Chi and the Princess knew that the Dragon King would soon summon them.