Chapter 10 — Bamboo Burning Brooch

"If Your Highness still doesn't believe me, please have someone search every room in the palace to see who is lying and who the bamboo burning brooch really belongs to." Ly Tuyen looked at me for a long time, the coldness in his eyes almost frozen. He raised his chin slightly and said to the guards next to him: "Do as she says." The guards took orders to leave. The sound of footsteps echoed along the hallway, gradually dispersing throughout the institutes. The hall suddenly fell into a suffocating silence. The elder sister knelt on the ground, her shoulders trembling slightly, but she still bit her lips, her eyes like daggers staring straight at him. The mother clenched her hands and tried to open her mouth several times, but was always scared to silence by the cold-faced leader of the Vu Lam Guard standing next to Ly Tuyen. About a moment later, the guards who went to investigate returned. The person in the lead carried a purple wooden box, bent down and offered it in front of Ly Tuyen. "Inform Your Highness, this is something found in the secret compartment of the wardrobe in Miss Lam's room." Ly Tuyen frowned and opened the box lid himself. Inside quietly lies a bamboo brooch, with a big head and a small body. The brooch head is crafted into the shape of a bamboo node, embossed with bamboo branches and leaves, implying "bamboo announces peace". It was the brooch that my mother invited the best craftsman in Duong Chau to make for me. Dark brown stains still remain on the leaf veins on the brooch body. Even though three days have passed, it's still extremely dazzling. Ly Tuyen's face immediately changed. The elder sister suddenly raised her head, her pupils constricted, as if she had just seen a ghost. "Impossible! I clearly saw you throw the hairpin into the pond with my own eyes..." "Eldest sister, the hairpin was found in your room." I spoke up just in time, my face full of self-pity. "At this point, do you still want to slander me?" The elder sister's words were stuck in her throat. The blood drained from my face, my lips trembled, and it took me a long time to say with difficulty: "You... you planned on me! You had already planned for today, that's why you picked up the brooch and secretly put it in my room, right?" "What do you mean by that?" I slowly turned around and looked straight at her. "Ever since I was little, you've had a habit, whenever you get something good, you have to grab it before you accept it. That brooch originally burned bamboo. "It's a gift that my mother gave me. Compared to the ruby jewelry in my wedding ceremony, it's not worth much. Yet you still made a fuss all day, forcing my mother to reluctantly give it to you. I don't know what you're doing with that brooch, and I don't know when Your Highness will go to Dong Son. How can I plan for you?" My elder sister's face immediately turned pale. She opened her mouth as if to argue, but couldn't say a word. But that's still not enough. I also want Ly Tuyen to know clearly what elder sister did that day. "Speaking of which, wasn't it true that on the fifteenth of the third month, elder sister also went to Quan Am temple on Dong Son with Ninh Vuong to pray for blessings? Just now Commander Do asked when she came down the mountain, whether there were witnesses or not, until now she still hasn't given a clear answer." "You once went with Ninh Vuong to Quan Am temple on Dong Son to pray for blessings?" Ly Tuyen's eyes were firmly fixed on elder sister. Her pale face was filled with disbelief. "You actually had sex with Ninh Vuong!" "No... it's not... I didn't..." Finally, the eldest sister was really panicked. She knelt and took two steps forward, hugging Ly Tuyen's shirt. "It was Lam Thanh Ha who harmed me! Since childhood, she has been jealous because I always stood out, and jealous because I had an engagement with the Marquis of Vinh Ninh Palace, so she set up this trap to harm me! That brooch... that brooch must have been sneaked into my room when I wasn't paying attention!" "Eldest sister, please be careful with your words!" Calm down!

"About you and Ninh Vuong going to Dong Son, Your Highness just needs to send someone to ask Ninh Vuong Phi and it will be clear. As for you and Princess Vinh An, Your Highness just needs to send someone to Princess Truong's residence to ask a question, and it will naturally be clear from black and white." Elder Sister was completely speechless this time. Ly Tuyen threw a kick and kicked her hand away. His body was still weak, this kick used too much force, causing him to stumble and have to hold on to the edge of the table to steady himself. There was a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, but in the bottom of her eyes, two dark flames burned. "You and Ninh Vuong went to the Quan Am Temple on Dong Son to pray for blessings? How come you don't know when you and Ninh Vuong became so close?" The elder sister was kicked to the ground, her bun was messy, and her brooches were scattered everywhere. She struggled to support herself and took two steps back. "Your Highness calm down! It's... it's Her Highness Ninh Vuong... he invited me to go with him, I didn't dare to refuse... But I really didn't hurt Your Highness!" "Don't dare to refuse?" Ly Tuyen laughed coldly, his voice as hoarse as sandpaper rubbed on stone. "Didn't you say before that you went to Dong Son to pray for your mother's blessing, so you were able to save me? How come you invited Ninh Vuong now? you?” The elder sister's lips trembled. Not only could he not explain that he had been to Dong Son, but he also did not understand what Ly Tuyen was saying. She did not come back to life, of course she did not know what lies she had told in her previous life. Faced with Ly Tuyen's questioning, other than crying and begging, he didn't know what else to do. Mother stood next to her and stamped her feet impatiently. In the end, he no longer cared about the mandarin's face, and quickly rushed to kneel at Ly Tuyen's feet. "Your Highness calm down! This young girl is foolish, she and His Highness Ninh Vuong have absolutely no personal feelings, just... just companions, going to the Quan Am temple to light a stick of incense! But if it is said that she murdered the Crown Prince, then it is absolutely impossible. Thanh Phu... Thanh Phu does not have that courage."