Chapter 18 — Kneeling before the Queen and Duke

The important court meeting to discuss the allocation of military provisions to the border towns took place on a clear, cloudless morning. The main hall was filled with civil and martial officials, the atmosphere was solemn like every other important court meeting. Sam Khinh Vu, dressed in a splendid princess outfit tailored specifically for important occasions, sat in an honorable position near the throne, her calm face not revealing any signs that she knew in advance about the assassination plot that was waiting for her.

Right before the royal court, Bang promptly returned to the capital after a night of non-stop riding, bringing news that Khinh Vu had accurately predicted: one of the three sea salt merchant guilds she had pointed out, two days ago, had received an urgent order, three times the usual quantity, signed by an official in charge of logistics that did not exist in the royal register, sent straight to the grain barracks west of the citadel - a place not on the list of regular salt allocations. Just as Khinh Vu had guessed from the mismatched numbers in his head, this was a sign of the backup plan that Tuong Ba Khiem had hidden. Viet Khoi received that news just a few moments before the court session began, promptly dispatching a group of elite guards to lie in wait on the single road leading from the western barracks to the citadel, waiting for orders.

Just as Tuong Ba Khiem's plan had arranged, in the middle of the court session, a guard hurriedly ran in to report that there was a commotion happening at the eastern gate of the city, and the guard force was urgently needed to handle it. Several officials in charge of security in the main palace, including a number of guards under Viet Khoi's command, appeared confused, some of them intending to leave to go handle the situation. But Viet Khoi, having been warned about this diversion, calmly signaled for them to stay in place, only sending a small, unimportant group to check the situation, while he himself remained standing in place, his eyes discreetly observing the entire main hall.

In the middle of a short break in the audience, when the atmosphere in the main hall had calmed down after the recent commotion, a young palace maid, with a pretty face but hiding an unnoticeable tension, carried a tray of tea and approached the area where Khinh Vu was sitting, following the custom of offering tea during the break of the audience. Her hands were shaking so much that the teacups on the tray gently clanged against each other with each step. She had to hold her breath to keep the tray still.

Khinh Vu, her eyes still looking straight ahead as if absentmindedly watching the court session, actually paid attention to every step of that palace maid from the moment she was more than ten steps away. Not because there was anything suspicious about her face or appearance - Tuong Ba Khiem chose the person so carefully that not a single flaw was exposed - but because of a small detail that only someone who had stood in the kitchen making tea to receive guests for three years as a bride could recognize: the teacup on that tray was not swaying in the right rhythm. Real tea, no matter how hot, subsides with the steady footsteps of the bearer; The water in this cup rippled slightly every time the palace maid swallowed her saliva, as if her own hands were shaking because she was afraid of what she was holding. Khinh Vu gently lowered his eyelids half an inch, enough for a guard standing hidden by the electric pole, who had been serving in the main hall in disguise for many months under Viet Khoi's orders, to catch that signal.

Just a breath later, the guard "accidentally" tripped and collided hard with the palace maid, causing the tea cup on the tray to spill onto the floor. The palace maid was startled and quickly knelt down to apologize profusely, but her flickering eyes did not escape Viet Khoi's keen observation, who immediately signaled several other guards to quietly close in, not giving her any chance to leave the main hall or escape.

"Your Majesty," Viet Khoi stepped out of the line, knelt down to report, his voice echoing throughout the main hall, "I have an urgent matter to report right now, related to a plot to assassinate Princess Sam Khinh Vu that is being carried out right here."

That decisive report rang out like a bomb amidst the inherently solemn atmosphere of the audience. The whole hall was in an uproar, all eyes turned to Viet Khoi and then to the palace maid who was kneeling on the floor of the palace trembling. The reigning Saint, his face immediately became unusually serious, ordering Viet Khoi to clearly and fully present all the details of the incident. He immediately had the person carrying the cup of tea he had just poured tested on the spot by a royal physician present in the main hall. The results clearly confirmed that the tea contained an extremely powerful poison, enough to kill a healthy adult in just a few short moments if he accidentally drank it.

That palace maid, under pressure from the entire palace and irrefutable evidence, finally trembled and told the whole truth, that it was Grand Master Tuong Ba Khiem's trusted butler who came and used money and threats to force her to poison the princess right at the court today. That testimony was like a thunderclap in the clear sky, causing the entire main hall to vibrate. Many frightened eyes turned to Tuong Ba Khiem, who was still trying to maintain composure even though his face had turned pale.

"This must be a blatant slander," Tuong Ba Khiem spoke up, trying to keep his voice calm, "a lowly maid, how can her words be trusted? Perhaps this is just a plot by someone who wants to harm the old minister's reputation."

"If the Grand Master thinks this is slander," Viet Khoi replied, his voice sharp and unflinching, "then I would like to present to the Holy Majesty some other evidence that has been collected over the past half a year, enough to prove the connection between the Grand Master and the fire at Vinh Tho palace twenty years ago, as well as the plot to poison the princess when she was still named as the wife of the Tu family."

Having said that, Viet Khoi had someone bring out the entire prepared file of evidence: the testimony of the physician who sold poison to Tham Nhuoc Lan, notes on the relationship between Tuong Ba Khiem's butler and Nhuoc Lan at the abandoned temple, along with the confession letter that Tu Bach Quan sent to Khinh Vu, in which, although blaming Nhuoc Lan, it also accidentally revealed details about the mysterious money transferred from an unknown source.

Tuong Ba Khiem glanced at each page of paper displayed, the corner of his mouth still trying to maintain a contemptuous expression. “It's all speculation,” he said, his voice a little rough. "A letter from a coward wanting to escape crime, a few testimonies from money-grubbing servants, how can that thing incriminate a Grand Master who has served the court for forty years?"

Khinh Vu, who had been sitting quietly from the beginning until now, stood up and walked out into the middle of the main hall, looking strangely leisurely in front of someone who had just nearly taken his life. She did not look at the file, nor at the trembling palace maid, but looked straight into Tuong Ba Khiem's eyes.

"The Grand Master is right," she raised her voice, slowly saying each word, "a letter, a few testimonies, are not enough to convict a minister. So let me tell you a story, a story that has never appeared in any file, because that file was closed just one day after the fire went out. On the full moon night of July that year, before the fire broke out in Vinh Tho palace, all the doors there were blocked from the outside with wooden beams, to None of the servants inside have a way to escape, no matter how much they want to live."

The Great Hall was engulfed in heavy silence. It was a detail that had never been mentioned anywhere in the past twenty years, a detail that only the person behind the fire could know about every door frame.

"Slander," Chiang Ba Qian growled, but this time his reaction came too quickly, too specific for someone who was just hearing a vague accusation. "Only the main door and two side doors are blocked, the back door can still be—" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing that he had just blurted out something no one had ever asked, his face turned pale for a split second.

Murmurs of horror arose throughout the great hall. Dozens of pairs of civil and military officials' eyes clearly heard the words that had just been uttered - an innocent person would never know exactly which door was blocked, which door was left open, and could not know that the back door, where the nanny had carried the newborn child to escape, was the only way left open on that fateful night. Only someone who personally arranged the entire fire could say that detail so naturally.

As soon as Tuong Ba Khiem realized he had fallen into a trap, another guard rushed into the main hall, knelt down, his voice as panicked as before. "Your Excellency, there is a group of soldiers from the western barracks moving towards the imperial citadel. They say it is a training exercise to transport military supplies, but they are going at the wrong time and on the wrong route!"

The whole main hall was once again shocked, several elderly officials stood up, unable to hide their panic at the risk of mutiny in the heart of the capital. But Khinh Vu, unfazed, immediately spoke up before anyone could panic further.

"There's no need to fear," she said, her voice echoing clearly throughout the hall. "That army was dispatched following the signal of a shipment of sea salt with a red flag, sent to the western camp two days ago under a name that did not exist in the royal register. I have sent someone to verify since last night, and the Winged King has arranged an ambush on the single road leading to the citadel. That army will never reach the royal gate."

That firm affirmation, coming from the mouth of the princess who should have been panicking because she was almost poisoned, made the whole hall, including the Holy King, surprised at her composure and thoroughness in every detail. Just as she said, less than half a moment later, another guard ran in to report that the group had been stopped and neatly disarmed right on the road, the deputy leader was arrested on the spot, not a single drop of blood had to be shed.

Tuong Ba Khiem stood dumbfounded in the middle of the main hall, realizing that both layers of math problems he had painstakingly arranged - one layer with poison, one layer with soldiers and swords - had been broken before they could take effect, and worst of all, he had just declared something undeniable with his own mouth in front of the entire court. With no way to retreat, he gritted his teeth and shouted loudly to order a few subordinates who had hidden weapons on them to rush out to create chaos and escape.

But Viet Khoi had long anticipated this possibility, and had secretly arranged many trusted experts to join the guard team protecting the main hall. In just the blink of an eye, all of Tuong Ba Khiem's subordinates were neatly controlled, no one could get close to the area where Khinh Vu was sitting. Viet Khoi himself also quickly drew his sword, strode to stand right in front of Khinh Vu, his sharp eyes scanning the main hall to prevent any other dangers that might suddenly appear. In that split second, amidst the sound of clashing weapons and chaotic shouts around him, he glanced back slightly, just a brief look at each other was enough for Khinh Vu to realize that there was not only the responsibility of a protector, but also a very real, very personal fear for herself. She gently reached out and grabbed the hem of his shirt from behind, a small gesture amidst the chaos, like a response that didn't need to be uttered out loud.

A few old mandarins who served under Lady Vinh Tan's reign, invited by Viet Khoi to wait in a room next to the main hall, were also allowed to present themselves in time for further questioning and confirmation before the Holy King and the civil and military mandarins about the unusual signs in the investigation of the fire in the past, about the fact that Tuong Ba Khiem at that time ordered the case file to be closed in a strange haste, despite people's testimony about seeing the nanny carrying the child and running away from the emperor. bow. Each testimony given makes Tuong Ba Khiem's crime more clear, leaving no room for him to deny or justify.

Khinh Vu stepped out from behind Viet Khoi, standing straight in the midst of the chaos that had just subsided, her voice rang out sharply and with the majesty of a princess: "Tuong Ba Khiem, twenty years ago, you cruelly murdered my mother and many other innocent lives in the sea of fire at Vinh Tho palace, just because you were afraid that a newborn baby could become an obstacle to your ambition for power. Today, right in this very hall, you once again I was about to dip my hands in blood, and use soldiers and swords to silence the truth. But you forgot one thing: the person you thought was just a weak child in the past has now learned how to overturn every game you set. The truth has been exposed, you have nowhere to hide anymore."

Tuong Ba Khiem stood rooted to the middle of the main hall, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, the circle of guards tightening around him became tighter and tighter, knowing that all roads were completely blocked, there was no longer any way out for him. Twenty years of seemingly inviolable power now collapsed in just one morning, in front of the entire court, closing the darkest chapter in Dai Ninh's underground history, and at the same time opening the door of justice that Sam Khinh Vu had persistently sought throughout a long journey full of blood and tears.

The reigning Holy King, after listening to all of the old mandarins' testimony and evidence, stood up from the throne, his face full of anger and sadness as he remembered the gentle concubine he once loved so much in the past. "Tuong Ba Khiem," he announced, his voice echoing throughout the main hall, "you betrayed the trust of the royal court, murdered an innocent concubine and her young child, and then for the past twenty years, you have still blatantly stood in the ranks of high officials, continuing to set traps to harm the very blood of the royal family that you once wanted to eliminate, and even today you dare to mobilize soldiers and horses to cause chaos in the capital. Your crime will not be tolerated by heaven, will not be spared by earth, this lady must definitely I will let the law judge you fairly."

That statement rang out like a bell signaling the end of an entire power that had been overthrowing the government for twenty years, causing many mandarins who had tacitly supported or feared the authority of Tuong Ba Khiem to bow their heads, not daring to speak up in defense even half a word.