Chapter 5 — Kneeling before the Queen and Duke

The horse's hooves tapped crisply on the path covered with rotting left, and the sound of hunting dogs barked intermittently, chasing a young deer that had just strayed from the edge of the forest. Winged Vuong Uc Viet Khoi reined in, spurred his horse to trot between the sparse rows of trees, his breath exhaled into thin white smoke in the chilly late autumn weather. He was not in the habit of hunting so far from the capital, but recently there were many things at court that made him upset, so he invited a few close friends to ride horses to the outskirts of the city, partly to relieve himself, partly to avoid the judgmental eyes that often surrounded him in the palace. The group of people were busy chasing the deer, getting deeper and deeper into the Tay Lang mound area, a place where legend had it that there were many unjust souls, so hunters in the area had always avoided it.

It was late afternoon, the sunlight fading behind the thin trees. When Viet Khoi slowed his horse down and was about to turn back because he found the area too gloomy, suddenly his hunting dog stopped in front of a newly built grave, barking fiercely, its front legs scratching continuously into the loose soil that had not yet had time to sink in. Viet Khoi, who was a careful and observant person, immediately got off his horse and looked closely, noticing a few unusual things: this grave had only been built for no more than a few days, but the layer of soil above showed strange signs of being stirred up, as if there was an airflow pushing up from below, causing the soil to crack into small cracks.

"My lord," a guard in the group spoke up, "it must have been the dog smelling the scent of a corpse. It's a common thing in abandoned tombs like this."

Viet Khoi did not answer, just frowned slightly, his eyes still not leaving the strange cracks on the ground. Since childhood, he had been taught martial arts and learned basic medical knowledge because his father had invited a famous physician into the palace to teach the princes, so he knew clearly that a truly dead body would not create any disturbance in the soil, while this type of soil cracking phenomenon usually only occurs when there is still warmth and life underneath, even if very weak.

"Dig it up," he ordered, his voice decisive and without hesitation.

The guards in the group looked at each other, somewhat hesitant for fear of desecrating someone else's grave, but seeing Viet Khoi's serious face, no one dared to disobey, and immediately took out the tools they brought with them in the hunting group to dig. The soil was lifted up layer by layer, and it didn't take too long to reveal a relatively new wooden coffin lid. Viet Khoi personally pried open the coffin lid. As soon as the wooden board was opened, a breath of stuffy air rushed out, along with the image of a young woman lying motionless inside, her pale face seemed lifeless, but her eyebrows were still delicate, her facial features had a familiar look that made Viet Khoi suddenly stunned.

He bent down, put his ear to the woman's chest, listened carefully, and sure enough, although very softly, very weakly, there was still a heartbeat, slowly but steadily, like a candle about to die but still trying to burn down to the last drops of wax.

"She's alive! She's still alive!" Viet Khoi cried out, his voice full of surprise and urgency. "Quick, get her out of here, be careful not to hit her too hard!"

The guards quickly coordinated and gently lifted the woman out of the narrow coffin and placed it on the cloak Viet Khoi had just taken off and spread on the ground. Under the late afternoon sunlight, the woman's face appeared more clearly, and at that moment, Viet Khoi felt his heart tighten, a feeling of both familiarity and strangeness rushed into his mind. That facial expression, even though it was much thinner and more haggard than in memory, still reminded him of a person he had not seen for many years.

The physician in the royal palace was summoned that night. After carefully checking the pulse, examining the face, and checking the pupils, he frowned and determined that this was not an ordinary illness, but showed signs of being exposed to a type of poison that caused the body to fall into a state of pseudo-death, the pulse was extremely slow, and the breath was almost imperceptible, making it easy for outsiders to mistake it as having stopped breathing. He immediately applied acupuncture to several important acupuncture points, and at the same time prepared a ladder of heirloom antidote, and personally put small spoonfuls into the patient's mouth. While doing so, he instructed the servants to be on duty all night long, absolutely not to look away for even a moment, because whether or not they could survive the night would largely determine her ability to survive.

Viet Khoi stood outside the door of the room, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes never leaving the figure of the doctor bustling inside through the slightly open door frame. He was a man who was used to fighting on the border, and had witnessed countless scenes of life and death on the battlefield, but tonight, facing the fragile life of a childhood friend, his heart was restless to an extent that even he did not expect. It wasn't until early morning, when the physician came out, his face less tense, reporting that the patient's pulse had gradually stabilized. Although still very weak, the most dangerous stage had passed, Viet Khoi breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy rock had been lifted from his shoulders.

Viet Khoi and Sam Khinh Vu have known each other since childhood, when Sam Dinh Ngan often went to do business with the royal palace, bringing his young daughter with him. The two children, one a young prince, the other a merchant's daughter, got along very well, often playing together in the royal garden whenever Sam Dinh Ngan came to discuss business matters. Viet Khoi once taught Khinh Vu to ride a horse, and Khinh Vu once showed him how to identify rare types of silk that her father brought from far away. That childhood friendship lasted until when Viet Khoi was fifteen years old and had to follow his father to guard the border for many years. The two gradually lost contact, until when he returned to the capital, he learned that Khinh Vu had married into the Tu family.

"Is it you..." Viet Khoi whispered softly, his voice trembling indescribably, his hand raised to gently stroke the tangled curls of hair on the comatose woman's forehead. "Sam Khinh Vu, why did this happen?"

He hastily ordered his entourage to temporarily build a palanquin made of tree branches and cloaks, placed Khinh Vu on it, and personally led the group of people rushing back to the capital, not daring to delay even a moment, because he clearly understood that for a person buried alive in such a deep coma, every passing moment could be the boundary between life and death. On the way home, he repeatedly ordered people to ride ahead to inform the medical clinic in the royal palace to prepare medicine, and at the same time instructed all his entourage to keep this matter absolutely secret and not to reveal it to the outside in any form.

"Why is the prince so cautious?" A trusted guard named Bang, who had always followed Viet Khoi closely since his days guarding the border, asked softly when the group stopped to rest their horses in the middle of the road.

Viet Khoi looked down at the discolored lips of Khinh Vu lying on the palanquin, his eyes pensive. "For a person to have had a proper posthumous arrangement, to have a death certificate, to have a grave, yet to be buried alive in a condition like this, that cannot be a coincidence. If I don't keep it a secret and let the person who harmed her know that she is still alive, I'm afraid her life will be in danger again, and this time I may not be able to react in time."

Bang heard that and nodded, not asking any more questions, just more cautiously leading the group along deserted roads, avoiding crowded markets, so that no one could recognize that the woman lying unconscious on the palanquin was the young lady of the Tu family who had just been buried not long ago.

That night, when the group returned to the royal palace, Viet Khoi personally took Khinh Vu into the most private room, away from the main area where outsiders often visited, with only a few most trusted servants allowed in and out to take care of him. He stood next to the bed, looking at her still pale face under the light, his heart filled with a hundred worries. His childhood friend, the girl who used to roam around the royal palace with him, now lay there, her skinny body, her fragile breathing, carrying a mystery that he had a feeling would not be simple at all. He secretly made up his mind that no matter how complicated the truth behind this story was, he was determined to find out and protect Khinh Vu to the end, as redemption for the years of separation and not being able to be by her side when she needed a friend the most.

Outside, the sky was gradually brightening, a new day began to descend on Khanh Duong capital with its usual peaceful look. No one knew that in a hidden corner of the royal palace, a life had just been pulled back from the edge of death, bringing with it mysteries that had not yet been revealed. Viet Khoi ordered someone to carefully instruct all the servants in that courtyard to absolutely keep their mouths shut. Anyone who revealed anything would be severely punished. At the same time, he ordered someone to secretly scout for news to see if any family in the capital had recently held a funeral for a young woman, so that from there, he could find clues about the true identity of the person he had just saved. Before leaving the room, he lingered to look at the hem of the mourning dress she was wearing when she was brought into the coffin, and noticed that under the mud-worn fabric, where the collar had fallen due to several days of rolling in the ground, a corner of something crimson like lipstick appeared on the skin of her left shoulder, different from a normal bruise. Viet Khoi frowned and decided to take a closer look, but the maid quickly pulled the blanket to cover her. He didn't have time to ask clearly, but his hunch told him that the story behind that weak body would not be simple at all.