Chapter 20 — Sacrificed by the Heir: Reborn as Yue Zhaoyue to Avenge Sixteen Years of Injustice

Qing Xing laughed until tears streamed down her face. Even the Grand Princess paused for a moment, momentarily taken aback. Xie Linchu, consumed by rage, flicked his sleeves and stormed away. After his departure, the Grand Princess cast a sidelong glance at Co Nghien.

"Your courage is not small," she remarked.

Co Nghien replied with earnest honesty, "I was merely pretending." A rare smile finally touched the Grand Princess's lips. Yet, this fragile lightness lasted only until dusk, when an imperial decree arrived from the palace. The Emperor had commanded a personal investigation into the affair of the forbidden incense to commence in three days. Vice Minister of Rites, Shen Yuntang, Xie Linchu, and I were all summoned to appear. Once the eunuch delivered the mandate and vanished, the Grand Princess's expression turned grim.

"Shen Yuntang has vanished. If she is not found within three days, this case will be twisted by our enemies into an inescapable death trap," she stated.

I asked, "Who would dare do such a thing?" The Grand Princess turned her gaze toward the direction of the imperial palace.

"The one who supplied the forbidden incense to the Vice Minister," she whispered.

I tightened my grip on the small wooden plaque in my hand. Three days. The web that had strangled me to death in my past nightmare was finally showing its first loose thread. For three days, the capital was turned upside down, searched from top to bottom, yet Shen Yuntang remained unfound. Xie Linchu seemed driven to madness; he deployed men to scour every corner of the city and even stood guard outside the Grand Princess’s manor for two hours straight. The Grand Princess finally ordered a chair to be brought to him.

"If you must keep watch, sit down. Do not catch a cold and fall ill, or I shall have to waste my silver on your medicine," she told him.

Xie Linchu's face was ghastly. "Mother, Shen Yuntang is missing. Do you not feel the slightest bit of anxiety?"

The Grand Princess sipped her tea with agonizing leisure. "The guilty party has fled to escape punishment; why should I be anxious?"

"She is not fleeing; she has been abducted!" Xie Linchu countered. I sat beneath the veranda, drying herbs. Co Nghien had tasked me with sorting them, while Qing Xing took it upon herself to translate Xie Linchu's frantic outbursts into biting insults. She whispered to me, "He is panicking; he is truly panicking." Xie Linchu heard her and snapped his head around to glare. Qing Xing hurriedly lowered her head, feigning intense focus on the herbs. Co Nghien nudged me, reminding me, "That is licorice; do not toss it aside like firewood."

Qing Xing, irritated, threw a handful of dried leaves at him. Xie Linchu watched us, his expression darkening further. "Shen Zhaoyue, how can you still find the heart to laugh?"

I raised my head to meet his gaze. "And does the Heir not still find the heart to vent his frustrations upon me?"

He stepped closer. "If anything happens to Shen Yuntang, you will not escape the consequences."

I retorted, "Did I tell her to use the forbidden incense? Did I tell her to run away? Did I tell the Northerners to snatch her away?" Xie Linchu lowered his voice to a menacing hiss. "If you had not forced her into the nunnery, would any of this have occurred?"

I looked him in the eye. "If she had not conspired to harm me, she would never have been sent to the nunnery in the first place." He was left speechless, choked by his own logic. Co Nghien shifted the herb basket toward me. "Heir, arguing is detrimental to your health; you would do well to speak less."

Xie Linchu fixed him with a frigid stare. "And what are you?"

Co Nghien contemplated this for a moment. "A physician is considered a man of profession," he replied seriously.

Qing Xing burst into laughter. Xie Linchu could no longer contain himself; he raised his hand, intending to overturn the herb basket. I pressed my hands firmly onto the tray. "If the Heir destroys my medicine, I shall go before the Grand Princess and weep, claiming you have bullied a sickly woman."

Xie Linchu's hand hovered in mid-air. Perhaps recalling the manipulative tactics of Shen Yuntang, his face contorted in disgust. I mimicked Shen Yuntang's tone perfectly. "My constitution is frail; I cannot withstand such agitation."

Qing Xing collapsed onto the table in stitches. Co Nghien coughed so hard the dried herbs rattled. Xie Linchu spun around and strode away in a fury. Reaching the courtyard gate, he paused. "Shen Zhaoyue, tomorrow when we enter the palace, do not speak out of turn. My Imperial Father will not indulge you as my mother does."

"I am only speaking the truth," I said. He looked back over his shoulder. "Sometimes, the truth is what kills you."

I looked at him calmly. "The Heir need not worry; I have already died once before."

He stiffened, momentarily paralyzed by my words. I lowered my head and returned to sorting the herbs. On the dawn of the third day, we entered the palace. Outside the main gate, my father stood rigidly in his official robes. My mother was there too, looking gaunt and frail; upon seeing me, she started to rush forward, but my father held her back. "Are you not embarrassed enough?" he hissed. My mother's tears fell instantly. I did not approach them. Xie Linchu arrived on horseback, his eyes heavy with exhaustion. Seeing Co Nghien standing behind me, he frowned deeply. "Is he entering as well?"

Co Nghien raised his medical chest. "I am here to testify."

Xie Linchu said coldly, "This is not a street clinic; not just anyone may enter." Co Nghien nodded. "Which is why I have a royal warrant from the Princess."

Xie Linchu looked to the Grand Princess, who pointedly ignored him. The palace gates swung open. We walked into the Imperial Study. The Emperor sat on his throne, and beside him stood a Noble Consort adorned in deep-hued palace robes. I recognized her instantly. In my dream, before the Northern territory was besieged, she had summoned me and bestowed upon me a string of prayer beads, wishing me and Xie Linchu a harmonious marriage. Later, when the rebels demanded the sacrifice of the Heir’s wife, those beads fell from my sleeve, revealing the hidden map of the Northern defenses inside. Xie Linchu had used those very beads to condemn me. The Consort was of the To clan. It was from her palace that Shen Yuntang’s forbidden incense had originated.