“Your Highness!” Yun Zhao called out urgently to the crowd. “This painting is not right! Please step back at once and do not remain gathered here!”
“Miss Yun, why do you keep humiliating me?” Jiang Wanxin’s eyes reddened, her voice already trembling with tears as she spoke. “Your constant harassment before was bad enough, but now you even want to destroy the birthday gift I prepared for His Highness?”
Jiang Wanning, the second daughter of the Jiang family, chimed in with her own complaint: “Your Highness does not know—my elder sister could barely eat or sleep to complete this painting. She toiled for over two months and has grown thin from the effort…”
Jiang Wanxin’s eyes glistened with tears. “Say no more.”
Jiang Heng, seated among the male guests and unable to approach, was already burning with anxiety, barely restraining himself from causing a scene before the assembly.
“Nonsense.” The Princess Royal’s face twisted with fury, her gaze at Yun Zhao filled with loathing. “Guards! Drag her out!”
The guards moved forward in response.
“Your Highness—!” Yun Zhao ignored the approaching guards, her voice cold as a blade of ice, cutting through the clamor of the hall. “At first glance, this painting is pleasing to the eye, but with prolonged exposure, one’s mind will gradually be corrupted by the evil aura within it, slowly becoming a puppet…”
“What puppet? What is she babbling about?”
“She looks so ethereal and refined, yet she’s so vicious! Knowing full well that His Highness cares for Princess Jiale, she still dares to destroy the painting in public.”
“Isn’t she just relying on Prince Qin’s recommendation…”
The moment those words slipped out, the speaker realized his mistake. He looked up to find Prince Qin’s gaze icy cold, as if looking at a dead man.
The man’s legs gave way, and he fell to his knees with a thud.
But Yun Zhao paid no attention to her surroundings. Her gaze was locked on the wisp of crimson malevolence steadily gathering between the Princess Royal’s brows, and her heart sank.
This painting was clearly a trap, designed specifically for the Princess Royal! And whoever was behind it had done something that made it take effect even faster than she had anticipated!
“Your Highness!”
Seeing the two guards charging toward her, Yun Zhao flicked her wrist. Her silver whip shot out like a serpent emerging from its lair, deftly coiling around both guards’ arms. With a subtle shift of force, she sent them flying—
The two burly, imposing guards were sent stumbling backward like kites with severed strings, taking several unsteady steps before regaining their footing.
Everyone present was stunned by Yun Zhao’s display of whip work!
The Crown Prince furrowed his brow, casting a disapproving look at Xiao Qi.
To his surprise, Xiao Qi’s thin lips curved upward, his eyes clearly gleaming with admiration.
Crown Prince: “…”
The Princess Royal trembled with rage, her fingertips shaking. “Rebellion! This is outright rebellion! What kind of baleful star has Yuan’er brought into my presence!”
She immediately ordered more guards to seize Yun Zhao.
But Yun Zhao seized this opening to grab Nanny Zhou’s wrist, pressing her hand firmly onto the smeared ink without allowing any protest.
No one had expected her to do such a thing, and for a moment, all were stunned.
With swift, decisive movements, Yun Zhao then guided Nanny Zhou’s ink-stained hand into the basin of water set aside on the side table for washing hands!
“Hah! Hah!” Nanny Zhou suddenly turned red-faced and wild-eyed, flailing about as tears streamed down her cheeks. Yet she said, “Your Highness, this old servant—this old servant doesn’t want to cry, but I simply cannot control myself…”
The hall fell into horrified silence.
Jiang Wanxin’s maidservant’s sleeve brushed lightly—Yun Zhao noticed and called out loudly, “Someone! Hold up the painting! Do not let anyone else touch it!”
The martial official’s daughter who had earlier presented the ginseng reacted with remarkable speed. She stretched out her arm and, before anyone else could move, raised the rolled painting high. “Little Medical Immortal! I’ve got it!”
Yun Zhao then looked to the Princess Royal. “Your Highness surely has imperial physicians you trust. If you do not believe my words, summon one—a single examination will prove the truth.”
The problems with this painting, of course, went far beyond this. But for ordinary people without xuan arts, having them test for poison was the most straightforward approach.
At this moment, Yun Zhao could only be grateful that whoever set this trap had limited skill in xuan arts but grand ambitions—which was why, in addition to casting the curse, they had also mixed potent aphrodisiacs into the pigments.
With this thought, Yun Zhao looked at the Princess Royal again.
The most pressing matter, besides convincing the Princess Royal to believe her words, was the curse afflicting her person…
Just then, Yun Zhao suddenly “heard” a faint yet exceptionally clear ringing from the feathered hairpin in the Princess Royal’s hair—like the gentle strike of a jade chime!
The longest indigo feather at the tip of the hairpin abruptly detached from its setting, transforming into a streak of deep blue light so swift it was nearly imperceptible to the naked eye!
It moved faster than lightning, carrying a pure, piercing aura of evil-dispelling power, and struck with unerring precision toward the painting on Jiang Wanxin’s table!
“Shhh—!”
A soft sound, like a hot coal dropped into snow. The feather of light embedded itself squarely in the center of the smeared peony!
The instant the feather’s tip touched the paper, the alluring, pleasing radiance that had shimmered over the painting’s surface burst apart like a popped bubble!
All these strange phenomena unfolded before their very eyes, leaving everyone frozen in shock or fear!
But Yun Zhao clearly “saw” a young girl in a pale yellow ru skirt materialize, her eyes blazing with fury, clinging protectively to the Princess Royal’s waist.
It was the same wisp of a Remnant Soul that Yun Zhao had glimpsed earlier on the small white jade pig pendant hanging from Xiao Qi’s belt!
The Princess Royal suddenly clutched her forehead and staggered, a faint murmur escaping her lips: “Mother’s precious pearl…”
Then her eyelashes trembled, and she fainted dead away!
“Your Highness—!”
“Protect the Princess! Summon the imperial physician at once!”
The Crown Prince, seated at the table, shot to his feet, but his movements were no match for Prince Qin, who had already flown forward to shield the Princess Royal!
Shouts of alarm, the shattering of cups and plates, the toppling of tables and chairs… In an instant, the waterside pavilion erupted into chaos.
Yun Zhao quickly withdrew the last golden needle, and several drops of thick, dark, foul blood seeped from the tips of Nanny Zhou’s thumb and middle finger.
The flush on Nanny Zhou’s face rapidly receded. Though her gaze still held a trace of daze, her clarity had returned.
Like a mother hen protecting her chicks, she lunged forward and threw herself in front of the unconscious Princess Royal, spreading her arms wide to shield her fiercely:
“Old servant is here! Whoever dares to touch Her Highness must first step over my corpse!”
“It was her—!”
Jiang Wanxin cried out with all her remaining strength, her entire body trembling uncontrollably as if terrified to the extreme,
“Her Highness’s precious hairpin—it was she who tampered with it!”
Jiang Heng pushed through the crowd and rushed forward: “Guards! This woman harbors malicious intent and plots against Her Highness! Seize her at once!”
He grabbed Yun Zhao’s hand in a death grip, staring at her with eyes wide as if they would split, and hissed in a low voice,
“Blame your own luck and your own audacity—daring to chase all the way to the capital!
Do you know how many people in this city want you dead? Today, whether you want to die or not, you will die!”