Xie Zhizhi stared at the unconscious Dog Emperor on the bed, wondering how she could make his death meaningful.
Death Option One: He sleeps through the natural disaster, fails to awaken his Divine Power, has no money or weapons, and is hunted down and killed by his former enemies.
Death Option Two: He dies tonight, the court is shocked for a second, then the Crown Prince and the Third Prince fight to the death, only to discover in the end that the national treasury is empty.
She remembered that in the book, the period when the princes fought for the throne was shortly after the General’s Mansion was raided.
Logically, if the Dog Emperor was in good health, he shouldn’t have allowed his sons to fight for the throne, right?
Could there be some hidden plot in the book that wasn’t mentioned?
Killing him outright would be too easy for the Dog Emperor.
She decided to wait and see. She had a feeling that the Imperial Noble Consort was not simple.
So, she stayed put in her Space, comfortably seated in the official’s hat-shaped chair she had moved from the General’s Mansion, crossing her legs and drinking yogurt to aid digestion.
Less than half a minute had passed from the time Xie Zhizhi left the Space to when she re-entered it.
So, when the Imperial Noble Consort entered with two Palace Maids and saw the still-unconscious Emperor, she simply assumed he hadn’t woken up yet.
The Imperial Noble Consort weakly pressed her hand to her forehead, half-hiding her face, and opened her palm to hand a bottle of medicine to a Palace Maid. She instructed, “The Imperial Physician said that if the Emperor doesn’t wake up after half an incense stick’s time, feed him one pill to hold in his mouth. I’m feeling a bit dizzy and want to sleep. Xiaotao, you feed him later. If anything happens, wake me up.”
“Yes,” the Palace Maid Xiaotao obediently took the medicine bottle.
Xie Zhizhi saw the bottle and was puzzled. The Imperial Physician hadn’t mentioned feeding medicine earlier, had he?
Could it have been given by the Imperial Physician just now?
Soon after, the Imperial Noble Consort returned to her own bedchamber.
Xie Zhizhi didn’t move. She waited for half an incense stick’s time and saw Palace Maid Xiaotao feed the medicine to the Dog Emperor.
When the bottle was opened, she secretly took one pill into her Space. With a thought, a small black pill appeared in her hand.
She crushed it and brought it to her nose to smell.
“Hmm? This is actually made from herbs that induce drowsiness?”
Long-term use would cause one’s mental state to become increasingly prone to fatigue.
What was the Imperial Noble Consort up to?
This was so clumsy that the Imperial Physician would see through it at a glance—unless the Imperial Physician was one of her people.
Never mind. She should leave the palace first and meet up with Jing Yi and Jing Er to avoid worrying them.
Little did she expect that as she controlled the Space to leave the side hall and pass by the Imperial Noble Consort’s bedchamber, she would see the Imperial Noble Consort inside, talking face-to-face with a person in black through a slightly open window.
Four Palace Maids were guarding the door, and the bedchamber was deep, with the two sitting far apart.
Their voices were so soft she couldn’t hear clearly.
Driven by curiosity, Xie Zhizhi maneuvered the Space through the slightly open window crack and slipped inside.
Inside the bedchamber, the Imperial Noble Consort, no longer appearing weak, reclined on a soft couch, sitting very close to the person in black and whispering, “How did things go?”
The person in black lowered their voice to report, “Word came from there that they were completely wiped out. One of them even fell to their death, shattered to pieces. The Assassin Tower is dissatisfied. I had to pay another sum to keep their mouths shut. I’ve failed to live up to your expectations, Noble Consort.”
“So, she escaped? Shattered to pieces? She doesn’t know martial arts. Could it be that Xie Zongyi sent experts to protect her?” The Imperial Noble Consort was filled with rage. Her charming eyes turned icy and terrifying as she raised her slender eyebrows angrily. “It was supposed to be foolproof. Why did they have to raid the mansion at this time? It almost implicated my third son!”The Imperial Noble Consort sat up straight, retrieving a stack of banknotes and three gold bars from beneath her pillow and handing them to the Hidden Guard before her. Her sinister gaze was like that of a wolf protecting its cub as she commanded, “You must find her! This time, go directly to the Black Eagle Tower. Don’t leave any traces.”
She had been considering this decision for a long time. Seeing the Emperor’s health deteriorate day by day, it was time for him to abdicate. Now that the Crown Prince had married the legitimate daughter of the Right Chancellor, he had gained many advantages in the court and was thriving like a fish in water.
In contrast, her own son, the Third Prince, who had originally enjoyed the Emperor’s favor, was now shunned by the daughters of other officials because of his engagement to Xie Zhizhi. This prevented him from using marriage alliances to secure other influential factions in the court.
The Third Prince was gradually falling behind the Crown Prince. Fortunately, the Minister of War was her father; otherwise, he would have been framed like the other princes and exiled to a fiefdom, never to return to the imperial capital.
A while ago, she had finally resolved to eliminate this infatuated girl who stood in her son’s way. Only with Xie Zhizhi dead would the Third Prince have a chance to approach the Grand Commandant’s daughter.
She had thought Xie Zhizhi was a fool and that hiring a mediocre assassin would never lead suspicion back to her. But she never expected that, at this critical moment, the incident at the General’s Mansion would occur, and that heartless old Emperor wouldn’t even give her a hint of what was happening.
And so, her son became the last person suspected of seeing Xie Zhizhi.
If the Third Prince were placed under house arrest, it would hinder their grand plans.
One misstep leads to another.
Everything was going against her wishes!
Fortunately, she had just managed to placate the Emperor, who sent word to lift the Third Prince’s confinement.
The Imperial Noble Consort was still seething inside, unaware that someone was watching her coldly from the shadows!
Inside the Space, Xie Zhizhi’s previously amused expression darkened upon hearing the Imperial Noble Consort’s words. What a complicated feeling it was to realize she was the protagonist of this drama!
The assassin she had encountered at noon was actually sent by the Imperial Noble Consort?
It seemed she would do anything for her son.
But she should never have sent someone to kill her!
Xie Zhizhi smiled, though the warmth didn’t reach her eyes. Her delicate face was cold and distant as she contemplated how to make the Imperial Noble Consort meet a fitting end.
Why not pair her with the Dog Emperor? How thrilling would it be if, tomorrow, the Crown Prince or the Third Prince successfully rebelled and ascended the throne, only to discover that the imperial treasury was empty?
The thought filled her with anticipation.
Of the two ways she had considered for the Dog Emperor to die, she chose the second.
Outside, the black-clad figure, his face concealed, respectfully stored the banknotes and gold bars. “Then this subordinate will take his leave.”
“Go,” the Imperial Noble Consort waved wearily, hoping everything would proceed smoothly without any mishaps.
She then rose from the couch and returned to bed to sleep.
Little did the Imperial Noble Consort know that she would soon fall into an eternal slumber here.
The Palace Maid at the door paid no attention to the comings and goings of the black-clad figure. She considerately entered to extinguish the bright lamps, leaving only a single palace lantern lit.
Xie Zhizhi watched coldly as the Imperial Noble Consort fell asleep, knowing full well that the Emperor had likely been poisoned with a slow-acting drug by her long ago.
All the while, they had indulged in pleasure, draining his health and burdening him with illnesses to hasten his death—all for her son’s plan to seize the throne.
Hah, in that case, tonight they would become a pair of roasted mandarin ducks!
Her grandfather had taught her never to show mercy to those who harmed her, nor to give them a chance to retaliate.
She had originally wanted the Dog Emperor to experience the cruelty of natural disasters, but now she decided to let him experience hell instead.
Xie Zhizhi was angry. Everyone seemed to want her dead.
Hmph.Having thought through her next course of action, she controlled the Space and walked through the entire Zhaoyang Hall, avoiding the Palace Maids and guards, and collected all the valuable items into the Space.