Compared with Consort Shu Meng, Nalan Xuan found himself inexplicably far more nervous.
Things had already reached this point.
If the truth really was what he suspected, then how was he supposed to face it?
His body stiffened unnaturally, the tension pulling at the wound that had only just stopped bleeding. Sitting beside him, Feng Xuanyi naturally missed none of it—not a movement, not even the slightest change in his eyes.
“Consort Shu, do you acknowledge your crime?” The empress, who had always swallowed her anger and yielded before Consort Shu Meng, suddenly spoke. Her voice carried a cold, noble authority that brooked no challenge, as though she intended to release every grievance and humiliation she had endured over the years in a single breath. She apparently did not care if anyone later accused her of kicking someone while they were down or seizing upon an opportunity for revenge.
Consort Shu had monopolized imperial favor for so long and occupied what was effectively the position of true mistress of the imperial harem, beneath only one person and above everyone else. Faced now with an overwhelmingly hostile gathering that had clearly come to demand an accounting, her initial astonishment lasted only an instant. Though circumstances could hardly have been more unfavorable, she unexpectedly grew calmer, her expression taking on an almost fearless composure.
“If one wishes to accuse another, one will never lack a charge. This consort cannot accept Your Majesty the Empress’s accusation.”
“An accusation?” The empress suddenly smiled.
She seemed almost like another person. She remained dignified and noble, yet there was something inexplicably oppressive about her now, something almost chilling. With a faint smile upon her face, she pointed toward the assassin kneeling on the floor, her gaze as cold as thousand-year-old ice.
“Both witness and evidence are here. How do you intend to deny it?”
Consort Shu straightened her back. Her beautiful eyes swept disdainfully over the assassin, whose disheveled hair concealed most of his face. “This consort does not know this man. If anything, I must admire Your Majesty the Empress’s methods and planning. To slip such a person into my palace in the middle of the night without anyone noticing, then discover him at precisely the right moment—truly impressive. I can only admire such skill. Still, there is one thing I find puzzling. Although Your Majesty is certainly meticulous and capable of careful planning, I had not realized you possessed enough power to arrange everything so flawlessly. Could someone perhaps have been advising you and working alongside you? I would very much like to meet whoever that person is.”
As she spoke, her gaze shifted and fixed unblinkingly upon the expressionless Nalan Xuan seated beside Feng Xuanyi.
She made no effort whatsoever to conceal the implication in her words: Nalan Xuan and the empress had colluded to frame her.
Every word and gesture made before the emperor could determine not only one’s own honor and survival, but the fate of an entire clan. At such a moment, no one could afford to bear accusations of attempted assassination compounded by deliberately framing another consort. Yet the empress did not rush to defend herself. It was almost as though she were absolutely certain Feng Xuanyi would never believe Consort Shu’s accusations. Instead, she added with faint amusement, “Perhaps Consort Shu does not understand. This is not some ceremonial farce performed merely for appearances. An assassin is an assassin. Whether he succeeded or failed, the crime itself is grave. If someone dares break into a palace at night, attack its master, and injure him, he had better be prepared never to leave alive. Perhaps Consort Shu has not heard yet—Virtuous Lord was wounded. Someone very nearly got exactly what they wanted.”
Consort Shu Meng froze.
She had assumed this was nothing more than a scheme to frame her. She had not expected anyone to have actually been injured.
The composure she had forced upon herself immediately began to fracture, panic and uncertainty appearing in her eyes.
“You’re the thieves crying ‘Catch the thief’! It must be you!”
Only then did she seem to notice Feng Xuanyi, who had sat silently ever since giving the order to search the palace. His face was dark and grave.
Consort Shu Meng’s confidence drained even further. Her body began trembling involuntarily, and she suddenly realized how bitterly cold the early-spring night felt when she wore only a thin inner robe. Still kneeling, she shuffled toward Feng Xuanyi, desperate to find even the slightest trace of sympathy in his eyes—to see the familiar affection and indulgence she had always relied upon.
Her knees scraped against the floor with dull, repeated sounds.
Feng Xuanyi did not react.
It was as though he could not even see her.
“Cousin! Cousin! You have to believe me! I really was framed. I’m innocent!” Consort Shu Meng had genuinely begun to panic. A fear unlike anything she had experienced before engulfed her. She pleaded desperately, but every explanation seemed to be countered by someone nearby casually adding another remark and fanning the flames. Moisture gathered in her bright black eyes until they became hazy and pitiful enough to stir anyone’s compassion. “Imperial Cousin! You have to believe me! I truly have been wronged! Someone must be jealous because you favor me and hate me for it, so they deliberately set this whole thing up. Cousin, don’t let them deceive you!”
She turned and glared viciously at the empress, who stood looking down upon her, as though she wanted to leap up and tear the woman apart with her bare hands.
Even though this was the favored consort who had been wrapped around him in affection only a few hours earlier, now crying and pleading so pitifully, Feng Xuanyi remained as unmoved as a block of wood.
Or perhaps he had already made his decision.
He gave a single look.
Understanding immediately, the Commandant of the Palace Guards stepped forward and efficiently tore away the black cloth covering the assassin’s face.
Nalan Xuan’s entire body jolted.
The revelation was completely unexpected.
The answer had seemed poised to emerge, yet at the most crucial moment it had suddenly veered somewhere entirely different from what he had anticipated. Nalan Xuan clenched his right fist again, squeezing Zhang Xinzhong’s cord knot so tightly that it seemed he might grind it into his own flesh.
His expression grew even darker.
Alongside that darkness appeared unmistakable confusion.
His brows drew together into a deep furrow.
“Who are you? Why are you here? Who sent you, and what were you ordered to do?” Feng Xuanyi asked in a low voice.
The assassin, however, showed no intention of cooperating. He raised his head and closed his eyes, adopting the simple strategy that if he could not see Feng Xuanyi, he could pretend the emperor did not exist.
Seeing the emperor’s authority openly ignored, the Commandant of the Palace Guards immediately felt his blood boil. He slapped the assassin hard enough to snap the man’s face sideways.
“His Majesty is questioning you! If you refuse to speak honestly, you’ll regret it!”
The assassin still did not make a sound.
The commandant was about to strike him again when something suddenly occurred to him. He abruptly caught the assassin by the jaw and squeezed hard. The assassin’s brows tightened as his mouth was forcibly opened.
“Your Majesty, the assassin has no tongue. He cannot speak.”
“So Consort Shu was right about one thing. This truly was arranged without leaving a loose end.” Feng Xuanyi gave an ambiguous smile. “Not quite enough to leave us without a living witness, perhaps, but close.”
At last he looked directly at Consort Shu Meng.
That single glance plunged her instantly into an icy abyss.
“C-Cousin…” This Feng Xuanyi was utterly unfamiliar to her—cold, distant, looking at her without any of his usual warmth or tenderness, as though she were an unrelated stranger. “This truly has nothing to do with me! I don’t know anything. I really don’t know anything! If you don’t believe me—ask her! She knows! I stayed inside the palace the entire time and never left. How could I possibly—”
Before Consort Shu Meng could finish her tearful explanation, the empress abruptly interrupted her.
“Does Consort Shu take all of us for fools? Ask your personal maid? If we were prepared to believe whatever she said, why would we have bothered coming here at all? Besides, one does not need to kill someone personally in order to have them killed. With the Meng family’s power and prestige, if there is something Consort Shu wishes done, you need not even give an explicit order, much less dirty your own hands. A single suggestion would be enough for any number of people to rush forward and act on your behalf.”
She paused, her voice turning colder.
“Rather than explaining whether you stepped outside today, perhaps you should first explain why an unfamiliar man was hiding inside your palace in the middle of the night—with a fresh wound on his body.”
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