Chapter 107
“What are you waiting for?”
“Who?” An Lanxin was startled by the sudden voice. She instinctively stood up, eyes wide with fear as she looked around cautiously, her back pressed against the dressing table. She immediately shouted, “Guards! There’s an intruder!”
“Heh~ You think just anyone is worth an assassin’s effort? You’re not qualified.” A crimson figure appeared in the room, casually leaning against the bedpost with a lazy yawn.
An Lanxin gasped sharply, eyes locked on the eerie man who had suddenly appeared. She instinctively backed away, pressing against the table while inching toward the door. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“Oh my, Sister Lan, just because I changed my face, you don’t recognize me? Here, let me change it back. Maybe now you remember me?”
“Ah…” Consort Lan froze as the man waved his sleeve, revealing a familiar face. Her eyes widened in shock. But the next moment, the face turned rotten and decayed. She screamed hysterically and bolted toward the door. “A ghost!”
“Heh, Sister Lan, how did you know I’d come to greet you?” A woman’s voice, sweet yet chilling, spoke from the doorway.
Upon seeing the figure at the door, Consort Lan went pale and scrambled backward like a madwoman. The woman standing there also had a face covered in festering decay. Clamping her hands over her ears, Lan shrieked, “Guards! Guards!”
But no one responded.
“Sister Lan, Baby missed you so much that I just had to bring him to see you,” came another cold voice from behind her.
An Lanxin froze, her body turning to ice. Suddenly, she lunged around the room, flinging objects in every direction. “Stay away! Don’t come near me! Someone, help!”
“Sister Lan, why are you like this? I’m hurt.”
“You always said we should support each other as sisters. Why push me away now?”
“And didn’t you promise to be Baby’s godmother? Come, take a look at him.”
“No! No! Stay away!” Consort Lan cowered in the corner by a cabinet, trembling uncontrollably. Her hair was disheveled, and she gripped a hairpin with shaking hands, jabbing it toward them without daring to look. “It wasn’t me! It was Physician Wang! Go find him! I don’t know anything! Leave me alone!”
“Oh, Physician Wang?” The woman chuckled. “He’s already with us. He said he wants to serve you for all eternity, so we came to help him.”
“No! No! It wasn’t me! I don’t know anything! Stay away!” Consort Lan screamed, waving the golden hairpin wildly.
The three figures exchanged glances, then peeled off their grotesque disguises, revealing themselves as Youxiang, Qian Baihuan, and Canyang.
Earlier that day, Youxiang had gone to retrieve medicinal food and caught Physician Wang red-handed trying to drug someone. Furious, she forced the truth from him and uncovered Consort Lanxin’s sinister plans. She also learned that Lanxin had used the same method to kill countless other concubines, causing rumors of vengeful spirits haunting the palace.
Youxiang had been indifferent to palace intrigue until Lanxin dared to target Murong Qiufeng.
The drug Lanxin had used wasn’t poison but a rare, incurable substance called “Beauty’s Demise.” Colorless, tasteless, and nearly undetectable, it caused victims’ skin to fester like a skin disease, eventually driving them to suicide from the agony.
“Don’t recognize us, Consort Lan? What about this?” Youxiang sneered, tossing a small paper packet at her feet.
Lanxin’s eyes followed the packet. Her pupils shrank with recognition. She looked up in horror to find the three strangers gone, replaced by familiar faces.
“Who…who are you people? How dare you barge into my chambers and spout nonsense!”
“Such arrogance,” Youxiang scoffed. “You planned to poison our master without even investigating who protects him. Such carelessness, Consort Lan. Dangerous.”
Lanxin’s face twisted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Oh? Perhaps these two will refresh your memory.” Youxiang gestured toward the corner.
Lanxin turned and blanched. Sitting there were Prince Ye and Murong Qiufeng.
“P-Prince Ye…how are you here?”
“What do you think, Consort Lan?” Prince Ye’s eyes pierced her like daggers.
Murong Qiufeng’s gaze was conflicted.
“I…I don’t know anything,” she stammered.
“Youxiang is curious,” the woman said, stepping closer. “’Beauty’s Demise’ is a secret palace formula, not from our kingdom. How did you get it, Consort Lan?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lanxin backed away.
“Oh, you know it well,” Youxiang said, smirking. “This drug is no ordinary poison. Victims suffer from rashes, unbearable itching, or ulcerating skin. In the end, no matter how beautiful they once were, they die by their own hands.”
Lanxin trembled.
“But did you know its other effect?” Youxiang continued, eyes glinting.
Lanxin froze.
Qian Baihuan raised the packet. “Women exposed to this drug lose the ability to bear children. Permanently infertile.”
Lanxin’s world shattered. Her lips trembled. “No…you lie!”
“Is it a lie? Haven’t you already experienced it?” Youxiang said coldly. “You should have checked who you were dealing with before acting. Such ignorance doesn’t suit someone who’s survived this long in the harem.”
She turned to Prince Ye. “Your Highness, how shall we handle this?”
Lanxin stared blankly at the prince, her mind broken. Murong Qiufeng averted her gaze, struggling with pity.
