Pei Ziao’s rejection left Yi Qianying in panic. “Brother Ziao, what are you saying? I’m already yours, and if you’re unwilling to take responsibility for me, then… only death will clear my name!” She attempted to hurl her head against a flowerpot half as tall as she was, but Yun Ruoyan caught her in the nick of time.

Yi Qianying turned around with a hateful gaze. “Let me die! Why won’t you let me die?!!”

If you die, how can I continue to put on this show? She tried to calm Yi Qianying down. “Sister, don’t be impulsive. I’m sure His Majesty will support you.”

Yun Ruoyao hurriedly rushed over as well, hissing, “You idiot! If you die, it’ll make everything worse!”

Only then did Yi Qianying give up on courting death. She allowed Yun Ruoyao to drag her to the emperor, and the two of them knelt down together.

“Your Majesties, the Slaughtering King,” Yun Ruoyao raised her head and beseeched the three dignitaries, her face lined with an older sister’s grief. “Please, I beg of you, give my poor sister’s justice and reclaim my Yun family’s reputation.”

Li Xiu and the empress looked at each other and sighed.

“Miss Yun, please rise.” The empress’ severe features revealed a rare expression of pity. “Given that this occurred in the palace, and during my flower-viewing party no less, I will personally make amends to your sister.”

When she finished speaking, she glared at Pei Ziao. “Young Master Pei, won’t you admit what you’ve done?!”

“Your Majesty, I’ve not done anything of the sort! Please, I swear I’m innocent!” Pei Ziao replied anxiously.

“You still deny the allegations? Pei Ziao, to think I once thought highly of you!”

Finding an opportune time to interject, Li Qianxiao added, “Young Master Pei and Miss Yi have always been close. Now that something like this has happened, Young Master Pei, if you don’t take responsibility, do you intend to force Miss Yi to her death?!”

Li Qianxiao would have loved for all this to blow over with Pei Ziao as his scapegoat.

Pei Ziao glanced at Yi Qianying, still sobbing within Yun Ruoyao’s embrace. Her pitiful appearance touched the crowd’s hearts, but Pei Ziao began to find her more and more vexing.

“Your Majesties, the Slaughtering King, if I truly were the one who had done it, I would definitely take responsibility. I swear this was not my doing!”

Seeing that Pei Ziao didn’t look the slightest bit guilty, Li Xiu began to think more critically about the whole affair. The empress, however, was almost seething with anger. “Pei Ziao, do you think a woman would accuse you of something like this unfairly?!”

The empress turned toward Yi Qianying. Gently, she asked, “Miss Yi, I understand the importance of your reputation as a woman. Can you tell me clearly whether Young Master Pei was the man who assaulted you?”

Yi Qianying looked resentfully as Pei Ziao, but he refused to meet her gaze. Her heart was about to break into countless pieces. Why? He was clearly the one who had done it, so why didn’t he admit it?! Were his affections all a lie?!

No matter what, Yi Qianying knew that Pei Ziao was her only hope for salvation. If she couldn’t bind him to her, then her life would be forever tarnished.

“Empress!” Yi Qianying knelt down and bowed deeply at her feet. “No matter how muddleheaded I might be, how could I mistake something like this? During the expedition to the imperial territory, Brother Ziao and I had already made plans to be together for life, and he had promised that he would find an opportunity to propose to me. But now… but now, I don’t know why he won’t admit it!”

When Yi Qianying finished speaking, she suddenly turned toward Yun Ruoyan. “Sister, Sister Ruoyan, was it you who forbade him from taking responsibility? I know Brother Ziao favors you, sister, and I know your status is higher than mine. But if you’re willing to permit our relationship, Sister, I’m even willing to be a concubine for you and Brother Ziao!”

Yun Ruoyan laughed coldly in her heart. She was just about to speak up when Li Mo’s icy voice rang out. “Miss Yi, what strange words you’re saying. Why would my consort share a husband with you?”

Yi Qianying hesitated before replying incredulously, “Your… your consort?”

“That’s right.” Li Mo reached out for Yun Ruoyan with his long arms, his dark, glowing eyes looking at her with tender affection. “During the flower-viewing party, I’ve announced my intentions to propose to Yun Ruoyan as my consort once she’s of age. So, Miss Yi, you won’t have to worry about anyone snatching your husband away.”

Yi Qianying knelt on the floor, unable to accept this reality.

But the Slaughtering King had no reason to lie, and his ardent gaze toward Yun Ruoyan couldn’t be faked.

Yi Qianying’s hands trembled as they clutched the hem of her dress. At that moment, she had actually forgotten her plight; her whole heart was filled with jealous, envy, and hate.

Why?! How had Yun Ruoyan gotten into the Slaughtering King’s good graces with that face of hers?!

Neither of them had grown up with motherly love. Without any backing, both of them struggled to stay afloat in as cutthroat an environment as the noble house of Yun. They were both wife-born daughters of their respective family, but neither was afforded the status of one. Both had been all but discarded.

Given how similar their plight was, they should have become good sisters, but Yi Qianying couldn’t help but feel repulsed whenever she saw Yun Ruoyan’s face.

Whenever she saw her pitiful appearance, her resignation to her fate, Yi Qianying was reminded of her own past self. She hated Yun Ruoyan the same way she hated her past, so she would always bully Yun Ruoyan with the others. It was only in this perverted fashion that she could feel a shred of superiority, of balance.

How had this ugly girl, whom they’d knocked down once and again, stood back up?

Not only had she regained her grandmother and father’s trust and appreciation, but she had even charmed the crown prince and her own Brother Ziao with her fake appearance! Now, she had even schemed and tricked her way into the Slaughtering King’s good graces!

Was she truly inhuman?! Yi Qianying couldn’t help but be reminded of Wang Kuang’s dying words within the imperial territory. “You’re no human, you’re a demon, a demon!”

She subconsciously looked toward Yun Ruoyan, only to find her gaze already fixated on her. Her bright eyes looked as though they could penetrate her body and soul.

She looked at Yi Qianying the way she would look like an ant.

It had shocked Yi Qianying so much that she almost unbalanced herself and fell. She wasn’t the same ugly girl she used to be!

Yi Qianying forced herself to remain calm, but she didn’t dare look at Yun Ruoyan anymore.

Although Yun Ruoyan’s appearance still looked the same as before, her gaze looked like that of a different person entirely. Had someone else taken over her body? Or had she been consumed by a parasitic demon?

She couldn’t believe that she was only realizing this now! This new development resolved quite a number of Yi Qianying’s thoughts about the abrupt changes in Yun Ruoyan’s personality, but it didn’t help her current dilemma.

“Your Majesties, the Slaughtering King, Crown Prince,” Pei Ziao addressed each person one by one. “Miss Yi would certainly not have been able to identify me as her assailant.”

He took a deep breath and continued. As he breathed out, he imagined that his remnant feelings for Yi Qianying were likewise being expelled from his body. “Because Miss Yi was drugged with an aphrodisiac, one that befuddled her mind! Under these circumstances, she wouldn’t have been able to identify whom she was with!”

“What!” Everyone gasped, and the empress even raised her voice. “Pei Ziao, don’t you dare talk nonsense! Why would there be such a drug in the palace?!”

“Your Majesty, I wouldn’t dare. Miss Yi suddenly told me that she had an urgent matter to discuss with me, which was why I followed her to that small courtyard in the outer gardens. It was there that she began to perform… a series of strange actions, and I naturally rebuffed her advances. Under my questioning, she revealed that she had been drugged with an aphrodisiac, and wanted me to help relieve her symptoms. I was getting ready to bring her to Your Majesties to seek help from an imperial physician when I was attacked from behind!”

Pei Ziao raised a hand and swore to the high heavens, “I swear to my ancestors that I, Pei Ziao, did not assault Yi Qianying tonight!”

As soon as Pei Ziao finished speaking, Yi Qianying collapsed onto the ground. “No, no… that’s impossible. If not Brother Ziao, who… who could it be?”

She had lost her innocence, and she didn’t even know who did it! Yi Qianying buried her head in her arms and began to weep even more fervently than before.

“The palace guards, the scions of the nobility, and all the royal princes,” Pei Ziao bowed and continued, “Any man who was in the vicinity is a suspect, not just me.”

“You dare accuse the royal princes?!” the empress thundered.

Pei Ziao bowed once more. “Your Majesties, I only seek to prove my innocence.”

At this time, Li Qianxiao was hiding behind the empress, not daring to even breathe loudly.

But Li Xiu seemed to have thought of something, because his eyes turned toward his eldest son.

The time was finally ripe for Yun Ruoyan to speak up. She stepped forward and walked to Yi Qianying’s side. As she went through the motions to help her up, she suddenly seemed to notice something. Pointing at a crevice on the floor in shock, she exclaimed, “What could that be?”

The crowd’s gaze followed her finger to a purple-gold jewel illuminated by the lamplight and moonlight.

Pei Ziao immediately walked over and picked up the jewel. “This must be something the man left behind!” He immediately handed the jewel to Li Xiu. “Your Majesty, this looks like a jewel that fell from a crown. The person whose crown this jewel belongs to must be the assailant!” [1]

Li Xiu grabbed the jewel. In agitation, his slender fingers squeezed it tighter and tighter, turning his fingernails white.

The empress widened her eyes, her face full of shock, as she turned to Li Qianxiao’s purple-gold crown.

It was missing a jewel!

1. In this context, crown refers to the formal male headdress used in classical Chinese society. Men would often keep their hair long and tie it up in a topknot; the crown goes over the topknot and is secured with a hairpin.