Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The cook and I were thrown onto the floor.

The fall hurt badly.

After a wave of dizziness passed, I finally saw the scene before me clearly.

In front of the magnificent palace hall, light gauze curtains stirred. On the golden beauty couch at the very front reclined a woman with a graceful figure.

“Your Highness, the people have been brought.”

A momo reported, then withdrew.

Imperial Consort Shen slowly rose from the couch and lifted the curtains with one hand.

The cook trembled in terror, not daring to raise her head.

I also knew that looking up directly at the imperial consort was against the rules.

But I could not help it.

I wanted to see what my daughter had grown into.

I lifted my eyes.

The woman was stunningly beautiful, her skin like smooth jade, her brows like distant mountains. Only those beautiful phoenix eyes held an indescribable coldness…

She lowered her gaze and met my eyes, then gave a soft laugh. “You are rather bold.

“Men, drag her out and gouge out her eyes.”

I froze, drawing in a sharp breath of disbelief.

The cook quietly shuffled farther away in panic, afraid of being implicated by me.

Suddenly, the consort laughed again.

Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, she laughed brightly. For one dazed instant, I saw the shadow of young Ah Yun in her.

But it vanished in the next breath. The consort stopped laughing and sighed. “Why are you so easily frightened? Look, your face has gone pale.”

Then her tone changed. She asked me, “You made the sophora flower cakes?”

After thinking for a moment, I answered, “Yes.”

She nodded thoughtfully, then lightly pointed with fingers painted in bright red nail dye.

“Men, drag her out and execute her.”

The cook collapsed to the floor.

She stared blankly at the consort.

The consort tilted her head. “This time, I am not joking.”

Two eunuchs quickly stepped forward, seized the cook by the arms, and dragged her away.

All along the way, the cook’s agonized pleas rang without end, shrill and desperate.

The consort sat on the couch and picked up a grape.

Peeling it slowly, she asked me in a careless voice, “Do you know why she had to die?”

I frowned and said, “Because she failed to serve Your Highness well.”

The consort laughed softly.

There was a trace of mockery in that laugh. “Because she had no eyes and could not see who her true master was.”

As she spoke, footsteps sounded outside the hall.

A maid dressed in green led an imperial physician forward. The physician kept his eyes straight ahead, focusing only on taking the consort’s pulse.

I watched from where I knelt, my thoughts in turmoil.

Was she ill?

“Most of the toxins in Your Highness’s body have been cleared. With careful recovery afterward, you should be completely healed before long.”

“Thank you for your trouble, Imperial Physician.”

The voices inside came intermittently, and I could not hear very clearly.

I could only kneel quietly in the corner.

Before long, the green-clad maid escorted the physician out.

The consort lifted the curtain and stepped out, stopping before me.

“What is your name?”

“This servant is Ah Yin…”

“Ah Yin…” she murmured softly.

After a long while, she said, “Go. I am tired.”