Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Three days later, the palace hosted the Begonia Banquet. All the recently betrothed nobles and ladies were required to enter the palace to offer their thanks for the imperial favor.

I knew I couldn’t avoid this banquet.

In my previous life, it was also at this banquet that I first met Xiao Mingyi. She sat beside the Imperial Consort, dressed in water-red palace robes, her smile as radiant as the brightest begonia on a branch. All of the capital praised her and Prince Jing as childhood sweethearts; had it not been for His Majesty’s decree, she would have been the one most likely to marry into the Prince’s Mansion.

Back then, I was foolish enough to think that the look she gave Zhou Xuzhang was merely one of lingering regret.

Seeing her again now, I finally noticed the faint blue mark behind her ear. It looked like an old scar, yet also like a mark that had been deliberately concealed.

I remembered my mother’s words: “Investigate the daughter of the Xiao Family first.”

Halfway through the banquet, palace maids served tea. As I picked up my cup, I feigned a slip, letting the hot tea soak my sleeve. The head matron beside the Imperial Consort frowned and ordered someone to lead me to the side hall to change.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Using dizziness as an excuse, I sent the maid to fetch some calming incense while I made my way along the corridor toward the Cold Palace. However, I hadn’t gone far before a scabbard blocked my path.

“Second Miss Gu, the Cold Palace is not a place you should be visiting.”

I looked up and met a pair of freezing eyes.

Wen Xiuzhu was dressed in crimson official robes, a saber at his waist. His features were elegant, almost to the point of being sharp. He currently served as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, patrolling the palace by imperial decree-the man everyone saw as the Loyal Minister of the Emperor.

In my past life, I only remembered him drenched in blood when he finally burst into the paupers’ morgue. Seeing him now, vibrant and alive, I was momentarily dazed.

“Does Lord Wen also make a habit of blocking paths?” I spoke first.

He stared at me for a moment, his gaze falling on the silhouette of the Bone Lamp hidden in my sleeve. His eyes darkened slightly. “If Miss Gu isn’t here because she’s lost, then you should give me a reason.”

I knew that with his intellect, trying to fool him was pointless. I lowered my voice. “There is a well in the Cold Palace. There might be skeletal remains inside.”

Wen Xiuzhu’s expression didn’t flicker. He only asked, “Who told you that?”

“The dead,” I replied.

It sounded like the talk of a madwoman, yet he didn’t laugh. He simply watched me for a long time, as if judging exactly how much I knew. At that moment, a scream suddenly erupted from not far away.

Palace servants ran in a panic. “Someone is dead! Someone died in the back corridor of the side hall!”

Wen Xiuzhu and I turned at the same time.

The deceased was a young palace maid. A purple bruise was strangled around her neck, and her palm was tightly clutching half of a begonia earring. More fatally, my jade bracelet was slipped onto her wrist.

The gazes of everyone nearby instantly fell upon me.

“Isn’t that the one Second Miss Gu was wearing today?”

“How did it end up in a dead person’s hand?”

Xiao Mingyi happened to arrive at that moment, letting out a soft gasp. “Sister Lanyin, your bracelet… how…”

With a single sentence, she pushed me into the eye of the storm.

Zhou Xuzhang arrived as well. The look he gave me held the perfect amount of reassurance and concern, as if he would step forward to support me at any moment.

But I only saw the faint scar on the web of his thumb, standing out clearly in the sunlight.

Wen Xiuzhu took half a step forward, shielding me. He gave a cold command: “Seal off the side hall. No one is to approach.”

Then, he tilted his head toward me. “Miss Gu, didn’t you say the dead can speak?”

I understood.

This was the chance he was giving me.

I knelt down and, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, took out the Bone Lamp.

When the fire ignited, the crowd gasped. I ignored them, staring only into the pale pupils of the deceased. A moment later, a blurred image spread through the flames.

I saw the hem of Xiao Mingyi’s skirt. I saw her stuffing the earring into the maid’s hand. I heard her whisper, “Put the bracelet on. Once Gu Lanyin arrives, say you saw a dead body by the well.”

In the next instant, a hand reached out from the shadows and strangled the maid’s neck.

That hand wore the Black Gold Thumb Ring that Meng Shiyan always used.

I snapped my eyes open.

Everyone was looking at me.

I raised my head and, for the first time, looked at Xiao Mingyi in front of everyone, slowly breaking into a smile.

“Miss Xiao,” I said, “are you very afraid of that well?”