The Untamed Princess

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Risky Reunion

It had been all Luo Jian could do to persuade Weisheng to return to his own pavilion for what remained of the night.  He had finally agreed as long as two royal guards were positioned outside Ming Yue's tent at all times, and on the understanding that Doctor Xiao would return in only a few short hours to check on her injuries.  Luckily, she was not suffering from a fever, and some colour had started to return to her pale cheeks.

Still, even though he was back in his tent, Weisheng was not asleep, and instead had insisted on going over the events of the night.  Luo Jian knew better than to try to convince his friend to rest, so the two men now sat opposite each other, their moods sombre.

"It's my fault, Your Highness.  My security measures were not strong enough.  The assassin should never have been able to get so close to you.  Please, punish me accordingly."

Weisheng took a long look at his friend.

"No, Luo Jian," he said.  "I do not blame you.  I was stupid.  I was willing to put my own life on the line in order to expose the traitors, but it never even crossed my mind that I was risking the lives of others."  As he spoke, he absent-mindedly flicked at the corner of Ming Yue's letter to him from earlier."

Luo Jian looked only slightly less miserable as he spoke again.

"Still," he said, "I should not have killed him.  We could have at least questioned him and found out who he was working for."

"No, Luo Jian," Weisheng said again.  "A man like that was never going to be captured alive if he could not make his escape.  If you had not killed him, he would have found some way to take care of it himself.  And anyway, we have definitely learned something of use from tonight's events."

Luo Jian looked at his friend inquiringly.

"We know from your security measures around the camp that it has been impossible for anyone to leave or enter unannounced since the Jin delegation arrived the other day.  Consequently, the assassin was already here, embedded within our own people."

Luo Jian nodded.  The assumption was a sound one.

"Also," Weisheng continued, "the royal guard uniform the man was wearing looked genuine."

"This leads us to two inevitable conclusions," he finished.  "One.  Whoever hired the assassin must be someone of significant influence in the palace.  How else could he get his hands on the uniform of a royal guard?"

"Two.  That person is here, right now, in the Han delegation.  The only fool proof way to sneak the assassin into the camp would have been as one of their own attendants." 

Luo Jian jumped to his feet.

"But, Weisheng.  That means..."

"Yes, my friend.  It means that our enemies include one if not more of the three ministers who accompanied us to this summit.  I think it's a pretty safe bet that at least one of them is not sleeping peacefully right at this moment."