The Untamed Princess

Chapter Forty-Six: The Ordeal Ends

Zhao Weisheng glanced anxiously up at the sky.  Dawn was only a few hours away, and it would be very difficult to keep the events of the night a secret once the sun was up.  Either way, he would have to return to his own chambers before his usual rising time, or there would be an outcry in the palace.

He looked across to where Xiao Yu was sitting on the edge of his patient's bed.  The physician had taken the revelation about Ming Yue's abilities rather well, but then the man had never been prone to outbursts of emotion.  He and Luo Jian were very similar in that respect.

His attention was diverted elsewhere when Eunuch Wang came into view.  His walk was purposeful, and from the look on his face, it was not good news.  Knowing the prince well, when he came to a halt the chief eunuch did not mince his words.

"The harem maidservant is dead, Your Highness.  It looks like suicide."

Weisheng looked up sharply.

"Looks like, you say?"

"A knife to the stomach.  Her hand was gripping the hilt when the guards found her body."

Weisheng knew there was more that the man was not saying.

"But?"

"Where did she get the knife?"  Eunuch Wang began.   "Also, I have seen suicides in prison before.  They are rarely committed by women and, when they are, the preference is poison."

Weisheng nodded slowly.  It made sense.  And from what Ming Yue had told him before, this Bu Hong was a proud, arrogant woman.  He did not think she would willingly take her own life in that manner, leaving a brutal mark of violence on her body.

"I agree.  Also, there was no way whoever was behind this would have left her alive, captured or not.  Question the prison guards.  Someone must know something."  Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Wait!  She had only been there for a few hours.   Whoever she was working for must be very well-connected.  If we start questioning people now, it's bound to get back to them and it could spook them into crawling back under their rock.  We need to bring them out into the open instead."

Weisheng looked at his chief eunuch for a long moment, but the man gave nothing away, waiting for the prince to come to his own conclusion.

"Eunuch Wang, as soon as propriety allows have someone you trust fetch Minster Shen.  I need to see him before morning court.  It's time we went on the offensive."

Eunuch Wang gave a shallow bow and turned to leave, almost bumping into Luo Jian and Lin Yang in the process.  Suddenly, everyone's attention was fixed on the returning pair.

"We have it," said the young herbalist.  Weisheng was grateful that she had foregone the formalities.  Walking across to her brother, she reached into her bag and brought out a handful of leaves.

"Crush these in with the rest of the mixture.  I will measure out some water to dilute the paste.  Then we need to heat it up slowly.  I originally said two hours.  That still holds, but we need to watch it carefully."

The brother and sister immediately went about their respective tasks, their years of working together evident from the way they seamlessly moved around each other.

Looking across at Xiao Yu, Weisheng noticed his jaw twitch.  He moved over to stand beside him, motioning for Luo Jian to do the same.

"What is it?" he asked in a low voice, fearing the worst.

"I'm not sure we have that long.  Moving her here slowed the spread of the poison.  Otherwise she would have been dead hours ago.  But now we're approaching the point when the damage it's causing to her internal organs will be irreversible.  We have to do something else."