The sly flower and the bored butterfly

True colors

I never thought that the first time I would see the true colors of this place would be in this ridiculous situation. It was early in the morning when my palace was taken under control. All the servants from all the corners of my palace were held captive. I was summoned by the emperor in a rush without even knowing what was happening. Everything happened in a hurry. It seemed like all the rules were defied for a moment.

　　When I arrived at the Northern palace all the concubines and consorts were all ready there. The emperor was there. Empress dowager also arrived shortly after I arrived. She looked worried. There were a few senior eunuchs and court ladies present. Everyone looked serious and had a grave look on their faces. The place was extremely quite.The emperor sized me with his eyes.

　　' My empress, You have been summoned here because of a crime you committed.' I felt my heartbeat accelerate. Crime? I haven't punished a single person here and I have already been branded as a criminal. I could here the smile in the emperors voice despite of the tense atmosphere.  I saw Imperial mothers lips tighten. I quickly looked up.
' Your majesty, Nucai doesn't understand what you mean.'

　　' Ah, you don't understand. Eunuch Li please explain the details to the empress.'
Eunuch Li came forward and bowed. He lowered his head and began to explain.
' Yesterday night, the seventh princess was attacked by someone. They used a sedative to paralyze the princess temporarily and attack her.'
He brought forward a familiar sachet bag.It had gold embroidery. Only the Jin family members are given that sachet.......He continued again.

　　' Upon searching the area we found this sachet bag . As your majesty can see this sachet bag has the gold embroidery done for only the Jin family. And, Your majesty is the only one who has a connection with Jin family in the inner palace.'

　　There was a short silence. I felt stiff. Are they trying to frame me for this? With that measly sachet bag as evidence ?Anyone could have stolen that bag from me. Who was trying to stir trouble for me?Imperial mother was starting intently at Eunuch Li. He trembled a little and continued. But before he could say anything the emperor took over. ' Empress, we suspect that you are one who caused the attack , the evidence against you is quite strong.'

　　There were some gasps from the concubines. Pretentious beings .Quick, quick think of something. I recalled a fact and gained some confidence.I looked straight into the emperors eyes. I came forward and said, ' Your majesty please allow nucai to speak.' The emperor motioned me to speak.

　　' That sachet bag indeed belongs to the Jin family, however it is very common. Nucai has several bags like that. Nucai has given sachets like that one to many people in the palace. All the people in palace have an access to that sachet.'

　　The emperor gave me a lazy nod. ' Ah, so empress means that the evidence isn't strong enough.' The empress dowager looked at the emperor. ' Huang di, the empress has her point. That sachet isn't a treasure reserved only for the empress.'
I made a dramatic bow again. It is time for a virtuous act. ' Nucai has always treated the seventh princess as nucai's own sister. Nucai wouldn't do anything to harm her.Your majesty, please give seventh princess justice and restore nucai's honor.'

　　The emperor made a ' This happens everyday' face. He lifted his hands and started to write on a paper. He stamped it with the imperial seal. The eunuch then announced the absurd but still expected edict.

　　The edict was about the virtues and duties of an empress. Supposedly, The empress is the leader of the inner palace and has the authority to maintain peace in the inner palace. The inner palace isn't stable now.So, I as the empress have to get to the 'depth' of this matter, give justice to the seventh princess and restore the harmony of inner palace. I wouldn't be surprised if I find that a consort or a maid that I don't know about is framing me. Let's get started then.

　　I went to find the seventh princess. When I reached her quarters the nannies and aunts looked like they saw their grand aunts. They looked scared, worried and confused.They had been instructed to not let anyone inside but who dares to stop the empress. Still, I respected her wishes and went in alone.When I went inside Imperial Physician Bai was writing a prescription. There was a nanny kneeling beside her bed.
　　They both greeted me. All the curtains were closed. I could make out the faint silhouette of the princess. She seemed to be sleeping.

　　' How is the princess doing?'
' Replying to your majesty, her highnesses fever has subsided. She is recovering.'
' Lift the curtains.' The nanny tried to stop me. She trembled a bit before she met with my glare. She obediently lifted the curtains. The princess was asleep. What I saw next thoroughly shook me. There was a long wound running down from her eyes to chin in her right cheek. Her left cheek was burned a bit. Her arms were exposed. She had multiple cuts and bruises. I put down the curtains.

　　I instructed the Imperial Physician to take care of the princess. I went back to my palace and asked them to bring back the sachet bag. By the wounds the princess had, it was clear that it wasn't an assassination attempt. The attacker deliberately wanted her to live. It was done to ruin her figure. An act of revenge. The wounds were clumsy so the attacker is not a professional killer. Who holds such a deep grudge against her? And what have I done for them to drag me in this?

　　A'xi brought the bag to me. It had the faint smell of a sedative. I recognized the sedative.It was a common sedative. But it wasn't a strong one. As far as I know, this sedative can only make a person feel dizzy. So, the princess should have been able to defend herself.

　　But it didn't look like there was any struggling involved. From what I heard from Eunuch Li the princess was attacked swiftly. There were no signs of any fight in the attack area. The cuts were fast and decisive. It felt like someone had planned this incident for a long time. ' Your majesty, what are you thinking?'

　　I looked up to see my closest confidant looking worried. I sighed.
' There is something wrong with the sedative in this bag. I can't pin what exactly is the problem.'
' Shall I ask an medical expert to come and examine it? Maybe it will give your majesty hints.'
' No, I am not familiar with anyone in the palace. Much less the medicinal department. They can't be trusted. I need someone who can't be affected by the inner palace.'

　　Since the person who attacked the princess did it without alerting anyone they must be familiar with the palace ways. And I need to know the thing about this sedative.I was contemplating on what to do when a familiar ornamental knife crossed my eyes. A few days ago General Liu gifted me an ornamental knife. We had grown close in these days in the palace. Though I didn't trust her completely yet, she was my best option now. Perhaps it is time to ask for a tiny favor. Our ancestors were friends after all.

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Just wanted to say that I may change the title and cover page of this book. I realized that there were tons of books with the same name in Wattpad.  Like always, thank you for reading ~