Chapter 13: She's Not Faking It?!
Meanwhile, Lan'er felt so chaotic. She never imagined everything would be extremely disordered within the manor within seconds. She had just assigned a few servants and the manor's physician to attend to her mother. Continuing on her way to notify her father of her mother, Lan'er was stunned. Who would have thought she would end up witnessing her sister near death door spewing blood in the arms of the third prince. Although reckless, she swiftly aimed for his head. She knew deep down, there was no way she could defeat the third prince. However, she was prepared to fight a losing battle as long as she can take her sister back safely.
"Third Prince! Let my sister go!" She announced coldly. As anticipated, her attack had no effect on the royal prince as he merely evaded it as nothing had occurred. Lan'er reeled back a step; she couldn't execute another attack without the proper timing. She gazed at her older sister, who was lying limp in his arms.
The third prince's eyes coldly flashed as he caught her line of sight and sneered.
"Do you think this prince has nothing better to do to attack a lowly 'normal'?"
A dark red aura blasted out from his body and struck out at Lan'er.
"Submit!" The Third Prince commanded.
Lan'er toppled back, unable to handle the attack. She gritted her teeth and dug her nails into her palms. Was her sister's injury unrelated to the Third Prince? Then...her mother? She took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Yes, your highness."
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince and the general had detected the commotion and headed toward the noise. The general was ecstatic but bewildered. In fact, he did have a spy, a high-level spy servant given to him from Concubine Mei's father. However, he wasn't sure if that ignorant wretch of a daughter had seen the spy or not. Either way, he could not allow the Emperor to know of this. If the Emperor were to know, his plans would be unable to proceed, and he might get executed under the potential conspiracy of overthrowing the Emperor.
A high-level spy in the hands of a General of a large army would definitely earn the distrust from the emperor. Thankfully, his spy wasn't in the manor; however, he couldn't understand: if the figure Hongyue saw wasn't his spy, then who was it? As he neared closer to the disturbance, he could see his eldest daughter unconscious in the arms of the third prince. Startled, he scrutinized the scene to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Didn't they say the Third Prince despised contact with other people? Why was he here holding his daughter? Seeing his daughter lying almost lifeless provided the general some joy. He dropped his head to conceal his satisfaction. His poison ultimately worked!
He attempted to sound depressed as he pretended to be in grief at the Hongyue's condition.
But the Crown Prince was dumbfounded. Why was his brother here? Why was Hongyue in such critical condition within the brief time they were gone?
"Get the doctor!"
Lan'er was quivering under pressure as she answered, "The doctor is tending to my mother. She seemed to have sustained injuries to the head.."
A servant ran towards them quickly, addressing, "My lord, madam received severe head injuries. She's merely unconscious for now."
The general nodded. My, his wife was quite clever today. By faking an injury, the Crown Prince would have no option but to leave them alone until she 'got better' from her 'madness.'
"Father, since my mother is currently more stable. Let's have him take a look at elder sister." Lan'er pleaded.
However, the general promptly dismissed her pleas. Why would he? He finally got the wretch to die, so why would he try to save her? Looking up at the crown prince, the general also knew he couldn't carelessly act out his desires, but he could attempt to delay Hongyue's treatment.
"Your Highnesses, I'm regretful you had to witness all of that. Servants, go return the eldest miss to her room. Why are you all just standing around," The general turned to the crown prince with a curt nod, "I'll have Hongyue treated as soon as possible. Due to my wife's injury today, it's inconvenient to explain myself about the odd occurrences, please allow me to give you a full report tomorrow."
A display of disgust appeared in the Crown Prince's eyes. He wasn't stupid, but he couldn't do anything besides to leave.
Swinging his sleeves, he turned and left a warning before leaving, "You better be ready to explain everything to me tomorrow."
The general nodded. The third prince took one last final glimpse at Hongyue before he followed after his brother.
"Call the doctor 'only' after he 'carefully' finishes checking on my wife."
The general's emphasis on certain words was clear as day, and the servant nodded.
Although Lan'er was frightened, she kept calm. This man was heartless. The servant had just announced her mother was fine. Why was he making the doctor spend more time checking back on her mother?
He was delaying time.
Beads of blood traveled down her dress as her nails dug deeper into her palms. She couldn't sense the pain at all as her heart seemed to ache painfully. What should she do now? She nodded to her father and started for her own residence. She had no place to stay any longer, and she dared not say anything else. Staggering, Lan'er hated herself with each step she took away from helping her sister. Was she always this weak? Why couldn't she try stepping out of line?
Meanwhile, the servant hurried up to the general.
"The madam is now throwing a fit! No one can calm her down."
"What about the doctor? Where is he? Why is he not performing his responsibility?"
The servant quaked in fear.
"No, my lord, he can't even get close. The third madam killed a few maids in her crazed fit. What do we do?"
"Bring me to her!"
Appearing on the scene, the general tried to perceive the situation. There was furniture flung around to bits. A dead maid could be spotted propped against the pillar nearby, blood trickled down her mouth. The general frowned.
"My love, you don't have to continue pretending now. The crown prince hadn't found about the spy. You just have to remind your father to lay low."
The general scowled. Thinking about today brought bitterness in his mouth. All of the misfortunes seemed to be brought on by that daughter of his. Just like her mother, even if that trash is useless, she still managed to bring trouble.
He was beginning to wonder if there someone manipulating the whole circumstance since his spy servant wouldn't act rashly yet somehow that 'normal' saw something. The general frowned, what if there indeed was a spy in his manor?
He had used it as an excuse to throw the Crown Prince off, but he didn't think there would be a real rat in his estate. The General looked back his lover, a shadow of panic was starting to cloud his eyes.
"Mei'er, my love, you can stop."
The concubine abruptly looked up and reacted to the general's voice. However, it was useless to reason with her. After all, at this point, she was utterly insane. All the woman could see was blood red, and all she wanted to do was to kill. There was something she needed to do. Yes, without doing it, she would feel wronged. She needed to get rid of that something. She lunged forward to suffocate the person before her.
With his throat caged within Concubine Mei's hands, the general was frightened as he looked into her bloodshot eyes. Ripping off her hands, the General finally realized that she wasn't playing pretend. He backed up, trying to find his footing.
She was genuinely insane.
His voice was caught in his throat as he stumbled back, trying to find a hold on to anything.
Looking back, Concubine Mei had a strange, crazed look in her eyes. Seeing her empty hands caused a slight ripple in her heart. No! She needed to kill. No matter who it was, she needed to destroy them. She looked up at the General and suddenly lurched forward and grabbed him.
"Servants! Come this instant! The third madam is crazy!"
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