Capítulo 11: Wanna Play With Me?
Concubine Mei glanced frantically at the General. Why did she speak? She must have made everything worse. Her heart shook. The general won't let her off later. Thinking about this, the concubine couldn't even move her shaking feet. Sweat was starting to form on her forehead.
Meanwhile, the general started on his way, he carefully led the Crown Prince toward the pathway to his chamber. He glanced back at his concubine. Sighing, he turned away.
However, even that slight sigh gave Concubine Mei a heart attack. Lan'er could feel her mother's hands trembling. Why? Lan'er gazed over at Hongyue. Did her eldest sister tell the truth?
"Mother, mother. Hongyue wants to play." Hongyue whined deliberately, latching on to Concubine Mei's hand.
Concubine Mei could feel her head throbbing. She glared at the dumb-looking girl in front of her. There was no sign of any magic practice in her weak body, yet this stupid girl wasn't dying fast enough. Seeing her smiling like nothing was wrong annoyed the concubine even more. That's right, she thought, it was all because of this brat all of this happened. It was her fault. She slapped Hongyue's hands off of her sleeves.
"Leave, I'm not your mother!"
Hongyue stumbled to the ground from the force. Watching the events unfolding, Lan'er ached to help her sister up. However, even now, she could only stand in her place. She still couldn't make her own choices. Hongyue went quiet for a bit before she looked up at Concubine Mei dazed.
"This daughter wants to play a game!"
A game? Now? Lan'er couldn't help but advance closer to ask, "What game do you want to play?"
Hongyue giggled as she clapped her hands. Her limb missing each other as they smacked the air, "Telling secrets."
"What secrets can you tell? You're just a stupid person. Leave. I have no patience for you," Concubine Mei snorted. She turned to leave.
Hongyue stubbornly latched on to her once more before she shook her head.
"Mother, do you know, I heard a secret from that dead maid? She said she's not a spy, she said you sent her to kill me."
Concubine Mei froze, her heart stilled, "What?"
Lan'er suddenly locked her eyes on her mother. Her fingers clenched the outer layer of her sleeve, her face looked pale. She knew that the two were harming her sister, but she had no clue it was to this extent.
Concubine Mei seized Hongyue by the shoulders. "What did you say?!"
Hongyue leaned in, pretending to be very wary. "That maid said not to tell anyone, but I only have this one secret to tell, so I'm going to tell you." She whispered into Concubine Mei's ears. Hongyue watched quietly as the Concubine's eyes widened.
"Lan'er, go back to your room. A corpse of a dead servant will ruin your eyes. I'm going to see which servant possesses the guts to lie to your eldest sister", Concubine Mei paused and examined Hongyue, "And have your sister tell such lies."
Turning to Hongyue, Concubine Mei gripped Hongyue's hands tightly and spoke a single word through her tightly gritted teeth," Where?"
Hongyue nodded her head and grabbed the concubine's sleeve, leading her away. The two left Lan'er, who was still standing there. The quiet third miss seemed to be overwhelmed, her head lowered, and she stared down at the ground at her feet. Suddenly she lifted her head and snapped her fingers while chanting a spell under her breath. A nearby bird abruptly grew entranced by her words and froze in place. Shakily, it spread its wings and followed after Hongyue and her mother as they persisted on their way. Lan'er followed the bird with dark eyes before she turned and proceeded in the direction of Hongyue's residence.
Meanwhile, on the pathway, Hongyue led the way, stopping every once in a while to fool about. This allowed Concubine Mei to notice an attractive white jade hair stick tucked elegantly on the folds of hair of the young miss.
"Where did you get that hair stick?" Concubine Mei's eyes followed the white hair stick, her heart enchanted by the beauty in craftsmanship.
Hongyue looked up, "Hm, I found it. It's mine."
The silly girl found it? Hmph, if she says so, who would believe her? However, Concubine Mei wanted it now more than before. Her words weighted more than a silly eldest miss, so nothing was holding her back.
"Nonsense, you stole it."
It was merely short words, yet it quickly concluded the ownership of the headpiece within a second. With that, Concubine Mei promptly seized the hair stick and tucked it into the folds of her hair. Satisfied, her eyes met with Hongyue's wronged expression. The concubine didn't bother to sweet talk before giving a harsh scolding, "It was mine, you stole it from me. After all, how could an idiot like you have it? It belongs to me."
Hongyue turned around, pretending to be upset, but she couldn't help laughing inwardly. Her plan worked amazingly. She hadn't expected the concubine to do all the work. They continued on the pathway where they located the dead body laying on the ground enveloped with a white mourning cloth. Hongyue proceeded to get closer to the corpse. Her feet light, she settled next to the dead maid and pretended to talk with the maid. Incomprehensible, her whispering sounded like a child's play to get attention.
Concubine Mei wrinkled her nose in disgust and retreated backward. She questioned why she would follow a stupid child. Even if the information remained true, this was a dead body: what would even happen? Expect the dead to talk to her? She snorted.
Ridiculous.
"Why isn't she talking?" She asked, no longer hiding her annoyance.
Hongyue didn't respond. Her eyes were focused on the maid before her. Using her forefinger, she undrew a circle on the ground near the body. Softly murmuring under her breath, her words came out apathetic.
"Release."
From the head of the concubine, the ice hair stick gleamed faintly. Suddenly the body of the dead maid shook. The outer white bloodied cloth seemed to be carried aside by a sudden breeze. Without the white cloth, the bloodied face of the maid was revealed. Concubine Mei screamed and stumbled back, frightened. On her head, the hair stick appeared to slowly melt back into its liquid form. Drop by drop, the cursed remains of the once elegance of a hairpiece flowed down into her scalp. Above her head, a small magic circle appeared. If one looked closely, it seemed to be the reason disrupting the concubine's mind gradually.
Concubine Mei was still unaware, her eyes were wide with shock as she tried to find her words. But her vision seemed to darken for a minute. What? Where was the maid? Where was that damn girl? Suddenly she felt her lungs emptying air, and she waved in distress.
Hongyue didn't bother to look. Instead, she simply shifted her finger to draw a line inside of the circle in the dirt. This action seemed to force the blood inside the dead maid to rush to the surface, which prompted the dead body to stand tall.
Meanwhile, Concubine Mei wheezed for air desperately. What was happening? Her vision blanked out before returning to pitch black. Illusions swiftly to slip into her mind and started to interfere with her vision. The concubine stumbled about confused but frightened out of her mind.
"You did it," Hongyue nonchalantly stated out of the blue. She looked up at the concubine, and she lifted her hand. Her eyes were cold and unfeeling.
"No, no, no...I didn't," Concubine Mei frantically denied. It was unclear what the concubine was referring to, but suddenly the dead body lunched forward. Concubine Mei's frailing limbs made contact with the dead flesh causing the melting hair stick glowed even brighter. A bolt of white seemed to consume the concubine's mind. Images of the past seemed to strike into her returning memories, causing the Concubine Mei to wailed out in fear.
Hongyue lowered her hand.
The dead body fell back before collapsing onto the ground mindlessly. But the damage was already completed. The concubine didn't appear to be right. Her eyes were rolled back, and she was babbling nonstop. One loud scream followed another.
"...You...deserved to die...so does your daughter. Who told you to provoke the General? I'll send your daughter to you too...you should thank me for being so kind.."
Hongyue paused. Narrowing her eyes, she pressed for information, "Who deserved to die?"
Concubine Mei looked up, mindlessly mumbling, "I despise your face. It's a curse! Why haven't you die yet?! Go follow your mother!"
She suddenly lunged for Hongyue, who dodged her attack with ease. Missing her target, Concubine Mei landed on the dirt ground. The impact caused her eyes to roll back, and she ended up fainting next to the dead body with a face filled with hatred. Hongyue frowned. She carefully stepped over the fallen body and turned to the paved pathway. The remaining part of the hair stick melted entirely in her absence, leaving only a wet section of the concubine's hair.
Some things were still unclear, but one thing was: Concubine Mei was talking about how the General had something to do with her mother's death.
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