When she raised her eyes, her gaze met Princess An Guo's for a moment. Princess An Guo gave her a slight nod before following Ji mama out.
Xiao Zhenhai narrowed his eyes. When his gaze landed on Lian Ruyue, a deep coldness appeared in the corner of his eyes.
Within Rongyuan Palace.
Princess An looked at Lan Jing, the palace maid kneeling on the ground, and asked, "This princess will ask you again, were you the one who set the fire?"
Lan Jing saw that the princess knew that the princess was dying miserably, so she tried to push Princess Thirteen's words to her head in an attempt to get away. When she saw that the princess of An Kingdom was about to die, she bit her answer and said,
"To return to the princess of An Kingdom, it is as Zhi Li said, Princess Eleven has never punished a servant, and I do not hold a grudge against Princess Eleven, nor do I hold a grudge against her.
Even if Princess Eleven had really punished this servant and this master had punished this servant, this servant would have taken it and never had any thoughts of revenge.
If one were to talk about punishments, Princess Thirteen would have to really punish this servant several times. This servant didn't want to kill Princess Thirteen, but rather served her wholeheartedly.
Lan Jing said as she rolled up her sleeves. She saw that her wrist had a burn mark. It was red in color and had a blister on it. From afar, the burn mark was the shape of a butterfly.
"This is because this servant originally didn't want to set fire to the fire. When Princess Thirteen punished this servant, she burned the butterfly hairpin on her head red on the oil lamp, scalding the mark left behind by this servant."
"You, you slut, you're slandering me with your mouth! This princess will tear your slut to shreds! When did this princess use a hairpin to burn you? You must have been working with others and injured yourself to wrongly accuse me! You slut …" Feng Yu was unable to hold back. She suddenly stood up, rushed in front of Lan Jing, and slapped her a few times. She really wanted to kill her!
This was the first time that anyone present had seen her like this, and they couldn't help but reveal looks of astonishment in their eyes. Especially Zhou Chengdi, when his Yao'er spat out those filthy words, he suspected that there was something wrong with his eyes and ears, which was far too different from the gentle and lovable appearance he remembered.
"You Yao'er!" When Lian Zhaoyi saw this, he knew that the situation was bad. He hurriedly went forward and covered Feng Yu Yao's mouth.
Princess An Guo signaled her personal palace maid, Huo Xiang, who walked up to Lan Jing and lifted her hand up. She carefully examined the marks on the hand before returning to Princess An's side. She bent down and whispered something into Lan Jing's ear.
Princess An Guo nodded. "Your majesty, the mark on this palace maid's wrist is very special. The center of the butterfly's wings is hollowed out, and if you look closely, you'll see the character 'birthday'."
Everyone looked and indeed, a word 'birthday' faintly appeared on the burn wound on this palace maid's wrist.
When Feng Tang Yao heard Princess An's words, his entire body shivered, and his face turned even paler.
"This princess has some impression of a butterfly hairpin with the word 'longevity' …" Princess An's dignified gaze slowly fell upon Feng Ziyao as she spoke. "The empress dowager once received two butterfly hairpins. At that time, she gave one to me and the other to Thirteen."
"..." "No …" Feng Tang Yao couldn't understand why Lian Yue wasn't the only one unwilling to prove for her that she was innocent. She didn't even dare to provoke Lian Yue and treated him with care. Even the imperial aunt of the imperial court was speaking up for Feng Lingyue, who was already dead.
At this moment, she felt even more furious at Feng Lingyue. She was just a useless dead person, why would there still be people willing to die for her? If there were people willing to speak up for her, were these people all crazy?
Your majesty, your servant deserves to die. But, it was truly Princess Thirteen who had me set the fire, and the Princess put oil in the food she gave Princess Eleven, and the soup and basket were also filled with oil. Then, this servant captured the rat alive and placed it in a bag to burn it.
At the mention of Xiao Shan's name, Xiao Zhenhai's face darkened, but he maintained his composure. He looked at the foolish Princess Thirteen who had tied herself up in a cocoon, given to death by the Emperor, and breathed a sigh of relief to her eldest son. As for the big tiger behind her, he would catch it later!
"No, I didn't, you …" Feng Tang still wanted to argue.
"Enough!" However, Zhou Cheng Emperor interrupted her and said coldly, "You Yao'er, I am too disappointed in you. All these years, I have treated you the best, but I did not expect you to secretly harbor such thoughts, kill deer, secretly like Xiao He, mistreat a servant, set fire to a servant, and even lie. Did you not have any sincerity towards me, but instead have the same terrifying intentions!"
"Father …" Feng Yu was startled, and he abruptly raised his head to look at Zhou Chengdi. She shook her head, and said with tears in her eyes, "No, no, Imperial Father, you have wrongly accused Bao Yao'er. Ying Yao'er is so wrongly accused …"
As she cried, she raised her head and inadvertently saw Xiao Zhenhai standing there without any change in his expression. Her heart skipped a beat.
He didn't say a word. They had clearly been in the same group, but he hadn't said a word for her.
Since Xiao Shan died, he decided to just watch as she collapsed.
"Someone, come …" Zhou Cheng Di spoke, the trace of pity in his eyes slowly faded away. He ordered in a cold voice, "Put Princess Thirteen, Feng Tang, in jail for the time being."
If she died, only 11 people would die. Although the Emperor would clearly see Thirteen's true face and be disappointed in her, he wouldn't drag her into the prison. After all, Eleven wasn't the real princess.
But now, among the dead, one of them was Xiao Zhenhai's eldest son. It would be difficult to secretly deal with him. He had to give the Xiao family and everyone else an explanation.
No!
No!
She suddenly thought of what Lian Ru Yue had said and pointed at Xiao Zhenhai, "Royal father, royal father, it was the Duke of Xiao, and he told me to do it, he thought that Eleventh Sister doesn't have a background and couldn't be loved by royal father, so he tricked me into killing eleventh sister, and then, he could ask Royal father to give me a marriage. My daughter loves Xiao He because she was confused for a moment, so she ended up being confused by him, and Royal father, you know my daughter best, Yao'er doesn't have such a meticulous mind, and she doesn't have the guts to do it."
Feng Tang Yao pushed all the blame onto Xiao Zhenhai. Her eyes reddened, her gaze flickered, and her chest heaved.