"It is possible," Noble Lady Zhen said.
She had initially been suspicious of Xiaotao.
However, from the look of things at the moment, the most suspicious one seemed to be Eunuch Li instead.
He was the one who had known everything.
And here I thought that he was so knowledgeable that I gave him a chance to look into the princess's condition.
"My lady, if you do not believe us, you could get the imperial physicians and have them take a look at the princess," a eunuch suggested.
She nodded in agreement.
The imperial physicians arrived before long.
They had heard that Princess Ruirui was ill, and two of them came.
The two imperial physicians checked on the princess, one after another.
"How is Ruirui?" Noble Lady Zhen asked right away.
"Has the princess been taking any medication?"
"No, she hasn't." Noble Lady Zhen shook her head.
"The princess has only been mildly poisoned. I'll write a prescription for her," one of them said.
Then the two imperial physicians looked at each other. They were both puzzled.
They wondered just how could the symptoms be so mild for someone who had been poisoned.
"Was she really just mildly poisoned? Could you tell me what she was poisoned with then?" The noble lady was stunned.
She totally hadn't expected to find that Ruirui had truly been poisoned.
"My lady, I'm not sure what the princess was poisoned with. She might just have eaten something that had mold on it or something that was naturally poisonous. I dare not speculate further at this point."
One of the imperial physicians had pondered for quite a bit before answering.
He was being truthful about the princess being mildly poisoned, yet the poison in question shouldn't have been something found in the royal palace.
Having served in the royal palace for so long, they naturally knew that it was a poisoning case.
However, the physician dared not say more.
There had been a lot of imperial physicians who had gotten into trouble for saying too much throughout the years.
Didn't the one beside me not say anything since coming in the room?
Being a blabbermouth in the royal palace could really get one killed.
Most important, the one he was addressing at the moment was a noble lady.
It was not worth risking their necks by telling her the truth.
"Very well. You're dismissed then."
The look in Noble Lady Zhen's eyes was bone-chillingly cold.
When the imperial physicians had left, the noble lady stood up right away and said, "Relay my orders: Ruirui shall never go to Shouning Palace from here on out. I never thought these fights would actually get to us here now."
...
Back at Shouning Palace...
Li Mu was still feeling restless after finishing the tasks at hand.
All right, if I can't be rational about it, then so be it.
He dropped the broom.
He then disappeared from where he stood.
After Noble Lady Zhen was finished throwing her fit, the eunuchs prepared the medicines for the princess and fed them to her.
She was all better once she'd taken the medicine.
Xiaotao was relieved.
It was lucky for her that Noble Lady Zhen didn't suspect that it was her work.
It was imperative for her to keep herself alive.
She would see to the mission from her mistress another day.
She took the medicine bowl that Ruirui had just drunk from and cleaned it.
Whoosh~
A wind blew up all of a sudden.
Xiaotao felt dizzy and passed out soon after.
She found herself in a dark, dank room when she came to.
There was even a putrid stench in the room.
"Is somebody…euueekk!"
The stench got to her as soon as she opened her mouth to shout, making her stomach churn right away.
She had never been in such a predicament serving by Noble Lady Zhen's side.
Fear loomed over her, and she threw up a bit.
"Answer me, please…"
Xiaotao began to cry.
Yet, no one answered her pleas.
She began fumbling around her surroundings, and she soon grew tired from all her struggles.
She found nothing other than three stone walls and steel bars as thick as a person's arm.
"Where is this place?"
She shouted for help with a weeping voice.
"This is the deepest part of the Ceremony Directorate's dungeon."
A voice could be heard in the empty darkness.
The voice hit the walls and kept reverberating.
"Dungeon…who are you? Please, let me go!"
"Tell me then! Who was it who ordered you to poison the princess?" Li Mu asked.
He had been watching the events outside the palace day and night for quite some time.
He had gone all over looking for geniuses who would fit his requirements.
He totally hadn't expected such a case of poisoning could happen right under his nose.
I've been careless.
I've always thought that such fights were far away.
I was wrong.
Li Mu was struggling to suppress his raging emotions underneath a calm tone.
"I…I can't say it."
"I can figure it out even if you don't tell me. By then, you and the ones behind this will have gotten a taste of all those tools you find in this dungeon. By the way, your kin will also be executed for being a part of the conspiracy."
Li Mu threatened her mercilessly.
"I…"
"Do you think that your kin will curse at you, when they're locked up in the dungeon, where they will never see the sun and can only wait to be slaughtered?"
"I...I can't!"
Xiaotao's face was ashen as she kept shaking her head in the dark.
Li Mu flicked his hand and the chain hanging in the dungeon shot out at her.
This girl has never seen harsh days indeed.
Whack~
The chain dropped to the ground, kicking up dust and debris.
"I'll give you a bit of time to think about it. If you still refuse, those chains will then fall onto your legs. Even if you were willing to cooperate after that and I was willing to spare you, you'd have absolutely no chance of becoming a normal person again. By the way, I'll tell you one more thing. I'm confident of being able to fish what I want from your mouth, before you expire," Li Mu elaborated plainly.
He'd initially thought of doing this interrogation by wearing his prisoner out or by using some renowned interrogation methods that were all over the internet in his past life.
He thought about it and dismissed the thoughts.
A court lady like her was not worth spending so much of his time on.
If he could get news regarding the ones behind her soon, he might be able to get hold of something.
Besides, the time I saved could be used for training, and I'd be one step closer to becoming a boss myself, no?
"I…"
Tears began to streak down her cheeks and her lips continued to tremble.
It was obvious that she was still weighing the pros and cons furiously.
It had gotten this far, and she's still saying nothing.
Seems like there's really something going on then.
Claaang~
The chains moved again and fell from above.
Xiaotao wanted to hide in the dark.
Yet she had no idea where the chains were going to fall.
Whack~
Crracck~
The sound of bones cracking was heard.
Xiaotao felt her legs going numb, as if they had gone completely out of her control.
"Best not move now. Your legs are useless. You might not feel much pain right now, but, rest assured, I'll make sure to grind every inch of your legs slowly to dust. You'll learn just how painful it could get by then."
"You can't do this…," Xiaotao shrieked.
Claaaang~
The chains shook, binding and hoisting her up.
"I'll say it…don't kill me. I'll say it!"
It was already nighttime by the time he left the dungeon.
The one who had given her the poison was a eunuch.
Her family was controlled by the ones responsible.
She gave him some descriptions.
The eunuch might be someone around some concubine.
A concubine would actually act against a noble lady, huh?
The status difference between the two ranks was massive.
It simply seemed impossible.
Xiaotao didn't know why the ones responsible wanted to act against Ruirui. They had simply asked for her to poison her.
He was back at Shouning Palace.
He could hear the eunuchs and court ladies nearby looking everywhere for Xiaotao.
It seemed that her disappearance had alarmed them.
"Xiaotao, where are you? The lady is looking for you!"
"Xiaotao, Her Highness has woken up!"
...…
He stood and listened in the compound for a bit before walking into the hall of Shouning Palace.
There was a lot more furniture in Concubine Jing's bedchamber now.
Other than the original set of table and chairs, there were also a lot of books, instruments, and toys.
It was those things that had attracted Ruirui's attention.
The instruments and the books were also Concubine Jing's favorites.
Her psychological condition seemed to have gotten a lot better after having all those things around.
She would read the books and play the instruments when she had time to kill.
Sun Tzu's "Art of War" that Li Mu had gotten from checking in was among the books on the shelf.
"Xiaolizi, come and play a game with me before we go to bed," Concubine Jing called out to Li Mu when she saw him.
The board was already on the table.
The black and white pieces were in their respective places.
This set of gomoku was something that he had ordered, worrying that the concubine would get sick from having too much time on her hands.
However, there had also been other games among the rewards that he'd acquired.
Concubine Jing liked playing gomoku.
Li Mu thought about it and walked up to her.
"Forgive my transgressions then…"
"How many times have I told you to drop the formalities when no one's around? Gosh, you're really acting like a stranger."
They then began playing.