In his opinion, Beichen was sure that there was a drug in the tea that Yanyue gave him. However, Dr. Mo and the butler both attested that there was none. Dr. Mo had never messed up before, so Beichen knew that there was no mistake in the test. And the butler was his man who strictly followed his orders, so there was also no way that he would betray him and cooperate with Yanyue.
If Beichen was steadfast before, then now he was hesitating to blame Yanyue. However, if she did not drug him, then who did? There was no one else who could come up with this kind of plan, but Yanyue.
Could it be grandma's people? Beichen thought briefly.
"Dr. Mo, I heard that you have experience in herbal medicine as well, is that right?" Yanyue turned to ask the doctor.
"Princess consort, my family has a long history of studying herbal medicine, so I grew up with it and can attest my skills of identifying any herb just by its smell," Dr. Mo replied promptly.
Yanyue smiled and said, "Dr. Mo is a very intelligent man and lives up to his family's name. I don't have a lot of experience in herbal medicine, but my mother was an avid user of herbal medicine, so I also have a keen nose when it comes to this kind of thing. If you don't mind, can you please tell me if I am correct in my assumption?"
Dr. Mo bowed, "Princess consort, I will try my best whatever it is that you asked."
Yanyue walked over to Wanyue. Then, she leaned in and sniffed Wanyue's clothes.
Wanyue stepped back abruptly.
"Sister, what are you doing?"
Yanyue ignored Wanyue and turned to the doctor again.
"Dr. Mo, please let me know if you can smell a light scent of red ginseng in the room?"
Dr. Mo observed for a few seconds and then nodded his head, "Indeed, I can smell a faint red ginseng herbal scent coming from Miss Shen's direction."
Yanyue smirked and explained, "Red ginseng is an herb commonly known for its aphrodisiac property. It is safe to consume the herb, but in large doses and mixed with laboratory processed aphrodisiac, it can tremendously increase the libido of the person who uses it. And I can smell the scent from younger sister..."
Yanyue looked at Wanyue with a sly expression and asked ambiguously, "If my little sister doesn't mind, can we test the perfume that you sprayed on tonight?"
Wanyue frowned and asked innocently, "Sister, I don't know what you are implying, but I've always sprayed this perfume on and it had never caused any problems."
She turned to look at Beichen.
"Ah Chen, you know I don't use herbal medicine, so how could I have the herbal scent on me? Older sister drugged you, but she wants to blame me!" she expressed pitifully.
Yanyue locked eyes with Beichen and said, "Dr. Mo tested no drugs in the tea, proving my innocence. He also testified that he can smell the red ginseng scent coming from Wanyue and she was with you in the study. You should be smart enough to figure out how you were drugged. If it wasn't through injection or consumption, then that leaves inhalation."
Yanyue said a mouthful and she was already tired. In her opinion, she had already given too many hints, so if Beichen still let Wanyue go then she could only fight back harder next time. She sighed and glared at him, her tone was firm and harsh and a little disappointed, "I won't ever forgive you for what you did to me tonight."
Yanyue left Beichen's sight and walked out of the room to her own room. Beichen was never one to be easily affected by anyone, but just now he was stunned by Yanyue's fierce gazes that made his heart ache a little. And he couldn't understand himself for feeling that way, especially when he thought that she could be innocent this time.
Wanyue saw Beichen's deep eyes and was scared. The plan was completely ruined and it was all because of Yanyue. But why? Wanyue thought. To her, Yanyue had always been a pushover because she never fought back even when things were clearly against her. But now, she seemed to be a different person who knew how to trick people. Wanyue clenched her hands in anger as it seemed that she had fallen into Yanyue's own trap. So, if there was no drug in the tea, then she guessed that Yanyue must have done something to the perfume that she sprayed on. That was why Yanyue suggested on having Dr. Mo test the perfume.
Wanyue approached Beichen slowly and tried to appease him, "Ah Chen, don't believe older sister. She has always been jealous of me, and she will do anything to take you away from me. Do you really think that I drugged you? But you know that I would never do that!"
Beichen glanced at the woman clinging onto his arms as she usually did whenever she wanted him to forgive her for doing something wrong. In the past, he wouldn't care much about what she did because he would have Assistant Wen take care of it. There also wasn't much to be taken care of because she never caused any problems worthy of his attention. But tonight was a different situation. He was drugged in his own home and that was preposterous. He blamed Yanyue, but the facts seemed to be right in front of him; the woman he trusted most could be involved.
"Butler, go get the perfume," Beichen ordered solemnly.
Wanyue wanted to stop Beichen again, but she couldn't because it would only raise more suspicion. So, she remained quiet in order to not make the man more angry and irritated than he already was.
On the other side of the mansion, Yanyue was standing in front of the full length mirror in the bathroom. She immediately cleaned herself with a hot shower when she came back to her room.
She wiped the fog on the mirror away to see her reflection. There were dark red and purple hickeys trailing down all over her neck to her chest. She caressed the suction mark that was left on the moon birthmark above her breast.
She never liked the birthmark because it was her source of despair. She became the cursed child because of it.
The cursed child born under the red moon adorned with a crescent moon birthmark.
It was a legend, and she was a living example of that legend. The people feared that her birth would bring the nation down, so the king and queen, her own father and mother, had no choice but to abandon her in the Shrine. She felt resentment for the world, for her own parents. But, it wasn't until she met Jun that she finally believed in her own cursed fate.
She was the one who led Jun to their kingdom. And that was a grave mistake. She had blood on her hands and she would never forgive herself. She couldn't do it back then, but now she would bring him down with her.
Knowing that Beichen would definitely test the perfume, Yanyue went to sleep peacefully, burying the evening's distasteful memory deeply into her subconscious. Being forced by Beichen was not in Yanyue's plan, ever to say, but if that could help frame Wanyue, then she could only bite her tongue to relieve the pain and saw it as a nightmare that would soon disappear with time.
The Eastern Palace became quiet and the night passed by in a blink of an eye.
*
Yanyue was still in bed when she received a phone call and got up to prepare herself to go out, not remembering to heed the old lady's order of staying home until she gave birth.
"President Shen, we have acquired the footage."
"I will be at the office. Get the materials ready, Anxia."
Yanyue walked into the office after a long time. Her assistant, Anxia, greeted her with a sense of purpose. Anxia had been the one taking care of everything in the company, so now that her boss came back unannounced, she understood that things were more complicated than it was.
"President Shen, this is a footage of the previous President's death," Anxia said as she played the recording in her laptop.
In the recording, Leela was sitting on her desk working on a design project. Yanyue had never seen the footage, but looking closely, Leela was working on the Black Swan Crystal.
But, the design was slightly different.
Yanyue's eyes widened.
"...Could that be the White Swan Crystal?" she asked suspiciously.
Her question was confirmed when the video showed that the murderer took the design portfolio after stabbing Leela.
Even if she wasn't Shen Yanyue, tears streamed down her eyes as if her heart ached painfully. The woman's memory had ben so ingrained into her own that even her heart was affected. It was hard for her to constrain her own emotions.
"This is the end of the footage," Anxia said, pausing the video. She couldn't understand how it felt having to watch one's own mother being killed, but she wasn't heartless to not understand.
"President Shen, you don't have to worry. We can do the rest," Anxia suggested thoughtfully.
Yanyue shook her head and wiped her silent tears with a handkerchief from Anxia. "I must do this myself. I want to bring justice to... my mother and face those people without fear."
Anxia sighed helplessly at her boss's stubbornness.
*
The Shen mansion stood on the outskirts of town. General Shen did not like the cities and chose to live in the suburban where the pollution of the city had not contaminated nature yet.
"Young lady, you are back!" the old maid welcomed Yanyue with a hug.
"Granny Dao, how are you?" Yanyue asked.
The old maid began shedding tears of happiness. "Young lady has always been kind. This old lady will not die easily if I don't get to see the young lady one more time."
Granny Dao was one of the maids who treated Yanyue like a true young lady when she still lived in the Shen mansion, so Yanyue was thankful and felt safe around Granny Dao.
Yanyue looked around the house. "Where is father?"
Granny Dao sighed sadly, "The general has gone to the northern territory again at the order of the king. Even though he was still sick, he insisted on going. The general is working too hard to protect our country. "
"Sick?" Yanyue asked curiously.
"Your father has been coughing nonstop for a couple months now. He takes herbal medicine, but that only relieves the coughs temporarily. He is too stubborn to visit the doctor."
Yanyue frowned.
"Why doesn't he tell me?"
"He does not want to worry you because you are pregnant," Granny Dao confessed. "The general wants you to take care of yourself well, so he has been keeping his coughs a secret all this time. He doesn't allow me to tell you, but I'm worried about his health and could only tell you secretly."
Even though General Shen wasn't her real father, he treated her nicely during the time that she spent living as his daughter. She could feel his love for his daughter. Yanyue felt a little bad that she had to lie to him, but she couldn't just tell him that she wasn't his daughter. Especially since Yanyue had no idea where the real Shen Yanyue was.
"And my stepmother?" Yanyue asked.
Granny Dao frowned. She was loyal to Leela, who was the true mistress of the Shen mansion, so she never liked the new and fake Madam that General Shen married.
The old maid was about to answer, but a voice welcomed Yanyue from behind.
"Welcome home, my older daughter... or should I say princess consort?"
Mrs. Shen was in her mid forties, but she dressed nicely and took care of herself well so she looked a decade younger. One could not see wrinkles around her eyes or her cheeks when she smile.
"My father is not here and I'm not your daughter, so stop your pretentiousness," Yanyue said flatly.
Mrs. Shen chuckled, "Even if I hate you to death, how could I disrespect the princess consort? I must show some decency in front of the royal family."
"Is that so?" Yanyue asked, her eyebrows raised mockingly. "But I remember that a couple of months ago, you and your lovely daughter broke into my launch without an invitation and slandered me of plagiarizing. Did you regard my status back then?"
"How could you consider that as breaking in? I am your mother by law, so going to support my daughter's company shouldn't be an issue. Also, I never slandered you. I only spoke the truth about the dress," Mrs. Shen said.
Yanyue sneered, "Be careful about claiming everything like it's yours. Sooner or later, we will know what the truth really is."
"Well, then I cannot wait," Mrs. Shen said with a smirk and headed to the kitchen for dinner.
Granny Dao also took Yanyue to the kitchen for dinner.
She hadn't even stabilized herself in her seat and a cry came from the door. Yanyue smirked and knew who it was by how distraught the woman sounded. And she knew the reason to those cries; Beichen must have ignored the woman all day due to the event that happened yesterday evening. A satisfied smile appeared on Yanyue's face as she continued to eat as if she wasn't the main cause of that.