A'Hong's mother looked at his father, and his father looked at his elder brother. Only, whether it be out of guilt or avoidance, neither of the three decided to spare a single look at A'Hong.
So as they huddled together, A'Hong could only hover nervously above them, his eyes darting from one person's face to the other before focusing back on Mu Luming and Kesi. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately, he crumbled to the floor in a deep kowtow.
"Your Highness…" his voice tremored.
But Mu Luming gave him no chance to speak or ask any questions. "Take this criminal to the galleys until further notice. I don't wish to see him here."
A'Hong drooped limply, like a wilted sprout.
The guards half-dragged him away into the supposed galleys, only that they weren't actually applying any force to the poor little eunuch, and the rumored galleys was only the waiting room within the Imperial Kitchen.
The three watched the scene in fear.
"So, would you choose to eat this or not?"
There was only silence.
Shakily, A'Hong's mother crept forward, but she ultimately stopped a few inches away from the brown mush.
"Your Highness, what crime has he committed?" A'Hong's father croaked out. "He's a good child, and he would never do anything to hurt someone else, much less Your Highness."
Kesi's eyes bore into him, and she wanted to smack him across the face for that single statement. They knew A'Hong's characteristics so much, and yet, all they did with the knowledge was to abuse it.
"That's up for Your Highness to decide and not you," she spat, her voice harsher than usual.
Without even trying to argue back, he immediately shut up.
"He stole one of my most prized possessions, and when I asked him about the reason why, he claimed that it was because his family desperately needed the money," Mu Luming's words were deliberately slow, almost like he tried dragging them out to prolong the anxiety.
"We never did such a thing!"
"Yeah, he has barely tried contacting us since he entered the palace!"
"Someone… someone must have forged those letters!"
Mu Luming's eyes lit up, his lips curling as he finally heard the words that he had been waiting for. "Letters?"
A'Hong's brother clamped his fingers to his lips. "No, Your Highness had heard wrong! Your Highness had heard wrong!"
"You dare comment on the actions of the Crown Prince? And you dare call the Crown Prince a liar?" Kesi boomed. "By the palace rules, that is punishable by death to your entire extended clan!"
She didn't know for sure which rule spelled those punishments, but she was sure that something like that existed. Nevertheless, those words were enough to freeze the three of them in terror.
"But by virtue and grace of the Crown Prince, he'll just take one life instead," she pointed to A'Hong's brother, beckoning him to come forward.
He nudged forward on his knees, creeping as slowly as possible before Kesi dragged him over forcibly by the hair.
Although she knew that this was only a show, she could taste the blood at the tip of her tongue. A single snap of the neck. A single knife through the chest. A single strip of white cloth…
Mu Luming's fingers found her own, guiding them away from the man's hair.
"My dearest nanny, please do not soil your fingers on this criminal. They shouldn't have to touch the body of a soon-to-be corpse."
If he had just been a moment later, Kesi knew that she might have accidentally let something slip.
"Yes, Your Highness," she bowed her head down. If something had really happened to A'Hong's family because of her, the knot in his heart may truly become a death knot. And she really needed to change herself and turn from her old ways.
She was no longer Code X. She was Kesi.
Even now, the name Code X already became slightly unfamiliar.
"As a Crown Prince who does not like bloodshed, I'll offer the same exact price for your life as I had given A'Hong."
If it wasn't for the gravity of the situation, A'Hong's brother would have protested for being valued as the subhuman creature that was somehow related to him. He should have been worth more as a complete man in comparison to the monster and creature that A'Hong had become.
"If your parents eat the food in the pail, I will be generous and pretend that nothing had happened in the first place. By tomorrow, since I am so busy as a Crown Prince, I would have forgotten all about these encounters as well—"
Before his words were finished, A'Hong's mother had already stuck her hand into the brown mush. The brown muck spotted her entire face as well as stained her robes, but she did not seem to care.
She glanced at the shivering form of A'Hong's brother, and closing her eyes, she shoved the entire fistful into her mouth without as much as a crinkle in her forehead.
She froze.
Swallowing, she put her hands to her mouth and licked the brown substance off it.
Mu Luming looked disappointed, something sad hidden in his wide eyes. Walking over to the pail, he stuck his finger into the brown goo and licked his finger.
Kesi followed suit.
The brown substance had a thick consistency, but the taste was of a well-marinated meat, chopped so fine that the grains welded together into a pasty form.
Although the scent was appalling, it was only from the purposeful mixture of foul incenses at the bottom of the pail, and if the family had actually eaten to the bottom, they would have found that their meal was truly just a diced gourmet meal meant for the royal family after all.
But it was already apparent that the trial had failed.
The show was over.