Chapter 5

“I know you resent how close Jingxing and I are, but you needn't humiliate me like this… If you insist on searching my courtyard today, I'd rather die here!”

She made as if to dash her head against the wall.

Xiao Jingxing caught her tightly and roared at me, “You bitch! Must you drive Yao'er to her death before you're satisfied?”

Just then, a maid ran out from the bedchamber.

“Your Grace! My lord! Her Grace is awake!”

Both men turned at once.

Xiao Jingxing rushed toward the room, the duke close behind.

Xie Zheng winked at me and smiled.

“Shall we have a look too?”

I murmured my assent and followed him inside.

Lady Wang's burns were severe. White bandages covered her entire body, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Xiao Jingxing threw himself beside her bed.

“Mother, how do you feel?”

She struggled to open her mouth. It took her a long time to force out a few words.

“My son… It hurts so much…”

Xiao Jingxing nearly burst into tears.

Something seemed to occur to the onlookers.

“Your Grace, do you remember how you caught fire? Did someone push you?”

Lady Wang thought for a long time, then slowly shook her head.

“No one pushed me. I had only just approached the brazier when the flames suddenly rose.”

The guests looked bewildered.

“Didn't Miss Su say she saw Miss Jiang trip the duchess? Why does Her Grace say no one pushed her?”

“Yes, it's very suspicious. Why would she lie?”

A guilty look flashed in Su Qingyao's eyes. Suppressing her panic, she approached the bed and put on an anguished expression.

“Your Grace, if only I'd known this would happen, I should have insisted on leading the bride. I'd rather have died myself than see you suffer like this!”

Lady Wang was moved to tears.

“Good child. My love for you hasn't been wasted.”

Then she turned her eyes on me, hatred blazing in them.

“Lady Jiang, if not for you, would I have ended up like this?”

“Get over here and tend to me!”

Seeing how badly she had been burned, I had felt a little pity.

Her words extinguished the last of it.

“Your Grace, I truly don't understand. I wasn't the one who hurt you. Why do you say this is all my fault?”

Fury flared in her eyes.

“If you hadn't asked me to lead you in, how could I have been burned?”

“You damned bitch! You curse! To think we nearly let you into our family. What did we do in our past lives to deserve such misfortune—”

Before she could finish, several Imperial Guards entered, dragging two servants with them.

“Commander Xie, we searched the entire residence as ordered and found saltpeter in Yunshui Courtyard.”

“These two men prepared the brazier. They say… Su Qingyao ordered them to scatter the powder around it.”

The words struck like thunder. The room fell silent.

After what felt like an age, someone spoke in a daze.

“So… Miss Su was the culprit all along?”

All color drained from Su Qingyao's face. Fighting her panic, she protested in a trembling voice.

“No… That isn't true.”

“It's slander! All lies! I never did any such thing!”

One of the servants hastily contradicted her.

“Miss Su, you came to the two of us yesterday and paid us five hundred taels of silver each. You told us to find a way to scatter saltpeter beside the brazier. The silver is still hidden in our room. How can you deny it?”

The other joined in.

“That's right! Your own personal maid brought us the powder!”

Chunliu's face changed. She dropped to her knees in terror.

Xiao Jingxing stood utterly stunned, staring at Su Qingyao in disbelief.

“Yao'er, is it true? Why would you do this?”

Panicking, Su Qingyao sobbed.

“I only wanted to play a little joke on Miss Jiang. I truly never imagined it would turn out like this.”

She knelt before Lady Wang.

“Your Grace, it's all my fault. I never thought you would be the one to get hurt. Please, for the sake of all our years together, forgive me this once!”

Never in her wildest dreams had Lady Wang imagined that the person responsible for her misery was the very girl she loved most.

She shook with rage, terrible rasping sounds rising in her throat.

“You beast… After everything I've done for you! You knew it was dangerous, yet you didn't stop me… You let it happen!”

She turned to Xiao Jingxing.

“Jingxing, take this bitch to Kaifeng Prefecture at once! I never want to see her again!”

But Xiao Jingxing looked conflicted.