Chapter 124 - An Illicit Plan under the Guise of Something Lawful
Chapter 124 An Illicit Plan under the Guise of Something Lawful
No one would have expected that Lord Zhang would suddenly raise the steel cutlass of the guard standing beside him to kill there and then.
At that instant, Lord Yue covered Yue Qi’s eyes, and Baiji and Baishao turned their heads away in one accord.
Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao were the only ones who looked on with expressionless faces on the dead body lying on the floor.
“Lord Zhang’s hand motion is quick and clean-cut. You have definitely not lost that quality of being the paragon of a valiant soldier fighting on the battleground years ago.”
As Long Tianhao opened his mouth to speak, he had meant to express his admiration, but somehow it did not sound right.
“I was infuriated by this blind wretch, who had the audacity to offend Princess Yu. He’s deserving of death.”
He had meant his words for Lin Mengya, as well as for the rest of the people.
A number of men were seen dripping with cold sweat from their foreheads.
They gave each other a look as they gritted their teeth.
All of them had families and careers of their own. While they could accept the fact of sacrificing themselves, they wished their families would be given a chance to live.
Lord Zhang’s expression relaxed just a little when he saw that everyone had regained composure.
“I wonder if Princess Yu is satisfied with this outcome?”
The subjects who were standing around made a unanimous choice to remain silent.
In fact, Lin Mengya had sent for them just so that they could be spectators.
Now that the mission was accomplished, they were expected to remain silent.
“What do you say, Your Highness, Prince Yu?”
Before the spectators, she was merely a demure lady who was the victim in this incident.
The power to make decisions was entirely in Long Tianhao’s hands.
However, Long Tianhao knitted his brows, looking somewhat dissatisfied still.
“Forget it, let’s just go along with what Lord Zhang deems best.”
All the people breathed a sigh of relief. They were initially afraid that Prince Yu was going to pursue the matter further and create more trouble for them.
“Alright, I guess I will take my leave now. Guards, bring these men out and detain them.”
Lord Zhang, who was full of regrets by now, was the first to leave Lin Mengya’s tent.
Not only did he fail to rake up any clues, but he also lost a dozen imperial guards over this matter. What was even more unsettling was the fact that Princess Yu had something on him now.
It seemed to him that he had to report this back to the Crown Prince as soon as possible.
As the court ministers left one after another, Lin Mengya’s facial expression was back to normal.
Lord Yue had set up a tent for his two daughters close to Princess Yu’s tent.
Prince Yu had specially sent some men to protect Lord Yue’s two daughters to make sure that they were completely safe.
By now, all the outsiders had left, so Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao were the only ones remaining in the tent. They both sat down on the chair but did not speak for a while.
“I’m afraid the assassination this time was not that simple.”
Finally, Lin Mengya spoke up with a calm tone of voice. Somehow, she felt that this crisis seemed too straight forward, which was very unlike the Crown Prince’s usual style of doing things.
“We’ve all been fooled. The Crown Prince had employed the tactic of carrying out an illicit plan under the guise of something lawful. These female killers from Peach Blossom Dock have escaped.”
Long Tianhao had come back so he could go to meet the criminals guilty of the crime.
Little did he expect that when he arrived at the tent, there were already a dozen imperial guards lying dead in front of him.
As expected, when he lifted the curtains at the entrance of the tent for storing the firewood, it had apparently been vacated.
Although King Ming was considering to take up his offer to work together, what if something went wrong at this moment?
“Humph, it doesn’t matter these girls have been taken captive. They couldn’t possibly say anything that works against us.”
Lin Mengya was completely unfazed over the missing girls. On the contrary, a cold, mocking expression appeared on her face.
Could all these be part of what she expected?
“Before Qinghu left, he had given these girls half of a suicide pill each. I suppose they could be imbecile by now.”
In fact, Lin Mengya did not intend to let those girls live right from the start.
It was a matter of time that the Crown Prince would trace his way all the way there. These girls would eventually end up in his hands. All that Lin Mengya had to do was to just sit around and watch the events unfold.
“You mean…”
Long Tiaohao came to a sudden realization and began confirming his guesses with Lin Mengya.
“The Crown Prince loves to take credit for himself. Once he lays hold of the suspect, he would either get rid of him to destroy all evidence or he would bring the suspect out to confront us.”
However, confronting her with a bunch of imbeciles would not be a wise choice for the Crown Prince.
It was more likely that the Crown Prince would kill them after confirming that they were no longer of use to him.
“However, if the Crown Prince was being found out by King Ming’s men when he is trying to destroy evidence, then he would be accused of killing those girls in order to cover up evidence.”
Lin Mengya nodded. She realized that Long Tianhao and she were progressively more aligned with each other’s way of thinking.
“Alright, I’ll start working on this.”
Surprisingly, Lin Mengya had seen through the well-thought plan of the Crown Prince so easily.
Actually, if the imperial guards had found any evidence in her tent, Lin Mengya would simply become a suspect.
Moreover, anyone in the tent other than Lin Mengya could be suspected to be the assassin.
In fact, the only person who could make use of the situation to corner Lin Mengya and thereby threaten her life was the person who murdered Hu Lunan.
The noise outside the tent had gradually died down and all was quiet at this moment.
Lin Mengya sat in the tent with the history book in her hand.
Long Tianhao had been gone for six hours by now.
After a noisy night, daylight had finally arrived.
However, she was not as tired as one would imagine having not slept for the entire night. Baizhi, on the other hand, was totally unperturbed and was sleeping soundly on the bed.
Not long after, Lin Kui appeared in Lin Mengya’s tent.
“Princess, it was said that the Crown Prince was not injured by the assassin, so there was no need to trouble you paying him a visit. The imperial guards will step up their security measures.”
Lin Mengya nodded. What assassin? Lin Mengya snorted. It was all the Crown Prince’s dirty trick.
The so-called assassin would disappear completely after those imperial guards died.
“Alright, I get it. Where is King Ming?”
Long Tianhao had quietly planted his spy around the Crown Prince.
On normal days, this particular was in charge of intelligence and was thus favored by the Crown Prince.
Long Tianhao managed to find out earlier where the killers were being detained.
Those killers were still under the strong effects of the drugs that they were still unconscious. The Crown Prince had no other choice but to wait patiently for them to come around.
“Go to King Ming of the western vassal state now to pass him this message. Bear in mind that anyone was to inquire about it, just say that you are merely carrying Prince Yu’s orders, understand?”
Lin Kui nodded. He was going in the name of Long Tianhao, taking into consideration the presence of Princess Ming Yue in the tent belonging to the western vassal state.
If he were to bump into Princess Ming Yue, she may obstruct them and thereby upsetting their plan.
At the same time Lin Kui left in a hurry, Baiji and Baishao entered the tent carrying some warm water and towels.
“Master, it’s time to groom yourself.”
Although Lin Mengya did not sleep a wink, she did not rush or allow herself to look sloppy. In fact, her countenance was still glowing.
“Erm, I would like to wear my hair in a simple bun today. I suppose something entertaining is going to happen later!”
The two maidservants nodded in agreement. A chilling look flashed across Lin Mengya’s eyes just before she closed the book in her hands.
Since the Crown Prince had the audacity to plot against her, he better be prepared to pay for his actions!
In the Crown Prince’s tent, the three girls who had been tightly bound were beginning to stir at this moment.
At this moment, the Crown Prince was sitting on the most honorable seat in the tent, surrounded by his trusted aide.
His face was still grimacing from the fact that a dozen of his guards had been killed the night before.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, the situation last night was —”
Lord Zhang tried to offer an explanation but was interrupted by the Crown Prince.
“I understand the situation was desperate last night, I won’t blame you.”
It was no wonder Lord Zhang was scared witless. He knew very well that to the Crown Prince, the people around him were just his tools.
Once a tool was no longer useful, it would be time to discard it. It did not really matter whether it was his daughter or wife.
“I can’t wait to see how Lin Mengya is going to find a way of escape, with these three as witnesses.”
Although the Crown Prince had merely started with a lust for a beautiful woman, this lust had transformed into an insatiable desire to take her down like a prey.
Despite Princess Ming Yue of the western vassal state being all smiles whenever she saw him, he was totally not interested in her.
He had no intention of taking Lin Mengya’s life, but the act of swapping a person with another was something he did routinely with ease.
By that time, he would imprison Lin Mengya in his mansion and make her his captive, his exclusive property!
His blood began boiling at the mere thought of it.
“Greetings of peace, Princess Yu.”
Vice Princess Dugu, who was adorned in a pale purple embroidered dress, walked up to the Crown Prince’s tent with poise and grace.
All those standing by immediately bowed respectfully to vice Princess Dugu, who was wearing a warm and friendly smile on her face. There was not a hint of arrogance in her.
“Greetings of peace to the Crown Prince.”
She bent slightly in a bow, paying her respect to the Crown Prince. Although she and the Crown Prince were lovingly intertwined in each others’ arms last night on the bed, once out of bed, she had to always bear in mind that he was the Crown Prince high up there.
“You may rise.”
Nevertheless, the expression on the Crown Prince’s face remained impassive at the sight of his beautiful vice Princess.
A look of displeasure flashed across the eyes of vice Princess Dugu.
Although it was said that she was the apple of the Crown Prince’s eyes, nobody really knew that in reality, no one who could take that special place in the heart of the Crown Prince.
“So are they the assassins?”
The Crown Prince occasionally kept somethings from vice Princess Dugu, who at this moment was standing beside him, diligently serving tea.
“No, these are not the assassins who tried to assassinate me. They are talisman which could bring Lin Mengya and Long Tianhao an early death.”
It was an indisputable fact that Hu Lunan was severely injured by Lin Mengya.
These three girls with dubious background had to be the scapegoats found by Long Tianhao.
Unfortunately, they had fallen into his hands now.
Thanks to his brilliant ploy, otherwise those two would have escaped easily this time.
“Oh? Now you are making me curious.”
Vice Princess Dugu lifted her jealous gaze to the Crown Prince, wanting to catch a glimpse of the flash of light which would appear in his eyes at the mention of Lin Mengya.
How was this slut alone able to win the heart of the Crown Prince?
Why was this slut not the one whom Hu Lunan violated?
However, she had carefully concealed the tumult of jealousy in her heart.
She sat submissively next to the Crown Prince, making sure that she played her role well.
“Erm—” the three girls on the floor stirred, and they began to squirm.
Although they were in a disheveled state at this moment, apparently they were very attractive women.
“Men, wake them up.”