Chapter 177 - Who’s the Murderer
Chapter 177 Who’s the Murderer
The cold blade of the sword pierced brutally into Miss Wang’s chest.
Blood spurted out and stained the girl’s snow-white face.
Lin Mengya stared coldly at the girl in front of her with a wary look.
“Behold, Princess Yu, I’ve gotten rid of this person who is a threat to you. Shouldn’t you be grateful to me?”
Princess Ming Yue’s profile, lit by the lamp, was hair-raisingly terrifying.
With eyes still wide opened, Miss Wang’s life slipped away from her.
“What do you think I should thank you for?”
Lin Mengya looked warily at Ming Yue as she drew her sword without any hesitation and dragged it on the floor, marking a line in it.
Lin Mengya did not expect Ming Yue to personally kill someone.
“Regardless of whether you feel thankful towards me, I’ve gotten rid of your enemy, haven’t I? I just thought that Princess Yu, you are someone who knows how to be grateful. I’m waiting to receive your gift of thanks.”
There was a hint of madness in Ming Yue’s vicious eyes.
Lin Mengya eyed Ming Yue with caution as she retreated, shielded by Baisu.
“What kind of a gift of thanks are you expecting?”
From the scheming look on Ming Yue’s face, Lin Mengya figured that the gift she was expecting was not a good thing.
“I want—your life!”
Ming Yue lifted the sword in her hand and what alarmed Lin Mengya was the expression of a maniac on her face.
“Don’t even think of laying a finger on my master!”
Baisu was not someone to be trifled with. She charged towards Ming Yue boldly, even though she was not holding any weapon.
Nevertheless, both Lin Mengya and Baisu had underestimated Ming Yue. She was not simple she appeared to be.
Although her kungfu moves were not as skilled as Baisu, she had the advantage over Baisu in that she was carrying a sharp and powerful long sword.
For this reason, it was inevitable that Baisu felt a little nervous.
As the they fought, even Lin Mengya could not help breaking out in cold sweat.
“Do not hurt the people around me if your goal is to kill me!”
While Baisu was considered highly skilled in martial arts, Ming Yue was not far from her.
Lin Mengya did not expect that the demure-looking Ming Yue was, in fact, a skilled martial artist.
It must have been an oversight on her part.
“Alright, I’ll let your maidservant go if you come over here so I can kill you.”
Baisu dashed across to Lin Mengya and stood in between them and glared fiercely at Ming Yue.
Her body was already pierced with little holes by now.
If they were to continue on, Lin Mengya was afraid that they would be disadvantaged.
“Don’t, Master! As your guardians, I will fight to my death. There’s no way I would surrender!”
Baisu was prepared to die for her master. She had, in fact, tried to create some noises while she fought Ming Yue.
Unfortunately, no one from outside had come in to check out on them.
Lin Mengya already had an idea who had Ming Yue’s back.
“No, no. We can’t make unnecessary sacrifices. If it is my life you’re after, come over here to get it!”
The cold expression on Lin Mengya’s face said that she was all ready to die.
Baisu remained standing in between them, shielding Lin Mengya. Apparently, she was prepared for the worst.
Sparing Lin Mengya’s life was not an option for Ming Yue.
She closed in on them, holding on tightly to her sword.
“Promise me that you’ll let my maidservant go once I die,” Lin Mengya said while keeping her eyes on Ming Yue.
Ming Yue nodded without any delay.
Nevertheless, they knew from the bottom of their heart that either the two of them or Ming Yue would die. There would only be two outcomes.
“Step aside, Baisu!”
At the critical moment, Lin Mengya shoved Baisu aside.
Ming Yue snorted and lifted her sword, all ready to wield it and pierced into her enemy.
Little did she expect that a bizarre smile would abruptly appear at the corners of Lin Mengya’s mouth.
In the next second, with a wave of her hand, Lin Mengya sprinkled a handful of white powdery substance into the air.
In that instant, Baisu grabbed onto Lin Mengya and fled as the white power went onto Ming Yue and she was covered with it.
“What’s this? How dare you plot against me!”
Ming Yue retreated a few steps as she waved her arms frantically to try to get the white powder away from her body.
At the same time, she shot a resentful and vicious look at Lin Mengya.
“Plot against you? How shameless of you to accuse in return. Let me warn you, this powder contains a powerful poison, and the effect of the poison worsens if you become more agitated.”
Lin Mengya tossed the little box in her hand onto the floor. Although she was still wary of Ming Yue, her voice remained confident and firm.
“What poison is this? What did you spray on me?”
Immediately, Ming Yue started to itch and the itch seemed to come from within her skin.
It felt as if hundreds of thousands of tiny prickly needles were poking her skin and flesh.
Despite Ming Yue having a strong mind, she cast down her sword and started to scratch non-stop.
“This is just a little something I carry with me to protect myself. To be honest, without the antidote from me, you’ll likely be scratching all over and nothing will relieve the itch.
Lin Mengya did not mean this as a threat to Ming Yue. She had learned about the formula of this substance from Baili Rui.
Baili Rui was in fact very well-known.
Among the poisons he formulated, even the simplest formula of knock-out drops came with some vicious side effects.
The name of this powder was the Powder Medicine for the Exfoliation and Renewal of Skin and Flesh.
The name was self-explanatory.
“I’ll go to kill you! Hand the antidote over!”
Ming Yue’s beautiful face had always been what she was the proudest of.
However, her proudest asset had been threatened with destruction.
It was so itchy! The itching went deep into the bones even!
However, Lin Mengya quickly stopped her when she was about to scratch her face.
“Don’t scratch, otherwise it gets itchier. If you go on scratching, you will break your skin.”
Lin Mengya was serious about her warnings. This powder was made from three bugs mixed with other medications.
A pinch of it would make a person itch badly.
“You… if you hand over the antidote, I promise I won’t kill you. Deal?”
Feeling the itch all over her body, Ming Yue had abandoned all thoughts on killing Lin Mengya. In order to get rid of the itch, she was willing to do anything.
“Is this how you plead with other people?” asked Lin Mengya warily.
At this moment, Lin Mengya, who was still standing behind Baisu could see that Ming Yue had lost all power to strike back, but she remained cautious.
“Alright, what do you want me to do so you will give me the antidote? Just name it!”
Ming Yue admitted defeat reluctantly since that she had fallen into Lin Mengya’s hands once again.
She could not help but start to scratch, willing to ease the itch which went deep into her skin.
If not for her ability to restrain herself, she would have scratched till her skin was broken by now.
“Tell me, who laid down this plan with you? What exactly is your plan?”
Lin Mengya supposed that Ming Yue was having an affair with the Crown Prince.
However, she did not think that Ming Yue would be bold enough to harm her openly if the Crown Prince was not there to back her up.
As Ming Yue hesitated, Lin Mengya pretended to walk off.
“Since you are not sincere about your words, I will not waste my time on you. Let’s Go, Baisu.”
A smile appeared at the corners of Lin Mengya’s lips. She could not believe that Ming Yue was still trying to play tricks on her at this juncture.
“I’ll tell you, it’s the Crown Prince. I’ve been incited by the Crown Prince to kill you and your maidservants, and then look for a scapegoat to blame. I was to claim that you’re having an affair with a guard but was discovered by a maidservant, whom you have a fight with and as a result, you killed each other! This was the plan. In this way, Prince Yu would not dare to make this public.”
Although Ming Yue only managed to explain it briefly, Lin Mengya got the gist of the entire matter.
She had only brought Baisu with her to the banquet. Despite Lin Mengya kept quiet about the fact that Baisu knew martial arts, it was not difficult for those who had meant to harm her to find out this fact.
If she and Baisu were to die together at the same place, whatever happened would become a mystery and the people could make up stories any way they like.
After all, dead bodies could not talk.
It was indeed a clever plan. Baisu had also left all the weapon she used to carry in the horse carriage before she entered the palace.
Miss Wang was first sent to assassinate them, then Ming Yue came along to ambush them.
The Crown Prince had overestimated her that his plan should be so well thought of, vicious and effective.
If not for the fact that she was carrying this powder for self-defense, she would have lost her life today!
“I… and what happened to Yue Ting from beginning to end were all part of the Crown Prince’s scheme!”
Ming Yue, seeing that Lin Mengya was not totally satisfied with her answer, continued to add on to what she said.
“Really? Continue and if I’m satisfied with your report, I will hand over the antidote to you.”
As Lin Mengya spoke, she took out a little green bottle and tossed it up and down, tempting Ming Yue to tell her the truth.
At this moment, Ming Yue’s fingernails were digging into her palm as she tightened her fists.
Ming Yue was going insane from this. Her tears and nasal mucus were beginning to run.
Ming Yue could not remember the last time she felt so wretched.
“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you the reason why my second brother had targeted Yue Ting. At first, the Crown Prince gave a picture of you to my second brother. My second brother was the one who abducted you. He had wanted you to himself.”
Lin Mengya guessed as much.
However, Lin Mengya was not satisfied with just this piece of information.
“Tell me why they would eventually turn their target to Elder Sister Yue Ting!”
Without any hesitation, Ming Yue replied, “It was because they could not do anything to you, so they resorted to using Yue Ting to inflict the blow on you.”
“Whose idea was it?”
“It’s, it’s vice Princess Dugu’s idea! The Crown Prince’s vice Princess… it was her idea!”
Ming Yue was almost screaming out the answer, because, at this moment, she felt the itch had gone deep into her organs.
She could not endure the itch and started scratching frantically.
It was a total surprise that it was vice Princess Dugu that gave such a vicious idea to hurt Elder Sister Yue Ting.
It was indeed an evil and devastating plan. The death of Elder Sister Yue Ting had cast a dark shadow on Lin Mengya’s entire life.
“The antidote… give me the antidote!”
Ming Yue had gone hysterical as she scratched all over as if there were ten thousand ants crawling all over her body.
“Here’s the antidote. I’m giving it all to you.”
Lin Mengya tossed the bottle to Ming Yue, but to Ming Yue’s surprise, the bottle was empty.
“You, you tricked me!”
Ming Yue shrieked hysterically, however she did not have the strength to fight back because of the unbearable itch.
“I’m not trying to play tricks on you. The solution is actually very simple, just wash it off. The pond is just outside, you may choose to jump into it.”
Lin Mengya said coldly, wearing a cruel expression on her face.
“Water, water…”
The survival instinct in Ming Yue was clearly reflected in the vicious look in her eyes.