Chapter Four: She Lied

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Shen Tubai caught a strong metallic scent of blood, but she only released her bite and pushed Lady Xin to the ground when her two teeth clashed. Then, she ran desperately outward.

Su Ye and the others hurried forward to check on Lady Xin, but she shoved them away. "Quick, catch up to her. Under no circumstances can this matter be brought before the Prince."

"Yes," Su Ye replied, about to give chase, only to be grabbed by Lady Xin. "No, send word to the rear courtyard. Hurry!"

Shen Tubai’s quarters were not far from Li Tinghan’s in the front courtyard. With the servants already sent away by Lady Xin, she faced no obstacles and smoothly reached Li Tinghan’s side.

"Your Highness, save me." Days of beatings and exhaustion had left Shen Tubai at her limit, but she dared not relax.

Li Tinghan was startled by her bloodied mouth. Seeing the glaring handprint on her face, his anger flared uncontrollably. "What happened? Who struck you?"

Clutching his arm tightly, she looked back with a mixture of terror and hatred.

"Your Highness..." Lady Xin hurried after but was a step too late. Kneeling weakly before the Prince’s fierce gaze, she pleaded, "Your humble servant deserves death. Please forgive me."

Li Tinghan kicked her hard. "You beg for forgiveness now, but when you committed such cruel acts before, why did you not reflect?"

"Prince Rongbing, I beg your pardon not because I wished to punish Lady Shen, but because of my incompetence." Lady Xin’s expression gradually calmed.

She turned to show Li Tinghan the ear Shen Tubai had bitten, now barely hanging on. "Since Lady Shen entered the residence, she has refused discipline. Today I merely scolded her a few times, and she lunged at me, biting."

"I have served Your Highness faithfully for over ten years. But if I continue to teach Lady Shen, I fear for my life. I am unworthy of the trust of the Empress Dowager and dare no longer draw a salary from Prince Yan’s manor. I hereby resign."

Tears streamed down Lady Xin’s face, as if she truly had no ulterior motives.

Li Tinghan did not fully believe her, but the warmth of childhood memories stirred within him. "Rise and answer."

"She’s lying!" Shen Tubai hissed through clenched teeth. "She forced me to reveal my conversations with Your Highness and, out of jealousy of my beauty, tried to ruin my face."

Her voice dropped soft, breath brushing against Li Tinghan’s neck and ear.

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Li Tinghan felt a tickle and was annoyed by her indiscreet seduction. But seeing her flushed face, he suddenly sensed something wrong. Touching her forehead confirmed it—she had a fever.

He signaled a nearby eunuch to fetch the physician.

Lady Xin lowered her eyes respectfully, oblivious to their exchange. Hearing Shen Tubai’s words, she grasped a weaponized argument. "I am but an old woman, long past the age of marriage and childbirth. No matter how beautiful your birth is, what concern is it of mine?"

Despite her illness, Shen Tubai’s mind remained sharp. "You may be old, but your niece is young. You intend to arrange for her to be Your Highness’s concubine, but I took her place, so you target me at every turn."

"I am wronged!" Lady Xin struck her head on the ground. "Your Highness is always decisive. When have you let your servant meddle in your private affairs? It must be Lady Shen who resents my niece’s youth and beauty, thus refusing discipline..."

Shen Tubai scoffed aloud.

Li Tinghan inexplicably read the disdain and pride on her face. Such confident arrogance was oddly enticing.

Lady Xin knew her words were unconvincing, but with Su Ye’s relationship to Shen Tubai exposed, she could only insist that Lady Shen was the jealous one.

Before Shen Tubai could retort, Li Tinghan took up the questioning. "What about the injuries on Lady Shen’s body?"

Lady Xin’s heart tightened. The Prince was indeed aware.

Regretting her rashness, she thought Li Tinghan’s attentions had turned from Lady Shen, assuming she was despised beyond redemption. She had acted too hastily.

After a moment’s thought, Lady Xin vehemently denied it. "I do not know. Though I disciplined Lady Shen, I did so with restraint and would never leave marks."

"Could it be..." Lady Xin hesitated, casting her eyes toward the Prince. "Lady Shen, to gain favor, deliberately framed me to invoke Your Highness’s pity?"

At these words, Shen Tubai moved to loosen her robes.

Li Tinghan quickly pressed her hand down. "Enough."

Since their first meeting, Shen Tubai had tried every means to seduce him. He believed she could feign for favor, but not that she had inflicted such wounds on her own back.

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Su Ye, just returning from the rear courtyard, witnessed their hands entwined and burned with jealousy. She immediately knelt, declaring, "I can testify. Lady Shen, relying on being Miss Cui’s envoy, has always behaved as a concubine before us."

"She often spoke disrespectfully to Lady Xin in our presence. Such a person could never be left unpunished by Lady Xin’s whip. Every word I say is true; the sisters living here can all attest."

Su Ye exchanged glances with those standing behind her, and they all knelt together.

Li Tinghan’s expression instantly darkened. Lady Xin broke out in cold sweat, silently cursing Su Ye’s foolishness.

Lady Shen had not been beaten to death; punishing a maid was part of discipline. Lady Xin could have simply blamed the weight of her years, with no more than a few months’ docked wages.

But why drag in Miss Cui?

To Li Tinghan, today’s farce merely exposed Lady Xin’s cruelty toward the maids, a matter to be acknowledged and dismissed lightly. But they must not casually involve Wen Niang.

Before Wen Niang even entered the manor, they already targeted the girl she sent. When she truly arrived, who knew how many obstacles awaited?

This thought only stoked Li Tinghan’s anger.

Shen Tubai had completely lost her strength, half her weight pressing against Li Tinghan as she barely steadied herself.

"She’s lying," Shen Tubai whispered softly in his ear, voice tender as if coaxing rather than accusing. "She wants nothing more than to be your concubine, letting the maids who live with her wash her feet and dress her every day. She’s the worst. Don’t believe her."

The tickling at his ear brought Li Tinghan back to himself.

Seeing her dazed expression, suspecting her fever had scrambled her mind, and with the physician yet to arrive, Li Tinghan did not wish to argue further.

"Take them all away. Each to receive thirty strokes of the cane. Lady Xin, expel from the front courtyard and return to the palace..."

"Wait!" A woman in bright yellow palace robes approached slowly. Her gaze lingered briefly on Shen Tubai before swiftly averting.

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