The princess regretted it.

Chapter 233 Mingyue Suspects Jinan

Changsun Hongze listened grimly as the imperial physician gave his detailed diagnosis of Concubine Cen's condition. After the physician finished speaking, he raised his hand with a sullen expression. His voice was low and full of unquestionable authority: "You go ahead and make the arrangements. You must do your best. If anything goes wrong, I will hold you accountable."

The imperial physician hurriedly bowed with great fear and trepidation, repeatedly saying "yes", and then carefully accepted the order and retreated.

At this moment, Mingyue, who had been guarding nearby, suddenly fell to her knees with a plop. Then, she prostrated herself before the emperor, sobbing and pleading, "Your Majesty, please help the Empress! For all these years, the Empress has been heartbroken and depressed because of the tragic loss of the prince. The knot in her heart has never been truly untied. Later, with great difficulty, she had Beibei. With Beibei's company, the Empress's mood slowly began to ease. Beibei was like the apple of her eye, and she cherished it immensely. And now, Beibei has been murdered. For the Empress, this is undoubtedly adding salt to the wounds that have yet to heal. This is simply an attempt on her life!"

The emperor's already gloomy face darkened even further, like the dark clouds before a storm. He looked down coldly at the simple bun on Mingyue's head. His voice, as cold as the frost and snow in the coldest days of winter, he asked, "Tell me, what's going on?"

"Your Majesty, Beibei has been enjoying playing in the Imperial Garden lately. Her Majesty usually has someone carefully tending to her and accompanying her. Today, the caretaker had to leave for a while due to something, thinking they would be back soon. Furthermore, with other palace maids and eunuchs in the Imperial Garden, there shouldn't be any danger. So, they let Beibei play in the garden on her own. But when they returned, Beibei was nowhere to be seen.

After searching the Imperial Gardens to no avail, they hurriedly reported to the Empress, who was immediately distraught. I thought, Beibei is a gentle and well-behaved creature; she would never attack others without reason, nor would she run around. I suspect the Imperial Gardens are so vast and full of scenery, perhaps she's lost. So, I personally led a team to the Imperial Gardens to conduct a thorough search. Finally, we found Beibei in the bushes by the lake, but she was already dead, bleeding from her mouth and nose.

At this point, she paused, sobbing. Then she continued, "After witnessing Beibei's tragic condition, the Queen fainted from shock and anger. Your Majesty, it's clear someone deliberately murdered Beibei. I wonder if it was targeting the Queen. I implore Your Majesty to find the murderer who killed Beibei." Mingyue kowtowed several times.

After listening to Mingyue's words, Jin'an closed his eyes and thought to himself: Is this the next blame that will fall on me? After all this preparation, it's time for my father to ask further questions, and then to express his suspicions about me. Is this really such a coincidence? Who is trying to frame me? Is it someone else or Concubine Cen herself? The only people in the harem with whom he has any conflicts are Zhang and her daughter. But they are both under house arrest. Could it really be Concubine Cen? Jin'an looked at Mingyue with some suspicion, but he and Concubine Cen had never crossed paths before, so it couldn't be her.

As expected, the emperor opened his mouth and asked, just as Jin An had expected: "Can you tell me who did this? What do you want me to do?"

"Your Majesty, I, your servant..." Mingyue raised her eyes and glanced at Princess Jin'an beside her. Her eyes seemed to silently say that the murderer was Jin'an.

"Your Majesty, your father is asking you a question. Why are you looking at me like that? If you know what's going on, just tell me." Jin An's expression remained calm, yet his anger was already boiling inside: This Mingyue was no pushover. While seemingly silent, every word she spoke was directed at me. If she suspected me of this, why not just state it? Isn't this hesitating only arousing suspicion? Who was behind her actions? Was she being bribed?

The emperor also spoke up: "Just tell me what you know. There is no need to hide it. I promise to pardon you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" Mingyue kowtowed several more times in a hurry, and then said, "Later, when I was in the Imperial Garden, I met a young eunuch on duty. The eunuch said that he saw Beibei in the Imperial Garden, and said that Beibei seemed to have frightened the princess, and then the princess kicked Beibei..." Mingyue fell silent at this point, and just lay quietly on the ground.

"And then?" The emperor saw that she stopped talking and asked with a stern face, "Nothing? Are you trying to say that it was Jin An who killed the dog?" His voice was chilling.

"Your Majesty, this is what I heard. Beibei is always docile and would never hurt anyone without reason. It may simply want to be intimate with the princess. It likes to pounce on whoever it likes and play with them. That's why it jumped towards the princess with joy, and it couldn't have imagined that it would startle her.

"I know some people don't like dogs. If the princess doesn't like it, you can tell Her Majesty. She will keep Beibei confined to the palace and won't let him disturb her again. Besides, the princess had already kicked him, so why... why would she be so cruel as to kill him?" Mingyue still didn't raise her head, but just kept crying.

Jin An's expression was icy cold. She had never imagined that Ming Yue would so brazenly pin the blame on her based on a few words from a eunuch. Though she was filled with indignation, she tactfully refrained from refutation. After all, her father was present; she could first see how he would react.

"How dare you! You, a mere servant, openly flirt with the princess! How dare you!" The emperor's eldest grandson, Hongze, slammed the carved armrest beside him, causing it to clunk with a dull thud. His face was ashen, his eyes glaring, and his cold gaze darted directly at Mingyue, who knelt on the ground and continued to sob.

The emperor's furious rebuke sent Mingyue sprawling to the ground, trembling all over. Witnessing Mingyue's condition, Jin'an, knowing she was merely acting in a moment of desperation to protect her master, felt a surge of anger and resentment simmer in his chest at the thought of her indiscriminately accusing him of such a false charge.

But Jin An could no longer remain silent. After all, he had indeed kicked the dog in the Imperial Garden that day, but he hadn't anticipated being caught by those with ulterior motives, who would wantonly distort the facts to frame him. As for who was behind this frame-up, it all depended on whether he could find the eunuch he had ordered to deliver the dog.

Well—given the circumstances, since this was a deliberate frame-up, it was highly likely that the eunuch would be nowhere to be found. Fortunately, however, there were several palace maids and eunuchs in the imperial garden nearby. It's likely someone witnessed the entire incident and could prove they didn't kill the dog.