This little girl was only up to his knees, yet when she stood up straight, her eyes blazing with sincerity. Every word she uttered was convincing.
The guard made a choice.
He chose to believe in the rumored Fifth Princess who was known to be well-behaved and kind, rather than the venomous Imperial Concubine Jing.
Lin Feilu had expected that he would die, but she did not expect that he would commit suicide in front of everyone. The words he said before his death may look like he was covering for Imperial Concubine Jing. In fact, what he said was a deathblow that undermined any shred of credibility she had, then he used his own death to seal her fate.
Imperial Concubine Jing was impeccably meticulous when she designed this almost-foolproof trap, Lin Feilu did not have to do much apart from coaxing the guard to switch sides. In the case of the palace maid who spilled drinks on Imperial Concubine Jing, all Lin Feilu did was to deliberately lead Lin Jingyuan to bump into her.
At that time, even if that palace maid with the drinks was not present, she still had other ways to prompt Imperial Concubine Jing to turn back and change her clothes.
By the looks of it, it seemed that even God was helping her. Now that the guard was dead, she was completely unlinked to the matter. Apart from the person who threw the pebbles and informed her about the trap, no one else knew that she was involved.
Not only did she break the deadlock, she also conquered this boss. However, she could not bring herself to feel happy about this.
Although she did not kill him, his death was partially caused by her. What’s more, she originally grew up during peaceful times. To see a real person die before her eyes, of course she would feel unsettled.
What was supposed to be a night of merriment turned into a nightmare. After the incident, the empress fainted. Almost all the concubines in the palace who witnessed the incident also fell ill.
Emperor Lin was furious when he came to learn of the incident. He did not even bother to interrogate the imprisoned Imperial Concubine Jing. Instead, he ordered for a cup of poisoned wine to be delivered and sentenced her to death.
The death of the palace guard basically affirmed their illicit relationship. Furthermore, Emperor Lin even began to doubt whether Third Princess Lin Xi was truly his biological daughter. Without seeing her off, an imperial edict was sent to Lin Xi, ordering her to be exiled as a caretaker of the Imperial Mausoleum. It was certain that she would never be able to return to the Imperial Palace for the rest of her life.
Imperial Concubine Jing’s family was also implicated, all were either demoted or fired from their positions in court. Their reputation went down the drain, never to return to glory.
Since this incident was considered a royal scandal, Emperor Lin and the empress forbade anyone from spreading the word. The official statement of the incident was that Imperial Concubine Jing had disrupted the peace of the Imperial Palace and dared to deceive the emperor. All eyewitnesses also kept silent. Eventually, the word of the matter did not get out.
As soon as Imperial Concubine Jing died, Zhaoyang Palace was no more. Emperor Lin speculated that the palace was cursed, so he had it sealed off, and the former servants of that palace would be redistributed under the management of the Imperial Household Department. Lin Feilu looked for an opportunity to visit Consort Xian and requested for Song’yu, the younger sister of the palace guard, to be given to her.
The princesses in the palace all have personal female attendants. Only Lin Feilu was the exception, as the two palace maids currently in her household technically served Xiao Lan. Consort Xian did not question her any further and asked the Imperial Household Department to send Song’yu over to Mingyue Palace.
No one knew that Song’yu was related to the deceased palace guard, thus she was naturally not implicated.