The tension in the room was palpable as Lady Li readied the fine golden needle between her fingers, getting ready to place the first of it upon the crown prince's acupoints. Soft crying from the queen could be heard from outside the room, as the king had ordered her locked outside to prevent her from disrupting the procedure unnecessarily. Zi-ning stood quietly by the side, beads of sweat pooling within her clenched palms as she watched her mentor lower the needle.

It took over two sticks of incense before the entire procedure reached its final stage, and when the last needle was put in place, Ru-quan suddenly broke into violent convulsions.

"Wanle, what's going on? Did something go wrong?" the king exclaimed in alarm.

Lady Li instinctively took two steps back, equally shocked by the prince's reaction. Zi-ning's heart rose up her throat, as a suffocating sensation of fear and terror gripped hold of her. What if she had been wrong? What if this gamble failed, and the crown prince died because of it? Could she not change their fates, no matter how hard she tried?

Zhenghuan marched over to the bedside, shifting the prince so that he was seated upright. Ru-quan's eyeballs lolled back in their sockets, revealing only the frightening whites of his eyes. Then, with one decisive move, Zhenghuan slammed his palm against Ru-quan's back.

The crown prince lurched forward and retched, vomiting a vile brown paste-like substance onto the bed. He coughed a few times, then leaned limply against Zhenghuan's shoulder.

Lady Li quickly took Ru-quan's pulse, then she heaved a sigh of relief. "It's fine. His pulse is still weak, but it has returned to normal. I think everything has been expelled. He should recover with rest and some medicine from the royal infirmary," she said. She began to remove the needles from Ru-quan's body, while the attendants busied themselves with cleaning up the mess.

From where she was standing, Zi-ning could see the writhing bodies of the tiny worms that had been ejected from Ru-quan's body. She shuddered. It was vicious, for someone to have resorted to such means to kill the crown prince. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ru-an with his gaze fixed upon his older brother, an unreadable expression on his face.

It was you, wasn't it?

How could she not have realised that there was a rotting, blackened heart hiding behind that glossy veneer? She had been fooled, along with everyone else, until it was too late.

"Thank you for saving my brother," a soft voice piped up from beside her.

Zi-ning looked up, surprised to see the eighth prince standing there. She smiled. "I only offered a possible solution. It could just have likely have failed. The crown prince owes it to his own destiny that he was not fated to meet his end today," she replied.

"You are too humble. Not everyone would risk their own life to save another. You could have remained silent and everyone would have been none the wiser."

Her smile faltered. If only Ru-wen knew that her intentions were not as pure as he had assumed them to be, perhaps he might not think the same of her. But as always, Ru-wen thought the best of everyone. That was why he had been betrayed by a brother that he had loved and respected, and then forced to his death, branded as a traitor.

"That's because she's foolhardy," another voice joined the fray. Fingers wrapped themselves around Zi-ning's wrist, pushing her a step back and further away from Ru-wen. Zhenghuan's tall frame inserted itself between her and the eighth prince. "Always sticking her nose into things that are entirely none of her concern. I suppose that is how you get the attention of others, am I right?"

Ru-wen shook his head. "There is a fine line between courage and foolhardiness. I do believe that Miss Han is the former," he said.

"Ah, looks like your efforts have not been futile," Zhenghuan replied drily, turning to glance down at Zi-ning. "After today, there won't be a single person in the capital who does not know of the great Miss Han and how she saved the life of our crown prince."

What's that supposed to mean? Zi-ning wrenched her hand away from the Shadow Lord, shooting him a glare. Was he insinuating that she was being a social climber again, trying to gain the favour of the princes?

Although she knew deep down that her motives were not altruistic, Zhenghuan's salty remarks still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She dearly wanted to give him a kick in the shin, if only they were not in the presence of so many others.

King Shunde signalled to Zhenghuan, calling him to one side.

"How is the investigation going? Has the culprit been caught?" the king asked. Now that the crown prince was out of danger, the focus had shifted.

Whoever it was who had tried to assassinate the prince had to be found.

Zi-ning could not hear what Zhenghuan's reply was, as the latter took care to keep his volume low, but from the shape of his moving mouth she could detect the words "servant", "kitchens" and "tribes". As expected, the arrow seemed to be pointing in the direction of the southern tribes, and it was likely the trail would end there. Ru-an had always been careful about covering up his tracks and would already have lined up multiple scapegoats to take the fall. It would take more than this to get him to reveal his true colours.

Even now, there was not a single crack in his façade, as he expressed nothing but joy and relief about Ru-quan's condition.

Still, it was a victory for her. Her gamble had paid off. The crown prince was alive, and would continue to be an obstacle to Ru-an's ambitions.

But it means that the road ahead is a mystery now.

Too many things had changed in this version of her life—so how could she predict what was going to unfold next in order to stay one step ahead?

#

The king eventually announced that the culprit responsible for the poisoning of the crown prince was a servant working in the palace kitchens, who had been holding a grudge against the prince for having punished him with a flogging after he had committed a mistake. The servant was executed, and that was the end of it. There was no mention of the southern tribes, or any insinuation towards a more insidious plot.

Zi-ning spent a few days pondering over the situation, eventually concluding that there must have been insufficient evidence to confirm the involvement of any other parties, whether it be the southern tribes, the kingdom of Hua, or someone from within Duan itself. During that time, the prince of Hua—Situ Zhiren—finally announced that he would be leaving Huangcheng and returning to his own kingdom, and that he would be taking Princess Xuan with him as originally planned.

To everyone's surprise, he also decided that he would bring Han Meisi along.

"See, I told you that the prince would come for me," Meisi said, sticking out her chest like a proud peacock. "When I reach Hua, I'll be a consort to the crown prince—and to the future king!"

The ladies of the Han household were gathered at the old madam's sitting parlour, discussing the preparations required for Meisi's departure. After receiving the notice that Meisi was to follow Situ Zhiren's entourage back to Wulihe, the capital of Hua, in three days' time, the entire household had been up in arms, rushing to prepare the necessary items that she would have to bring along. Although she would only be a consort—the position of crown princess would undoubtedly still belong to Princess Xuan—Meisi could still potentially occupy a high position in the prince's harem and she had to be given a fair amount of dowry to reflect that status.

Meisi's mother, Concubine Wan, was likewise delighted by the news, although she put up a decent show of being a tearful mother having to send her only daughter to a foreign land. Dabbing the corners of her eyes with a silk handkerchief, she said, "I'm sure the prince will treat you very well, but if ever you are short of anything, or if anyone dares bully you, make sure you send word home and I will ask your father to send help—or to bring you back if necessary, is that clear?"

"Nonsense!" the old madam chided. "Do you think the Hua palace is a place that you can enter and leave at will? Enough of that childishness." Turning to Meisi, she said, "Hua is not like Duan, and you shall be on your own there with no support whatsoever. You must curb that wilful attitude of yours, else you will put yourself in difficult situations. While you are there, make sure you are respectful and obedient to the prince, and to Princess Xuan. If you remain in their favour, then you can live the rest of your life in peace."

"Why should I care about that woman? If the prince likes me better, then she's merely a nobody. Once we're in Wulihe, it's a fair playing field," Meisi sniffled, clearly displeased at having been told to bow down to the princess.

Zi-ning shook her head, sipping her tea quietly. It remained to be seen whether or not Meisi would be able to make it to Wulihe safely, what more to out-compete the princess for Situ Zhiren's favour. Everyone seemed to have overlooked the fact that nowhere in the prince's message had he said that he was even making Meisi a consort. All it said was that she was to follow the entourage back to the Hua capital. Knowing Situ Zhiren, Zi-ning had serious doubts that things would play out as beautifully as Meisi imagined.

"Mother, I don't think eight trunks of dowry is nearly enough," Concubine Wan complained, shooting a sour glance at the mistress of the household, Lady Min. "I've heard that the palace has prepared twenty-four trunks for the princess. Even if Meisi is only going to be a consort, surely she should at least have two-thirds of that? What would people say if they saw that we're only giving Meisi eight!"

"Eight is already plenty," Lady Min replied coolly. "Based on Meisi's status in our family, she should rightfully only receive six trunks of dowry. We have already been generous, considering the disgraceful circumstances of her marriage."

"How dare you!" Concubine Wan exclaimed.

"Enough. Jueying is right, eight trunks is already plenty," the old madam interjected. "It would not do to give Meisi too much dowry, in case it offends the princess. Meisi will be in want of nothing in the Hua palace, so there's no need to quibble over some dowry. You can't expect us to empty the family coffers just for Meisi."

Concubine Wan and Meisi were visibly upset about the decision, but they wisely remained silent, in case the old matriarch decided to reduce the dowry further. If they had any self-awareness, they would know that eight trunks was already more than what a concubine's daughter was supposed to get.

"Now that Meisi's future is settled, we should think about Zi-ning and Meiyan. Both of you have come of age, so we should not delay things further," Old Madam Sun said. "Lady Ouyang sent word that they were interested in seeking a bride for their second son, and specifically asked after Meiyan."

"No!" both Lady Min and Meiyan exclaimed at the same time.

"No?" The old lady frowned. "The Ouyang household is very prominent. It would be a good match for our household."

"But Second Young Master Ouyang is notorious for being a playboy. Everyone knows that he spends all his time at the brothels. I can't marry someone like that!" Meiyan argued.

"Lady Ouyang assured me that those are all rumours. All young men play around a little before they settle down. Things will be different once they are married. She also told me that the Second Young Master has already been given an appointment within the Ministry of Protocol, so he has a bright future ahead of him. You should be thankful that he is willing to consider making you his official wife."

"Mother, even if that is so, someone like Second Young Master Ouyang is still beneath Meiyan. Meiyan is one of the most eligible young ladies in the capital. She could potentially marry one of the princes!" Lady Min said anxiously. "At the banquet, everyone had an excellent impression of Meiyan, and even Consort Song sang praises of her. We should not be too hasty with this. If the Ouyang family would like to seek an alliance with our family through marriage, then why not Zi-ning?"

Zi-ning's lips twitched when she hear her name dragged into the fray. If the exact same scenario had played out in her previous life when Meiyan had been the shining jewel and her the ugly duckling, perhaps the old madam might have given this proposition some more thought, but certainly not in this life.

Right on cue, a knock came at the door and the chief steward of the household came rushing in with a wide smile plastered across his face. He greeted the old madam, then held out an invitation lined with red silk and said, "Madam, we have received this from the palace. The queen would like an audience with Miss Zi-ning."

"Of course," Old Madam Sun said. She turned to Zi-ning and smiled kindly. "Go and get ready to enter the palace. Make sure you remember the necessary protocol while you're there."

"Yes, Grandmother," Zi-ning replied, standing to take her leave.

It was almost comical, how everyone's faces turned green with envy almost immediately, especially Meiyan. Ignoring them all, Zi-ning headed out of the parlour and back towards her own quarters. The invitation from the queen had to be because of the crown prince's incident, but whether this meeting would be a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.