"Sherry, Sherry..." Silver Consort's voice kept calling, again and again, for Ivy Shen.
But the person lying on the bed was breathing evenly, clearly fast asleep.
At this, Gavin Wang hurriedly said, "Silver Consort, I already told you, this medicine is really strong—she won't be waking up anytime soon."
"When are you dealing with that thing?" Silver Consort asked.
"Later, once there's no breath left, I'll toss it out. Right now, taking care of the Crown Prince comes first. Anyway, Sherry won't be waking up for a while!" Gavin replied quickly.
Silver Consort nodded at that, then suddenly sighed. "Sigh, the Crown Princess's injuries will probably take another month to heal." Her voice was a bit helpless, a bit pained—after all, she really liked this girl.
"Don't worry, Silver Consort, the Crown Princess is kind of used to it by now. You really don't have to worry. I already had the mute eunuch and her maid secretly send her back to her own quarters. She'll need some time to recover, but it shouldn't be a big problem."
Hearing that, Silver Consort turned to Gavin Wang and said, "You follow the Crown Prince all the time. You know he always spends all his energy on the fifteenth of each month—can't you find some other woman for him? Why does it always have to be the Crown Princess? Her wounds aren't even healed yet!" Silver Consort was clearly protective of her daughter-in-law.
Gavin Wang looked helpless. "Silver Consort, you can't blame me for this! It's not like I haven't suggested it, but the Crown Prince doesn't listen. Plus... the last couple fifteenth days, we sent in three girls at once, but... but they couldn't handle it and died." He hung his head, clearly frustrated. Honestly, he really admired Marina Jade's toughness.
At first, he couldn't figure it out—every girl sent to serve the Crown Prince was supposedly tougher than her, so why is she the only one who can survive such inhuman treatment?!
"Alright, go inside and take care of the Crown Prince. I need to go to Shou’an Hall." Silver Consort glanced outside—earlier, Luna had already come to notify her to head to Shou’an Hall after finishing up here.
"Okay, you go ahead. I'll take care of the Crown Prince." With that, Gavin Wang headed inside.
Seeing this, Silver Consort also left, heading toward Shou’an Hall.
With Silver Consort gone, the room felt empty. Earlier, Ivy Shen had said she liked peace and quiet and didn't want to be disturbed, so Jude Song had dismissed most of the palace maids. Usually, only Silver Consort was around, and sometimes Gavin Wang would accompany Jude.
Now that Silver Consort was gone, only Gavin Wang remained in the inner room. Ivy Shen suddenly opened her eyes—this was a good opportunity. She had to go in and see where the secret chamber was and what was inside.
So she quietly got out of bed and tiptoed toward the inner room. The Crown Prince's palace was huge—there were actually two rooms, each with a massive golden bed. One was deeper inside, the other was hers. She'd always wondered why a bedroom would have two beds.
The bed inside often smelled strongly of medicinal herbs. Jude Song had never answered her questions about it. Since she had to pretend she couldn't move, she'd never gone to look. Now she figured it was because he soaked in all sorts of potions, so the bed reeked of medicine.
Jude Song slept in the inner room, separated by a wide folding screen painted with a golden dragon. Ivy Shen quietly peeked out—she saw Gavin Wang sitting on a stool, lazily fanning Jude, eyes half-closed with exhaustion.
Seeing this, Ivy Shen quickly grabbed a peanut from the table and, with lightning speed, flicked it at one of Gavin Wang's acupoints. Instantly, the seemingly ordinary peanut hit like a rock, knocking Gavin Wang face-down onto Jude's bed, motionless.
Then Ivy Shen quietly walked over and sent a palm strike toward Jude Song, making him sleep even more deeply.
The next second, Ivy Shen walked over to the fruit table, pressed lightly on its underside, and a black object fell into her hand. It looked like a sewing kit, but when she tipped it over, a black pill landed in her palm!
"Jude Song, you love playing with women so much—this one's for you." With that, she walked over, pried open his mouth, and shoved the pill down his throat.
This was a special Shriveling Pill crafted by Lucian Vane. Its effect lasted only half a month, but during that time, he'd suffer terribly—his mind would crave it, yet he couldn't get hard. The torment would be unbearable.
Looking at the deeply sleeping Jude Song, Ivy Shen curled her lips into a cold smile and said, word by word, "One day, I'll make you a real eunuch!" She couldn't kill him now—if she did, she'd never escape, and her sister was still in their hands. If anything happened to him, Cao Wan'er would find a way to torture her!
Thinking of this, Ivy Shen could only let him live for now. His life was hers to take—she'd just keep it on loan for a while.
At this moment, Ivy Shen quickly scanned the room. It was her first time here—before, either Jude Song or Silver Consort was always around, so she'd never had the chance to look. But now, she wasn't interested in admiring the place; she needed to find the mechanism, to discover what secrets the mysterious chamber held!
After a moment of searching, Ivy Shen found that the stone-wax lamp on the table could be turned. She gave it a gentle twist, and instantly, a huge landscape painting spun around, revealing a passage lit by lamps.
Without hesitation, Ivy Shen stepped inside. The stone door swung shut behind her.
As soon as she entered, Ivy Shen was hit by a strong medicinal odor—sharp and unpleasant.
The long secret tunnel was lit by little lamps every few steps. As Ivy Shen walked, she rounded a stone wall and suddenly spotted an iron cage at the sharpest corner. The cage was built around a deep central shaft, with only a thin ring of footing circling the hole. Oddly, the ledge was littered with scraps of women's clothing—why so many torn garments here?!
Ivy Shen hurried forward for a closer look, then froze—down in the dark pit, she saw a writhing mass of palm-sized, patterned giant spiders. Even without expert knowledge, Ivy Shen knew these things were deadly poisonous!
Instantly, Ivy Shen knew this place was anything but simple. If it was really just for healing, why all the venomous spiders?!
So Ivy Shen kept going deeper. After a few steps, her view opened up—a huge wooden barrel stood ahead, and draped over its rim was a naked woman, motionless, her body covered in bloody whip marks, fresh blood still trickling down her thighs.
Ivy Shen frowned and stepped closer. Had he tortured another woman here just now?!
But when she reached the woman and turned her over, Ivy Shen's eyes widened in shock—the motionless woman draped over the barrel was none other than her coworker...
"Xiaoyue..." Ivy Shen cried out, rushing over to flip her over. "Xiaoyue! Xiaoyue..."
In that instant, Gavin Wang's earlier words flashed through Ivy Shen's mind: 'Once there's no breath left, throw her in.'
Throw her in, iron cage, scraps of clothing, venomous spiders...
Could it be...
Could it be that after killing them, he throws the bodies into that pit and lets the giant spiders devour them?!
****
PS: Thanks to quyy for the red envelope and flowers—haha, Yiyi begs for red envelopes~~~red envelopes~~~~pfft~~~ (Everyone, feel free to leave a comment!)