Scheming Intentions Revealed

"Ah? Isn't that inappropriate?" You're bathing here, and I'm just... watching...

"Inappropriate? Or just scared?" Evan Xiao stared at her sharply. "Want to go out and show off your bruises again?"

"...No...no...that's not it!" Grace glanced at his bare upper body, stammering.

His figure was tall and muscular, his body radiating strength, yet not at all bulky—full of masculine beauty. Just a few glances left her blushing, unsure where to look...

Seeing her looking like she's up to no good, Evan Xiao narrowed his eyes and asked, "Lily Bai, you'd better not be plotting anything, and don't even think about playing tricks!"

"I'm not!" Grace shook her head quickly. "I wasn't thinking anything bad, and I'm not playing any tricks! I was just worried about the clothes—the Black Venom Bee's poison is really dangerous. If you get too much on you, you could die! I panicked and rushed in."

Heaven knows, she really was telling the truth.

"Really?" Evan Xiao's expression was unreadable.

"I swear to the heavens!"

Evan Xiao turned away, ignoring her.

Seeing her so determined, he felt quite annoyed.

About half an hour later, Grace's hands, which had touched the clothes, broke out in several large, red, swollen bumps. She applied medicine in front of him, and the bumps disappeared.

Only then did Evan Xiao let her go, telling her to take the clothes to Steward Qin and investigate who was behind this.

She handed the clothes to Steward Qin, who immediately called for the maids responsible for washing the general's clothes and questioned them.

However, all of them pleaded innocence; no one admitted to anything.

Steward Qin sent people to search their quarters and the laundry room, but found no clues.

With no other choice, he just gave them a warning and let them go.

But Grace noticed that one of the maids, as soon as she came in, kept glancing at the clothes and was clearly flustered.

Grace didn't say anything at the time.

That night, she blew some Paralysis Powder into the maid's room, masked her face, climbed in through the window, and held a knife to the maid's neck.

The maid was so terrified her soul nearly left her body. Her teeth chattered as she said, "Hero... d-don't kill me!"

"Tell me, who ordered you to poison the general's clothes?" Grace asked in a low voice.

"Ah? No! It wasn't me—ah! No! Please!" She felt a sharp pain in her neck, and blood gushed out.

"Tell me and I'll let you go! Otherwise, you'll die for the real mastermind!" Grace pressed the knife deeper.

"No! I'll tell you!" The maid sobbed, trembling. "It was Ruby!"

Grace loosened her grip on the dagger.

"She said that if the general drove Lily Bai away, she could become the head maid again. Then she'd promote me to work at Hanyue Pavilion."

Ruby...

Unexpected, yet expected.

Grace smiled and asked, "Where's the rest of the poison?"

"I buried it on the sloped flowerbed behind the laundry room."

Grace nodded, took out a small bottle, and let the maid sniff it. She immediately fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Grace treated the wound and bloodstains on the maid's neck, applying a high-grade scar-removal elixir.

By morning, the minor wound would be gone.

She would think it was all just a dream...

That night, Grace went to the place the maid mentioned and quickly found signs of freshly dug earth.