"Grace is here!" Grace Wan called out the moment she spotted her. "Mother and the Prime Minister don't believe me—so let's ask Grace herself: did she sneak into Snowdrop Garden last night to kill me or not?"
Grace sized her up and said, "Aunt, what are you even talking about? I seriously have no clue."
Spirit Practitioners are protected by law in the Blue Moon Kingdom.
Trying to assassinate a Spirit Practitioner—best case, you end up in jail; worst case, you're exiled or dead.
No one in their right mind would admit to something like this. Otherwise, you're in for a world of trouble.
"So you're really not going to admit it?" Grace Wan pressed. "Didn't you say last night I poisoned Lady Vivian Zhu, and now you want to kill me to make me pay?"
Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu looked at Grace. "Grace, is that true?"
"Grandmother, I went back to Serenity Pavilion from my mother's place yesterday and crashed early—I was totally wiped out. If you don't believe me, just ask anyone who was with me." Grace replied.
Prime Minister Zhu frowned. "Xuezhen, why would Grace want to kill you? Is there some kind of misunderstanding here?"
"What misunderstanding? She's just refusing to own up!" Grace Wan burst out. "This wound—it's from her Scarlet Sky Sword! If it weren't for my father's Spirit Talisman, I'd be six feet under by now!"
As she spoke, she started bawling in front of Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu and Prime Minister Zhu. "I have no idea how Lady Vivian Zhu's illness suddenly turned into poisoning, but heaven and earth can testify—I'm innocent! Seriously, if I was out to hurt Lady Vivian Zhu or Grace, would they still be alive? But Grace just won't listen to reason, she wants me dead..."
Seeing her cry so miserably and sound so convincing, Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu and Prime Minister Zhu both turned to look at Grace again.
Grace just shrugged. "I didn't. Hope and Claire can vouch for me, and a bunch of servants saw me come home to my pavilion. Once I was back, I didn't step outside again."
Actually, plenty of servants saw her come home that afternoon.
But if she really snuck out at night to kill someone, of course she made sure no one saw her.
......
One says it was an assassination attempt.
The other says it was nothing of the sort.
Neither story sounds all that believable.
Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu paused, then said, "Minghan, send more guards to Snowdrop Garden. Tighten up security."
"Okay," Prime Minister Zhu agreed.
"Xuezhen!" Dowager Lady Evelyn Zhu said. "You and Grace both have your own stories. For now, we'll beef up security and look into it later."
Grace Wan shook her head. "Mother, we need to get to the bottom of this! Otherwise, with Grace's cultivation, if she keeps treating me like her mother's killer, I'll be dead sooner or later!"
Grace rolled her eyes. "Aunt, what do you want from me? When did I ever try to kill you? I never thought you poisoned my mother either! I mean, you've treated us like family all these years—so 'caring'!"
"Grace, why won't you just admit it? Aunt isn't trying to get you in trouble! I just want to clear things up! Tell me, who told you all that stuff? Let's find them and sort out this misunderstanding," Grace Wan pleaded, sounding desperate.
"Father," Grace called.
Prime Minister Zhu asked, "What is it?"
"I seriously have no clue what she's talking about. Maybe we should get a doctor to check on Aunt!"
In other words, she's saying Aunt's got a screw loose!
Prime Minister Zhu frowned at Grace Wan. "Since Grace says she didn't do it, maybe it was too dark last night and you mistook someone else for her."
"No way!" Grace Wan shot back. "I even talked to her for ages!"