When Ivy Shen slipped back into her room, everyone was already asleep. She gritted her teeth and took a bath, trying to make her wounds look a little less terrifying.
Then she changed into a set of super clean clothes.
She’d made a huge mess down there today. As soon as Gavin Wang woke up, the whole palace would be thrown into chaos. Wendy Cao would definitely get suspicious and start investigating every detail.
If she waited until then, her real identity would definitely be exposed.
So, she had to act before anyone woke up. She needed a solid reason for her injuries—one that would drive Wendy Cao absolutely nuts.
At that thought, a chilly little smile crept onto her lips. The next second, she darted off toward Julia Shang’s residence.
There were hardly any guards at Julia’s place, just a bunch of maids. Clearly, Song Zhijue didn’t care much about her—she was probably just another chess piece in Wendy Cao’s hands.
Ivy slipped in, hidden by the darkness, just in time to hear Julia Shang smashing stuff inside. Yeah, she was definitely still mad about what happened earlier.
“Get out! All of you, get out!” Julia roared. The palace maids inside nearly tripped over themselves scrambling out, terrified.
Seeing her chance, Ivy smirked. She’d thought this would be tricky, but wow, the universe was really working overtime for her tonight. She whipped out the note she’d prepared and shot it into the room with a hidden dart, nailing it right onto the pillar in front of Julia.
“Ah!” Julia jumped at the sudden flying dart. She almost screamed for help, but, glancing around and seeing no one, she nervously took down the dart and opened the note.
‘Saw you getting humiliated by Lana Qiu today—so pathetic! That maid is so arrogant; if she becomes a consort, you’ll end up rotting in the cold palace. If you want to make it big, you have to nip the seedling before it grows. Don’t forget, your dad’s a big-shot minister, and the Empress dotes on you. Why not use her hand to get rid of the one blocking your path? Two birds, one stone—why not make the most of it?’ Signed: The one who’ll help you become Empress!
Julia read the note and burst out laughing, especially at the signature—help her become Empress? Seriously?!
Grinning from ear to ear, she stupidly went over and burned the note at the candle, like she was afraid someone else might see it.
Watching her burn the evidence, Ivy couldn’t help shaking her head. What a total idiot. She’d even used a different handwriting, just in case, but this fool went and torched the note anyway. Well, that saved Ivy a ton of trouble.
“Servants!” Julia puffed out her chest and shouted dramatically.
“Y-yes, miss…” The same maids she’d just yelled at shuffled back in, heads down, looking scared out of their minds.
Julia was in such a good mood now, she didn’t even care about their sour faces. She barked, “Set up! Shou’an Palace!”
“Yes, miss!”
Ivy chuckled to herself. Perfect—everything was going just as she’d planned. Now all she had to do was head back and get ready for the next act.
Half an hour later—
After Ivy got back to her dorm, she started rummaging through boxes and drawers, finally fishing out some needle and thread. Next, she grabbed her maid uniform and began picking at the seams with the needle.
A few minutes later, everything was ready. Ivy changed into the altered uniform, then suddenly collapsed onto the table, clutching her chest and groaning, "Ugh, this hurts—so much…"
"Huh?" Luna rubbed her eyes and sat up, with Little Die right behind her.
"Sherry, what's wrong?" Luna saw something was off and rushed over to check on her.
Little Die scrambled out of bed, too. "Sherry, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick somewhere?"
"Right here," Ivy pointed at her chest. "It hurts so much, I feel like something bad's about to happen." She put on her best panicked face.
"Why would that be? Did something happen?" The two maids hurried over and sat in front of her, peppering her with questions.
Seeing this, Ivy launched into her story about defending Lana Qiu and accidentally slapping Julia Shang.
"What?!" Both girls were shocked. "You slapped Julia Shang? She's a junior consort now! Plus, her dad's a big-shot minister!" Luna gasped.