The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1423 - 1423 692 second watch

Chapter 1423: 692 second watch Chapter 1423: 692 second watch Li Sande went to look at the man under the tree again, and compared to the three eunuchs, this man’s death was much more tragic. He was killed by a sharpened tree branch thrust through his chest, and the murderer didn’t even bother to take the weapon, leaving it arrogantly at the scene.

Li Sande sensed the gravity of the situation. As the chief eunuch of the Central Harmony Hall, a murder had occurred right under his watch. No matter how you looked at it, it was his negligence.

He couldn’t understand— with the palace’s strict guard, who had the audacity, eating the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard, to cause trouble in the Imperial Palace?

“Didn’t you notice any suspicious people?” he asked the guards accompanying him.

The guards shook their heads.

Gu Jiao wasn’t surprised either. While it’s true that the Imperial Palace’s defenses were formidable, to someone like Nangong Li, a master martial artist, evading detection wasn’t too difficult.

Plus, Nangong Li might have been thoroughly familiar with the palace guards’ shift changes and patrol routines, allowing him to exploit gaps in the defenses.

The location of the killing must also have been carefully chosen by Nangong Li. It was completely in the blind spot of the Central Harmony Hall.

It wasn’t until the end that Li Sande came before Nangong Li. This time he scrutinized Nangong Li’s face very carefully. The more he looked, the more he felt that something was off.

He pulled out a handkerchief, wiped off the blood on Nangong Li’s face, and then he heard himself shout in alarm, standing up all at once!

“Eunuch Li!”

The guards thought the man had come back to life and rushed over to protect Li Sande.

But when they saw the face that had been cleaned of blood, they too wore the same astonished expression as Li Sande.

Given the seriousness of the matter, Li Sande immediately inquired about the specifics from Gu Jiao.

Who was the murderer?

What had happened?

And what was the deal with the bloody handprint on her clothes?

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“When I arrived, those three were already breathing their last. He was still hanging on, and, knowing a bit of the art of Qihuang, I thought to try and save him. He grabbed my garment as if he wanted to tell me who the murderer was, but unfortunately, he died before he could finish,”

Gu Jiao said calmly, looking as open and honest as could be, without a trace of guilt.

Mu Chuan hurriedly said, “I can vouch for that! Xiao Liulang truly knows medical skills!”

Zhao Wei chimed in, “That’s right! We all can vouch for it! On the day we had a showdown with Pingyang Academy, students from Zizhu Academy and Songshan Academy got into a big fight, and the wall in the attic collapsed. Xiao Liulang was there providing medical assistance! Several deans were present too! If you don’t believe us, you can send someone to ask!”

Yuan Xiao added, “And there’s Duke of An Country! Xiao Liulang has treated the Duke before!”

In truth, there was no necessary causal link between Gu Jiao’s knowledge of medicine and her attempt to rescue Nangong Li, but as long as her medical expertise was proven to be genuine, her decision to stay and try to save the victims was justified.

To refute this fact, compelling evidence would be needed.

Given the bloody handprint on her, there were only two possibilities for her presence at the scene: either she was there to save someone, or she was the killer.

The motive for saving someone was clear. She was a physician, compassionate and benevolent; she wouldn’t stand by and watch someone die.

The motive for killing, however, was much harder to establish.

Mu Chuan said, “Xiao Liulang is not from Yan Country. He’s only been in Shengdu for a month. He neither knows General Nangong nor those three eunuchs. Why would he kill them?”

“Perhaps he was instructed by someone?” a guard speculated.

Mu Chuan chuckled, “Instruct General Nangong to secretly infiltrate His Majesty’s Central Harmony Hall? Or instruct those three eunuchs to obediently line up here waiting for him to kill them?”

Indeed, the concurrent presence of the four individuals at the scene was a major point of suspicion, and however you looked at it, Xiao Liulang didn’t have the capability to bring all four of them together.

Mu Chuan continued, “What’s most important is that General Nangong was highly skilled in martial arts, and Xiao Liulang wasn’t gone for long. Do you really think that a student from Tianqiong Academy could kill the famously formidable General Nangong of Dayan Country with a tree branch in such a short amount of time?”

Mu Chuan’s words struck a chord with everyone present.

Yes, leaving aside the motive and the timing of the crime, the very notion that a student from a lesser country could kill a renowned general from a greater power was preposterous.

However, Li Sande was not quite convinced, and since it involved General Nangong, he would need to convince the sovereign as well.

Li Sande went personally to wait outside Jinluan Hall, and as soon as the sovereign descended from court, he reported the incident in the Central Harmony Hall to him.

The sovereign’s face turned very grim.

Li Sande knelt on the ground, his back drenched in cold sweat with fear.

This case was fraught with uncertainty, with the foremost question being why Nangong Li had entered the Imperial Palace surreptitiously.

Indeed, just this one charge would be enough for the sovereign to sentence him to death. But for the sovereign to sentence him was one thing; to be killed by someone else, another story altogether.

“Zhang Dequan.”

“Your servant is here.”

“Summon the Minister of Dali Temple and the Minister of Punishment.”

“Yes.”

It signified a full investigation into the case.

The sovereign added, “Additionally, take that student to Sky Prison, for a thorough interrogation under torture.”

Sky Prison’s seventy-seven kinds of torture had yet to fail in extracting the truth from someone.

If the student had lied, Sky Prison would extract the truth.

If he endured all the tortures, regardless of the true story, the sovereign would not pursue it further.

Because the sovereign had once declared that anyone who survived all the tortures of Sky Prison, even if guilty, would be released on the spot.

Regrettably, no one had yet succeeded. Many had died during the torments.

Zhang Dequan first sent people to the Ministry of Justice and Dali Temple, then went personally to escort Gu Jiao.

But soon, he returned to the Central Harmony Hall, a look of unspeakable difficulty on his face.

The sovereign sat behind the desk, giving him a faint glance: “What is it?”

Zhang Dequan said with difficulty, “The person… didn’t make it to Sky Prison.”

The sovereign closed his eyes in repose, “Did he take his own life?”

Zhang Dequan said, “No.”

The sovereign spoke indifferently, “Then he confessed?”

“Not that either,” Zhang Dequan said sheepishly, “the person was taken away by the Little Princess. The Little Princess said… that student is her teacher!”

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.