RKDPMC 09

Chapter 9

Seeing the man’s respectful manner, Woon Suk-eum was able to guess what San Bao’s usual way of speaking was like.

She soon imitated his voice, and strangely enough, it sounded about seventy to eighty percent like San Bao’s voice from earlier.

“Ahem, ahem. It’s nothing important. I saw a rabbit earlier and chased after it, but I lost sight of it. I have to go outside for a while on His Highness’s orders, so you may go and attend to your own business.”

The other man wanted to ask why there would be a rabbit in the Prince Regent’s residence, but he merely smiled and replied,

“Then I’ll be on my way. The snow is slippery, so please be careful. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Only after watching the man walk away did Woon Suk-eum finally release the breath she had been holding nervously.

Originally, she had planned to climb over the wall and escape, but the person she had just encountered had made her realize how dangerous that would be.

This was the Prince Regent’s residence, where the most powerful man in all of Great Jin lived.

The fact that assassination attempts had occurred repeatedly throughout the journey to the residence was enough to show that Jun Jiuyuan’s surroundings were anything but peaceful. There was no way he would fail to prepare against intruders entering his residence.

The residence appeared quiet at the moment, but Woon Suk-eum was no ordinary person herself.

After carefully observing her surroundings, she noticed that traps were hidden everywhere.

From beneath the eaves, among the ornamental rocks, and behind the trees, she could faintly hear the sound of breathing.

There were clearly people lying in ambush.

They were most likely the hidden guards of the Prince Regent’s residence.

Woon Suk-eum casually took a few steps, and then she felt a gaze staring intently at her from the pavilion above.

It was an extremely dangerous sensation.

Her face turned pale, and she belatedly patted her chest in relief.

For now, she was disguised as San Bao, so she could deceive the people around her.

But if she had tried to climb over the wall, her disguise would have been exposed immediately, and she would have been caught before she even made it outside.

Rather than gamble on whatever mechanisms or traps might be waiting beyond the wall, it would be safer to use San Bao’s identity and walk confidently out through the main gate.

After all, she had noticed earlier that San Bao and she were of roughly similar build.

Moreover, judging from the reaction of the man she had just encountered, San Bao seemed to hold a very high position within the residence.

Even if she went outside, it seemed unlikely that anyone would question her.

Woon Suk-eum had always been decisive.

Once she made up her mind, she abandoned the idea of climbing the wall and instead followed the route Jun Jiuyuan had taken when he brought her into the residence.

San Bao held a high position within the residence, and his clothing and build were also familiar to everyone.

Whenever people encountered her along the way, they merely lowered their heads respectfully and did not dare speak to her.

She altered her voice and imitated San Bao’s manner of speaking perfectly, successfully making her way out of the Prince Regent’s residence.

After meeting with his subordinates, Jun Jiuyuan was receiving reports about the events that had occurred in the capital over the past few days.

As he idly rubbed his fingertips together, he suddenly thought of that little white bundle of fluff.

He had only picked up the rabbit about ten days ago, yet it was astonishingly intelligent, almost as though it were a spiritual creature.

Not only could it understand human speech, it even knew how to act spoiled.

It was always grabbing onto his clothes and trying to burrow into his arms.

Whenever it got the chance, it would rub itself against him.

It was remarkably clingy, almost obsessively so.

Every time he grabbed it by the ears and pulled it away, he would remember the pitiful expression it made with those bright red eyes, as though it were about to cry at any moment.

Jun Jiuyuan unconsciously let out a quiet laugh.

It was the first time he had ever seen such a small creature so devoted to a person.

The subordinates reporting inside the room were startled by the sudden sound of laughter.

They stared at their master in disbelief.

Did I hear that wrong?

His Highness just laughed?

Jun Jiuyuan sensed their gazes and withdrew the smile from his lips.

He calmly said,

“As for the embezzlement of the relief funds, deal with it yourselves. Kill those who deserve to die and arrest those who deserve to be arrested. Make those who stole the silver repay five times the amount they took. Otherwise, confiscate their entire estates immediately. Leave no one behind.”

“As for the struggle over the position of Crown Prince, let them fight among themselves. As long as they don’t provoke this prince, there is no need for us to interfere.”

Someone cautiously spoke.

“And what about His Majesty…?”

Jun Jiuyuan replied coldly,

“How many times has Emperor Qingyun tried to harm this prince? As long as he cannot obtain control of the military, however, there is nothing he can do to me.”

“No matter how wildly he struggles, he is nothing but a useless pawn in the end.”

“Cheng Hang, you will work with the people from the Censorate and bring the relief funds back within two days.”

Cheng Hang was one of the subordinates of the Prince Regent’s residence.

His appearance was that of an ordinary scholar, but his eyes revealed his intelligence.

He served much like a strategist and was one of the cleverest and sharpest-minded people under Jun Jiuyuan.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Cheng Hang nodded.

“Dismissed.”

Jun Jiuyuan sent his subordinates away to discuss the relief measures.

He then had Wan Jun push his wheelchair toward Jingming Hall.

When he encountered the guard stationed outside the room, the first thing he asked was,

“Has San Bao still not come out?”

It was only a matter of feeding a rabbit.

Could it really take this long?

The guard standing outside looked puzzled before quickly answering,

“Your Highness, Eunuch San Bao left the residence quite some time ago. He said he was going out to purchase something on your orders.”

Jun Jiuyuan’s expression changed instantly.

He had never ordered San Bao to buy anything.

Moreover, San Bao was his personal attendant. He would never leave the residence without an explicit order.

“When did he leave?”

“About half an hour ago.”

The guard saw the anger filling Jun Jiuyuan’s face and immediately realized that something was wrong.

He called out softly,

“Your Highness…”

“Let’s go in!”

Bang!

Jun Jiuyuan swept his sleeve, and the door was violently thrown open.

The moment Wan Jun pushed the wheelchair inside, they discovered San Bao lying unconscious on the floor wearing nothing but his undergarments.

Everything in the room was exactly as it had been.

Not a single valuable item was missing.

There were no visible injuries on San Bao’s body either.

On the bed, on the table, on the couch, and even inside the display cabinet—

the one thing that was nowhere to be found was the little white bundle of fluff that had been so attached to people.

Wan Jun shook San Bao awake.

San Bao felt a severe pain in the back of his neck.

After staring blankly for a moment, he suddenly jolted upright.

“Your Highness! An assassin!”

“Where is the rabbit?”

“What?”

San Bao stared blankly for a moment before remembering that His Highness had ordered him to feed the rabbit.

He quickly replied,

“When I came in earlier, I didn’t see the rabbit. Then someone struck me, and I lost consciousness…”

Wan Jun saw how terrifyingly dark Jun Jiuyuan’s expression had become and hurriedly asked,

“Did you see the person’s face?”

San Bao shook his head.

“I only saw a black shadow…”

Jun Jiuyuan’s expression turned icy.

He remembered what the guard had just said—that “San Bao” had already left the residence on an errand.

His thin lips pressed tightly together as he gave a cold command.

“Seal the residence and search every inch of it!”

“Go to the Southern Quarter immediately and bring the person in charge before me.”

Meanwhile, after walking out through the main gate, Woon Suk-eum had no idea that the Prince Regent’s residence had already descended into chaos.

Jun Jiuyuan had simply mistaken the incident for another group of assassins from the Southern Quarter infiltrating the residence.

As a result, the Southern Quarter was taking the blame in her place.

Woon Suk-eum did not waste a moment.

After leaving the residence and confirming that no one was following her, she hurried toward the busiest marketplace in the capital that she could remember.

She couldn’t continue wearing San Bao’s clothes.

Given the Prince Regent’s abilities, he might be able to use the clothing as a clue and track her down.

Nor could she return to the Marquis Mu’en’s residence while disguised as a man.

If she did, Wang Shi and Woon Ju-yue would inevitably gossip about her and accuse her of having an improper relationship with some strange man.

Woon Suk-eum quickly entered the market.

First, she bought some rouge from a street vendor and applied it to her face as a disguise.

Then she lowered her gaze, changed her gait and voice, and slipped into a clothing shop.

Using the money pouch she had taken from San Bao, she bought a set of clothes and changed.

After that, she visited several more shops and bought a few additional sets of clothing.

She repeated this process several times before finally climbing over a wall and slipping out through the back entrance of a shop.

She had now changed back into the clothes of an ordinary woman.

She turned into a narrow alleyway and emerged onto the street.

The area was extremely crowded.

After determining her direction, Woon Suk-eum began walking toward the location of the Marquis Mu’en’s residence that she remembered.

After crossing through the various alleys of the capital, she finally found the Marquis Mu’en’s residence.

But before she even reached it, she saw several servants in mourning clothes in the distance.

They were all holding pieces of white cloth and lanterns, apparently preparing to hang them on the main gate.

The snow that had been falling for several days showed no sign of stopping.

A thin layer of snow had accumulated in front of the marquis’s residence.

Across the street, a teahouse was already crowded with people.

White steam rose from the boiling tea as numerous people watched the residence across the street.

“What happened at the Marquis Mu’en’s residence? Why are they hanging white lanterns?”

“Exactly. Could someone have died?”

“I heard it was the old madam…”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I heard the old madam was still in good health. From what I heard, it was the Second Miss of the Woon family who died.”

At those words, the entire teahouse immediately became noisy.

Many people turned to stare at the person who had spoken.

“Surely not. The Second Miss of the marquis’s residence is still so young. Besides, I heard she became engaged to His Highness the Fourth Prince just a few months ago and was preparing her wedding dowry. How could she have suddenly passed away?”

“That news is already outdated.”

The man who had spoken earlier curled his lips and continued while holding his teacup.

“That Second Miss of the Woon family has apparently been ill for some time. They say she became so weak that she couldn’t even get out of bed. Doctors have been coming and going from the marquis’s residence every day recently, but apparently her illness became too severe for her to recover.”

“His Highness the Fourth Prince is said to be a sentimental man and didn’t want to abandon his betrothed. But it seems that Miss Woon knew she wouldn’t live much longer and didn’t want to become a burden to His Highness.”

“So she apparently asked her father to petition His Highness and give the engagement to her elder sister, Woon Ju-yue.”

“So now, the person engaged to His Highness the Fourth Prince is the eldest daughter of the Woon family.”

Everyone sitting nearby was shocked upon hearing this.

Can an engagement really be changed so easily?

At that moment, someone couldn’t help asking,

“You aren’t someone from the marquis’s residence. How do you know so much about it?”

“Ah!”

The man warmed his hands around his teacup and blew on them before continuing.