AUBTN -Chapter 284 The Sachet That Was Not Stained With Blood

The man on the ground suddenly seemed as if he had a final burst of vitality before death. With the last ounce of strength in his body, he twisted his shattered, broken frame.

He struggled to crawl toward Shen Jue.

Shen Jue’s brows furrowed slightly, but he did not step back even half a pace.

He looked coldly at the man on the ground and took out a snow-white silk handkerchief from his sleeve.

Through the handkerchief, Shen Jue accepted what the man had desperately handed over.

It was an object tightly clenched in the man’s palm.

The moment it left his hand, the last faint trace of obsession in the scholar’s eyes completely scattered.

His head slammed heavily onto the ground—and he no longer made a sound.

Outside the ruined temple, autumn rain poured heavily as thunder rolled across the sky.

Su Hewan took a deep breath and looked at what lay in Shen Jue’s palm.

It was an exquisitely crafted sachet.

“This embroidery and material are definitely not ordinary,” Su Hewan immediately noticed the anomaly.

“It’s Yunjin from Jiangnan tribute goods, with gold-threaded embroidery of a pair of lotus flowers.”

“This sachet at a glance belongs to a noblewoman’s personal belongings!”

Yu Qing, standing nearby, swallowed hard, her eyes wide.

“Holy—”

She blurted out, then quickly covered her mouth and whispered cautiously, “Th-this… could it be Zhou Ruoyun’s?”

Lu Yan turned around expressionlessly.

“Whether it’s hers or not, wouldn’t we know if we ask?”

Shen Jue’s gaze sharpened.

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s meet this so-called… deposed empress.”

Half an hour later.

The Ministry of Justice’s prison.

This place never saw daylight. The air was thick with a heavy smell of mold.

The walls were covered in green moss.

Cold. Damp.

“Open the door.”

Shen Jue stood with his hands behind his back.

The prison guard scrambled forward, practically rolling as he took out the keys.

This was the East Depot’s overseer and the Jinyiwei commander—both present together!

Shen Jue’s reason was so justified no one dared refuse.

“Reinvestigating the demonic empress, tracking remaining accomplices!”

Even the prison guards of the Ministry of Justice, even their minister himself, would have to obediently step aside.

The heavy iron door slowly opened.

In the corner of the cell lay a pile of straw.

In the dim light, Su Hewan saw what was inside.

In just one night.

The once high and mighty Empress Zhou Ruoyun.

Now looked like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Her hair was disheveled, she wore prison clothes, and she curled up in a dark corner.

Her personal maid, Xia Dong, also looked like a walking corpse, tightly pressed against her.

The master and servant showed no reaction to the four unexpected visitors outside the cell.

They didn’t even lift their eyelids.

The silence was unsettling.

Su Hewan frowned slightly and stepped forward, speaking calmly.

“Zhou Ruoyun, Zhou Wenhai has already pushed all the charges onto you.”

“Are you still going to keep carrying his burden?”

Her words struck directly at the core.

But Zhou Ruoyun only slowly lifted her head.

On her pale face, a strange, chilling smile gradually appeared.

She said nothing, only stared at Su Hewan with hollow, empty eyes.

As if everything Su Hewan said had nothing to do with her.

【Shit! Is this woman deaf? Or scared out of her mind?】

【Her own father abandoned her as a scapegoat and she’s still this calm? That mental stability is insane!】

Yu Qing couldn’t help but think anxiously.

“What are you smiling at!”

“You think your father would really spare your lover?”

Yu Qing, deliberately exaggerating, poured out everything she had seen in the ruined temple like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

“We just found that man in the ruined temple outside the capital!”

“Your father wanted him to stay silent forever—so he severed the tendons in his hands and feet!”

“He had four bloody holes stabbed through him, deep enough to see bone! He bled until he was completely drained!”

“Worst of all, your father cut out his tongue at the root!”

“He was lying in the mud like a dog, waiting to die, not even able to cry out in pain!”

The more Yu Qing spoke, the more agitated she became.

Looking at Yu Qing’s angry back, a faint, barely perceptible glimmer flashed in Lu Yan’s eyes.

This girl usually looked timid and loud, but deep down she had a strong sense of justice.

However—

Even after Yu Qing described the gruesome scene in such vivid detail,

Zhou Ruoyun remained unmoved.

Not even a ripple appeared in her eyes.

It was as if the man Yu Qing described so miserably was nothing more than an insignificant insect to her.

As if she were merely listening to someone else’s story.

“Are you done?” Zhou Ruoyun finally spoke.

“When you’re done, get lost.”

She lowered her head again.

【Unbelievable! She’s like a stone in a cesspit—stubborn and disgusting!】

Listening to Su Hewan’s mental commentary, Shen Jue lazily brushed his folding fan with his slender fingers.

“Refusing to cry until she sees her coffin,” he sneered coldly, his tone icy, just as he was about to act.

At that moment—

Su Hewan raised her hand to stop him.

She wasn’t angry. Instead, she slowly took something from her sleeve.

The exquisitely crafted double-lotus sachet she had obtained in the ruined temple.

Su Hewan gently handed it over, her voice softening.

“Is this yours?”

Zhou Ruoyun’s eyes shifted slightly, her gaze landing casually on the sachet.

In that instant—

Her empty pupils suddenly contracted.

“He’s already dead! What my friend said just now is right—he died horribly!”

Su Hewan fixed her gaze on Zhou Ruoyun’s face, speaking word by word.

“But this sachet… not a single drop of blood is on it.”

“Not even a speck of dirt.”

“It was held tightly against his chest before he died. Even at his last breath, he managed to hand it to us.”

Su Hewan’s voice echoed through the empty cell.

“It shows just how important this was to him.”

“So important that even when he was cut to pieces, even when his tongue was removed and his tendons severed…”

“He still wouldn’t let it be stained even slightly.”

Hearing this, Zhou Ruoyun’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.

She stared at the spotless sachet.

“No…”

A choked, suppressed sob escaped her throat.

Zhou Ruoyun suddenly lunged forward like a madwoman and snatched the sachet.

She pressed it tightly against her chest, as if trying to fuse it into her flesh and bones.

“Why… why is this happening!”

She collapsed to the ground, covering her face with both hands, finally breaking down.

A heart-wrenching wail echoed through the long corridor.

On the side, Xia Dong watched her master collapse and also broke down, falling to the ground in tears.

Lu Yan’s expression remained as cold and composed as ever, but when he looked at Su Hewan, a hint of awe had appeared in his eyes.

This woman’s ability to dissect human hearts was even more ruthless than the torture methods of the Jinyiwei.

Shen Jue looked down at the weeping Zhou Ruoyun, a satisfied curve forming on his lips.

“Have you cried enough?”

His voice was like that of a demon crawling out of hell.

“When you’re done crying, explain clearly—”

He leaned slightly forward.

“What exactly did you do to the Emperor… and what poison did you use?”