Chapter 218 Haunted Conscience

However, faced with this emotionally charged scene, Lu Yan only slightly narrowed his cold, sharp, elongated black eyes.

His fingers gripping the hilt of the embroidered spring knife didn’t loosen at all; instead, they tightened bit by bit, veins standing out on the back of his hand.

Lu Yan’s thin lips parted slightly, and his voice was as piercingly cold as shards of ice.

“Young Master, this Commandant gives you one piece of advice: obstructing the Jinyiwei’s investigation is equivalent to treason.”

Once the label of “treason” was pinned on someone, even the Zhen’nan Prince Mansion couldn’t bear the punishment.

Xiao Yunzheng’s expression shifted instantly, but he still planted himself firmly in front of the bed, not taking a single step back.

“Master Lu, don’t use your official authority to pressure me!”

“All I know is that Wan’er is my lawful wife. She died of a sudden heart ailment, and the entire household witnessed it with their own eyes!”

“You have no evidence—on what basis do you want to open her corpse?”

Yu Qing, hiding behind Lu Yan, had fully recovered from the earlier shock.

She cautiously peeked out from behind Lu Yan’s tall frame, half her furry little head showing, and her big eyes rolled over Xiao Yunzheng once.

“Well, this acting, this line delivery… if it were in the modern era, a guaranteed Oscar nomination!”

“Look at the timing of those tears, the subtle expressions of mixed grief and anger—perfection!”

“Just a bit overdone, though.”

“Someone truly grief-stricken to the extreme would show a kind of uncontrollable weakness in their body. Not like him—so full of strength, muscles taut, like a bulldog ready to bite at any moment!”

Listening to the lively and sharp commentary running through her mind, Lu Yan’s previously rising anger at Xiao Yunzheng’s obstruction miraculously subsided a little.

This girl’s observational skills were surprisingly keen.

Yu Qing continued her mental running commentary.

“And he keeps saying how much he loved this young mistress.”

“But the first thing he looked at when he rushed in wasn’t the bed his ‘beloved wife’ had lain on!”

“His peripheral vision subconsciously scanned the steward on the floor and Master Lu’s knife in his hand!”

“What does this mean? It means he isn’t mourning his wife—he’s guilty! He’s afraid the truth will come out!”

Lu Yan’s gaze flickered slightly.

Following the clue from Yu Qing’s mental commentary, he coldly glanced at Xiao Yunzheng’s lower body.

As expected, although Xiao Yunzheng’s upper body maintained a posture of anger, his legs were tightly braced defensively, toes even slightly turned outward—ready to react to any sudden situation.

At that moment, Su Hewan, who had been observing coldly from the side, finally completed her precise logical deduction in her mind.

“This Young Master indeed has a problem.”

“If he truly loved Lin Wan’er, upon learning that his wife might have died unnaturally—or worse, been killed in an extremely cruel way—his first reaction should not have been to angrily stop the postmortem!”

“A normal person, especially a devoted husband, upon discovering a conspiracy, would first be shocked, unable to believe it, followed by immense hatred and an intense desire to know the truth!”

“He should be even more eager than us to open the coffin, to find out who pierced his wife’s brain with the poisoned needle, and then tear that culprit limb from limb!”

“But his current behavior… is desperately trying to cover it up.”

“He’s afraid.”

“He’s afraid that once the hastily buried corpse sees daylight again, the fabricated sudden death scene will collapse completely.”

Su Hewan’s eyes became extraordinarily clear and sharp.

“It’s even… highly possible that the fatal poisoned needle was driven in by his own hand!”

Shen Jue stood quietly beside Su Hewan, listening to her coldly precise—almost cruel—analysis in her mind. The smile on his lips could no longer be contained; it spread freely.

He tilted his head slightly, regarding Su Hewan’s graceful profile with the look one would reserve for a rare treasure, completely unhidden.

How could there exist a woman in this world so intelligent, so rational, and yet so perfectly aligned with his tastes?

Every deduction she made struck exactly at the darkest corners of human nature.

Shen Jue’s long fingers lazily adjusted the cuffs of his crimson Flying Fish robe, then he finally stepped forward with deliberate, unhurried grace.

“Your Highness, your heartfelt confession truly moves me to tears,” he said.

His voice—soft, sweet, yet laced with venom—sounded abruptly in the tense room.

As he spoke, he even pretended to dab nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.

At the sound, Xiao Yunzheng’s body shuddered violently, uncontrollably.

Compared to Lu Yan’s overt coldness, this Ninth Lord of the Eastern Depot—the one who kills without blinking and consumes men whole—was the true nightmare that would make anyone quake in fear.

Shen Jue slowly approached Xiao Yunzheng, stopping just half a step away.

He looked down at the Prince with the air of someone towering above, his narrow, fox-like eyes glinting with a bloodthirsty light.

“But, Your Highness keeps insisting that the Crown Princess died of a heart condition…”

“Yet, how could it be that when she was in her boudoir, she wouldn’t even crush an ant, and her health was robust enough to climb mountains and hunt tigers?”

Shen Jue deliberately dragged out his words; each one struck Xiao Yunzheng’s heart like a heavy hammer.

“And yet, on this wedding night, the heart condition strikes just like that?”

“Could it be that Your Highness did something in this bridal chamber that terrified the Crown Princess to death?”

Xiao Yunzheng’s face went pale in an instant, as if his most secret agony had been exposed in public.

“You… you’re slandering me!”

“Shen Jue! Do not use your twisted tone here to defame me!”

Xiao Yunzheng snatched the guard’s sword nearby, gripping it with both hands, trembling as he pointed it at Shen Jue.

“If today you dare touch Wan’er’s grave, I… I will die in this bridal chamber, so that the entire world can see how the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guards forced the heir of a reigning prince to his death!”

This was blatant tantrum-throwing, using the threat of death to force the issue.

At this tense, life-or-death moment, a loud, resonant voice thundered from outside the door.

“Impudent!”

“When did my princely residence become a place for you lackeys from the capital to swagger and lord over?”

Accompanying the roar came heavy, oppressive footsteps from the courtyard.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards and Eastern Depot agents outside the door were forced to instinctively step aside by the sheer power of the presence.

A burly, middle-aged man in a dark-gold python robe strode across the threshold of the bridal chamber.

It was the true master of the Southern Frontier, the commanding, all-powerful Zhen’nan Prince—Xiao Zhengnan!

His weathered face radiated authority without anger, exuding a lethal presence. His eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, swept coldly over everyone present.

“Father!”

Seeing Xiao Zhengnan, Xiao Yunzheng seemed to find his anchor. With a thud, he fell to his knees, crying uncontrollably.

“Father, you must stand up for your son!”

“These eunuch factions and the Embroidered Guards—these lackeys—they not only slander your son, but they also intend to tear Wan’er apart!”