Her guards

Chapter 193 False Evidence
"Princess, princess."

The call brought Princess Heisei back to her senses, and she looked at what was in front of her.

It was already daylight.

Seven or eight palace maids stood in the room holding the new clothes, looking at her with unease and tension.

Seeing her looking over, the palace maid quickly whispered, "It's time to change your clothes."

He paused after speaking.

"If the princess is tired, why don't you take the day off?"

After yesterday's banquet, classes at the Princess Academy will begin again.

Something happened at and after yesterday's banquet. Although it had nothing to do with the princess, it did involve the Marquis of Yichun's residence. The princess's tent lamp was kept lit all night.

I woke up today feeling completely lost and disoriented.

As soon as the palace maid finished speaking, Princess Heisei suddenly stood up.

“Why should I ask for leave?” she said, looking at the palace maid. “Why can’t I go to class?”

The palace maid was startled and quickly knelt down: "Princess, I didn't mean you can't, I just said you're tired..."

Princess Heisei coldly said, "When have you ever heard me say I was tired? Don't make assumptions about things I didn't say."

The palace maid kowtowed and replied, "Yes."

Princess Heisei's gaze swept over the palace maids, who all lowered their heads.

That's right, Father didn't say it himself; those rumors are just rumors!

She will not be bothered by this.

"Change."

She did not attend the morning court session with her father today.

As for her mother, she only sent a maid to tell her that she was in a hurry to go to school and had left early.

She didn't intend to ask her mother if she had heard the rumor.

This rumor is utterly absurd.

She didn't want her mother to worry about this.

The Empress Dowager never liked Yang Luo.

The Empress Dowager disliked Yang Luo.

Princess Heisei clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her palms.

Previously, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had argued many times over Miss Yang, which even alarmed the maternal grandfather, who went to the palace to intervene.

At that time, she was very puzzled as to why a young lady from the Duke of Ding'an's mansion would cause her father and mother to quarrel, and even alarm her maternal grandfather.
Princess Heisei felt a stinging pain in her palm.

The body swayed, the sedan chair landed, and they arrived at the gate of the imperial city.

Princess Heicheng immediately spotted Princess Wuyang and Princess Nangong whispering amongst themselves, while also peering towards the imperial city gates—

Upon seeing her approach, the two men quickly greeted her.

Princess Wuyang's eyes flickered as she said, "Father Emperor just passed by."

Has Father left the palace again?

“Father Emperor went to Dali Temple,” Princess Nangong said, then added, “...he took Yang Luo with him.”

Princess Wuyang, standing to the side, looked on with envy: "Wei Jiao is with them too." She then turned to Princess Heping, feigning concern, and asked, "Is General Chai alright?"

Princess Heicheng looked at her gloating expression and said coldly, "Since you care so much about my uncle, why don't you let your uncle go to the Dali Temple to ask him about it?"

Without waiting for Princess Wuyang's reply, he continued.

“You don’t dare to go and say it, right? It’s alright, I will ask my father to arrange for him to go.”

After saying that, he walked past them and got into the car.

Princess Wuyang's face flushed red and then turned pale, filled with both anger and fear. If Princess Pingcheng were to actually go to her father and say this, her father would really summon her uncle to the Dali Temple...

Her uncle was disgraced, and so was she.

She regretted her impulsive decision.

Even if General Chai is in trouble, Princess Heicheng will still be her father's daughter.

She hesitated before pleading with Princess Heisei, but Princess Nangong stopped her.

"Wu Yang, don't be afraid," she whispered. "You can ask someone else for help."

Princess Wuyang shoved her away impatiently: "Who are you looking for? Your uncle? Isn't he busy painting the walls?"

Princess Nangong's mother was a beauty selected from local officials, and she came from a humble background; her father and brothers were bricklayers.

Of course, now they don't have to do manual labor anymore, but due to their family background, they can't become officials and their status is mediocre.

Princess Nangong didn't care about her humiliation and lowered her voice: "Haven't you heard a rumor? That Yang Luo..."

Princess Wuyang frowned: "What's wrong with Yang Luo now?"

Princess Nangong leaned closer and whispered something to her, and Princess Wuyang looked astonished.

“Nonsense!” she shouted.

The palace maids around her sternly reprimanded, "Princess, mind your appearance!" "Princess, please get in the carriage!" "Princess, don't miss your class!"

As the two princesses were scolded and urged to get into the carriage by the palace maids, the three carriages slowly headed towards the Imperial Academy.

Princess Heisei sat in the carriage, ignoring the two princesses, her mind preoccupied with only one thing.

Yang Luo left with the Emperor.
What kind of car did Yang Luo take?

She glanced around her carriage. Was it her luxurious carriage, or was she sitting with her father, the Emperor?
Princess Heisei seemed to hear a sharp crack, and the pain in her finger instantly spread throughout her body. She looked down and saw the broken fingernail in her palm and the beads of blood seeping from the pierced palm.

……

……

"His Majesty."

Inside the hall of Dali Temple, Chai Du bowed in respect.

Although the case files had been examined yesterday, the emperor instructed that they be checked again today to see if anything had been overlooked, so Chai Du came over again.

Besides the officials from the Dali Temple following them in, Chai Du also heard different footsteps.

As the emperor called out, Chai Du saw a young man dressed in black embroidered robes, along with two young girls.

Although I haven't been back to Beijing for five years, I still know everything that's going on there.

Chai Du immediately recognized this as Wei Cui's son, Wei Jiao, who was being held captive in the capital. As for the two young girls...
Before he could even identify them, one of them had already rushed over.

"Weren't those thugs sent by you?" a girl shouted, almost lunging at Chai Du, while another girl held her tightly in time, saying, "Miss, don't get agitated."

The young lady's face was deathly pale, her eyes filled with tears as she struggled: "My mother has already avoided you, why are you still killing her!"

Chai Du glanced around and saw that there weren't many officials who had followed him in, and those who were in the know all lowered their heads and pretended not to hear.

“Miss Yang,” Chai Du said in a deep voice, “the people who killed you and your daughter were not my men. You can’t assume that our family was behind it just because the thugs acted like soldiers and because my father instructed Ji Ying to cover up the Baima Town incident. If we really wanted to do it, we wouldn’t have waited until now, and you wouldn’t even have been born.”

The struggling young lady was deathly pale, and the emperor's expression darkened slightly.

Chai Du saw the emperor's expression but didn't explain further. Just as his father had said, now that things had come to this, they could tolerate the emperor's constant provocations. If he wanted to question them, he would allow it, but at the same time, he had to show a tough stance.

"Alright," the emperor said, stopping him. "A-Luo, calm down. We need to explain things clearly before we can catch the murderer. Didn't you say you had new clues?"

The young lady took a few deep breaths and handed over a piece of fabric.

“This is the clothing I tore off the assailants when I was being chased,” she said in a trembling voice. “They said that only the soldiers of Gaoyang Army had this kind of robe because the soldiers on your side had the best food, clothing and supplies, unlike those in other places.”

Chai Du looked at the corner of the robe and said, "Even if this really belongs to the Gaoyang Army, we can't conclude that it was the Gaoyang Army who did it. After all, it would be too easy for them to steal the robe."

Having said that, he stopped looking at Miss Yang and focused only on the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, is there any other evidence? If not..."

Chai Du bowed deeply.

"I must return to the border army tomorrow."

The emperor stood in the hall and let out a long sigh.

"The whereabouts of more than a dozen people from Gaoyang Army, as discovered by Wei Jiao, have disappeared, and Chai Du has provided an explanation."

"He did go out without permission, but not to Baima Town; he went to the mine."

Gao Yangjun discovered a mine in a border region, but concealed it and took it for his own use.

This could indeed be grounds for questioning, but there's really nothing to question. Chai Du directly stated that the funds would be used to subsidize military expenses, which would also save the emperor money.

As for the survey records submitted by Ji Ying, who miraculously returned from the dead.
The emperor looked at the scrolls on the table.

Chai Du also pointed out the problems one by one, and it was impossible to prove that Gao Yangjun was responsible.

"A-Luo." The emperor looked at Yang Luo standing in front of him, his face full of guilt. "I...can't find out anything."

Yang Luo said, "Your Majesty need not blame yourself. It's not surprising that we couldn't find out."

She glanced at the case files on the table, tossed the piece of fabric on them, and smiled.

"Because these are all fabricated by me, they are all fake."

"Fake?" The emperor was stunned.

After recognizing each other, in addition to asking him to investigate the Mingma Town case, Yang Luo also handed over Ji Ying.

Although Ji Ying did not accuse the Marquis of Yichun of instigating him, he sent a thick stack of detailed records about the Baima Town case, including the appearance, attire, horses, weapons, and accents of the perpetrators, as well as the pieces of clothing he had produced today...

He thought it was true.

Unexpectedly, it was Luoying herself who forged it...

However, the emperor could understand.

The daughter had no choice but to fabricate evidence because the Chai family's actions were too clean, leaving no other evidence. She then had her father, the emperor, to convict the Chai family.
He didn't know how to bring it up for his daughter.

Without solid evidence, even the emperor cannot bring a crime to justice.

Or rather, precisely because he was the emperor, he was even less able to do it.

He was the emperor, and he had to be a wise ruler, with clear rewards and punishments, and to gain the trust of the people.

Yang Luo smiled again as he watched the emperor's changing expressions.

"However, if we wait a little longer, we will get real evidence."

The emperor was stunned again. What did that mean?
"Mother, Mother—"

As soon as the Imperial Academy ended, Princess Wuyang rushed straight to the Imperial Concubine's Palace.

She had stopped coming to pay her respects because she disliked her mother always asking about Yang Luo, but today she came in a hurry without being summoned by Consort Li.

Moreover, she even brought up Yang Luo today.

But the palace was empty, and Consort Li was nowhere to be seen.

"Princess." The palace maids rushed over and bowed. "Her Majesty went to Tianning Temple today."

The imperial concubines rarely left the palace, so Princess Wuyang was taken aback: "What is Mother Consort doing at the temple?"

The palace maid sighed softly: "Seeing that the Marquis of Yichun had celebrated his birthday, Her Majesty was reminded of her sad memories and thought of her deceased parents. If they were still alive, Her Majesty would have been able to... So Her Majesty asked the Empress for permission to leave the palace and go to Tianning Temple to pay respects to your maternal grandparents."