boyutpedia Chapter 1297 Unsheathing
Chapter 1297 Unsheathing
Having received the king's death order, the guards dared not hesitate any longer. They drew their swords from their waists, their cold gleams gleaming as they surrounded Lin Yiwan.
Lin Yiwan stood in the hall, her gaze solemn and cold.
She ignored the approaching guards and instead looked at the furious King of Wu, her voice calm and undisturbed: "Your Majesty, I have a clear conscience. I did not cause the Queen to vomit blood. If Your Majesty insists on arresting me today, it would be an unjust execution of a loyal subject, and you would be ridiculed by the world in the future."
"Shut up!" King Wu roared, his eyes bloodshot and almost overflowing. "Yue'er is about to die, and you still dare to spout nonsense here! I think you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"
Just as the guard was about to touch Lin Yiwan's sleeve, Zhan Yan suddenly moved and abruptly protected her.
His sinister gaze swept over the guards, and he said in a deep voice, "Do you dare to touch her?"
A single sentence, yet it seemed to carry immense weight. The guards abruptly stopped, instinctively glancing at the King of Wu, their faces filled with hesitation.
They all knew that Zhan Yan's kung fu was extremely powerful, so they dared not make any rash moves.
Upon seeing this, the King of Wu was even more enraged: "Zhan Yan! Are you openly defying my orders?"
Zhan Yan slowly turned around, his gaze falling on the King of Wu, his tone tinged with complexity: "I will never allow anyone to harm Wanwan!"
King Wu trembled with rage: "You all side with that wicked woman, while my poor Yue'er is left to die?"
The saintess frowned and said, "How can you be so sure that Wanwan poisoned him? Shouldn't you have investigated first?"
King Wu sneered, looking down at the dying Min Yue. "Yue'er is in such a state, how can we investigate? Are we supposed to wait until she dies before we find out who killed her? Sister, stop protecting them! Do you think I, the king, am powerless against you?"
Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the hall instantly became heavy.
Zhan Yan frowned and said in a deep voice, "Wanwan and I have never shown the slightest disrespect to the King. I also believe there are many suspicious points regarding the Queen's matter. We should first have the imperial physicians do their best to treat the Queen, and at the same time thoroughly investigate this matter to find the real culprit. If it is ultimately found that it was indeed Yiwan who did it, we will let you deal with us as you see fit."
King Wu glared at Zhan Yan, "Yue'er is in grave danger now, where is there time to investigate slowly? In my opinion, you are just trying to buy time so that Lin Yiwan can be exonerated!"
As Min Yue listened to their argument, a faint smile appeared on her lips, which was then quickly replaced by a deep sense of weakness.
She coughed softly a few times, and blood spilled from the corner of her mouth again, staining her plain white clothes red.
"King" Min Yue's voice was as thin as a whisper, filled with deep grievance: "Fine, don't ruin your relationship with your brother for my sake, I admit it!"
The more she spoke, the angrier the King of Wu became. He slammed his fist on the dragon throne and roared, "Admit it? My Queen, how can you admit it like this! Guards, seize Lin Yiwan and throw her into the imperial prison. Torture her severely. I refuse to believe she won't confess!"
This time, the guards dared not hesitate any longer and stepped forward, trying to forcibly take Lin Yiwan away.
Upon seeing this, Zhan Yan's eyes flashed with determination. He raised his hand, and a sharp gust of wind swept towards the guards.
Caught off guard, the guards were swept to the ground, their swords falling to the floor with a crisp sound.
King Wu was both shocked and furious: "You, Zhan Yan, how dare you lay a hand on my guards for Lin Yiwan?"
Zhan Yan withdrew his hand, looking firmly at the King of Wu: "I must protect her. Today's matter, either you find out the truth, or I will take Wanwan and leave the palace, and never interfere in court affairs again."
"How dare you!" King Wu trembled with rage. "Who do you think you are? How dare you threaten me?"
Zhan Yan looked at him coldly: "I am Zhan Yan, the Marquis of Zhanyi of the Sheng Dynasty, and also the nephew of your King of Wu. Everything I have done is for the sake of Li Kingdom, so that you will not leave behind a bad name for all eternity."
He paused, then continued, "Your Majesty, wake up! Don't you really know what kind of person Min Yue is? She covets the throne, has plotted against others multiple times, and this time she's even going so far as to use herself as bait to frame Wanwan and disrupt the court. If you really punish Wanwan, you'll fall into her trap!"
The King of Wu's face turned pale and then red; in truth, he was not entirely without doubt.
He wasn't entirely unaware of Min Yue's usual actions, but he had been blinded by love and unwilling to believe that the woman he loved could be so vicious. Zhan Yan's words, however, were like a thunderbolt, forcing him to re-examine the matter.
Just then, the imperial physician rushed forward and said with a solemn expression, "Your Majesty, I have just carefully examined the blood vomited by the Queen and found that it contains a poison called Soul-Severing Powder. This poison takes effect rapidly, causing unbearable abdominal pain and continuous vomiting of blood, but as long as the antidote is taken in time, her life can be saved."
The King of Wu instinctively asked, "Then what about the antidote?"
The imperial physician replied with a complicated expression, "Your Majesty, I did find the antidote, but it accidentally fell out of Miss Chun Tao's sleeve!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall was shocked!
Min Yue's face turned deathly pale instantly. She abruptly raised her head, her eyes filled with panic and disbelief: "How could this be? Imperial Physician, you're lying! How could Chun Tao have the antidote for the Soul-Severing Powder?"
The imperial physician frowned and replied, "This old minister is not entirely sure either. When she was wiping away the bloodstains vomited by the Queen, she accidentally dropped a medicine packet on the ground. This old minister picked it up and examined it, and discovered that it was the antidote!"
Min Yue squeezed her eyes shut in anger, cursing Chun Tao inwardly for being such a fool who was good for nothing but causing trouble.
How could she possibly drop the antidote in front of the imperial physician?
Now things are really messed up; there's no way to get King Wu to deal with Lin Yiwan.
Sure enough, the King of Wu shouted, "Bring Chun Tao here! I want to interrogate her myself!"
Before long, Chun Tao, looking disheveled, was dragged into the palace.
She looked around cautiously, and when her gaze fell on Min Yue, she suddenly burst into tears: "Your Majesty, save me! Please save this servant!"
The guards abruptly pressed her down onto the cold gold bricks, her hair disheveled, her skirt stained with blood and dust. She cried out in anguish, "Your Majesty, I truly didn't mean to! The antidote... you told me to hide it, I just didn't mean to..."
"Shut up!" Min Yue suddenly raised her voice, her breath becoming increasingly rapid with agitation, and a trace of dark red blood oozing from the corner of her mouth: "What nonsense are you spouting! When did I ever ask you to hide the antidote? It's clearly you who colluded with outsiders to frame me!"