“Your Highness.”

Gong Xinyue supported Noble Consort Ya, walking slowly forward.

“There’s no rushing this matter, besides…” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Lately, Your Highness and the First Prince have spent far too little time together…”

Noble Consort Ya sighed helplessly.

“That’s true. He’s been too busy recently. In a moment, go out of the palace yourself and deliver a letter to him.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Gong Xinyue nodded slightly.

Noble Consort Ya looked at her a few more times before withdrawing her gaze.

An hour later, Gong Xinyue, disguised as a young manservant, rode a horse along the small path outside the palace.

Suddenly, a man in black clothing, holding a long sword, leapt down from the eaves of a house.

Hearing the commotion, Gong Xinyue immediately pulled the reins tight.

The instant the horse stopped, the black-clad man’s sword struck the ground, letting out a loud clanging sound.

“Who are you?”

Gong Xinyue asked coldly.

Unexpectedly, more than a dozen men in black suddenly leapt down from the eaves on both sides, surrounding her completely.

Gong Xinyue pulled the reins and stepped back twice, her brows tightening.

“I serve Noble Consort Ya. What do you want?”

“Hand over the letter in your hand!”

The masked man in black leading the group said coldly.

Gong Xinyue instinctively drew her left arm back and said flatly, “What letter? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Enough nonsense! Hand it over now!”

The leading man waved his hand. “Brothers, take her!”

“No matter what, we must seize the letter from her hands!”

“Yes!”

More than a dozen men in black responded to the order at once.

Seeing things turn bad, Gong Xinyue slapped the horse hard. “Go!”

But the men in black were faster than her. Two men in front leapt up and both kicked out at her at once.

Gong Xinyue had been hiding her martial skill all along, and after being kicked, she fell from the horse’s back.

More than a dozen men swarmed forward and began tearing at her clothes.

Gong Xinyue had fallen hard, and being shoved by the crowd, she had no chance to even stand.

Seeing that she could not hold out, she turned her back to the men in black, pulled out the letter, and swallowed it down bite by bite.

“Stop!”

“Beat her to death!”

“Shut your mouth!”

The sound of slapping and striking echoed through the whole alley.

Gong Xinyue spat blood, utterly battered.

After forcing down the last bit of the letter, she finally could not hold on any longer and fainted.

A carriage stopped behind them.

When the men in black saw who stepped out of the carriage, they immediately stopped.

They lined up in two rows, fists clasped before their chests, and knelt on one knee.

“Noble Consort.”

“Very good!”

Noble Consort Ya, supported by an old palace maid, walked slowly forward.

The men in black stepped aside on both sides, clearing a path.

Noble Consort Ya slowly approached Gong Xinyue and kicked her with a raised leg.

“Turn her over.”

At that moment, Gong Xinyue lay face down, curling her body as if desperately guarding something important.

“Yes.”

One of the men in black went over and pulled the person on the ground.

Gong Xinyue was flipped over and now lay flat on the ground.

Her eyes were closed, her thin lips pressed tightly together, and blood covered her mouth and face.

Noble Consort Ya looked at her for a moment, then turned. “Take her back.”

Having once been deceived by Feng Jiu’er, Noble Consort Ya no longer trusted anyone easily.

Everything today had been part of her plan.

Noble Consort Ya had only just boarded the carriage when the old palace maid also lifted the curtain and climbed in.

“Noble Consort, they said Little You swallowed the letter.”

“Mm.” Noble Consort Ya narrowed her eyes. “It seems I worried too much.”

“The girl isn’t very capable, but she is loyal enough.”