In the silence, Jun Beiyao found himself completely blocked by the testimony of every witness, unable to argue his way out at all!

Everything the man in black had done had actually been to clear his name, not to frame him!

What else could he do now? With witnesses and evidence all in place, what could he possibly still confess to? Could he possibly admit that this entire scheme had been orchestrated by him?

Emperor Tianhui too collapsed weakly into his seat, his scheme having utterly failed—now he couldn’t even protect Prime Minister Han!

Yet, amid the silence, Han Xi’er, her face full of disbelief, suddenly stood up and shouted furiously, “Han Ziqing, why would you confess to being the murderer? Who are you shielding? Setting aside these two arrows, how could young master Chen possibly have overpowered you! Then who actually killed young master Chen!”

Ziqing’s mouth was tightly covered, unable to answer at all. But the man covering her mouth immediately answered on her behalf. “Are you deaf? I just said the true culprit is me!”

“You!” Han Xi’er staggered backward in shock.

She knew better than anyone why Han Ziqing hadn’t been able to resist—she was the one who had drugged her with the aphrodisiac!

But the man in black’s answer implied something she never expected—that young master Chen had never actually touched Han Ziqing at all!

But then why had young master Chen, that very morning, so readily confessed and insisted on marrying Han Ziqing?

This meant that whoever had bribed young master Chen wasn’t her alone!

“It was me who came upon Han Xi’er leading young master Chen into Han Ziqing’s room. It was me who took young master Chen’s place. It was me who killed him afterward to silence him. The true culprit is me. Han Ziqing is my woman!”

The moment these words left his mouth, the entire hall erupted into chaos!

Though the man in black was ostensibly confessing to a crime, every word rang out with such force and conviction, as if he were declaring something to the entire world!

His low voice echoed through the silent air. Everyone present, even Situ Haonan, was struck with astonishment—so this was the truth of it all!

But no one was more shocked than Consort Yi and the Second Prince. Mother and son exchanged glances, both thrown into panic.

The night the House of National Beauty incident had occurred was the very same night as the banquet at Yiqing Palace—the very night Consort Yi had drugged Jun Beiyue!

Could this man… could it possibly be…

Suddenly, from some hidden reserve of strength, Ziqing struggled violently, prying open the hand clamped over her mouth, and immediately bit down hard on it!

The force of her bite was so vicious that even the man in black couldn’t bear it, forced to release her, shoving her away!

Ziqing stumbled a few steps, hadn’t even steadied herself yet, when she spun around abruptly, both hands snapping out in quick succession, sending several sharp blades of wind slicing through the air one after another, impossible to guard against!

Unfortunately, her strength was ultimately no match for Xuanyuan Lige’s, and her technique wasn’t nearly as refined as his either!

The man in black stood his ground without shifting, merely leaning side to side to easily dodge her wind blades!

Seeing this, Ziqing didn’t pause for breath, moving with astonishing speed, the wind rushing to meet her as she closed the distance, the sharpness of her presence enough to send the man in black’s dark hair flying wildly!

If ranged attacks couldn’t harm him, then she’d fight up close!

“I’ll kill you!” she said coldly, her hands snapping into claw-like forms. Thanks to her training on the zither, her technique had grown far more vicious and precise than before, far surpassing what it had once been.

Without giving the man a moment’s respite, one clawed hand shot fiercely toward his masked face, while the other struck straight at his most vulnerable point—his abdomen!

The man in black raised both hands to block, but she immediately shifted her attack, her movements just as skilled, her speed just as fierce, her force just as ruthless—truly capable of killing someone in a single unguarded moment!

But the man in black was no pushover either. Ziqing had no time to spare attention elsewhere, but the onlookers could see it clearly—though Han Ziqing’s technique was fast and vicious, the man in black defended with more than enough ease. Should he ever go on the offensive, Han Ziqing wouldn’t be able to hold out for long; defeat would be inevitable.

And yet, no matter how fiercely and relentlessly Han Ziqing attacked, pressing closer and closer, the man in black not only made no move to strike back, but kept retreating instead!

Looking more closely, this fellow was clearly just playing along with Han Ziqing, humoring her!

How could they be flirting so openly in front of everyone?

Suddenly Jun Beiyao shouted, “Someone, report this to Prince Yao—these two are having an affair!”

The moment these words left his mouth, everyone finally recalled Han Ziqing’s true identity—she was Prince Yao’s own princess consort!

“Someone, quick! Quick! Summon Prince Yao!”

“Go find Prince Yao at once, this matter absolutely must be handled by Prince Yao himself!”

“These two must be having an affair!”

“Han Ziqing clearly knew the adulterer wasn’t young master Chen, and concealed it knowingly!”

“Han Ziqing clearly knew who the true murderer was and concealed it—that makes her guilty as the murderer herself! Someone, seize them both!”

…

A wave of clamor rose up all at once. But it was only then that everyone truly noticed something—from the moment the Seventh Prince had ordered the arrest, all the way through to Emperor Tianhui’s own commands, the Second Prince’s, the ministers’—not one of the guards, not even those present in the hall, made a single move.

What was going on!

Meanwhile, Ziqing, locked in fierce combat, had no attention to spare for what was happening around her, nor had she realized that this man had been holding back the entire time, merely sparring with her, letting her practice. Her mind held only a single thought, consumed entirely by this one man!

If not for his humiliation of her back then, if not for his killing back then, none of this would have spiraled to where it stood now!

She would kill him!

Hadn’t she stayed here, hadn’t she trained relentlessly with her wind blades, all for exactly this day?

Kill him!

With the guards refusing to move, everyone grew even more alarmed, unconsciously entertaining thoughts of fleeing. And yet the scene unfolding in the hall was so thrilling, so impossible to look away from, that everyone found themselves desperate to know how it would end.

Han Ziqing had already forced the man in black back to the right-side gallery seats, everyone there having long since scattered backward!

Finally, the man in black stopped.

Han Ziqing stopped too. And in that instant, the man in black suddenly seized her right wrist, a trace of playful amusement flickering in his dark eyes. “Woman, it’s been a while since we’ve crossed blades—you’ve improved quite a bit!”

He said it so casually, so nonchalantly, yet in that instant, everyone’s heart seemed to stop!

Was he done playing now? Was he about to strike back for real?

But then, in that critical instant, Han Ziqing’s left hand suddenly drew a dagger from her sleeve!

A dagger of pure silver, gleaming brilliantly the moment it was drawn, reflecting every light in the hall!

In that instant, the man in black’s hand, which had been lazily reaching out to seize her, froze completely!

Reflected in his smiling eyes was nothing but the image of that silver-white dagger—the very dagger she had thrown away time and time again, the dagger she had ruthlessly cast down at the city gate—it was still in her hand!

That day at the city gate, struggling, he had never actually walked far away. He had watched from a distance, waiting, until her hand finally loosened, until the dagger and the scorpion-shaped ring both fell, tumbling down—only then, having given up all hope, had he finally left!

But this dagger before him now was precisely the one he had given her! When had this woman gone back to retrieve it?

His icy eyes, filled entirely with that silver-white glint, the smile in them slowly beginning to bloom wider.

But in that very instant of distraction, this woman suddenly plunged the blade straight into his chest!

At once, the entire hall fell utterly silent, without a single sound!

For a moment, everything between heaven and earth seemed to freeze entirely.

A heart-wrenching pain surged through his mind all at once—this blade had struck straight into his heart!

The smile in his eyes finally froze completely, a wave of dizziness rushing over him. In all the countless brushes with death he had survived in his life, none had ever come as close to actual death as this moment.

In this instant, he had only one thought—he wanted to look at her. But just as he lifted his head to do so, she raised her other hand and ruthlessly tore away his mask!