When leaving the teahouse, Duke Anguo still maintained his composure, but by the time he returned to Duke Anguo’s manor, his expression was overcast with dark clouds. With a blackened face, he headed straight for Zhu Hanshuang’s quarters.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t quite appropriate. In respectable families, male elders rarely set foot in their daughters’ courtyards.

But at this moment, Duke Anguo couldn’t care about such things.

The enraged Duke Anguo came up empty.

“Where is your mistress?”

The maids in the courtyard trembled as they replied: “Miss has gone to pay her respects to Madam.”

Only then did Duke Anguo remember—this was precisely the time when his daughter paid her respects to her mother.

How convenient then!

Duke Anguo sneered coldly and quickly returned to the main courtyard.

The main courtyard was currently a picture of harmonious happiness.

The Duchess was quite satisfied that her daughter hadn’t been running about these past few days. She picked up a crab dumpling and placed it in Zhu Hanshuang’s bowl, saying in soft, gentle tones: “Mother remembers you love these. Eat more.”

Zhu Hanshuang was preoccupied and only ate half before setting it down.

Old Wang should have acted last night and said he would send word first thing in the morning.

But she’d been awake with her eyes open since before dawn, waiting all the way until coming to pay respects to her mother, yet she still hadn’t received word from Old Wang.

Had things gone smoothly or not?

They couldn’t have gone badly. Old Wang’s skills were so good, much better than the Duke’s manor guards. How could he possibly fail against a mere cook?

Even if that cook disregarded the threat and told Luo Sheng about it, with the requirement that only the cook come alone to the appointment, what could Luo Sheng do?

Luo Sheng had enjoyed prominence all these years relying on her status as the Grand Marshal’s daughter. Strip that away, and she was nothing but a straw-brained fool.

Thinking these thoughts, Zhu Hanshuang’s anxious heart settled somewhat.

“Hanshuang, why aren’t you eating?” The Duchess observed her daughter and detected something amiss.

Zhu Hanshuang snapped back to her senses and showed the Duchess a smile: “I didn’t sleep well last night, so I have no appetite right now.”

“Did you catch a chill?” The Duchess set down her chopsticks and reached out to touch Zhu Hanshuang’s forehead, finally relaxing: “Good, no fever.”

Zhu Hanshuang smiled: “Mother, please eat. Don’t you also love crab dumplings? In a few more days, we won’t be able to get crab anymore.”

The Duchess nodded slightly, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

Her daughter couldn’t hide things, yet today she seemed to have something on her mind.

Could she still be pining for Prince Kaiyang?

Thinking of this possibility, the Duchess immediately felt a headache coming on.

All parents have their children’s interests at heart—if they could fulfill their daughter’s wishes, how could they bear to disappoint her?

But wanting to marry Prince Kaiyang was too difficult, simply not something Duke Anguo’s manor could accomplish through determination alone.

“Mother, please eat—” Before Zhu Hanshuang finished speaking, the door was violently kicked open.

Because it was so sudden, it startled her into dropping her chopsticks, the crab dumpling falling with a splat onto the table.

The Duchess jumped in fright and frowned: “Duke, what’s wrong with you? Don’t frighten Hanshuang.”

It happened that men encountered vexing matters outside and came home to lose their tempers, but this was the first time she’d seen the Duke this furious.

Duke Anguo glared at the Duchess with rage.

The Duchess was a full seven or eight years younger than Duke Anguo. Perhaps time had been especially kind to beauties—she looked to be only in her early thirties.

Ordinarily, Duke Anguo was quite proud of his wife’s exceptional beauty. Looking throughout the capital, probably only Grand Marshal Luo’s deceased first wife could compare.

But at this moment, the Duchess’s beauty stabbed painfully at his eyes.

“Everyone out!”

At Duke Anguo’s roar, the serving maids in the room fled outside one after another.

The Duchess approached him: “Duke, did something happen to you outside—”

Duke Anguo’s palm swung across.

The slap showed no mercy. The Duchess was directly knocked to the floor.

A flower vase on the side table wobbled and fell, shattering to pieces.

“Mother!” Zhu Hanshuang cried out, positioning herself in front of the Duchess to demand: “Father, why are you treating Mother this way? What did Mother do wrong?”

A crisp slapping sound rang out again in the room.

This slap was for Zhu Hanshuang.

Zhu Hanshuang saw stars from this unexpected blow, covering her cheek with a bewildered expression: “Father—”

Duke Anguo bellowed harshly: “Don’t call me Father! I have no daughter like you! You ask me what your mother did wrong? Fine, I’ll tell you—her greatest mistake was giving birth to something as malicious and foolish as you!”

Zhu Hanshuang’s head buzzed. She still hadn’t grasped the situation, watching her ordinarily loving father now appear like a demon. Frightened, tears streamed down her face as she mumbled: “Father, what’s wrong with you? You’re scaring me like this—”

But her tears only intensified Duke Anguo’s fury.

His good daughter could cry, laugh, and speak—it was precisely this naive and lively innocence that had blinded his eyes, causing trouble that could destroy the entire family’s future.

“You still have the face to cry! When you ordered someone to commit murder, why weren’t you afraid then?” Duke Anguo grabbed Zhu Hanshuang and harshly questioned her.

Zhu Hanshuang’s entire body trembled, her eyes suddenly widening.

Ordering someone to commit murder?

How did Father find out!

Extreme terror like surging waves instantly drowned her.

For someone like Zhu Hanshuang, the fear of having her misdeeds discovered was far greater than the fear produced by committing the misdeeds themselves.

“Father, I didn’t—” In her terror, Zhu Hanshuang only thought to cover it up.

Seeing her refuse to admit it even now, the string called reason in Duke Anguo’s mind instantly snapped. His hands locked around Zhu Hanshuang’s throat.

Zhu Hanshuang soon began having difficulty breathing, struggling painfully: “Fa… Father…”

Duke Anguo’s hands tightened more and more, his expression gradually turning cruel.

He didn’t want to do this either. Normally he doted on his daughter like a treasured pearl. But this time the trouble she’d caused was too great—one misstep and it would be disaster for the entire family.

The Duchess’s eyes nearly split with rage as she rushed forward, forcefully prying at Duke Anguo’s arms: “Let go of Hanshuang!”

“Get away!”

Duke Anguo had come up through horseback riding and archery. Though he’d grown portly and his movements weren’t as agile as in his youth, his strength was undiminished.

And the Duchess happened to be a delicate beauty as slender as a willow.

With Duke Anguo’s forceful shake, the Duchess was flung away, immediately followed by a scream that made one’s scalp tingle.

Zhu Hanshuang’s eyes went vacant as she struggled to raise her hand and point in that direction, unable to utter a single word.

Duke Anguo slowly looked over to see the Duchess lying on her side on the ground, her throat deeply pierced by a shard of the flower vase, blood gushing out.

That blood flowed swift and fierce, spreading across the floor in nearly the blink of an eye.

Lying in a pool of blood, the Duchess stared with wide-open eyes toward Duke Anguo and his daughter, her entire body convulsing.

Convulsing and convulsing, then she moved no more.

Duke Anguo’s hands gripping Zhu Hanshuang’s throat unknowingly loosened.

And Zhu Hanshuang finally screamed with all her might: “Mother—”