Chapter 50: Disappearance

  "I don't know, I just know it was a dark shadow, like someone wearing a black cloak. (M's first release)" Princess Ruoye stared at me with wide eyes and told me "I saw them whispering to each other, saying that they had to drown one of the princesses under the Wind and Moon Pavilion... then they went into Princess Rulan's room..."

  I hugged Ruoqing tightly, her whole body trembling, and her words were also shaking unclearly.

  "Why don't you go tell your father?" I still had a glimmer of hope that these things had nothing to do with the Emperor.

  "I told him, and he slapped me in the face. He said that if Princess Yulan had run away, no one would have kidnapped her, let alone hidden her under the Wind and Moon Pavilion. Later, my father even arranged for an old eunuch to monitor me every day, not allowing me to talk to anyone casually."

  "Old eunuch?" I was shocked in my heart. So tonight's conversation with the princess has been known to others?

  "Hmm, three days ago, I poisoned him, in the tea he drank!" Princess Ruoye said, and burrowed into my arms again: "I really had no choice, I hid in the East Palace, just to avoid them finding me. Here, at least I have my imperial brother to protect me. If I were in my own palace, no one would care about me!"

  "Don't be afraid, you can stay here, it's okay, it's okay!" If Princess Yoqing was still crying, I hugged her to comfort her until dawn, when she finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

  The person in the black cloak? Who could it be? If Princess Yulan didn't die directly at Xuan Yuan Li's hands, but he admitted to it, then would this cloaked person be one of Xuan Yuan Li's people or the real murderer behind the scenes?

  Back in the room, Xuan Yuan Wu was already out of bed and asked me as soon as he saw me: "What did you find out?"

  I told him about my conversation with Princess Ruoye, and then said: "The place of Fengyue Shui Ge definitely has a problem!"

  Just as we were talking, Zhang's wife rushed in: "Something has happened, the prince! Ling Xue and Ruo Yu princess are also missing!"

  "What?" Xuan Yuan Mu stood up and walked out, I followed closely behind him.

  In the quiet Xiangliang Palace, all the palace maids and eunuchs knelt on the ground. Empress An sat in the main seat, interrogating the people of Xiangliang Palace.

  Xuanyuan walked into the palace, and Anfei stood up: "The Crown Prince has arrived? Look at this matter, in just two days, two princesses have gone missing. Is it possible that this vast imperial palace is haunted?"

  Anfei has been in the palace for two years and relied on her beauty and wisdom to sit in this position of mistress of the harem, which is not easy.

  "Where is Ruo's room?"

  "Inside!" It seems that Empress An was also worried, as the two princesses had gone missing, and it was unbearable for her as the empress in charge of the harem.

  The room of Princess Wakana was very clean, except for the bed being a bit messy, there were hardly any strange places.

  Xuanyuan Mu looked around the entire room and didn't find anything suspicious, so he went out of the door.

  An Empress said that she had interrogated these palace maids and eunuchs early in the morning, and everyone claimed that they did not hear any suspicious movements. Moreover, last night, Princess Ruoxi was afraid and asked her personal maid, Xiao Lan, to accompany her, but both mistress and servant disappeared.

  "Xiao Lan?" Xuan Yuan asked strangely: "Where is her room?"

  "Over here..." Someone had led Xuan Yuan Mu to the room of the maid Xiao Lan, which was also very tidy. This room seemed to be for two people.

  "Who lives with Xiaolan?" Xuan Yuan Mu asked.

  "It's a slave!" A palace maid stepped forward.

  "Has Xiao Lan been acting strangely lately?"

  "No, but last night when she went out, the princess was afraid that someone would catch her and asked her to accompany her, so she won't be back all night, and told me not to leave the door open for her!"

  Xuanyuan nodded and picked up a piece of paper from the desk, which was used by the palace maid to write notes. On it were recorded some tasks that needed to be done the next day. "Is this Xiaolan's?"

  "It is..."

  "Empress An, does Father Emperor know about this matter?" Xuan Yuan Mu asked Empress An behind him.

  "The Emperor has already been informed and has sent someone to look for him!"

  "Alright! I'll head back first, have someone inform me if anything happens!" Xuan Yuan Mu said as he walked out.

  When I reached a deserted place, I caught up with him and asked in a low voice, "What did you find?"

  "We'll talk about it when we get back..."

  Back in the East Palace, Xuan Yuan Mu opened up the paper in his hand and let me see.

  Apart from some necessary court work, there is also a strange pattern drawn above, a circle with a dot in the middle and four dots at the four cardinal directions.

  "What does this mean?" I curiously looked at Xuan Yuan Mu.

  Xuanyuan shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

  "Ah, I remember! There's also this pattern in Princess Ruoxi's room, painted in the corner of the wall, very hidden, but I saw it!" I said.

  "Really? So this is what Ruo Xue wanted to draw. What does it mean?"

  It's already too late in the morning, Xuan Yuan Mu is taking a eunuch and a palace maid to the imperial study, once they enter the imperial study, we slaves will have to wait outside.

  Xuanyuan and the Emperor had a loud argument, their voices were so loud that we could hear them clearly from outside the palace.

  "Father Emperor, don't you really care about these children? If Lan is missing, if Hua is missing, now it's Ru Xi, where have they all gone?"

  "Didn't you find Yulan? Why are you still asking?" Xuan Yuan Tian's voice was also very loud.

  "It's been found, one corpse, but where are Ruo Hua and Ruo Xi? Can you bear to let them become corpses too? Do you want all your children to become corpses? Why? Why on earth?"

  "Who said I wanted them to become corpses? Get out, you get out of my sight!" The Emperor chased Xuan Yuan Mu out of the imperial study.

  After coming out, Xuan Yuan's eyes turned yellow and he said fiercely: "He is really ruthless!"

  No need for an office, Xuan Yuan Mu had time, he took me and Xue Qiu Feng out of the palace to find Xuan Yuan Qi, to discuss countermeasures together.

  "Now things have made some progress!" Xue Qiufeng said.

  "What progress? I don't see anything at all, it's all obscure and oppressive before my eyes!" Xuan Yuan Mu's icy face was filled with an expression of resentment.

  "Men in black, maybe men in black aren't strange, but people wearing black cloaks are strange, and you didn't notice that the death of the crown prince is related to the man in black cloak!" Xue Qiufeng looked at Xuan Yuan Mu and continued: "According to Ruofei Gongzhu's words, when Rulan Gongzhu died back then, there was a person wearing a black cloak who appeared, and also Xuan Yuan Zi, who was bled by the man in black cloak... and you too, were also bled by the man in black cloak... all of these must be related!"

  "Yes, I thought of that when I heard Princess Ruofei mention the black-cloaked man. But who could have such great abilities to allow them to roam freely in the imperial palace and harm the imperial children?" I asked curiously.