“Huh? To be the Empress?
“Wait a minute. Does Zhou Ling misunderstand something?”
“Commander Zhou Ling, I actually have no ambition for the position of the Empress. You… you don’t have to rush,” Lin Mengya said, obviously startled.
“To be the Empress? Do they want me to marry the Emperor…
“No way… The Emperor seems to be around my father’s age. How can I marry him?”
“How can we not rush? You’ve seen the current situation of Madame Jingrou. She is competent at the position of the Empress, but can only be a Madame. Now all the Misses from aristocratic families are coveting the position of the Ninth Princess, so you must hurry up to get the position,” Zhou Ling said.
Lin Mengya was stunned. “Gosh, it… it is absolutely impossible for me to marry Xiaoyu, okay?”
At the thought that Lin Mengya was worried about this, Zhou Ling immediately tried to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid, my father and I will definitely support no one other than you. Now it seems that you are the most suitable candidate. After I go home, I will tell my father to arrange a suitable background for you so that you can marry the Ninth Prince as soon as possible!”
Zhou Ling, who was definitely a woman of action, intended to leave even before finishing her words.
With no time to care about anything else, Lin Mengya reached out to grab Zhou Ling’s arm.
She said, “Commander Zhou, the Ninth Prince and I are not a couple as you think. Please don’t do this.”
She had been close to Xiaoyu before. But after learning the rumors about their relationship last time, they had kept a proper distance between them in public.
Moreover, Xiaoyu only called her sister, and they had no affection for each other.
In this case, where did this ridiculous rumor come from?
“Don’t you know the Ninth Prince openly talked back to His Majesty a few days ago and claimed that he wanted to marry you as his wife? Aren’t you in love with each other?” Zhou Ling said.
She was a smart person in other aspects, but she was inexperienced in love.
Lin Mengya was stunned as if struck by lightning. Xiaoyu wanted to marry her? Wasn’t it just a misunderstanding?
She shook her head. In fact, she had not met Xiaoyu in the past few days.
But didn’t he go out of the imperial palace for some important business?
How could he talk back to the Emperor openly?
She felt a little uneasy, wondering what on earth was going on with Xiaoyu.
“Indeed, we are not a couple as you think. I was brought into the imperial palace by the Ninth Prince from outside to serve Madame Jingrou. I’m unqualified to be the Ninth Princess,” she said.
Oh, yes, Zhou Ling said that all the aristocratic families wanted to marry their female members to Xiaoyu at present.
Perhaps Xiaoyu had no other choice but to use her as a shield.
As Lin Mengya thought about it, she found it was very likely to be true.
After all, she was the only woman who definitely would not marry him.
She asked, “Commander, may I ask wasn’t Miss Dongfang the candidate for the Ninth Princess? Why are all the Misses from aristocratic families eager to marry the Ninth Prince now?”
Although Lin Mengya had always disapproved of arranged marriages, things did not always go as people wished, let alone in feudal ancient times.
Seeing that she seemed to be reluctant to marry Wanyan Yu, Zhou Ling had a doubt and explained. “My father said that was the original plan. However, the triennial grand meeting of venomous insects is going to be held in the next few days. Among the princes who are going to attend the meeting, the Ninth Prince carries the most powerful innate venomous insect. You know according to the rules of our Lieyun Empire, the more powerful a venomous insect is, the more likely it is to win at the meeting of venomous insects. When the time comes, the leaders of various tribes will naturally turn to support the most powerful prince. Therefore, even my father wants to support the Ninth Prince.”
The meeting of venomous insects? What was that? Why had Xiaoyu never mentioned it before?
Lin Mengya frowned, thinking Xiaoyu seemed to have hidden a lot of things from her.
Long Tianyu also got involved in it. What on earth did both of them intend to keep it from her for?
After sending Zhou Ling off, Lin Mengya returned to the Fengyu Court alone.
Baisu had returned earlier than Lin Mengya. After comforting the palace maids in the yard, she stood at the door and waited for Lin Mengya.
“Miss, what’s wrong?” Seeing that Lin Mengya seemed to be preoccupied by some troubles, Baisu asked with concern.
There were very few things in this world that could cause Lin Mengya to reveal a worried expression.
Could it be that Lin Mengya ran into serious trouble?
“Oh, nothing. Let’s get in first,” Lin Mengya said.
Although it was already late at night, she remained cautious.
The Fengyu Court was not as safe as the resting palace of the Emperor, and someone else could show up around them at any time.
They quickly returned to the side chamber. In the flickering orange light, Lin Mengya revealed a complicated expression.
If she had known this before, last night she should have asked Long Tianyu what he and Xiaoyu were going to do.
“Do you know what the meeting of venomous insects is?” She asked.
It had been more than half a year since she came here, but she found the Lieyun Empire was an extremely mysterious place.
Even now, she did not think she knew everything about the Lieyun Empire.
Baisu was stunned for a moment, wondering how Lin Mengya learned this.
Lin Mengya said, “You don’t have to hide it from me. Someone has told me that Xiaoyu has gone to attend the meeting of venomous insects. Baisu, what exactly is this? Is Xiaoyu in danger?”
Baisu lowered her head and sighed lightly when she saw Lin Mengya’s worried expression.
It was true that Xiaoyu insisted on keeping it from Lin Mengya.
Unexpectedly, they failed to do so.
“Miss, you won’t blame me, will you?” Baisu asked cautiously.
After all, she hid it from Lin Mengya until Lin Mengya found out about it.
Lin Mengya just shook her head. Although Baisu was close to her, Xiaoyu was Baisu’s former master after all.
Sandwiched between Xiaoyu and her, Baisu was presumably in a difficult position.
Lin Mengya said, “How could I blame you? Everyone has his difficulties. Nevertheless, if the meeting of venomous insects is really treacherous, I can’t watch him take the risk without taking any action.”
She knew Xiaoyu’s disposition better than anyone.
Why did he always try to take risks on his own?
Baisu said, “In fact, it’s not treacherous. The meeting of venomous insects is an important tradition passed on by the noble families of the Lieyun Empire from generation to generation. Legend has it that the King of Various Venomous Insects has left his people a royal venomous insect after going up to the heaven. Only those who have the royal venomous insect can open the door of the heaven again so that the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress can reunite. Although it’s just a legend, the royal venomous insect does exist, and it’s the reason why the tribes can’t completely replace the royal family. Only the noblest blood of the royal family can awaken the royal venomous insect. If the royal venomous insect is not fed with the royal blood in three years, all tribes will die out overnight.”
Hearing Baisu’s narration, Lin Mengya found it unimaginably queer.
Nevertheless, the legend of the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress was related to every aspect of the society of the Lieyun Empire.
She had thought that the legend of the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress was just a folk story.
Now it seemed that although the King of Various Venomous Insects had passed away long before, every aspect of the society of the Lieyun Empire was still under his control.
It was a little terrifying but chillingly weird.
Who on earth were the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress?
“Is there any document about the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress in the imperial palace?” Lin Mengya suddenly asked.
Baisu hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
She said, “Although there are a multitude of versions of the legend about the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress among the people, I heard that the most complete version of the legend is in the imperial palace. I think we have no chance to read the original. Oh, yes, maybe there are some copies in the study of His Majesty.”
Hearing this, Lin Mengya looked a little embarrassed. “The Emperor’s study?”
Now she finally realized why the Emperor looked at her like that.
No matter how important Madame Jingrou and Xiaoyu considered her, the Emperor presumably considered her a femme fatale.
In this case, how could the Emperor allow her to enter his study?
It seemed that she could only ask Madame Jingrou for help.
Returning to herself, Lin Mengya began to stare at Baisu.
Recently, she had found it strange that Baisu was familiar with both folk rumors and secrets in the imperial palace.
There seemed to be nothing Baisu didn’t know.
It was reasonable for Baisu to see or hear what had happened in recent years when she followed Wanyan Lie or Xiaoyu.
But some secrets were supposed to be kept from a humble personal guard like Baisu.
“Why… why are you staring at me like that, Miss?” Baisu asked.
Lin Mengya’s gaze made her flesh creep and feel as if she were the medicinal herbs in the Liuxin Courtyard about to be processed.
Was Lin Mengya going to process her?
“Baisu, are you still hiding something from me? Such as your identity?” Lin Mengya asked.
Baisu immediately shook her head like a rattle drum.
How could Baisu stay unaffected by the slight playfulness in Lin Mengya’s eyes?
But she really didn’t hide anything else from Lin Mengya!
“There’s one thing I’m not sure if I should tell you. Xiaoyu told me before that your real identity is not simple. At first, I thought you were an unusual person among them. But now it seems that your background is not so simple. Aren’t you curious about it?” Lin Mengya said.
Lin Mengya was curious about Baisu’s real identity, not because she was nosy, but because Baisu’s current situation was a little strange.
Baisu once said that she had lost a large part of her childhood memories and could only remember a small part vaguely.
But she remembered some secret stories of the Lieyun Empire clearly.
Lin Mengya suddenly recalled Baisu moved with ease when they sneaked into the Divine Witch Shrine.
Even if Baisu had read the map in advance, she was not necessarily able to do so.
Moreover, Baisu was immediately taken away after coming out.
Could it be that Baisu’s identity had something to do with the Divine Witch Shrine?
“Oh… My identity?” Baisu said, obviously realizing this problem for the first time.
Under Lin Mengya’s encouraging gaze, Baisu tried hard to recall where she learned these secrets.
No… it seemed that some of them just came into her mind.
She could not remember how she learned them, as if they were part of her memories.
If it weren’t for Lin Mengya’s words, she wouldn’t have realized there was something wrong with that.
For the first time, she, who had always been composed, showed a panic-stricken look.
She glanced blankly at Lin Mengya with her eyes filled with helplessness that made Lin Mengya feel sorry.
She said, “Miss… Miss… I, I can’t remember.”
