Chapter 138 - CLEARING THE BLUE DOOR
SHEN JI YUN proceeded on telling the two the answers to the three mysteries.
"Mystery 1: Who poisoned Prince Lin Rong and why? The answer, as we have already guessed, is his second son – Lin Mo. Why did he do it? Apparently, he bears a grudge against his father for the death of his mother. A lowly servant girl who was schemed against by the official wife. The old prince didn't do anything about it, so Lin Mo hated him ever since. That hate only deepened because of the preferential treatment the old prince was giving to his eldest son. Lin Mo thought that tonight would be the best chance to kill him. And so he did.
"Mystery 2: Who wanted to harm the crown prince and why? We already established the answer to this. But to be more thorough, here's what I found. It's true that Wei Kingdom was the one behind the assassination attempt tonight. Yuexing Pavilion should be the one in-charged of it. They wanted to kill the crown prince, not only to cause chaos, but also to put the person they colluded with on the throne. In this case, Lin Mo. Once the crown prince is dead, it would be easy to kill the other candidates for the throne – which was Prince Lin Rong and his eldest son. Until only Lin Mo was left. Wei has no qualms in doing that because the Empress would be a princess in their country. The one known as Xinyi. From what I've seen, they have a pretty good handle over Lin Mo. Even if he wanted to, it would be hard to get away from their control.
"And finally, Mystery 3: What truly happened to the manor's second young miss? She heard a conversation between Lin Mo and Xinyi that she shouldn't have. To solve her and the complications that would ensue once the truth of what they're planning comes out, Xinyi killed her. And those are the answers to all the Mysteries in this door."
"Wow… Brother YUN, you found all that in such a short time? That's amazing!" Luo Yan said, his big peach blossom eyes shining.
And because Luo Yan was truly impressed, the shine in his eyes was more genuine. They're like a pair of black diamonds filled with millions of star lights. Making his already pretty face looked even more captivating.
Shen Ji Yun felt like he was suddenly nailed on the spot. All he could do was to stare at that beautiful face. Seeing the admiration in the rabbit's shining eyes, he felt like that the long explanation he just said didn't go to waste. If he could see this kind of expression on the rabbit's face more often, then he wouldn't mind talking more.
"Mind telling us how you did it?" Duan Yu said.
"I overheard their conversation. The context of it just answered all the Mysteries in this door," Shen Ji Yun answered.
"Oh? So you didn't do anything after all," Duan Yu said with a bit of sarcasm and teasing in his voice.
Luo Yan punched Uriel's shoulder. "Hey, don't be such a douche."
Uriel acted like Luo Yan broke his shoulder or something. "Why do you always resort to violence?"
"Because you just bring the violence in me," Luo Yan answered, smiling sweetly at Uriel. "You just have that kind of face, you know? The one people would want to punch every time they see you."
Duan Yu snorted. Why did it seem like he would never win a verbal fight against this elf?
Luo Yan then turned to Shen Ji Yun. "They really just talked about it? Like everything?"
Shen Ji Yun nodded. "I think it's because we already guessed that Lin Mo was somehow involved. So when I got close, it triggered that conversation."
That actually made sense. If they didn't investigate further, they would probably just blame everything on Yuexing Pavilion and the Wei Kigdom. But because they did, they found out about Lin Mo's involvement. Triggering that conversation was probably the game's way of making things a bit easier for them. After all, they did do a lot before they came to that conclusion about Lin Mo and his involvement in all this.
"So, where's Lin Mo and Xinyi?" he asked.
"Tied up together with an NPC named Minister Zhao. Who I guess was from Wei," Shen Ji Yun answered.
"What should we do next?" Duan Yu asked. "We can now go out of this door since we already solved all the Mysteries."
Luo Yan opened his Status Window and looked at the time. It's 8:30 in the evening. There's still 30 minutes more before nine. Plenty of time left to still do some things.
"Why don't we tell the crown prince about the result of our investigation? Or at least, my investigation. Since he ordered me to do so, after all," he said.
"Why should we waste time on that?" Uriel, of course, rejected the idea.
"Because we might get some extra points in doing so."
"I agree," Shen Ji Yun seconded.
Duan Yu rolled his eyes. [Of course you do.] "Fine, let's go then."
They all walked towards the courtyard dedicated to the crown prince. Because of Shen Ji Yun's identity, not to mention Uriel's, they were easily able to go inside without much hindrance. They were led by one of the servants to the garden at the back where the crown prince was.
The prince was sitting inside a pavilion, drinking tea.
"Is your investigation over?" he asked, not looking at them.
Luo Yan kneeled respectfully and told him everything they discovered. From Yuexing Pavilion, to Lin Mo's conspiracy, and even to the second young miss' death.
The crown prince frowned when he heard all those things. "Is this true?"
He didn't seem to be asking Luo Yan, so he didn't answer. Instead, it was Shen Ji Yun who did.
"It's true, Your Highness. Lin Mo, his wife, and a minister from Wei, are now tied up in a courtyard. Your Highness can go and talk to them anytime you want."
"I see." The crown prince's expression went back to normal. Then he turned to Luo Yan. "It seems like I owe you an apology."
"No, Your Highness. Being able to prove my innocence is already enough," Luo Yan said.
"If you have any request, I could grant it to you. As a form of compensation."
Luo Yan raised his head. "Then could I ask Your Highness to let me have Yuexing Pavilion? I know some of the girls and even Madam Ru are connected to this conspiracy against the throne. But most of the girls there are innocent. Some of them are too young to even know what's happening. So please, Your Highness, I hope you can grant me this request."
That was definitely something the proud and skilled 'Shishi' would say.
The crown prince finally looked in his direction. "Alright, I will grant you this request."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Di Yi, bring Miss Shishi to an empty room to let her rest," the crown prince ordered Shen Ji Yun.
Shen Ji Yun bowed and led Luo Yan out. Of course, Uriel followed.
"That was a good performance," Duan Yu commented.
"Well, the King of Arcadia did say to entertain him," Luo Yan shrugged. He turned to Shen Ji Yun and smiled happily. "Should we go out now, Brother YUN?"
Looking at the rabbit's smile, Shen Ji Yun couldn't help but also smile back. "Yes."
He pressed the crescent moon mark at the back of his hand and entered the answers to all the Mysteries. Then a notification appeared right after.
[Congratulations on perfectly clearing the blue door! Please meet with tHis Majesty to get your rewards.]