Chapter 85: Aren’t You Afraid I’ll Kill You?

Tan Qingjiu merely froze for an instant before swiftly collecting herself.

If Tan Yun was presently in the palace, then if Shen Changan entered the palace at this hour, the two of them were bound to cross paths.

From Shen Changan’s reaction on the carriage earlier, it was plain enough that he was likely a man of quick temper. He had only just learned of Shen Nianqing’s death, and of everything Shen Nianqing had suffered before dying in the Tan residence. If he were to meet, in the palace, the enemy who had killed his daughter, there was no telling whether he would fly at Tan Yun in a fit of rage.

Tan Qingjiu frowned slightly. “Have someone keep watch over the palace. If there is any news, report it at once.”

“Yes.”

Yet even though Tan Qingjiu had long since planted informants throughout the capital before returning, the palace was still the palace; its defenses were tight, and news went in more easily than it came out. Neither Tan Yun nor Shen Changan had left the palace and returned home by nightfall.

So Tan Qingjiu could only retire as usual.

But not long after she lay down, she heard a faint sound from the window.

Tan Qingjiu’s brows knitted. An assassin?

She listened for a while longer, but tonight’s disturbance seemed unlike the previous times when assassins had come.

It did not sound like someone tearing through the paper pasted over the window. Rather, it sounded as if something were striking the window frame.

Tap.

There it was again.

Only then did Tan Qingjiu confirm that someone truly was knocking at the window.

After preparing her dagger and hidden weapon case, she softened her steps and moved to the window.

Just as she reached it, she heard another faint sound.

Tan Qingjiu then quickly pushed the window open.

As soon as she did, she saw a man lounging lazily against the wall beside it, a golden mask faintly gleaming in the moonlight.

Shen Yingjue?

Why was he here?

At this hour? In the middle of the night?

Wasn’t the Prince of the Town Mansion guarded as tightly as a fortress? How had he managed to leave the residence at this hour, and how had he reached her courtyard without making a sound?

Even the people in her courtyard had not noticed him?

Frowning, Tan Qingjiu’s mind raced with countless thoughts, but Shen Yingjue had already turned his head and spoken first: “You’re awfully slow...”

“I’ve been knocking on your window for ages. Why did you only just come?”

His voice carried a touch of languid indifference. “Too little vigilance.”

“...” Tan Qingjiu drew a deep breath. “How was I supposed to know that the esteemed Prince of the Town would be so idle as to pay me a midnight visit?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Does the prince have urgent business? If not, you’d best leave early. In the dead of night, with only a man and a woman alone together, if anyone were to see this, it would be hard to explain.”

To her surprise, Shen Yingjue seemed almost tempted. “Hard to explain? If it’s hard to explain, then wouldn’t that mean, Ajiu, you’d have no choice but to marry me? That would be splendid.”

Tan Qingjiu frowned. She endured it again and again, but in the end could not hold back: “Prince, when there are outsiders or servants about, I can understand if you are merely putting on an act. But now, with nothing in sight except you and me, there is no need for such pretense, is there? I have seen your true face before.”

At her words, Shen Yingjue gave a soft laugh. “My true face? You mean the one you first saw at the Prince of the Town’s residence? You think the temper and manner I showed then were my real self?”

“How would you know? Perhaps I was acting as well that day.”

Tan Qingjiu narrowed her eyes, her gaze fixed on his face, and gave a mocking laugh. “No. I mean the one I first saw when I broke into the rear courtyard—the one called the Crown Prince of the Duke of Town’s household.”

She saw it then: the instant those words left her mouth, Shen Yingjue’s expression changed abruptly.

It turned exceedingly dangerous.

It was precisely because of that look that Tan Qingjiu immediately knew she had guessed right.

Before this, she had already felt that Shen Yingjue and Shen Xiao, the Crown Prince of the Duke of Town’s household, were somewhat strange.

That day, she had seen the Crown Prince at the Prince of the Town’s residence, and before long, when she stopped him again, he no longer recognized her at all.

She was a physician, one who could tell from a person’s complexion what ailments they might be carrying.

After examining the Crown Prince that day, she had become certain: the man at the Prince of the Town’s residence who claimed to be the Crown Prince was not the real one.

Then, later on, Shen Yingjue’s and the Crown Prince’s temperaments, together with the way they behaved before others, only deepened her suspicions.

Afterward, Tan Qingjiu carefully recalled the complexion and condition of the Crown Prince she had seen at the Prince of the Town’s residence, and it seemed to match the symptoms of the Prince of the Town himself.

With all the clues put together, Tan Qingjiu had grown suspicious.

The Crown Prince she had seen that day at the Prince of the Town’s residence was, in truth, the Prince of the Town.

Though she had this suspicion in her heart, she was not certain; just now, she had merely been testing him.

Shen Yingjue’s reaction, however, confirmed her conjecture.

Yet once that was confirmed, even more questions rose in Tan Qingjiu’s mind.

For example...

Whether it was Shen Yingjue or Shen Xiao, the state of their faces matched their physical condition rather well, so they did not seem to be wearing human-skin masks.

If they were not wearing human-skin masks, then did they look exactly alike?

And if they did look alike, then six years ago, out in that desolate wilderness, who was it that stood by and refused to save her, even ordering the carriage to run her over?

She had always believed it was the Crown Prince.

But thinking back carefully, the man’s condition and eyes at the time had both been tinged with madness, and he seemed even more like the Prince of the Town.

Countless doubts flashed through Tan Qingjiu’s mind. As she was thinking, her chin was suddenly caught in a firm grip.

Shen Yingjue had come to the window and lifted her face. “How is it that this prince cannot understand what Second Miss Tan is saying?”

Tan Qingjiu met his gaze without flinching. “Prince, I am a physician.”

“Two people may have the same face, but their physical conditions are different. Many ailments on the body will show on the face. Some have redness between the brows, some a darkened complexion, some paleness beside the bridge of the nose, some a bluish tint.”

Shen Yingjue narrowed his eyes at her, and a flash of killing intent passed through them.

“Your Highness need not worry. Since I have said this to your face, I will certainly keep my mouth shut. I merely wished to remind you that if you intend to impersonate the Crown Prince of the Duke of Town in the future, you must be more careful.”

“At the very least, you should agree on your story with him in advance.”

“Didn’t Your Highness already suspect that I had guessed it? That is why you deliberately spoke to me in the Crown Prince’s frivolous tone, is it not?”

At that, Shen Yingjue let out a low laugh. “Very well, very well. Doctor Tan, your courage is truly remarkable. Aren’t you afraid that I might kill you?”