Phoenix Rising

055

The entire hall erupted with exclamations of horror, all eyes fixed upon the chaos that was unravelling up front. The crown prince had gone into violent convulsions, his eyeballs rolling upwards in their sockets so only the whites were showing.

"Call the royal physicians!" the king shouted to his stewards.

"Quan-er!" The queen had already run to her son's side, and was now cradling him in her arms.

While the commotion was taking place, the doors to the grand hall had already been ordered shut by Zhenghuan. No one would be leaving this place until the truth—or the treachery—behind the crown prince's sudden illness came to light.

Zi-ning carefully studied the faces of all the potential culprits. This was not how things had previously unfolded. In her past life, Crown Prince Ru-quan had taken ill not long after his wedding to Ouyang Sangya. According to what was publicly revealed, it had been a serious case of pneumonia caused by an accidental fall into the river during one of the king's royal hunting trips, which was certainly not what was happening right now.

She looked towards the vile puddle that the prince had retched onto the floor. There was the tiniest of movements coming from the brownish pool—the so-called worms.

Worms...

That was deeply unusual.

If it was a case of poisoning, then vomiting or even spitting of blackened blood could be expected, but to have worms found in the discharge suggested that there was something even more insidious at play. Funnily enough, she had come across such a case before—in the Shanhe manual that Old Hu had given her. It was only a brief record of an anecdotal incident, where a farmer had taken gravely ill with worms found in his excretions. There was no indication of what could have caused the strange illness, beyond some barely legible guesses revolving around food poisoning and shamans casting spells.

Could it be witchcraft?

Witchcraft was not commonly heard of in the three kingdoms, but there were rumours that it was practised by shamans of the southern tribes. It was not impossible for the southern tribes to have attempted an assassination of the Duan crown prince, but were they the only ones involved? Or could it merely a case of misdirection, with the real mastermind being someone else altogether? She unwittingly looked in Ru-an's direction. The fifth prince had stood up and rushed to his older brother's side, appearing anxious and worried.

He had always been a good actor.

The physicians arrived shortly and the crown prince was carried by attendants out of the hall, possibly to one of the back rooms where he would be able to be examined and treated. By this time, Ru-quan was already unconscious, his face as pale as a sheet of parchment. After he had been taken away, the king surveyed the crowd with a steely gaze. An unsettling silence set in.

"Zhenghuan, investigate the situation immediately. I want to know what happened to the crown prince, and who's responsible for it. " King Shunde ordered, before swiftly leaving to check on his son's condition.

The Shadow Lord nodded, proceeding to issue instructions to the royal guards. Everyone else exchanged worried glances while they waited for the guards to commence their inspection, concerned that they would be implicated in this mess.

Zi-ning considered the situation for a moment, then she leaned over and whispered something into Lady Li's ear. The lady frowned, contemplating her words briefly, then she nodded. They both stood up, heading towards the back rooms.

#

"What do you mean by that? You're the most experience physician in the palace! How can you not be able to cure the crown prince?" the queen was railing at the cowering physicians.