I woke up as the Villainous Empress

174 Poison II?

“If you had found out about the poison, then you must also figure out how it was given to His Majesty. Is the incense stick I sent you last time, the carrier of the slow poison that you are talking about?” Yang Ning didn’t beat around the bushes and ask the question which has been bothering her for the past few days.

After sending the incense stick given by the Empress to Master Jiang, she was curious about the results of the investigation. She wanted to know if Yang Liangxin was behind His Majesty’s worsening condition or not. If she is, then why was she trying to harm her husband?

Wouldn’t it lessen her powers in the Empire after the demise of His Majesty and Zheng Liang taking over the crown as the next Emperor? That’s complicated.

Even though she has read the , there are still many details that are still not clear in her head and she remembers only a part of it. If she is not wrong, the Empress must be related to the condition of His Majesty.

However, she cannot be sure in what way she was involved in this matter. If she had remembered about it, she could have helped His Majesty sooner and Master Jiang could treat him better and sooner.

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“Yes, Master Jiang. What did you find out after investigating the incense stick?” Zheng Liang looked at Master Jiang with his intent gaze and waited for his response.

After Yang Ning mentioned it, Zheng Liang also got curious about the results of the investigation. He was not sure why Yang Ning was suspecting the intentions of the Empress and the incense stick sent by her, however, if she was asking about it, then there must be a reasonable reason for it.

Master Jiang looked at Yang Ning and put down his teacup on the table before responding to her question, “After Her Highness sent the incense stick to me, I investigated it carefully and even did several tests to make sure that the results are not false.”

.....

” I do not know from where you acquired that incense stick, however, it did not show any signs of slow poison on it. It was simply a scented incense stick with no harmful item.” He said while looking at Yang Ning, whose expression dulled at his response.

This was not the kind of response that she was expecting from him. If Yang Lingxin isn’t involved in this matter, then who is it?

“Is it not?” Yang Ning’s eyes widened in surprise when she heard his response as she wasn’t expecting that it wasn’t the incense stick that was used to poison His Majesty. If Empress Yang Lingxin was not part of this scheme, then who was the person behind all this? She wondered.

Because if her memory serves right, His Majesty’s death was not simply because of an illness. However, it was revealed later that it was a planned murder which looked like a coincidental death because of an illness.

She doesn’t remember the details in clarity about this incident but it had something to do with Empress Yang. That is why she asked Master Jiang to look into this matter more deeply and find out the culprit. However, if it is not Empress Yang Lingxin, then who poisoned His Majesty?

“Yes. It was not the incense stick that was used to poison His Majesty. However, I did find out the carrier of the poison. It was the natural-scented oils that you sent along with the incense stick last time. I found the remnants of the slow poison in it.” Master Jiang continued and broke the train of wild thoughts of Yang Ning.

“Natural-Scented oils? Are you sure about it?” Yang Ning asked in disbelief as she was not expecting the natural oils to be the carrier of the poison.

“Yes. I checked them and found poisonous elements in them. Not only them but also the natural oils droplets that were found in the pot, they also had the same poisonous elements as in the bottle of the natural oils. I found out about it sooner but I was doing the tests until now to confirm my claim.” He explained why he got late to inform them about the results of his investigation.

“Master Jiang, are you sure about this? Because if what you are saying is true, then the royal palace is going to turn upside down. So you have to be very sure about what you say from now on.” Zheng Liang’s face darkened when he heard this and warned Master Jiang to think about his words carefully without making any assumptions.

If what he is saying is true, then it would mean that it was the Empress who tried to kill His Majesty. Because she was the one who brought that natural oil for His Majesty! This news would cause a lot of chaos in the royal court and the capital.

Master Jiang pursed his lips and could see the troubled look on Zheng Liang’s face. Looks like this case was even greater than he had expected. He doesn’t know who is involved in this matter and why Zheng Liang was getting so worried.

However, as the head of the imperial medicine department, he must serve the royal family and stay as neutral as he can while treating the patients.

He cannot hide such important details from Zheng Liang, even if it comes at the price of implicating his favorite disciple who was also involved in this matter.

” Yes. I am reporting to you the results after making sure of my suspicions and doing several tests to prove them as well. Didn’t Her Highness mention the last time about the hot water that was used to make steam to hydrate the air around His Majesty?”

“I was wondering about that steaming method because it was not me who instructed my assistant physician to do that. It was he who suggested that idea and I allowed him to do so since that method seems beneficial for His Majesty’s health.”

“However, who would have thought that it would turn out to be the reason for His Majesty’s worsening condition?” I never imagined that one of my trusted disciples would commit such a grave crime and would try to harm His Majesty.” The old man sighed heavily and lowered his head in embarrassment.

“Your Highness, I apologize to you for suspecting your intentions last time.” Master Jiang lowered his head and sincerely apologized to Yang Ning for the attitude that he showed her the last time.

The last time when Yang Ning questioned the loyalty of his disciple, he was rude toward her and was even dubious of her intentions. He wanted to prove her doubtful assumptions wrong, however, who would have thought that his trust in his disciple would turn out to be wrong instead?