Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

As soon as Harper returned to her yard, her maid, Nina, rushed to her anxiously. "What happened, My

Lady? You went to deliver

the baby of General Maxwell's concubine yesterday. Lady Sue had us locked in the house and didn't

allow me to go out. Are you

all right?"

Seeing the concern in the maid's eyes, Harper let out a weak smile and said, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure, My Lady?" asked Nina. Nina helped Harper enter her room and poured her a cup of

warm water. Harper drank

some water and started to look better.

Harper looked up at Nina with a wry smile. "Nina, you have suffered a lot."

"Why are you talking like that, My Lady? What's wrong?" Nina held Harper's hand and shuddered. She

looked at Harper's face

and asked, "Your hand is so cold. Did Lady Sue scold you?"

Harper shook her head. She was grounded by Charles. Sue and her daughter definitely would seize

such a good opportunity.

After she had lost her position in the Imperial Academy of Medicine and was rejected by Hansen, they

would take advantage of

her weak moment and try to kill her by all means. At this moment, the only person who could save her

was Mavis, her

grandmother.

Harper turned towards Nina and gritted her teeth as she wrote something on her palm carefully. Nina

was surprised, but she

remained silent. She looked at the handwriting carefully and nodded.

"Just go out secretly so that no one sees you. Remember, your attitude must be sincere when you tell

her that I am truly wrong."

Harper then went into her room and took out a book of Buddhist sutras she had transcribed. She

handed it to Nina and said,

"And one more thing. Remember to be as quick as possible. I'm afraid I don't have much time left now."

Nina was too frightened to say a word, but she understood the great significance of the task she was

asked to complete. After

Nina left, Harper called in another maid. "Anabel, did Lady Sue give you some hard time yesterday?"

she asked.

"No, My Lady. Lady Sue didn't do anything to make things difficult for us. She just locked the door and

didn't allow anyone of us

to go out," Anabel answered respectfully. Although Harper was a little dominating, she was never harsh

to her maids.

"My father grounded me. We can't go out of this place for a long time." Harper let out a pale smile. "Tell

others to be careful and

not to provoke them."

"My Lady, why did His Lord ground you?" 'Although His Lord has a preference for Lady Hailey and

Lady Felicia, I don't

understand why he decided to ground Lady Harper. Lady Harper will be the wife of Prince Kevin's heir

in future. It's not wise to

offend Prince Kevin, ' Anabel thought to herself.

"Because Hansen has called off our engagement, and I have also lost my position in the Imperial

Academy of Medicine," Harper

explained with a wry smile. "You'll have a tough time being my maid."

"How could His Highness call off the engagement? This marriage was proposed and agreed upon even

before the two of you

were born! My Lady, what should we do now?" Anabel became unsettled to hear that. She knew it very

well that it would be

difficult for Harper to find a husband in the future after Hansen called off the engagement.

"Just stop it now. Gather everyone here. I have something to tell." Harper took a deep breath, hoping

that she could put up with it

and buy some time for Nina to bring back Mavis. Otherwise, she would die.

Soon, Anabel gathered all the maids here. Harper addressed them and made them aware of her

current situation. She told them that she had been grounded by Charles and that she had even lost her

position in the Imperial Academy of Medicine. "Now that you know my situation very well, you can

understand that there is no future for you if you continue to follow me. If you are willing to leave my

place, I will give you two taels of silver. If you are willing to stay, I won't treat you harshly. My father

doesn't like me, and I believe I'll live a hard life from now on. Is there anyone who wants to leave?"

Harper ended her speech and looked at her maids, waiting for them to answer. As soon as she finished

speaking, a sudden silence befell the hall. All maids exchanged looks with each other. Harper was the

daughter of Charles' first wife, who had passed away. She had two first-class maids, two second-class

maids, two third-class maids, three cleaning maids, and a nanny. After a while, the three cleaning

maids and the nanny stepped out together. They came to serve Harper only because she was going to

marry Hansen, the heir of Prince Kevin. Now that Hansen had called off the engagement and Harper

was even fired from the Imperial Academy of Medicine, she would never have a chance to regain her

status. Needless to say, it was useless for them to serve her anymore. "Anabel, give them the money

and let them leave." "Yes, My Lady." Anabel followed Harper's instruction and gave each of them two

taels of silver. The four of them packed their belongings quickly and left the Emerald House. Harper

looked at the rest of the maids and asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to leave?"

"I'm sorry, My Lady. I can't serve you anymore. Please forgive me." Two second-class maids knelt

down immediately and kowtowed to Harper. Anabel opened her mouth to say something, but she was

stopped by Harper. She instructed Anabel to give them the money and let them go. "And? What about

the two of you? Are you not planning to leave?" Harper looked at the two third-class maids who were

standing silently with their heads bowed down. One of them was Enya and the other was Elsie.

"My Lady, I am willing to serve you." Both of them, then, knelt and kowtowed to Harper. "You have

always been nice to us, My

Lady. Now that you are in trouble, we will not leave you!"

Harper nodded with satisfaction. Although the former owner of this body was dominating, fortunately,

she had some loyal maids

by her side. "Since you've decided to stay, I have something to say. As my maids, you don't need to be

clever or eloquent, but

you must be loyal. If anyone is ever proved to be disloyal, then she will face extreme consequences.

Do you still want to serve

me after hearing this?"

Enya and Elsie looked at each other and answered decisively, "Yes."

Sue was well aware of what was going on in the Emerald House, but she did not comment.

"Mother, this is a good chance!" Felicia said.

"Yeah, this indeed is a good chance," Sue said with a sneer. "Felicia, Harper has given you such a

good marriage, and you

should go and thank her."

Felicia raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Of course I should thank her. Had it not been for her, I could

have had the chance to

marry His Highness!"

"Go ahead then. Your father will be in my room tonight."

"All right." Felicia nodded. After that, she left.

At dusk, Felicia visited Harper with some food. As soon as Harper saw her, she knew that Sue and

Felicia couldn't wait any longer. They didn't want to spare a single day to get rid of her. After that, they

could prove her death to be a suicide following her rejection by Hansen. In this way, Sue and Felicia

could remove the biggest hurdle from their path as well as protect the good name of the Chu Clan.

"Hi, Harper. I brought you some food." Felicia's maid put the dishes on the table. Harper squinted as

she looked at the food with suspicion. 'Has she come here to poison me?' If Harper got Poisoned,

Mavis would look into it. Felicia would not dare to do such a thing. "What are you doing here?" Harper

ignored her gesture and asked. Felicia was very cunning. She had been flirting with Hansen

for such a long time without a single person coming to know about it.

Felicia poured a bowl of soup for Harper and said politely, "I know that you are not happy since His

Highness has proposed to

me. But please don't be mad at me. It was His Highness's decision, and Father has agreed to it as well.

You know it very well

that neither you nor I have the audacity to disobey him. I come here to apologize to you. Will you

forgive me?"

Harper frowned and refused the soup offered by Felicia. She knew both Sue and Felicia too well to

trust them to be nice to her.

She was aware that she came in their away. Now that she had hit the lowest point in her life, how could

Felicia possible come to

see her and apologize to her?

"What trick are you trying to play?" Harper asked in a cold voice.

"Trick! What are you saying? Are you afraid that I will poison you?" Felicia's voice was choked with

sobs as if she was deeply

hurt by Harper's allegations. She then took a sip of the bowl herself. "Harper, trust me. I'm sincerely

apologizing to you. Please

forgive me."

Harper could still not rest assured. She could not believe that Felicia would be so nice. She winked at

Anabel, who gave her a

pair of silver chopsticks immediately. Felicia bit her lip but remained quiet. She sat down to have dinner

with Harper.

"You really made me sad. I came to see you out of kindness, but you suspected that I was going to

poison you," Felicia said in a

sad voice. "Harper, His Highness wants to marry me, which is also very surprising for me. You cannot

force him into a

relationship with you. Even if I want to give him back to you, I'm afraid that he won't agree!"

Harper was suspicious, but she didn't show it. "There is no need for that. I don't like such a fickle and

lascivious man anyway."

Felicia was stunned to hear that. She had thought that Harper would react violently and make a scene

out of anger when she

said that. But she didn't expect that Harper would have such an indifferent attitude. 'Doesn't she love

Hansen anymore?' she

thought to herself.

'No way! She has done so many things and made a joke out of herself for Hansen. Now, how could she

give up so easily? I don't

think so.'

"Harper, I can understand your state of mind, but His Highness is not fickle—"

"Fickle and lascivious. A perfect match for you." Harper let out a cold smile. "I was already disappointed

with him. It was good for

him to call off the engagement, which saved a lot of trouble for me. But I never expected you to fall for

such a man. Quite an eye-

opener for me."

"Harper..." Felicia called out as Harper's words pierced her heart like a sharp arrow. She had never

believed that Harper would

really let go of Hansen so easily. Now that she knew that she was unable to irritate Harper anymore,

she had to find out some

other way.

Harper was indeed on guard against Felicia. Felicia used to play such cunning tricks to create a rift

between her and Hansen.

But Harper managed to pull that off only because she truly loved Hansen. However, at the moment,

she didn't love him anymore.

Rather, she hated him. So she was not angry at Felicia's words. Instead, she was eager to see what

Felicia was going to do

next.