novelraw Chapter 185 : Confession
Chapter 185 : Confession
The guest quarters in Fry Castle were not very tall, only seven floors in total.
The VIP suite where Shen Han and Gu Junwan were staying was on the sixth floor.
Now, Jiang Xinyue was following Ning Xi towards the top floor.
She knew she lacked combat ability and might be at a disadvantage facing criminals alone, so she called on Ning Xi.
But now she faced a major dilemma.
How could she expose the other awakened person's plot without revealing her true ability?
The incident the other person planned to create would drag the Empress into a whirlpool, thereby affecting the deepening relations between the two countries.
Moreover, setting aside political factors, could she really stand by and watch Fry Lott eat pastries laced with toxins?
Thinking of that very sensible little boy, Jiang Xinyue felt heartbroken.
He did have an extremely noble status, but fate didn't seem to favor him completely.
He had barely emerged from the shadows, only to face an attack from the darkness. It was too unfair!
As Jiang Xinyue struggled internally, she and Ning Xi had arrived on the seventh floor.
Along the long corridor stood over a dozen armed guards.
A male servant pushing a food cart was stopped in the passageway by the guards.
The servant was quietly explaining something, but the guards just shook their heads, showing no intention of letting him pass.
Seeing that the person pushing the food cart couldn't enter Fry Lott's room, Jiang Xinyue breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The sudden arrival of the two Federation guards immediately attracted everyone's attention in the corridor.
One guard remembered Young Master Lott's instructions. Seeing the Empress's people arrive, he immediately knocked on the door to report.
The others maintained their vigilance, discreetly analyzing the combat strength of the Federation guards, ready to resolve any unexpected issues most efficiently.
"Hello, we heard some noise upstairs and came to check," Ning Xi said as Jiang Xinyue observed the male servant's expression while maintaining her ability to eavesdrop on his thoughts.
[This is bad. I need to find a way into the room, or the framing plan won't work once the Federation Empress leaves Fry Castle.]
[Why are the guards with Lott so cautious today? Did that earlier chaos frighten him into having an acute stress response?]
Jiang Xinyue hadn't used half of her ability time today, but the servant's thoughts made her sweat with anxiety.
At this moment, one of the doors opened and Fry Lott's attendant came out.
The attendant was a middle-aged woman who looked somewhat weathered.
She casually glanced at everyone in the corridor and then said to the guards, "Young Master Lott wants them to enter the room."
After saying this, the attendant turned and went back inside.
The guard originally wanted to ask if everyone should be allowed in or just the two Federation guards.
But the attendant left too quickly, giving him no time to inquire.
Seeing an opportunity, the male servant immediately started pushing the food cart forward.
The guard hesitated for a moment but didn't stop him.
Seeing this, Jiang Xinyue immediately led Ning Xi to take large strides forward, entering the doorway before the male servant.
After entering the room, she suddenly turned, gripped the edge of the wooden door, and slowly closed it under the puzzled gazes of those around.
The male servant was still about a meter from the door.
Unless he abandoned the food cart and rushed forward to wedge the door open, he had no way to change the situation of being locked out.
He placed both hands on the metal bars of the cart's upper level, raised his eyes to look at the closing door, his expression both innocent and bewildered.
But just as the door was about to close completely, through the last narrow gap, Jiang Xinyue caught a flash of anger and hatred in his eyes.
The door closed.
Cold sweat broke out on Jiang Xinyue's back, but she didn't immediately shut off her ability.
She heard the male servant cursing her furiously in his mind, and also heard his plans to meet up with an accomplice.
In Fry Lott's room, there were still seven or eight guards.
Ning Xi and Jiang Xinyue stored all their weapons and electronic devices in a small box before being allowed to enter the living room to meet Little Lott.
Jiang Xinyue saw that the room was already prepared with drinking water, pastries, and other food items.
Along with the numerous armed guards, it seemed Little Lott's safety didn't need her concern.
She wiped the fine sweat from her brow with her sleeve, her mind turning to another dilemma.
Should she tell the Empress about all this?
The current situation was very urgent, and the only person capable of quickly responding and resolving the complex issues in Fry Castle was the Empress.
......
In the blink of an eye, it was already 10 PM.
Gu Junwan leaned weakly in Shen Han's arms, allowing her to dress her.
She felt a slight regret in her heart. Earlier, she shouldn't have softened and agreed to the other's repeated requests.
If it had just been that one time in the bathroom, how could she be so tired and sleepy now?
She didn't want to move even a finger.
But she couldn't just fall into bed and sleep.
Because she still had several things to do today.
Meeting with the castle's owner, Grand Duke Fry, was a must.
And she couldn't just let the matter of her Alpha being plotted against slide!
Feeling the boneless state of the Omega in her arms, Shen Han also felt some regret.
She knew she had gone a bit too far, but in that situation earlier, she simply couldn't hold back.
Since coming to Ksenrode, although they had been in each other's sight most of the time, there had been basically no physical contact.
Suddenly nourished by Gu Junwan's pheromones, how could Shen Han strictly restrain her desires?
She was like a traveler who had strayed into the desert and was about to die of thirst, and the sweet Omega was the spring of life that could save her.
"Wife, do you still need to apply the special perfume before going out?"
"Why don't we visit Grand Duke Fry early tomorrow morning instead?"
Hearing Shen Han's voice, Gu Junwan finally opened her beautiful eyes.
She thought for a moment, not yet telling the other about some of her suspicions, and only said, "Tomorrow would be a bit late. We've come to someone else's territory, we should at least greet the host."
Shen Han naturally understood this principle.
She just felt sorry that her wife, clearly exhausted, still had to muster her energy to deal with affairs.
At this moment, there was another knock on the bedroom door.
Xu Zhao's voice sounded from outside, "Your Majesty, Jiang Xinyue has important matters to report to you."
After a pause, the special assistant added, "She says she can only report to you alone."
Hearing this, Shen Han immediately dabbed the scent-masking perfume on her fingertips and carefully applied it behind Gu Junwan's ears and on her neck.
Jiang Xinyue wasn't one to speak without cause.
For her to choose this time to report to the Empress alone, the matter must be significant.
In the vast VIP suite, except for the bedroom, no pheromone residue remained in any other area.
After putting on her shoes, Gu Junwan went alone to the suite's meeting room.
Shen Han and Xu Zhao waited in the living room.
In the meeting room.
Jiang Xinyue stood uneasily in a corner of the room.
The lighting was relatively dim in this position, as if hiding here could give her some sense of security.
Hearing the door being turned, Jiang Xinyue immediately became nervous.
She stepped out of the shadowy corner and raised her arm to salute the approaching Empress.
"No need for formalities, come sit down and talk."
At this moment, Gu Junwan was no longer the soft and powerless Omega leaning in Shen Han's arms just minutes ago.
Her back was straight, her phoenix eyes calm and majestic.
The Alpha pheromones flowing in her gland blood gave her a dangerous yet captivating allure.
Jiang Xinyue didn't actually sit down.
She stood anxiously about two meters away from Gu Junwan and said with difficulty, "Your Majesty, I've discovered awakened individuals in this castle who may pose a threat to you and Fry Lott."
She knew it was almost impossible to deceive the Empress.
But she still harbored a glimmer of hope that she could use her previously well-practiced excuses to avoid the other's suspicion.
Therefore, she didn't immediately reveal her true ability, only using an ambiguous statement.
She thought that if the Empress asked questions along her line of thought, she would tell her that she sensed killing intent in the awakened person's aura.
However, Jiang Xinyue's scripted scenario quickly collapsed.
How could Gu Junwan possibly consider issues along someone else's train of thought?
She leaned back on the leather sofa in a relatively relaxed posture.
After hearing her subordinate's report, she chose not to speak immediately.
Usually, when discussing work, the Empress never displayed any lazy demeanor.
Her current behavior, aside from conserving energy, was more about not wanting to put too much pressure on Jiang Xinyue.
The unsettling silence lasted a full half minute before Gu Junwan began to speak.
She didn't mention anything about Fry Castle, but instead brought up a past event.
"Last year, in the Fourth District's Guthrie Conference Center, you and Shen Han foiled the plot of a Ksenrode mole during your patrol."
"At that time, I found it a bit strange. Why did you take down the decorative wooden bow from the wall after entering the cafe?"
"Also, I remember the report said the crossbow arms and mechanisms used to assemble the weapon were hidden in a grain barrel behind the air conditioning unit. You were hiding in that position at the time. Can I understand it as you driving the alpaca to kick it over, thus completely exposing the mole's intentions?"
As Gu Junwan spoke, her tone remained gentle, without any hint of aggression.
Her statements were all information recorded in the report documents, without exaggeration or coercion.
However, these few short sentences fell on Jiang Xinyue's ears like a thunderbolt from the blue.
She belatedly realized that the Empress had long suspected something was amiss with her.
The fact that she only voiced her doubts now was partly out of trust in her, and partly because she hadn't guessed what Jiang Xinyue's true ability actually was.
Now that the Empress had brought the matter to this point, using that set of lies about 'sensing killing intent' was definitely not going to work.
Jiang Xinyue took a deep, slow breath, then said softly, "Your Majesty, I'm sorry. When you called me to join the guard team before, I didn't tell the truth."
"My ability isn't sensing the presence of awakened individuals within a 10-meter range, but hearing what they're thinking in their minds."