Yun Dai swayed from side to side. She couldn’t continue kneeling anymore, and she ended up collapsing onto the floor.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kneel anymore. Her legs were both completely numb, and she couldn’t feel them at all.
The moment she was no longer kneeling, the feeling of her blood circulating in her legs again felt like a million ants crawling through the gaps of her bones. It felt both good and bad at the same time.
Yun Dai was angry enough to hit someone now.
Zhao Yuanjing put his book down, walked over to her, lifted his leg, and touched her leg with it.
Yun Dai was angry, frustrated, and in pain, and she really wished she could just slap this despicable crown prince to death right now.
After a long time, the achy, numb feelings slowly faded.
Zhao Yuanjing seemed to find all this interesting and looked down at her from above.
“Liu Dequan, go outside. Don’t let anybody in,” said Zhao Yuanjing coldly.
Liu Dequan immediately scrambled out and stood guard outside the door.
He didn’t know whether his master was going to hit or kill this kitchen helper, but nobody would be able to save her now.
Back inside the room…
Zhao Yuanjing took Yun Dai’s arm and pulled her to her feet. He had an ice-cold stare. “You don’t have to worry about anyone barging in now.”
Yun Dai frowned.
This jerk seemed rather skinny and frail, but he was especially strong.
“Tell me.” Zhao Yuanjing let go of her and then looked sternly into her eyes. “Who instructed you to do this? Who gave you the guts to do such a thing?”
Yun Dai took two steps back. Her arm felt like it was on fire.
She suppressed her anger and said, “Your Highness, you accuse me of drugging you, but what evidence do you have? Are you trying to say that I was the one who asked you to go to the kitchen last night?”
He was the one who had gone to the kitchen by himself in the first place.
Zhao Yuanjing was so annoyed that he scoffed. “It was so late last night, and everyone else had already gone to bed. Why were you the only one in the kitchen?”
“Why was I there so late? Doesn’t Your Highness know?” Yun Dai was seething with rage inside, but she kept her voice calm and collected. “Yesterday, you ordered the kitchen to send a second plate of pig intestines for Lady Lin of Decorous Service’s banquet. Then Lady Lin of Decorous Service called me over to reprimand me. That’s why I returned to the kitchen so late. After I got back to the kitchen, I felt very unwell and was looking for some water to drink. I didn’t expect you to…”
Suddenly, Yun Dai thought of something.
It was clear that there had been something abnormal about her body the night before.
And judging from Zhao Yuanjing’s reactions, last night hadn’t been something normal for him either.
They had both behaved abnormally the night before.
In that case, logically speaking, before they’d started feeling strange, they had both been in the same place.
That was Lady Lin of Decorous Service’s residence, Cloud Light Court.
When Yun Dai thought about this, she glanced up at Zhao Yuanjing.
It was obvious that Zhao Yuanjing had thought of the same thing.
Such a lowly kitchen helper would probably not have had the guts to actually put anything into the food.
Besides, everything that he had eaten last night had also been eaten by the other ladies. And nothing had happened to them.
But if it turned out that the person who had tried some funny business turned out to be Lin Yueniang, then that was much more probable.
Last night, he had taken a cup of tea in her room…
As Zhao Yuanjing was thinking about this, he glanced at Yun Dai.
He suddenly noticed that there was something strange about this woman’s face.
Her face looked dark and weather-beaten, but there was a patch of fair skin near her right eye.
At the same time, he suddenly realized that this woman’s eyes were very pretty.
They were round, bright, and clear. Her eyelashes were long and dense as well.
It was just that right now this lovely pair of eyes were glowering with fury.
Zhao Yuanjing looked at her a bit more, and then his hand suddenly reached out and rubbed that area of fair skin.
Yun Dai got a fright and took a step back as she looked at him warily.
Zhao Yuanjing looked at his fingers and saw that there was something grayish on them.
He raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Your Highness.” Yun Dai spoke after taking another two steps back and maintaining a safe distance from him. “I feel that last night must have been a misunderstanding, so I hope you can investigate this matter properly. I am nothing but a lowly, insignificant kitchen helper, and I just want to quietly work and earn enough money to raise my son. I will never, ever dare to dream of climbing any higher or becoming anything greater than this.”
“You have a son?” Zhao Yuanjing asked suddenly.
“That’s right,” replied Yun Dai honestly.
The palace had all her documents and records, so there was nothing she could hide.
Zhao Yuanjing thought to himself, “So she’s actually someone else’s wife.”
Then he wondered how he could make her get a divorce. He was the crown prince, so he couldn’t possibly share a woman with another man.