Chapter 201: Chapter-201

“You will,” Ken interrupted. “Because the Fourth Princess is very, very good at extracting information. And because whoever sent you just abandoned you the moment you got caught. Do you think they’ll rescue you? Protect you? Take responsibility?”

He watched that truth sink in.

“They’re going to deny everything. Claim you acted alone. Let you take all the consequences while they escape clean.” Ken’s voice was almost gentle. “Unless you talk first. Unless you give us names, evidence, proof. Then maybe—*maybe*—Her Highness will be merciful.”

The woman’s resistance crumbled visibly. “The Fifth Concubine… she didn’t… it wasn’t her idea…”

“Whose idea was it?”

“I don’t know! I was just told—the Emperor waking would ruin everything—had to act now—kill him, frame the Fourth Princess—” The words tumbled out in a rush. “They said it would work. Said the guards were bribed. Said no one would catch me—”

“Who is ’they’?” Ken pressed.

“I don’t *know*! I only dealt with intermediaries—servants from other households—they paid me in gold and promised protection if anything went wrong—” She was crying now. “Please, I was just following orders, I didn’t want to—”

“The Fifth Concubine,” Ken said. “Is she the one who gave the orders? Or is she being used too?”

“She… she knew. She approved. But the plan came from someone else. Someone higher up. Someone who wanted the Fourth Princess destroyed and the Emperor dead and—” The woman choked on her own words. “Please, I don’t know more than that, I swear, I was just the weapon, not the hand—”

The door opened.

Everyone turned.

Elara walked in, dressed simply, expression absolutely neutral. Behind her, Demerti carried a leather case—probably documentation materials. Two more Beast Knights flanked the doorway.

Elara looked at the restrained woman. At the evidence Mahir was holding. At Ken still sitting on the Emperor’s bed in rumpled blankets.

“Status,” she said quietly.

“Caught mid-assassination attempt,” Ken reported. “Armed with blades and poison. Carrying Your Highness’s hairpin—clearly intended as planted evidence. She’s confirmed the Fifth Concubine’s involvement but claims there’s someone higher in the conspiracy.”

Elara nodded once. Walked closer to the woman, who shrank back against Marcus’s restraining hands.

“What’s your name?” Elara asked. Her voice was flat. Empty. Somehow more frightening than anger would have been.

“L-Lian, Your Highness. I’m just a—”

“You’re a concubine,” Elara said. “Not a servant. The Emperor has several unofficial lovers outside his formal consort arrangements. You’re one of them.”

The woman—Lian—went dead white. “How did you—”

“I have excellent intelligence networks.” Elara gestured for Demerti to bring the case closer. “And I’ve been investigating palace relationships for weeks. The Fifth Concubine’s household has three people on staff who fit unusual patterns. You’re one of them. Officially listed as a lady’s maid, but you receive payments far above servant wages. You have private chambers that are too luxurious for your supposed rank. And you’re seen entering the Emperor’s quarters at odd hours.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“The Emperor liked to keep secrets. Private lovers made him feel powerful—having intimacy that even his official consorts didn’t know about. It was a game for him. And you were one of the pieces.”

Lian’s face crumpled. “He promised… he said if I was patient, if I served him well, eventually I’d be elevated to proper concubine status… I waited years…”

“And then he fell into a coma,” Elara said. “And suddenly your position became precarious. No protection. No status. Just a secret that could be exposed and used against you at any moment.”

“The Fifth Concubine found out,” Lian whispered. “About me. About the Emperor’s promise. She said… she said she’d help me. Protect me. If I helped her with something important.”

“Killing the Emperor and framing me.”

“She said you were dangerous. That you’d destroy everyone once you had full power. That the only way to survive was to remove both threats at once—the Emperor who’d abandoned us all by falling into a coma, and you who’d take revenge once he woke.” Lian looked up with desperate eyes. “She said it was self-defense. Survival. That we were all doomed if we didn’t act—”

“And you believed her,” Elara said.

“I had no choice! I’m nobody—no family, no protection, no legal status—if the Emperor wakes and I’m still just his secret, I’ll be discarded. Forgotten. I needed—” She stopped. “I needed to matter. To survive. Even if it meant…”

“Murder,” Elara finished. “Even if it meant killing the man you supposedly loved and framing an innocent woman for it.”

Lian looked away, shame and fear warring across her face.

Elara was quiet for a long moment.

Then she looked at Demerti. “Document everything. Full confession. Names, timeline, evidence locations. I want a complete record.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

She turned to Ken. “Take her to the secure holding cells. Not the public dungeons—somewhere isolated. No one sees her, no one speaks to her, until I’ve decided what to do with her testimony.”

“And the Fifth Concubine?” Ken asked.

“Not yet.” Elara’s voice was cold. “If we move on her now, whoever’s above her in the conspiracy will disappear. We use Lian’s confession to build a complete picture first. Then we move on everyone simultaneously.”

“Your Highness,” Lian said desperately. “If you let me go—if you show mercy—I’ll tell you everything, I’ll testify against—”

“You’ll do that anyway,” Elara said. “Because your only other option is execution for attempted regicide. Mercy isn’t a negotiation. It’s something I might choose to grant after you’ve proven useful.”

She looked at the woman with those empty, calculating eyes.

“Take her away. I’ll decide her fate later.”

Marcus and Mahir pulled Lian toward the door. She didn’t resist—just went limp with despair, finally understanding that she’d been used and discarded by everyone involved.

The door closed behind them.

Leaving just Elara, Ken, and Demerti in the Emperor’s chambers.

Ken stood from the bed, stretching muscles that had been still for too long. “That was well-planned, Your Highness.”

“It was necessary.” Elara walked to the real monitoring equipment, checking the Emperor’s actual vital signs. Still stable. Still unconscious. “The surveillance devices told me someone was watching my investigation closely. The only way to draw them out was to create a crisis they couldn’t ignore.”

“The rumor about the Emperor waking.”

“Yes. I calculated that whoever poisoned me would panic. Either try to kill me before he woke, or kill him to prevent him from waking at all.” She touched one of the monitoring crystals gently. “I guessed correctly.”

“And if they’d chosen to target you instead?”

“Then I’d have caught them at my chambers instead of his.” Elara’s voice was matter-of-fact. “I had teams positioned at both locations. Whichever target they chose, we’d be ready.”

Demerti finished his notes and looked up. “Your Highness, the Fifth Concubine will know something went wrong when Lian doesn’t return. Should we move to secure her immediately?”

“No. Let her panic. Panicked people make mistakes.” Elara turned away from the Emperor’s still form. “We watch her for the next twenty-four hours. See who she contacts. Who she tries to warn. Use her reaction to map the rest of the conspiracy.”

“And if she flees?”

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