It's Not In The Cherries

The Crown Prince frowned, in deep thought. He kept thinking as he massaged BaiYing's palms.

"Emm, the evidence was found in their room, whether the culprit is Yan or Bi, or even both, we do not know that for sure. But they will be investigated, fairly"

BaiYing looked at his scuffed hands when his skin was slightly peeled off. It's weird, he did not feel any pain at all. Until it was touched by the Crown Prince now. He found a lot of odd things here, if the maid wanted to poison him, why did they have to wait until the meal when so many people came? Wouldn't it be easier if there was no one around? And, if this time the target was concubine Ye, why do they have to wait for concubine Ye to go to the Plum pavilion to launch their action?

BaiYing wanted to tell the Crown Prince about what he thought, but, could it be able to help him?

"YingYing, what are you thinking of?" Luo Xiang asked, knowing BaiYing too well to know that the boy was deep in thought when he looked at him.

BaiYing shook his head. However, he shouldn't hide anything if he wanted to save his servants from the death penalty.

"Your Majesty, do you think their target is concubine Ye?" BaiYing asked.

LuoXiang thought and shrugged his shoulders.

"Em don't know either, but.." The Crown Prince stopped his hand.

"If it really Concubine Ye, they shouldn't have done it in the Plum Pavilion, why not attack her while in her pavilion? And, if it is you, they should've done it when no one came to visit, isn't that what are you thinking about right now?"

BaiYing frowned. Did the Crown Prince read his mind? How can it be the same with what's on his head?

"Em, you thought about that too?"

LuoXiang nodded.

"Yeah, this is quite strange. But maybe because the perpetrator wants to mess up the situation so that they think they can take a chance when everyone is gathered. However, the risk is that there could be more than one victim if they poisoned the food. It is possible that not only Concubine Ye ate it, but also YingYing, Concubine Fu, or Concubine Lui."

BaiYing looked at the Crown Prince.

"Um, earlier, actually I also had time to taste that cherries"

Hearing that Luo Xiang widened his eyes. 

"Really? Then did YingYing feel anything strange? Is it chest tightness or ... "

BaiYing lowered the Crown Prince's hand on his cheek.

"I'm alright, Your Majesty. I only tasted a little bit because it was too sour so I threw it up again."

"If all cherries are poisoned, even if you only taste a little, it would be the same result. It means the poison was not in those cherries?"

BaiYing also thought if the poison is not in the fruit then where can it be? While Concubine Ye only ate the cherries, and after that drank. There she was, drinking, Concubine Ye also had time to drink.

"What if, on drinking water?" BaiYing asked.

"What water?" Luo Xiang asked back.

BaiYing's eyes widened wide. He did remember, Concubine Ye, after finishing a few sour cherries, she then grabbed the water on the table and took a single sip. The juice was none other than BaiYing's which he had not touched yet.

BaiYing swallowed his saliva, if so, did it mean that the target was him? Because that was his juice, but the victim was concubine Ye.

BaiYing gripped Luo Xiang's hand tightly. Thinking it made his chest suddenly hurt. Imagine that concubine Ye was getting hurt because of him.

"Y-Your Majesty, what should I do? I make concubine Ye wretched."

The Crown Prince grabbed BaiYing's trembling hands. Calm him down.

"Hey, no, it's not because of you, what makes you think like that?"

BaiYing tries to take a deep breath while all the pressure keeps pushing in so hard and squeezes his chest. His heart ached and tightly gripped Luo Xiang's arm that was hugging him.

"Poor concubine Ye, she's a good girl. I shouldn't have invited them to eat. This shouldn't have happened if I'm not careless, it's all my fault. "

LuoXiang patted BaiYing's shaking shoulder.

"No, it's not your fault. Pull yourself together, we have to think about it, let's do this together, okay?" The Crown Prince lowered his face at BaiYing's lackluster face and pulled him in his arms.

"It's not your fault"

....

Bomm bomm boom!

Footsteps from outside the Crown Prince's study.

The Crown Prince just finished his report when he saw an Imperial guard appear at the door, immediately lowering his body in front of him.

"Report Your Majesty, His Majesty the Emperor has ordered the Crown Prince to return to the Imperial palace, there are important issues to be discussed"

The young guard was none other than one of the special guards who served beside the Emperor to convey all messages from him.

LuoXiang waved his hand at the clerk who handed him another pile of reports.

He glanced at BeiYau who then approached.

"Your Majesty"

"Bei, go back to the pavilion to look after YingYing, I don't want someone to take the opportunity to harm him when I'm not around. Even though the guards are quite strict I'm still worried"

BeiYau nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

...….

While in the detention room in one of the buildings not far from the Crown Prince's palace, BaiYing, followed by a servant, sneaked into the prison area.

"Your Majesty," whispered the little servant who followed him. A young boy perhaps not far from his age also hid behind the wall when he saw the guard passing them.

"We can't make people see us, Tu, they won't allow us to go to the detention room"

BaiYing waved his hand to ask the young servant called Tu. He is none other than his gardener to come out of hiding, both trot towards the door of the detention room. Tu brought a basket filled with food BaiYing had prepared everything to visit Yan and Bi there.

"Come on, hurry up," whispered BaiYing, pulling Tu's hand.

Shortly, the two entered the detention room and some of the guards who saw BaiYing passing by lowered their heads respectfully. It was not because he could not go there. All the eyes saw him strangely, soon the news about he was there would arrive at the Crown Prince's ears.

The detention room is dark, several rooms on the left side are used to temporarily lock the prisoners before being sent to the central prison outside the city. He eavesdropping the conversation from the prison guards outside earlier, that Yan and Bi's prison is located at the very end of the room. They hold them in one place. But, there were no sightings of his maids, only the dirty prisoners who were looking at him with their mouths almost drooling because BaiYing looked so attractive.

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