“It seems now that the opportunity is lost,” Yu Shun’s gaze shifted slightly. “How did the Princess recognize the antidote?”

The antidote to the witchcraft poison was itself highly toxic.

There were few physicians who could prepare such an antidote, and even fewer who dared to use it if they succeeded.

Judging by Lu Qinghuai’s appearance within just three days, it seemed the poison had already been neutralized two days prior.

This meant that the antidote was administered on the day of the military drill, implying that as soon as Wen Yuesheng left the drill grounds, she had given Lu Qinghuai the antidote.

Wen Yuesheng replied, “I must thank someone from the Crown Prince’s side for informing me.”

Yu Shun was slightly stunned.

Her gaze met his, and she said coldly, “Tailan.”

The expression of Tailan, the man behind Yu Shun, changed dramatically.

The soldier skilled in witchcraft poison was someone Yu Shun had captured while attacking a small neighboring country of Haozhou.

That man was ruthless and incredibly difficult to defend against.

Although Yu Shun had captured him, he himself had also been poisoned by the witchcraft poison.

Later, the man was subdued by the Crown Prince, who provided Yu Shun with the antidote.

So, Yu Shun had experienced the effects of this poison before.

But…

That incident had been more than half a year ago.

How did Wen Yuesheng know?

Yu Shun looked at her, his expression unreadable, and after a long silence, he gave a faint, fleeting smile.

Twice they had clashed, and neither time had he gained the upper hand.

He was about to speak when a retainer behind him leaned in and whispered a few words in his ear.

The hunt was about to begin. He needed to join the Emperor of Dahui to add some festivity and could not stay long.

After he left, Lu Qinghuai supported his waist, turning to Wen Yuesheng. “I heard that this old… Crown Prince wants to marry you?”

He glanced in the direction Yu Shun had departed, his voice serious. “Yu Shun is a man with the heart of a wolf.”

“Though peace has been agreed for now, I always feel that his ambition to destroy our Dahui remains alive.” Lu Qinghuai, having defended the borderlands for years, knew Haozhou and its ruthless Crown Prince well.

His eyes flickered, and he looked at Wen Yuesheng with sincerity. “This man is no suitable match.”

Previously, he had not been close to Princess Sining, but this time, she had saved his life, and he owed her that.

He didn’t know the purpose behind Haozhou’s proposed marriage alliance, but a temporary ceasefire allowing Dahui to recover was a good thing.

However, for the woman sent to Haozhou… the outcome might not be so favorable.

Wen Yuesheng replied coolly, “I have no interest in him.”

She could kill people but not love them.

Lu Qinghuai, still recovering from his severe injuries, could not stay long and left the hunting grounds early.

After he departed, Zhang Yulin, the newly appointed martial officer, was obliged to participate in the hunt.

Before leaving, he shared some news with Wen Yuesheng.

“Word came from Lord Zhou—Madam Sun has ‘passed away from illness’.”

Wen Yuesheng showed no particular reaction.

Once Zhang Yulin left, she took Gu Yu with her to the imperial hunting grounds’ palace.

She had come here today to meet someone.

The palace was built some distance away, behind the royal hunting grounds.

At this moment, as the hunt had just begun, the path to the palace was unusually quiet, devoid of people.

Other than Wen Yuesheng, Gu Yu, and the palace servant leading the way, there was no one else around.

Since the palace was still within the hunting grounds, they occasionally saw rabbits or pheasants darting through the undergrowth.

The forest was dense, with tall trees and flourishing flowers and leaves.

Dressed in a blue robe, Wen Yuesheng moved calmly through the woods, her expression cold.

If not for the fact that this was part of the royal hunting grounds, it would have felt like a tranquil retreat deep in the mountains.

However, midway through their walk, Wen Yuesheng suddenly stopped.

Gu Yu, startled, asked, “Princess, what’s wrong?”

She followed Wen Yuesheng’s gaze but saw only thick, green foliage.

Strangely, the surroundings were unusually quiet, and the rabbits and pheasants they had seen earlier were nowhere to be found.

“Help! Help… Ah!”

Suddenly, a piercing, blood-curdling scream echoed from the distance.

The instant the sound rang out, Gu Yu shivered involuntarily, her expression changing.

Moments later, a figure burst out from the dense forest.

It was a woman, her clothing torn and ragged, one shoe missing, and her left arm covered in blood and gore.

Her right leg, now shoeless, was similarly bloodied.

Covered in blood and with terror written across her face, she ran desperately forward, her ruined right leg dragging uselessly behind her.

Her forehead was bruised and swollen from a fall, and her expression of sheer panic and despair suggested something horrifying was chasing her.

The appearance of this woman was so sudden that Gu Yu had no time to react.

But at that moment, a massive beast emerged from the forest behind her.

“Thud!”

The instant it appeared, the palace servant leading them fell to the ground in terror, his legs giving out.

The bow and arrows on his back scattered across the ground.

The weapons were prepared for Wen Yuesheng, as all members of the royal family carried them, though she had never used hers.

The servant cried out, “T-Tiger!”

Behind the woman was an enormous beast—its golden fur striped with black, its powerful frame exuding pure menace—a giant tiger!

“Roar—!” The ferocious beast’s claws were drenched in blood, its fur stained crimson.

Its tiger-like eyes locked intently onto the woman before it.

The woman, now utterly exhausted, fell to the ground in panic as the beast approached.

Her mangled right leg, already useless, dragged behind her as despair filled her gaze.

Scrambling on all fours through the dirt, her blood mixed with the earth, leaving a crimson trail in her wake.

But the more she struggled, the more the beast grew frenzied.

Its claws tore into the ground as it arched its back, opening its blood-soaked maw to lunge at the woman’s uninjured arm.

This terrifying scene left Gu Yu paralyzed with fear, her mind blank.

The beast’s assault was not close, yet its foul stench seemed to reach her as if carried on the wind.

She stood frozen, too scared to move, as the beast’s jaws neared the woman’s arm.

Just as the gruesome moment seemed inevitable, Gu Yu’s vision went black for a split second.

Then, she heard a deafening whoosh.

Startled, she hurriedly looked up, only to see Wen Yuesheng in front of her, bowstring drawn.

Though the beast was far away, a distance that only someone with extraordinary strength, like Zhang Yulin, could cover with an arrow, Wen Yuesheng released her shot.

“Swish—!”

The arrow streaked through the air like a spear, slicing through the silence with a thunderous sound.

With unstoppable force, it pierced through the beast’s gaping throat, skewering its entire body.

The event unfolded in an instant.

The once-rampaging beast was pinned to a massive tree behind it, lifeless from head to tail.

Crack.

The arrow embedded itself into the branches, sending shockwaves and splinters through the tree.

The sound snapped everyone out of their stupor.

The woman, who had been on the brink of death, was so stunned by her sudden survival that she remained motionless, unable to process what had just happened.

Gu Yu, standing beside Wen Yuesheng, finally exhaled a long sigh of relief.

“Tch, you can’t even keep track of one person. What use are you?”

“Go find her now! If you don’t, you’ll take her place!”

A harsh voice rang out, causing the woman on the ground to tremble violently.

She curled into a ball, her wounds forgotten, her face pale as paper, her terror reaching its peak.

A man emerged from the forest.

He had a gloomy, sunken face and a sharp, predatory gaze.

The skin beneath his cold eyes was dark and bruised.

He approached, his expression twisting when he saw the woman on the ground.

He sneered at first but froze when he noticed the beast nailed to the tree.

His face darkened as he hurried to inspect the beast, confirming it was lifeless. His fury exploded.

“Who?! Who did this?!”

His piercing eyes scanned the beast and the woman before landing on Wen Yuesheng in the distance.

He paused, furrowing his brow. “Princess Sining?”

His gaze lingered on the bow in Wen Yuesheng’s hands for a moment, but he seemed unsure.

The arrow that had killed his beloved pet struck with a force beyond normal comprehension.

A frail woman like Princess Sining couldn’t possibly possess such strength—or so he thought.

While he recognized Wen Yuesheng, she had no memory of him.

With an icy tone, she asked Gu Yu, “Who is he?”

Gu Yu snapped out of her daze and whispered, “…He’s Liang Can, a distant cousin of Prince Jingkang.”

Prince Jingkang’s mother, Consort Shu, was one of the four imperial consorts.

Her father had been a key minister in the late emperor’s cabinet, but her brothers were disappointments who relied on family connections for minor official positions.

Despite their lack of political success, the Liang family was bustling with activity.

Consort Shu’s two brothers alone had over a dozen concubines, producing numerous illegitimate children.

As a result, Prince Jingkang had countless cousins, with Liang Can being one of them—so unremarkable that Wen Yuesheng couldn’t recall him.

Liang Can gave Wen Yuesheng a once-over.

The area was deserted, and Wen Yuesheng’s beauty drew his gaze.

He stared for a moment before feigning casual curiosity.

“Did you happen to see anyone else pass by, Your Highness?”

He hesitated before adding, “Was it the young master Zhang who killed my beloved pet?”

He referred to the beast as his “beloved pet,” sending shivers down Gu Yu’s spine.

Her unease grew as her instincts warned her something was wrong with this man.

She wanted to urge Wen Yuesheng to leave, but before she could, Wen Yuesheng spoke coldly.

“It wasn’t him.”

Liang Can’s expression softened slightly upon hearing her denial.

The tiger had been captured from the outskirts of the capital and kept as his new plaything.

Now that it was dead so quickly, he was particularly annoyed.

Liang Can, unloved in his own family, had developed a violent and erratic personality.

When servants failed to care for his pets, he often flew into a rage, even forcing them to eat the animals’ waste as punishment.

But this was no ordinary servant before him—it was a princess.

Suppressing his temper, Liang Can prepared to leave, only for Wen Yuesheng to speak again.

Her voice was as cold and emotionless as before: “I killed it.”

Liang Can abruptly turned back.