Title: Reborn as the Poison Duchess: The System Crowned Me Empress
Chapter 4: Blood at the Banquet
One month later. The Royal Autumn Banquet.
The atmosphere in the imperial pavilion was suffocatingly tense beneath the veneer of opulent celebration. Golden leaves drifted down from the ginkgo trees, landing on tables laden with roasted meats and jade jugs of wine.
It had been a month since Lu Yao became a concubine. She was currently standing obediently behind Shen Ze’s seat like a subservient dog, though her eyes constantly darted toward my table with murderous intent. Her neck was permanently scarred from the tea. Shen Ze had barely spoken to me all month, spending his days locked in his study, secretly plotting with the Third Prince's emissaries.
I sat at my own solitary table, casually peeling a green grape. Across the pavilion, the Third Prince Li Xuan was drinking heavily, surrounded by flattering, sycophantic officials. To his far left sat the Ninth Prince, Li Jin, isolated in his wheelchair, completely ignored by the court.
[System Alert: Poison Detected in Host’s Wine Cup.] [Type: Heart-Rending Powder. Effect: Induces violent cardiac arrest within thirty seconds. Traceless.]
I paused, my fingers hovering over my silver goblet. I glanced out of the corner of my eye.
Lu Yao was giving me a microscopic, trembling smile.
Ah. So impatient. She had bribed my pouring maid.
Instead of drinking, I stood up slowly, picking up my silver goblet. The soft chatter of the nearby nobles faded as I walked across the pavilion. I bypassed my husband's table completely, my crimson silk robes trailing behind me, and walked straight toward Li Jin.
"Ninth Prince," I said, my voice echoing in the sudden silence of the pavilion. "It is a cold autumn. Allow me to offer you a toast to warm your blood."
Li Jin looked up at me, his dark eyes entirely unreadable. He glanced at the cup, then at me. "My body is frail, Duchess. My physicians have forbidden wine."
"Oh, you shouldn't drink this anyway, Your Highness," I smiled sweetly. "It is far too potent."
I turned on my heel, my smile instantly vanishing, replaced by a mask of glacial fury. I walked directly to Shen Ze’s table. Before anyone could react, before Shen Ze could even open his mouth to question me, my hand shot out like a viper.
I grabbed Lu Yao by the jaw, my fingers digging painfully into her cheeks, forcing her mouth open.
"Drink up, little sister!" I commanded.
With my other hand, I shoved the silver goblet against her teeth and poured the entire measure of poisoned wine down her throat.
"GLURK—!" Lu Yao choked violently, her eyes bulging in sheer terror as the liquid rushed down her esophagus.
"Lu Wan! Are you insane?!" Shen Ze screamed, leaping to his feet and drawing his decorative ceremonial sword from his belt.
The entire pavilion erupted in absolute chaos. Noblewomen shrieked, dropping their fans. Officials scrambled backward.
"She poured my wine," I said coldly, releasing her jaw and casually wiping my hand with a silk handkerchief. "I merely rewarded her with it. If it is fine wine, she should thank me. If it is poison... well, we will know in about five seconds, won't we?"
Lu Yao clawed frantically at her own throat, her face instantly turning a horrifying shade of purple. She collapsed to the floor, convulsing and vomiting violently.
"Save me..." Lu Yao rasped, blood leaking from her nose. "Duke, save me! It's Heart-Rending Powder! The antidote is in my sleeve!"
The absolute silence that crashed over the banquet was deafening. She had just publicly confessed to carrying poison and attempting to assassinate a First-Rank Duchess.
"You..." Shen Ze looked at the dying Lu Yao, then up at me, realizing his entire reputation and his life were crumbling in real-time. "You knew!"
"Guards!" Li Xuan stood up, his face twisted in fury. He realized I was destroying his most useful pawn within my household. "The Duchess has gone mad! She is committing murder in the presence of royalty! Arrest her!"
The heavily armored Imperial Guards rushed forward, drawing their spears.
"Who dares?!" I roared, my voice vibrating with the inner qi of my martial arts.
I reached into my sleeve, pulled out the heavy, solid gold tiger tally—the Lu family military seal—and slammed it down onto the jade table with a resounding CRACK.
"I hold the seal of the Northern Army!" I declared, my eyes sweeping over the terrified guards. "Any man who points a weapon at me will be charged with military mutiny and executed along with his nine generations!"
The Imperial Guards froze instantly. Their spears wavered. Even Li Xuan hesitated, his face turning pale. The Lu family army was stationed just outside the capital; to anger me was to invite a siege.
But suddenly, the sound of tearing silk ripped through the tense air.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Three men, previously dressed as subservient palace eunuchs pouring wine at the edge of the pavilion, suddenly threw off their outer robes. They drew jagged, hidden blades from their sleeves and lunged—not at me, but directly at the isolated, crippled Ninth Prince!
"Assassins!" a minister screamed.
Total pandemonium broke out. Li Xuan’s eyes flashed with a dark, twisted triumph.
He arranged this, I realized instantly. He used my drama with Lu Yao as a distraction to eliminate his biggest hidden rival!
Li Jin sat perfectly still in his wheelchair, staring calmly at the incoming blades. He had no weapons. He couldn't move his legs. He was a sitting duck.
[System Quest Triggered: Save the Future Emperor!] [Reward: The 'Miracle Marrow Pill' (Heals Paralysis).]
I didn't think. I moved.
With a burst of System-enhanced speed, I ripped a long, silver chopstick from the nearest table and threw myself into the path of the assassins, placing my body between them and Li Jin's wheelchair.
The first assassin's blade sparked violently against my golden hairpin as I barely deflected his downward strike. Without missing a beat, I drove the silver chopstick directly upward, burying it deep into his jugular.
Blood sprayed across my pale face like crimson cherry blossoms. The man gurgled and collapsed.
But the second assassin was already mid-air, slashing his jagged blade toward my exposed back. I was overextended. I couldn't dodge in time.
Suddenly, a powerful, vise-like hand gripped my waist.
I was violently yanked backward, pulled completely off my feet, and landed hard against a chest as solid as a fortress wall.
Li Jin.
He had pulled me directly onto his lap. With his free hand, he reached out and caught the second assassin's incoming blade barehanded.
The razor-sharp steel bit deep into his palm. Blood dripped rapidly onto his white silk robes, but Li Jin didn't even blink. His expression was that of a bored god swatting a fly.
With a terrifying, monstrous display of raw physical strength, Li Jin twisted his wrist.
SNAP.
The thick steel blade shattered in the assassin's hand. Before the man could even scream, Li Jin drove the broken, jagged piece of steel directly into the assassin's heart.
The third assassin, witnessing this impossible display of strength from a "cripple," dropped his weapon and fled into the ornamental trees.
The pavilion was deadly silent, save for the gurgling of Lu Yao fighting for her life on the floor, and the heavy breathing of the terrified nobles.
I sat on Li Jin’s lap, my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I stared up at his handsome, blood-spattered face. The "frail, crippled" prince was radiating an aura of pure, suffocating bloodlust that made even my battle-hardened soul shiver.
He looked down at me, his dark eyes intensely focused. He raised his bleeding hand, his thumb gently wiping a drop of the assassin's blood from my cheek.
"You are very reckless, Duchess," he whispered, his voice dark, husky, and entirely steady.
"And you," I breathed, realizing the sheer, corded muscle of the arm wrapped tightly around my waist, "are a very good liar, Your Highness."
"THE EMPEROR HAS ARRIVED!" a eunuch shrieked from the pavilion entrance.
The crowd parted as the aging Emperor, flanked by his personal elite guard, marched into the bloody pavilion.
Shen Ze, seeing the Emperor, immediately dropped to his knees, his eyes gleaming with desperate, rat-like cunning. This was his chance to turn the tables.
"Your Majesty!" Shen Ze wailed, pointing a trembling finger at me. "It is my vicious wife! She summoned these assassins to murder the Ninth Prince, and she poisoned my concubine to silence her! She is committing treason!"
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