Chapter 8: Justice
"She... she faked it?"
"To frame the Eldest Miss? To cause such chaos?"
"How insidious! And she looked so innocent!"
Xiao Chen’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. He looked at Lin Wan, his prior heroic affection warring with his massive, fragile royal pride. He had been played for a fool. He had nearly executed his legitimate fiancée over a theatrical lie, in public.
"Wan'er," Xiao Chen ground out, his voice trembling with suppressed rage. "Explain yourself."
"I... I..." Lin Wan stuttered, her eyes darting around frantically as the hostile glares of the entire family pinned her down.
[System Alert: Anomaly detected! The Villainess is deviating entirely from the script! Heroine Aura decreasing by 15%!]
Oh?* I thought, my eyes narrowing in delight at the sound of the System. Suffer, you parasite.
"Enough of this clown," I commanded, turning my back on her.
I walked past the humiliated pair and approached the divan where my grandmother lay. The Matriarch wasn't faking. She suffered from a chronic, severe blockage of her spiritual veins that had plagued her for years, a condition the Imperial Physicians deemed incurable.
"Luoyan, do not disturb her, she is too weak," an elder warned nervously.
Without asking for permission, I bypassed the physicians, pinched the Matriarch's jaw slightly, and slipped a second, undiluted drop of the pure Spring of Life onto her tongue.
A moment later, the Matriarch took a massive, shuddering gasp. Her eyes flew open.
The heavy, sickly grey pallor of her skin was instantly replaced by vibrant life. A wave of profound spiritual pressure, dormant for a decade, rolled off her body. She sat straight up, her chest heaving, her breathing deep and clear.
"My chest..." the Matriarch whispered in awe, pressing a hand over her heart. "The crushing pain... it's gone. The spiritual blockage... it has entirely cleared!"
The hall erupted into outright pandemonium. Curing the Matriarch’s chronic illness was an impossible feat!
The Matriarch looked at me, her sharp, elderly eyes filling with genuine tears. "Luoyan... my good granddaughter. What did you give me? You saved my life."
I knelt respectfully, bowing my head. "It was a secret elixir left by my late mother, Grandmother. It is my duty to protect this family. Unlike some," I stood up, shooting a glacial, murderous glare at Lin Wan, "who would use fake poison to cause you fatal distress on the morning of the Spring Festival just to satisfy her own petty jealousy. I only seek the prosperity of our bloodline."
The Matriarch’s gaze shifted to Lin Wan, and it hardened into unforgiving steel.
"Guards!" the Matriarch roared, her newly restored voice shaking the rafters. "Drag this treacherous bastard child to the ancestral hall! She is to kneel on the frozen slate for three days without food or water! If she dies, throw her body to the wild dogs!"
"No! Grandmother! Your Highness, save me!" Lin Wan shrieked as two burly guards grabbed her by the arms, dragging her ruthlessly across the stone floor. Her angelic facade was completely destroyed, replaced by the ugly, desperate screaming of a cornered rat.
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