The Witch in the Woods: The Transmigration of Hazel-Anne Davis
Chapter 53: The Truth or A Lie

Chapter 53: The Truth or A Lie

They rolled me out of bed too early. Zero Dark Thirty wasn’t the same when there was no clock, but I was pretty sure that I had just fallen asleep when the first maid entered my room.

I didn’t know why. The banquet wasn’t until evening. That meant there was no real reason for the maids to be knocking on my door while the moon still lingered in the sky, whispering about morning preparations like I was about to be sacrificed instead of attending a banquet for the Emperor to show off.

Qian’er, the steward that I had chosen, hovered by the edge of my mattress, her hair neatly braided and her eyes sparkling with far too much enthusiasm for someone her age... or this time of day.

"It’s still dark," I groaned, burying my face into the pillow. Hell, if they had come with an energy drink or coffee, I might have at least tried to be pleasant, but there wasn’t even a single cup of tea in their hands.

"But if we wait too long, the palace stylists will complain," she whispered, as if the fear of a grumpy makeup matron would light a fire under me. "They sent word. They’re expecting you in the dressing wing before the hour of chen."

I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "You know I’m going to murder something before breakfast, right?"

Qian’er smiled nervously. "Perhaps start with combing your hair? You don’t really have to move a lot for that."

------

By the time I was bundled into the carriage with my hair pinned, my body powdered, and multiple layers of silk stiffening around me like a wearable prison, I no longer felt tired. I felt annoyed.

Even Zhu Mingyu gave me a side glance as he climbed into the carriage beside me. "You look," he said, searching for the right word, "decorated."

Seriously, I spent more than five hours getting ready, and the only word he could think of was ’decorated’?!? I think I had just chosen my first victim. I turned my head slowly I stared at him in his court attire. "Keep going. Say something charming. I dare you," I hissed, my teeth bared.

He laughed gently under his breath, the sound warm against the cold air. "I was going to say beautiful. But I felt like living today."

Smart man.

Zhao Meiling was not invited into the main carriage, even though she had insisted on coming. Given the fact that her father was going to be there to babysit, I didn’t say no, but I wasn’t happy about it. In fact, I wasn’t happy with any of it.

I will fully admit that it gave me a bit of satisfaction to know that she rode with the servants. Of course, she was probably fuming the entire way, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have to listen to it. She had taken over my afternoon yesterday, and that was more than enough of my attention.

-----

The palace was glittering with anticipation. Silken banners fluttered from marble towers, and the scent of plum blossoms wafted through the courtyards like an omen. The outer gates were flanked with guards in red and gold, and already, the ministers and nobility had begun to arrive.

We hadn’t even crossed into the main courtyard before a eunuch bowed low and delivered the first summons. "His Majesty is requesting the Crown Prince’s presence in the Hall of Jade Harmony," the man said, his eyes never leaving the ground. Zhu Mingyu nodded, already turning to go.

"And Her Majesty the Empress," the eunuch continued, "would like to speak privately with the Crown Princess before the banquet."

My eyes narrowed just slightly. He looked nervous, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Have someone escort Zhao Meiling to her father," I said at last. "We wouldn’t want her to get lost and cause trouble for everyone."

The eunuch nodded his head frantically as he gestured for one of the lower ranking eunuchs to do just that.

"Let’s get this show on the road," I said once Zhao Meiling had been taken away. I had no idea why the Empress wanted to see me, but I wasn’t going to say no.

-----

The Empress’ courtyard, palace, whatever the building within a building was call, was the same as before. While I had appreciated the color red before, now the sight of the silks and rugs and dragons and phoenixes was making me want to puke.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," I said, coming to a stop in front of where Zhu Mingyu’s mother sat. I knew the thing doubled as two seats and a table as well as a bed in the evening, but all that stuck in my mind was all the concubines back home who were literally stuck in bed for the majority of their lives.

"Zhao Xinying," smiled the woman warmly as she dismissed everyone around her. "Come up here and have some tea with me. Tell me, how has the past day been?"

"Your loving son decided that we had to go to Prime Minister Zhao’s house," I sighed, walking up to the furniture and sitting down beside the woman. She poured me a cup of tea and handed it to me.

"I take it you didn’t want to?" mused the Empress, a soft smile on her face as she reached out for the plate of snacks. Handing it to me, too, she waited for me to try one.

"I don’t even remember the man," I admitted. "Let alone everyone else in that mansion. Now I’m stuck with a little sister that I am pretty sure that I can’t kill."

"And here was I thinking that you understood how these things worked," murmured the Empress. "You can kill whoever you want, you just need to not have it linked back to you. Now, once you become the Empress, then you don’t have to worry about that either."

I hummed, biting into a soft peach colored cake. The scent of peaches surrounded me, and I relaxed even more. "So, it’s excusable as long as I’m not caught. Done," I purred, thinking about all the little things I could do to make Meiling’s life a living hell.

She wasn’t happy with me, but I was furious with her.

"Did you need a poison or anything?" offered the Empress like it was a normal question.

"I am the poison," I assured the woman. She cocked her head to the side, a bright smile on her face.

"So I didn’t imagine feeling better after you touched my hand," she nodded, almost to herself.

"I can heal with my touch," I affirmed, letting her know that not only could I do it, but I had healed her. "I can also kill. Two sides of a not-so-same coin"

"Oh?" purred the woman. She was probably in her 40s, but the way she was looking at me, her eyes wide and almost bouncing in her seat, made her look that much younger. "Do tell."

Shaking my head, I chuckled softly. "I mean you and yours no harm, but some secrets are better kept close to the chest."

"But you did heal me," pressed the Empress, her eyes burrowing into me. "I didn’t just imagine it. The palace doctors are at a loss. They can’t figure out how I was cured after all these years."

"I bet," I sneered. "It can’t be all that easy to make sure that only one person gets TB when you live in such close quarters with others."

"I just wish—" she started before I held up my hand.

"Nope," I told her with a firm shake of my head. "Where I come from, that is a banned word. There is none of that, unless you are willing to make a sacrifice. I suggest that you purge that word from your very thoughts."

"I thought you didn’t know where you came from," said the Empress, a mask going over her face as she stared at me. "Wasn’t that what you said? That you had no memories of the Left Prime Minister? Or was that a lie?"

"Don’t worry, Wei Lanyue," came a voice that I knew as well as I knew my own parents’ voices. "The Little Wolf doesn’t lie if she can help it."