Transmigrated as the Vampire Alpha of the Omega Heroine - Chapter 44

“Earlier today at the rock garden, I saw my younger sister bringing tea to His Majesty… though she left shortly after,” the Crown Prince added.

“So that’s how it is…”

Everyone had shared their timelines by now. Aside from the newly returned royal son-in-law and the old general, the rest had been present in the palace for quite some time.

Moreover, the two individuals with the closest blood ties to the deceased seemed particularly suspicious.

“Old General, why did you come to the rear courtyard?” the royal son-in-law suddenly asked, as if just remembering this detail.

“The banquet wine ran out, and your servants were all too scrawny to carry more. I couldn’t wait for them, so I asked for directions and came to fetch some for the men outside. Who knew I’d walk in to see the Crown Prince chasing the Prime Minister?” The old general patted his armor, brushing off nonexistent dust.

“Let’s all look around, there might be clues,” the Crown Prince said, rising to inspect the rooftop where the Prime Minister had been earlier.

The royal son-in-law turned to the princess, who had just finished the wedding chamber rites with him, and whispered, “Would you like to come with me?”

The timid princess couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone with the corpse.

“Alright,” she replied softly, placing her small hand in his.

The old general and the Prime Minister headed to the front courtyard where the princess had been earlier, while the Crown Prince climbed the rooftop alone. The royal son-in-law and the princess searched the garden the Crown Prince had mentioned.

The rock garden in the estate wasn’t particularly impressive after all, the son-in-law’s family wasn’t wealthy. His father was merely a fourth-rank military officer. No one knew how his daughter had gotten so lucky, rising from a minor deputy to slaying an enemy commander single-handedly, and now marrying into royalty.

“Instant knockout powder,” the royal son-in-law muttered, picking up a half-used medicinal pouch hastily discarded among the rocks.

The rock garden’s position was ideal, hidden from view, yet offering a clear line of sight to the rear courtyard’s main entrance.

“There seem to be blade marks here,” the princess noted, running her fingers along a jagged edge.

“Indeed…” The royal son-in-law pressed her hand against the rock and felt a sizable protrusion. Instinctively, she pushed it and a hidden door slid open within the rock formation, revealing a concealed space.

Hand in hand, they ventured inside. The passage led to another door, which opened into an unremarkable room.

The room was in disarray, as though someone had rummaged through it.

“This… looks like Elder Brother’s jade pendant,” the princess said, picking up the object buried beneath scattered books.

The Crown Prince had been here.

“Did you know about this place, husband? It seems to be a secret chamber in your family’s estate.”

The royal son-in-law shook her head. She hadn’t known about this hidden space. Searching the room, they uncovered several clues, even finding another button that opened a passage leading directly to the rear courtyard’s chamber.

When they emerged from the secret passage, the others had also arrived.

Their expressions shifted at the sight of the couple stepping out of the hidden path.

Kneeling at the passage entrance, the royal son-in-law wiped a hand across the ground. “There’s blood here too. It seems His Majesty may not have been killed in the chamber, though I don’t understand why the blood trail breaks off.”

“Hmph, ask the old general about this. After we parted, I went to check the room where you fetched the wine. A bloodstained cloth was missing from there.” The Prime Minister flung out a torn piece of cloth, his words sharp as he pointed at the old general.

“It was you who sneaked in through the secret passage and killed the Emperor!” The Prime Minister jabbed his finger at the old general’s nose, his demeanor fierce.

“How long has it been since I entered the rear courtyard? Could I have boldly emerged from the secret passage while you were eavesdropping on the roof, dragged the Emperor into the passage to kill him, then gone through the unnecessary trouble of pulling him back out without any blood, and arranging him properly? Besides, do you think the martial skills of the eunuchs guarding him are for show? How could they not resist if I had done such a thing? Or do you think your hearing is so poor that you couldn’t hear such a commotion?”

“I—” The Prime Minister was left speechless and silently retreated to the side.

Everyone took their seats, each holding evidence as they questioned the suspects once more.

They went over the timeline again.

The Crown Prince admitted that he had spent most of the past three hours in the secret passage, seemingly searching for something important. The old general had not encountered him in the passage but had seen the Crown Prince chasing after the Prime Minister, who had been eavesdropping from the roof of the outer courtyard.

The Princess appeared to have been in secret correspondence with someone. Traces of burned letters were found in the corner of the front courtyard where she had stayed, with remnants of her lipstick still visible on the unburned parts.

The Prime Minister’s martial skills were poor, and obvious climbing marks were left on the roof, indicating he had made quite a noise when ascending yet no one inside had heard him.

A hurried knock came from the door, it was a palace physician. “I was summoned by the Emperor to deliver his medicine. These past few days, His Majesty complained of discomfort and even asked me to examine him yesterday. Today, while consulting with other physicians, I discovered he had been poisoned with the ‘Eight-Day Toxin.’ He was only one dose away from a lethal amount, so I rushed here with the antidote.”

Poisoned?

“Go check on him immediately!”

The physician stumbled forward and knelt beside the body, examining it. “Y-yes… this is indeed the effect of the poison…”

“What is the ‘Eight-Day Toxin’?”

“Colorless and odorless, but after eight doses, the victim falls into a coma and dies within an hour of the final dose, with their blood immediately clotting.”

The Crown Prince pulled the physician over to the eunuch’s body. “Then examine him too.”

The physician hesitated. “I’m not a coroner, I don’t know much about this.”

“Look carefully!” The Crown Prince seemed agitated, desperate to prove something.

“I don’t think it’s the Eight-Day Toxin. He was simply stabbed to death.” The physician, thoroughly frightened, hastily backed away.

“How does the Eight-Day Toxin work? What does it look like?” No one had found any trace of the so-called toxin.

The physician rummaged in his bag and produced a vial of liquid and a brush. “Anything that turns red when brushed with this solution contains the Eight-Day Toxin.”

The Emperor’s son-in-law took the items and instinctively walked toward the teacup in the room.

The prince’s expression shifted for a moment before he exhaled a heavy breath: “I confess, the knife wound on His Majesty was made by me, but I didn’t poison him. Earlier I thought I was the murderer, so I lied. I wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation from the secret passage rather, when I entered the passage, His Majesty and his personal eunuch were already inside. In my panic, I blew instant knockout powder at the eunuch, then without thinking, grabbed the short knife from the eunuch’s hand and wounded His Majesty. But he wasn’t dead yet, so I first dealt with the eunuch before wrapping up the body and moving it to the backyard house. However, when I tried to move His Majesty into the room to stage it as an assassin attack, his bleeding suddenly stopped. Thinking back now, he must have died from poisoning.”

An alpha nearby grew impatient: “This makes no sense, why would you confess outright? What prince trying to kill his own father would just admit it? Even if he wasn’t dead, you’d hide it, how else would you inherit the throne?!”

“Shut up! I was afraid you’d all vote for me. This role is too hard to play, it scared me to death. I thought for sure I was the obvious wolf.” The male alpha playing the prince patted his chest and sighed in relief.

“The tea changed color.” The imperial son-in-law presented the altered tea to the group, then silently looked at the princess.

The Eight-Day Poison, she was the one who administered it.

The delicate little princess switched personalities in an instant, yet she remained completely calm, speaking lightly: “It wasn’t me. Today was my seventh dose.”

Her words tacitly admitted she had been poisoning him.

“Why would you harm Father?!” The prince stared at his sister in shock.

“That’s exactly what I’d like to ask you, Your Highness. Even if you were caught eavesdropping, was killing necessary? And what exactly were you searching for in the secret chamber of my residence?” The imperial son-in-law set the teacup aside, shielding the princess behind him as he turned to the prince.

“The prince also had the means to poison,” the prime minister added.

“Double precautions seem excessive. Besides, I examined the wound, it was clearly made in haste,” the old general interjected.

The princess, who had concealed much evidence, appeared unruffled. She scanned the room, then smiled, her gaze settling on the prince: “Why don’t you all search each other? Is my poison really the only one here?”

She seemed certain the prince was the culprit, yet poison was found on the imperial son-in-law and the old general though not the Eight-Day Poison.

Three people who had shown no motive suddenly became suspects, while the two initially most suspicious now seemed like mere bystanders.

The case reached a deadlock. The evidence they had gathered was too scant to solve the mystery, but with the scripted murder game’s time running short, the shop owner handed them additional clues: fragments of correspondence between the imperial son-in-law and a mysterious figure, the old general’s enigmatic talisman, and a silver locket the princess had kept hidden which appeared to match a silver pendant on the imperial son-in-law, along with a packet of Eight-Day Poison discarded in a common area.

Gu Li noticed the girl beside him growing restless, as if enduring something. After passing her own clues to the other three players, she leaned in cautiously: “Nian Nian?”

A small hand extended from the crimson wedding dress tightly grasped her arm. Jiang Nian’s face before her was flushed red, and as Gu Li leaned closer, she realized this wasn’t from any rouge.

Her heat cycle had begun.

The omega seemed mentally confused, still immersed in the murder mystery game they’d been playing. In a low voice, she murmured, “Elder Sister, I’ve already carried out your orders. Now we just await your final dose of poison for that wretched emperor. After today, you’ll become the true ruler of this imperial city.”

She revealed their in-game identities aloud, even though these were clearly written in the game materials.

The other three players looked at them in surprise, finding the scene somewhat absurd.

“Are you two… still roleplaying?”

Seems we’ve revealed too much…

Jiang Nian’s eyes grew increasingly unfocused. Gu Li felt a pang of guilt her stubborn alpha pride had pushed her partner to participate in this physically demanding game while nearing her heat.

Carefully lifting Jiang Nian, she apologized to the group, “I’m sorry, we need to leave immediately. Let me cover everyone’s game fees as compensation.”

Rushing out while carrying her partner, Gu Li quickly changed out of her costume, paid the shop owner via mobile payment, then headed straight for the nearest hotel.

The spacious room contained only one large bed.

“Elder Sister, I’m so hot… Elder Sister, can royal siblings marry? When that wretched emperor smiled and ordered me to wed you, I felt both sorrow and joy… Elder Sister… I’ve missed you so much…” Jiang Nian seemed feverish, continuously murmuring against Gu Li’s chest.

“Stop calling me Elder Sister, Nian. That bastard was just using you for his political ambitions. Call me Gu Li instead, I’d never trick you into administering seven doses of poison when eight were prepared, making you bear the blame alone.”

Gu Li kissed her beloved’s flushed cheeks and gently laid her on the bed.

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