Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Pei Nanyue hurriedly left the mansion and saw a servant from the Pei family rushing to deliver a message.

"Miss, Master wants you to return to the manor quickly. The Second Miss is injured and unconscious!"

"what?"

Hearing the servant's words, Pei Nanyue froze. She stood there, somewhat flustered and at a loss, staring wide-eyed at the servant.

"Who are you saying is injured?"

Upon seeing this, the servant hurriedly repeated, "It was the Second Miss, it was the Third Young Master of the Zhou family who brought the Second Miss back."

"Third Young Master? Zhou Jinghuai?" Pei Nanyue couldn't hide her surprise and quickly got onto the carriage road.

"Go home!"

She sat in the carriage, and although it was already April, her hands and feet were ice-cold and she was shivering all over.

She originally thought that her younger sister would return safely after helping Thirteen leave the city, and even guessed that if she really ran into the Fourth Princess, given the reputation of their Pei family, the princess would not be too harsh on her younger sister.

Her younger sister's injury was an outcome she had never anticipated. Although she had been mentally prepared after Shen Mu's reminder, the fierce glint in her eyes still betrayed her hatred for the Fourth Princess.

After a moment's thought, she lifted the carriage curtain and asked the servants standing beside the carriage outside.

"Why is that Zhou family member with the second young lady?"

"They said that the Second Miss went to pick up Mr. Thirteen in the morning and happened to run into him, so she gave him a ride on the way."

Pei Nanyue's breath hitched, and she turned to lower the curtain, muttering, "What a nuisance."

If she had known earlier that the Fourth Princess wouldn't be wary of the Pei family, she wouldn't have sent her younger sister to meet the Thirteenth Princess. If she had gone herself, she certainly wouldn't have let her sister get hurt.

A moment later, the carriage stopped at the back gate of the Pei residence.

Pei Nanyue disregarded everything else and hurried towards the mansion. Along the way, she saw a few servants carrying basins of bloody water out, and her heart skipped a beat.

She had watched her younger sister grow up since she was a child, and had never let her suffer any serious injury. Even though she had made many mental preparations along the way, when she saw this scene, she still couldn't help but gag a few times.

When she staggered to Pei Suisui's house, she saw that the door was tightly closed. Every now and then, people would bring out blood-stained cloths and murky bloody water, and then people outside would bring in clean water.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her sister's maid, Aru, kowtowing outside the house, muttering to herself as if she were praying to heaven.

When Pei Nanyue approached, she saw that Aru's knees were stained with blood, and the question that was about to come out of her mouth turned into concern.

"Aru! What exactly happened?"

Hearing the sound, Aru looked up and saw Pei Nanyue. The blood flowing from her smashed head, mixed with the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, instantly turned her face into a mess.

"Young Miss! Aru is so sorry, Second Miss!"

With tears welling up in her eyes, she began to kowtow to Pei Nanyue again.

Pei Nanyue felt annoyed. She didn't want to blame Aru right now; she just wanted to know what had happened. She pulled Aru's arm a few times with some effort.

"Tell me first, what exactly happened? How did the Second Miss end up like this?"

Aru sobbed.

"It was the Fourth Princess. The Fourth Princess stopped the carriage outside the city... She brought her men and surrounded us. The Second Miss thought we had arrived at our destination, and as soon as she got out of the carriage, she was arrested by her men."

"Was it the Fourth Prince who did it?" Pei Nanyue's tone was icy, and she staggered, almost unable to stand.

Aru looked up at Pei Nanyue somewhat humbly, wiped the blood off her face, and dared not reply.

"Say it now! Otherwise, I'll sell you off on behalf of the Second Miss!"

Pei Nanyue rarely lost her temper like this because she was worried about her younger sister. She staggered and braced herself on the stone table next to her so that she wouldn't collapse.

Seeing this, Aru dared not hide anything and quickly bowed down and kowtowed again.

"It was the guards brought by the Fourth Princess who coerced the Second Miss and forced Mr. Thirteen to show himself. The Second Miss refused and was taken to the edge of the cliff by the Fourth Princess's men, who forced Mr. Thirteen to appear. But for some reason, the guard pushed the Second Miss off the cliff."

"What did you say!"

Pei Nanyue slammed her hand on the stone table. The sound was dull, and the hard stone instantly cut her hand.

She seemed oblivious to the pain in her hands, her gaze fixed intently on Aru at her feet. She no longer possessed her usual aloof demeanor.

Aru kept kowtowing and apologizing.

"It's all my fault. I failed to protect the Second Miss. I don't know if that person had the Fourth Princess's tacit approval or made the decision on his own. I tried to stop the Second Miss, but the guard stopped me."

Aru's head slammed against the cobblestones like a pestle being pounded, and blood immediately gushed out.

Pei Nanyue stared coldly at her, her breath caught in her throat, and she felt dizzy and disoriented. Her vision went black and she fell backward.

"Miss-"

Inside the princess's residence, Thirteen was bound hand and foot with iron chains and kept in a secluded, dark room.

Perhaps because of its remote location and lack of sunlight, the house is damp and shady, and even the air feels particularly stale.

Thirteen remained in this pitch-black environment for a very long time. So long that she lost track of what time it was.

Just as she was about to unleash some of her divine power, the door to the dark room creaked open.

As the door opened, several guards carrying candlesticks walked in and stood on either side.

Thirteen was a little slow to react to the light, and squinted slightly as he saw the girl in luxurious clothes slowly walk in.

"It's you again?" Thirteen couldn't suppress his inner mockery as he looked at Duan Yuyan.

Duan Yuyan strolled in, and the guards behind her placed a round-backed chair beside her for her to sit down.

"As I said, we will meet again."

Duan Yuyan couldn't hide the smugness on her face; perhaps the sinister smile distorted her otherwise pretty face. She leaned back in the armchair, scrutinizing Thirteen, whose hands and feet were bound.

Thirteen looked up at Duan Yuyan with some weariness, making no attempt to hide the mockery in her eyes.

"Is the Fourth Princess planning to torture me into confessing?"

On her way here, she had already overheard Duan Yuyan's plan to kill herself in private. She had no intention of handing her over to the Dali Temple for trial as ordered by the Emperor.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. After all, weren't you so arrogant back in Yong'an Palace, you lowly commoner? Why aren't you so arrogant now?"

Duan Yuyan remembered that at the Spring Banquet, she had deliberately pushed Thirteen into the lake, intending to drown her. She never expected Thirteen to be so lucky, being rescued by Shen Mu.

Now she wanted to see who dared to break into her princess's residence to rescue Thirteen.

She looked at Thirteen thoughtfully. This boy was so handsome, yet he didn't catch her brother's eye?

It was all for naught after all her scheming. She remembered that ever since her brother was injured and poisoned, the Third Prince's residence would buy several servants every month to take care of him.

She initially didn't quite believe the rumors, until she saw it with her own eyes that time...

The servant, covered in blood, was carried out of his brother's room; his mangled body looked like a rag.

Duan Yuyan pulled herself back to reality and sneered.

"Break her legs first."