Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume #1)

145 Doesn't Have the Intelligence

The Heavenly Emperor unfurled the paper scroll and read through the content, his expression darkening further with every word. His son's trial had derailed from its chosen path? The soul-devouring dagger had been stolen? His son had almost been killed? What was this supposed to mean?!
He looked up at Li Yin with furrowed brows. "Since when did you know about this?"
Li Yin glanced at Yin Lin Lin again. "Your Majesty has already seen that there are many events that contributed to this case." He motioned to Shun Tao with a smile. "The Fate's Scribe noticed that His Highness' fate was derailing irreversible about a week ago."
Yin Lin Lin frowned. What was Li Yin saying there? His Highness? What did this have to do with the crown prince?!
"I, as well as the God of War, and other people were involved later on and starting from yesterday, we investigated the involvement of the idle goddess Yin Lin Lin in this case. It turned out that the servant girl the Fate's Scribe first asked to help him investigate had fallen in love with him. Since she felt distressed over the troubles he faced with His Highness' trial, she sought for a way to solve the problem. This was when the idle goddess Yin Lin Lin had her maid approach her." He turned to Yin Lin Lin once again. "I can't fathom how she thought of this but she told her to steal the soul-devouring dagger and kill his mortal reincarnation."
Rong Su stared at the God of Justice but his thoughts were already somewhere else. It had truly been his son that was attacked and almost injured with that cursed weapon? "That ... How was this prevented?"
Qiang Yan stepped forward before Li Yin had the time to say anything. "We're not completely sure on this matter yet but it was Qiang Wei of the dragon race who informed the two dragons Longjun has stationed here in the Nine Heavens to guard Jing He. The two guards I assigned to him heard and came to inform me of the attack."
Yin Lin Lin's face had already turned pale by now. How had the person that girl had talked about turned out to be the crown prince?! Why hadn't she told her so before? Then she never would have told her to use the soul-devouring dagger! Now that he was the person this concerned, there was no way she could get out of this. She knew the Heavenly Emperor long enough to understand that he would never let somebody hurt the people he loved. Especially not that son of his! After all, having that child and raising him to adulthood had been hard enough. Killing him and even threatening to destroy his soul ... there was no way this wouldn't end in death! No, she couldn't let this crime be heaped on her head! She had to get out of this somehow!
Yin Lin Lin turned to the three men next to her. "What are you even saying? I don't know any servant girl by that name! I already told you. Even if I knew, why would I get involved in her matters with the Fate's Scribe? Don't you think you're being ridiculous here? Even if I somehow took pity on her, I certainly wouldn't suggest for her to kill the crown prince! Who doesn't know how important he is to the Nine Heavens? Furthermore, I know the Heavenly Emperor since we were children. Would I really do something like that to his son?!"
Li Yin raised his chin. "I don't know either what you were thinking when you decided to do this. Well, there wasn't enough time from yesterday to this morning when we were summoned to gather everything. We will need more time to investigate this." He turned to the Heavenly Emperor, that smile still on his lips. "Your Majesty, please grant us the permission to keep investigating to make sure we don't miss anything."
Rong Su furrowed his brows. That certainly was the right thing to do but ... "There is no time for that. We will get to the bottom to this now. Summon all people who were involved in this! I'll question them myself!"
Qiang Yan nodded and turned to have the guards in front of the door summon everyone when he caught Li Yin's gaze. Ah. This guy! He really wanted to protect his son even now? Weren't there any limits for him at all? In the end, he could only sigh. "Guards, summon the ascended deities Leng Jin Yu and the servant girl Hong Bao and bring over the people that were questioned at the God of War's palace."
"Yes!" Three of the guards hurried away to do as they were told.
Qiang Yan glanced at Li Yin who nodded back at him. Before either of them could speak up, the Heavenly Emperor turned to Shun Tao.
"Fate's Scribe. Since the people will need time to arrive, why don't you tell us just what happened with my son's trial and how that servant girl got involved?"
Shun Tao smiled wryly. Ah, so now it was finally time for his head to roll. Unfortunately, he could only nod. Well, it wasn't like he didn't deserve this. He had messed up his part. If not for him involving Hong Bao in the first place ... Ah, he should have just reported to the Heavenly Emperor so they could find out what was wrong. But not it was too late.
He took a deep breath and recounted what had happened. "After I found out that His Highness' trial had deviated from the fate I had written, I tried to adjust it and wrote a new trial for him with slight adjustments. Unfortunately, this new trial also changed and this happened several times. I didn't believe this to be a coincidence and originally thought someone ambitious from the courtyard of the idle gods might be the perpetrator." He looked at Yin Lin Lin and sighed. "I went there to take a look. Your Majesty might remember. On that day, Your Majesty and the God of War were walking past the courtyard and saw me."
"That day?" The Heavenly Emperor furrowed his brows. He did remember that day. It had been more than a week ago. So his son had already been preyed upon since that time and he had only found out today?! He wanted to erupt but Shun Tao already went on.
"I already said back then that I didn't deem it wise to observe personally so I asked a servant girl for help. I thought she might be less eye-catching doing such a task."
"So you've known her for a while. Do you think it possible for her to ... do such a thing?"
Shun Tao raised his brows. Hadn't it been established that Hong Bao had done so? Why was the Heavenly Emperor still asking? He tried to gauge something from his expression but it was just cold. There was no clue as to what he was thinking whatsoever.
Shun Tao gulped and considered the possibility as if he didn't know what had happened. His expression blanked. Thinking about it like this ... "I'm not as knowledgeable about fighting as the God of War but as he said the person that tried to attack the crown prince was held back by Qiang Wei of the dragon race. I doubt she'd be able to go up against him for even a few moves. And ... to be honest, I doubt she has the intelligence to come up with such a plan in the first place." He coughed, embarrassed on having to say something like that to His Majesty.
"Then why was she involved in the first place?"
"I asked a random servant for help since I felt that time was pressing. After noticing her ... peculiarities, I found it quite fitting since I didn't want anybody to find out about the problem with the crown prince's trial in case anybody might try to take advantage of the situation."
Rong Su furrowed his brows. That made sense but then ... Had Yin Lin Lin really suggested this? He doubted that his brother-in-law and the God of Justice would scheme against her but he also couldn't that she would want to kill his son. After all, their own problems were long past. She wouldn't hold a grudge against him anymore, would she?
He turned to look at Yin Lin Lin, his expression unreadable. Right now, there were too many things that didn't make sense. He first needed to find out more. Otherwise, he might condemn the wrong people and let the real perpetrator get away. Wouldn't his precious son be in trouble once again then?