Walking toward his study Shen Yao couldn't stop his mind from roaming around wildly as he remembered what he just saw.
The perpetrator has been found.
Since Xi Shu was still facing punishment after the incident last night. Shen Yao was now alone facing the coldness of the room.
Looking down at the Princess's seal, dark purple wax. He was sure it couldn't be a fake.
"How did they find the culprit so fast?" Shen Yao frowned
He peeled it back again. His movements quick. His eyes scanning the words. The message was brief, clipped as if the writer had doubted their own words as they wrote.
The perpetrator has been found.
It was young man surnamed Lan. The youngest son of the Minister Lan. He confessed to have orchestrated all the events at the banquet yesterday. He's now been put under house arrest. Though the matter is closed.
Shen Yao read it once. Then again.
Conclusive
He tossed the letter down onto the desk.
Something was wrong.
It was fast.
Maybe too easily.
He reread the name.
Young Master Lan.
Lan Yue
He remembered him—a minor noble, he had never met him before but from the original's memories he remembered that this young man seemed to be infatuated with Shen Yiyi. His cousin.
An unremarkable character.
Barely memorable and not the type to orchestrate a scheme of this scale.
It seemed there were only two conclusions
One being that he was set up, Shen Yao thought
or he's protecting someone.
Could it be Shen Yiyi?
---
Sitting behind his desk, Shen Yao glanced at the wooden ceiling slightly his legs crossed deep in thought.
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the shadow stirring at the edge of the room.
Yu Xie stepped forward, his presence silent, his head bowed.
"Young Master."
"I've done as you requested"
Silence stirred in the room for a few seconds before Shen Yao slowly sat up glanced at the kneeling man.
"What did you find?"
Yu Xie paused for a fraction of a second—measuring his words.
"After investigating traces of the incident all rolled back to young master Lan. It's said he was seen a few days before the banquet purchasing scented candles. The very same type of candles found that day. From the information I found all purchases were made by his page a young servant boy who had served him since childhood. Though the case is not fully conclusive with young master Lan claiming to have done though no direct link pointed to him but to the little servant beside him."
Shen Yao nodded slowly. "And?"
Yu Xie's voice, when it came, was quieter. "The evidence is too clean. The candles were purchased through a merchant who has since disappeared. The servants who delivered them are no longer in the capital or alive. The head maid was also found today in the palace garden having been poisoned."
Shen Yao raised his hand signaling for him to stop.
"So, there's nothing to contradict him."
"Nothing." Yu Xie lifted his head briefly. "And everything."
Shen Yao leaned back in his chair.
Someone made sure this would be untraceable. And Young Master Lan walked into it willingly.
"Is he saying anything?"
"He admits to everything," Yu Xie said. "He does not deny it. If any of his servants committed a wrongdoing, he pleaded guilty as their master."
"Has anyone gone to see him since then?"
Yu Xie was silent for a long moment.
"No."
"It's the opposite apparently everyone wants to avoid them, not wanting to face backlash from the royal family."
"Including all their allies"
Shen Yao's lips pressed into a thin line.
---
He sat in the silence for a long moment.
This confession seemed too convenient.
Someone is burying the truth.
Either way, the case was closed. The emperor had already locked him and his family. They would probably be demoted.
He stood and walked to the window.
"Yu Xie."
"Yes, Young Master."
"I want to know what exactly happened. Every detail."
Yu Xie hesitated. "The princess's investigators—"
"Forget them," Shen Yao said calmly. "I want you to follow your own."
"Find me all you can"
A pause. Then: "Yes, Young Master."
The shadow moved, and Yu Xie was gone.
---
Shen Yao stood alone in the study.
The letter from Princess Fei sat on his desk. He did not look at it. He had already memorized its contents.
The matter is closed.
He exhaled slowly.
We'll see.