"Did you prepare everything?"

"Yes young miss, everything is according to your instructions. Shall we depart now?"

"En. Let's go to the palace"

The ride approximately took thirty minutes before we reached the front gates of the imperial palace. Han Yuomei and Han Wan accompanied me to the empress' palace. I saw Rous.h.i.+ along the way, she was running and waving at us. I waved back, then she hugged me.

"I've missed you, I'm glad you're finally here. My mother has been sick lately and she hasn't been eating well. She lacked the appet.i.te and the father emperor even fired some of the imperial chefs. I do not know what I'll do with her."

"Have the imperial doctors checked upon your mother's condition?"

"Yes they did, but found nothing"

"I brought some detoxification tea, prepare some for her and do not let other servants do it"

"Ze'er do you suspect someone poisoning my mother?"

I nodded. Then we walked to Green Ice Palace. There are ponds and bridges on both sides of the path we're walking upon. But the water look dead. What's unusual is that there are little yellowish flowers blooming at the bottom of the pond. Not that I have seen of it before.

"Rou'er, does the empress plant flowers at the bottom of the pond?"

"No,usually it's usually concubine Wu who volunteers to plant the flowers."

"Are there any fishes living underwater?"

"No, every time we try to nurture them, they all die a day after"

I nodded, if that's the case maybe the water is poisoned. When water evaporates a good amount of poison will mix through the air and eventually harm the living organisms present in the area. The flowers at the bottom are in full bloom, so it might have affected the empress.

"Is there a chance that I can invite the empress to the manor? My mom is very lonely, I think they will have a good time together"

"Sure! That sounds great. I'll ask imperial father about that"

"Okay, I will arrange everything for you and the queen"

Everything in her palace is strange. There are even bad luck charms and poisonous gra.s.s.

"Does your mom propagate different types of poisons and does she love bad luck charms?"

"What do you mean?"

I closed the distance between us and whispered.

"The gra.s.s at the front porch is highly toxic. The figurines are bad luck charms and the pond might be poisonous. Be careful, tell no one. Just arrange for the empress to leave this palace for a while and investigate"

She nodded, but the shock in her eyes is visible.

"We must hurry"

I nodded and silently followed behind her.

When we entered the palace I eventually covered my nose. The burning incense is too strong. How can they live in a place that exudes toxicity.