The coiled dragons on the ceiling of the Hall of Supreme Harmony cast massive shadows under the candlelight. Thirty-six dragon-shaped candlesticks flickered, their flames casting shifting light and dark across the gold-tiled floor. Wax dripped down the intricate carvings, congealing at the bases into dark red clumps that resembled dried droplets of blood.
The air was heavy with the scent of burning pine resin, mingled with the shallow, tense breathing of the courtiers, making the atmosphere in the hall suffocating. The Second Prince’s knuckles were white, his grip on his ivory tablet so tight that the veins on the back of his hand stood out like cords. The gold-thread python embroidery on his robe pulsed with his forced, rigid posture, glowing with a cold, metallic luster as if it might spring from the fabric at any moment.
As he tore open his collar, a jagged arrow wound on his collarbone oozed murky fluid, surrounded by dark, bruised flesh that spread outward like a coiled viper or an evil sigil. "My lords, look here—" his voice was layered with just the right amount of huskiness, each word squeezed from deep in his throat, trembling as if he were still immersed in the terror of the battlefield, "this is the poisoned arrow fired in secret by the henchmen of Shen Mingyue on the Southern Frontier!" His closing note echoed through the vast hall, startling the swallows sleeping in the rafters, their frantic fluttering adding to the rising panic.
Chapter 83