Fu Zichuan was caught off guard and was so dazed by the blow that he stumbled back a few steps, nearly falling off the stone steps. Looking up, he saw Li Yuan standing at the doorway, her shoulders wrapped in a loose crane cloak, her pale and sickly face covered in an unspeakable cold anger.

"Your Grace." Ignoring the burning pain on his cheek, Fu Zichuan straightened up and cupped his fists toward Li Yuan.

"Fool!" That slap had exhausted most of her strength. Li Yuan panted, her breath unsteady, as she coldly questioned, "Where did you stay last night?"

"I..." Fu Zichuan was at a loss for words. He couldn’t possibly tell the Imperial Concubine that he was captured on his way by a seemingly fragile woman and taken to the Changning Marquis Mansion, where he was drugged and incapacitated for the entire night.

"The map of the secret agents I gave you, who else has seen it besides you?" Li Yuan asked again.

"No one else." Fu Zichuan immediately replied, "Your Grace knows, I have a good memory, and I usually destroy it after reading."

"Destroy after reading, indeed." Li Yuan thought about how she had lost all her secret agents overnight, causing her blood to boil with rage, "If it wasn’t you who betrayed me for beauty, then they must have extraordinary skills, destroying all my meticulously placed agents in one night."

"Wha... what?" Fu Zichuan could hardly believe it, "How could this happen?"

Li Yuan looked at him coldly, "You still have the nerve to ask me?"

Fu Zichuan hurriedly said, "Your Grace, you must believe me, I truly didn’t say anything, although I stayed at the Changning Marquis Mansion last night, I was intercepted midway, the Princess Yong’an is a crazy woman, she wants to take this opportunity to sow discord between myself and Your Grace, to incite internal strife, you must not fall for her scheme!"

Li Yuan knew this was indeed the intention of the Princess Yong’an, "So tell me, how did the secret agent map get leaked?"

Fu Zichuan was also at a loss, then frowned, "Your Grace said earlier, all the secret agents were destroyed, but the map you gave me only contained some of the agent locations, which proves it didn’t leak from me, unless we have a traitor within."

Thinking about how her years of hard work were destroyed in an instant, Li Yuan’s face, already weak from illness, paled further as she turned and went inside, sitting by the warmth of the brazier.

Fu Zichuan followed her in but stood aside.

He had just left the palace yesterday when he was knocked out and taken away, without any time to inquire about anything. Now he asked with concern, "Your Grace, did the ones you sent on the mission fail?"

Otherwise, how could all the agents’ hideouts be destroyed?

Li Yuan placed her hand on her forehead—the few agents were captured alive, and it was the Jinyi Guard who captured them.

The Chu Country’s Jinyi Guard has a separate prison, and it is said that the methods of coercion inside are terrifying beyond belief. Very few people come out alive once they’ve entered the Jinyi Guard’s Imperial Prison, as prisoners under severe torture often prefer to die, but under the Jinyi Guard’s control, even death becomes a luxury in that prison.

Living is worse than dying, and many can’t endure, finally having to reveal the truth.

Li Yuan knew well the kind of person Fu Zichuan was, under normal circumstances, he couldn’t possibly betray her. So it must have been those in the Imperial Prison, under unbearable torture, who exposed the location of the Bei Yan agents hidden in the Chu Country Capital.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan felt a headache and was engulfed in deep confusion.

Why had her actions lately been so unsuccessful, repeatedly thwarted? The feeling of her motives being preemptively known was too strong.

From the Liaodong Iron Mine to the Northern Border epidemic and now to holding Su Pingting hostage.

These three events had reasonably detailed plans and deployments in advance, with as few people as possible knowing. Yet, just when it seemed things could be completed, they failed. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

If the Liaodong Iron Mine and Northern Border epidemic were coincidences, then what explains yesterday’s failure?

Su Qing unexpectedly did not attend the palace banquet. He even secretly sent his wife and children to the heavily guarded Changning Marquis Mansion in advance, then stayed at the mansion himself, as if he knew beforehand someone would come and was waiting intentionally.

Then the post house caught fire, Fu Zichuan received the news and left the palace, only to be intercepted and disappear for a night.

Last night, with Fu Zichuan absent, Li Yuan, already exhausted from the fire during the day, had no means to learn any news from the outside until dawn, when severely injured agents risked their lives to report that the espionage network Bei Yan had embedded in the Chu Country Capital was swept clean by Emperor Chu.

This was the most incomprehensible part for Li Yuan.

For Emperor Chu to accomplish this overnight, he must have known in advance where the agents were and made a comprehensive arrangement.

However, those who broke into the Su Family were only caught by the Jinyi Guard yesterday afternoon.

Even if they confessed the agents’ locations under severe torture in Imperial Prison, wouldn’t Emperor Chu need time to plan?

How could he have managed to avoid the agents’ watchful eyes and annihilate them all without anyone knowing in such short notice?

Unless Emperor Chu had already obtained the agents’ map, and the plan to eradicate the Bei Yan agents had been prepared long in advance. The only reason he waited until now to act was to wait for her to enter the capital and let her witness her hard work being destroyed before her very eyes.

In other words, Emperor Chu knew for a long time that she would enter the capital, how did he know?

It came again, the feeling of someone seeing through all her motives and intentions returned.

It was as if whatever she wanted to do, even without speaking it out loud, someone would see through it and set a trap in advance, waiting for her to walk right into it.

This feeling was terrifying!

An unexplained sense of fear rose within Li Yuan, her scalp tingling.

"Does Emperor Chu have some wise advisor by his side?" Li Yuan murmured.

The Jiuli Clan understands witchcraft, and the Great Clan Leader is skilled in such arts, but those practices cannot reach the level of foresight. Therefore, the person beside Emperor Chu is unlikely to come from the Jiuli Clan.

So, who exactly is it?

For some reason, Li Yuan suddenly thought of Princess Yong’an, the woman whom Emperor Chu had unusually summoned into the court. Initially, she hadn’t paid much attention to her, and during her time in the Capital, influenced by rumors among the people, she too thought of Princess Yong’an as a scandalous woman, eager to have relations with the young emperor, which led her to hastily divorce her husband at her mother-in-law’s memorial hall.

But now, looking back, something didn’t feel right.

Fu Zichuan evidently realized the key issue too, and with a somber look, he said, "Your Grace, that Princess Yong’an, there’s something wrong with her."