"Actually, when I first saw that the corpse's face had been destroyed, I had my suspicions. It could be explained as you losing control after being humiliated and being too ashamed to face anyone, but it would inevitably make people wonder. Still, I never suspected that you were the mastermind. I thought you had been replaced and captured," Song Qingshu replied. "But later, Miss Yang confirmed that the suicide note had been written in your own hand, so I dismissed that possibility. After all, capturing you would be easy, but making you willingly write such a suicide note would be nearly impossible."
After a pause, he said, "Some time ago, you asked me to tell Miss Yang and the others to come spend more time with you. You wanted them to be able to recognize your handwriting later, didn't you?"
Princess Jincheng did not deny it. "Everyone says you are Lin'an City's most worthless young master, but you seem quite clever to me."
"The main reason we grew suspicious was that we couldn't find the maid Huan Bi," Song Qingshu continued. "These days, anyone staying at an inn in the city needed an official travel permit. First Rank Hall spies watched the embassies of every nation and the residences of the city's powerful and influential figures. With the wanted notices and rewards posted everywhere, Huan Bi, a servant without a travel permit and a stranger from another land, should never have escaped the search. Yet we simply could not find her. That left only one possibility: she was either dead, or she had never existed at all."
"How could she not exist? We spoke to Huan Bi at the Tibetan embassy," the Yellow-robed Woman said in confusion.
"That Huan Bi was likely the Princess in disguise, wasn't she?" Song Qingshu