Amid clinking cups and flowing wine, the banquet had passed its halfway mark.
Yin Chao hadn't dared to drink. His father went down after a single cup, after all, and he might well be the same.
Suddenly, a young eunuch rushed into the Main Hall to report something.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness!"
His face was deathly pale. Between his fright and his frantic dash, he couldn't get a complete sentence out.
Eunuch Wang had someone bring the young eunuch a cup of warm water.
"Catch your breath. However urgent it is, a moment won't hurt."
Lanterns were lit around the banquet.
Everyone stopped talking and quietly waited for the young eunuch to continue.
A flower-scented breeze drifted past. Among the rich fragrances of the blossoms competing for attention, Yin Chao caught a distinctive scent.
It was like a peach blossom stained with blood, the two scents mingling in a peculiar harmony.
It was the same smell he and Xu Yuan had encountered in the Peach Garden.
The young eunuch finally calmed down and called out, "Your Highness! A guest has died in... in the tearoom!"
The tearoom was a place where banquet guests could take a brief rest.
Midnight frowned and looked at Yin Chao. He, too, had smelled that bloody peach blossom fragrance.
He wanted to ask whether it was connected to Peach Blossom on a Human Face.
Only after receiving confirmation through Yin Chao's gaze was Midnight certain.
He rose and selected several guards to investigate.
Then he turned and brought Yin Chao along as well. No one dared question it.
Just then, a young girl's timid voice rang out.
"Your Highness, Eldest Princess, could you take me along too?"
The speaker was seated at the very end of the banquet, where the children of the lowest-ranking officials