Chapter 201 --201
"You will," Ken interrupted. "Because the Fourth Princess is very, very good at extracting information. And because whoever sent you just abandoned you the moment you got caught. Do you think they’ll rescue you? Protect you? Take responsibility?"
He watched that truth sink in.
"They’re going to deny everything. Claim you acted alone. Let you take all the consequences while they escape clean." Ken’s voice was almost gentle. "Unless you talk first. Unless you give us names, evidence, proof. Then maybe—*maybe*—Her Highness will be merciful."
The woman’s resistance crumbled visibly. "The Fifth Concubine... she didn’t... it wasn’t her idea..."
"Whose idea was it?"
"I don’t know! I was just told—the Emperor waking would ruin everything—had to act now—kill him, frame the Fourth Princess—" The words tumbled out in a rush. "They said it would work. Said the guards were bribed. Said no one would catch me—"
"Who is ’they’?" Ken pressed.
"I don’t *know*! I only dealt with intermediaries—servants from other households—they paid me in gold and promised protection if anything went wrong—" She was crying now. "Please, I was just following orders, I didn’t want to—"
"The Fifth Concubine," Ken said. "Is she the one who gave the orders? Or is she being used too?"
"She... she knew. She approved. But the plan came from someone else. Someone higher up. Someone who wanted the Fourth Princess destroyed and the Emperor dead and—" The woman choked on her own words. "Please, I don’t know more than that, I swear, I was just the weapon, not the hand—"
The door opened.
Everyone turned.