Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

As soon as Harper came back, Howard noticed that she was acting rather normal. In an instant, it

dawned on him that even after

their conversion, Katrina did not think that this person in front of him was an impostor. With this, he

concluded that she was the

real Harper. For the time being, all the facts at hand showed that there were only some changes in

Harper's dispositions.

"What took you so long, Harper?" Mavis asked with confusion written all over her face.

"Lady Katrina asked me to come over because she wanted to ask me some questions. We talked for

quite a long time, so I came

back a bit late," Harper answered politely. "Fortunately, His Majesty and Her Majesty haven't arrived

yet, or else it would have

been impolite for me to come at this point."

"Have a cup of warm tea. Look at your face! It's bright red because of the coldness." True to her words,

Mavis hurriedly handed a

cup of tea to Harper, who took it with a smile and immediately took a sip.

On the other hand, Howard didn't say anything to her. He just carefully watched her movements as

discretely as he could. He

then shifted his attention to Zack, who was sitting diagonally opposite to him. He quickly noticed that

ever since Harper had

come back to her seat, Zack's gaze had been fixated on her.

"Father," Howard called to Charles in a very low voice. Then, he turned to switch his gaze to the

direction where the Bu Clan was

situated. Charles followed Howard's gaze and his eyes coincidentally met with Zack's.

Zack gave a bland smile to Charles and turned his eyes away. Then, he spoke to Caroline beside him

and the woman

immediately flashed a big smile on her face.

Harper was just quietly sipping her tea with her head lowered. In all honesty, she was still lost in vivid

thoughts about Hailey's

appearance inside the imperial palace. She firmly believed that the girl had only managed to do that

with Howard's help. In the

meantime, she was certain that Katrina had some other intentions for asking her to come over. She

quietly thought to herself,

'What on earth is Katrina up to? What does Hailey intend to do?'

With these thoughts in mind, she carefully examined the food on the table. After a short while, she had

checked everything and

figured out that there was nothing wrong with them. That was to say, they hadn't intended to poison her

with the food here. If that

was the case, what kind of trap did they plan for her this time? "Here comes His Majesty and Her

Majesty." Right after the palace attendant's voice came reverberating through the enormous hall, the

emperor and the empress walked inside hand in hand. Immediately, all the officials knelt down and

saluted, "Long live Your Majesties."

The emperor led the empress to the throne and sat down before he responded, "Get up and take your

seats." "Thank you, Your Majesty." Harper was still immersed in her thoughts that she didn't even raise

her head to take a look at the emperor or the empress. Although she had visited the Imperial Palace

before, she had seen the emperor and the empress only a few times. Besides, she was a female

imperial physician. From time to time, it had been her job to check pulses for the concubines. Strictly

speaking, she had never seen the empress before in such close proximity. "Today, a banquet is held in

the palace to share our joy with all of you. Let us all leave what have come and welcome this new year.

We wish peace, prosperity, and abundance to our country and to all of you! May everyone in the

country lead a harmonious and content life with a good harvest throughout the year!" the emperor said

with a smile. "Today, let us drink and eat to our heart's content. Don't be overcautious or restrict

yourself and simply enjoy yourselves." "Thank you, Your Majesty," all the officials beamed.

It was not until this moment that Harper looked up and looked around the hall, only to find that there

was still one vacant seat.

While she was confused who hadn't arrived yet, the emperor answered her question. "Matthew is late

again!" His voice occupied

the hall.

"Your Majesty, Matthew is often late in any engagement. I apologize on his stead but please don't be

quite offended by this."

When she finished speaking, the empress filled the emperor's goblet with wine. "You could command

Matthew to drink as much

as you wish when he arrives later."

"You're right, I must punish him for this." The emperor heartily laughed, as if punishing Matthew by

making him drink so much

wine was a rather pleasant and amusing thing.

"Here comes His Highness," the palace attendant announced.

"He has finally arrived. Is it so impossible for him to come a bit earlier?" the emperor said in a teasing

and annoyed tone as if he was just an elder brother who was making fun of his younger brother. When

Matthew appeared by the door of the hall, everyone turned their eyes on him. Although he was sitting

in a wheelchair, he still looked mighty and dignified. Barry was slowly pushing the wheelchair ahead

with his hands firmly clutched on the back of the chair.

"Your Majesty, my deepest apologies for being late. Please find it in your heart to forgive me," Matthew

sincerely and slowly stated.

"Matthew, you are late again. In every single banquet, you're late. Because of this conduct, you must

be punished with wine!"

Then, the emperor asked one of the servants to pour a goblet of wine for Matthew.

Matthew didn't refuse. He reached out for the wine and drank it without hesitation. After that, he said, "I

admit that it is very

wrong of me to be late, so I drink the wine as a punishment."

Barry pushed the wheelchair to Matthew's designated seat in the hall and assisted him with the

transfer. Afterward, as if by some

unknown cue, all the people present got more excited than they had ever been that day. They started

to exchange some good

wishes, urged each other to drink more wine, and even gave out a lot of compliments as if they would

not run out.

In this scenario, Harper was quietly eating her own food, minding her own business. Even when

everyone was looking at her,

she was still heartily munching with her head down. For some reason, she didn't notice the attention on

her.

"Harper!" Mavis quickly pinched Harper. Only after then did Harper finally come to her senses. As she

raised her head, she was

surprised and overwhelmed to found that everyone was looking at her. "Her Majesty just asked His

Majesty to make

arrangements for your marriage."

All of a sudden, the spoon in Harper's hand fell down on her plate. The sound it made quickly veiled the

enormous hall with

silence. Harper immediately stood up from her seat and responded in an unsteady voice, "Your

Majesty, thank you for your

concern about me. I genuinely appreciate it. However, I just want to spend my time with my parents

and be filial to my

grandmother. For the time being, I'm afraid that I don't have any intentions of getting married."

"Harper, you have to realize sooner rather than later that you are not young anymore. Have you not

seen the women of your

age? They are not only married, but also mothers already. How can you just indulge in enjoying your

life with your parents?"

Katrina sharply said while looking at Harper. "I know you are afraid that others would be apprehensive

of you because Prince

Kevin's son broke off the engagement to you last time, but that shouldn't stop you. You shouldn't be

afraid because of that. I have

just asked His Majesty for help in this regard to arrange your marriage."