Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

Upon seeing that the tripod religiously followed Harper no matter where she went, the chief guard of the Secret Pavilion was
deliriously heartbroken. She had put great effort in every object of the pavilion. But now, that useless tripod totally ignored her
and stuck with Harper and even followed her everywhere. There was nothing the guard could do to stop it from acting like that.
"Harper Chu, what did you do to it? Did you use some kind of spell?" the guard asked in anger. She was so exasperated that her
voice turned more serious. As the chief guard of the pavilion, she should not leave the premises. But it seemed like the object
had thought of Harper as its master and went away with her. Therefore, the guard had no other choice but to leave the pavilion
and chase after it.
Harper responded, "A spell? I can only hope that I mastered that skill. But if you're serious in asking that, I didn't do anything to it.
Come on. You can't blame me just because I entered the Secret Pavilion earlier. And, I didn't ask it to follow me. It just went out
by itself and follows me wherever I go. You saw what happened. Why would you even question me?"
"But it's impossible for an inanimate object to—" The guard tried to protest but Harper cut her off.
"I wouldn't say that. Even an inanimate object can have intelligence. Believe it or not, I really didn't use any tricks. I swear it. I
don't know what's going on with it either."
But no matter what Harper said, the guard didn't trust her words. Seeing Harper's serious expression, she didn't believe the
princess would lie. But still, she was at a loss about how to deal with this tricky situation. Left without any other option, she
decided to follow Harper wherever she went in order to find the right opportunity to take the tripod back.
Meanwhile, Francis who had been seriously injured had just escaped from the imperial capital. He met up with Diana who came
to pick up Hoffman. But she had not expected to see Francis instead of Hoffman.
"Where's Hoffman?" Diana asked.
In a sluggish tone, Francis responded, "He's dead. He was killed when the battle broke out in the Imperial Palace. It was such a

Upon hearing that, Diana frowned and refused to believe him at first. But when she thought about it more thoroughly, she didn't
think Francis would lie to her. After all, he didn't have any reason to do so, especially for such an important matter like that. "Well,
now that Hoffman is dead, there's no need for me to stay here anymore," Diana nonchalantly stated and was immediately about
to leave when Francis spoke once more.
"Princess Diana, hold on. Although Hoffman is dead, the deal is not over yet." Although Francis' wound had been properly
treated, his wound was still inflamed. The main reason was that he had run for such a long time in order to escape. Aside from
that, the country was experiencing such a very humid and hot climate. Over all, he wasn't in a very good condition. Hearing
Francis' words, Diana immediately understood what Francis truly wanted. She just smiled at him and asked, "Do you mean to
say that you want to be my ally in Hoffman's place?" "Why not? I'm sure you're well aware that a partnership with me is more
advantageous than that with Hoffman. Besides, he had been a useless man since a long time ago. I had removed all of his men
in the south domain. Are you sure you don't want to be allies with me?" Francis asked. Even though he was having a fever, he
would never show any weakness. After thinking about his words carefully, Diana figured out something by reading along the
lines. "What do you mean by that? Are there members of the south domain's army that are yours?" Francis gestured for her to
come closer with his finger. Diana immediately obliged and listened attentively. Francis whispered
something in her ear. The moment he started talking, her face changed. Francis was very satisfied to see how she reacted. He
then asked, "So do you think I'm qualified to be your ally?"
Diana's stare which was intense since they started talking immediately softened. "Of course yes. Prince Francis, I can see that
you don't look well. It's fortunate that I happen to have some medical skills. Do you mind if I check up what's wrong?"
"Oh? That would be great. Please do so."
Diana knew that Francis was having a fever but she was still shocked when she unwrapped the bandage around his belly. The
wound was so deep and now it was festering with inflammation. It was why he had a very high fever. Diana was actually
surprised that he could be so calm while they were talking even though his body was in such a terrible condition. No wonder he.

was able to cause such a huge stir in the Bright Dynasty. He was indeed capable. With a cunning smile, Diana said, "Your wound
has festered. I have to remove the slough and re-apply the medicine. It will hurt so badly once I remove it though. Do you need
to—" But before she could finish speaking, Francis interrupted her, "Just go ahead. I'm not afraid of pain." Despite the
circumstance at hand, his voice was still very gentle. He even had a tender smile on his face. Diana only sneered in response. In
her opinion, even though he was acting very brave and saying all of those things, he would
groan miserably because of the tremendous pain when she began the process.
Without saying anything more, she took out a jar of wine from a secret drawer in the carriage. Then, she poured some alcohol on
her dagger to sterilize it. Proving that she had the skills, she swiftly removed the rotten part of skin on Francis' wound.
Huge beads of sweat gathered on Francis' calm face. Even though he was suffering extreme pain and his body was even
shivering, he didn't utter a single word. The warm smile remained on his pale face all throughout the procedure.
Diana noticed this and a flicker of newfound appreciation flashed in her eyes. "Prince Francis, you're really something. You can
even have a decent smile on your face when you're suffering from such severe pain. I must admit that I'm starting to admire
you."
"A smile is always better than a tear. What's more, I don't really like to cry in front of women," Francis said. His voice still
sounded calm. The pain of cutting his flesh was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. The woman he loved the most had
stabbed him.
"That's a great outlook! You are a tough man and I respect you for that," Diana exclaimed while she poured a bowl of wine and
handed it to him.
Francis took it and drank it off in one go. "Now that we have reached an agreement, what are you going to do next?"
"First, I'm going back to the South Kingdom. I need to discuss with my father before making any significant move. Matthew is not
easy to deal with. If we do anything against him without a good plan, he will dispatch his men to attack the South Kingdom. That
would certainly be a great loss for us. I can't take that risk," Diana stated while she helped Francis to dress the wound and
bandage it before applying some medicine to prevent any kind of infection again.
"I have a plan to lure him to the South Kingdom. Once he's there, he'll be weak because he's not very familiar with that place. It
would be easy for you to kill him. Don't you think so? Moreover, as long as Matthew is dead, Lucas wouldn't be a threat to us at
all," Francis said. The weariness was apparent in his voice. His face had already turned red because of the fever. After the
wound was bandaged, he leaned against the wall of the carriage.