Before anyone could react, another concubine followed, her body seizing as she too vomited blood. The tension snapped.
"Protect His Majesty! Assassins!" the guards roared, unsheathing their swords.
The once orderly banquet erupted into a frenzy. Servants screamed, noble ladies fled in disarray, and officials scrambled to shield themselves.
Xian Guifei's lips curled into a cold smirk as she watched Shun Wenyuan writhe on the ground, clutching her throat and convulsing in agony. This is only the beginning. Let's see how you recover from this, Mei Lang.
But her satisfaction was short-lived.
Her eyes narrowed sharply as, from the shadows, more than twenty masked assassins clad in black emerged, their movements swift and lethal. The chilling glint of their blades reflected the lantern light as they cut down palace guards with ruthless efficiency.
What's going on? Xian Guifei's expression stiffened, panic rising in her chest. This wasn't in her arrangements.
