“Who’s making all that noise at a time like this?”

Alisha angrily gathered up her skirt and strode out of the room, her face unmistakably furious.

She was clearly forcing down her anger.

“You?”

When Alisha stepped outside, she was startled to see Mu Nanyan, her hands bound behind her back, wearing an expression of helpless innocence.

Countless guards and maids had surrounded her, their gazes as sharp as blades.

The only reason they hadn’t rushed forward and torn her to pieces was that Liya was standing in front of Mu Nanyan.

Seeing this, Alisha was overcome with anger. The fury and tangled emotions she’d kept buried for so long threatened to burst out.

“Sister Alisha! Please, listen to me. The antidote… I got the antidote.”

“Princess Liya, this is a restricted area of the Demon Imperial Palace. How could you bring her here? Have you forgotten every rule the Demon Emperor taught you?”

A pretty maid with short hair stepped forward. She adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, her gaze passing right over Liya, who stood in front of Mu Nanyan.

Her gaze settled on Mu Nanyan, calm to the point of being frightening, without the slightest restraint.

“So that’s why you sneaked out just now—to find this woman?”

Alisha wiped away the tears on her face, forcing herself to look as composed as she could.

But the guards and maids around her still noticed her distress. The usually composed eldest princess, Alisha, had shed tears. The Demon Emperor’s condition must be dire.

And everything happening to the Demon Clan now was the fault of the woman standing before them!

At the thought, the anger in everyone’s hearts burned even hotter.

“No, Sister Alisha. I went to look for the antidote…”

“You’re being so thoughtless! Whatever your reason, you shouldn’t have brought her here.”

Alisha hadn’t looked at Mu Nanyan even once.

With her hands bound behind her back, Mu Nanyan neither tried to explain herself nor struggled. She simply looked around, perfectly calm.

Mu Nanyan seemed not to notice the blade-sharp gazes at all. She didn’t care in the slightest.

“I-I’m sorry, Sister Alisha. I was just so worried… But I did find something! I really found the antidote, and I’ve already tested it.”

Liya pointed at Mu Nanyan.

“She was poisoned with the same toxin as the Demon Emperor. After she took this antidote, the poison in her body was clearly suppressed.”

“What?”

A mature, resonant voice rang out. The imperial physician who had just taken the Demon Emperor’s pulse stepped forward, leaning on his cane.

His eyes stayed fixed on Liya, and his hands trembled so much that he seemed barely able to hold on to his cane.

“Princess Liya, you mustn’t joke about this. Even I am powerless against this poison. I doubt anyone on the entire continent could find a way to neutralize it.”

“The Demon Emperor is gravely ill. This is far too serious for you to be playing around.”

Though the imperial physician said this, he still slowly walked up to Mu Nanyan.

The Demon Emperor hadn’t formally stripped Mu Nanyan of her title as empress yet. He had only sent her to the Cold Palace.

Though she’d committed unforgivable crimes, she was still the Demon Emperor’s consort and still held the title of Demon Empress.

“Your Majesty, would you allow this old man to examine your pulse?”

As he spoke, the imperial physician took out a fine thread used for pulse diagnosis. Before Mu Nanyan could answer, he had already tied it around her wrist.

After all, Mu Nanyan was still the Demon Empress, the Demon Emperor’s possession. Others weren’t allowed to touch her directly. It was the rule.

Pulse diagnosis by thread was normally reserved for people of great importance. Yet now it was being used on a prisoner. Everyone present couldn’t help wearing complicated expressions.

“N-No, that can’t be.”

The imperial physician furrowed his brows, testing again and again.

“Allow this old man to try another thread.”

The imperial physician tried again and again, and his expression grew more complicated with every attempt.

More than half an hour passed. Mu Nanyan felt as if she could barely stay on her feet before the imperial physician finally let go of the thread.

“Your Highness, Princess Alisha, Princess Liya was telling the truth. Her Majesty the Demon Empress was indeed poisoned with the same toxin as the Demon Emperor, and the poison in her body has truly been suppressed.”

“May I ask what medicine Her Majesty the Demon Empress took?”