Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

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Understandably, Diana was beyond annoyed when she was taken away from her bed in the middle of the night. It had been
intensified by the fact that Harper had yet to accept her as her disciple. She was very upset with Howard who was taking her
away.
"Howard, do you really think you can just treat me like this because you're my master's elder brother? Well, you're completely
wrong. I only have to show respect for my master, not you. If you dare to continue being rude to me, I'll certainly make you regret
it!" Diana exclaimed while waving her hands in the air.
"Your master or my sister, whichever you prefer, told me to escort you back to the South Kingdom, so you can be reunited with
your father as soon as possible. At this moment, almost the entire kingdom is under Catherine's control. Are you sure you want
to continue staying at the Birch Pass? If you do, you may have to face a lot of consequences. Some of these might include the
death of your father and Catherine inheriting the throne. You know what will happen after that. As the true heir of the South
Kingdom, your mere existence is going to be a threat to her. Wherever you are in the world, she's going to hunt you down,"
Howard comprehensively explained. As soon as he loosened his grip on her, Diana fell on the ground.
She didn't scream for pain but instead, wore a frown on her face. "Do you really think that Catherine will kill my father? That's
impossible!"
"Why is it impossible? It's clear that she wants the throne. Now, based on what she knows, the official heir to the throne, which
happens to be you, is already dead. And once your father dies, the throne would naturally pass on to her. It's up to you whether
you want to go back or not. If you don't want to leave, I'm going back to sleep," Howard said while he got on his horse.
"Then go! Right now!" Diana said. Then she got up from the ground and rode on the horse with so much ease that it impressed
Howard very much.
Meanwhile, in the South Kingdom's palace, Lance was severely unwell that he couldn't get up from the bed. The courtiers had no

choice but to ask the Holy Maiden to check on him and possibly treat him. At that moment, the government affairs were being

taken care of by two first rank ministers, a civil minister and a military minister. Due to the collapse of the Starry Palace,
Catherine had been temporarily staying in the Royal Palace. As a matter of fact, Lance was not sick. He had actually been
poisoned by Catherine for the purpose of usurping the throne of the kingdom. Even though Lance knew that Diana had very little
chance of surviving the Labyrinth Swamp, he still refused to hand over the throne to Catherine. Out of rage and resentment,
Catherine had secretly given the venomous insect poison to Lance.
"Your Majesty," Catherine greeted. At that moment, there was nobody else in Lance's bedroom except the two of them. Since
Lance couldn't move at all, the only thing he could do was to open his eyes to stare at Catherine. In his eyes was apparent
sadness. "I won't let you have the throne," Lance slowly said. There was no way that he would allow Catherine to destroy the
South Kingdom. "If you don't want to give the throne to me, then to whom will you give it, Your Majesty?" Catherine asked with a
smile on her face. She then approached the table beside the bed and started pounding medicinal materials with a pestle. "Are
you going to give it to Diana? But she's already dead. Do you want to know why I'm so sure?" "You... you summoned the Holy
Beast." "Your Majesty, you're so smart! Well, it's our kingdom's policy that anybody who has committed a serious crime will be
thrown
into the Labyrinth Swamp and eaten up by the Holy Beast. So do you think that Sister Diana is still alive? In fact, I had never
thought of treating you this way until Harper Chu reminded me," Catherine said, a very gentle smile still on her face.
"Lady Harper?" Lance asked. Perplexed, he could not understand how Harper had anything to do with this. Was it possible that
Catherine had colluded with them?
Catherine stopped pounding the medicinal materials and looked at her father. With a stern expression on her face, she replied,
"Yes, she told me the story of how her father had never treated her well. In return, she made him lose everything so he didn't
have any other choice but to live the rest of his life in remorse. Your Majesty, I also hope that you can taste the loneliness that
I've experienced over the past years."
"As the Holy Maiden, you enjoy the admiration of the common people and even possess prime rights which are exclusive to you.

All of those are not enough to satisfy you? You and Diana are sisters. You're forever bonded by blood! Why did you do this to

her? Why did you take her life so brutally?" Lance asked in a harsh tone. "Sisters?" Catherine laughed so frantically that she
almost burst into tears. "Can a younger sister betray her elder sister? Is that what sisters are supposed to do? If she didn't refuse
to be the Holy Maiden at the last moment, I wouldn't have needed to bear the responsibility of that godforsaken position! I grew
up by myself in the Starry Palace. Do you know what that feels like?"
"Catherine, you should think about what happened more carefully. You should ask yourself: Has Diana ever owed anything to
you over the past years? Yes, she often went to the Starry Palace to quarrel and fight with you. But do you really think she's
irresponsible and improvident? Anyone who becomes the Holy Maiden needs to be separated from all of her relatives and
friends. Diana was afraid that once you became the Holy Maiden, you wouldn't recognize her as your sister anymore. She was
also afraid that you would feel lonely. It was for these reasons that she made it a routine to visit the Starry Palace," Lance stated
while tears welled up from his eyes.
There was not a single emotion on Catherine's face while she quietly stared at Lance. "So what? I will never forget whose fault it
was that I become the Holy Maiden in the first place. If she didn't throw the responsibility at me, she wouldn't need to
compensate all these years. She's selfish!"
"It wasn't Diana's fault! She didn't want that to happen to you. She wanted to be the Holy Maiden at that time—"
"Enough!" Catherine furiously exclaimed, cutting off her father. "I only know that I was the one who was forced to be the Holy
Maiden at that time."
When he saw how enraged Catherine was, Lance didn't know what to say. He couldn't argue the facts with her anymore. It was
neither his nor Diana's idea for Catherine to become the Holy Maiden.
"I didn't know you resented being the Holy Maiden so much. I remember that I had asked for your opinion in advance and you
said you were willing to take on the position," Lance finally said. His voice sounded somewhat illusive, as if he was trying his best
to recall the past.
With a bitter smile, Catherine asked, "Was I allowed to refuse? Everyone knows that it's a great honor to be the Holy Maiden, but
I never wanted it for myself. At that time, I liked someone very much and all I wanted was to marry him when I grew up. But all
my dreams about the future were destroyed. The Holy Maiden should have been Diana. But you preferred her over me, so you
forced me, like a sacrificial lamb. I couldn't understand. I'm also your daughter, right? How could you have forsaken me this
way?"