Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

As night fell, the guards in the Harmony Palace were doubled. After she took a quick glance at the increasing guards, Harper's
attention was caught by something in the yard. Forsythia followed suit but had no idea what Harper was looking at. Somehow, it
bothered her that Harper's demeanor was still so calm amid everything that was happening. 'Is she... interested in becoming
Rolando's empress?' she thought, scandalized.
"Your Highness, I think we have to try and escape," Forsythia whispered, her spirit not waning despite the urgent situation. "If we
don't leave now, tomorrow you'll..."
"Forsythia, you have said that a million times," Harper said emotionlessly without even raising her head. "If you really believe that
you can go out of there and leave unscathed, then you can have a try."
"But Your Highness, I don't think it's a good idea if we just stay here and do nothing! We have to try and do something!" Forsythia
was slowly becoming manic as Matthew still hadn't shown up yet. If Harper attended tomorrow's ceremony and truly became
Rolando's empress, things would definitely become bad and out of control!
Suddenly, Harper clapped her hands, a look of satisfaction donning on her face. "Well, it's done," she said, breathing deeply.
"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?" Forsythia asked curiously.
"The array has been set, my dear Forsythia," Harper answered, her eyes glittering. "Matthew should be here now. Let's get in."
This statement did not make any sense to Forsythia. She felt lost and completely confused, but somehow, the statement calmed
her nerves. Her master's ways of dealing things were a mystery, but she trusted in them.
"Your Highness, is His Highness already in the palace?" she asked.
Harper smiled mysteriously. "The array outside can probably stop the secret guards for four hours. Rolando, on the other hand,
can only be stopped for about an hour. I wonder if one hour is enough for us to go out of this place."
"Enough!" A disembodied voice abruptly rang out inside the room. Both of the two women turned their heads and saw a hole
slowly emerging on the ground. Soon, they saw Matthew staring at Harper from the entrance of the said hole, his eyes deep and
knowing. Harper sat still and simply looked at her husband with a profound smile on her lips. He finally stopped pretending that

he wasn't there.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Come over now. Are you waiting for Rolando to stop you?" Matthew coughed, pretending to be
angry. Harper still didn't move. Instead, she continued to look at him and said with a smile, "I thought you wanted to pretend that
you were not here? You even changed my clothes and the quilt to make me feel that you were not here before. What are you
doing here?" Matthew choked and quickly jumped out of the hole. Standing in front of Harper in a condescending manner, he
asked, "Are you sure you want to argue that with me right now?" "Am I the one who's messing around?" Harper pointedly asked,
pulling a long face. 'Rolando had saved my life. What he asked me to do was not too much. I should return the favor as a friend.
Do you want to be married to such an ungrateful person?' she thought, actually mad.
Matthew felt that the situation Harper was presenting him was a little bit tricky. Despite that, he still said, "The most important
thing right now is for us to be able to leave this place. As for other things, can we talk about them after we've escaped? Is that
okay?"
"Well, you can leave now, but I won't!" Harper said stubbornly. There was no way she was letting go of the whole matter that
easily.
"All right, Harp, I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault. If Rolando plots against someone purposely, he can be deceived, even if he is
extremely cautious. I'm just angry with myself. I have known that Rolando's target was you—it has always been you—and I
shouldn't have let you go to the Great Jade Kingdom alone. I am very sorry." Matthew let out a deep sigh. "Now, can you stop
being angry with me? We have a lot to do." "Then why did you ask me if I cared about your feelings?" "I..." Matthew's voice
became hoarse. The truth was that he was in a very bad mood because he was jealous. In his life, he had done such a stupid
thing: Although he had escaped, he still went back to battle with Rolando. Yet, his self-esteem didn't allow him to tell her that.
"What? You don't believe me! It's so obvious!"
"No, I didn't..." Matthew staggered. "I'm... I'm not confident in myself, Harper."

"Have you been bewitched by one of Rolando's magic potions or what? When Rolando saved me, you were angry. When he
caught me, you were still angry. Does that mean you'd be angry with everything that relates to Rolando? Then, let me ask you
one question: do you love him, or me? Because it seemed like you're in love with him! You two—" Before she could say what she
wanted to say, however, her lips were already sealed shut by Matthew's lips.
After they shared a deeply passionate kiss, Matthew released Harper and said in a threatening voice, "Continue saying that, and
that's how you'll end up!"
Harper rolled her eyes and snorted, "You always showed that you two love and hate each other so much that it makes me think
I'm the third wheel."
Matthew was at a loss for words. Why did his wife think that he and Rolando were in love? There was only anger between them
and there was no space for love, or any kind of feeling of that sort, to flourish. Sometimes, he really wanted to pierce into his
wife's head and check what was inside it. Such peculiar thoughts this woman had!
"Can we just get a move on, please? I am sure that once Rolando finishes taking care of whatever he's taking care of, he will
surely come here and guard you. If that happened, our slim chances of escaping this place would become even slimmer!"
Matthew wrapped his arm around Harper's waist and was about to take her away when she suddenly said,
"Wait!" Harper tapped Matthew's hand as a signal to him to let her go. After he did, she went ahead and hung up an oil lamp
using a thread. She then tied the other end of the thread to a chair. The process continued with her lighting a candle which was
about four centimeters higher than a certain point along the thread. Matthew looked on curiously, but then he immediately
understood what she was doing: The moment candle reached the thread, it would burn it, effectively cutting it, causing the oil
lamp to fall to the ground. Once that happened, it would ignite the curtain in the room, burning everything down.