Xiao Zai addressed Peng Rui first. "And what were his Majesty's orders?"
She whipped her long neck towards him, "His Majesty asked Pen--," she cut herself off abruptly the moment her teary eyes focused on Xiao Zai and she realised what a blunder she'd made.
She sucked her lips into her mouth, biting down on them, as if she was trying to take back her words along with them.
The King glared down at her in abject fury, his expression twisted into a mask of rage so powerful, he scarcely looked like a person.
Peng Rui crawled across the polished wooden floor, resting her hands on the bottom step of the dais. She looked up at the King in supplication, and begged, "Your Majesty, please, Peng Rui swears she didn't kill her. It must have been someone else."
