Chapter 915: The Young Empress (52)

Chapter 915: The Young Empress (52)

In that instant, Su Qing suddenly felt his entire body fly through the air. The arrow whizzed past his face, slicing off a strand of his hair.

As he was thrown away, he heard the Empress's voice.

“Chief Eunuch, protect Su Qing!”

The next moment, the Chief Eunuch caught him onto her horse.

Almost instinctively, he turned his head.

Because the Empress had thrown him toward the Chief Eunuch, she no longer had time to care for herself.

That arrow was aimed directly at her throat.

At that moment, Su Qing's heart leapt into his throat, but he soon breathed out in relief.

The Empress had actually caught the arrow with her bare hand.

It had stopped only a finger's breadth from her neck.

But he relaxed too quickly.

Her horse was struck by an arrow. It let out a shrill cry and bolted madly forward.

Su Qing's eyes widened.

He watched helplessly as the horse charged straight toward the cliff.

The Empress didn't even have time to react before horse and rider plunged over the edge.

“Your Majesty!”

Su Qing shouted.

At the same moment, another cry rang out from afar.

“Your Majesty!”

Immediately afterward, a handsome and imposing man galloped into view. The men he had brought instantly engaged the black-clad assassins.

Su Qing's face was deathly pale, his eyes empty as he stared at the man approaching.

He knew this man well.

The Imperial Consort.

His mind was still filled with the image of the Empress catching the arrow and falling from the cliff.

He had no energy left to wonder why the Imperial Consort had appeared here.

Jing Cheng rode straight to the cliff's edge.

Below it, only dense mist rose upward. The bottom couldn't be seen at all.

Turning around, he cast Su Qing an icy glance before saying to the Chief Eunuch,

“I'm going down to find Her Majesty.”

“Imperial Consort, please be careful.”

The Chief Eunuch's heart was bitter.

The task the Empress had entrusted to her had been to protect Su Qing. She had never expected the Empress herself to fall off the cliff so suddenly.

Now that the Imperial Consort had arrived, she felt somewhat relieved, yet even more worried.

After all, she knew very well that the person Her Majesty cared about most was the Imperial Consort.

And today's events…

She vaguely felt that something wasn't right.

But with the Empress's life and death unknown, she had no time to dwell on such matters.

All she could do was remind Jing Cheng to be careful.

In her heart, no one was more important than Her Majesty.

Though Jing Cheng's expression was cold and composed, his heart was in complete chaos.

The moment he had seen her fall from the cliff, he had felt as though his own heart had shattered.

He understood that accompanying Su Qing on this excursion had surely been part of some plan she had.

But he had never imagined an accident like this would occur.

As for those black-clad assassins—

Without a shred of evidence, he already suspected Su Qing.

If anything happened to his Empress…

He would come back and kill Su Qing with his own hands.

As he rode down the mountain, he still instructed the Chief Eunuch,

“Protect Young Master Su properly. Not a single hair on his head is to be harmed.”

Su Qing could feel the coldness in the Imperial Consort's gaze.

He didn't suspect anything.

He simply thought that the Imperial Consort blamed him for suggesting the outing and causing the Empress's accident.

At this point, Su Qing himself had no idea what to do.

He had only wanted the Empress to remember his sincerity.

To remember this day.

To remember that he had been willing to sacrifice his life for her.

To gain her complete trust.

He had never intended to kill her.

If the Empress died now, not only would his plan fail—

Everything would descend into chaos.

But more than that…

The indescribable panic within his heart had already caused him to forget all about his plans.

He even found himself thinking—

If he hadn't arranged this scheme today, perhaps he and the Empress would already be admiring the scenery together.

Or perhaps…

Before putting his plan into motion, he should have investigated the terrain.

How could he have known there would be a cliff here?

With his heart pounding violently, Jing Cheng finally reached the foot of the mountain and desperately searched for the familiar figure.

He was terrified.

Terrified that what he would find…

Would be her broken beyond recognition.