Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

When Harper returned to the Harmony Palace, the maids had already prepared hot water and fresh clean clothes for her. Her
eyelashes trembled a little while she looked at the steam over the hot water in the bathtub. Rolando had always been so
considerate to her. She had been used to it for so long that she didn't feel like anything was wrong with the way he was treating
her. But right then, Harper realized that she had been sitting on pins and needles all this time.
"Hmm?" Patrick tried to speak but it sounded more of a squeak. It looked at Harper in confusion. It couldn't understand what she
was thinking.
Harper put the creature down and said, "I'm fine."
Harper started dipping herself into the tub while Patrick was playing outside. Suddenly, it heard Harper call it. Instantly, its eyes lit
up. It dashed to the screen and looked up at Harper, drooling a little. 'Are you finally willing to let me see you naked?' it thought.
"Matthew has arrived in the capital, right?" Harper asked. She then sank into the water, leaving only her head above it. Patrick
jumped unto the bathtub and stood on its edge. Then, it couldn't help but regretfully sigh. The water was covered by petals, so it
couldn't see anything in the tub, no matter how hard it tried.
"Hmmm, Hmmm," Patrick answered, without much energy.
"If he has arrived in the capital, why hasn't he come to me?" Harper asked in confusion. With how she knew her husband,
Matthew would have come to her as soon as he arrived, so she couldn't understand why he hadn't.
Upon hearing Harper's question, Patrick jumped up and down, as if it was dancing on the edge of the bathtub. It not only jumped
here and there, but also pretended to be very powerful and vicious. As Harper was amused by it, the expression on her face lit
up.
"Do you mean to say that Matthew has already come to the palace to look for me, but someone drove him away?" Harper asked.
From the happiness in Patrick's eyes, she could clearly figure out that it was taking pleasure in Matthew's misfortune. It was as if
seeing Matthew being defeated and driven out by others bring Patrick so much joy. Understandably, because Matthew had never
been kind to Patrick, it could not be happier when it saw Matthew suffer. After all, it was very rare that the prince was frustrated.

"Who drove him away?" Harper asked. Upon hearing the question, Patrick suddenly pinched its two fingers and wriggled its fat
hip in a sultry way. It waddled along the edge of the bathtub. When Harper noticed that it was evidently imitating someone, the
corner of her mouth could not help but twitch. "Miguel?" she guessed, though she was almost sure.
Patrick desperately nodded. Then it put its two hands on its hips, pretending to be serious. While looking straight on, it suddenly
turned around with a nasty smile shown on its head. Harper almost burst into laughter at the sight of its imitation. "And
Rolando?" In order to peep at Harper's naked body, Patrick then squatted on the edge of the bathtub and tried to catch the petals
over the water with its claw. While it was so concentrated on its goal, it didn't even notice the dangerous expression on Harper's
face. Imagining what it was about to see, it felt very excited. All of a sudden, however, its head was grabbed and directly pressed
into the water. It happened so fast that Patrick couldn't even react, so it was actually choked by the water. When it finally raised
its
head, Harper was already dressed up. She was sitting on the side and wiping her wet long hair with a towel.
Patrick jumped out of the bathtub, shook all of the water on its body, and rushed toward Harper. It wanted to let her know that as
a Holy Beast, it could not be pushed around so easily. However, before it could reach Harper, she slapped the creature with her
towel. Patrick directly hit a wall but it didn't give up. It kicked on the wall and rushed towards Harper again. But Harper didn't
even look at it. She just simply slapped it away again.
Patrick had expected that it would hit the wall as a result of Harper's force. To its surprise, it was caught by someone, who then
asked, "Harper, is this beast yours?"
When she heard that, Harper raised her head to look at the direction of the voice. It was not until then that she realized Rolando
had come to her quarters. He was staring at Patrick, which he had just grabbed, and asked, "Does it have a name?" "Patrick,"
Harper responded. As soon as Rolando put Patrick down, the little beast quickly jumped into Harper's arms and buried its head
on her arms. It was as if the creature was declaring that Harper belonged to it. Rolando's eyebrows twitched a little when he saw
that. "That's a good name," he commented.

Harper wiped her semi-dry hair and placed it behind her. Staring at Rolando quietly, she said, "Matthew has arrived in the
capital."
Her tone indicated that she was stating a fact rather than asking a question. Rolando immediately realized that Harper must have
known something about what happened. He thought that there must be some special communication method between her and
Matthew. With such thoughts in mind, he admitted, "Yes, he arrived today. And the envoy's team will arrive in three days."
With a frown, Harper asked in a low voice, "And the coronation ceremony for the new empress is scheduled to take place in five
days, right?"
"Hum." Rolando's voice was clear but not rigid. He knew that the empress coronation ceremony would not take place as
scheduled.
Harper fell silent for a moment. By then, she had a clear understanding of the incident that had happened yesterday. When Lilian
came to the Harmony Palace, she took two maids with her, but when she left, there was only one maid with her. The other one
must have been Becky who took the chance to sneak into the palace. Harper didn't want to think about the possibility that Lilian
knew everything that Becky had done.
After a few moments, Harper still didn't say anything. Rolando immediately said, "I've already told you that I will give you an
explanation for what happened. Don't worry. I will find out the truth as soon as possible."
"I should leave the palace right now. Now that Matthew has arrived in the capital, it's time for me to go. Lilian's health condition is
already stable, and there are a lot of imperial physicians in the palace. I'm planning to leave the palace today." Harper brought up
the topic again.
Without saying a word in response, Rolando just stared at Harper silently. His face was devoid of any expression, so it was
impossible for anyone to guess what he was thinking right then.