Human dimension reduction

The screens, bamboo curtains and curtains on all sides were closed, covering this narrow space tightly. A woman who was nearly half a century old was sitting outside the curtains, wearing bright and gorgeous twelve single clothes, long His long hair hangs down his back, and his face, which can be regarded as upright, is full of despair, and his forehead is shivering against the mat woven with reed.

She was so terrified, so terrified.

As a female official who has served and raised Prince Zhang Zinai since he was born, Kobayakawa knows everything about Prince Zhang Zinai better than anyone else. It can be said that she even understands herself better than this innocent princess, and the mind of an adult is also Let her discover the abnormality around His Highness early.

From the Emperor's excessive doting on the Prince Nai, to the Prince Nai's weakening body, and those ghosts that can never be dispelled around the Prince...

The death of Prince Nai was definitely a sudden accident. She had been ill and hadn't gotten up for many days. On an ordinary morning as usual, Kobayakawa took the maids to wake His Highness up and found the young Prince Nai It has been a long time, and even the body is cold.

Hearing the news, His Majesty the Emperor rushed over with a distorted and horrifying expression, even more ferocious than a ghost, so Kobayakawa dared not look up at him.

But to be honest, the death of Prince Zhang Zinai actually made Kobayakawa heaved a sigh of relief.

She didn't know what the emperor did with the prince, but the sixth sense of a woman told her that it was by no means an ending worth celebrating. Even compared with this, maybe dying now is a good thing for the prince .

Kobayakawa is incapable of resisting the emperor's various orders, and she dare not rashly tell Zhang Zi her unfounded guesses, but she still hopes that the little girl she grew up under her care will have a good end, even if it is death, Maybe there's nothing wrong with that.

But not long after she relaxed, the emperor ordered them not to spread the news of the death of Prince Zhang Zinai, and there was no news of any funerals in and out of the palace. The maids who had witnessed the death of His Royal Highness Zhang Zi disappeared silently one by one.

There was no sign, the person who was tidying things with her yesterday disappeared today, and all traces were erased. When asked about the cohabitant, he said that this person was appreciated by the nobleman and had already left the palace.

... What a clumsy and terrible lie!

Kobayakawa was worried every day, and finally got a message from the Tibetans around the emperor today, asking her to go to the palace behind Qingliang Hall, where people would answer everything they asked her.

This place was originally the side hall of Prince Nai's residence. There was smoke floating in the censer, and the sweet and elegant fragrance filled the palace room, but Kobayakawa was restless, with big drops of sweat rolling down his forehead.

As a female official serving Prince Zhang Zinei, she is also the daughter of aristocrats, has received a good education, and is even more proficient in Xiangdao.

In this scent, in this scent...

It has a rotten smell.

Although she didn't see it with her own eyes, the death signal from the same kind has already reminded this sensitive woman. Under the heavy cover, it is impossible for her to see what is inside the curtain, but she still relies on her instinct to deeply lower her head and dare not peek in front of her. scene.

"Tell me about Zhang Zi's living habits, personal hobbies, and life experiences."

After a while, a calm and calm male voice came from inside the curtain.

Kobayakawa shivered unconsciously, and lowered his body even lower.

"His Royal Highness Zhang Zi was born in..."

When searching for all the things about the dead Zhang Zi in his mind, Kobayakawa suddenly realized that even if he was the inner prince, Zhang Zi's life was so dull.

After he was born, he thought he was his mother and won the favor of the emperor. After his mother passed away, this kind of favor intensified, and perhaps because of congenital insufficiency in the womb, Prince Zhang Zinei was very weak, often seriously ill, and was haunted by ghosts. Everyone knows the strange constitution of the inner prince.

However, this may also be the reason. Zhang Zi has a gentle and soft personality, he doesn't like to criticize others, and he is very close to the maids around him, which is very likable.

Zhang Zi's only willfulness is probably that he does not want to marry prematurely. The emperor generously satisfied his daughter's wish and let her serve as the fasting palace of Ise Shrine to delay the marriage. He even chose the daughters of other nobles to replace Prince Uchi Going to Ise Jingu to take up his post, how did he know that the general of Edo was going to enter the capital suddenly, and there were rumors that he was here to marry Prince Nai, which made the emperor very worried, and even moved the idea of ​​​​sending Zhang Zi to Ise.

As a result, before the general arrived or the emperor sent her to Ise, Zhang Zi died quietly.

Kobayakawa told all these well-known things. The man behind the bamboo curtain was silent for a while, not knowing what he was thinking, and then asked: "What does she like and what does she dislike? Does she have someone she loves? Where is the person she hates?"

This question is somewhat sensitive in the Forbidden Palace, especially when the object of his inquiry is an unmarried inner prince.

However, Kobayakawa received the order that no matter what the other party asks, he must answer one by one and not hide it, so he simply said it out: "His Royal Highness, Prince Nei, does not have a particularly obvious preference, and there is no one he likes. His Highness has been with you since birth Staying in the inner palace, I have never had any contact with outsiders, even the onmyojis in Yin Yang Liao are not allowed to meet His Highness casually, let alone those who hate them, Your Highness is a very gentle person."

Lan Yin inside the curtain raised his brows slightly when he heard this sentence, Kobayakawa didn't see a lantern with strange flame standing next to his hand, and within the light circle of the lantern, Lan Yin who was sitting cross-legged was standing in front of him. A corpse covered with Tang clothes.

No matter how good-looking a person dies for a while, you can’t look at it. There are festering plaques on the face of this corpse. In order to cover up the fact of Zhangzi’s death, the emperor obviously couldn’t ask someone to tidy up her remains, so that a few days passed , Zhang Zi's body began to rot, and it is still parked here, no one knows.

Asking Yindeng to work diligently, Lan Yin originally planned to directly summon Zhang Zi's soul to learn about her life, but I don't know if it is because China's underworld system is incompatible with the island country's Huangquan Biliangsaka, or because of the boundaries of different dungeons , he couldn't summon anything.

Of course, it is also possible that Zhang Zi's soul has disappeared for some reason.

Lan Yin planned to try to attract other dead souls to find out the reason for a while, but according to his deduction, it is very likely that Zhang Zi's soul was taken away by others.

Lan Yin looked at the face of the deceased, and then asked: "What is the most important thing for her?"

Kobayakawa didn't even think about it, and blurted out: "Your Majesty, Prince Inner, gave her the Excalibur Sky Congyun when she was ten years old!"

Now, even Lan Yin couldn't help raising his head.

Clouds in the sky, a treasure that everyone in the Two-dimensional world has heard of. According to legend, it appeared from the body of the monster Yata no Orochi. Even the emperor can't watch it at will. It has the ability to suppress all evil spirits and kill ghosts. It has always been enshrined in Atsuta Shrine.

It's such a big baby beyond the concept that the emperor actually made it out and gave it to his daughter? !

This can't be because the emperor loves Zhang Zi, Lan Yin thought, on the contrary, the better he treats Zhang Zi, the more terrifying the conspiracy he planned.

Lan Yin naturally doesn't care what he is planning. Rather, the bigger the emperor wants to do, the happier this self-proclaimed excellent player is. The neuropathy became more and more elated.

What a happy and exciting plot!The characters in it are also very interesting!

Kobayakawa continued to say: "It is very unreasonable to give an artifact such as the cloud of the sky as a gift to a prince. His Highness Zhang Zi was also frightened by this, and asked His Majesty the Emperor several times to take back this too precious item. I was the only one around His Highness who knew about this, and His Highness is even more grateful for loving and loving His Majesty the Emperor."

"'Let the gods of the country and I guard Zhang Zi to grow up together. Even if it is an artifact, if it can't protect the blood of the lord, then what's the use of hiding in the shrine?' This is what His Majesty said to Prince Zhang Zinei at that time, Since then, His Highness Zhang Zi has never brought up the question of returning the Clouds of the Sky, but regards it as his most important and beloved object, enshrining and wiping it with his own hands every day."

Lan Yin suddenly asked: "The clouds in the sky have the effect of suppressing evil things?"

Kobayakawa replied decisively: "Of course, everyone knows about the magic weapon to ward off evil spirits."

The words revealed the woman's deep admiration for the gods of her country, and Lan Yin's question of questioning the gods obviously made her feel a little bit dissatisfied, but she was smart enough not to express it.

"Oh..." Lan Yin pouted with a half-smile.

Since the artifact is so powerful, why is it that Prince Zhang Zinei, who is with the artifact day and night, is often haunted by ghosts?

It can't be that these ghosts are so powerful that they can step on the head of the artifact, right?If there are so many powerful ghosts, shouldn't they be the ones who established the Kingdom of God?

This is probably the key point of the plot in this world. Lan Yin kept it in mind and asked again: "What else? What else does she care about?"

Kobayakawa took a long time to think this time before answering: "... hair, Prince Zhang Zinai has been ill for a long time, and the doctor ordered him to cut his hair short regularly. His Royal Highness Zhang Zi is very frustrated about this. Beautiful long hair like Ji Jun."

hair.

Lan Yin lowered his head to look at the words. From his perspective, he didn't think Zhang Zi's hair was ugly, it was black and soft, and too soft, but it was indeed shorter than the hair of those noble women who dragged on the ground at every turn, probably only It can reach the calf, but it is so around, it is actually very objective in the eyes of others.

However, in a country where long hair is considered beautiful, for Zhang Zi, this may really be a big shortcoming.

Lan Yin moved her fingers, took out a sharp and thin blade from her pocket, held it between her fingers, and twisted a strand of long hair of the deceased. hair strands.

After asking this question, there was no more sound from inside the curtain. Kobayakawa lowered her head and pricked up her ears trying to catch some other sounds, but she could only hear the rustling of the fabric. She wanted to raise her head to steal After taking a look, she was forced to move by the inexplicable fear in her heart and the rancid smell mixed with spices in the air. After an unknown period of time, the movement of the hem of the clothes dragging on the reed mat caught her attention.

It seems... no, there is someone walking around. Kobayakawa, who has been a female official for many years, thought to herself, this movement is the sound of multi-layered long clothes dragging on the ground, so besides the man who spoke, is there another woman in the curtain? ?Just now, I didn't hear any sound from the other party.

The unknown woman seemed to be about to step out. Her footsteps were soothing and quiet, like a lotus flower blooming, with a graceful and graceful rhythm and beauty. She was obviously a noble woman with a high status and a strict education.

And... Kobayakawa has faint doubts, this way of walking seems very familiar to her...

The corner of the crimson dress embroidered with rich chrysanthemums and creepers came into Kobayakawa's eyes, half of the other's body was exposed, as if he was hesitating to come out, Kobayakawa lowered his head and waited for a while, but did not wait for more movement , finally couldn't help raising his head: "You... eh?"

Her eyes widened as if they were about to tear apart.

Standing beside the curtain was a girl she knew very well, with long hair hanging down her back, and a slender figure. She was wearing a dark blue skirt, and a bright and lively red and cute yellow gown. The paper fan, it was this paper fan that lifted the soft curtain, revealing the girl's face.

A pale face due to long-term illness, some fleshy cheeks, some unhealthy flushing, gentle eyes and a smile, she is a gentle girl who can be liked by just looking at the facial features, but looking at this face, Kobayakawa reveals The expression of being about to collapse.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh—His Royal Highness Zhang Zi?!"

She screamed incoherently, she saw Zhang Zi lying there soundlessly with her own eyes!Even the hands and feet are cold and stiff!

At this moment, in her eyes, whether it is the smiling eyes or the pursed lips of the other party, they all become as abnormal and terrifying as paper dolls and ghosts.

"You, aren't you already, already dead?!"

The woman who looked exactly like Zhang Zi frowned, with a helpless expression: "Xiaobayakawa... what are you talking about... Am I still standing here properly?"

As she said that, she wanted to walk in the direction of Kobayakawa.

"It's impossible, it's impossible!" Kobayakawa was terrified, she stood up abruptly with the strength she didn't know where, she backed up again and again, opened the curtain door and rushed out.

And after she went out, the inner prince who had come back from the dead stopped, and the crooked smile on his lips became weird: "The next step is to meet 'my' father, right?"

The undertaker inside the curtain also came out, stood beside her, and looked at the open door with her.