Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

Ignoring her complaint, the Holy Maiden casually sat down in the main seat and looked at Diana with a cold expression on her
face. "Princess Diana, what brings you here?"
Diana gritted her teeth with a ferocious look and responded, "I heard that you invited Prince Matthew and his wife to visit the
Starry Palace. Is that true?"
"I don't think I need to report this to you. Whether it's true or not, I don't think it has anything to do with you. Please don't fret
about matters that don't concern you. You can leave now if you don't have any other questions. I have guests to entertain and I'm
very busy," the Holy Maiden perfunctorily replied.
"Catherine, please keep in mind that you're my elder sister!" Diana exclaimed in anger. She was becoming more and more
anxious. Now that Matthew and Harper were in the Starry Palace, it would be an excellent chance for her. As long as the Holy
Maiden, Catherine, would help her in detaining Matthew, Diana was sure that it would be much easier to deal with Harper.
However, Catherine grew angry. Her eyes became colder and colder while she stared at Diana. "You can't say things like that.
Diana, you should remember that as the Holy Maiden, I don't have any relatives or friends anymore. I'm an orphan!"
Diana was rendered speechless when she heard that. Catherine was only telling the truth. The day when she became the Holy
Maiden, she was no longer her elder sister. However, they still had the same blood running in their veins. So, Dianna insisted
that they were still sisters.
"Please, sister, I need your help!" Diana started begging. She had finally figured out that Catherine wouldn't help her if she
demanded for help forcefully. So she decided to try another way. By pretending to be very pitiful, she was attempting to knock
into Catherine's heart.
Catherine, on the other hand merely sneered, "Humph. You need my help? You must be kidding me. There is nothing in this
world that I can do to help you. And even if I can, I would never do it. I'm not going to say it again. Leave, right now."
Emphasizing on her last three words, Catherine firmly and slowly told her sister off.
"Catherine! I'm showing you kindness and this is how you're treating me! You should see it as an honor! Don't test my patience

now!" Diana warned in a stern tone. She was so furious that her face turned red. In her opinion, they were still sisters and what
she was trying to do was for the sake of the South Kingdom. So she couldn't understand why Catherine was so opposed to her.

Despite this, Catherine remained distant and indifferent. There was no expression on her face at all. On the contrary, there were
so many emotions on Diana's face—disappointment, sadness, but most of all anger. She became so furious from the
embarrassment that she really wanted to fight Catherine at that moment. In fact, they did do it within minutes. When Harper and
Matthew arrived a few moments after that, the two of them were so engaged in the fight that it was hard to separate them. Both
of them were good at using poison, but they didn't use any kind of poison this time. They resorted to physical aggression, making
use of their martial arts skills. "I would have never expected in a million years for the Holy Maiden to be quite good at fighting. I
mean, she did look so gentle and even fragile at times. Diana has a bad temper, so it affects her performance in a fight easily.
And now that Francis has become her husband, I'm kind of curious whether she has control over him," Harper commented while
her eyes went wide at the sight of the two women fighting. When Matthew heard Harper's remark about the relationship between
Francis and Diana without any pressure or emotional burden, he was very happy. Francis had tried to take Harper away from
him again and again. But now, his wife Francis had been obsessing with was commenting on the man's personal life with another
woman in a mocking tone. What was more, she had grown to dislike Francis very much. With this in mind, Matthew immediately
felt that it was so good to have one fewer competitor. They continued to watch the two women who were fighting very fiercely.
Harper noticed that Diana did not show any mercy with her every strike while the Holy Maiden was very kind. She even avoided
attacking Diana's vital parts. If she also attacked with all her might, Harper was afraid that Diana would have been beaten to the
floor long ago.
With the spectacle in front of her, Harper became lost in her thoughts. She pondered whether the Holy Maiden was being so
considerate because tradition was compelling her not to hurt any member of the South Kingdom's royal family. So even though
Diana came barging in to provoke her, she still found it in her to tolerate the woman. But judging from the ruthless expression on
Diana's face, Harper felt that she was so determined to kill the Holy Maiden right there and then.
All of a sudden, Diana blurted out, "Catherine, stop being so stubborn! We both know that if it weren't you who hindered me, it's

me who would have become the Holy Maiden!" What she just said surprised everyone in the hall except for the Holy Maiden.
Harper had not expected that there was such a history between the two.
However, what Diana said only irritated the Holy Maiden even more. She was already at her wit's end and that was the last
straw. She decided not to show any mercy in the fight anymore. With her full strength, she attacked Diana, and not long after, the
latter was extremely injured. Lying on the floor, Diana glared at the Holy Maiden with so much resentment.

"I hindered you?" Catherine asked firmly. She forced a bitter smile and was almost in tears. In a very loud voice, she then asked,
"Do you think I was willing to be the Holy Maiden? Do you think I wanted this? How dare you use that against me! Go back and
ask your dear father why I was selected but not you!" Catherine refused to call the king of the South Kingdom as her father.
At that moment, Diana was frightened by the expression on Catherine's face. From Diana's memory, Catherine had always been
pure and gentle since they were children. She had never been rude to anyone. She would just smile a little while being so
courteous to everyone. No one could find any mistake in her behavior. Their father and the commoners all believed that she was
extremely qualified to be the Holy Maiden. No one would have expected that she was capable of being filled with rage all her life.
"Didn't you drug me so I could pass out at that time?" Diana asked, still surprised about what happened back then.
Catherine turned around, refusing to look at her. "It's true that we're sisters, but I'm not kind enough to sacrifice myself just to
make you happy. I've never wanted to be the Holy Maiden. And yes, I knew that this had been your dream since we were kids.
That's why, I was willing to let you have the position so you can fulfill your wish. But in the end, you didn't show up!"
"No, it's not like that. It's you—" Diana tried to say something but Catherine interrupted her, "It doesn't matter now. There's
nothing we can do to change those have happened in the past. You're living a happy and free life as the daughter of the South
Kingdom's king. Meanwhile, I'm the Holy Maiden who is said to be pure and innocent. You can enjoy your life, while I must obey
strict rules. I can't even entertain the thoughts of other possibilities. You know what? It's not that easy. I didn't choose this life!
And you even dared come here and accuse me of wanting it for myself. You crossed the line. So you'd better not appear in front
of me ever again. Leave right now! Otherwise, I can't promise that I would restrain myself from hurting you. Don't ever come here
again." Tears ran down from Catherine's cheeks. For so long, she just wanted to live a happy and simple life where she could be
free with the one she loved and cherished. But everything changed since that night ten years ago. It was Diana who was
supposed to become the Holy Maiden. But somehow, it had become her instead.
Diana struggled to stand up from the floor while looking at Catherine's unforgiving back. After listening to her, she became more
confused. She stumbled out of the hall in haste. All she wanted to do then was to go back and ask her father what actually
happened ten years ago.
After Diana left, Catherine cried silently by herself in the front hall. For quite some time, tears only flowed from her eyes. Harper
then eyed Matthew, suggesting that it was a good chance for him to go to the library. Now, Catherine was sad because of
Diana's visit, so she was very frustrated and needed some time to calm herself down. Harper decided that she would stay here

to comfort Catherine while Matthew could wander around and try to sneak into the library.
Matthew hesitated for a moment but yielded in the end. He then said in a concerned tone, "Okay, but you must be extremely
careful here."
"Yes, I will. You must be careful as well," Harper replied softly so only Matthew could hear her..