A Debt of Blood

My fiancé returned from his travels, a girl by his side.

That girl was dazzling and bold, and her first words were: "So this is your betrothed? She looks dreadfully dull."

He let out a light laugh. "How could she ever compare to you."

1

Lucien Ashford had been traveling abroad for three years. He finally returned to the Capital City the day before our wedding.

Mother took me to the city gates to welcome him. Who would have guessed he'd sit arrogantly on his horse, a woman of exotic dress and breathtaking beauty in his arms, not even deigning to glance my way?

He gave my mother a cold nod, then spurred his horse into the city.

Mother trembled with rage. I reached out and held her back.

The woman's crisp laughter drifted over from afar.

"So this is your betrothed? She looks dreadfully dull."

Lucien let out a contemptuous snort, lowering his head to press a kiss to her neck. "How could she ever compare to you."

"You have good eyes, at least. I am an eagle chasing the wind and sun across the grasslands, not like you Han women, rabbits cooped up in your inner chambers, timid and shrinking, living only by clinging to men."

They dissolved into laughter, a perfectly matched pair, trampling my dignity into the dust without a single thought for the long-standing friendship between our two families.

2

The Ashford and Xie families were old allies. Lucien and I had been betrothed since childhood.

Lucien Ashford had returned to the Capital with a foreign woman in tow.

The news spread through the city in less than half a day.

Three years ago, my father and elder brother had fallen in battle. I became the orphaned daughter of the General's household.

When others spoke of me, it was mostly with pity and regret.

So, when I was humiliated so publicly by my betrothed, the common people were the ones who rose to my defense.

3

I was out distributing congee when I happened to run into that foreign woman, Una.

She was dressed in purple gauze, her slender waist bared, a crescent-shaped scimitar hanging at her side. She was both valiant and radiant, the very picture of peerless grace.

But the next moment, she lashed her whip at an old man who had set up his stall outside the General's mansion, shrieking, "I am the one destined for Lucien! What is this Yvonne Xie? She's not even fit to hold my shoes! And you, you old wretch, you dare say I stole her fate?!"

My eyes turned cold. I strode forward, seized the whip as it whistled through the air, and yanked hard.

Her pupils contracted. She lost her balance, stumbling forward two steps, nearly falling.

She steadied herself, staring at me in disbelief, as if she couldn't believe that a "rabbit cooped up in her inner chambers" like me could snatch a whip from her hand.

"Do you know who I am? Give me back the whip Lucien found for me!" she screamed, her voice harsh and imperious.

"Apologize!" I helped the fallen old man to his feet, pointing at the scattered fruits. "Pick them up."

An outsider, daring to bully one of my people so openly on the Vermilion Bird Avenue of our Capital—she was far too arrogant!

The surrounding crowd seethed with indignation, but they dared not speak out, fearing the Ashford family's power.

"Apologize? Ha! This old wretch dared to show me disrespect. I'm being merciful by not tearing him limb from limb!" She stomped viciously on the fruits the old man had been selling, then lifted her leg with disdain and kicked him. "Filthy!"

I shielded the old man, my patience at an end. I lashed the whip across her face.

She dodged quickly, blocking with her arm. A bloody welt appeared on it.

Enraged, she drew the scimitar from her waist and swung at me furiously. "How dare a lowly Han like you wound me! I'll cut off your head and throw it into the Han pit!"

At the words "Han pit," I nearly lost control of my murderous intent.

Lucien appeared from nowhere, wrapping his arms around her protectively, glaring at me. "How can you be so vicious! What right do you have to hit her!"

I threw the whip at him, my eyes red, pretending to be the pitiful, betrayed, and humiliated fiancée.

I met his gaze stubbornly, forcing back tears that wouldn't fall, my voice choked with accusation. "Why do you only see me hitting her? Didn't you see her attacking an old man?!"

He was so angry he spoke without thinking. "He's just a commoner! How can he be compared to Una!"

At those words, the people queuing for congee could no longer stay silent.

Lucien and Una were surrounded. A thousand accusing voices, a hundred spitting tongues—they nearly drowned them.

I wiped the non-existent tears from the corner of my eye and helped the old man away.

If I didn't leave soon, I was afraid I'd laugh out loud.

Una shrieked, "I'll kill you filthy peasants! I'll kill you all!! Don't touch me!!!"

Behind me, Lucien roared in fury, "I am the legitimate son of the Chancellor's mansion! Get out of my way!"

I paused mid-step, unable to stop myself from thinking, *Idiot.*

4

The next morning, Lucien seemed possessed by some demon.

He was covered in whip welts. Stripped to the waist, he knelt outside my General's mansion, bearing a bundle of brambles on his back in a gesture of penance.

I found it almost amusing, looking at the thorny twigs tied to his back. He stiffened his neck, not daring to meet my eyes, his face and neck flushed red.

It must have been hard for him to feel shame for once.

His father knelt beside him, weeping with shame.

I immediately stepped forward to help him up.

Lord Ashford's tears flowed freely. "I have failed your father! I have failed the Xie family! The Xie household, loyal unto death—three years ago, in that battle against the Uighurs, seventeen sons of the Xie family fell, buying Great Chu its current peace. And I raised this unfilial son who has wronged you!"

I remained silent.

Lord Ashford swore to me repeatedly that Una would never set foot in their home.

Lucien, too, changed his attitude, becoming warm and affectionate.

"I have no relationship with Una. She is a woman I saved during my travels. I only see her as a confidante. If it bothers you, after we are married, I will never see her again—"

Lies.

I couldn't bear to look at his hypocritical face. I was calculating the time in my mind. The person I was waiting for should be arriving soon.

Finally, as I had hoped, she came—

Una, red-eyed, ran over with a little boy and a little girl in tow.

She burst into tears and began to make a scene. "You dare not see me! If you refuse to see me, I'll die right here with my children!"

5

Lord Ashford trembled with rage.

Lucien forgot his kneeling posture, scrambled up, and pulled her aside, lowering his voice to soothe her. "What nonsense is this! I told you, it's just a temporary measure!"

Lord Ashford stamped his foot. He was a civil official, a man of pure reputation, and cared most about his name.

Now, surrounded by gossiping commoners, he was on pins and needles. He roared in shame, "If she wants to die, let her die with those two bastards! Now kneel back down to Yvonne! Let go of her hand! If you have no shame, I do! The people are watching!"

Una glared at me with hatred. "Yvonne Xie, let me tell you, I have already fed Lucien a sterility potion! If you want to marry him, you'll never bear a child!"

On the surface, I looked aggrieved, but my words were a dagger to the heart. "Don't worry, little sister. Your children will be mine. When I become the first wife, I will treat them well."

Una, enraged by my words, screamed and charged at me like a fishwife, vowing to kill me. Lucien held her back with difficulty.

I chose my moment and fell to the ground. The crowd watching grew larger and larger.

I simply closed my eyes and pretended to faint.

Silence spoke louder than words.

My mother quickly ordered the maids to carry me inside.

Following my instructions, she spat in Lucien's and his father's faces, weeping and cursing, "Bah! Ungrateful dogs! The Ashford family thinks that because all the Xie men died on the battlefield, you can bully us orphans and widows! You heartless wretches, you'll die a dog's death!"

Lucien and his father's faces turned red as they tried to placate my mother. Una, not to be outdone, began to wail along with her two children.

What a farce.

I cracked open one eye to look at the angry crowd, then closed it again, satisfied.

The real show, after all, had only just begun.

6

Ever since the Ashford family learned that Lucien had truly taken the sterility potion, they had taken Una's children into their home to be well cared for, completely forgetting the promises they had made outside the General's mansion.

My mother was so angry she smashed several priceless antiques.

"Better to know now than after you've married him," I said.

"You grew up together. Aren't you sad?" she asked, her eyes filled with worry.

I tapped my finger on the "horse" piece on the chessboard, picked it up, and smilingly captured my mother's "general." "Checkmate."

"And you can still laugh! His Majesty has summoned you to the palace tomorrow. Who would have thought that Una is actually the Uighur princess, sent here to marry into the imperial family under orders."

I held the captured piece up to the sunlight streaming through the window, whispering softly, "It's all right, Mother. Your daughter is no rabbit raised in a deep chamber. I am a vengeful spirit crawled back from hell..."

Heaven had pitied my suffering, allowing me to be reborn on the day Lucien entered the Capital. How could I ever repeat the fate of the Xie family—mass execution—as I had in my past life?

7

Lucien and I had known each other since we were young.

Childhood sweethearts—how could there be no affection?

I had once embroidered a wedding veil by the west window.

I had once lost sleep over a single word from him, my heart in turmoil.

But all of that turned to smoke and clouds the moment he colluded with Una to destroy my family.

I would rather he had died on the road while compiling the geography of the realm, died in the Han pit of the Uighurs, died in the year I loved him the most.

Anything would have been better than three years ago, when he betrayed his country, conspiring with the enemy to slaughter seventeen iron-boned sons of the Xie family.

The youngest, Little Seventeen, was only fifteen. On the day of the campaign three years ago, he had taken my hand and given me a bag of cane sugar. "Sister, this is sweet! Wait until I come back, I'll buy you more!"

But he never came back.

All of the Xie family, because of Lucien's betrayal, died without a single bone left to bury.

My father and brother's heads still hung on the banners over the Uighur Han pit, never to return to their homeland.

There was a great hatred in my heart.

Only the blood from my enemies' necks could quench the fire in my soul.

8

On the day I entered the palace, Una was waiting for me at the side gate.

She was a different person from the fishwife of that day.

Now, she was dressed in splendid brocade, regal and dignified.

She stood before me, her eyes full of triumph, looking down at me from her height.

"Yvonne Xie, you never expected this, did you? I am a princess. I am your mistress." She lifted my chin with her hand, looking down at me, curling her lip. "You Han people are so boring. On the grasslands, the captured Han women and children just cry. I threw them into a pack of wolves, and they didn't even dare to move."

She stared into my eyes, savoring the moment, carefully observing my expression, hoping to glimpse fear and terror.

I met her gaze coldly. She suddenly laughed, the bright red rouge on her lips glistening like blood in the sunlight.

"The only interesting one was a mother who tried to protect her child. She was torn apart by the wolves, but she never let go of the child in her arms. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Amazing."

Her smile deepened. She was delighted. "That mother's name was Joanna Zhou. I heard your third sister-in-law was also named Joanna Zhou, wasn't she? What a pity. She couldn't protect your nephew in the end. The wolves ate him. How tragic."

I stared at her coldly, my blood running cold.

An inappropriate thought crossed my mind: the sight of her in my past life, her limbs severed, turned into a human pig, wishing for death but unable to achieve it.

It seemed I had been too merciful.

I should have thrown her into a wolf pack and let her taste what it was like to be devoured by beasts.

9

The palace banquet that day was hosted by His Majesty to welcome Una and the Uighur envoy.

He ordered me to attend. His intentions were obvious.

This was a Hongmen banquet, and I was the intended target.

I looked at the aging emperor seated high on his throne, and the hatred in my heart grew and ebbed.

My aunt was the Empress. The Xie family were relatives of the imperial house.

In recent years, due to His Majesty's suspicion, my father and brother had already surrendered much of their power.

But His Majesty was still not satisfied.

I never imagined he could be so foolish as to instruct Lucien to collude with the Uighur general Uyaso, all for the sake of justifiably slaughtering the Xie sons on the battlefield!

To kill his loyal ministers, His Majesty did not hesitate to sacrifice the people of three cities, offering them up for Uyaso to massacre.

My father and brother fought to the death, only to be pierced by a thousand arrows.

My beloved Little Seventeen, only fifteen years old, chose to surrender to protect the people of the fourth city from slaughter. He was tied to the back of Uyaso's horse and dragged to death.

Thus, the Xie family was almost completely wiped out.

And still, he would not stop!

In my past life, on this very day, he ordered me to marry Lucien.

His plan was for Lucien, as the son-in-law of the Xie family, to expose the Xie family's supposed treason, so he could exterminate all nine branches of my clan.

Those forged letters were all hidden in my boudoir by Lucien.

In my past life, the Xie family was raided. My mother and younger brother were beheaded. My third sister was raped and killed.

In the end, even though I took revenge, I was left utterly alone.

This time, I would not repeat that mistake.

"Yvonne and Lucien have grown up under my watch. I think this marriage should take place this month."

The same words as in my past life rang out.

I suppressed the hatred in my heart, rose, and walked to the center of the hall. I knelt, my back straight, and spoke each word deliberately, saying the exact opposite of what I had said in my past life.

"Your Majesty, I wish to break off my engagement with Lucien Ashford. If Your Majesty does not permit it, I will hang myself in my home and go to the underworld to reunite with my father and brothers."

To show my resolve, I knocked my head heavily on the ground three times, until blood splattered.

10

The silence was deathly. The invited nobles and officials dared not speak.

I knelt prostrate on the ground.

In my past life, at this time, I did not know that Una and Lucien already had two children. I did not know that my father and brothers' deaths were orchestrated by Lucien and His Majesty.

So, when Lucien knelt outside the General's mansion, carrying brambles and explaining that he had no connection with Una, I believed him.

Following His Majesty's decree, I married the young man I had admired since childhood, full of joy.

After the wedding, I managed everything in the household for him.

I respected my in-laws, managed the servants, kept the inner courtyards in perfect order, and was praised throughout the Capital.

All so he could focus on his official duties and serve the people.

I never expected him to be a heartless, vicious wolf in sheep's clothing, marrying me only to slaughter my entire family!

From the day I was reborn, I began to plan, to lure Una and Lucien into my trap.

The old man who had taunted Una that day was arranged by me. My goal was to provoke her into making a mistake, to lose face, and to earn the people's disgust.

I was the orphan of loyal ministers; she was the princess of an enemy nation. The people's hearts were naturally with me.

The reason she came to make a scene with her two children was also because I had the news delivered to her.

She was just as stupid as in my past life, with no improvement at all.

Blinded by love and jealousy, she lost her composure, turning a winning hand into a losing one.

"Your marriage to the Ashford family was arranged by your parents and matchmaker. How can you break it off?" His Majesty's voice carried authority without anger.

"The Uighurs wish to form a marriage alliance with Great Chu. This is a good thing for both nations to rest and recover. Princess Una's mission is to exchange herself for peace between our two countries.

"She has already borne Lucien a son and a daughter. How can she be without a title? Would that not be a slap in the face to the Uighurs?

"If this is not handled properly, it will surely provoke war. Una is a princess. Your Majesty cannot wrong her by making her a secondary wife."

I paused, my voice choked with tears. "Moreover, the Xie family has given their lives for the nation. Only my three-year-old younger brother and I remain. I only wish to care for my little brother until he grows up, to carry on the Xie family line. I dare not delay such an important matter as the marriage alliance between our two nations."

At these words, the previously silent ministers began to whisper among themselves.

The Censor-in-Chief was an old friend of my father's. I had already wept to him the day before, and the gifts I had sent to these greedy officials had been accepted.

Now, I only needed to say so much. Others would take it from there.

The Censor-in-Chief stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, the people of the Capital are all talking about how Lucien Ashford has bullied the orphaned daughter of a loyal minister. They are all indignant on behalf of the Xie family."

"Since Lucien Ashford already has children with the Uighur princess, his engagement to the Xie family naturally cannot stand. Otherwise, it will chill the hearts of our soldiers on the battlefield."

The censors and advisors all presented their memorials. His Majesty's face was dark, but he could only suppress his anger and grant my request to break off the engagement.

11

The current Emperor had killed his own elder brother to inherit the throne. What he feared most was the "will of the people."

For the sake of his own reputation, he had to agree to my breaking off the engagement.

Throughout history, which emperor did not wish to leave a virtuous name for posterity?

12

After the banquet, I changed into different clothes and went through a hidden door to the residence of the hostage prince.

Urien was just as he had been in my past life, putting on a weak and sickly act.

I tossed him the medicine I had prepared.

"Soon, I will send you back to the Uighurs. I want to see what you promised me."

He leaned languidly on the bed, playing with the pill, and let out a light laugh. "What a ruthless little lady."

I remembered his impertinence in my past life. Flushed with anger, I snatched the pill back and shoved it into his mouth. "If you don't do what I say, there's no antidote. You can wait to die!"

He looked at me from the corner of his eye, a smile playing on his lips. His crimson tongue licked my fingertip. "I understand, sister."

I couldn't take it anymore and kicked him hard.

In my past life, after the Xie family was executed, Urien saved me.

That was when I learned that the frail hostage prince I had been secretly protecting all those years was actually a mad dog, biding his time, waiting only to kill his father and brother.

13

When I saw the Crown Prince visiting the General's mansion with gifts in hand, I immediately understood His Majesty's scheme.

Without Lucien, he would have me marry the Crown Prince and become the Crown Princess.

This would both silence the public and trap me by his son's side, unable to make waves, waiting only for the right moment to exterminate my clan again.

Unfortunately, I was not a mere ant waiting to die, nor a useless piece on his chessboard.

Even a pawn can take a general. How much more so a human?

For several flower-viewing banquets in a row, I accompanied the Crown Prince. Everyone understood the Emperor's intentions.

Having failed in his dealings with me, His Majesty took out his anger on Lucien.

Although he wasn't demoted, he was no longer as favored as before.

I arranged to meet Lucien, deliberately letting Una know.

"You're practically engaged to the Crown Prince now. Why are you still looking for me?" he asked, annoyed. There were dark circles under his eyes; clearly, he had been having a hard time lately.

My eyes reddened. "Brother Lucien, Yvonne grew up with you. Don't you know my heart?"

His dark expression softened slightly. "You were the one who broke off the engagement! What's the point of saying all this now!"

I watched the purple figure approaching in the distance, leaned close to Lucien, and reached out to touch the shadows under his eyes. "Brother Lucien, you've lost weight."

The perfume I had applied to my clothes had already taken effect. Lucien's gaze grew hazy, and he leaned in very close.

I pushed him away, my eyes signaling him. He saw Una and immediately sobered up.

Una looked at us suspiciously. I blushed and said nothing, looking as guilty as could be, then turned and ran.

That night, the Ashford family's spies reported that Una and Lucien had had a huge fight for some reason.

I smiled. It seemed that the little earring I had slipped into Lucien's clothes had finally done its job.

14

The next day, Una sent an invitation for me and the Crown Prince to come admire the flowers at her residence. I knew my opportunity had come.

"I've already broken off my engagement with Lucien. I don't know why they're still looking for me. I'm truly afraid," I said, my eyes downcast, feigning timidity.

"Don't be afraid. You are my future Crown Princess. No one can harm a hair on your head." He smiled, his face radiant.

What a gentle young man.

During the banquet, after some small talk, Una suddenly laughed coldly and began her attack. "Your Highness, yesterday I found a earring in my husband's clothes—"

I picked up a piece of lotus seed pastry from the table and brought it to the Crown Prince's lips. "Your Highness, try it."

I was obedient and pleasing, which he appreciated.

The Crown Prince leaned in and took a bite. He was about to speak with a smile when, in the next instant, blood began to pour from his seven orifices, and he collapsed to the ground.

His eyes stared straight at me as blood slowly filled his eye sockets.

I screamed and fell against my maid. Una was stunned as well. The guards all rushed in.

In the chaos, I watched the Crown Prince's body being carried away, sobbing uncontrollably. I lunged at Una, grabbing her hand and screaming, "It was you! You killed the Crown Prince! The Uighurs sent you to assassinate the Crown Prince of Great Chu, didn't they?!"

The Imperial Guard separated us. Una was taken into custody. As I was helped into the palanquin to be taken to the palace, I rubbed the residual powder from my fingertips, my face expressionless.

In my past life, the Crown Prince was ordered by the mad emperor to oversee my family's execution.

The day before the execution, my third sister was dragged from his bed.

Blood from her seven orifices. She died with her eyes open.

Now, it was simply a case of an eye for an eye.

The mad emperor had schemed to send me the Crown Prince as a fine blade. How could I not use him well to eliminate Una?

Killing by proxy was the first lesson my father taught me in the Art of War. I was putting it into practice now, which was not a waste.

The Crown Prince died in Una's residence. As the Uighur princess, she was the prime suspect.

Her marriage alliance, with the Crown Prince's death, would become a premeditated assassination of the future heir of Chu.

The nature of the Crown Prince's death had now shifted from a squabble among women in the inner court to an affair between two nations. If handled poorly, it could lead to war.

Una's good days were over.

15

The Crown Prince had no pulse. The imperial physician confirmed he had been poisoned with arsenic.

Una was searched. The physician found traces of arsenic powder on her fingertips.

Soon, the大理寺 (Supreme Court) reported that Una's personal maid had indeed purchased arsenic a few days prior.

The evidence was conclusive. Una was imprisoned.

No one knew that her personal maid was actually my third sister in disguise.

The veils of Uighur women had been a great convenience to me.

By now, Una's maid had already been killed by my shadow guards. Dead men tell no tales.

And I took the opportunity to kneel on the ground. "Your Highness the Crown Prince was sincere with me. Today, he was murdered. I wish to observe three years of mourning for him."

To prevent the mad emperor from foisting another man on me, I had to cut off that possibility at the root.

The mad emperor had few sons, and the Crown Prince was his favorite.

Now that the Crown Prince was dead, he was overwhelmed with grief. Hearing my request, and with the support of other ministers, he did not agree but said he would consider it.

On the way back, I deliberately took a detour to the road that the大理寺 would have to take.

Julian Zhou, the Chief Justice of the大理寺, sat on his horse, his brows cold, his demeanor icy, making him unapproachable.

In the prisoner cart behind him, bound hand and foot and gagged, was Una.

To prevent assassination attempts, the cart was surrounded by the Imperial Guard.

When Una saw me, her pupils dilated in pain. Hatred pressed down on me from all sides.

I smiled at her gently.

Soon.

Her Lucien would come to keep her company.

I would not let a single one of those beasts whose hands were stained with the blood of the Xie family get away.

16

I returned to the mansion through the back gate. Lucien was at the front gate, throwing a tantrum, demanding to see me.

I knew exactly why he had come. The Crown Prince was dead. Una was imprisoned. Great Chu would certainly demand an explanation from the Uighurs.

Three years ago, in the war against the Uighurs, although the mad emperor and Lucien had stabbed my father and brothers in the back, the war had ultimately turned from defeat to victory.

The Xie family had not a single survivor, but the Uighurs were also severely weakened. Internal strife had broken out among their major tribes.

The Teleri branch had broken away from the Uighurs, establishing their own kingdom in the Tianshan region, standing in opposition to Uyaso.

If Uyaso led the Uighurs into war with Great Chu, there was no guarantee that Teleri would not make a move.

Then, Great Chu and Teleri would form a pincer attack on Uyaso. He would surely be defeated.

So, until Uyaso had unified the Uighurs, he would not dare to go to war with Great Chu. He could not afford the gamble.

At that point, Una would become a discarded pawn, left to Great Chu's mercy. And her children with Lucien would become sacrifices to quell the Emperor's wrath.

Lucien had already taken the sterility potion. His son with Una was his only bloodline, the only heir of the Ashford family. He had to protect him.

The only way to save Una now was for me, who had also been in the pavilion, to take the blame.

Or, Lucien had come to ask me to plead with Julian Zhou, the Chief Justice, to delay the case, to buy the Ashford family time to come up with a plan.

He did not dare to approach Julian Zhou himself. Ever since he had returned to the Capital with Una and slapped my face, Julian had been making things difficult for him, both openly and secretly, in and out of court.

Julian Zhou was the younger brother of my third sister-in-law, Joanna Zhou.

The Zhou family's fortunes had declined after Lord Zhou died in office.

My father, instead of breaking off the engagement, had taken both Joanna and Julian into the Xie family to study.

When Joanna came of age, she married my third brother.

As for Julian, he achieved fame at a young age, becoming the top scholar at fifteen. Now, barely twenty, he had already risen to one of the Nine Chief Ministers.

After Julian obtained an official position, to avoid gossip, he moved out of the Xie mansion.

But three years ago, after the Xie family's tragedy, he defied the censors' impeachment and moved back into the Xie mansion, silently shouldering the responsibility of upholding the Xie family's honor.

I vaguely remembered the day my father and brothers' coffins returned to the Capital. He held me, who had cried until I was weak, his eyes red, his voice hoarse. "Yvonne, from now on, I am your elder brother. As long as I live, I will ensure the Xie family's prosperity and honor. You have nothing to fear. From now on, your brother will protect you."

And he had kept his word.

17

I looked at the sky, changed into a set of plain white clothes, pinned a white flower in my hair, got into a palanquin from the back gate, and headed to the palace.

At the same time, my maid, dressed in fabric similar to mine, got into another palanquin and headed to the hostage prince's residence.

The spy Lucien had planted in the General's mansion was misled and secretly went to report to him.

Lucien immediately rode at full speed to the hostage prince's residence. But my maid had changed direction midway and gone to the Buddhist temple to burn the sutras I had prepared.

That night, as I knelt outside the Imperial Study, begging His Majesty to allow me to observe three years of mourning for the Crown Prince, Lucien arrived at the hostage prince's residence.

The moment he stepped through the gate, a great fire engulfed the entire residence.

18

Kneeling outside the Imperial Study, His Majesty was still grieving the Crown Prince's death and had not summoned me.

Soon, Julian Zhou arrived with the Commander of the Nine Gates, kneeling beside me.

I exchanged a glance with Julian, then we both looked away.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Lucien Ashford has rescued Urien! They have already left the city!" the Commander shouted.

"What?" The mad emperor staggered out, his face pale. "What did you say?"

Julian Zhou kowtowed and reported calmly and methodically. "Your Majesty, Lucien Ashford's child with the Uighur princess is already three years old. This proves his deep connection with the Uighurs. Now that Una has been imprisoned for poisoning the Crown Prince, the Uighurs, fearing harm to their Second Prince Urien, have sacrificed Lucien's cover as a spy to have him rescue the prince. I request permission to raid the Ashford mansion to find evidence of Lucien's treason."

In the past, the Emperor would never have allowed Julian to raid the Ashford mansion.

But now that Lucien had left the Capital with Urien, His Majesty had no reason to stop Julian.

He could only issue the decree, ordering the Commander of the Nine Gates to pursue Lucien and Julian to raid the Ashford mansion. To avoid exposing his own relationship with Lucien, he specially sent his personal eunuch to accompany them.

As I was about to withdraw, he suddenly stared straight at me, his murky eyes as cold as a snake's, though his face was kindly.

"Yvonne, your father left the Xie family army's command token to you. Since your father and brothers fell in battle, the court has had no capable generals to lead the troops. If the Uighurs start a war in the future, I'm afraid I'll have to borrow your family's private army."

I immediately knelt. "I am deeply honored, Your Majesty. The Xie family's privilege to maintain a private army is entirely due to the blessing of our founding emperor. The Xie family's ancestors defended the empire for the founding emperor, thus earning this exception. Generations of the Xie family have never forgotten this grace. My father and brothers died on the battlefield for Your Majesty's empire; it was their honor. Now, the Xie family army consists only of the old, weak, and disabled. They are hardly fit for the grand stage. With Generals Han and Xue guarding the borders, even if the Uighurs attack, they can repel the enemy a thousand times over. Your Majesty need not worry."

He narrowed his eyes, his smile not reaching them. "I was only speaking casually. Why must Yvonne be so alarmed?

"Your Xie family army once broke the Qiu Dragon Formation, saving the founding emperor's life. That is why he bestowed this honor. If the Xie family army were truly old and weak, then my hundreds of thousands of troops would be mere children.

"I recall that Yvonne followed your father to the battlefield at the age of eight. By the time you were in your teens, you could already lead troops into battle.

"In the second year of Tianyou, your brother was trapped at Yousha Valley and captured. During the parley, it was you, alone on horseback, who captured their commander and rescued your brother.

"The late Emperor was so pleased he wanted to make you a general. You were only fourteen that year.

"So, why is it that you could fight for the late Emperor's empire, but you are unwilling to do so for me?"

I knelt. "I am Your Majesty's subject. If Your Majesty needs me to charge into battle, even if you make me a camp cook, I will serve."

He laughed loudly, his tone sinister. "Yvonne has the blood of the Xie family in her veins. Your entire family are born generals. How could I demean you by making you a camp cook?"

I prostrated myself. "I am deeply honored."

I said I was honored, but I felt no such thing in my heart.

No wonder my father and brothers' deaths were not enough. Even though only a few orphans and widows remained of the Xie family, he still wanted to slaughter them.

What he feared was every descendant of the Xie family. What he feared was the Xie family army, which only the Xie family could control.

Too bad. In both my past life and this one, he would have to keep fearing it.

The Xie family were not only born generals; from now on, they would also be born emperors.

He had seized this throne by killing his own elder brother.

He who shears others shall himself be shorn.

Was it not fitting that I should kill him?

I only hoped that when the time came, he wouldn't kneel before the world and kowtow to me, trampling the dignity of the Son of Heaven into the dirt, just to beg me to spare his life, even if it meant making him a beggar.

What a man without a shred of integrity. Utterly contemptible.

19

Julian Zhou had already ordered his men to surround the Ashford mansion before entering the palace. But before he left, His Majesty said that to avoid alerting the enemy, the raid should wait until the next day.

We both knew exactly what he meant.

On the way back, Julian got into my palanquin. I handed him a stack of letters.

He opened them, read them, furrowed his brow, and asked in a voice that betrayed no emotion, "Urien gave you these."

"Yes."

Before he left, I had Urien write a few personal letters, all addressed to Lucien.

The contents were, of course, fabricated.

Regardless of whether Lucien was still in Great Chu, these letters from Urien alone were enough to sentence him to death.

"His Majesty will certainly send his trusted men to search the Ashford mansion tonight, to dispose of anything that could incriminate him. In