Chapter 4

14

Fortunately, my stepsister was unharmed. I sent her back to the general's residence to recover, then went to the dungeon to see Ninh Chi Chi.

The day she pushed my sister into the lake, Father had immediately petitioned to have her imprisoned.

By now, she had been tormented beyond recognition. Yet the moment she saw me, she lunged like a starving tiger, her eyes blazing with hatred.

“You bitch! Your sister framed me! You're the empress, and you let her use such despicable tricks? Have you no shame?”

I laughed.

“And yet you couldn't even beat the most despicable trick.”

She went on cursing me.

Watching her face twist with rage, I suddenly asked, “Does Li Bai know you're using his poems to show off and deceive people?”

Terror swept across her face.

“You transmigrated here too?”

I hadn't.

But a very dear friend of mine had.

Unlike Ninh Chi Chi, she was no fool. She had set off to travel the world long ago.

I simply didn't tell Ninh Chi Chi that.

Just as I was about to leave, a cloth suddenly covered my mouth and nose.

...

15

When I opened my eyes again, a vicious, scar-covered face loomed before me.

“It's been a long time, Miss Dung.”

I looked at him and curved my lips slightly.

“Your Highness. The Seventh Prince.”

Bùi Lãng raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“I didn't expect you to remember me.”

Before I could reply, he seized my throat, his voice savage with resentment.

“Of course. How could you fail to recognize me? You and Bùi Dữ are the reason I look like this!”

“I brought down the crown prince, only to lose to an out-of-favor bastard! You forced me to disfigure myself just to escape!”

“You didn't expect this, did you? You've fallen into my hands after all!”

“I ought to thank that idiot Ninh Chi Chi. Without her, I could never have caught you so easily!”

Only when I could no longer breathe did he release me with a smile.

“Don't worry. I won't kill you so readily. I know you're the woman Bùi Dữ loves most. I need you alive to help me take everything back!”

A commotion broke out outside. His smile grew wilder.

“Abducting you really was a bargain. Look! Bùi Dữ has already come knocking.”

Perhaps he was too confident. He hadn't even bound my hands or feet; he simply dragged me outside.

16

Bùi Dữ and his men had surrounded the place.

He gave me a single look, then addressed Bùi Lãng.

“Let her go, and I'll let you leave.”

Bùi Lãng gave a pointed, cold laugh.

“Where's Ninh Chi Chi?”

“Dead.”

He burst out laughing.

“I sent her into your palace so we could work together from inside and out, looking for a chance to kill you. I never imagined the fool would tell me she'd fallen in love with you and wanted to betray me. Now she's delivered your empress into my hands. At least she's done me one last service.”

Bùi Dữ looked impatient, as though he couldn't be bothered to listen to any more nonsense.

“Bùi Lãng. For the last time, release my empress, and I won't kill you.”

“But I want to kill you!”

Hatred filled Bùi Lãng's savage eyes.

“You want to save her? Fine. Cripple both your arms, and I'll let her go.”

Bùi Dữ frowned.

“Are you sure you don't want me to write an abdication edict first?”

Perhaps Bùi Lãng had never met anyone so eager to abdicate. He stared for a moment, then burst into crazed laughter.

“I never imagined you loved this woman so much. Very well! I'll grant your wish!”

I looked at Bùi Dữ.

“Don't spare him.”

For the first time, he ignored me. He had ink, brush, and paper brought over and swiftly wrote the edict.

Wild delight flashed in Bùi Lãng's eyes. Without thinking, he took a step forward.

I pulled the hairpin from my hair and drove it into the back of his neck. As Bùi Dữ rushed over and caught me in his arms, I sighed.

“Your Majesty, you can't afford to be softhearted like a woman.”

“I know,” he said unhappily. “But I couldn't risk it.”

16

Bùi Lãng clutched the back of his neck, his eyes full of disbelief. I kicked him away and kindly answered his unspoken questions.

“You call Ninh Chi Chi stupid. How are you any better?”

“My father is the Grand General Who Defends the Realm. I grew up at his side. Did you really think I was some helpless woman who couldn't even truss a chicken?”

Regret flickered in his eyes. He struggled to speak.

“You... You went to see Ninh Chi Chi in the dungeon on purpose, so I'd take you...”

“Exactly. Even my sister's fall into the lake was meant to draw you out.”

From Ninh Chi Chi's first day in the palace, Bùi Dữ and I had known who she was.

Once we confirmed that she had no real abilities, we intended to use her to lure Bùi Lãng into the open. But when Father heard our plan, he thought we were taking far too long and simply sent my stepsister into the palace to work with me.

Ninh Chi Chi pushed her into the water and was immediately imprisoned for attempting to harm the empress's younger sister.

An ignorant woman so afraid of dying was certain to contact the spies Bùi Lãng had planted in the palace and beg them to save her.

But what sort of man was Bùi Lãng?

Naturally, he wouldn't risk himself to rescue a woman who was no longer useful.

Ninh Chi Chi, however, hated my stepsister and me to the marrow. She would surely want revenge. I sent my sister back to the general's residence first, leaving her no hostage to take except me.

As soon as I learned she had contacted the spies, I went to see her in prison, where I was knocked unconscious and brought here.

I planted a foot on Bùi Lãng's throat and said indifferently, “Do you know why the court wouldn't support your accession? With brains like yours, you actually dreamed of becoming emperor?”

He spat blood in fury.

Bùi Dữ quietly reminded me, “My empress, there's blood on your shoe.”

“Then you'll have to carry me back.”

His eyes lit up.

“In that case, give him another couple of stamps.”

【Wonderful! I get to carry her back to the palace!】

【Boohoo, I've had a terrible fright today. Taking seven days off to recover wouldn't be excessive, would it?】

【I want to spend every one of those seven days clinging to my empress!!!】

I had no words.