Chapter 13

“Miss Qin, this Phoenix-Blood Jade pendant is Her Majesty’s favorite. She gives it as a wedding gift, wishing you and the Seventh Prince a harmonious marriage and children soon.”

Mother reached eagerly to accept it. I moved first, kneeling to give thanks.

“I thank Her Majesty.”

My fingertips touched the jade. It was cold to the bone. My heart sank into an abyss.

During that northern rebellion, General Wang, who guarded the frontier, had been accused of colluding with the enemy. With supposedly conclusive evidence, his household was confiscated and his entire family executed.

This jade had been his birthday gift to the empress. It became one of the “proofs” of treason.

She had proved more skillful, shifting all blame to a scapegoat eunuch and claiming ignorance. She escaped unscathed.

Few people had seen the pendant clearly. Fewer still knew it was one of a pair. The empress had kept the other hidden.

I had learned only indistinctly of these things after death, when my soul lingered around the inner palace and Eastern Palace.

Now she gave me that hidden piece.

How vicious.

She meant to frame me just as she had framed him. When the time was right…

This jade would become irrefutable evidence of the Qin family’s collusion with the enemy.

Murder without shedding blood.

After Matron Zhang left, Mother stroked the pendant lovingly.

“Look how beautiful it is, Yue’er. Her Majesty truly still cares for you.”

Her innocent face sent waves of pain through me.

That innocence had doomed her and our family before.

I smiled and gently took it.

“Yes. It’s beautiful. I love it. I’ll wear it every day.”

Mother nodded, satisfied.

Before her, I solemnly hung it at my waist. Blood-red against my plain clothes, it had a strangely unsettling beauty.

Once she left, I called Yunzhou at once.

“Get word to Tie Mian as quickly as possible. Tell him… the fish has taken the bait.”

She went.

At the window, I stroked the pendant, thinking of the empress, Zhao Yi, Qin Wanrou.

They had made their move.

Now it was my turn.

The game had only begun.

That night, I returned to the abandoned temple in the west. In the familiar chamber, Zhao Heng was waiting.

Candlelight showed more color in his face than before. His sickly pallor had faded.

His eyes immediately found the jade at my waist. His pupils contracted.

“Phoenix-Blood Jade.”

He recognized it.

“Where did you get that?”

“From the empress,” I said briefly. “She wants to use the old trick again.”

Killing intent flashed in his eyes.

“So there are two. Clever woman. She means to frame your family for treason and have you all executed.”

“You know about General Wang?”

“Yes.”

His voice was calm.

“Father personally suppressed that case.”

“He knew the empress was behind it. To secure the crown prince’s position, he chose to sacrifice General Wang’s household.”

Cold spread through my heart inch by inch.

So the emperor knew everything.

A sovereign’s politics could be chillingly ruthless.

“What do we do?”

“Turn her plan back on her.”

His eyes shone.

“She wants this jade to condemn you? We’ll make it strike her funeral bell instead.”

My heart jolted. In his eyes, I saw the same fierce resolve as mine.

We were alike. We would pay any price for revenge.

“You have a plan?”

“Yes.”

He nodded slightly.

“I need you to help stage a play for one crucial person.”

11

That person was retired General Li.

Once Father’s deputy and General Wang’s close friend, he was upright, outspoken, and unable to tolerate the slightest injustice.