Chapter 2: The Little Diviner Saves Her Clan

As luck would have it, the khan's son led another army against the border just then.

The Emperor needed my third brother, Xie Kuang, to hold the frontier.

So he could only keep Second Brother in prison, awaiting judgment.

The miscarriage had left Consort Yu terribly weak. She hadn't shared the Emperor's bed since.

If she was pregnant again, she had certainly committed adultery.

The sun grew fiercer. Sweat soaked the silk over my eyes.

Through its faintly translucent weave, I saw a eunuch bring three physicians before the Consort.

She knocked the first man's hand away.

"Impudent! I will not let some country doctor take my pulse. Only an imperial physician!"

"My beloved Consort refuses an examination. Is something troubling her conscience?"

She panicked and hurriedly turned aside.

All three were famous doctors in the capital.

One after another, they examined her pulse.

When they finished, they reported in unison.

"Your Majesty, Her Highness shows no sign of pregnancy."

There it was.

The Xie family's five-year-old daughter had spoken nonsense, misled the throne, and deceived the Emperor.

Being torn apart by five horses would be no injustice.

The entire clan closed their eyes in despair.

Waiting for the final sentence.

The Consort threw herself into the Emperor's arms, looking wronged, tears ready to spill.

"Your Majesty, I truly haven't!"

He held her.

"You've suffered, my love."

A eunuch reminded him quietly, "Your Majesty, it is noon."

"Please give the order."

The Emperor looked down over the execution ground.

The dark mass of people below looked like ants.

After today's executions, the Xie bloodline would be extinguished.

Consort Yu tugged his sleeve and said sweetly, "Your Majesty, one Xie is still missing."

My third brother, Xie Kuang, had guarded the frontier for years.

Because of him, the people there lived in peace.

The Emperor said gravely, "The criminal Xie Kuang has grown arrogant with military power. I have ordered the Crown Prince to bring him back from the border for trial."

My shoulders trembled.

Fear crawled down my neck like a venomous snake.

Hearing Third Brother's name, Father knocked over the executioner on the platform and struggled wildly.

"Your Majesty! My son is loyal. Heaven and earth bear witness that he has never had a treacherous thought!"

"Father!"

My brothers hurried to form a wall around him, stopping him from rushing forward and offending the throne.

Mother clung to his legs.

My parents and brothers held one another and wept.

"Heaven means to destroy the Xie family!"

The blazing sun dried their tears.

Salt sank into their wounds.

My parents seemed to age decades.

My once-proud brothers bowed their heads and bent their backs, their old bearing gone.

I tore the soaked silk from my eyes.

Two executioners were dragging Father back to the middle of the platform.

The Emperor glanced at him indifferently.

As though that one look could withdraw every trace of their old friendship.

His noble hand lifted.

"Execute them!"

The instant the order came, I bit hard into the web of the eunuch's hand beside me.

Free of his grip, I raced toward the platform.

Fourth Brother tried to stop me in alarm.

"Little Wu! Don't act rashly!"

I glared back at him.

If I didn't, Father would die first.

Then you.

The onlookers held their breath.

Every eye followed the little figure weaving swiftly across the execution ground.

"Isn't that Xie Yunli's youngest daughter?"

"She isn't blind?"

Father and I looked at each other across the distance.

His gaze stopped at my eyes.

Clear.

Bright.

Alive.

Tears suddenly filled his own.

I slipped past the other Xies and mounted the stone steps.

Before Father could react, I was beside him.

The executioner's heavy blade was raised high.

It hadn't fallen.

My sentence was to be torn apart by horses.

The horses weren't here yet.

I still had time.

Father stared at my eyes, his cracked lips trembling.

"Little Wu… can you see now?"

"Father, I've always been able to see."

He went still.

Then threw back his head and laughed three times.

"I can die without regrets!"

"Close your eyes, Little Wu. Father will go first."

I didn't close them.

I opened them wide and faced the midday sun.

Golden light flooded my eyes.

In an instant, black clouds covered the sun.

The Emperor's face changed in shock.

I stepped forward, putting my little body before the blade.

Two beams of gold shot from my pupils.

Father drew a sharp breath.

His precious little daughter had opened her Heavenly Eye!

"Your Majesty!"

I called to the ruler seated high in the distance.

"My divination is never wrong."