Chapter 13 — The Secret the Empress Dowager Concealed

Emperor Yuan Sheng sat bolt upright. A fleeting glimmer of emotion darted across the Empress Dowager’s eyes. I stared intently at the severed half of the jade, a chill racing down my spine. The jade had vanished from the secret chest in Eternal Brilliance Hall only last night; today, it had materialized on our decoy tray of its own accord. Someone had outmaneuvered us, turning our staged performance into a grim reality. "Do not touch it," Xiao Zhi whispered. My hand froze in mid-air, but it was already too late. A viscous, black liquid began to seep from beneath the jade, hissing as it touched the silver tray. Poison.

A wave of panic surged through the hall. I retreated a step, just as a dark figure descended from the rafters. His target was not the Emperor; it was me. A cold blade glinted, thrusting straight toward my throat. Xiao Zhi drew his sword in a blur of motion, and I felt the hidden dagger in my sleeve slide into my palm. Yet, the intruder’s speed was inhuman. Just as the tip of the blade hovered a mere inch from my neck, a boot flew in from the hall’s entrance.

No, not a shoe—a boot. With a resounding thud, it struck the assassin squarely in the face. He stumbled, his momentum broken, and in an instant, Xiao Zhi’s blade was at his throat. At the doorway stood a man dressed as a eunuch, missing one shoe and hopping on his bare foot. He flashed a grin at me.

"My dear girl, am I late?"

I stared at my father, then at the footprint left on the assassin’s face. For a moment, I could not decide whether to weep or curse him. My father hopped into the hall on one leg. "Don't just stand there like a statue," he commanded, pointing at the jade fragment. "The imperial edict is not inside the jade." His smile vanished, replaced by a sudden gravity. "It is on the Emperor’s person."

The hall fell into a silence so absolute that the falling of a leaf would have echoed. Emperor Yuan Sheng looked down at himself, his expression unreadable, as if someone had just accused him of harboring a mouse beneath his royal robes in the presence of his entire court.

"Xie Guihong," the Emperor said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low register. "You had best explain yourself clearly."

My father continued to stand on one leg—a posture utterly lacking in decorum—yet his demeanor held a rare, piercing seriousness. "Your Majesty, before I explain, might I ask for a replacement shoe?"

When no one moved, my father sighed. "Very well. Barefoot it is."

Xiao Zhi restrained the assassin, whose nose was bleeding profusely from the impact of the boot, yet his eyes remained defiant. Xiao Zhi dislocated the man's jaw to prevent him from biting down on a hidden poison capsule. I glanced at my father’s remaining shoe, realizing it had performed a vital service.

The Empress Dowager spoke, her tone cool and measured. "Xie Guihong, you have escaped the Celestial Prison, forced your way into Eternal Brilliance Hall, and disturbed the peace of the throne. It seems you have grown tired of your life."

My father bowed to her. "The Empress Dowager is correct."

Her eyes turned icy. My father continued, "However, the fact that my life is long is a sentiment once shared by the late Emperor."

The Empress Dowager’s face shifted. Emperor Yuan Sheng looked up. "The late Emperor?"

My father nodded. "Seventeen years ago, a month before his passing, the late Emperor summoned me to the palace in secret."

A murmur rippled through the hall. I was stunned; my father had never breathed a word of this. He went on, "That night, he showed me a secret decree." The prayer beads in the Empress Dowager’s hands stopped clicking. My father looked directly at the young Emperor. "The secret decree was not about the succession."

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed. "Then what was it?"

"It was a confession."

The hall erupted in hushed gasps. "Absurd!" the Empress Dowager shouted. My father ignored her, his gaze locked on the Emperor. "In the late Emperor’s own hand, it was written clearly: the death of the late Empress was no mere accident of illness."

Emperor Yuan Sheng’s hand tightened into a white-knuckled fist. He had lost his mother at a young age; it had always been whispered in the palace that she was frail and had perished from sickness within the Phoenix Pavilion. I looked at his face, witnessing for the first time a raw, naked agony in the eyes of this young monarch.

"Go on," he commanded.

My father said, "The late Empress, while overseeing the Phoenix Pavilion, discovered someone colluding with foreign officials to forge border reports. They had fabricated wars to embezzle wealth and were involved in the trafficking of forbidden palace potions." The Empress Dowager let out a chilling laugh. "Xie Guihong, if you are going to invent tales, you should at least make them believable."

My father looked at her. "Why the rush, Madam? I haven't even named the culprit yet."

The Empress Dowager fell silent, her fingertips turning deathly pale. Xiao Zhi asked in a cold voice, "And then?"

"The late Empress intended to present the evidence to the late Emperor, but she was trapped within the Phoenix Pavilion," my father said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "The Phoenix Pavilion was burned to the ground, and by morning, the entire palace guard had been replaced. Before she died, the late Empress smuggled something out of the palace."

I reached up, touching the empty space at my throat. "Was it me?"

My father looked at me. "You, and the secret decree."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "Where is the decree now?"

My father pointed toward Emperor Yuan Sheng. "It is with Your Majesty."

The Emperor’s face darkened. "I have never possessed any such decree."

My father replied softly, "Your Majesty, of course, would not know."