Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On her deathbed, my mother’s breath was as thin as a thread, yet she still gripped my hand tightly, refusing to let go.

She left me with only two instructions:

First, reclaim the Crimson Feather Order that rightfully belonged to the Song Family.

Second, go to Dingzhou.

I dared not forget a single word.

The secret guard who died in the Cold Palace leaned toward my ear in his final moments and whispered, “Are kings and nobles born to their high stations?”

I remembered that as well.

While the Late Emperor was alive, I was an unfavored princess.

But the one who ascended the throne was the Third Prince, who was just as unfavored as I was.

You could tell by our names alone how much the Late Emperor dismissed and loathed us.

One was named Anping.

The other, Jingping.

The Late Emperor always prided himself on being a man of deep affection. However, when that affection was directed at us, it manifested as a bone-deep hatred.

Jingping’s biological mother was a serving maid who climbed into the dragon bed while the former Empress was pregnant. The shock to her phoenix body caused the former Empress to go into premature labor.

Yet, the turmoil of that night provided my mother with an opportunity. It allowed her to personally end the former Empress’s life before she herself passed away.

From then on, in the Late Emperor’s eyes, Jingping and I were nothing but bastards who didn’t even deserve to die.

We lived only to atone for those sins.

Every year on the anniversary of the former Empress’s death, Jingping and I would dress in coarse hemp and walk barefoot through the snow. We would kowtow at every step, making our way through the entire Imperial City.

To survive, we learned to endure, and we learned to kill.

The night the Late Emperor drew his last breath, heavy snow fell over the Imperial Capital.

The scent of sandalwood was heavy in the bedchamber, yet it could not mask the stench of blood.

Jingping and I stood side by side before the imperial bed.

He held a sword, its blade not yet sheathed.

I held a bowl of medicine, the liquid still scalding hot.

The Late Emperor was not yet fully dead. His eyes were open, his gaze shifting from shock and rage to desperate pleading.

It looked exactly like the gaze we had directed at him on that rainy night years ago, when Jingping and I were whipped and forced to kneel on the palace path.

And so, we made the same choice he had: we ignored it.

That night, Anping and Jingping conspired to commit regicide and seize power.

When the palace gates opened, the world had turned upside down.

The New Emperor ascended the throne, and Jingping became Emperor Jingping.

And I became the most prestigious woman in Great Qi: Grand Princess Anping.

The night our regicide succeeded, I stepped over the lingering snow and asked Jingping for three things.

First was the Crimson Feather Order.

Second was a person.

Third was a fiefdom.

I would accept nothing less.

Jingping sat in the high seat, the hand holding his brush pausing for a moment.

“Imperial Elder Sister, the Crimson Feather Order is in Zhaoyang’s hands.”

Zhaoyang. Our legitimate younger sister. The pearl the Late Emperor had raised in the palm of his hand.

I arched an eyebrow, the corners of my lips curving slightly. “And?”

Jingping looked up at me, dark undercurrents swirling in his eyes.

“Your Majesty, the winner takes all.”

When the Late Emperor was alive, she was the prestigious legitimate princess, the full sister of the Crown Prince. But what about now?

The former Crown Prince, Jingming, has vanished, and the Late Emperor is gone. What does she have left to protect those things?

“Rest easy, Your Majesty.”

I tapped my fingertips rhythmically against the desk, the sound crisp and clear.

“This Princess will make her…”

I paused, my smile softening as the chill in my voice deepened.

“…hand over the Crimson Feather Order of her own free will.”