Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first time I met Xie Wuyang was on a rainy night outside the Imperial Prison.

Three months had passed since the Cui Family was exterminated. I had been relegated to the Cold Palace to serve as the lowest-ranking drudge. By day, I scrubbed nightstools; by night, I transcribed palace regulations. I lived like a stray dog. But I refused to accept this fate. The silver clasp my father had pressed into my hand before his death was a seal from the military pay chests of the Northern Frontier. Carved onto the back of that clasp was the private seal of the Si Family.

The Cui Family hadn’t committed treason. We were silenced because we stumbled upon the filth: Pei Chengli and the Si Family were embezzling military funds and had murdered the commander of the Northern Frontier, Marquis Xie.

I had to live. I had to live long enough to bring this truth to light.

The Archives Bureau housed military reports and secret memorials from the previous Emperor’s reign. I slipped inside under the cover of darkness. I had just pulled a volume of accounts from the top shelf when a soft sound came from behind me.

“Step half an inch further down, and you’ll fall off that ladder and die.”

My hand shook, and I nearly did fall.

Rain drifted in through a half-open window. As the lantern light flickered, I saw a young but sharp face. The intruder wore a black cloak, his saber still sheathed at his waist, using only two fingers to hook the foot of the ladder. He looked up at me, his eyes deep and dark, like a frozen lake at night.

“Put it back,” he said.

I didn’t move.

He didn’t rush me either. He simply stood there, watching me as if I were a reckless nuisance.

I had been pushed to the brink back then, and in my desperation, a streak of stubbornness flared up. I gripped the ledger tightly and asked, “Are you here to arrest me?”

“If I were here to arrest you, you’d already be in the Imperial Prison.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want to see which book you’re holding.”

I pulled the ledger closer to my chest. He suddenly gave a faint, fleeting smile. “Miss Cui, you’ve been in the Cold Palace for three months. Have you still not learned the most important rule of the palace?”

My spine stiffened instantly.

The entire Cui Family had been executed. Everyone in the palace avoided me like the plague. No one was supposed to know I was Cui Mingyi.

Seeing my pale face, he spoke in a measured tone. “Don’t be nervous. If I wanted to sell you out, why would I wait until now?”

“Who are you?”

“Xie Wuyang.”

I froze.

The only son of the Xie Family, the Heir to the Marquis of Northern Pacification, and the Commander of the Imperial Guard personally appointed by the late Emperor. Three years ago, Marquis Xie, the commander of the Northern Frontier, had died suddenly in the army. The official report claimed it was a relapse of an old wound, but my father had told me clearly before he died: Marquis Xie was silenced under the cover of war because he had discovered where the missing military funds had gone.

So, he was investigating too.

I climbed down the ladder slowly. The first thing I said was, “Your father didn’t die of an illness.”

Xie Wuyang looked at me for a long time.

The rain outside grew heavier. He suddenly reached out and pulled the ledger from my arms. He flipped through a few pages, his expression cooling. “You stole the wrong one. These are the Ritual Records of the Ministry of Rites, not military files.”

My face burned with embarrassment, and I bit my lip hard.

However, he shoved the ritual records back into my arms and turned toward the innermost section of the room. He flicked open the copper lock on a tall cabinet and pulled out a dusty wooden box, handing it to me.

“The thing you’re looking for is in here.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because I also want to know who buried my father and your Cui Family in the dirt together.”

I didn’t take it immediately.

Everyone in the palace wore a mask. I didn’t trust anyone, especially not someone who stood so high above me.

Xie Wuyang seemed to read my mind, raising an eyebrow. “Afraid to take it?”

I snatched the wooden box from him.

He laughed, looking truly alive for the first time. “That’s more like it. Cui Mingyi, if you want revenge, you must first learn not to let yourself starve to death.”

That night, when he escorted me out of the Archives Bureau, the rain had stopped. I clutched the wooden box and circled around from the back door. As I reached the corner of the palace wall, I heard him call out from behind me.

“Cui Mingyi.”

I didn’t look back.

“Next time you steal files, don’t wear such conspicuous plain white shoes.”

I looked down and saw my toes covered in mud, looking utterly pathetic. But at that moment, I actually felt like laughing.

It had been a very long time since I last felt like laughing.