chapter 21

Our faces were so close that our warm breaths mingled, teasing and itching at each other’s hearts.

I licked my dry lips. “From the moment I first entered Yan Palace four years ago, when Your Highness met me for the first time, you knew I could speak.”

“Just as Your Highness clearly knew I could speak, yet still pretended to believe I was a Mute.”

I paused briefly and continued, “I knew full well Your Highness is exceptionally intelligent, with a memory like no other, yet I still pretended to believe you had forgotten me.”

“Yan Palace is fraught with danger at every step. I was willing to play the role of a pig-slaughtering Mute, just to survive.”

Yan Ci reached out, the thin calluses on his fingers scraping across my lips, leaving a subtle pain. “Are you saying I was deliberately playing dumb to cooperate with you?”

Of course. I am Guanqi, a silent chess piece, used and discarded at will.

Yan Ci wants revenge for the humiliation he suffered, yet also wishes to escape unscathed. The best way is to kill with a borrowed knife, then discard the knife to save himself, watching from the sidelines.

I am that knife he is about to abandon. He came tonight to take my life.

I gave him a brilliant smile. “Your Highness wants to kill me for two reasons. One, you resent my deception and wish to punish me.”

“Two, the secret has been exposed, and you do not trust me as your accomplice, so you wish to silence me.”

“Why must Your Highness drive me to death? I have a plan: not only can I save my life and keep my mouth shut, but I can also serve as a warning to others.”

In a flash, I reached into the warm brazier, picked up a piece of charcoal, and swallowed it whole.

It was a gamble-either lose my life or lose my voice. The pain was so intense I nearly fainted, curling up on the ground, clawing at my own throat.

After a short while, fate, that fickle dealer, revealed its hand to me.

Swallowing the charcoal did not kill me on the spot, but it did burn my throat. I lost my voice, but won my life.

After this incident, my status in Yan Ci’s heart changed.

I was promoted from his greatest threat to his confidant.

The search progressed rapidly; only Wen Mu’s head had yet to be found. If the coroner saw the cracks in the skull, he would understand everything.

I was not afraid; I was curious. What method would Yan Ci use to escape?

Just then, Yan Ci said Madam had fallen seriously ill and wanted me to leave the palace to buy medicine for him. If I was stopped, I was to say it was an order from Emperor Yan.

He reminded me: do not speak, do not show my face, and do not linger past the hour of Yin.

Yan Ci took out a flask of chilled wine, opened it, took a sip, and handed it to the coachman. The coachman thanked him repeatedly and tucked it into his coat.

The carriage swayed as I curled up inside, lowering my head to examine the prescription.

There were many items listed, and it was the dead of night. I feared I would not be able to gather all the herbs by the hour of Yin, and would have to rush back to the palace.

Darkness shrouded the palace, dogs barked incessantly, mixed with coarse male voices:

“Keep your eyes peeled and search carefully! If you can’t find that page boy’s head, the Crown Prince will have yours!”

Outside the palace walls, the night watchman’s call drew nearer and nearer. The long night was truly endless.