Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Blood splattered, spraying three feet through the air.

The spoiled little girl had not even had time to wipe the arrogance and smugness from her face before all color drained from it. With a heavy thud, she collapsed to the ground.

Those large black eyes that had always glared at me were now filled with terror and disbelief. Even in death, they stared straight at the tips of my shoes.

The guests who had filled the courtyard to admire the flowers were all frozen in place, trembling with fear.

I dropped the bloodstained sword and said carelessly, “The flower viewing is not over. Sit down, all of you!”

The Yao Huang peony blossoms arranged throughout the courtyard had been splashed with blood. Like tears, like crimson, they looked coldly beautiful, ravishing to the bone. All the more lovely, really.

Those nobles who had craned their necks, waiting to watch me be humiliated by someone brazen enough to challenge me at my own door, had no choice but to swallow the terror on their faces. Under the weight of my authority, they obediently returned to their seats, lowered their heads, admired the flowers, and drank their tea.

Lu Qingshuang’s corpse lay sprawled openly on the ground, exposed before everyone as if left there for public display.

It was more than enough to serve as a warning to those old ministers and nobles who had been thinking of putting me in my place and making a spectacle of me.

Lu Qingshuang had called herself a wild weed, unafraid of wind or rain, growing madly as she pleased.

At every turn, she put on an uncouth, defiant act in front of me, flaunting what she thought was her frankness and free spirit.

She had no idea that she and I were worlds apart.

If not for the Pei Clan, she would have had to spend her entire life struggling just to stand before me with her head held high.

She liked parading herself before me. She liked testing my patience.

So today, I granted her wish.

She died right in front of me, once and for all.

Prince Consort Pei Pingjin clutched his pierced palm, his face twisted as he roared at me, “It was only a few paintings and calligraphy pieces. I could have compensated you for them. Xie Zhixu, why must you be so cruel?”

I ignored his impotent rage.

Taking the handkerchief Ling Yun handed me, I wiped at the nonexistent filth on my hands and slowly returned to the seat of honor.

A servant offered me a cup of tea. It was Guzhu Zisun.

The tea leaves were shaped like bamboo shoots, purple in hue and lustrous.

When the Empress Dowager bestowed it upon me, she praised it as a treasure beyond price, a rarity in this world.

Unfortunately, it was naturally astringent, with a pronounced bitterness, and did not suit my taste.

I had tried to acquire a liking for it, but even now, it still failed to please me.

I did not reach for it. The servant, perceptive enough, immediately withdrew the Oil-spot Tenmoku tea bowl.

It was replaced with my favorite Mengding Shihua.

Pei Pingjin held the body of his cousin, still warm yet already lifeless, as though his own parents had died.

Grief and pain twisted together on his face. Kneeling on the ground, he made no attempt to hide the surging hatred in his eyes.

“In Your Highness’s eyes, is a human life worth less than a few of your paintings and calligraphy pieces?”

His gaze turned cold, and he forced a vicious sentence through clenched teeth.

“Or is it that Your Highness truly had some shameful affair with the person in those paintings?”

With a sharp crack, the bowl of hot tea I had just lifted to my lips smashed hard against Pei Pingjin’s temple.

Blood mingled with tea and streamed down his face.

And in that wretched state, he glared at me in silent confrontation.

“Then I will let you die knowing exactly why.”

Ling Yun clapped once, and the guards escorted the steward into the courtyard.