Chapter 7
Chapter 7
I did not have amnesia.
An old physician once said that eighty percent of the amnesia in this world is feigned, and only twenty percent is real.
Yet the Princess Consort believed it.
I grew up right under her nose, and under that same nose, I plotted such a grand scheme.
She actually had no inkling of it.
Perhaps she was too overconfident.
Or perhaps she was so desperate for me to forget the past that she forgot it herself; that way, her life could start anew, as if nothing had ever happened.
And I took advantage of her self-deception.
I forced Prince Zhao’s Mansion to be tethered to the Eldest Princess’s ship.
On the day of the hunt.
The moment the Eldest Princess woke up, she ordered people to search for me everywhere.
When they found me, they saw that the Princess Consort was making things difficult for me. She immediately had word spread that Prince Zhao had been accidentally wounded by a stray arrow from an assassin.
That night, everyone was scrambling around Prince Zhao.
Her people quietly brought me out, and she met with me despite her illness.
She asked me what I wanted.
Gold, silver, jewelry, estates, shops, or even her word-as long as she had it, she could give it to me.
She was far more open and upright than the Princess Consort.
I was used to those in high positions treating human life like grass, but I had rarely seen someone as magnanimous as her.
In that moment, a sudden wave of resolve washed over me.
I said softly, “What this servant wants, the Princess cannot give.”
“Tell me anyway. If you are wrong, This Princess will grant you immunity from punishment.”
I looked up, meeting her gaze with sincerity. “This servant wants Princess Consort Zhao’s life.”
I waited quietly for her response.
She also looked at me quietly. A ripple suddenly stirred in her expression, like a breeze passing over her brow.
She burst into laughter, which triggered a fit of coughing.
“What a coincidence. Our schemes have converged. This Princess also wants someone’s life, but it is difficult! More difficult than scaling the heavens.
“Though Princess Consort Zhao is nothing special, she is, after all, a royal daughter-in-law recorded in the Jade Register. To kill her without a sound requires a great deal of planning.
“However, if she dies, will your vengeance be satisfied?”
Of course not.
When I traveled the world with my mother, I heard many wanderers of the martial world idle away the time with talk.
There was a certain speech I didn’t understand back then.
But later, during the many years of enduring humiliation and torture, I finally understood it.
That person said that true revenge isn’t just a single sword stroke, nor is it breaking a person’s spine or crushing their teeth. Those are merely superficial. True revenge, in addition to all that, is to break their pride, strip them of their glory, ruin their reputation, and then make them lose everything they love. Only then is the debt fully paid.
My mother had smiled and said, “What you say is true, brother. But unless there is a bone-deep hatred, there is no need to destroy the heart like that.
“That is not revenge; it is torment. It might be satisfying, but in the end, one loses their humanity. Killing them is enough.
“Take you, for instance, brother. You are beyond redemption. I clearly intend to kill you, yet I can still share a laugh with you first.
“If I were to follow your words and plot for years before killing you, it wouldn’t be worth it in the end.
“Your reputation is already foul enough. You have no pride, no glory, and no dignity. To stay alive, you would sell your own mother for a reward, and you care nothing for your wife and children. What is there about someone like you that’s worth me plotting for years to kill?”
The man flew into a rage and suddenly attacked.
Mother raised her sword. Amidst the overflowing cold light, the man’s throat was slit.
Wine and blood sprayed out together.
He collapsed, hitting the ground like a heavy stone.
When Mother walked out, she realized I had seen everything from outside the door.
Her panicked expression didn’t look like a master swordswoman at all…
I should have listened to my mother.
But now, I really wanted to listen to that villain.
Though the Princess Consort lacked true pride, she possessed dignity, glory, reputation, status, desires, and loved ones.
I really wanted to see what right she would have to mock my mother for being humiliated before the army to save her, once she lost all of that and was reduced to the lowest of the low…
I shook my head and said softly, “It is not enough. I want everyone to know that she is an ungrateful, insidious, and malicious person. I don’t just want to kill her; I want to destroy her heart!”
I want her to suffer the same pain I have endured all these years before dying a miserable death.
The Eldest Princess fell silent.
Then, she pulled back her smile and said solemnly, “This Princess has underestimated you. I can promise you this: if you have a foolproof plan, This Princess will lend you a hand.”
Everything after that fell into place naturally.
She had someone she wanted to kill.
I had someone I wanted to kill.
The person she wanted to kill was very difficult to reach.
The first step was to clip their wings, and Prince Zhao was that person’s wings.
Killing Prince Zhao was nothing.
Destroying the heart was the superior strategy.
Unite all who can be united. Even if the other party doesn’t want to unite voluntarily, we can make them unite passively.
Everyone knew I had stayed by Princess Consort Zhao’s side for six years, and Princess Consort Zhao had acknowledged me as her adopted daughter in front of everyone.
But as it happened, this adopted daughter was actually the Eldest Princess’s biological daughter.
That was the beauty of it.
And once you’ve boarded the ship of the Princess’s Mansion, it’s very hard to get off.