Chapter 6

In my previous life, as Xu Zhaozhao took me back to the capital, she had grown weary of traveling near Ximen Pass and sent Governor Li a signal flare.

That night, Governor Li had used the token the duke had left with him to bring a squad of elite soldiers to escort her.

So this time, the moment my request to “take the camp prostitute Song Yun back to the capital” was approved, I sent a message to Governor Li at Ximen Pass myself.

I knew that even if I did not seek him out, Xu Zhaozhao would ask him for help. I would be exposed either way.

Better to act first and keep the initiative in my own hands.

I wrote only three sentences in my letter to Governor Li.

“Princess Xu Zhaozhao has been disfigured and defiled. You now have two choices.”

“First: give me the duke’s token in your keeping and support my claim to be the princess; in return, I will give you ten thousand taels of gold and a brilliant future.”

“Second: kill me tomorrow and offer my head to the duke in apology; but since the princess met with disaster within your jurisdiction, I cannot say whether he will spare you.”

Governor Li never replied.

But seeing him order the muting poison poured down Xu Zhaozhao’s throat today,

I knew he had chosen the first option.

Good. A clever man.

Xu Zhaozhao, however, was nearly mad with rage at the sight.

“Li Changzhi, you ungrateful beast! Have you forgotten that when my father wanted you beaten to death, I was the one who saved you? How dare you repay my kindness with betrayal!”

Governor Li gave a cold laugh.

“You still dare claim you saved me?”

“If you hadn’t stolen my flood-control plan and presented it to the emperor to win your title of ‘the capital’s foremost young lady,’ why would your father have ordered me beaten to death to keep it quiet?”

“You only pleaded for me and had me banished to Ximen Pass because you were afraid of having nightmares.”

“If not for you, that plan could have won me a place in the Hanlin Academy. Instead, I’ve wasted half my life on this desert frontier!”

“You ruined my entire life, and you have the nerve to say you saved me?”

Xu Zhaozhao opened her mouth to explain, but Governor Li gave her no chance to argue. He raised a hand. Two soldiers seized her chin and forced the poison down her throat…

She made muffled, broken sounds, unable to resist. All she could do was weep in pain…

At last, Governor Li respectfully handed me the ducal household’s token.

“Here is the token. The elite troops the ducal household left for the princess are all yours to command.”

“Your. Highness.”