Chapter 8

At the thought,

I smiled and took Xu Zhaozhao’s chin between my fingers.

“Look how many people your family has harmed. You haven’t guessed a single one right.”

“What a pity. I can’t let you go.”

Xu Zhaozhao closed her eyes in utter despair.

What could hurt more than having hope offered and then snatched away?

“So I’d advise you to stay alive. Otherwise, your father, your brother, your whole family will be torn to pieces. By me, or by all those other people you’ve hurt.”

Fear flickered in her eyes.

Fear of the unknown.

She had no idea which enemy I was.

“Oh, there’s something else. Once we’re back at the ducal residence, I’m planning to invite more than fifty young aristocrats to have a look at you, my little camp prostitute. You are a ‘local specialty’ from Ximen Pass, after all.”

“There should be plenty of your old acquaintances among them.”

“If one of them, even a single one, recognizes you, wouldn’t you be saved, Princess?”

Her eyes lit up at once.

…

After that, Xu Zhaozhao behaved perfectly. She never refused food again.

Even when Chen Wu, who was traveling with us, forced himself on her several more times, she did not resist.

I knew she wanted to endure it all in exchange for reclaiming her position as princess.

Unfortunately, she did not know that Chen Wu had venereal disease.

Red rashes were already appearing on her body.

They were the disease’s early symptoms.

When the time came, even if her father, brother, family, and aristocratic friends recognized her, would they still want her?

Three days before I returned to the capital, I sent invitations ahead to more than fifty sons of its powerful families.

The minister’s second son, the chief censor’s youngest boy, the nephew of an assistant director in the Ministry of Revenue…

At a drinking party, with wine cups floating along a winding channel, they filled the courtyard to congratulate me on my triumphant return.

I looked at those familiar faces.

How they had used bamboo splinters to sever the tendons in my wrists and ankles in my previous life. How they had tormented me, again and again…

I could still remember every pain clearly.

Suppressing my nausea, I smiled at them all.

“It’s been a long time, gentlemen!”

“Today I’ve brought you a little ‘local specialty’ from beyond Ximen Pass. I guarantee you won’t find its like in the capital. A real treat for your eyes!”

Minister Chen’s second son laughed.

“What rare treasure in this world haven’t we seen?”

The chief censor’s youngest son chimed in.

“Exactly! You’re not playing a trick on us, are you, Zhaozhao?”

I curled my lips into a smile and clapped. Several servants carried in an iron cage.

A red cloth covered it.

The moment they set it down, a rhythmic sound came from within: chains striking the bars.

Tap—

Tap-tap—

Tap-tap-tap—

Second Young Master Chen frowned. “A tiger from Ximen Pass? But this tiger seems to understand music. That sound is rather like… rather like…”

He thought for a while but couldn’t put his finger on it.

Then the tapping grew louder and its rhythm clearer…

Second Young Master Chen slapped his forehead.

“Isn’t that ‘Autumn Winds and War Drums’? The song we wrote for you the day you left for Ximen Pass! I played the xiao flute, you accompanied me on the drum, and you even gave us a little sword display!”

“Zhaozhao, what have you got in that cage?”

I knew Xu Zhaozhao was tapping deliberately.

She wanted the music to remind her aristocratic friends of her.

If that was what she wanted, I would oblige.

I yanked the cloth from the iron cage.

Inside, Xu Zhaozhao wore a thin gauze garment and a mask. Her long hair spilled down over half her body. There was something enticing in the way she held her tall, slender figure before the men.

Everyone gasped.

“A woman! And she looks like you, Zhaozhao!”

“Yes, that figure! Even the rhythm she’s tapping against the cage with those chains is exactly like yours back then!”

The next moment, the woman in the cage picked up a sword and began to dance.

“Th-that’s the sword display you gave us when we saw you off! It’s exactly the same!”

Hearing that,

Xu Zhaozhao redoubled her efforts.

I knew she wanted them all to recognize her.

Unfortunately, she had miscalculated—

I had put a full-strength dose of aphrodisiac into the wine flowing along the channel.

None of the young aristocrats could contain themselves.

Growing hot, they began stripping off their clothes.

I spoke the very words Xu Zhaozhao had used in my previous life.

“This is a camp prostitute I brought back from the northwest. Well? Never seen one before, have you?”

“If you haven’t, gentlemen, then please enjoy yourselves!”