Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I knew I had gambled correctly.

The Emperor did not care about Princess Xunyang. To him, that little girl who died over a decade ago was merely a stranger; anyone could fill that role.

But he did care about the Divine Maiden.

Liu Ningshen had previously slain a demoness and managed the floods in Jiangzhou.

Now, she was in Zhu Province praying for rain to end a drought on behalf of the people.

This was what the Emperor truly cared about. His concern wasn’t for family ties, but for the state of his empire and the stability of his imperial power.

The Empress Dowager clearly didn’t think I was an outright fraud. If she did, I would have already been executed for the crime of deceiving the monarch.

The reason they kept me alive yet treated me with cold indifference was that they couldn’t confirm which of us was Princess Xunyang, and they couldn’t afford to offend Liu Ningshen.

But what if-

What if the Divine Maiden was also a fraud?

Inside the Imperial Study, the scent of ambergris drifted faintly through the air.

I kowtowed to the Emperor. “Liu Ningshen cannot actually pray for rain. She only has the power of foresight.”

“Foresight?”

“She foresees when a disaster will end, and then she ascends the altar to perform her rites at that exact moment. It makes it appear as though the disaster stopped because of her, but in reality, the disaster would have ended whether she performed the rites or not.”

The Emperor said tonelessly, “How did you come to know this?”

I fell silent.

“Because of my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“There is no need for Your Majesty to pretend. You must have investigated me already,” I said. “Before coming to the capital, I was a herb gatherer in Jiangcheng. Shen Zhao was my husband. We had a daughter who died during Liu Ningshen’s sacrificial ceremony.”

The Emperor’s expression remained unchanged.

“My daughter was a wonderful child. Even when she didn’t have enough to eat, she would break her steamed bun in half to give to an old beggar. When the grandmother next door had aching eyes and said they felt better after a drop of dew, my daughter would go up the mountain every day before dawn to collect it.

“Your Majesty, if there truly were a Divine Maiden in this world who loved its people, that Divine Maiden should have been my Ningning,” I said softly. “After she died, I thought about it countless times-why would an evil person like Liu Ningshen be allowed to end a flood?

“The only answer is that the flood was already destined to end. It was Heaven protecting Your Majesty’s empire, and it had nothing to do with any human effort.”

The Emperor looked out at the sunlight beyond the window.

He had dismissed all his attendants beforehand, leaving only the two of us in the room. The thin sunlight fell upon him, making him look so ethereal that I couldn’t see him clearly for a moment.

He turned his head.

“I have noted what you said. As for whether she is the Divine Maiden, I will have my own ways to discern the truth.

“Now, I have a question.”

He walked over to me and leaned down, his eyes-deep as dark pools-locking firmly onto mine.

“Have you really… never met me before?”