Chapter 3
Rumors spread through the household that I was the heir’s kept concubine.
When I heard them, I offered little explanation.
Soon they reached his wife’s ears.
When she sent for me,
I was polishing the sword.
The heir had gone to attend to official business.
I was alone in the courtyard.
“Her Ladyship summons you. You wouldn’t dare refuse.”
The messenger was haughty, certain I would obey.
I lowered my head and slid the sword back into its sheath.
“His Lordship said I need only serve him.”
The man’s eyes widened.
“You dare disobey? Her Ladyship is mistress of this household!”
He stepped forward to grab me as he spoke.
I watched his approaching hand.
Then I struck it with the sheathed sword.
He howled in pain.
“Just you wait! I’ll tell Her Ladyship!”
She arrived soon afterward, storming in with a crowd at her heels.
The moment she entered the courtyard, she pointed at me.
“Beat her.”
I was afraid of dirtying the heir’s sword.
So I broke off a branch instead.
A flick of my wrist sent it through a sword flourish.
My sleeves flew. A heap of people lay on the ground.
A turn of the wrist, the flourish ended, the sword withdrawn.
A pity it was only a branch.
With the treasured sword on the table,
the movements would surely have come more easily.
The heir’s wife stared at me in terror.
“Assassin! Seize the assassin!”
I stood in the courtyard, entirely unafraid.
The heir, who had witnessed everything, stepped into view.
He cast a disgusted glance at his wife.
“Drag her away.”
With his anger roused, everyone in the courtyard slipped off in silence, clutching their wounds.
He slowly walked to my side.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t dance with a sword?”
I bowed to him.
“I am Your Lordship’s sword-bearing maid. If I dance, it is for you alone.”
He clapped in admiration.
“Who taught you swordsmanship?”
“My former master.”
“Who was he?”
“The finest swordsman. Wenjian Manor’s Eldest Young Master.”
The heir marveled.
“If he could teach a servant to fight like that, his own skill must have been even greater. Where is he? I want to meet him.”
I shook my head.
“Wenjian Manor burned down a month ago. The Eldest Young Master died in the fire.”
The heir murmured something about the fickleness of fate.
Then his curiosity returned, and he told me to dance for him with the sword.
I spun and drew it.
The gleaming blade wound around my slender figure like a ribbon of white silk.
The last time I had danced with this sword,
I had been in that fire.
After learning of my past,
the heir often asked me to tell him about the martial world.
Wenjian Manor was renowned among martial artists for forging swords.
The heroes who visited all sought a fine blade of their own.
That was why the manor held the Sword Trials.
Anyone who acquired a sword could take the stage to test it.
As time passed,
the trials gradually became something of a martial tournament.
Masters from every school displayed their skills there.
The heir asked,
“Now that Wenjian Manor has burned down, won’t the tournament have vanished with it?”
I shook my head.
“When I was sold, I heard that the Martial Alliance would host this year’s trials.”
“To think such a gathering exists.”
He took up his sword and examined it.
“Could this blade of mine be called the finest in the world?”
“I’ve heard that at the pinnacle of swordsmanship, anything can serve as a sword. Even a blade of grass or a branch can become a weapon.”
“Had Wenjian Manor’s Eldest Young Master reached that level?”
My lips curved faintly.
“Not yet. And it is only a rumor.”
The heir looked wistful.
“A pity I’ll never see such a spectacle.”
“If Your Lordship wishes to watch a sword dance, you could put out a notice for men of unusual talent. A handsome reward will always draw a brave man.”
He laughed at my foolishness.
“How could anyone drawn by gold and silver be truly talented?”
“Then you could attend the Sword Trials yourself. I hear they’re being held in Taicang this year.”
He was silent for a while.
“Taicang? Not so very far.”
The trials I had described stirred his interest.
He decided to set out for Taicang.
His wife desperately tried to stop him.
“She’s a vixen! If you go, she’ll kill you!”
“Why can’t you be content with being a prince’s heir? Why must you go to those Sword Trials?”
He slapped her.
No one dared try to dissuade him again.
He took me into the carriage bound for Taicang.
As soon as we left the capital, refugees crowded around us.
“Spare us a bite to eat, noble sir.”
“Have pity on us, my lord.”
Annoyed by their pleas, he ordered his guards to drive them away.
“Filthy peasants. They’ll stop any carriage.”
I served his meal.
Delicacies on jade plates, wine as fine as nectar.
After a bite or two, he told me to clear it away.
His thoughts were wholly occupied by the Sword Trials now.
He treated the journey as a sightseeing excursion.
As for the refugees fleeing natural disasters and crushing taxes,
he considered them an eyesore that spoiled the scenery.
“What are the local officials doing, letting all these refugees come this way?”
I soothed him.
“How could a little country town compare with the splendor of the capital? At least the refugees aren’t flooding into the city.”
He sneered.
“They’re shot as soon as they approach the capital. Why would they dare go there?”
“How much farther to Taicang?”
I lifted the curtain and looked at the crowds carrying swords and sabers along the street.
“We’ve arrived, sir.”