Chapter 5

Lady Shen was dead.

Her father had raised a rebellion and failed. His whole clan was condemned to execution.

Including Lady Shen.

When I first heard the news, I couldn’t collect myself for a long time. I’d heard plenty about Qi Yin’s cruelty. He’d ordered the deaths of many women in the palace, including a favorite consort whose beauty had once outshone the entire harem.

But this was the first time it had happened to someone I actually knew.

Thinking of Lady Shen, that lively, mischievous woman, left a weight in my chest.

She was special.

In an age that judged women by virtue, obedience, and propriety, she was spirited and ardent, her head always full of odd little ideas.

She loved freedom, yet had no choice but to remain trapped deep inside the palace.

After much thought, I went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Inside, Qi Yin was reading memorials. “What is it?” he asked without looking up.

Well. How chilly.

I bit my lip, stepped forward to pay my respects properly, then knelt.

“Your Majesty…”

I’d rehearsed my speech on the way. Before I could get any further, he cut me off.

“No.”

He raised his head from the memorials and rubbed between his brows. He looked a little tired.

“You’re here about Lady Shen.”

“Plead for her, and I’ll sentence you to death with her.”

“…”

A tyrant through and through.

But I didn’t have long to live anyway. Gritting my teeth, I stayed on my knees.

“Your Majesty, I still know so many dishes you haven’t tried.”

“Such as?”

I thought. “Crisp sweet-and-sour pork, fried eggplant with potatoes and peppers, chili chicken, spicy hot pot…”

I wasn’t entirely confident.

Honestly, I had no idea whether these dishes existed in this invented dynasty.

Silence filled the hall.

The longer Qi Yin said nothing, the harder my heart pounded.

Then—

His mild voice came from above me. “Spicy hot pot?”

“Sounds promising.”

I looked up. He said casually, “Make it for me tomorrow.”

Hope surged. “Then, about Lady Shen…”

“Absolutely not.”

“…”

I cursed him dozens of times in my head. If pleading wouldn’t work, perhaps I should try seduction?

Shaking out my sleeves, I got up and all but flung myself at him. I pressed him back against the desk. Memorials scattered across the floor.

“Your Majesty, I learned something new yesterday…”

Pressed against the desk, Qi Yin towered over me. He looked down, his thin lips tightly set.

He seemed to be holding something back.

Our eyes met. Our breathing deepened.

Suddenly nervous again, I took a little step backward and trod on a heap of memorials.

Before I could panic properly, an arm tightened around my waist and pulled me back.

Qi Yin caught my collar and tossed me straight onto the bed. Simple. Brutal.

“Satisfy me, and I’ll spare her.”

That was absurdly casual.

So tyrants really did change their minds that easily.

One moment there was no way in. The next, he’d opened a window.

I had no time to think it through. The bed curtains dropped, hiding the room beyond.

…

Qi Yin issued a decree. In essence, Lady Shen was virtuous and worthy, so her life would be spared. Instead, she would be confined to the Cold Palace, never to leave again.

Apparently, this was the first time in his life that the tyrant Qi Yin had revoked an order.

I sighed.

It would do.

The Cold Palace might wear a person down, but it was still better than losing her life.

That lively woman was a living, breathing person. I couldn’t bear to imagine her dragged into the street and beheaded before a crowd.

And yet.

Despite Qi Yin’s decree, she still didn’t escape death.

The following morning, news came from the Cold Palace—

Lady Shen had hanged herself.