Chapter 3
The northern frontier was desolate and bitterly cold. Being sent there was no different from exile.
At first, the prefect and the regional commander were a little wary of me. After some time, however, they realized I possessed no real authority and breathed long sighs of relief.
I spent my days lying on a couch and drinking, taking no interest in the world.
Even when the prefect repeatedly sent people to test me, I accepted everything without protest.
I might have gone on wasting away if a herdsman had not crawled to me, dragging a broken leg, and begged me through his tears to give him justice.
The prefect’s son routinely abused his position, bullying men and forcing himself on women.
This time, drunk, he had taken several sheep and killed them for his own amusement. When the herdsman demanded payment, he flew into a rage and had the man’s leg broken.
I invited him to drink with me. He thought so little of me that he brought only a handful of attendants.
After a few rounds, I used a drinking game as an excuse to strip him naked, half in jest, and toss him out into the snow. His fan pendant, thumb ring, and sword I threw to the herdsman to pay for medicine.
He shivered, his lips turning blue, and forced threats through chattering teeth. Once he went home and told his father, I would pay for this.
Arms folded, I admired the snow from the veranda and gave a cold laugh. “Go on, then. But remember, you have a father, and I have a parent too. However little favor I enjoy, I am still of the imperial blood. What are you? Do you think Mother would put me to death with a cup of poisoned wine if this became a scandal?”
The capital was far away. No one here could expose my bluff as I borrowed the sovereign’s authority. Whether Mother actually would order my death was something I could not be sure of myself.
But the prefect was badly frightened when he heard that I intended to complain. Apologies and pleas for forgiveness kept him busy for half a month before the matter finally subsided.
My household soldiers had never bothered to look at me before. After that, they began treating me with respect.
One ordinary soldier, Pei Xuan, slapped the table and stood. “I hate bastards who use their power to prey on common people. I thought you were a lump of clay, letting anyone mold you however they liked. Turns out you have some spirit after all!”
He was General Pei’s son. In a fit of rage, he had killed a rich man who forced respectable women into prostitution. His father had been demoted for it, and he himself had been banished from the capital and sent to me.
On arrival, he had insulted Mother. I had him given thirty strokes of the military cane.
He clenched his teeth and refused to cry out, only asking, “She discarded you. Why be such a dutiful daughter?”
I merely smiled lazily. “I have very few rules. Only one, really. No speaking ill of my mother.”
All the men Mother sent me came from families like his.
Their offenses were the sort that could be found for anyone when a charge was wanted.
I knew their families had backed the wrong side before Mother took the throne.
After I dealt with the prefect’s son, these wilted cabbages suddenly came to life. They wanted to hear my plans for the future.
They were all eager, but I could think of nothing to say. I had acted on a passing impulse that day. Naturally, I had no long-term plan.
Pei Xuan did not mind. Instead, he took the lead and spent the whole night explaining how to bring the prefect to heel and win over the regional commander, speaking with fervor and dramatic changes of tone.
Growing drowsy, I yawned again and again, then nodded. “All right. Let’s do that.”
The moment I said it, the dozen or so men at the table shot to their feet.
They were all sons of military families. Standing together, they loomed over me in a dark mass. Half my drunkenness vanished in fright. For an instant, I thought they were about to mutiny.
Pei Xuan stepped forward, dropped to one knee, and clasped his fist. “Local magnates run riot on the northern frontier. The people cannot live in peace. The prefect and the regional commander collude to control everything, treating laws and imperial decrees as scraps of paper. Her Majesty must have had good reason to send Your Highness here. Now that you intend to put things right, we who have entered your service will follow wherever you lead. How could we fail to plan on your behalf?”
Behind him, the others fell to their knees.
“We will serve Your Highness with all our strength.”
Much of my sleepiness fled. I suddenly understood that these disgraced men’s hope of restoring their fortunes had always rested with me.
Pei Xuan, with his sharp brows and bright eyes, looked up at me, his gaze alight.
Speechless, I sighed. Now that I was astride the tiger, getting off would not be easy.