The emperor's mood had changed so completely that even the court attendants noticed it. For months perhaps years he had worn the expression of a man seated on a throne but surrounded by walls closing inward.
Every decree had been resisted, every coin contested, every alliance poisoned by hidden interests.
Now, after the fall of the Nang family, he stood straighter. He dismissed most of the court and kept only a few trusted servants in the private audience chamber.
Sunlight entered through tall lattice windows, striking the gold trim of the pillars and warming the polished floor. Incense burned slowly in bronze braziers.
The emperor poured himself wine with his own hand. Then, with rare honesty, he laughed. "It has been too long," he said, lifting the cup, "since I heard the sound of heads rolling."
He drank deeply. The words were brutal but they were the words of a ruler who had finally acted again. He looked toward Luo He, who stood a respectful distance away with hands folded behind his back.
"Young man," the emperor said, voice softer now, "you have done more in days than many ministers have done in years."
A pause.
"You made me feel like an emperor again." For a lesser man, it would have been the moment to bask in favor. For Luo He nothing changed. His face remained calm. No smile. No pride. No eagerness.
He simply bowed. "This servant only swept dust from a room that already belonged to Your Majesty." The emperor narrowed his eyes, then chuckled. "You speak humbly while moving like a conqueror."
Luo He did not answer the tease.
Instead, his tone sharpened. "Your Majesty should not celebrate too long."
The emperor set down his cup. The room cooled. "Speak." He said.
Luo He stepped closer and pointed to a large campaign map spread across the central table. "The Nang family's fall was clean inside the capital." His finger moved northward.
"But rot always seeks another host." He tapped the frontier lands. "The Bizarre Barbarian will strike soon." Luo He said confidently. The emperor's expression hardened. "You are certain?" The emperor asked. "Yes." Luo He said.
"He lacks discipline." The emperor said indifferently. "He has greed," Luo He replied. "And now he has something more dangerous." Luo He continued.
He tapped the map again. "Nang strategists." Luo He said his voice calm as ever. The emperor went silent.
He understood immediately.
The barbarian chieftain had always been a blunt weapon raids, intimidation, brute force. Dangerous, but predictable. With Nang advisers beside him? That weapon would gain eyes.
"And the surviving Nang loyalists," Luo He continued, "need victory. They need chaos. They need Your Majesty to appear weak after this purge."
The emperor slowly nodded. "They will unite." He said. "They already have."
Luo He said finally lowering himself to one knee.
"This humble servant therefore asks for imperial support." The emperor raised a brow. "For what?" Luo He lifted his head.
"Authority, men, supplies and permission to solve your northern problem before it reaches your gates." Luo he said deligantly.
The emperor studied him carefully. Many men begged for rank. Many asked for gold. Many requested armies for glory.
This young man asked for responsibility and danger. In Luo He's eye fun.
"What would you need?" the emperor asked. Luo He answered without hesitation. "A force small enough to move quickly. Loyal officers. Freedom from interference and the right to punish incompetence on the march."
The emperor laughed aloud. "You ask as if you already command." The emperor said laughing. "I ask as one who intends to win." Luo He said calmly. Silence lingered.
Then the emperor stepped down from the dais and came to stand directly before him. "You truly are unlike any man I have met." He placed a hand on Luo He's shoulder. "Rise." Luo He stood.
"You shall have my support." The emperor's eyes gleamed now with something long absent. Expectation. "But if you fail," he said. Luo He met his gaze evenly. "Then I will fail somewhere far enough away not to embarrass Your Majesty."
For a heartbeat the emperor stared. Then burst into laughter so loud it echoed through the chamber. Outside the doors, nervous attendants glanced at one another. Inside an emperor laughed. And a kingdom began to move.
Luo He remained standing before the emperor, calm as ever, while maps and reports lay scattered across the great table between them.
The northern frontier was unstable. The Bizarre Barbarian would move soon. And both men in the room knew delay would cost blood. Luo He clasped his hands behind his back and spoke with the ease of someone asking for tea rather than command.
"If Your Majesty permits," he said, "I will go personally and settle it." The emperor looked at him with growing amusement.
"You?" The emperor asked if suprised. "Yes." Luo He said. "You are an eighth rank officer." The emperor said indifferently.
"A tragic limitation," Luo He replied smoothly. "Men obey titles almost as much as swords." He said. The emperor laughed again. Luo He continued.
"If I go merely as a minor official, border lords will smile, bow, delay, and ignore me the moment I leave their tents." True enough. "So," Luo He said, "this humble servant requests that one prince or princess of suitable standing accompany me as imperial representative."
The emperor narrowed his eyes. "You ask boldly." "I ask efficiently." Luo He corrected. There was a pause. Then the emperor's mood brightened further.
He liked this young man more each day.
"Very well," he said. "You shall have one thousand men for the campaign." He stepped back toward the throne. "And the First Princess will accompany you on the day of departure."
Luo He bowed deeply. "As Your Majesty commands." Outwardly and respectful.
Inwardly amused. Because he already knew the First Princess would never come.
Once dismissed, Luo He walked from the palace halls in measured silence while servants and guards hurried around him.
Only when he reached the outer courtyard did the faintest smile touch his lips.
The emperor believed he had chosen.
But the board had been arranged earlier.
Luo He began sorting the possibilities in his mind. There were many candidates in theory. But only 5 was suitable for this task.
The rest were too ambitious for the throne. They would even ally with enemise if it means they end up on the throne. And the emperor wouldn't need them anyway with in enemies grasps. So he would go for an absolutely loyal descendant.
Thus only five were now considered possible candidates for the task.
The First Princess.
The Second Princess.
The Third Princess.
The Ninth Prince.
The Sixth Prince.
He dismissed the Ninth Prince immediately. The emperor's least favored child. Prince only by blood and name. Sending him would insult the mission more than support it. The Sixth Prince was absent from the capital.
The First Princess powerful and disciplined. The strongest martial talent among the emperor's children. She had little patience for politics and even less for escorting ambitious young officers on frontier errands.
She would refuse. Not openly perhap, but decisively. Which left the real board.
The Second Princess and the Third Princess.
Luo He's eyes lifted toward the distant palace towers. The emperor, once refused by the First Princess, would naturally turn to the Second. She was competent, politically acceptable, and near enough in status.
And if the Second Princess happened to suffer a mild inconvenience. He almost laughed. A sudden stomach illness.
An unfortunate fever. A physician's warning not to travel.
Then duty would pass downward. To the Third Princess. The very woman Luo He wanted beside him. Not by direct request. Not by exposed desire. Not by scandal. By circumstance. By inevitability.
He had not asked for her. He had merely built the road that led only to her. As he crossed the palace gardens, he thought of her cold eyes, white hair, proud bearing, and the fury she tried so hard to hide whenever he unsettled her. She was clever. Dangerous.
Too honest in combat to fully thrive in court. Which meant she needed either protection or corruption. Luo He was willing to provide both. "A frontier campaign," Luo He murmured to himself.
"Long sandy roads. Open skies. Shared command." He smiled slightly. "A fine place for courtship." He told for him self.
Back in the audience chamber, the emperor watched him leave and shook his head. "That boy is trouble." A trusted eunuch nearby asked carefully, "Then why reward him, Your Majesty?"