The night wind swept across the layered turquoise tiles of the roof. A man clad in black crouched in the shadows like a living statue, his eyes reflecting the chaotic, glaring lamplight of the room below.
His name was Shadow Blade. He had been ordered to infiltrate the General's Manor to monitor the situation, but he hadn't expected to stumble upon such an absurd yet brilliant piece of theater.
Below him, Xiao Yu was frantically clutching his robes, the mistress was paralyzed with terror, and the supposedly dull, soft-spoken daughter of the Chu family stood at the door like a cold, unsheathed blade, her smile hiding a lethal edge.
"Interesting," Shadow Blade whispered under his mask.
Rumor had it that Chu Zhaoning was a useless girl, crushed by the weight of her arranged marriage, capable only of hiding in the manor to weep in secret. Yet, the woman before him didn't cry, didn't scream, and certainly didn't seek death. Instead, she had stomped precisely on Xiao Yu's most sensitive nerve: Imperial dignity and reputation.
"To dare drag a Prince's scandals into the light..." Shadow Blade narrowed his deep eyes, his fingers unconsciously tracing the hilt of the short blade at his waist. "She is either a lunatic who has completely given up on life, or... she has the absolute confidence that she can walk away unscathed."
In the distance, the frantic footsteps of servants echoed through the manor, and the flickering light of torches began to pierce the darkness.
Just as Shadow Blade prepared to vanish, the woman below seemed to sense something. She cast a glance toward the roof—seemingly casual, yet terrifyingly accurate. That gaze was so cold and precise that it made the heart of a top-tier assassin skip a beat. His hair stood on end.
"Such high sensitivity?" A dangerous curve tugged at the black-clad man's lips.
He lingered no longer. With a light leap, he soared across the rooftops, his silhouette merging into the night like a ghost.
"Chu Zhaoning... this game might be far more spectacular than the Master anticipated."
The Residence of the Third Prince: The Study.
Shadow Blade swept into the room like a gust of wind, kneeling silently in the center of the hall.
"Well?" A deep, magnetic voice came from behind a decorative screen, carrying a hint of undetectable weariness.
"Replying to Master: something big has happened at the General's Manor." Shadow Blade reported everything that had transpired—from Xiao Yu's humiliation to Chu Zhaoning's shocking counterattack—leaving out no detail.
When he mentioned how Zhaoning had pinned the Second Prince's wrist with eyes as cold as ice, the figure behind the screen stiffened slightly.
"You're saying... she faked a crying fit, caused a scene, and nearly crippled Xiao Yu's hand?"
Xiao Zhan, the Third Prince, stepped out slowly. Clad in an ink-black robe embroidered with python patterns, his face was cold and handsome. His eyes, usually calm and self-contained, now flickered with a trace of shock.
Xiao Zhan was different from the others. As a youth, his father had sent him to the military camps to train under General Chu. To him, the General was not just a decorated hero, but a mentor and a father figure. When the report of the "Chu Army's total annihilation" reached the capital, he hadn't believed a single word.
He was waiting—waiting for a flaw in the narrative, and waiting to protect the only bloodline his teacher had left in this world.
"Yes," Shadow Blade replied, head bowed. "Miss Chu's aura has completely transformed. I even felt that she sensed my presence for a moment. That gaze... it doesn't belong to a lady of the inner chambers. It was like a Reaper crawling out of a mountain of corpses."
Xiao Zhan walked to the window, standing with his hands behind his back. He looked toward the General's Manor, his fingertips trembling slightly.
"My teacher was a man of integrity, and Ning'er was raised under his influence. She may have hidden her brilliance in the past, but the Chu blood runs through her veins." A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Xiao Zhan's lips. "That fool Xiao Yu thought he could trample her because the Chu family fell. He doesn't realize that a daughter of the Chu family is never a lamb led to slaughter."
He turned around, his gaze turning sharp again. "Keep a close eye on Xiao Yu. After losing face so publicly tonight, he will surely retaliate. Also..."
Xiao Zhan paused, his eyes deepening. "Investigate if any mysterious figures have appeared around Ning'er recently, or if she has secretly studied unorthodox medicine. I want to know where she learned these skills."
He felt as though the little girl who used to follow him around calling him "Senior Brother" had, in a single night, shed her skin and been reborn.
Back at the General's Manor...
Crimson Nine had already driven the Second Prince into a corner.
Xiao Yu's arm was still numb. Looking at Crimson Nine's face—brightly smiling yet radiating a bone-chilling cold—he felt a wave of irrational fear.
"Chu Zhaoning! L-Let go of me! I am a Prince!"
"A Prince?" Crimson Nine scoffed, her finger lightly swiping across her tactical bracer.
System Command: Release Micro-current — Paralysis Mode.
"Zzzzt—Argh!"
Xiao Yu's body suddenly went limp. He collapsed to the ground, unable to even squeeze a sound out of his throat. He felt as if lightning had struck the spot she touched; half his body was pins and needles, and even his tongue felt heavy and frozen. He stared at her in horror. Does this woman use witchcraft?
Crimson Nine clapped her hands, looking down at him with disdain. "Your Highness, since you love 'teaching' so much, why don't you stay in the courtyard tonight and have a long chat about 'Imperial Etiquette' with the governesses who just arrived? As for this marriage..."
She leaned down, whispering into his ear like a haunting specter:
"I will make the Emperor himself open his mouth and beg me to cancel it."