Inside the chamber, the furnishings were luxurious, with a faint fragrance floating in the air.
However, it couldn't cover the Crown Prince's anger.
"This is unacceptable! This is truly too much!!" The Crown Prince raged, without considering that he was the one who first sent people to assassinate Mu Qinglan.
The advisors remained silent.
They naturally knew why the Crown Prince was so angry, and they could understand.
Because in Great Xia, the position of Crown Prince was a high-risk profession.
The current Crown Prince was the Fifth Prince, but previously, this position had also belonged to the First Prince, the Second Prince, and various other princes who ranked before him.
It had fallen to the Fifth Prince now because all his elder brothers were dead!
Dead in inexplicable ways.
This position seemed to have some kind of curse, as every prince didn't live long in it. Except for the First Prince, the oldest one only held this position for four years.
This year was the Fifth Prince's third year as Crown Prince.
That is to say, if nothing unusual happened, the Fifth Prince would encounter an accident next year.
This was why he frantically expanded his power, even to the extent of colluding with demons to create chaos within Great Xia—all to counter the risks that came with the position of Crown Prince.
Similarly—
It was because of this threat of losing his head at any time that the Crown Prince acted almost completely regardless of consequences.
After all, when one's life is at stake, who would still pay attention to consequences? Certainly, surviving comes first.
The only daughter of Prince Qi, descendant of a second-rank expert?
Kill her first, talk later.
But at this critical time, his subordinate forces had suffered such a severe blow?
"Huff…"
The Crown Prince took a deep breath and turned to ask: "What did the demons say?"
The advisor shook his head, "The demons said that the Six Bureaus are now screening very strictly. They estimate they'll need to lie low for a while before they can continue to serve Your Highness."
"Hmph, foreign race!"
The advisor bowed even lower, his attitude humble: "The urgent matter now is to settle the officials. Currently, everyone in the mansion fears for themselves. If this continues, it might be detrimental to Your Highness's great cause!"
"Great cause? Heh, let's talk about surviving next year first!"
The Crown Prince angrily slapped the table.
"But that little bitch must die! If she can find their flaws, sooner or later she will find mine! Last time, it was the demons who were useless. This time, contact Skyreach Tower for me, bring that assassin with the innate destiny trait. Tomorrow, I want to hear news of her death!"
○
"Skyreach Tower?"
"Yes, this assassin organization is related to the Crown Prince," Shen Yao said.
Mu Qinglan said indifferently: "No matter, they're just clowns."
"There seems to be a fifth-rank assassin in there, and there are several missing person cases where the method of operation can't be found. The officials also suspect they're responsible."
Mu Qinglan turned a deaf ear, just leaning against the wheelchair with her eyes closed, resting.
The Crown Prince's assassin organization was indeed quite powerful, but she didn't care much, because her understanding of this force was much more detailed than what the Six Bureaus had investigated.
It was something of a plot antagonist after all.
The major case in the capital in half a month would also be their doing.
Yesterday, the reason Mu Qinglan wanted to use Shen Yao to challenge them was to completely disrupt the Crown Prince's plans.
She thought it through clearly: since she couldn't protect everyone that day no matter what, why not change the approach and solve the problem at its source? If the event couldn't happen from beginning to end, wouldn't that work?
How to do it?
After careful consideration, Mu Qinglan decided to use herself as bait.
If Skyreach Tower's forces suffered a major blow in these few days, then presumably, they would have the will but not the ability to carry out the major case in the capital as in the original plot.
The Crown Prince would definitely make a move against her.
Mu Qinglan was certain.
Because she also knew about the curse on the position of the Great Xia Crown Prince, and knew that the current Crown Prince was very anxious, even knowing that next February, this Crown Prince who currently wielded immense power would turn to dust.
Then—
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.
So now, it was this Crown Prince's last struggle.
In a dying struggle, what consequences would he care about? Mu Qinglan, who had greatly disrupted the Crown Prince's plans today, had definitely made it onto his must-kill list—
After all, they were already in a life-or-death struggle.
Thinking it through, Mu Qinglan felt that if she were the Crown Prince, she might send someone for a lightning strike tonight.
"Miss Shen doesn't need to worry," Mu Qinglan laughed, "even if the assassins from Skyreach Tower really come, don't we have Miss Shen here? Or does Miss Shen feel that her skills are inferior?"
Mu Qinglan took Shen Yao's cold hand, swung it, and pouted:
"Miss Shen, I'm so scared. Can you protect me?"
"..."
Shen Yao was speechless. To be honest, since she joined the Six Bureaus, no one had dared to speak to her so flippantly.
When they first started interacting, Mu Qinglan would show some restraint, putting on an "I am frail and cute" appearance for her. But in just two short days, this woman's malicious nature was fully exposed.
Perhaps she was too lazy to pretend anymore.
After all—
She couldn't... leave her anyway.
Shen Yao turned her head, her fingers tightening a bit, her cold face still without a trace of expression: "I'll do my best."
Mu Qinglan somehow became interested and asked: "Just your best?"
Shen Yao felt somewhat depressed. Why was this bad woman's aggressiveness so strong today? It made her feel somewhat unable to cope.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Mu Qinglan laughed and didn't pursue the question further, as if she didn't care about the answer at all.
But this made Shen Yao start to think.
'How far can I go for her?' Shen Yao wondered.
Actually, she wasn't originally this kind of person, and wouldn't think about such peculiar things, let alone think about how to protect someone other than herself.
But somehow—
In this quiet, long night, when her hand was tightly held, she instinctively began to let her mind wander.
And instinctively, she gripped the only warm touch in her hand.
Mu Qinglan smiled faintly.
○
Deep night.
The sound of the gong at the third watch rose from the night, then slowly dispersed.
Due to the curfew, Heyang City was silent, with only a not-quite-full bright moon hanging high in the sky, casting down clear light.
The hour of zi (midnight).
Two shadows, one large and one small, merged with the night color, slipping into a mansion.
"No one?" The larger shadow looked around, showing confusion.
"It's fine if there's no one," she shook her head, "whether it's a trap or an oversight, it doesn't matter. Your ability is there anyway. Those who want to use their own lives as bait had better think twice."
She smiled, looking to the side.
The gray-haired girl's eyes were calm and expressionless. She nodded.
The woman felt bored, thinking that she was indeed a loyal but wooden stake, focused only on the mission. Even though she was her master, she was unwilling to say a few more words.
She was the same even in front of the Crown Prince who had saved her life.
"Boring."
The woman shook her head.
In the back garden, the window of the inner chamber was open, and one could vaguely see a white-haired girl sitting inside, though the position made it a bit difficult to see clearly.
Silently moving to a position where she could see clearly, the woman handed the stage over to her disciple to perform.
—After all, the innate destiny trait [Death Extinguishes the Lamp] only needed a gaze.
○
The candlelight was dim, the moonlight was shallow.
Mu Qinglan lowered her eyes, rubbing her brow in some fatigue. It was already the hour of zi, why hadn't the Crown Prince's assassins appeared yet? Had she remembered wrong, or was the Crown Prince a coward?
That would truly be...
And just as she was starting to feel drowsy, the vibration from the "Dragon Summoning Hairpin" instantly woke her up.
The system also popped up a status screen.
[You are under the "Heart Burning" status]
Mu Qinglan's gaze swept over it, her eyebrows slightly raised, her eyes showing a touch of unsurprise.
It was indeed her.
And now, she indeed couldn't break through the Dragon Summoning Hairpin's defense.
Having received the confirmation, the girl curled her lips and looked up toward the window, across the window making eye contact with a certain patch of shadow in the courtyard that had an extremely good view and was the only place from which she could be seen.
Then, she said softly:
"Miss Shen, it's your turn."