After the trip to the Orphan Village, Luwen found her maid in her chamber, waiting to serve her.
With her hands folded and lips pressed in a firm line, the stony-faced stare the latter gave was foreboding. Her shoulders were stiff with tension, and Luwen had a subtle feeling the matriarch had sent a letter.
Her hunch was soon confirmed when her maid revealed a small rolled parchment from her sleeve, along with a small vial filled with a dark greenish liquid.
Luwen took them warily, her heart palpitating nervously as she unrolled it slowly to read the message. It is likely that the maid sent reports about everything she had seen and learned about Luwen's relationship with the lord to the matriarch. By now, she should have known about her success.
"Well done. You did a wonderful job earning his trust."
"Your next task is to end his life."
Luwen felt her blood run cold, her breath quickening, her eyes widened slightly. She lifted the vial to her eyes and watched as the poisonous liquid swirl menacingly. It was a product concocted by the matriarch.
Had it already been two months since her arrival in the Dai residence?
She realized, with horror, that there were only four months left to fulfill the matriarch's wish. The thought of contaminating Dai Yichen's food or drinks with poison was gut-wrenching. Torturous. How could she poison the man who had slowly begun opening to her and treating her with care? How could she kill him after how he brought her to places that gave her the happiness she didn't deserve?
She had already failed her mission a long time ago.
However, she couldn't refute the matriarch's orders, who held hers and her friend's lives in her hands. Luwen needed to plan her actions carefully, including concealing her true feelings. She couldn't risk raising any suspicion that her loyalty to the matriarch had completely withered, especially not under her maid's intense scrutiny at this moment.
Reeling in her emotions, she kept her expression neutral and walked to the closest oil lamp on her table. She lit the letter on fire, watching how it burned into a dust of ashes. It was a protocol to destroy all her correspondence with the matriarch after reading their contents to avoid others from discovering their schemes, especially the lord.
However, she couldn't seem to muster her courage or form words to reply to the matriarch.
She needed to find a way out of this predicament.
There must be something she could use to compromise with the matriarch and not kill Dai Yichen instead.
Taking a deep breath, she regained her composure and leveled her eyes on the mute maid, knowing she could read her lips expertly. "How should I administer the poison to him?"
The latter grabbed a sheet of paper and an ink brush to write her response. "Inject a drop of the poison each time into his meals or drinks. The poison works slowly and causes internal damage to his organs."
It went without saying the matriarch enjoyed killing off her enemies furtively. "It's still early," Luwen pointed out. "I've just earned the lord's trust. I require time to arrange a solid plan."
"Time is scarce, particularly as the lord is set to travel once again."
"He's leaving again? Where?"
"There is an invitation to a birthday banquet held by the Yue clan in two weeks' time. You should beg him to bring you along with him."
Luwen nodded, barely keeping up her act when her heart was sinking with dread. "What happens after I succeed?" she asked. "When my soul returns, what will become of this body?"
However, there wasn't any response. Not even a nod or a shake of the head. "So she doesn't care much about her daughter's remains," Luwen concluded. "What if we fail? And what about you? What has she promised you in exchange for sending you as a spy in the Dai clan?"
"It doesn't concern you."
Silence greeted her every time she attempted to inquire about her maid's history or true name. But one thing was certain–her maid's allegiance to the matriarch was unwavering.
Whatever the matriarch had promised or paid her, it was a hefty cost.
Yet Luwen wasn't ready to give up. She tried another method to get answers from her–by instilling fear and doubt. "How has she guaranteed your safety? Are you certain you can escape without harm, with or without the lord's death?"
"The matriarch saved my life. I'm willing to sacrifice my life for her."
"Even if it means not witnessing the downfall of the Dai clan?"
There was a flutter in her maid's eyelashes, barely perceptible, but it was all Luwen needed to know she had struck her arrow in the bull's eye. Her maid's emotions were slipping through the cracks in her walls. For whatever reason, she held a strong grudge against the Dai clan. Sufficed to convince the matriarch to trust her and send her as a spy.
"I, too, want the Dai clan to be destroyed," Luwen lied. "They took my family away from me. If I die early, I won't be able to witness their demise."
She began pacing back and forth in the room. "The lord is perceptive. It will be difficult to poison him. We need an alternative plan in case something goes wrong," she said. "If we cannot kill him, we can bring the matriarch something else she wants. This way, we can witness the complete decimation of the Dai clan while she rewards us for our contributions. I would love to serve her for as long as I can."
She begged her. "Please help me. You're the only one I can rely on in this place."
Her maid watched her with an inscrutable expression on her face, unable to decide if Luwen was lying or speaking the truth.
Eventually, she got convinced and revealed the matriarch's biggest secret."I don't know the details, but there is something she has wanted for a long time."
"What is it?"
"She's searching for a man."
***
While the lord was at the meeting and Luwen in the adjacent room, she immediately started working.
She wrote all the names and descriptions of the men from the matriarch's past relationships. There were over twenty of them, and it was all attributed to the matriarch's constantly changing preference for men. There was a handsome traveler who journeyed to many countries, a renowned musician and a remarkable hunter. One of them was even a wealthy business owner with several shops across the region.
She had bewitched them with her beauty and made them fall under her charm spells. The longest relationship she had lasted a year, and the shortest was two weeks.
People knew well that the matriarch never sought real love in her relationships. She yearned for handsome men, pleasure, and the joy of being held. She loved to be in control of her relationships and hated the idea of marriage. Her daughter and son had different fathers who were never legally bound to her in a marriage.
As such, Luwen was genuinely confused when she heard the matriarch was searching for a man.
Regardless of what happened, she requested the list of names of the current members in the Dai clan from Yerong, claiming that she was keen to learn everyone's names. In reality, she desperately searched for a familiar name on the list.
It took her an entire day to realize her effort was futile. She couldn't match any of the names on the list.
It was a dead end.
Several questions remained. She racked her brain hard, wondering if there was something else she was missing. When she questioned her maid for more details, she found none.
The next day, she glanced out of the window. Fingers thumped the surface of the wooden table.
With time, her restlessness grew. Even Dai Yichen, who woke up next to her in bed in the morning, noticed her anxiety and frustration, which she could barely contain in her skin.
When he asked her what was wrong, she lied through her teeth. Giving him a smile that would put him at ease. After their trip to the village, she couldn't seem to look him directly in the eyes.
It was difficult to send him away, especially when he promised to stay close to keep her safe, but it was much easier to investigate without him around. After assuring him several times that she was safe in his bedchamber with Yerong and Biyu watching the entrance, he finally left.
At last, she could continue working. She ran through her written list of the matriarch's companions, then the Dai clan's list again. None of the names matched to the records.
Suddenly, something clicked in her mind.
What if Luwen had gotten it wrong from the beginning? Could she have missed something important? What if the matriarch wasn't just looking for a man?
What if she was searching for a dead man's grave?
With this in mind, she quickly got up and left her room, running past her guards.
Ignoring their calls, she sprinted to the ancestral hall and slowed to a stop in the middle, her eyes roving across the rows of tablets from several generations until she found what she was looking for.
Dai Yinzheng.
Yinzheng.
This was the only name she recognized.
This may be the man for whom the matriarch started the war and caused a bloodbath between the clans.
A/N: Let me know if you're enjoying this story so far by raising both hands! 🙌🏻