The Imperial Doctor's hostile face was full of animosity as he snarled at Feng Yao.
"You! I should have known that a dirty orphan like you would conspire with that snake Emperor!"
The guards holding him looked momentarily surprised at his sudden burst of unexpected strength. But Feng Yao acted like she didn't hear his words as she tilted her head and continued smiling.
"It's good to see you too, old man. Or would you prefer to be called your original title...General Yu from the Qin Kingdom?"
The doctor's aged eyes harshly narrowed at her. There was a sudden sharp glint in them that held traces of a once all-powerful young man.
"You knew this entire time?" He spat at her feet through his bloody teeth. Feng Yao didn't even blink as his blood stained her shoes.
"Of course!" He laughed. "Once a traitor, always a traitor."
His arm suddenly snaked out of the guard's grip and shot out to grab Feng Yao's robes.
"I hate you," he hissed. "It's because of you and your country that the Great War was started! It's because of you that I was forced to fight and leave my family! It's because of you that they were falsely accused of treason and executed when I wasn't there to protect them!"
His grip around her leg tightened into a death grip. The guards eventually had to physically yank him away from her, but the old man didn't even seem to be fazed at being forcibly shoved back on the ground.
"Ever since I figured out who you were eight years ago, I hated myself for even having to interact with you! Do you want to know why I forced myself to so be nice to you?" A wild laugh escaped through his lips and echoed in the silent courtyard. Feng Yao watched silently as his blood-shot eyes narrowed triumphantly at her.
"It's because I've already sold you off to someone in a different kingdom! Someone who was willing to pay a million gold coins as long as I followed his condition and kept you safe until you turned 20!"
No one noticed that way that Feng Yao had slightly stiffened. Everyone's attention was on the imperial doctor who was still thrashing around. His voice was turning hoarse, but he continued screaming at her as if it was the only way to soothe his burning soul.
"Hahaha! What an idiot! An utter fool!! Who would want to pay that much for a stupid princess of the fallen Yuan Kingdom?"
Feng Yao suddenly stepped forward. Her smile was still pasted onto her face, but her eyes had taken on a strange look.
"Why yes, I agree. Who would want to pay that much for a stupid princess from the Yuan Kingdom?"
Her smile abruptly disappeared and was replaced by a chilling stare. "But you're wrong about one thing. I'm not their princess."
She bent down towards his ears. He, who had been a fearless general for over half of his life, still could not hold back the chill that ran down his back at her icy whisper.
"I'm even more powerful than that."
At that moment, the sharp sound of someone's slow clapping pierced through the thick air. Immediately, all the surrounding guards simultaneously bent down on their knees.
"Greetings to His Majesty!"
Long Yi calmly walked out of the shadows and into the moonlight as he held his hand up to stop their welcome. The golden robes he had on were impeccable and almost seemed to be glowing underneath the flickering lanterns. It was clear to anyone watching that he, of course, had not been really poisoned.
He nonchalantly glanced at Feng Yao before turning his full attention to the old man still being held on the floor by the guards.
"Zhen was wondering when you'd finally show your true colors."
His casual words only served to make the imperial doctor become more angry. The old man threateningly screamed at Long Yi as his spit flew everywhere.
"What do you mean!? Don't act like you're some saint, you snake! You were the one who promised me that as long as I kept taking your poisonous tea, you'd help me later extort more money from her buyer!"
Long Yi elegantly furrowed his brows. "Are you accusing Zhen of such a despicable act? Zhen's Wei Kingdom may be quite wealthy, but Zhen does not use such underhanded schemes to gain that kind of dirty money."
The Emperor walked even closer. Without looking down, he casually stepped on the old man's bony hand. There was a loud, audible snap just as the old man screamed out in pain.
"AAHHHH--!"
His cries of agony were abruptly cut off as one of the guards harshly covered his mouth with a cloth. Long Yi acted like nothing happened as he continued smiling.
"Zhen doesn't remember. But even if Zhen did agree to help you harm Feng Yao," He bent down near the old man's ears as his grin widened. "Zhen has changed his mind."
Long Yi suddenly put more force into his foot and entirely crushed the old man's left hand. The old man couldn't even let out another scream before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He had passed out from the pain.
Feng Yao had been watching the entire thing silently. Her unreadable gaze narrowed as she studied the Emperor.
Above the perfect smile on his face, there was an excited glint twinkling sadistically in his eyes. But as soon as Feng Yao blinked, it had been expertly replaced with calmness.
"Toss him in the cell. He will be dealt with tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The guards immediately carried the bloody body of the old man away leaving just Long Yi and Feng Yao in the suddenly silent courtyard.
"Feng Yao." His voice softly called out, but she didn't answer.
Why had he allowed her to come watch so easily? Was it because of his pity? Or was it...to be entertained?
He finally turned around and looked at her in concern. "Are you okay?"
"...Yes."
A look of relief came across his face. "Good, good. In the future, Zhen will also need your help. It seems like the other countries are beginning to encounter problems, so a smart girl like you would be Zhen's perfect partner in facing them."
Feng Yao looked at him coldly. "Your Majesty. I don't know what you're implying, but I am no strategist. Even when the Great War ended, I was only ten years of age."
A doting look entered his eyes as if he hadn't heard a single thing she had just said. "Zhen is sure that you know how smart you are. Zhen also knows how cunning you can be behind your deceptively lovely face. Who else can you be but the legendary strategist?"
"But I am not."
"...Is that so?" Long Yi finally said. Feng Yao could sense his eyes growing icier as if he had suddenly gotten tired of pretending. His voice when he spoke held none of its earlier warmth.
"Then how is it that you knew which servants Zhen had watching you? Zhen's serving girl who had planted those roses with you ended up getting sick."
Hearing this, the corners of Feng Yao's lips imperceptibly tilted upwards. "The palace is a scary place. It's quite easy to put poison on the thorns of roses. But of course, I'm sure that they were aiming at me, not a random serving girl."
"Then how did you know about the secret poison in the royal tea?"
"I was once poisoned by the Thousand-Year Tea. The royal tea is simply a more concentrated version of it. Isn't it perfectly logical to come to the same conclusion?" Feng Yao didn't mention her heightened sense of smell.
Long Yi slowly stepped forward with his eyes as sharp as knives. "Then what about the old man? You already knew his identity."
Feng Yao didn't flinch at his look and instead looked at him straight in the eye. "You learn things after you spend eight years with them."
She suddenly felt his hand tightly wrap around her wrist. When she glanced down, she could see his pale fingers digging into her flesh.
"And you still insist that you are not the legendary strategist?" His voice was cold as ice. Feng Yao didn't let it show, but her wrist almost felt like it was to the point of cracking.
"Correct." Her simple answer seemed to make him pause before he finally released her.
"How amusing. Zhen would like to see how long you can continue to deny it."
His eyes studied her for a moment before he spoke.
"Let's finish our game, once and for all. Zhen will give you one last chance to search throughout tonight for your so-called strategist." His voice held a faint trace of mockery, but Feng Yao didn't comment on it.
"In exchange, Zhen wants you to do something."
Feng Yao's defenses immediately went up. "What is it?"
He smiled, but it looked somehow off. "Interrogate the Imperial Doctor. Zhen wants you to find out the reason why he was chased out of the palace by Zhen's Imperial Father."
Feng Yao paused. What did he mean by this? Why was he interested in that reason?
"Why me? I'm sure you have no trouble finding guards who would want to torture him."
The Emperor slightly chuckled at her words before gazing at her fondly. "Ah, my precious Feng Yao. Don't tell Zhen that you, yourself, don't even realize how persuasive you can be."
There was no room for her to argue, and he knew it. His grin widened seeing that she didn't say anything.
"Zhen knew that you'd agree. Interrogate him now, and Zhen will let you leave right after. You may want to hurry. It's already midnight."
Feng Yao walked down a secret stairway into the basement full of empty cells meant for prisoners. The air was dusty and held the strong metallic scent of blood. There was barely enough light coming from the lit torches hanging on the sides for her to make out where to step along the moldy floor.
She heard a voice call out. "Young Miss, the prisoner is this way."
Looking up, she saw the short stature of a balding guard respectfully bowing. Feng Yao instantly disliked him. There was a strange and eerie aura surrounding his person.
"Take me there." She icily commanded.
The guard nodded before quickly ushering her down the long hallway. They finally stopped at the last cell that had a single figure sitting inside.
"It's this one."
Feng Yao nodded at him and the guard immediately disappeared. The lit torches against the wall created moving shadows and made it hard for Feng Yao to make out which shadow inside the cell was actually the doctor. At last, she figured out that he was sitting in the very back cradling his broken hand.
"Hey old man. You there?"
The old man glared at her from behind the rusting bars. He made no effort to hide the fact that he wanted to strangle her.
"Don't call me that."
He finally spoke out. His voice was even worse off than before as if he'd just been tortured.
"Then let's make this quick. The faster you answer my questions, the faster my face will be gone from here. I'm sure you'd want that very much, right?"
"...What do you want?"
She sweetly smiled at him, but there was no change in his cold expression.
"Tell me, why did you flee during the previous Emperor's rule? And why was he so persistent in chasing you?"
There was no indication that he was going to answer. Feng Yao simply sighed and sat down right in front of his cell gate.
"I've got all night. Unless you want my face as the last thing you see before you die."
He let out a short bitter laugh. "Go ahead. At least I'll be dead."
Silence enveloped the deathly-still darkness. This was a forsaken place where not even the warmth of the sunlight could penetrate to.
Suddenly, Feng Yao spoke out. "You were one of the generals that fought on the front lines during the Great War. I remember you. General Yu from the Qin Kingdom."
His eyes narrowed at her. He couldn't tell what she was trying to get at.
"Yes. I know your story quite well. In fact, I'm surprised no one here has heard of it. General Yu—the famous general who retired shortly before the Great War. One year and three months into the start of the war, his entire clan was suddenly convicted of treason against the Qin Emperor and he was blackmailed into coming out of retirement to fight on the front lines."
The old man's eyes narrowed at her. "How do you know all of this?" Feng Yao didn't answer his question as she continued her story.
"With no choice, the general agreed to go towards battle as long as his family remained safe. The Qin Emperor, desperately in need of his fighting skills, allowed his conditions before sending him off to fight."
Feng Yao let out a soft smile. Somehow, in the darkness, it looked a bit sadder than usual.
"After exactly two years and one month of the war had gone by, the Qin Emperor suddenly ordered for General Yu to infiltrate the Wei Country after receiving news that that the Wei Emperor was planning on allying with the Yuan Kingdom."
The old man looked shaken at hearing his own secret story retold through the voice of this young woman standing in front of him. He couldn't help but wonder how she knew the details that he'd never told anyone else before.
"After saving Emperor Wei from a poison that the general himself had secretly poisoned him with, he quickly gained the status of Imperial Doctor. But as you know, the war suddenly ended after three long years. Hearing that he didn't need to spy anymore, he quickly returned to his homeland. But as he reached the outer gates of Qin, something happened—"
"Stop! Don't go on!" General Yu shouted at her as if the next memory was incredibly painful. But Feng Yao didn't listen and quietly continued.
"He was met with the news that his country had decided to close its borders and refuse to allow anyone else to enter. Not even he, who bravely sacrificed three years of his life to fight and protect his family, was allowed to get in."
General Yu finally exploded. "My country betrayed me! They had me fight for them! But when I came back, they refused to allow me to enter. And when I asked about my family—" his voice choked up, "they simply brought me to see their decapitated remains. My beautiful and kind wife, my brave and noble son, and my innocent little girl...Oh, such a young child! My poor daughter!"
Feng Yao watched silently without a word. It was clear that he didn't want to restrain his anger.
"My Emperor betrayed me! He had them all executed while I was away fighting for him! Why? Why did this happen to me!?"
He whipped his head around to stare at Feng Yao. "It was you! Your country started it all! Because of your people's greed, my family is now rotting away in the ditches without even headstones to mark where they lay!"
The abrupt narrowing of Feng Yao's eyes was the only indication that she suddenly realized something was strange. Without warning, the old man reached behind him and grabbed a dagger that had been hidden in the darkness. She almost had no time to react as he threw the weapon through the front bars aiming straight for her head with enough strength to shatter her skull.
At almost the exact same time, the old man kicked apart the locked door in a blind rage and escaped. Immediately, he came at Feng Yao who was still in the middle of ducking away from the dagger.
Feng Yao's eyes widened at seeing him charge at her. She had nowhere to go.
Although she knew martial arts, she was definitely no match for this general who was once considered one of the fiercest fighters in the war. Feng Yao barely could twist her body out of the way before he skillfully lunged at the spot she was just at.
The air hissed right next to her ear from the sheer power of his attack, and Feng Yao instantly knew.
He's going to kill me.
Her eyes darted around while she simultaneously tried to avoid his incredibly fast attacks. Suddenly, she glanced to the side of her towards a small boulder the size of her fist.
General Yu did exactly what she had expected him to subconsciously do and also briefly glanced in the same direction. The very moment he did, Feng Yao switched directions and lunged for the dagger that was now lodged into the wall.
She could feel him also suddenly change directions and rush in behind her. The only thing she could do was hope that there was enough distance between them for her to do what she needed to do.
As soon as Feng Yao reached the wall, her right hand grasped the handle of the knife while her left hand braced her impact. In one smooth motion, she twisted around and pulled the dagger free.
Her eyes widened at seeing that General Yu was closer than she'd calculated. She only had one shot to strike at him.
General Yu saw that she was cornered against the wall and suddenly grinned.
"You can't run away now!"
He put all of his strength into one last attack towards her with his fist pulled back ready to strike. At the exact same time, Feng Yao twirled the knife around in her hand and pushed off of the wall with her leg.
Suddenly, Feng Yao felt a sharp wind from his fist pierce directly past her head just as a thick and warm liquid spurted over her hand.
She froze as she realized what had just happened. Her eyes stiffly wandered downwards as she saw the dagger in her hand piercing straight into the old man's heart. Feng Yao forced her eyes upwards and paused.
"Old man...why are you...?"
Tears were silently dripping down his cheeks as he hatefully stared at her. Feng Yao could no longer tell if his eyes were red from anger or from crying.
"I hate you...so much..." He struggled to get the words out, but blood had already begun to dribble out of the corner of his mouth.
"Why did you suddenly remind me of my daughter...? I'm sure if she was alive..." he began coughing and slowly slid to the ground. Feng Yao was still standing in shock.
Old man...You were clearly aiming for my neck. Why did you divert your strike at the last second?
"If she was still alive...I'm sure she would have looked just like you...My poor Mi'er..."
General Yu gave one more harsh cough as blood foamed around his pale lips before he abruptly fell silent. His last breath finally left his broken and old body.
Feng Yao didn't know what to say. Her hand was still holding the dagger that had killed him. As she looked down at it, her gaze slowly darkened in anger.
Someone had purposely put a dagger in that cell with him. And she knew exactly who it was.
"Excellent work. Zhen is quite satisfied with this experiment."
Feng Yao turned to see Long Yi walk out of the darkness of the corner. Had he secretly been watching the whole time?
Long Yi came towards her and casually kicked the old man's body out of the way. He didn't even glance at her bloody hand as he smiled warmly at her.
"You have accomplished what Zhen wanted to see. Zhen will allow you to play outside until morning."
He turned around to leave, but paused just before he left the dark hallway.
"Tomorrow will be a fun day. Look forward to it, my lovely wife."
His footsteps slowly faded leaving Feng Yao once again alone. Utterly alone, just like how she used to be. And this time, not even the old man's hatred was there to keep her company.
She raised her hand and silently stared at the old man's bright red blood. Slowly, her eyes became colder and colder.
There will be no more tomorrows, Your Majesty. I am leaving tonight.