16
Hmph. That stung a little.
I wasn’t asking Lục Yến to mourn me, but today was at least the anniversary of my death.
I was still right here, and yet she had the nerve to say things like that.
Was this the character of those “modern women” she was always talking about?
I sighed mournfully and leaned against Lục Yến’s shoulder as the cold wind howled past.
He silently drained his cup, set it down, and calmly ordered the guards:
“Take everyone guarding the gate outside and deal with them.”
A flurry of dark figures swept past. A short distance away, several brief cries rang out:
“Your Majesty, this servant was wrong… Miss Tô, save me!”
“I was the one who trespassed. Please spare Trần công công.”
Tô Chi shakily got to her feet and stared at him in disbelief.
As if she were looking at a complete stranger.
Beneath the deep darkness of night, Lục Yến nodded. For once, he was willing to be reasonable:
“Fine. You can take his place.”
He was completely serious, not joking in the slightest.
Tô Chi just stood there, biting her lip without a word.
“My empress once saved a child from being trampled by horses in the street. She nearly died and was sick for years afterward. Now Trần công công is going to die because of you, and you won’t save him?”
“The empress was foolish, unlike you, who are so clever.”
“Is this the ‘new scenery’ you were talking about?”
For the first time, Lục Yến looked at her so intently and answered her.
But what he said was more than Tô Chi could bear.
She staggered, big, bean-sized tears rolling down her cheeks.
Tô Chi parted her lips, only to find she couldn’t speak.
I laughed and patted Lục Yến on the shoulder.
According to the system, he seemed to have a bit of a conscience.
But Tô Chi wouldn’t listen to the system’s attempts to comfort her. With hatred in her eyes, she turned and left.
Her broken sobs drifted on the wind.
I followed her out.
When I looked back, Lục Yến was raising his cup and gazing into the distance.
Even the night couldn’t hide the deep affection in his eyes.
17
Tô Chi fled the palace in the middle of the night.
The system said an important part of the story was still unfinished, so it wouldn’t count her mission as a failure.
She drank herself into a stupor for three days straight.
Then she finally returned to normal.
By then, she had completely given up on Lục Yến. She decided to stay away from men and focus on her career.
She was skilled at business. With her own secret formula, she opened a cosmetics shop, and business flourished.
She was also gifted in poetry and literature. Famous poems and elegant turns of phrase came easily to her, and before long she was the capital’s foremost talented woman.
On top of that, she was stunningly beautiful.
Before long, high-ranking officials and noblemen came in droves to seek her hand in marriage.
I stayed right by her side, wandering all over this little city and witnessing one new thing after another.
Everything Tô Chi did went smoothly.
The system said it was all thanks to Lục Yến secretly pulling strings behind the scenes.
And it was right.
Its words stirred Tô Chi’s heart, but in the end, she still shook her head firmly.
I felt sorry for her.
If she hadn’t chosen the mission to win Lục Yến over in the first place, if she hadn’t teamed up with the system to kill me first, she could have made a good life for herself here with her intelligence and talent.
What a shame. Once an arrow has been loosed, it can’t be called back.
She’d already caused trouble. She couldn’t just decide to back out and expect to walk away.
And so the important part of the story the system had mentioned—the true test of Lục Yến’s feelings—arrived.
18
There were countless people in this world who couldn’t stand Lục Yến.
However, Lục Yến had no weaknesses at all, and he guarded me so closely that there was no way to strike at him.
Now that they knew the person His Majesty cherished was in the capital, some people began plotting.
It was still raining on the day Tô Chi was kidnapped and taken to the cliff.
Her hair was soaked and plastered to her face, and her body was caked in mud.
But she still taunted the people around her:
“Don’t bother. He isn’t coming…”
Before she could finish, the heavy clank of armor sounded in the distance.
Tô Chi’s eyes lit up at once.
There was joy, relief, and love in them.
In truth, she had let herself be captured and brought here.
She had told the system that if Lục Yến came, she would forgive him, and that what had happened before no longer mattered.
Sure enough, he came.
Lục Yến rode in wearing armor, letting the cold rain lash his face.
A guard unit and two carriages followed behind him.
“Lục Yến…”
“So even an arrogant tyrant can bow his head for a woman.”
The kidnapper pressed a dagger to Tô Chi’s delicate face and slowly issued his threat.
Lục Yến dismounted and frowned.
“Don’t damage her face. What do you want?”
Seeing his reaction, the system was satisfied too.
It appeared beside me, its voice cold.
“Tô Chi is about to succeed in winning Lục Yến over. You’ve lost. Accept your erasure.”
That day in the flower garden, I made a deal with the system.
If Tô Chi could make Lục Yến fall in love with her, I would willingly disappear from this world.
If she failed…
“It’s too soon to tell.”
I raised an eyebrow and smiled as I walked toward Lục Yến.
For some reason, the system suddenly felt uneasy.
19
“You cruelly slaughtered my entire Trần family. What do I want? I want your dog emperor’s life!”
The kidnapper’s eyes reddened. He tightened his grip on Tô Chi’s arm, making her cry out in pain.
Lục Yến looked at him calmly, trying to place him. It took him a long while to remember.
“The Trần family of Long Môn… They embezzled the court’s relief grain, leaving fifty thousand people in Lương Châu to starve to death. Didn’t they deserve to die?”
He usually couldn’t be bothered to explain himself to anyone, but Lục Yến was in a fairly good mood today.
“You killed them without proof. I won’t believe anything you say!”
“Then what will it take for you to let her go?”
In the rain, I raised my sleeve in anguish, meaning to wipe the rain from his face.
Across from him, Tô Chi watched him humble himself for her, and the smile on her face grew brighter.
“If you want her to live, jump down here. Otherwise, I’ll kill her!”
A vicious glint flashed in the kidnapper’s eyes as he angrily stated his demand.
Tô Chi was just about to ask the system to help her escape, so she hurriedly spoke up:
“Lục Yến, don’t do anything foolish for me…”
“Go ahead and kill her.”
Thunder rumbled, illuminating Lục Yến’s smiling face in the darkness.
His answer took everyone by surprise.
Several throwing knives whistled through the air and sank deep into the kidnapper’s chest.
But at the same time, with the last of his strength, the kidnapper slit Tô Chi’s throat.
They both fell.
Tô Chi tried to clutch at her throat as Lục Yến gathered her into his arms.
Her blood slowly soaked into his clothes, mingling with the rainwater on the ground.
“In your eyes, am I just her replacement?”
“No. You’re not worthy of that.”
Lục Yến’s chest was warm and broad, and she couldn’t help making one last effort.
But his reaction showed not the slightest mercy, shattering the last of her illusions.
“System, hurry—save me…”
“I’m sorry, Master. The seduction mission has failed.”
The system’s cold voice rang out. Tô Chi stopped breathing, consumed by despair.
Lục Yến lifted his head and looked at me through the rain, finally allowing a smile to show.
“Empress, it’s been a long time.”
20
The moment Tô Chi’s soul left her body, she recognized me. She stared at me, then at Lục Yến, smiling beside me.
At last, she stood in the rain, silent and despairing.
“When did you find out the male lead could see you?”
The system returned and asked the question that had been troubling it.
I smiled and took a small notebook from inside my robes.
On the night of the Lantern Festival when I was ten, Lục Yến gave me an answer I forgot—but I had written it down in that little notebook.
The little notebook stood for my memories.
And this memory returned when Tô Chi was unconscious and my soul disappeared for the first time.
“Why do they call you a monster?”
“Because I can see other people’s souls.”
The river breeze that night whispered in my ear.
It really was an important answer.
I pinched Lục Yến’s cheek in annoyance, a little puzzled.
“You’ve always been able to see me. Why have you never spoken to me?”
“I couldn’t speak to you. If I did, your soul would dissipate.”
Lục Yến smiled gently, letting me play with his face.
He gently took a jade pendant from inside his robes.
It was the very jade pendant the Empress Dowager had given me. I had it on me when I died.
“You’ve won, but it seems you no longer need to make a deal with me.”
The system silently watched the jade pendant glow, its voice tinged with doubt.
If Tô Chi failed to win him over, the system would give me her body.
That was the complete bargain.
But what did “no longer need to” mean?
“Ngu Hà, I still like you a little more.”
In the rain, a person holding an umbrella slowly stepped down from the carriage.