7
In just one week, Taylor Turner had gathered every bit of information she could find.
Lately, James Brooks had been disappearing mysteriously for reasons I couldn’t fathom, and he hadn’t been coming back to the marquis’s residence.
So I sat by the window, watching the world outside, at ease.
Four years ago, foreign invaders attacked both the northern and southern borders.
The Dai Li dynasty faced grave danger, and the nation teetered on the brink of ruin.
At the time, Avery Reed’s forces were limited, so most civil officials at court favored a cautious approach.
But my father, Quinn Reed, the Marquis of Northwatch, was steadfastly in favor of war.
He and James Brooks, who was only sixteen but already somewhat renowned, both volunteered to lead troops into battle—one to the north, the other to the south.
The war in the north dragged on. The invaders advanced like a storm, destroying two cities.
With my father alone, the odds of victory were slim.
Before he left, my mother, Madam Xue, worried for him, went to the imperial palace to request permission to accompany her husband.
Madam Xue came from a military family. She had been well versed in the art of war since childhood, and her martial skills were no less than a man’s.
So the Emperor agreed.
In the end, the borders were pacified.
But when the household went to war, only three of them departed.
When they returned, all that remained were James Brooks and two memorial tablets.
The entire Northwatch Marquisate was left with only James Brooks and Jordan Morgan, the two siblings relying on each other to survive.
When James Brooks was nineteen, war broke out in the north again.
James Brooks, who had always refused to inherit the title, once again volunteered to go to war.
This time, Jordan Morgan received word that Dai Li had been defeated—and that her elder brother had fallen.
A wave of attacks on the Northwatch Marquisate immediately arose at court.
“If James Brooks hadn’t been so stubborn and presumptuous, sending troops out on his own, how could we have been defeated?”
"Well, well, word from the front lines is that James Brooks has fled, abandoning the battlefield!"
"Looks like the unbroken reputation for loyalty and honor of the Northwatch Marquisate is about to be ruined by this young brat."
…
These words even spread among the common folk.
At that time, the northern front was still unsettled, and Jordan Morgan, only sixteen, made a trip to the palace.
She brought back an imperial edict from the Emperor to lead the troops.
This time, after many days of waiting, Jordan Miller finally received the joyous news that Dai Li had won the war.
Along with it came the news that Jordan Morgan had fallen on the battlefield.
8
When Avery Brooks came to visit the marquisate, I was learning how to manage the estate's assets with Jordan Miller.
I told someone to invite Avery Brooks to the flower pavilion, then made my way there at a leisurely pace.
Ever since we were little, Avery Brooks loved to snatch my things.
Whatever I had, she wanted to take.
And if she didn't have something, I wasn't allowed to have it either.
I'm sure this time will be no different.
When I arrived, Avery Brooks was sitting with her legs crossed, sipping tea, contentedly surveying her surroundings as if she were the mistress of the marquisate.
When she saw me enter, she looked displeased and shot me a glance:
"You're so slow—were you hoping I'd have to call for you several times?"
She paused, her tone softening:
"Anyway, I came here because I need something from you."
Once the maids had withdrawn, she spoke arrogantly:
"Now that you're basically in charge, I suppose everything in the marquisate is up to you."
"I'm your younger sister—it's not too much to ask for a little bit of your spotlight, is it?"
"I don't want anything else. I remember Jordan Morgan had a set of red ruby jewelry, incredibly valuable and unusually gorgeous. Go fetch it for me."
The smile on my face froze.
Then I smiled even more brightly:
"Alright, I'll get it for you. It's hot today—why don't I have a maid take you for a stroll in the lotus garden out back?"
Later, while I was inventorying the jewelry in my dressing table,
a maid hurried over with the news:
“Young Madam, Miss Avery Brooks has fallen into the lotus pond!”
I couldn’t stay seated. I hurried over at once.
Avery Brooks was sobbing uncontrollably. The moment she saw me, she shouted:
“I knew someone had pushed me!”
“You wretched woman! It had to be you! You deliberately sent someone to push me in!”
I pressed my lips together, lowered my head, and spoke in a pitiful voice:
“You can say whatever you want, little sister. As long as you aren’t hurt, that’s what matters.”
After escorting my tearful younger stepsister away, I returned to my room and found James Brooks lying across a roof beam, hands behind his head, looking completely at ease.
When he saw me come in, he sat up and grinned:
“Well? I did pretty good, didn’t I?”
9
While Avery Brooks was talking to me, James Brooks happened to come looking for me.
He said he could touch things now.
An idea suddenly came to me, so I told a maid to take Avery Brooks for a walk around the lotus pond.
Taking my things was one thing, but now she was greedy enough to covet Jordan Morgan’s belongings, too. She deserved to learn a lesson.
I ignored him and asked instead:
“Where have you been these past few days?”
James Brooks blinked, then quickly changed the subject:
“Oh, what lovely weather today. What should we eat?”
I lowered my eyes and said coolly:
“You went looking for evidence that, years ago, War Minister Avery Anderson colluded with my father to embezzle military provisions—sending stones to the front lines in place of grain, didn’t you?”
James Brooks’s expression changed, and his gaze sharpened:
“How did you know?”
I raised my head and smiled faintly:
“Whatever you need, I have it.”
When I was fourteen, I accidentally overheard my stepmother saying she wanted to marry me off as a concubine to one of my father’s colleagues. Distracted, I wandered around the estate.
By the time I came to my senses, I realized I’d wandered to a secluded spot in front of the courtyard.
Fear seized me. I was just about to leave when I heard two sets of footsteps stop nearby.
It was my father and Avery Anderson.
They smugly bragged about a little scheme that would leave the Marquis and his wife of Northwatch Marquis’s household dead without a whole body.
I hid silently in the grass, clamping my mouth shut and not daring to make a sound.
At the same time, I realized that the chance I’d been searching for—the chance to bring down my father and avenge my mother… had finally come.
Later, because my father was careless about managing his study, I secretly waited for an opportunity, then sneaked in and stole his letters and grain-supply ledgers concerning his dealings with Avery Anderson.
Afterward, I set the study on fire.
It wasn’t time yet, so I kept those things hidden instead of using them.
Now the time had come.
10
James Brooks and I brought out a pile of things together.
I held letters and transaction ledgers documenting my father’s dealings with Avery Anderson and the others four years earlier.
James Brooks held letters exchanged between Avery Anderson and the others the year before.
As he looked over the pile of evidence, James Brooks grew pensive:
“When my parents died together in battle, I knew something was wrong, but my own investigation turned up nothing amiss.”
“Then I sent people north to search, and they found a soldier who’d survived under my father’s command.”
“He told me that at first, the grain had a little sand mixed in, but it was still edible.”
“Later, when they ran short of food, they had to go hungry to hold the city. And when the last supplies finally arrived, half of them were stones disguised as grain.”
“Without food, the soldiers had no strength left. The fact that we won that battle at all was thanks to my parents and everyone else giving it everything they had.”
His eyes were bloodshot, his expression cold:
“Even after I learned the truth, I had no evidence, so all I could do was investigate bit by bit.”
“When war broke out again, I volunteered to go to the front, hoping to use myself as bait to draw out the person behind it all.”
“Before I left the capital, the person I had followed was your stepmother’s cousin.”
I was silent for a long while, then sighed.
“Now that we have the evidence, who are you going to give it to?”
James Brooks lowered his head, not daring to look at me.
“This is serious. You shouldn’t get involved. I have a way to handle it.”
“Besides, the time isn’t right yet.”