Mu Wanyao strode out of the residence with a sword in hand, her maids and guards following closely behind. It seemed no one dared stop the Princess at this moment.

At the bottom of the steps, Yan Shisheng, holding an umbrella, saw Mu Wanyao’s demeanor and knew something was wrong. As she descended the steps, he immediately stepped forward: “Lady Mu…”

Mu Wanyao’s features were striking, but her expression was as cold as ice beneath deep waters.

Her sword cut through a layer of rain as her maid Chunhua hurriedly opened an umbrella to follow the Princess. Due to the slippery ground, Chunhua nearly fell but was steadied by Head Guard Fang Tong.

Yan Shisheng fearlessly kept pace with Mu Wanyao: “Lady Mu, the rain seems to have lightened somewhat…”

He attempted to calm Mu Wanyao through conversation.

But Mu Wanyao shoved aside this bothersome scholar and continued striding forward.

Yan Shisheng realized the situation was dire—Mu Wanyao wouldn’t even give him a chance to explain.

He inwardly thought: this is bad.

Still trying to keep up with Mu Wanyao’s pace, he spoke faster, attempting to make her hear his words within a few breaths—

“Lady Mu, there must be a misunderstanding. I was just reading in my room when I heard a commotion in the courtyard. I saw your maids arguing with my Third Brother, apparently something was damaged. My lady, why not stop and understand the situation first…”

Yan Shisheng: “My lady, why not have some tea to calm down? Lingnan has teas not found in the Central Plains. I can pour you some.”

Mu Wanyao’s robes fluttered as she continued without pause.

Turning a corner, the group following the sword-bearing young woman saw several of Mu Wanyao’s maids surrounding the Yan family’s Third Young Master in front of a side room, demanding compensation for something.

The Yan family’s third son, Yan Musheng, was well-known throughout the area for his loud voice.

At this moment, Yan Musheng’s words carried clearly to the approaching Mu Wanyao and his second brother: “What does it have to do with me? The roof leaked at night, but I didn’t break it. How can you blame this on my family? Besides, you forcibly occupied our house—if things got damaged, blame your carelessness!”

The three maids were furious.

They argued: “That night we let you choose a room for storing important items. You recommended this storage room, and beat your chest guaranteeing its safety, so now that something’s happened, of course we blame you!”

“Exactly! And who knows if you didn’t secretly damage the roof at night? Don’t think we don’t know—you’ve been giving us dirty looks these past few days!”

Third Young Master Yan shouted: “Such twisted logic! Let me tell you, even if I did want to damage your things, you’d deserve it! With your bandit-like behavior…”

Hearing his brother’s reckless words from afar, Yan Shisheng’s heart sank. Catching Mu Wanyao’s cold gaze from the corner of his eye, he called out sharply: “Third Brother, silence!”

How could he speak so carelessly?

But it was too late.

The maids and Yan Musheng all turned to see the Princess approaching with murderous intent.

The maids prostrated themselves: “My lady, the Yan family deliberately sabotaged us…”

Yan Musheng, seeing the beautiful young woman approach, was momentarily stunned. Only when he noticed the sword in Mu Wanyao’s hand did he retreat uneasily: “What do you mean, coming at me with a sword? Are you planning to kill someone? There are laws in this world—you can’t just kill people as you please!”

Mu Wanyao cut off Third Young Master Yan’s outward bravado: “I am the law!”

BOOM—

As Mu Wanyao’s resounding declaration ended, thunder crashed in the distance.

Mist rushed like floodwater, rising from the mountains like smoke.

The three-foot snow-white sword reflected in the young woman’s eyes as she stood there, utterly convinced of her righteousness. Just by standing there—

She was the law!

Yan Musheng, intimidated by Mu Wanyao’s imposing presence, stood frozen, watching raindrops patter against the wooden umbrella above the young woman’s head. His eyes contracted as he saw Mu Wanyao’s sword thrust forward.

A few steps behind, Yan Shisheng, who had been following Mu Wanyao closely, changed expression and threw aside his umbrella, lunging forward.

“Thud—”

In a flash, the umbrella Yan Shisheng had been holding flew out, creating a circle of rain-splattered ground. He dove forward, his long sleeves billowing, reaching out with bare hands to grab Mu Wanyao’s sword.

Yan Shisheng shouted: “Mu Wanyao, stop—”

Seeing his second brother about to collide with Mu Wanyao’s sword, Third Young Master Yan’s heart seized with panic. His scholarly second brother had no skill to block a sword! His eyes bulging, he lunged forward: “Second Brother!”

Head Guard Fang Tong had been worried that Yan Shisheng might be injured by the Princess’s sword, but now seeing Yan Musheng seemingly about to rush at the Princess, he immediately stepped forward and grabbed the third Yan brother’s shoulder, preventing him from touching even the edge of the Princess’s robes.

At that moment, before everyone’s eyes, Mu Wanyao’s sword slashed downward—

Two strands of beautiful hair, floating gently, rose from the maids’ carefully arranged buns, were struck by the sword, and drifted to the ground.

The maids had been quietly waiting for the Princess to strike Yan Musheng with her sword. Only when she reached them and raised her blade toward them did they realize something was wrong.

Meeting the Princess’s ice-cold gaze, one maid froze like a wooden chicken and fainted outright, while the other two maids stiffly watched as the Princess’s sword brushed past their cheeks, cutting their long hair.

Yan Shisheng, realizing Mu Wanyao’s sword wasn’t aimed at Yan Musheng, had lunged at empty air. Stumbling slightly as he turned back, he saw Mu Wanyao’s sword cut through the two maids’ black hair.

The dark tresses fell silently to the ground.

Except for the maid who had already fainted, the other two maids’ hair buns were now disheveled. They stood with loose hair, staring blankly at their severed locks.

Coming to their senses, they fell to their knees, bodies drenched in cold sweat, lips trembling, unable to form a complete plea for mercy.

Mu Wanyao looked down at them imperiously.

She then turned to face Yan Shisheng, who had tried but failed to block her sword.

Mu Wanyao looked at Yan Shisheng: “What did you just call me?”

Yan Shisheng: “…”

Mu Wanyao’s face darkened instantly: “Are you worthy of addressing me by my given name?”

Yan Shisheng stood wooden.

Mu Wanyao continued: “Did you think I was going to kill your third brother?”

Yan Shisheng remained silent.

Raindrops fell on Mu Wanyao’s face, her features delicate but expression cold. Still holding her sword, she stood before everyone and suddenly smiled: “What, did you think I couldn’t tell right from wrong, that I would kill without reason?”

Yan Shisheng’s mouth opened and closed, but he finally gave up.

His eyelashes trembled slightly as his dark eyes fixed on this elegantly dressed young woman who had swung her sword in the rain to cut her maids’ hair. As he watched this scene unfold, his attention remained focused on her.

Seeing his gentle and docile manner, Mu Wanyao ignored him.

She glanced at the maids whose hair she had cut, speaking deliberately: “I entrusted my box to your care, of course, I would hold you responsible when something happened to it. Did you think pushing the blame onto the Yan family would let you escape punishment? Are you poisonous women or just fools, hoping I was stupid?”

The maids trembled, no longer daring to harbor false hope. They bent low and kowtowed, stammering: “My lady, we were wrong…”

Mu Wanyao threw down the sword.

She turned to Fang Tong and said: “Punish them with thirty strokes each. If they die, they deserve it.”

Ignoring the pitiful pleas behind her, Mu Wanyao no longer looked at the maids kneeling in the rain.

Chunhua hesitated, unsure what to do, until she heard Mu Wanyao call: “Chunhua, come with me!”

Chunhua hurriedly responded: “Yes!”

She lifted her skirts to follow the Princess, only managing to turn back briefly to say: “Guard Fang, please handle things here!”—

Mu Wanyao wore a veiled hat that barely kept off the rain as she and Chunhua rode out on horseback.

She was furious, naturally displeased with the maids trying to shift blame. But what angered her more was that the cream her mother had personally ground was now ruined by rain, unusable.

How could this be?

It was one of the few things her mother had left her. As she returned home, she would gradually lose many of the old favors, but she didn’t want to lose the things left by those now gone. She wanted to keep her mother’s things, just as she wanted to keep the memory of her mother’s love.

Only with these things could she remember that her mother had once loved her.

Mu Wanyao stubbornly rode out in the rain to the town. The roads were difficult to traverse, but she and Chunhua wandered the town, pushing open shop doors one by one, asking if they had certain materials.

She had to recreate that cream. Her mind was in chaos, unsure exactly what materials she needed, but she had to find them.

Mu Wanyao asked Chunhua: “What materials are needed for facial cream?”

Chunhua didn’t know either, but she wracked her brain: “At least cinnabar, angelica root… and I remember smelling patchouli.”

Mu Wanyao gave a faint “mm” in response.

The two women, soaked through, rode around town looking for shops. Chunhua didn’t believe the Princess could recreate the late Empress’s cream—she had seen it and didn’t think they could manage it. But Chunhua dared not tell the Princess the truth, so she could only accompany her in the rain, buying materials that might or might not be useful.

Coming out of another shop, Mu Wanyao clutched some realgar she had barely managed to convince the shopkeeper to sell her. As she descended the steps, preparing to find the next shop—

Above her head, an umbrella appeared.

Mu Wanyao slowly looked up, rainwater dripping down her eyelashes. She squinted, and as the umbrella was raised, gradually made out the person before her.

Yan Shisheng stood before her, holding the umbrella for her.

Mu Wanyao’s fine clothes were now muddy, her cloud-like hair somewhat disheveled, but her back remained straight, her bearing proud—still every inch the Princess Danyang. This princess’s expression was cold as she ignored him, clutching her oil paper package and moving to leave.

Yan Shisheng reached out, gently catching her wrist, softly blocking her path. She recoiled as if burned and glared at him.

Mu Wanyao: “Move aside, or I’ll kill you.”

Yan Shisheng’s voice was gentle: “Why would you kill me? I’m here to help you.”

The rain fell like a river overhead, hitting the umbrella and splashing into a misty spray.

In the pitter-patter of raindrops, Mu Wanyao’s steps halted. To Yan Shisheng’s eyes, she lifted her face, her eyes round and alluring, like shallow lakes filled with moonlight—crystalline and moving.