Even traveling under imperial decree, even as an envoy bearing the title of Prince Yao’s consort, there was no escaping the thorough inspection at the southern frontier checkpoint gate, because this was a requirement set by the King of Nanzhao himself. Even the exit permits weren’t established by Da Zhou—they too were mandated by the Nanzhao royal family!

Da Zhou had no choice but to comply, since this single gate was the only land passage from the continent of Longyuan into Nanzhao. If Da Zhou failed to respect Nanzhao’s wishes and inadvertently allowed the wrong person through, causing harm to Nanzhao, the resulting responsibility would be impossible to untangle.

Not only did travelers need thorough inspection and formal exit permits, but these permits themselves would record a summary of the inspection details. Once travelers reached Nanzhao’s own checkpoint gate, Nanzhao’s soldiers would carefully review these very records.

The southern frontier’s climate remained scorching hot year-round. Even now, in early spring back in Da Zhou, this region was already several times more sweltering than Da Zhou’s own peak summer heat.

Ziqing wore a thin white blouse paired with a pale blue long skirt—an outfit that would have seemed remarkably plain and understated back in Da Zhou, though she found herself eager to reach Nanzhao as quickly as possible, where the local women’s clothing was known to be far more cool and breathable.

She and Situ Haonan sat off to the side seeking shade, waiting as the soldiers inspected their carriages and attendants.

“Has Eastern Qin been invited to this year’s Water-Splashing Festival?” Ziqing asked flatly. Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t appeared anywhere along their entire journey—yet he’d made it all the way to the Da Zhou capital, so what exactly had he come for? Word from the capital indicated that Jun Beiyao had also since left the capital.

“We’re not sure about Eastern Qin specifically. Xijing and Xichu are both confirmed to have been invited, but no specific individuals were named, so we haven’t been able to look into it further.” Shiliang answered honestly. Having spent these past several days training alongside Guxi in the mercenary group, she’d grown considerably more capable at handling such matters.

“Do they all need to pass through here?” This particular point puzzled Ziqing.

“Mistress, I just went to ask. The border checkpoint hasn’t received any word about them so far. My guess is they’re likely traveling by sea route instead to reach Nanzhao—Xichu borders Xijing, and Xijing’s southern coast reaches the sea, so they could sail from the southern seas directly to Nanzhao.” Shiliang answered honestly.

Situ Haonan, who had been lying nearby with his eyes closed resting, opened his eyes at this and looked over. “Xichu and Xijing seem to have quite a good relationship these days. Wouldn’t be surprising if their envoys traveled together.”

Ziqing said nothing, opening instead the sealed letter Situ City had given her. It resembled a kind of formal letter of introduction, and on its reverse side was a map showing the location of the Medicine Clan’s Poison Den.

The Medicine Clan’s territory lay quite far from the royal capital, and the path to the Poison Den itself wasn’t easy to navigate either. Once she arrived in Nanzhao, despite her status as an honored envoy, her freedom of movement and available time would both be quite limited. Ziqing found herself pondering how best to seize an opportunity.

“Shiliang, give this to Guxi and have him work out the route as quickly as possible.” Ziqing said quietly, slowly reclining back in the rocking chair, turning her head to discuss matters further with Situ Haonan, when suddenly Commander Zhao, in charge of the checkpoint’s security inspection, came hurrying over personally. “Princess consort, if you would please come this way!”

In a country as notoriously cautious about foreign visitors as Nanzhao, Ziqing understood perfectly well that she was taking a considerable risk, especially since she was about to violate one of Nanzhao’s own forbidden taboos. She needed to proceed with extreme caution!

Otherwise, at best, her mission would simply fail; at worst, her very identity could end up damaging relations between the two nations entirely. Nanzhao was truly unlike any other kingdom on the continent of Longyuan—for centuries, no one had ever violated its sovereignty, no war had ever touched its borders. This was precisely the source of this kingdom’s remarkable resilience! Given Da Zhou’s current precarious situation, breaking this unprecedented record now was simply not an option!

Before crossing the border, she had carefully studied both nations’ inspection regulations in detail—how could there possibly be a problem now?

“What’s the matter?” Ziqing asked, mildly alarmed.

“Princess consort, please follow me. There’s a certain emblem on your carriage that is absolutely forbidden.” Commander Zhao said in a low voice.

An emblem? Ziqing immediately stood up. Her carriage was the only one in the entire procession, and aside from Prince Yao’s mansion’s own insignia displayed on all four sides, there shouldn’t be any other emblem whatsoever!

“Where exactly?” Ziqing asked, examining the carriage carefully all around.

“Princess consort, please follow me this way.” Commander Zhao instead led her all the way up onto the city gate tower. Ziqing hurried after him, but before she’d even reached the top, midway up the stone steps, she suddenly stopped short, her heart pounding wildly in shock!

It felt as though she had suddenly stumbled upon some enormous, world-shattering secret, taking a long moment to recover. What she saw—right there, on the very canopy roof of the carriage, was an emblem she recognized all too intimately!

After a long moment, Ziqing finally spoke flatly. “Commander Zhao, why exactly is this particular emblem considered forbidden? I didn’t see anything about it in the inspection regulations.”

“Princess consort, this is a taboo specific to Nanzhao’s own border checkpoint. Fortunately, this humble official happened to spot it—otherwise, once you reached the other side, you would have been absolutely denied entry, regardless of your status as an official envoy!” Commander Zhao said in a low voice.

Having guarded the southern frontier for many years, he maintained decent relations with the officers stationed on the Nanzhao side, and occasionally managed to pick up bits of information about their particular taboos.

Ziqing couldn’t help but feel a chill of retrospective fear. What a close call!

“Princess consort, perhaps we should switch carriages. This humble official has already arranged to have another one prepared.” Commander Zhao said quietly, careful not to draw attention.

Situ Haonan hurried over as well, and upon seeing the emblem, was equally startled. He couldn’t identify what kind of emblem it was either—its shape closely resembled that of a king cobra, and the emblem itself appeared to have been deliberately enlarged and painted onto the carriage’s canopy roof, seemingly with clear intent.

“Ziqing, this couldn’t possibly be Prince Yao’s mansion’s own emblem, could it?”

“It’s not!” Ziqing answered decisively!

This carriage had, of course, originally come from Prince Yao’s mansion. Exactly when it had been tampered with was hard to say, but it had to be admitted, whoever had done this was remarkably clever—painting this emblem so subtly that they themselves would never have noticed it from inside the carriage, yet anyone standing nearby at a slightly higher vantage point, along their entire journey from the capital, would have seen it plainly!

Anyone unaware would simply assume it was an ordinary decorative pattern. But anyone who did know—what would they think?

Ziqing unconsciously reached up and touched the side of her own face, feeling an inexplicable chill of dread. Could this emblem possibly be connected to the Lonely Isle?

After all, in the very spot on her own face that terrified her most, this exact same emblem had been tattooed—identical in every way!

Because it was connected to the Lonely Isle, the Nanzhao royal family had designated it forbidden—so was that all there was to it, without any further explanation given?

If so, then where had this emblem on her carriage actually come from, who had left it there!

This was clearly a deliberate scheme to frame her—and, worse still, a plot designed to expose the secret of her own true origins!

Fortunately, Commander Zhao proved accommodating, making no mention of any of this in Ziqing’s travel documents, and the inspection at Nanzhao’s own checkpoint gate proceeded smoothly as well.

Once they had fully cleared the checkpoint, Ziqing finally let out a breath of relief and said flatly, “Situ, that emblem… I’m afraid it might be connected to the Lonely Isle.”

“The Lonely Isle!” Situ Haonan exclaimed in shock. If Ziqing hadn’t quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, the entire procession would surely have heard him.

“Shh!” Ziqing glared at him fiercely before finally releasing her hand.

“How do you know it’s connected to the Lonely Isle?”

“It just is, that’s all—I found out during my earlier investigation…” Ziqing had no intention of revealing the secret hidden on her own face.

“This is serious. Someone else knows about the secret of your origins too, and they’re keeping very close watch!” Situ Haonan said, suddenly understanding.

Aside from Prince Yao’s mansion and Situ City, who else could possibly know? It hardly seemed plausible!

Situ Haonan immediately declared, “Han Ziqing, my parents may be… well, whatever they are, but I swear on my own honor, it absolutely wasn’t them!”

But Ziqing’s expression had turned decidedly grim, and she said coldly, “Consort Yi. She’s the one who obtained the seductive incense. She knows about it!”

Situ Haonan couldn’t help but frown. “This means we’re in for real trouble here in Nanzhao…”