The news that Princess Anle intended to take refuge at Baochong Nunnery — keeping her hair while entering monastic life to pray for Noble Consort Shu’s blessing — had also reached Zhaoxia Palace.

“Princess Anle, Noble Consort Shu…” Lin Fei murmured. “Cunning…”

“There’s no need,” Xie Yuzhang said.

They had no way of knowing that Princess Anle’s matter had nothing to do with any of this — it had been entirely Noble Consort Shu’s scheme, born of her refusal to let her daughter be married off to Hexi. Both of them assumed it was Noble Consort Shu hedging her bets, adding another layer of insurance to ensure Princess Anle would not be sent to Mobei as a peace bride.

This move of Noble Consort Shu’s weighed even more heavily on Lin Fei’s heart. At night she dreamed the same nightmare over and over — a great wheel rolling toward her, crushing both her and her princess to dust.

She jolted awake in the night, drenched in cold sweat.

Xie Yuzhang had woken too. She reached out and touched the damp strands of hair at Lin Fei’s brow, asking softly, “What is it? A nightmare?”

Lin Fei said apologetically, “I must have disturbed Your Highness. I’ll go back to my own bed.”

She made to rise. But Xie Yuzhang caught her arm, rolled over, and held her close. “Don’t go. Stay with me.”

These past days Xie Yuzhang had seemed so composed — yet here, in the deep stillness of the night, she was still this fragile, still needing to be sheltered.

Lin Fei held Xie Yuzhang and patted her back gently, coaxing her. “I’m not going anywhere. Go back to sleep.”

Lin Fei and Xie Yuzhang burned the same incense. They were so familiar with each other’s scent that, wrapped in that closeness, the two of them gradually drifted back into sleep.

This time, there were no more nightmares.

Time passed quickly. The Mobei Khaganate’s envoy delegation had been in the capital for half a month.

The month of July arrived. One day, before the midday meal, a familiar palace attendant from Hanliang Hall came with a summons: the Emperor wished to see Princess Baohua.

Lin Fei slipped a gratuity envelope to the attendant and asked, “Do you know what His Majesty wishes to speak with the Princess about?”

The attendant, unlike his usual smiling self, pushed the envelope straight back. “That, this servant truly does not know.”

This attendant had come to Zhaoxia Palace countless times before. His uncharacteristic manner made Lin Fei’s heart clench.

The attendant had taken no small number of gratuity envelopes from Zhaoxia Palace over the years. He hesitated, then lowered his voice: “After morning court, His Majesty received the Khaganate’s envoys again.”

“Understood. Thank you, Eunuch.” Xie Yuzhang inclined her head, signaling Lin Fei not to press further.

Lin Fei’s heart was heavy, though she kept her face calm, directing the palace maids to fetch a wide-sleeved over-robe of sheer silver-red fabric scattered with golden butterflies dancing among flowers.

Xie Yuzhang raised her arms, and the palace attendants helped her into the robe.

The attendant snuck a glance — Princess Baohua Xie Yuzhang carried herself with an air of magnificence, her beautiful face glowing with luminous radiance, her beauty beyond compare. Yet the attendant lowered his head and did not offer his customary smiling praise.

Xie Yuzhang cast a sidelong look at him.

The Emperor disliked the Lin family and therefore disliked Lin Fei as well. Lin Fei had never accompanied Xie Yuzhang on visits to the Emperor, and this time was no different. She could only wait in Zhaoxia Palace, consumed with anxiety.

The last time she had felt this gnawing unease in her chest was when she first heard that her grandfather had died by throwing himself against the pillars of the Golden Hall, that her father had already been thrown into prison — and armed soldiers had surrounded the Lin household, yet no one had come to formally announce their crimes. That terrible stretch of waiting.

Fear and helplessness, in equal measure.

Lin Fei forced herself to be calm. She ordered the palace maids to open the latticed windows facing the inner courtyard, and sat there, gazing out at the lush garden.

Lin Fei had been raised from childhood to be a distinguished young lady of a great family. When she sat with that composed gravity, spine perfectly straight, not even a corner of her robe trembling, the palace maids around her found themselves instinctively lowering their voices and lightening their steps.

That heavy, oppressive silence held until Xie Yuzhang returned. Seeing Xie Yuzhang’s expression calm and her steps even carrying a lightness to them, the palace maids’ faces broke into smiles.

Only Lin Fei tilted her head to study Xie Yuzhang’s face, and her eyes held no joy. She rose slightly to bow, her body turning to follow Xie Yuzhang’s movement.

Xie Yuzhang stepped inside, gathered her skirts, and sat down in the seat of honor beside her.

A wave of her hand, and the palace maids receded like the tide. Xie Yuzhang and Lin Fei sat side by side gazing into the courtyard, neither speaking. In the distant corridor, the palace maids looked over across the courtyard at each other in bewilderment.

After a long while, Lin Fei spoke, her voice rough: “Your Highness?”

Yet Xie Yuzhang felt an inexplicable calm wash through her.

“Imperial Father told me that I am to be sent to Mobei as a peace bride,” she said.

More than this long-predicted fate, Lin Fei was heartbroken by Xie Yuzhang’s calm. Shouldn’t her naive princess be shattered, weeping with grief? Where had her pain gone? Why was she suppressing it like this?

“Your Highness…” Lin Fei gently reached out and covered Xie Yuzhang’s hand with her own. “If you want to cry, cry.”

Don’t hold it in. Don’t bottle it up. Suppressed emotion is the most harmful thing of all.

But Xie Yuzhang said, “I’ve already cried.”

Of course. To have her future announced to her directly by the Emperor who had always cherished her — how could she not have wept? Lin Fei felt a pang of sadness.

Just as she was gathering herself to say something comforting, she heard Xie Yuzhang continue, “As his daughter, going to serve the nation, marrying far away to Mobei, never again able to fulfil my filial duties at my Imperial Father’s side — how could I not shed a few tears? Rest assured, I have already wept before Imperial Father.”

Lin Fei looked up in stunned disbelief, as though she no longer recognized Xie Yuzhang.

Xie Yuzhang had been reborn back into her girlhood for half a month now. Throughout those two weeks, she had often been mired in depression, in darkness, in fear.

She had known her future fate. She had known the blade hanging above her head. But now that the blade had finally fallen, she found herself not nearly as terrified of what lay ahead as she had imagined.

In this moment, Xie Yuzhang understood with deep clarity that human fear stems more from the unknown than from anything else.

Everything she was about to face, she had already lived through once before. The moment this thought came to her, her heart settled into a strange, tranquil peace.

“What is there to be sad about?” she smiled gently, taking Lin Fei’s hand. “For things already settled, things already happened — don’t dwell on them anymore. Think about what comes next.”

For things already settled, things already happened — don’t dwell on them anymore. Think about what comes next.

How many times had it been, in the moments when she could barely hold on, that Lin Fei had held her hand just like this, gathered her close, and whispered those exact words in her ear?

Holding each other’s hands, they had endured, again and again, until the day they finally made it back alive to Yunjing.

Lin Fei’s tears fell, leaving two small dark spots on her lap.

Her princess… the little princess who had ridden a horse with four snow-white hooves, who had rescued her from a terrible fate — when had she grown to be like this?

Lin Fei raised her head, tear tracks still on her cheeks, but with a smile. “Your Highness is right.”

Xie Yuzhang smiled.

Lin Fei wiped her face with her sleeve, composure restored, and asked, “What does Your Highness plan to do next?”

“Three days from now, Imperial Father is holding a grand banquet for the envoy delegation,” Xie Yuzhang said. “I want to offer a dance at the feast.”

With her thoughts so burdened these past days, Lin Fei suddenly realized with a start that Xie Yuzhang — who had once lived and breathed for dance — had seemingly not danced in a very long time.

“Your Highness.” Lin Fei said sadly, “Let us simply plead illness.”

But a peculiar smile crossed Xie Yuzhang’s face. “No, I’ll dance. Why wouldn’t I? This will likely be the last dance I ever perform in Yunjing.”

In her past life, on this same day, she had been summoned to Hanliang Hall, and her Imperial Father had only told her he wanted to watch her dance at the banquet three days hence. She had spent those three days preparing with joy, and on that day her dance had dazzled everyone present.

And at the very moment when she was feeling both proud and elated, the envoy from the Mobei Khaganate had spoken up — to seek her hand for Ashina Khan. Her Imperial Father had consented on the spot.

She had stood there in the great hall, rooted to the spot, all eyes around her brimming with pity and sympathy. She had been in a daze, and it was the palace attendants who had escorted her away.

Later, after many twists and turns, she had finally returned to Yunjing. Her father, like a stray dog reduced to nothing, had wanted to offer her up to the new Emperor like an entertainer.

This was the thorn lodged in her heart — always there, always aching at the slightest touch. To refuse, she had severed the tendon in her own right foot.

And yet, before that had even happened, this father of hers had already offered her to the foreign people like a performing girl. She had been so naive back then, she thought.

Today, she had asked the Emperor directly whether she was truly to be sent to Mobei as a peace bride. And this time the Emperor did not humor her or conceal it from her as he had in her past life — he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

The Emperor had wept.

The Emperor wept; she wept too.

“As your daughter, I will no longer be able to fulfil my filial duties to you,” she had said.

How deeply moved the Emperor had been.

“My child, my phoenix child,” he had said. “May you be the second Shanqi Princess of our dynasty.”

Princess Shanqi was a woman of the imperial clan from two hundred years ago. She had been bestowed the title of princess and sent to Mobei as a peace bride. At that time the Ashina clan had not yet risen to power, and the Mobei royal house had borne a different name.

After Princess Shanqi married into Mobei, the two nations had lived in peace for thirty years. Princess Shanqi’s name had been recorded in the history books.

As a child, Xie Yuzhang had heard Princess Shanqi’s story and had even yearned to be like her.

It was only later, when she was living beyond the frontier herself, that she finally understood. Two hundred years ago, Da Zhao had been thriving and ascendant, while Mobei too had needed time to recuperate and recover its strength. The cessation of war had been the will and need of both sides. How could a single small woman have determined such a thing?

“A’Fei, go to the Eastern Palace and tell the Crown Prince Elder Brother that I want to know — no. Wait.” Xie Yuzhang changed her mind at the last moment. “Go and find Fuchun. Have him find out whether the Military Governor of Hexi and his adopted sons will be attending the banquet three days from now. Tell him to find out clearly — which adopted son Li Ming will be bringing.”

So Her Highness was still thinking about that Li Gu. She was about to be sent far away to Mobei — so what if she indulged herself just this once?

Lin Fei agreed at once and went personally to find Fuchun, making her instructions crystal clear.

Fuchun thumped his chest in promise. “Just let Her Highness await my news.”

Fuchun had been coming to Zhaoxia Palace every few days to pay his respects and had frequently received rewards. With money in hand, his “friends” had naturally multiplied, and getting things done had become considerably easier than before. Deep in his heart, he felt himself walking a golden, glittering road to prosperity.

For a task entrusted by his benefactress Princess Baohua, he was naturally utterly devoted.

Lin Fei returned to Zhaoxia Palace, but Xie Yuzhang was nowhere to be seen.

“Her Highness has left the palace,” a palace maid reported.

Lin Fei asked, “Did she say where she was going and what she intended to do?”

“She said she was going to Yunguo Duke’s residence,” the maid replied.

Lin Fei exhaled in relief. Yunguo Duke’s residence was the maternal family of the late Empress — Xie Yuzhang’s mother’s family. For a matter of this magnitude, it was only natural to inform the Yunguo Duke household.

Since the Princess had gone herself, Lin Fei should remain in the palace and think carefully about what preparations needed to be made for the journey beyond the frontier.

The Princess had grown up in silk and luxury and had never once left Yunjing — the most prosperous place in the realm. One lapse in Lin Fei’s care, and the Princess would suffer. She must think things through thoroughly. She absolutely could not afford a single oversight.

Beyond the frontier sounded far and frightening, but as long as they remained together, never separated — Lin Fei believed there was no obstacle they could not overcome.

What Lin Fei did not know was that Xie Yuzhang had not in fact gone to Yunguo Duke’s residence. She knew perfectly well that if she went there, she could not avoid her grandmother, her aunt by marriage, and a whole crowd of female cousins. So she had found a restaurant outside and sent someone to summon her closest male cousin, Yang Huaishen.

Yang Huaishen held a post in the capital garrison, though like other young men of the nobility he had no real duties to attend to. He spent his days drifting about freely, living a thoroughly leisurely life.

Xie Yuzhang had sent for him at this hour, pulling him away from a gathering of aristocratic young men.

Yang Huaishen arrived and immediately asked, “Ah, what is it, what is it? Why the urgency in seeking me out?”

But Xie Yuzhang’s first question was, “Elder Brother, I asked you to look after the two young General Lis for me. Have you been taking good care of them?”

Yang Huaishen laughed heartily, assuming Xie Yuzhang had developed a maiden’s feelings and had set her heart on the better-looking of the two Li generals — Li Gu — though he chose not to say so. He only laughed and said, “Rest easy. In this city of Yunjing, when your Second Elder Brother puts his mind to something, who can’t I look after properly? I was just sharing drinks with Li Gu and the others just now — and then you had me dragged away.”

Xie Yuzhang saw he did not seem to be making excuses, and gave a nod, then said seriously: “They are both young heroes. Their future achievements will surely be boundless. I hope Elder Brother can treat them as true friends. Don’t be like those worthless young idlers of Yunjing, who are blind to jade and mistake treasure for ordinary stones.”

“Now you’re lecturing your elder brother?” Yang Huaishen found this amusing. “Do you even need to say this? I’m not blind — surely in all these days I can tell what kind of people these two are.”

Xie Yuzhang smiled. “Then tell me, Elder Brother — what kind of people are they?”

“Their origins may be humble, but they are not creatures content to remain in a small pond. Their outlook and thinking are entirely different from ours.” Yang Huaishen sighed, then said, “Baohua, honestly — I’ve been wanting to go to Hexi to see for myself.”

It was only a sigh of longing. As a youngest son of his family, there was no way his family would permit him to go to a frontier post like Hexi. He had said it on a whim, not taking even himself seriously.

Yet his imperial princess cousin fixed him with a clear, steady gaze and nodded. “If Elder Brother wishes to go, he ought to go. If Uncle and Aunt won’t allow it, Elder Brother can slip away in secret. If funds are short, take them from me.”

Yang Huaishen stared in shock, equal parts exasperated and amused. “I was just talking! You’ve got some nerve — you even thought ahead to my travel expenses. Where’s the tea? Where’s the tea? I rushed all the way here, my throat is parched!”

But something nagged at him, just out of reach. When had the pampered and sheltered Princess Baohua ever thought about such mundane things as money and travel funds?

Xie Yuzhang felt a flicker of disappointment.

This elder cousin of hers had grown up buried in luxury. There was nothing he wasn’t accomplished in when it came to pleasure and enjoyment, and he was not without skill in navigating social situations. Yet when it came to truly doing something, he lacked courage and follow-through — he always stopped at talk.

Too long a peace, and people lost their edge.

The tea arrived. Yang Huaishen had been drinking wine before his rushed journey here, and his thirst was fierce. He abandoned any pretense of his usual elegant manner — they were just the two of them, after all — and tilted his head back and drained a cup in one long draft. He was still swallowing the second cup when he heard Xie Yuzhang say, in an unhurried tone, “Elder Brother, today Imperial Father told me that I am to be sent to Mobei Khaganate as a peace bride.”

Yang Huaishen choked on the spot and coughed violently before he recovered, his eyes going wide. “What? How is that possible? You’re — you’re lying to me, aren’t you?”

“The imperial decree is to be issued in three days. Why would I lie to you about something like this, Elder Brother?” Xie Yuzhang said, watching him.

Yang Huaishen’s mind flashed to Princess Anle’s sudden retreat into monastic life, and he slammed the table in fury. “That Noble Consort Chen has gone too far! I’m going home right now to tell Father!” He made to stand.

“Elder Brother, wait!” Xie Yuzhang stopped him. “Before I left the palace, Imperial Father had already sent for Uncle to enter the palace. Uncle must already know by now. This matter is settled. There is no room to reverse it.”

Had it already come this far?

Yang Huaishen dropped heavily back into his seat, seething with frustration. “Then what do we do — are we supposed to just let you — let you…”

“Elder Brother, this is already decided. There’s nothing more to say.” Xie Yuzhang said. “The reason I came to find you today is that I have another matter to entrust to you.”

Yang Huaishen said, in a low voice, “Tell me.”

Xie Yuzhang was silent for a long moment, then slowly said, “I want to… entrust A’Fei to you.”