The Third Princess, Gu Yiqiu, could not be said to be the most favored princess in the Daqing Dynasty, yet she was certainly not among the unfavored either — a fact plain to see from the furnishings of the Mingyue Palace.

Having grown up in a place like the imperial palace and still managed to earn imperial favor, she was naturally no fool. The moment the Imperial Guards dared to storm into her bedchambers, she knew the matter was no small thing. Yet she assured herself she had committed no grave transgression, and so kept her composure.

Even so, when she saw that the one who had come was the leader of the Seven Lodges Division, she visibly flinched — before forcing herself to straighten up with a princess’s dignity and rise to her feet. “May I ask of the Seven Lodges Division, what crime has this princess committed?”

Gu Yanxi sat down casually and raised his hand with a dismissive wave.

Chen Qing, understanding his intent, led everyone out of the room and pulled the door shut behind them.

Seeing this, Gu Yiqiu felt somewhat reassured. She sat back down and waited in silence, though her body remained taut with tension.

“There are remnants of the Chaoli Tribe within the palace. This official has questions — the Third Princess is requested to answer truthfully.”

Gu Yiqiu’s pupils constricted sharply. “You suspect this princess of colluding with the Chaoli Tribe? Do you think me mad?!”

“Not you.” Gu Yanxi offered her this small reassurance. “Think — is there anyone among those around you who has seemed suspicious?”

Gu Yiqiu immediately understood. The Seven Lodges Division did not suspect her, but rather someone in her circle. She dared not be careless, and after a careful moment of thought, shook her head. “This princess is not the sort of mistress who treats her maids as less than human. The people around me rarely change. In the past two years, no new faces should have entered my service. Ru Gu knows this best — she may be summoned for questioning.”

Gu Yanxi gave no indication of his thoughts and asked instead, “That purple sable cloak of yours — where did it come from?”

“It was a birthday gift from my imperial mother on my twelfth birthday. My imperial mother learned from Ru Gu that I suffered from chills badly during my monthly cycle, and she wished to find something to keep me warm. It was also Ru Gu who found the means to obtain it — she is a northerner…”

Gu Yiqiu abruptly cut herself off. She leapt to her feet and bolted toward the door. Chen Qing instinctively moved to stop her, but Gu Yanxi, who had followed them out, gestured for him to stand down, and they followed her together toward the left.

That direction led to the quarters where the palace maids resided. Naturally, the female official had the finest room among them.

Gu Yiqiu kicked the door open. The moment her foot crossed the threshold, she stumbled back, hand clapped over her mouth, pointing into the room.

Chen Qing stepped forward first. Catching sight of the figure hanging from a roof beam, he leapt across the room and brought the person down. After a brief examination, he shook his head toward Shizi.

Gu Yanxi entered the room. On the table sat a wolf crafted entirely from pieces of silver, each piece fitted together with such precision that no one looking at them separately would ever guess at the hidden design within.

At that moment, Qu Qi came striding in from outside. Taking in the scene within the room, his steps faltered briefly before he reported, “Division Leader — the person who tampered with the window has been found. But… the person is dead.”

Qu Qi held out an object with both hands. Unsurprisingly, it was another wolf — a finely crafted wooden wolf.

This was a provocation.

Gu Yanxi turned and strode away, his cape billowing behind him with the sound of rushing wind.

“Wait.” Gu Yiqiu caught up to him. “Ru Gu— Ruyi goes out of the palace every year on the nineteenth of the sixth month. She claims she goes to the riverside to burn paper offerings for her late husband. However many years she has served me, she has kept this custom for however many years.”

“Which riverside?”

“I never asked in detail.” Gu Yiqiu strained to recall anything different about Ruyi on those days. “Each time she came back, there was a faint medicinal fragrance on her. Very faint — you could only catch it the moment she first entered the room.”

“Every time?”

“Almost… actually, perhaps not. I recall there being none when I was small. I do not know when it started.” Gu Yiqiu bit her lip. “May this princess see the Emperor?”

Gu Yanxi was silent.

Gu Yiqiu gave a self-deprecating smile. “Does the Emperor not believe that this has nothing to do with this princess, nor with my imperial mother?”

“This official will investigate thoroughly and will not wrong the Third Princess.”

“This princess trusts the word of the Seven Lodges Division.” Gu Yiqiu dipped into a bow. They all knew that the leader of the Seven Lodges Division was of imperial blood, though none knew his exact age or which branch of the family he belonged to — she offered this bow without the slightest hesitation.

Gu Yanxi accepted it with equanimity and turned to leave.

Once the entire procession had withdrawn, Gu Yiqiu finally let out the breath she had been holding. She leaned against the corridor pillar just to stay upright. How could she have imagined that the woman she had grown up calling “Ru Gu” — who had cared for her every year of her life — had come to harm her?

In the Imperial Study, the Emperor’s tone was so light it seemed to carry no heat at all. “The trail has gone cold?”

“Only the one lead the Third Princess mentioned remains. This subject has already made arrangements, but… the prospects are not great.”

“Ha. So what you’re saying is that the remnants of the Chaoli Tribe came to this palace, made a grand commotion, and then walked away without a scratch? Under the encirclement of the Five Battalions and the Imperial Guards — beneath the very eyes of your Seven Lodges Division — they vanished without a trace?”

“It is this subject’s failure.”

The Emperor, furious, snatched up the tiger-head paperweight as if to hurl it at him, then thought better of it — if it actually hit the man he’d only regret it — and slammed it back down with a crack. “That is not what I want to hear! If even you are useless to me, who in this realm am I supposed to rely on?!”

Gu Yanxi simply endured it in silence. The frustration coiled within him, the anguish, the indignation — there was no one to speak it to.

A’Zhi was not here.

The Emperor rose to his feet, unable to let the fury in his chest subside. When he saw that his nephew was still kneeling, that anger surged all the more. He yanked the man to his feet and thundered, “Does kneeling find them for me? Go and find a way. The next time someone lies dead in this palace, I do not want it to be someone who came to take my life!”

Gu Yanxi bowed and withdrew.

Outside, thunder rumbled across the sky. The entire heavens had darkened — a dense, oppressive black that dragged the heart further down with every passing moment.

“Division Leader.” Chen Qing stepped forward to meet him. “Ruyi was saved by Noble Consort Zheng when Her Ladyship was fifteen years old. From that day forward, Ruyi remained by the Noble Consort’s side. Noble Consort Zheng trusted her absolutely — not only did she bring her into the palace, but after the Third Princess was born, she assigned Ruyi to serve her personally. It would not be an overstatement to say that Ruyi raised the Third Princess with her own hands. Noble Consort Zheng says Ruyi’s hometown was in Bingzhou — she came to the capital fleeing disaster with her parents. The day after her wedding, her husband died in an accident, and his family drove her out on grounds of being an ill omen. The Noble Consort found her when she was attempting to end her own life, and saved her.”

Gu Yanxi lifted his gaze to the sky. Measuring against Yuan Shifang’s age, the Chaoli Tribe’s infiltration had to span at least two generations. A fierce and warlike people had suddenly learned to use their minds — while the princes of the Daqing Dynasty were busy digging their own graves.

“Activate the Eighth Lodge.”

Chen Qing snapped his head up. Few people knew that the Seven Lodges Division harbored an Eighth Lodge. They lived concealed among the common people, and even the other seven lodges did not know their exact numbers nor the full extent of their abilities — only that they were never to be activated except in matters of life and death for the realm.

“Sift through the capital for this official. Even if we cannot capture them all in one sweep, we will make them bleed.” Gu Yanxi’s voice was ice-cold. “This official wants to see how many people they have managed to plant.”

“Yes.”

The Eighth Lodge demonstrated their capabilities with deeds rather than words. By the following afternoon, nine individuals had been delivered into Gu Yanxi’s hands — and among them, shockingly, one had come from within the palace itself.

Yet the trail still went cold. The Third Lodge exhausted every method at their disposal and extracted nothing from these nine or from Tong Yi — not because they refused to speak, but because they did not know. They had only been following orders. Which meant above them there was at least one more person issuing commands — and that person might be right there among them, in plain sight.

That same night, Gu Yanxi slipped quietly out of the city. This time, he was under imperial orders to head north.