The Imperial Study was as still as death.

The Emperor had expected this oppressive silence to press some trace of fear out of that audacious woman — but as the moments slipped past, the fearlessness on her face did not diminish even slightly.

She truly was not afraid of being punished. Not once she had extracted the promise that the Hua Family would be spared.

The Emperor broke the silence. “Are you not afraid that after you die, I will simply choose not to honor my promise?”

“I do not trust you. What I trust is the sovereign that the Hua Family has served with devotion, generation after generation.”

The Emperor paused, then burst into laughter. “Even at this point, you are still reaching for every possible hope for the Hua Family. Hua Zhi, your weakness is far too obvious. Get a hold on the Hua Family, and you get a hold on you. If you had only been a little more hardhearted, it would never have come to this.”

“Your Majesty, you are hardhearted enough — yet beyond Yanxi, who do you have? I am not hardhearted enough — yet I have an entire Hua Family. If I were to die here today, they would weep for me. They would remember me for the rest of their lives. And you? What of you?”

Hua Zhi’s smile carried something almost cruel, yet something deeply gratified at the same time. She detested this Emperor — this man who had shattered the peace of her life. She detested how he drove Yanxi like an ox and a horse, leaving him scarce a handful of free days in a full year. Detested his endless suspicions of one person and then another, the way a single thought from him could decide a life. Ordinarily she had to swallow it all down, bow her head, and act the part of a meek subject — but today she was going to die anyway, so why should she hold back any longer?

The Emperor’s expression darkened. “You need not say all this to anger me. I am more aware of it than you are.”

“And yet you are angry all the same — because you know full well that what I’ve said is the truth.”

The Emperor fixed her with an icy stare. Hua Zhi met it without flinching, without yielding. She was not afraid! Having come this far, she was not afraid!

In the midst of their standoff, Shadow Guard One slipped soundlessly into the room and presented several letters to the Emperor.

They were ordinary-looking envelopes, yet Hua Zhi recognized them instantly. Those were the letters she had left behind.

Her body swayed slightly. She rapidly cast her mind back over what she had written in each one. It was all right — yes, it should be fine. When she had written them, she had never written them as private secrets. She had known all along how insecure such letters could be. She had said nothing in any of them that could not be shown to the world.

The Emperor glanced at her, then deliberately and unhurriedly selected the one marked To Grandfather and tore it open. He shook out the letter and read aloud: “Grandfather, as these words reach you, so too does my face. You have indulged me and guided me for more than a decade, and with everything this decade of teaching has given me, I have kept the Hua Family safe. What we receive and what we relinquish is, in the end, all of heaven’s design. I have no regrets, and you need not grieve for me.”

“You and your grandfather are close indeed,” the Emperor remarked.

“We are. Something you have perhaps not had occasion to experience yourself.”

The Emperor ignored this, and picked up the one addressed To Father, opening it. “Father, as these words reach you, so too does my face. It must have been no small thing — a mind full of sages’ teachings, and yet you tolerated your daughter’s act of pledging her own heart without permission. And thank you for stepping before a blade on my behalf, without a thought for your own safety. May we be father and daughter again in the next life. Please take good care of Mother. Your daughter kowtows and bids you farewell.”

The Emperor reached for the third letter. On the envelope was written To Bailin. He opened it. “Bailin, your elder sister entrusts the family’s businesses into your hands. As long as you hold on to them, the Hua Family will never fall into destitution. The businesses on Green Moss Lane and Oriole Cloud Lane are this elder sister’s own. The fruit preserve enterprise has contributions from all branches of the family — the exact shares are recorded in detail, and you may ask Nian Qiu to retrieve the records for you. The preserve business requires little interference from you; sell to Bai Mingxia at the established prices. The vegetarian restaurant, the mushroom trade, and the dried seafood trade are all partnerships — I have made detailed records for each, and profits are to be divided by share twice a year. Take thirty percent of the profits from the soap business and no more. In truth, all of these enterprises require little management from you. Your elder sister is leaving Ying Chun and the others with you. Put them to good use, and treat them well. The promises your elder sister made are ones you must honor in her place. Every daughter who marries out of the Hua Family — you must do all in your power to protect her. If Shao Yao is still willing to stay in contact, treat her as an elder sister. Bailin — may you grow into a great tree that reaches to the heavens, feet planted in the earth, arms lifting the sky. Your elder sister will be watching.”

The Emperor opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it again without a word. He picked up the next letter, and at the sight of To Xiao Liu written on the envelope, he paused — and when he read the contents, he was even more taken aback.

“Why did you leave Xiao Liu the words ‘may this age be one of peace’? Do you think well of him?”

Hua Zhi closed her eyes and said nothing more.

The Emperor’s smile was cold. “Do you believe me if I told you I could have Xiao Liu meet with an accident in Xiangyang right now?”

“I believe you. Who could match you for ruthlessness?” Hua Zhi opened her eyes, her expression utterly tranquil — as though Yanxi had never mentioned any of those plans to her. “Xiao Liu is a prince. Even if he receives little favor and is easily discarded by his own father, he remains of the imperial bloodline. His birth alone means he is capable of accomplishing things beyond the reach of ordinary people. Great Qing belongs to the Gu Family’s Great Qing. What is wrong with a prince I myself have taught offering a prayer for peace and prosperity? “

“Sophistry!”

“That is my answer.”

The Emperor gave a dismissive sound and, after a moment’s hesitation, opened the final letter. He had imagined many possible things it might contain — but this, of all things, he had not anticipated. It was so simple, and yet so full of feeling.

Knowing you, no regrets.

Even knowing that knowing him had brought catastrophe down upon her, she had no regrets. This was her stance on what lay between them — so clear and unguarded that she did not even think to conceal it.

In that moment, the Emperor understood why Yanxi had come to love her. When a person has lived in darkness long enough, and suddenly glimpses a light — even knowing it is a flame that could consume him, he cannot help but throw himself toward it. Hua Zhi was that flame. And Yanxi was that lonely traveler, who had been walking alone for far too long.

Lonely. Unless one were a fool, who was not lonely? The Emperor gave a quiet, self-aware laugh. He tossed the letter onto the imperial desk, leaned back, and sank deep into the chair. “I’ve heard it was your idea — flooding Lingzhou to resolve the waterlogging, and then cutting a new canal through there?”

Hua Zhi blinked. Was there something off about this? Was the Emperor trying to implicate someone? Yanxi?

Her nerves had been stretched taut for so long, and she had spent a great deal of energy on the prolonged kneeling. Her body was reaching its limit. Her mind was no longer quick enough to turn things over, and she dared not answer rashly, terrified that a single wrong word might bring trouble down upon Yanxi.

The Emperor looked at her in this state, and suddenly felt a flash of envy for Yanxi. To be born into the imperial family meant having everything, acquiring anything with ease — yet sincerity was the one thing impossible to find. His rear palace was full of countless beauties, yet not one of them had come to his side simply because of him as a person. Compared to this, Yanxi was far too fortunate.

Hua Zhi’s change in manner had been unmistakable. From the moment she arrived, she had come with the intent to plead guilty and to seek whatever slim hope for survival she could find. It was only after he suggested she enter the palace as a consort that she had cut off her own path of retreat — not for her own sake, but for Yanxi’s. She resented the injustice done to Yanxi, she burned with indignation on his behalf, and she was willing to lay down her life for a man who had not yet given her any formal status. If they were ever to marry, what lengths would she go to in order to shield him?

A temperament this forceful might invite friction in other households, but for Yanxi — who had lost everything, who no longer had a home to speak of — it held an irresistible pull. Yet when the Emperor considered how the nephew who had never hidden anything from him had practiced this kind of surface compliance while covertly acting against his wishes, all for the sake of this woman, he still could not bring himself to let Hua Zhi off so easily.