Hongyue stood noiselessly, her eyes fixated on the bodies of the fallen. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she hastily stepped forward to the carriage where it stood in the middle of the mess. With one hand, she forcefully snapped the weaponry in her hand back into a bracelet and stopped at the mangled carriage. Her eyes settled on the tiny black snake, which was still quietly curled up on the wooden seat, its tail flickering about restlessly.

Sensing her nearby, the snake lifted its little head up and flicked its tongue out at her in greeting. Hongyue didn't say a word and studied its dull white eyes. With her right hand, she gingerly reached out her fingers and stroked the top of its forehead. Sliding her left hand under the body of the snake, she scooped it up and pressed it close to her chest. With a sigh, Hongyue turned back to face the corpses of her assassins, and her eyebrows wrinkled in thought.

Not one of the attackers used magic.

They were 'normals.'

Making her way toward the tree where the head eunuch laid dead, Hongyue paused for a moment before she bent down. Carefully inspecting the body, she patted the dark blue robes only to find nothing concealed within his garments. Sighing, the eldest miss stood back up, her eyes dark.

The royal edict she had was not a fake.

The proclamation was inscribed clearly on a thick blend of both parchment and fabric. The edges were embroidered with gold threads, and the red stamp on the end of the decree was the correct marking of the emperor, which was the same as she saw on the gold piece the general had given away to the servant who was assigned to kill her. However, other than the dagger, the head eunuch had to kill her, there was nothing else on his body, not even the needle used to transfer poison into her body. Hongyue frowned, her eyes rotating around the disordered scene of corpses. In fact, not one assailant had anything on their body to indicate who they were or where they came from other than conventional weapons used to attack her.

The assailants were the same servants that carried her carriage. All attendants appeared to be sent from the palace after all their clothes were not out of place. If there was something wrong, the guards at the front entrance would have tried to stop the intruders in order to protect the general.

Jiayi?

No, it didn't seem like it.

However, after fighting with them, Hongyue could conclude they were far too skilled to be mere servants. Turning her attention back to the head eunuch, Hongyue flipped over his hands. Running along the edges, the web of his thumbs and forefingers were thick calluses, the color was slightly yellowish due to the growth of dead skin.

She frowned and looked down at her hand, where the tiny wound remained on her skin. The needle attack he executed on her was far too skilled. If not for her being on guard, she might not have noticed the small pain from the puncture. The speed of handing over the proclamation and injuring her was well-planned, which could only mean someone was extra careful to hide all their tracks.

—but it wasn't the emperor.

This was clear.

Hongyue slid the written edict out of her sleeves and smoothly moved her hands over the printed words. As the ruler, the emperor must write new proclamations daily and evaluate further adjustments sent by the ministers of his court. Having numerous years to practice his penmanship, the strokes would be short and rough due to the volume of work.

The emperor would have to work the brush to the ink and back on the fabric, and it was likely that he would print many characters on a single dip of ink due to the lack of time. This would result in small empty patches and slightly fading strokes.

However, on the edict, the words were clearly calligraphed, and the ink was very opaque as if someone took the time to write the characters. The strokes appeared thin at some points; this meant that the hand holding the brush was both steady and light. It was similar to a hand that belonged to someone who had the extravagance of time to relax and slowly letter out their thoughts.

Hongyue frowned and rolled up the scroll. Holding it close to her nose, she gave a sniff —there was a light fragrance, but it was still faintly there.

— a female.

Turning her head back to the carriage seat where the half-buried dagger stood, Hongyue clicked her tongue. Making her way back to where the weapon was embedded in the wooden board of the carriage, Hongyue adjusted her arm and wrapped the body of the little snake around her left arm. The snake didn't protest as it curled around her warm limb tightly with its head awfully still.

Stretching out her hand in a swift, smooth movement, Hongyue uprooted out the weapon and gazed at the strange markings on the side of the blade.

Suddenly, vibrations of rushing footsteps hurried in her direction, and Hongyue glanced up.

Her eyes met with the eyes of a middle-aged man dressed in yellow and gold.

The emperor.