Kayla stared at the nullification talisman she had gotten from the Empress Dowager, a cold feeling taking root in her stomach and spreading through her veins.

Did the Empress Dowager choose a nullification talisman because she’d noticed something? Or am I just overthinking this?

You must be overthinking it, Wenyuan comforted her, but his tone betrayed his own unease.

Would your mother have uncovered anything on Consort Chen’s murder as well? Shit, the Empress Dowager sent us here with full knowledge of our situation. She knows that we’re desperate, and she let us loose on this villa. Even if she doesn’t know about our abilities, she might've expected us to use the nullification talisman to gain access to this information.

Kayla paced back and forth across the garden, increasingly agitated as she ran through the situation in her mind.

Maybe I should just give up on this information altogether, it’s not worth the risk. But the Empress Dowager could just nullify the magic herself, why hasn’t she? She has access to nullification talismans and to this villa, she doesn't need me to make the move in her stead. Then what is she playing at? Is she just doing me a favor? Does she know something about my nullification magic? Or is it something else?

“Damn it!” Kayla groaned, leaning her head against a tree trunk.

“Why are you cursing at a tree this early in the morning?”

Kayla turned to nod at Hu Qing as he approached.

“Nothing in particular, I just have a lot to think about.”

Hu Qing raised his eyebrows. “Yeah? I’d bet. The morning market isn’t even open yet and you’re already pacing around in the garden like an abandoned wife. Is everything alright?”

“Remember that plaque you got yesterday?”

“The one the Empress Dowager gave to me? How the hell can I forget? I’d probably lose my head if I ever lost that thing,” Hu Qing replied.

“I wonder if we can find a magic appraiser to take a look at your plaque. And mine as well,” Kayla showed him the dented golden plaque before tucking it back into her robes. “You know far more about these things than I do. Is there any risk in getting someone to look at it?”

Hu Qing grimaced. “Well, I wouldn’t mess around with anything directly from the palace, or even something directly from the household of a noble. There tends to be a lot of magic on those things, including anti-tampering spells and tracking spells, it’s better to just assume the worst and work around it.”

Kayla gave him a curious look. “How?”

“You can cancel out its effects by using more spells to negate its effects. You can’t disable them, since that’s too dangerous, so you just have to mess with the existing spells. There are talismans for these things, but not the kind of talismans you have. You’ll need the kind of stuff they don’t sell on the main streets. I can get them for you, but those might be a little annoying to get caught with in court,” Hu Qing said. “It would raise a lot of questions to be found carrying specialized devices on you. But then again, you’re pretty creative with how you use talismans, so you could probably make do with a combination of a few normal ones.”

So it's not all that different from modern surveillance and counter-surveillance measures.

“Interesting, I might need some ideas on that later,” Kayla muttered. “I have a lot of questions about the plaque right now, but that will also have to wait. Right now, my priority is accessing the things my mother left here.”

“Can you disable the magic?” Hu Qing asked.

Kayla hesitated for a moment. “I’ll need your help with those,” she replied, avoiding his question. “The magical devices on the third floor, most of them activate and deactivate manually, right?”

“From the looks of it, yes. But I can’t say for certain until we’ve tried it out,” Hu Qing said.

“Is it possible to create enough interference that a high-tier magic user wouldn’t be able to sense which spells are being deactivated?”

Hu Qing gave her a gleeful smile. “I see what you’re trying to do now, you don’t want him to be able to tell how much magic is in use at any given moment, right? It can definitely be done, in fact, I’m dying to try it.”

“It might be a bit too obvious,” Kayla said.

“Well, that’s true,” Hu Qing said. “But he still can’t prove anything. If anyone asks, you would just be messing around.”

“The Empress Dowager will be the one asking,” Kayla replied.

“Oh, ok, maybe not the best idea then,” Hu Qing muttered. “But are you sure he’s a high-tier magic user to begin with? I can’t sense anything from him, and I’m trained to sense people like that.”

“Maybe I’m being a bit paranoid, but it’s not just him I’m worried about. The plaques have high-tier magic on them, and I have no idea what it does. What if it can sense these things?” Kayla asked.

It made her feel bone-grinding frustration that made her want to scratch right through her skin. She had something game-changing dangled in front of her face but was unable to grab hold of it without invoking serious and unknown consequences.

Didn’t you say this was too dangerous to use? Is it really necessary to take any more risks? Wenyuan asked fearfully.

I’m also considering that, Kayla admitted. But I could be letting go of something that could save my life. If all else fails, I’ll still have a card to play, whether it’s against the Grand Duke, Xianchun, or any other opponent.

But the second we use it, we’ll essentially be standing in direct opposition to most of the court!

I never said I had to use the information to attack them–rather, I can use it to force their hand. Mutually assured destruction works way better than you’d probably expect, they’d scramble to save me with everything they have if they know they’ll also go down if I die.

Then grandmother and uncle would–

Yes, they’d be furious. We’d essentially be switching sides and betraying them. That’s why this is the last resort and one that I’m not sure I’d want to use even if I could. But if I ever had to, it would be because they’ve abandoned me to my fate.

“Minister, did you hear me?” Hu Qing’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Kayla looked up with a start.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I was saying that even if has high-tier magic, your idea would still work,” Hu Qing said. “Are you alright though? You look more stressed than yesterday, I didn’t know that was even possible.”

Kayla sighed, rubbing at her temples. “I’m fine, I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

“If you’re not sure about doing it, why not eat breakfast first? You’ll probably feel better once you have some food in you,” Hu Qing pointed out. “And that way Sir Yang won’t have an excuse to keep running up and down to ask if you want to eat.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Kayla admitted. She let Hu Qing herd her back into the villa, where Sir Yang had somehow prepared an entire meal already. Kayla was almost certain he had been sleeping when she’d gotten up, but she marked it up to the eunuch’s years of experience serving the Empress Dowager.

“Minister, do you have any plans today? I’d be happy to make any necessary preparations,” Sir Yang asked as Kayla finished her meal.

Kayla hesitated for a moment. “Does Sir Yang have any recommendations?”

“The garden is lovely at this time of the year, but it will probably rain later in the day,” Sir Yang said unhelpfully.

“I see, if that’s the case, then I’ll just take it easy,” Kayla replied.

So the Empress Dowager didn’t have anything planned for me, or surely she would've had Sir Yang drop a hint. Does that mean she really just wanted me to stay safely out of the way for the investigation? Then did she really not suspect anything about her daughter’s books? If Hu Qing could notice so easily, surely one of the competent people at the Empress Dowager’s side would’ve noticed already. But in the original timeline, she never used any of this until her death, and the Emperor also didn’t seem to know anything. What the hell is this situation?

Kayla downed her cup of tea, sinking back into deliberation.

It was also possible that the Empress Dowager already knew of the Imperial Princess’ findings, but couldn’t make a move for some reason and was outsourcing it to Kayla instead.

But surely she would’ve at least given us a hint, Wenyuan said uneasily. Perhaps we’d be better off just leaving this alone.

Kayla watched Sir Yang as he moved about, clearing up the dishes with fluid and efficient movements.

No. I have to take this chance. It’s better to handle a trap where we have some sense of the situation and a certain degree of leverage rather than walk unprepared into traps we can’t anticipate. We’ve survived this long by taking every opportunity we had and creating opportunities where we couldn’t find one, we can't let this chance slip past us.

She got up and left the room, heading into the garden at a leisure pace. Hu Qing joined her shortly, still munching on one of the pastries he’d tucked away into a handkerchief.

“So what now, Minister?” He asked around a mouthful of red bean paste.

“The thing we discussed before, I’ll be needing your help,” Kayla said.

“You have a way to deactivate the magic on the records?” Hu Qing asked.

“Well, you’re certain to find out anyways, I might as well tell you straight,” Kayla sighed. “I can use nullification magic.”

“Whoa,” Hu Qing said in alarm. “That’s–okay, on second thought, I think you should maybe stop for a bit. You do realize that your grandmother will notice right away that it was you, right? It’s a bit too obvious, shouldn’t we at least fake a break-in or something?”

“I’m not sure if my grandmother will know,” Kayla admitted.

“How on earth could she not know? You’re a nullification mage and you go to a place where there was high-tier magic, and when you leave, the magic is gone. Of course she’ll know!”

“I can make it a temporary nullification.”

Hu Qing stared at her in disbelief. “What? How?! If you were in the same trade as me, I’d strangle you out of jealousy! That’s just way too convenient!”

“And also, I’m not sure my grandmother knows about my abilities,” Kayla added on, ignoring Hu Qing’s outrage. “I’ve tried to keep it under wraps, so I really haven’t confirmed it.”

Hu Qing frowned. “Is that even possible? No matter what, you wouldn’t have been able to control it as a child, even if your mother was careful, the Empress Dowager definitely would’ve figured it out at some point.”

Kayla winced. “I actually didn’t have this ability until very recently, I don’t even know how it happened. It just ended up like this.”

Hu Qing mulled it over for a bit with a thoughtful frown. “How long ago?”

“About three months.”

Hu Qing ate the rest of the pastry that was starting to crumble in his hand with a look on his face that all but screamed what-the-fuck-did-I-get-myself-into. Kayla couldn’t blame him. He had chosen to throw his lot in with a stressed politician that he found amusingly pitiful, not get tangled up with supernatural occurrences and the Empress Dowager’s mind games.

“As expected, I should probably just give up on it, right?” Kayla said uneasily. “If she doesn’t already know, the last thing I want to do is tip her off.”

Hu Qing shook his head. “It’s hard to say. You’re paranoid enough that I doubt she would’ve easily caught on if you were actively trying to hide it. If you think it’s worth the risk, then it should be fine.”

“I also feel like she shouldn’t know, but right before the Third Prince returned to the capital, the Empress Dowager gave each of the princes a nullification talisman, and she gave me one as well. I didn’t think anything of it for a while, but now I can’t help but start worrying,” Kayla admitted. “But maybe I’m just overthinking it.”

Hu Qing frowned. “Are the records worth the risk?”

Kayla nodded. “It contains information that could save my life.”

Hu Qing gave her a look of utter exasperation.

“Then you should do it. How can anything be more important than survival? If there are consequences, you can deal with them as they come. So long as the green mountain remains, there will be no shortage of firewood. You won’t even have a chance if you’re already dead,” Hu Qing shot back. “Aren’t you in enough danger right now to warrant this risk?”

Kayla’s eyes lit up.

“Hu Qing, your words are right on the spot! You’re absolutely right, what could be more important than survival? I’m worried about making a move even when my own life is at risk, there must be something wrong with my brain.”

She shook her head, glancing at the villa sharply. “There are limitations for everything I do in court, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proactive elsewhere.”

“It’s good you’ve straightened out your priorities,” Hu Qing remarked. “Does that mean I get to do whatever I want with the magical devices?”

Kayla nodded. She turned on her heel and headed back towards the villa with Hu Qing in tow.

“Minister,” Sir Yang greeted her at the entrance.

“Sir Yang, I want to spend some time upstairs. Unless there’s an emergency, please don’t disturb me for a while. It’s been some time since I’ve last had a chance to feel my mother’s presence like this, I’d like to make the most of it,” Kayla said.

Sir Yang didn’t give any reaction, bowing his head respectfully. “As you wish, Minister. Please feel free to call me if there’s anything you need.”

Kayla didn’t waste any time heading up to the third floor.

“Alright, give me a few minutes before you do anything,” Hu Qing said. He began moving through the rooms, gathering all the magical devices and records he could find.

“Let me help,” Kayla said.

“No, just stay where you are. I know what I’m doing,” Hu Qing said. “This way I’ll know exactly where to put them back to later.”

Kayla watched as Hu Qing quickly swept through the third floor, covering a tabletop in magical devices. He sorted through them, recognizing their function by a glance.

“These should do it,” Hu Qing said with satisfaction, gesturing at the ones he’d chosen. “They won’t cause any strange effects, and they’re easy to turn on and off. I’m going to turn all of them on and wait a few minutes, and then I’ll start turning them on and off at random. Don’t do anything for now, I’ll let you know when you can start.”

“Sure, I trust you know what you’re doing,” Kayla replied.

“It’s only natural. In my line of work, you need to know how to cover up your tracks,” Hu Qing said cheerfully as he turned on the magical devices. After a few moments, he gave Kayla a nod before starting in on the devices. His deft movements reminded Kayla of street food vendors who always seemed to be doing five different things at once.

Kayla tuned out the manic fluctuation of magic in the room, focusing on the record books. The magic on a book pulled away effortlessly, just like it had the night before.

Thank god it still works, I’d be screwed if I completely destroyed the spell.

She pulled out brush and paper from her robes, having gotten into the habit of carrying them around.

Alright, let’s do this the usual way. Kayla had plenty of experience in parsing important information and translating it into English from her time investigating the archives in the Ministry of Justice. She could only hope that one day would be enough to get through the intel gathered by the Imperial Princess.

Hu Qing began humming under his breath as he continued messing with the magical devices, varying the frequency at random. It was a jarring juxtaposition to the words on the paper before her, only serving to increase the horror of what Kayla was looking at now. Kayla’s blood ran cold as she read through the pages.

Shit, just how much murkier can the waters get? Kayla thought grimly to herself. Working in silence, she buried herself in the pages, determined to get as much information as she could.

---

Kayla buried her head in her hands, completely exhausted after hours of going through books and books of disturbing information. Her hands shook a little from writing as fast as she could, but she’d somehow managed to pull through. The sun was setting now, its blood-red rays drenching the pages of notes scattered across the table and floor around her. She slowly released the hold of her nullification magic on the spells, which slipped back into place with a strange viscosity.

“You can stop now,” Kayla said to Hu Qing, who had been tirelessly messing with the magic devices since morning, adding and removing ones from the batch at random intervals to create what Kayla could only assume was the magical equivalent of signal interference.

“I’ll keep going a little longer, that’s standard practice,” Hu Qing replied. “It’s not a good idea to let someone know exactly when you’ve started or stopped.”

“Got it,” Kayla replied wearily. She gathered up her notes, tucking them into her robes before dropping her head onto the table.

I’m in way over my head, Kayla realized. The information exceeded her expectations completely. The Imperial Princess’ suspicion of her father-in-law had been proven true by books upon books of evidence. It didn’t include Consort Chen’s murder, but that now looked to be like only a drop of water in the ocean.

From what the Imperial Princess’ investigations laid out, the Grand Duke had kept himself busy after his son’s death–in fact, that was when he’d started on his bullshit.

He had gained enough power by helping Emperor Gaozong ascend to the throne, by framing members of the Crown Prince's faction for the crimes of members of Emperor Gaozong’s faction, resulting in the deposing of the Crown Prince and the dismantling of the Court of Judicial Review. It wasn’t as though the crown prince’s faction had been composed of saints, but they had been caught completely off-guard when pinned with crimes they had no idea about, versus their own misdeeds, which they were actually prepared to deal with. The Grand Duke didn’t even need to falsify evidence from scratch, just transplant it properly. Despite the limitations of the Imperial Princess’ findings, the information was potent enough to completely discredit Emperor Gaozong.

It was also enough to keep the Grand Duke in a powerful position while his brother-in-law remembered his contributions, which carried over to the previous Emperor as well. But after the death of the Grand Duke’s son and rightful heir, the Grand Duke’s power came under threat. Zhou Kangyu wasn't actually the Grand Duke's son but the son of the Grand Duke’s cousin, and now the son-in-law of an Emperor. If Zhou Kangyu was able to gain his father-in-law’s favor like how the Grand Duke had ingratiated himself to his brother-in-law, even the Grand Duke’s place on the family tree could come under threat.

The Grand Duke was already the Central Secretariat by then, and in an excellent position to grab more power for himself by combining force and favors. He committed a large number of crimes to expand his power base and had been cunning enough to always involve more than two officials in every given move, managing to involve all of the core members in his faction to ensure that everyone’s fates were tied together.

Kayla’s brain was almost numb with shock after mentally screaming What the fuck and Why the fuck on end for hours.

How the Imperial Princess had managed to gather all this information without anyone being the wiser, Kayla had no idea. It encompassed the Grand Duke’s involvement in the deposing of Empress Gongsun, the exile of the First and Second Prince, the death of the Second Prince’s father-in-law, the extermination of the Xiang family, the extermination of several notable local clans in the provinces, and even his hand in the death of Zhou Kangyu.

Beyond that, the information implicated over forty officials who were third-rank or higher, dozens more lower-ranking officials, and over two hundred military and civil officials at the local level. From Kayla’s knowledge of the judicial system, at least five separate officials would qualify for the punishment of clan extermination to the ninth degree, and over twenty more would qualify for the execution of their family to the third degree and the exile of their clan to the ninth degree, and almost everyone else who didn’t qualify for those would still be sentenced to execution. The death toll was certain to number into the thousands, and the execution square would be flooded with blood.

She patted at the messy notes in her robes apprehensively. It was a blessing that she was the only one who could read English, especially when she was carrying something that could decide the fates of so many people.

But seriously, what the fuck?! What does the Grand Duke think this is, Game of Thrones? Why the hell did he have to go and kill so many people?! His stakes aren’t even that high! He would’ve still been powerful even if he’d just gone and retired!

The Imperial Princess’ investigation had been set off by the death of Zhao Kangyu. The circumstances were suspicious enough even without the evidence the Imperial Princess had managed to find, but it had been left alone due to political considerations. The Imperial Princess had been the only one to keep digging into her husband’s death.

Zhao Kangyu had patiently and responsibly stayed at home with his wife and child during the epidemic in the capital eighteen years ago and had little to no chance of getting infected under the watchful eye of the Imperial Princess. But somehow, he had abruptly gotten ill and died within the span of three days, even while having access to Imperial Healers thanks to his status as the husband of the Imperial Princess. At the young age of twenty-four, Zhao Kangyu had become one of the only nobles to die during the entire span of the epidemic.

The Imperial Princess, who was suddenly thrust into widowhood at the age of twenty-three, took matters into her own hands. She had managed to scrounge up evidence proving that the Grand Duke had purposefully infected his own nephew and then bribed the Imperial Healers into deliberate incompetence. But it was hardly the first time the Grand Duke had done such a thing, so evidence of one case inevitably dragged out the threads of another one, and eventually, the Imperial Princess gathered enough ammunition to singlehandedly end the Zhao line. More likely than not, she had withheld all this information for Wenyuan’s sake.

This confirms that the Empress Dowager wouldn’t have had access, not if the princess wanted to save Wenyuan's life, Kayla grimly thought to herself. The Imperial Princess probably understands her mother best, she knows that the Empress Dowager is first and foremost a politician, and politicians are pitiless creatures.

Kayla stared blankly at the books before her, amazed at the dedication of the Imperial Princess. Even as the princess had been left a widow in a hostile household, she’d somehow managed to get all this done rather than succumbing to helplessness and despair.

She got up and started putting the books back into their original places, leaving the top shelves to Hu Qing, who was several inches taller and had longer arms.

“Alright, I’m all done now. But that was insane, how the hell could you write so fast for hours on end?” Hu Qing asked. Kayla let out a sigh.

“Practice makes perfect, ninety percent of my job is doing paperwork, the rest is wrangling with the court,” she said wearily.

“I would not want to be in your place,” Hu Qing replied. “But I would want your nullification magic, do you know how easy it would be to get into places?”

Kayla shook her head, cracking a smile. “I don’t even want to imagine how scary that would be. Let’s get some rest for now, you must be tired as well.”

“Not really, but I’ll never say no to lazing around. I am hungry though," Hu Qing said breezily.

Kayla ventured down from the third floor and headed back into the garden, deep in thought as she paced under the trees.

This could save my life, but it could also ruin me. Just why the hell did that old bastard have to get involved in so much bullshit? We seriously would’ve all been better off if he’d had a heart attack twenty years ago! I need help with how to deal with this, this is too much for me to handle alone.

We can’t trust Qu Boyong anymore, Wenyuan warned her.

That’s for sure, I don’t know what he’s playing at, but he can’t be allowed to know anything about all this. Hu Qing doesn’t really need to know the details until they become relevant, he already said he's not interested in politics. But Chen Caichun and Sun Ruhui should be looped in. Their fates are tied to mine, they can’t easily betray me, especially once they’re complicit in this.

Kayla’s greatest fear was that the Empress Dowager would take interest and nullify the spells if she noticed Kayla’s actions. If only there was a way to prevent someone else from nullifying the protections, or a way to make fake copies with forged information inside.

But that was out of her hands, and even if the Empress Dowager gained access somehow, she wouldn’t be able to act against all the officials implicated all at once without throwing the court into complete turmoil–that still gave Kayla plenty of room for maneuver. Kayla actually had something concrete in her hands now, something that gave her the power to barter for her life without relying on the pity or protection of the palace.

Even as anxiety bubbled in her chest over the implications of the Imperial Princess’ findings, Kayla couldn’t help but feel more sure of herself than she had in months.

---

Cultural Notes

弃妇/Abandoned wife: A common trope in Ancient Chinese literature, usually of a woman who was abandoned or left behind by her husband, whether because he's found himself a younger, prettier woman, or because he's either traveling, in the army, serving as an official, trying to become an official or any other number of reasons (though it's usually those four). One of the most common representations of an abandoned wife is to awaken in the middle of the night or near dawn, feeling lost and alone, and to pace forlornly while lamenting her fate or separation from her husband. For example, a poem writes of an abandoned wife "反侧不能寐，逍遥于前庭/I toss and turn but cannot sleep, and pace listlessly in the courtyard". An interesting note here, the relationship between ruler and subject is often compared to both the relationship between father and son and that of husband and wife. As such, most of the "abandoned wife" poems were written by men who were purposefully or subconsciously symbolizing their own professional relationship with the Emperor, especially if the Emperor increasingly ignores or refuses their advice, or if they were demoted/sent to the provinces.

留得青山在，不怕没柴烧/If the green mountains remain, there's no fear of not having firewood: An Ancient Chinese proverb, meaning that if you manage to survive, you will always have more opportunities in the future.

醍醐灌顶/To pour cream over your head: An Ancient Chinese proverb that means someone's words are right on the spot/have cleared your mind. 醍醐 is a cream that formed on top of milk products that was highly nutritious and believed to have medicinal qualities, it was believed that pouring it over your head would cool and reinvigorate your mind.

诛九族/Extermination of your clan to the ninth degree: This includes being the four families of the culprit's father (His father's sister's family, his sister's family, his daughter's family, his own family), three families of the mother (maternal grandparents' families, grandmother's maternal family, and mother's sister's family), as well as the two families of the wife (wife's maternal family, mother-in-law's maternal family). This could easily rack up a three-digit body count but wasn't always carried out to its full extent. An alternative is an exile of the clan to the ninth degree, which would drastically reduce the range of executions, but the rest of the family would be sent to remote provinces with their rights stripped away, being no better than slaves or indentured servants. Alternatively, the women of the clan might be forced to become prostitutes, making them second-class citizens with a binding legal status.

瘟疫/Epidemic: Epidemics and plagues were not uncommon in Ancient China, and many measures were developed to control them, including quarantine, various medicinal practices, etc.

Imperial Doctors/御医: Doctors who directly served the palace, but may be dispatched for members of the Imperial family who do not live in the palace. They tend to be the cream of the crop and were held in high esteem.