The atmosphere in the grand hall immediately transformed, tension and uncertainty hanging thick in the air. Although no one dared breathe a word, all eyes were fixed upon the young queen, still sprawled on the ground before the dais. She hurriedly pulled her sleeves back down, then tucked her arms close to her chest.

"Situ Zhiren," Crown Prince Ru-quan bellowed, "what is the meaning of this? What did you do to her!"

Situ Zhiren gestured for a maidservant to help Hong Xuan back up to her feet. His eyes narrowed, though Zhenghuan thought he could detect the slightest hint of glee in them. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. Xuan-er had an accidental fall a few days ago, but it's nothing serious. The imperial physicians have taken a look and assured me that she will recover very soon."

"A fall? Do you take me for a fool?" Ru-quan marched over to Hong Xuan and took hold of her arm, pushing up the sleeve to reveal the bruises once more. "These are not injuries caused by a mere fall!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Situ Zhiren replied coolly.

"I'm calling you a—"

"Your Highness," Zhenghuan intervened, cutting off Ru-quan before he could say anything irreparable, "we should not be too hasty. The king has no reason to lie to us. Should we not allow the queen to return to her quarters first, considering she's not feeling well?"

The crown prince hadn't noticed, but Zhenghuan had clearly seen something shiny fly out from between Situ Zhiren's fingers just moments before the queen tumbled down the stairs of the dais. That, coupled with the calm and composed behaviour that the new Hua king was demonstrating, suggested that this entire scene had been staged, likely with the intention of angering Ru-quan.

Ru-quan was here as Duan's representative, so anything he said or did would reflect upon their kingdom. If the crown prince dared step a single toe out of line, that would give Situ Zhiren a legitimate excuse to start a war.

The crown prince opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again. The expression in his eyes flickered, and Zhenghuan knew that Ru-quan had understood his message. Ru-quan let go of Hong Xuan's arm.

"Of course," he said tersely. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, I was only worried for Xuan-er's well-being. She is a precious daughter of our kingdom and I hate to see her suffer the slightest bit of harm while she is here."

Situ Zhiren smiled. "No offence taken," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Come, let us continue with the banquet. The night is still young." At his signal, the servants quickly ushered the queen out of the hall, and the festivities resumed, albeit on a more muted note after the altercation.

Returning to his seat, the crown prince picked up his goblet and swallowed a big gulp of wine, still wearing a stormy expression upon his gaunt face. "What is Situ Zhiren playing at?" he hissed under his breath, only loud enough for Zhenghuan to hear. "Does he think that we're pushovers?"

"Calm, Your Highness. Situ Zhiren is trying to anger us into making an ill-considered response. We must not fall for his trap."

"You think I don't know that? But we can't just sit here and do nothing. Everyone in this hall has seen what's happened to Xuan-er, even the Shon ambassadors! If we pretend that nothing's happened, then that's tantamount to admitting that we're afraid of Situ Zhiren!"

Taking the princess away was not a solution, neither was leaving her here. Both options would not bode well for Duan, and Situ Zhiren knew that.

"There might be something that we can do."

#

The coronation of Hua's new king went on without a hitch—but there was no coronation for a new queen. Immediately after the welcome banquet for the coronation guests, the queen-designate, Princess Hong Xuan of Duan, took seriously ill with what the imperial physicians diagnosed as a bad case of the common cold, rendering her bed-bound and impossible for her to participate in the coronation ceremony. Then, a mere two days after the king's coronation, Hong Xuan succumbed to her illness and passed away in the presence of her husband, King Situ Zhiren, and her half-brother, Crown Prince Ru-quan of Duan.

"I suppose it's real what they say about you," Ru-quan remarked, "that you have a heart made of stone."

Zhenghuan did not reply, simply continuing to make his way toward the carriages that were waiting ahead. The Duan entourage was preparing to leave the Hua palace to return home, following the princess's funeral rites. Besides the row of carriages belonging to Duan, there was a second row nearby, with the flags of Shon flying proudly.

"But I must commend you for coming up with this idea. Did you not see how upset Situ Zhiren was?" The crown prince snorted. "He thinks he can fool everyone into thinking that he's upset because his wife has passed away, when we all know it's really because his plan to instigate a war has completely fallen through with Xuan-er's death. He's lost a very important chess piece and gotten nothing out of it."

"Your Highness, it would be best to keep up with appearances, at least until we leave the Hua palace," Zhenghuan replied drily. The crown prince had never been particularly close to Princess Xuan, but to be displaying such blatant glee in the aftermath of his sister's passing was still unbecoming.

The crown prince shot him a look of disdain, then picked up his pace and continued striding forward.

Zhenghuan paused and stepped to the side, observing the entourage of stewards and maidservants as they passed him by, bearing the dozens of boxes of gifts that Situ Zhiren had bestowed upon them, as a form of consolation for the princess's unfortunate demise. At the very end of the line, a slight figure walked with her head bowed, the slightest tremble in her step as she hurried along with others. When she came up alongside him, Zhenghuan depressed his voice and said, "Don't be afraid. Fear will make you more conspicuous."

The girl gave a slight nod, then carried on walking.

To everyone else, there would be nothing worth noting about this ordinary-looking maidservant from Duan. She had a perfectly plain countenance—eyes that were a little too narrow, a nose on the flat side, and thin lips that were barely there—an otherwise non-descript appearance that would draw no attention whatsoever. The Shadow Army's assassins made human face masks of the highest quality, and Zhenghuan was confident that no one would realise that beneath this layer of skin stood none other than the recently deceased Princess Xuan, unless she exposed herself, of course.

He had not told Ru-quan of this, because he could not predict whether or not the crown prince would respond appropriately. There was a chance that Ru-quan might not be willing to smuggle the princess out of Hua, opting instead to turn her death from fake to real in order to avoid any complications.

As it was, everyone believed that the princess had died from natural causes, making it an unfortunate incident dictated by the heavens and absolving blame from either of the kingdoms. If anyone found out that the princess's death was a fake, and that the ashes on her funeral pyre belonged to a criminal on death row, then a disaster would ensue. It was a risk that Zhenghuan had chosen to take, because he did not wish to see an innocent life lost in a foreign land. Take it as building good karma, he thought, for both him and Zi-ning.

Zhenghuan mounted his horse and sat watching as the gifts were slowly loaded onto the Duan carriages. Ru-quan had already boarded his carriage and the head of the line, and they would be ready to depart in a matter of minutes.

Just then, someone stepped away from the Shon entourage and walked over to him. "Shadow Lord," Ambassador Caron greeted, nodding his head politely.

"Ambassador."

"Once again, please accept my condolences for your kingdom's... loss."

Beneath his silver mask, Zhenghuan's brows dipped in a frown. There was something about the way Caron was biting down on the word "loss" that made him uncomfortable. As if the Shon ambassador knew something that he didn't.

"Thank you," he replied. "Please help me convey our thanks to Lord Rohan for kindly extending his stay so as to attend the princess's funeral rites."

"Not at all. Shon and Duan are long-term allies, even more so now that Princess Sana has married into your royal family." The ambassador's deep-set eyes shifted from left to right, surveying their surroundings quickly. Then, he lowered his voice and said, "Be careful, Shadow Lord. Sometimes, kindness does not pay." With that, he turned and headed back to his own carriage, disappearing from view.

"Kindness does not pay..." Zhenghuan murmured, letting the ambassador's cryptic words sink into his mind.

#

The Duan entourage had a peaceful three days journeying toward the border, with no signs of any disturbances whatsoever. However, the more peaceful it seemed, the more suspicious Zhenghuan became.

Knowing Situ Zhiren, it was unlikely he would allow them to return to Duan without at least stirring some kind of trouble. After all, who knew when the next opportunity would arise when someone as important as the crown prince of Duan was deep within Hua territory?

"We'll rest here for the night," Zhenghuan ordered, bringing his horse to a stop in front of an inn in the Hua border town of Chuling. After they passed this town, it would be another days' ride to the border, and then they would be back on Duan land.

Despite the niggling worry that was sitting at the back of his mind, Zhenghuan was also brimming with anticipation at the thought of returning to Huangcheng. It was now less than a week and a half to the day of his wedding ceremony, and he wished the day would come sooner.

Crown Prince Ru-quan was helped down from his carriage and into the inn, looking a little worse for wear. The bumpiness of the road had not been kind to him, and Zhenghuan reckoned the heir would need at least a week or two of bedrest in order to recover. The rest of the accompanying party slowly made their way in as well, including the disguised Princess Xuan, who had thus far managed to avoid rousing any suspicion.

After her feigned death, Hong Xuan, Princess of Duan and Crown Princess of Hua, could no longer exist. From henceforth, she would have to adopt a brand new identity and live the life of a commoner. Once they crossed the border into Duan, Zhenghuan had arranged for his men to take the princess away and settle her down in the town of E-mei, a quaint settlement off the shores of the Kuran Lake—the largest and most picturesque lake in the kingdom.

A little weary from the travelling himself, Zhenghuan retired to his own room and flipped himself down onto the bed. He didn't know how long he had been asleep for, but when he awoke, it was already nightfall and the room was bathed in shadows. A commotion was coming from outside, with loud voices shouting over one another.

"Assassins!"

"Stay away!"

"Protect the prince!"

Pulling his sword out of its hilt, Zhenghuan quickly ran out. The inn was under attack by at least twenty assassins clad in black, making their way up the stairs towards the crown prince's room. Already several of the Duan entourage had fallen to the blades of the assassins, their bodies littering the floor.

The princess.

Zhenghuan had arranged for the princess to share a room with another maidservant who was actually someone that belonged to his personal guard, but given the indiscriminate killing that was going on, he couldn't be certain if his guard would be able to defend the princess on her own. Zhenghuan dashed down the corridor to the princess's room, four doors down. Relief washed over him when he saw that the assassins had not yet reached that room, and Princess Xuan remained cowering by the side of her bed, while his guard stood with her crossbow drawn and ready to fire.

"My lord," the guard said when she saw him enter.

"Zhenghuan!"

Seeing him appear at the doorway, Princess Xuan immediately rushed over and threw herself at him.

Under different circumstances, he would have immediately shoved her away, but there was no time for that right now.

"Come, we have to go," he said, grabbing her by the arm instead and pulling her out of the room. He took her to the crown prince's room, where a terrified Ru-quan was surrounded by his guards.

"Your Highness, we must leave this place right away. The guards can hold off the assassins for a while, but we don't know whether or not they will have reinforcements. Our best option is to escape while we can."

"B-b-but how are we going to escape?" Ru-quan stammered.

Zhenghuan went over to the window and peered outside. "This side is still clear. We should be able to jump onto the roof of the horse shed from here and then make our way to the horses," he said. "Your Highness, we can—"

A burst of white powder exploding in the air cut him off in mid-sentence. Instinctively, he stopped breathing and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve, but already he could feel a slight sting up his nostrils.

"What's going on!" Ru-quan screeched.

Poison powder. But how?

Then, through the dusty cloud, Zhenghuan thought he saw a victorious smile creep upon the face of Princess Xuan. In that moment, Ambassador Caron's words came drifting back to the forefront of his mind.

"Kindness does not pay..."