Xue Liulan had tried to leave Murong Jin out of it, but she wouldn't let him. As he turned to go, she caught his sleeve.
He stopped. She released him and stepped up beside him, shoulder to shoulder in the doorway.
"Xue Liulan, as a daughter of the Murong clan, I will fight Guo Shangzhong with you."
"I told you…" He frowned. He was determined to destroy the eunuch, a battle that would be fraught with danger. Her health was fragile; he couldn't let her risk it.
"I heard you." She cut him off. "I am not speaking to you as Empress Murong Jin, but as the Little General of Wuchuan."
Her eyes burned with resolve. It was like the beginning again. She married him to help him take the throne; he married her for her power. An alliance.
He stared at her in silence.
"Do you not trust me? Fine. Tomorrow I will go to Yuling, gather an army, and await your command." She turned back toward the room.
"Since we are allies, I will trust you. Do not make me regret it." He spoke to her back, his face grim. If he refused, she would leave for Yuling immediately.
She smiled but didn't turn around, listening to his footsteps fade away.
Her smile vanished. She sighed, looking around her gilded cage. The palace trapped not just her body, but her heart.
"Your Majesty." Xu Wan'er's gentle voice broke her reverie.
She had lived in Zhaoyang Palace for two months. Murong Jin spent her days staring into space or practicing swordplay, speaking little, but treating her guest well.
Murong Jin looked up. Xu Wan'er felt her way into the room. Ning'er said the princess's blindness was permanent. A pity.
"Princess, please sit." Murong Jin guided her to a chair.
"Thank you." Xu Wan'er smiled, head bowed.
Her smile was infectious. Murong Jin smiled back.
"I heard you sigh."
"Just trivial matters." Murong Jin was surprised. She knew Gongzi Suyi had keen hearing, but she hadn't expected it from Xu Wan'er. "You have good ears."
"I only spent a year with Gongzi Suyi. I haven't even learned the basics. His hearing is truly extraordinary."
Murong Jin watched her silently. Whenever Xu Wan'er mentioned Suyi, her face glowed with happiness. Technically, she was Xue Liulan's concubine, but Murong Jin knew better. That was why she was here, not in the harem.
Xue Liulan hadn't visited Zhaoyang Palace in three months. And he wouldn't touch his friend's woman.
"Your heart is still with Gongzi Suyi," Murong Jin said coolly. "But you are the Emperor's concubine now. Be careful."
Xu Wan'er tilted her head. "Your Majesty worries too much. I will return."
"To your brother in Jin?"
"To Suyi." She smiled. "He owes me a pair of eyes. He has to spend the rest of his life repaying me."
"Eyes?"
"Yes. Suyi's eyes were damaged by poison. The Physician Saint, Chong Hua, gave him mine." She said it calmly, as if discussing the weather.
Murong Jin stared at her serene face. To lose her sight, yet remain so calm…
"Is it worth it?" The words slipped out. "What if he doesn't come for you?"
A blind woman would be a burden to an ambitious prince.
"He will come." Xu Wan'er answered without hesitation.
"You trust him that much?" Murong Jin couldn't understand. Such unreserved trust… how much distrust had she waded through to reach it?
Xu Wan'er nodded seriously, then laughed. "Why cling to the past, Your Majesty? Even a blind woman can see the Emperor holds you in his heart."
"Does he?" Murong Jin laughed bitterly. Too much lay between them. She bore the burden of the Murong clan; he was determined to destroy it.
"Why not let go and trust the one you love?"
Xu Wan'er's sightless gaze seemed to pierce Murong Jin's soul. She looked away.
"Xue Liulan is not Xiao Suyi." She stood up. "I heard a man named Liu Nanfeng came to Jindu before you. He arranged your entry into the palace."
"Yes. Suyi's chief strategist. Suyi was framed recently and lost some of his power. So, he used me as collateral to borrow the Fifteen from the Emperor."
"He used you as collateral?" Murong Jin was shocked. If Suyi failed, Xu Wan'er's life was forfeit. "And you still trust him? The Fifteen are Xue Liulan's shadow force. If Suyi reneges, Xue Liulan can do nothing."
"I know."
"Yet you trust him."
Xu Wan'er nodded.
Murong Jin envied her. Perhaps Xu Wan'er had once been afraid to trust, too. But she had learned.
"Your Majesty, Minister Liu Nanfeng is here," a maid announced.
"He must be here to say goodbye to you." Murong Jin composed herself. "I'll walk in the garden."
She left the room.
Spring was returning to the garden path, but she didn't see it. In her hand, she clutched a packet of medicine Ning'er had brought from Wuchuan. Xiangjue. The poison that killed the former Crown Prince. But the Divine Physician had found the antidote.
She had planned to leave forever. But now, she hesitated. The palace was full of ghosts—Xue Liulan's, Qi'er's. Drowning in memories terrified her. She had to leave, even if it meant giving up a life with him.
But Xu Wan'er's words shook her. Why not let go and trust?
She couldn't answer. As Xue Liulan had said, she had never truly trusted anyone. Not even her husband.
"Oh, Your Majesty, I want that one!" A coquettish laugh drifted through the trees.
She looked up. She had wandered outside Zhaoyang Palace.
In the snow-dusted garden, Xue Liulan was supporting a concubine as she reached for a high branch.
Instinctively, Murong Jin hid behind a tree. Her eyes stung. She squeezed them shut, holding back the tears.
Xue Liulan looked up at the branch, then suddenly turned toward her hiding place. He felt something. But he saw only bare trees.
Imagination. She was in Zhaoyang Palace. He had blocked all news from reaching her—news of Murong Yan's death, of the slaughter of her entire clan at the border.
Murong Jin took a deep breath and walked back.
When she reached Zhaoyang Palace, Ning'er was pacing frantically.
"Why aren't you inside?" Murong Jin asked.
Ning'er turned, looking ready to cry. "Princess Jingxiang wasn't with you?"
"No."
"When I came back, the room was empty!" Ning'er didn't know who Xu Wan'er was, but she remembered Murong Jin's order: Protect her with your life.
Murong Jin's heart sank.