Lian Yuxi's POV
Guards swarmed us before we reached the bottom step.
Six imperial soldiers, swords drawn, formed a wall between me and the Emperor. The one in front—broad-shouldered, older, with scars crossing his face—pointed his blade at my throat.
Step away from His Majesty!
I didn't move. Couldn't move. Yifeng still stood behind me, close enough that I felt him breathing.
Commander Zhao, the Emperor said calmly, like we were discussing weather instead of assassination. Lower your sword.
Your Majesty, this woman tried to
I said lower it.
The command hit like a thunderclap. Commander Zhao flinched but obeyed, though his sword stayed half-raised. The other guards looked confused, glancing between their commander and the Emperor.
I calculated escape routes. Six trained soldiers. Palace walls twenty feet behind me. Festival crowd below, but reaching them meant getting through armed guards first.
Impossible odds.
I'd survived worse.
My hand still gripped the poisoned hairpin, hidden in my sleeve now. One throw could drop Zhao. Two seconds to vault the railing. Three to disappear into the crowd.
But Yifeng would die. Heishan's mission would fail. The Guild would hunt me forever.
And something in those gold eyes made me hesitate.
Leave us, Yifeng said.
Zhao's face turned red. Your Majesty, she attempted
To kill me. Yes. I was there. Yifeng stepped around me, putting himself between me and his guards. Protecting me. An assassin. Now leave us. That's an order, Commander.
Zhao looked like he'd swallowed poison, but he bowed stiffly. Your Majesty. He gestured to his men. They backed away slowly, reluctantly, swords still drawn.
We stood alone in the garden path. Lantern light flickered across Yifeng's face, making his gold eyes glow like a predator's.
You could've let them arrest me, I said quietly.
I could've done many things. He started walking down the stone path, not looking back. Walk with me, assassin.
I should run. Every instinct screamed it.
Instead, I followed.
Because the Emperor who should want me dead was acting like we were old friends taking an evening stroll. And I needed to know why.
The garden path wound between flowering trees and stone lanterns. Music and laughter drifted from the festival, but here everything felt silent. Dangerous.
You're calculating, Yifeng said without turning around. Six guards watching from the East Gate. Four more at the West. Palace walls behind us—twenty feet high, smooth stone, impossible to climb quickly. Crowd below would hide you, but reaching it means passing through my soldiers.
My blood ran cold. How did you
Because I think like you. He stopped beneath a willow tree, finally facing me. Survival first. Trust never. Everyone's an enemy until proven otherwise.
He understood. This pampered Emperor in gold robes understood what it meant to live like prey.
You're wondering how I know so much, he continued. Your real name. Your Guild name. Your forty-three kills. Your family.
The last word hit like a punch. I hadn't thought about my family in years. Refused to think about them.
The father who sold me. The stepmother who smiled. The half-sister who wore new silk dresses bought with my suffering.
Don't, I warned.
Lian Kang, Yifeng said softly. Your father. Gambling addict. Owed the Silver Lotus gang thirty thousand taels. They were going to kill him. So he sold his daughter to the Shadow Guild for forty thousand—kept ten thousand for himself.
Rage burned through my chest. Stop.
Your stepmother Mingzhu watched. Your half-sister Meilan picked out new jewelry while you were dragged away screaming.
I said stop!
You were thirteen years old.
The words shattered something inside me. I lunged forward, hairpin raised, ready to drive poison through his perfect throat and damn the consequences
He caught my wrist again. Same grip. Same gold eyes.
But this time, they held something different.
Sympathy.
I know what it's like, he said quietly. To be sold by the people who should protect you.
I froze. You're the Emperor.
I'm the third son who should've been a scholar. My mother murdered my brothers to put me on the throne. I was fifteen. She expected a puppet. His smile turned bitter. She got a dragon instead.
We stood there, assassin and Emperor, both holding weapons we couldn't use.
Both understanding what it meant to survive people who should've loved us.
Why are you telling me this? I whispered.
Because I need you to understand, I don't want you dead. I want you working for me.
The world tilted again.
You're insane.
Probably. He released my wrist but didn't step back. I can't trust my own court. Ministers plot against me. Concubines poison each other. My mother controls half the government. And somewhere in this palace, there's a traitor working with the Shadow Guild.
How do you know?
Because this is the third assassination attempt this month. Someone keeps hiring your Guild. Someone inside these walls wants me dead.
Understanding crashed through me. You knew I was coming.
I've known for three days. My spies intercepted the contract. He smiled that sharp, dangerous smile. I let you get close because I wanted to meet the legendary Phantom Blade. The assassin who never fails.
You used yourself as bait?
I told you. I think like you. He stepped closer, voice dropping. I need someone whose loyalty can't be bought—because you already came to kill me and failed. You can't be bribed because you're already paid to murder me. That makes you the only honest person in this entire palace.
My mind raced. You want me to betray the Shadow Guild.
I want to buy your contract. Give you freedom. And in exchange, you become my personal guard. You watch my back. Help me find the traitor. Root out the corruption.
The Guild will never sell. Heishan would rather kill me than lose his best weapon.
Let me worry about Heishan. Yifeng's gold eyes burned into mine. This is your one chance, Lian Yuxi. Freedom or death. Choose.
Freedom. The word tasted like a lie. I'd never been free. Sold at thirteen. Rebuilt into a weapon. Owned by the Guild for eleven years.
Freedom didn't exist for people like me.
And if I refuse?
Then you die tonight. Quietly. Painlessly. And tomorrow, the Shadow Guild sends someone else.
He meant it. I saw the truth in his eyes.
I need an answer, he pressed. Work for me, or
An explosion tore through the night.
Fire erupted from the East Wing of the palace. Screams pierced the festival music. Flames climbed into the sky, turning lanterns into falling stars.
Yifeng's head snapped toward the fire. What
Black-clad figures poured over the palace walls. Twenty. Thirty. Too many. They wore masks and carried weapons that caught firelight like dragon teeth.
Shadow Guild assassins.
But not mine. I hadn't called them.
Your Majesty! Commander Zhao's voice rang out. We're under attack!
A crossbow bolt whistled through the air—straight at Yifeng's heart.
I moved without thinking.