Lian Yuxi's POV
The Emperor released my wrist.
I should've run. Vaulted the garden railing. Disappeared into the festival chaos. The Guild taught me fifty ways to escape impossible situations.
Instead, I stood frozen, watching him lean casually against a stone pillar like we were discussing the weather instead of assassination.
You're calculating again, Yifeng said. Distance to the walls. Guard positions. Whether you can kill me before they kill you. His gold eyes gleamed. The answer is no. You'd die three steps from this pillar.
I've survived worse odds.
I don't doubt it. He studied me with unnerving focus. Lian Yuxi. Sold at thirteen by your father, Lian Kang. Gambling debts. Thirty thousand taels owed to the Silver Lotus gang. He sold you to the Shadow Guild for forty thousand—kept ten thousand for himself and new clothes for your half-sister Meilan.
Each word hit like a physical blow.
How do you know that? My voice came out strangled.
I'm the Emperor. I know everything. He stepped closer. Your mother died when you were eight. Your father remarried within three months—Lady Mingzhu, a merchant's widow with a daughter your age. They treated you like a servant in your own home. When the debts came due, they didn't hesitate. You screamed. Begged. Your sister watched and smiled.
Stop. Please stop.
You don't need to
Shadow Guild Master Heishan bought you. Trained you. Broke you down and rebuilt you into the perfect weapon. Eleven years. Forty-three successful missions. You've never failed, never been caught, never left evidence. His voice softened slightly. Until tonight.
My hands trembled. I clenched them into fists.
No one knew these things. No one was supposed to know.
Why? The word ripped from my throat. Why dig into my past? Why let me get close to you if you knew I was coming?
Because you're not the first assassin sent after me. You're the third this month. Yifeng's expression hardened. Someone inside this palace keeps hiring the Shadow Guild. Someone with money, power, and access to my schedule. Someone who wants me dead.
Then increase your guards. Hire bodyguards
I can't trust my own court, he cut in. Ministers plot against me. Concubines poison each other for my favor. My own mother— He stopped, jaw clenching. Half the people who bow to me daily would celebrate my death.
Then you're already dead. Just a matter of time.
Unless I change the game. He stepped closer, close enough that I could see exhaustion hidden behind his imperial mask. I need someone whose loyalty can't be bought. Someone who already came to kill me and failed. Someone who can't be bribed because they're already paid to murder me.
Understanding crashed through me. You want me to betray the Guild.
I want to offer you freedom.
The word hung between us like a blade.
Freedom. I'd forgotten what it tasted like. Stopped dreaming about it years ago. Dreams were dangerous for weapons.
The Guild doesn't sell contracts, I said carefully. Especially not their best assassin. Heishan would rather kill me than lose his prized weapon.
Then I'll kill him first. Yifeng said it so casually, like discussing dinner plans. I'll buy your contract. Kill anyone who tries to reclaim you. Give you protection, position, power. He paused. And I'll help you destroy everyone who betrayed you.
My breath caught. What?
Your father. Your stepmother. Your half-sister. Everyone who sold you, profited from your suffering, and smiled while you suffered. His gold eyes burned. I'll give you revenge, Yuxi. Legal, public, devastating revenge.
Revenge. Another dream I'd buried.
Why would you do this? My voice cracked. I tried to kill you an hour ago.
Because when you held that hairpin to my throat, you hesitated. One second. Most assassins wouldn't. He smiled slightly. That hesitation tells me you're still human underneath all that training. Still capable of choice. Still someone who can be trusted—because real trust isn't blind. It's earned.
You don't know me.
I know you better than you think. I know loneliness. I know what it's like to be used by people who should protect you. I know— He stopped, something raw crossing his face. I know what it means to survive instead of live.
The truth in his words cut deeper than any blade.
He understood. This Emperor in gold robes understood what it meant to be a puppet. A tool. A thing instead of a person.
I can't trust you, I whispered.
Good. Don't trust me. Question everything. Stay suspicious. Keep your weapons close. He extended his hand. But work for me anyway. Be my shadow guard. My personal protector. Help me root out the corruption and find who keeps trying to kill me.
And in exchange?
Freedom. Your contract destroyed. Protection from the Guild. A position of real power—not as my property, but as my partner. His voice dropped. And revenge against everyone who betrayed you. I'll personally ensure your family knows exactly what it feels like to lose everything.
My heart hammered. This was insane. Impossible. A trap.
Also the first real choice I'd been offered in eleven years.
If I refuse? I asked.
His expression turned cold. Imperial. The Dragon Emperor returning.
Then you die tonight. Quietly. Painlessly. And tomorrow, the Shadow Guild sends someone else to kill me. Someone who won't hesitate. He stepped back. Be my shadow guard. I'll buy your contract and give you revenge.
He let the words hang heavy in the garden air.
Or refuse, and die tonight.
The ultimatum landed like a death sentence and a lifeline at the same time.
Freedom or death. Trust or execution. The weapon I'd been forced to become or the woman I might choose to be.
I opened my mouth to answer
An explosion tore through the palace.
Fire erupted from the East Wing like a dragon's breath. The blast wave knocked me sideways. Yifeng grabbed my arm, steadying us both as debris rained down like deadly snow.
Screams pierced the night. Festival music died. Guests scattered in panic.
What— Yifeng started.
Black-clad figures poured over the palace walls. Twenty. Thirty. Too many. They moved with Guild precision, dropping from heights that would kill normal men, landing like cats.
My blood turned to ice.
Assassins. Real attack.
Yifeng's eyes narrowed, gold turning to dragon fire. Not yours?
No. My mind raced. Wrong timing. Wrong method. I worked alone. Always alone. This is someone else's contract.
How wonderful. I'm so popular tonight. His hand went to his ceremonial sword. Can you fight?
A crossbow bolt whistled through the darkness—aimed straight at his heart.
I moved on pure instinct.