[Dark] [Court Intrigue] [Schemes]
“Aunt, let’s take our time.”
The underground palace’s icy pool reflected twelve black iron chains dripping with blood. Feng Caier’s shattered phoenix robe was soaked in the freezing water. Li Hua raised her chin with the Xiongnu’s golden sacrificial knife, while a white jade cup caught the third drop of blood seeping from her collarbone.
A month ago, he had been the prince offered by the empress to the Xiongnu in a political marriage. Little did he know that all of this was part of Feng Caier’s scheme, even as she personally killed the former emperor. The five thousand armored soldiers in the underground palace at Mount Li had already awakened at the command of the tiger tally, and the Xiongnu Left Worthy Prince had been captured on the marriage procession’s route.
“Purge the emperor’s entourage and execute the demon phoenix!”
As the Black Armor Guard’s crossbow bolts pinned the empress to the dragon throne, the Xiongnu chanyu’s bridal carriage was rolling down Vermilion Bird Avenue. Li Hua smiled as he dragged Feng Caier down from the palace steps. The curved blades of the northern frontier’s wolf cavalry were already slicing through the sunset over Han’s border passes.
“What if I take a cup of my aunt’s heart’s blood for every kingdom we destroy?” When the Chu envoy trembled and presented a petition for peace, the cold jade cup already held its seventh crimson draught. Fresh scars layered over old wounds on Feng Caier’s wrists. In a daze, she looked at the young man she had once sent away in a political marriage with her own hands. Now the hem of his blood-python robe swept across a map of the Seven Kingdoms, while behind him thirty thousand iron cavalry trampled the city towers to ruins.
Feng Caier curled into a ball in the pool of blood and looked at the young man.
Suddenly, an eagle’s cry pierced the air outside the hall. Su Changqing knelt at the steps, holding up the bloodstained prime minister’s crown:
“Your Majesty, the borders of all Seven Kingdoms now fly the dragon banners of Great Qin.”
