Everyone in the city knew that the Shen family's eldest daughter kept a stand-in who looked just like the late Crown Prince. By day, she made him pour tea and wait on her; by night, she made him warm her bed and keep watch. She even ordered him to kneel beside her and serve her at her engagement banquet. Everyone laughed at her for being mad and outrageous, until the night of the coup, when the armored man wielding a sword bathed the imperial city in blood. He gripped the neck of the man betrothed to the princess and chuckled, “Your Highness, are you quite comfortable with the stolen throne and the fiancée you stole?”
But when he turned, he saw Miss Shen holding a bloodstained sword and raising an eyebrow. “Had your fun?”
The new emperor bowed his head in submission. “Please instruct me, Your Highness.”
