He was a playboy, a waste, and the laughingstock of the entire court. That was the role he'd played for twenty-one years.
He investigated the canal transport system, checked the account books, and examined the imperial genealogy, gradually tearing apart his enemies' web. He thought himself the most patient of hunters, until the master of Jinghong Tower received that letter bearing the phoenix seal. Only then did he realize:
The greatest villain in the entire story wasn't in the Eastern Palace, the Kunning Palace, or the court.
She was his aunt, the Grand Princess, who kept aloof from worldly affairs and spent her days in Buddhist devotion.
She gazed at the chessboard and smiled. "Let him make a couple more moves."
