The Candle Burns Red - Chapter 1

“Your Majesty, this man and I have an unfinished marriage bond from a previous life. Might you grant him to me?”

I raised the portrait. On the old, yellowed paper was a young man, tall and upright, with the bearing of an immortal.

The entire court erupted in surprise. A voice in the crowd said faintly, “Isn’t that Director Pei?”

Pei Xiuwen, the Director they spoke of, sat just below the emperor. He commanded the Western Depot’s prisons and monitored the words and deeds of officials and commoners alike. His power was immense, his methods ruthless. Even crying children fell silent at the mention of his name. In the capital they said the King of Hell ruled the underworld, while Pei Xiuwen ruled this one.

I looked at him with open curiosity. Yes, the likeness was there. A chill came over his eyes as he swept me with a gaze sharp as a knife. I gave him a broad smile. How handsome.

A hearty laugh sounded above me. Once the old emperor had finished laughing, he said, plainly enjoying the spectacle, “Since the Divine Maiden has asked, I shall decree a marriage for the two of you.”

Pei Xiuwen frowned and rose at once. Before he could speak, I dropped to my knees and knocked my forehead hard against the floor. “This common woman thanks Your Majesty!”

That settled the marriage.

After the palace banquet, I followed Pei Xiuwen’s black-robed figure step for step. He endured it until we reached Xuanwu Gate. Anger flashed through his alluring, peach-blossom eyes. “How long does the Divine Maiden intend to follow me?”

“Don’t call me Divine Maiden. It sounds so distant.” Smiling, I caught his sleeve. “My master and senior fellow disciples all call me A-Yao.”

He awkwardly brushed my hand away. “Stop following me.”

I looked at him innocently. “His Majesty only gave you to me. He didn’t give me a house.”

I had crawled alone out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Apart from a battered peachwood sword, I owned nothing.

“I’ll arrange a residence for you in the capital,” he said impatiently. “Move there.”

I leaned close and blinked. “Will it be near your house? Can I see you every day?”

Perhaps he had never met anyone so direct. His brows drew together until they formed the character for “river.” After a long moment, he said through clenched teeth, “You talk too much.”

Pei Xiuwen settled me in a separate courtyard beside the Pei residence. A rear gate connected the two properties. I was quite pleased.

Of course, nothing goes perfectly. As I passed a flower-patterned window, I heard two young maids gossiping inside.

“Do you think the Divine Maiden’s lost her mind? Why ask His Majesty to marry her to a eunuch?”

“One’s a fake man and the other’s a fake woman. They suit each other.”

I smiled, unconcerned, but a sudden chill rose behind me. Pei Xiuwen stood there, his face dark. I had heard eunuchs were more sensitive than ordinary men. Those words must have hurt.

I turned and obediently tugged his sleeve. “I don’t mind what you’re like. Don’t take their words to heart.”

He gave a snort through his fine, straight nose. “I’ve never taken anything about you to heart.”

I had pried words from the mouths of plenty of men. Someone as stubborn as Pei Xiuwen would have to eat his words sooner or later.

That very night I found the two maids’ bodies in the garden. Their heads had vanished without a trace. All that remained were two empty skins hanging from a crooked willow in the courtyard.

Pei Xiuwen hurried back from the Western Depot with Zhao De, the prefect of the capital. The moment Prefect Zhao saw me, he nearly knelt. “Divine Maiden, I beg you to help me. Only you can handle this!”

From him I learned that more than thirty people had died in the capital that month. All were servants or concubines in powerful households, and all had died exactly like the Pei maids. More than thirty heads had gone missing. Zhao De had spent a month searching with his officers and found nothing.

Rumors of an evil spirit ran through the city, so he had come to me. If he failed to solve the case soon, he would likely lose his office.

I counted on my fingers, then clicked my tongue with an air of great solemnity. “Having killed so many people, this is no ordinary evil thing. I’m afraid it won’t be easy to subdue.”

Zhao De grew anxious. “Of five hundred exorcists, you were the only one who returned alive. With your powers, you can surely drive it out. Divine Maiden, you must help the people of this city.”

Pei Xiuwen, silent until then, glanced at me. “If you don’t wish to go, you needn’t.”

Was he worried about me?

“I agree.” I turned to Zhao De and accepted without hesitation. He had his selfish reasons, but one thing he said was true. For the sake of the people in the city, we had to catch the “evil spirit” behind this.