The Candle Burns Red - Chapter 10

After we returned to the capital, Pei Xiuwen vanished into his work. I, meanwhile, received a secret summons to the palace.

Ambergris incense curled through the throne hall, but I sensed a storm gathering. “You’ve spent days at Pei Xiuwen’s side. Have you learned who he truly is?”

The emperor’s voice was weak, though it had lost none of its authority. I knelt with my forehead against the cold floor. “I have yet to find proof that Pei Xiuwen is the former dynasty’s crown prince.”

A cup crashed down from above. Blood ran from my temple, but I dared not lift my head.

“A-Luan…” The crown prince, standing nearby, looked at me with concern. “Father, please calm yourself. Director Pei has commanded the Western Depot for years. He is exceedingly cautious. Investigating him will take time.”

“Useless fools!” The emperor broke into a fit of coughing. He had been so ill lately that the crown prince had attended morning court in his stead. He leaned back against the dragon throne like a candle nearly spent, its last glow sustained by obsession alone. He was afraid: afraid the remnants of the former dynasty would take revenge, and still more afraid that the world would learn how dishonorably he had taken the throne. It had gnawed at him for years.

Then an artist skilled at imagining an adult from a child’s features had used a childhood portrait of the former crown prince to draw the man he might have become. The emperor began to suspect his trusted Pei Xiuwen was that prince. He had ordered me to investigate him under cover of our marriage.

The emperor’s sickly face hardened with unquestionable menace. “I command you to kill Pei Xiuwen on your wedding night.”

I shuddered. My mind emptied. Kill him?

The last time I had stood in this hall, the emperor had ordered me to kill five hundred exorcists with my own hands. Blood had stained the white marble stairs, their cries rising to the sky. That hellish scene still haunted my dreams.

“Your Majesty, please reconsider!”

“Father, please reconsider!”

The crown prince and I spoke together. Killing one of the emperor’s most useful servants on suspicion alone made little sense. The emperor was barely clinging to life, and the crown prince did not want to lose such effective eyes.

“Do you question my decision?” The emperor’s voice turned icy, his gaze seeming to pierce me. “Or has Pavilion Master Qingluan grown softhearted?”

“I serve Your Majesty and carry out your will. I only think this man remains useful to you. To kill him lightly would be a waste. Heaven and earth can witness my loyalty. When I executed the five hundred exorcists, I thought only of Your Majesty and Great Zhou!”

At the mention of those five hundred, a change came over his clouded eyes. It was another wound he dared not speak of.

The present emperor had begun as an outlaw. Once he gained power, he stormed the imperial city, slaughtered the former royal house, and founded Great Zhou. Diviners among the people said his crimes would call down heaven’s punishment. Offering rich rewards, he claimed the palace was haunted and summoned exorcists from across the realm. Then he locked them in a detached palace and had them wiped out. Suspicious of everyone, he had entrusted the work to me alone.

That day, inside halls built of gold and jade, I held an embroidered thread and killed until my sight was red. I told myself most of these exorcists were frauds who had disturbed the court and deserved death. Then a young woman from a cultivation sect fell onto the stairs, her pale face streaked with tears.

“Please don’t kill me. I only wanted to earn money to buy sweets for my junior brothers and sisters.”

My heart seized. I could not bring myself to strike. Imperial troops already guarded the palace outside. Only one person would be allowed to leave. Even if I spared her, she would not survive. I sent the thread through her throat so that she died quickly. Then I took her identity and told the world the five hundred had died driving out ghosts. I alone had survived, and the emperor named me Divine Maiden.

If the truth came out, the people would revile him as a tyrant. Murder flashed in his eyes when I brought it up. The hall grew heavy with silence.

I forced myself to continue. “I have a way to resolve your concern. Permit Pei Xiuwen and me to seek the Dragon Vein treasure. If he truly belongs to the old dynasty, he can open it.”

The emperor paused. The treasure’s lure was great. The former royal family had possessed a map to a hoard said to hold wealth beyond measure and a secret capable of overturning the realm. Only their blood could open its gate. During the coup, however, just a fragment of the map had been found. The rest was gone.

I knew he was weighing the choice. This time my gamble succeeded. If Pei Xiuwen found the treasure, that would prove he was the former crown prince, and the emperor would kill him. If he failed, he was useless, and the emperor would kill him anyway.

I calmly accepted the order and withdrew.