Lord of the City’s Decree

I do not know whether, if I were ever to endure the same fate as Bai Liyue, I would have the courage to burn the wedding robe I had painstakingly prepared to ashes, severing every road back.

To each their own duty in their own station; out of it, no matter how I try, I can never truly understand. And yet I could feel the pain Bai Liyue was in. In the dead of night she startled awake several times, and I had no choice but to light the candle again so the room would be filled with its glow before she slowly drifted back to sleep. Even then, her face in slumber remained tightly furrowed with sorrow.

In the end, she was not happy, was she.

We had already been here for several days. At first, Li Yexuan and I had intended to leave, but Bai Liyue stopped us. She said that in half a month she would be married, and at that time she hoped I would send her off.

After reporting this to Li Yexuan, I was, astonishingly, granted permission. Emptying the room of its secrets, he took the thousand-year black iron and ten-thousand-year celestial silkworm thread I had obtained and left ahead of us, saying he was going to Mist Valley to have concealed weapons made. Li Yexuan, meanwhile, stayed with me at the city lord's residence.

I grew more and more convinced that Li Yexuan had intended all along to remain in the true Bai residence, as though he had some business to attend to. After much indirect probing from me, three words finally slipped from his mouth: the City Lord's Seal.

It was said that Mapleleaf City held two forms of authority. One was the city lord himself; the other was the legendary City Lord's Seal. The seal was said never to appear easily, passed down in secrecy from one generation of the Bai clan to the next. The last time it had surfaced was in a catastrophe a hundred years ago. Only because the City Lord's Seal had summoned them did Mapleleaf City survive through those chaotic times.

When I asked Li Yexuan when he planned to steal the seal, I was met with a look of contempt.

"So you only know how to steal things? Couldn't you learn something better?" His fan struck my head.

"You don't even want it, so why are you so fixated on some family heirloom?" I said.

"It's not me who's fixated. It's that I'm afraid others are."

His implication made me think of one person: Wang Huan.

He was still staying in the Bai residence as well, likely waiting for a chance to win over the city lord. If the city lord were to side with him and the City Lord's Seal fell into his hands, Mapleleaf City would all but belong to the Kingdom of Azure Clouds.

"You are originally from the Kingdom of Azure Clouds. You need not concern yourself with this matter. Just have a good time with Bai Liyue. Treat it as a trip."

Oh? Was Li Yexuan always this considerate toward his servants?

"Li Yexuan, do you know what entanglement my former master, Huangfu Ziyun, had with this Wang Huan?"

"Oh? Let's hear it."

For an instant, Li Yexuan's gaze went vacant, only to shift back almost at once, but not quickly enough to escape my eyes.

"A few years ago, when the Grand Princess was still alive, the Empress, in order to keep her from being forced into a marriage alliance, wanted to find a wealthy family for her in the court of the Kingdom of Azure Clouds. After many rounds of selection, she chose the son of the then Minister Wang, Wang Huan. When the Grand Princess heard of it, she even secretly slipped out of the palace to see him. Unexpectedly, she returned with a face like ice. Later, Wang Huan was brought into the palace by his mother, but something unpleasant happened between him and the princess, and that was the end of it. On the night the Grand Princess died, the same night the Kingdom of Azure Clouds perished, it is not impossible that Wang Huan was in the palace. Otherwise, how could he have emerged unscathed and even received the grape wine personally brewed by the Grand Princess?"

As I spoke, I tried my best to conceal my sorrow.

"I had no idea she was so mischievous, and rather capable too. But you said earlier it was your younger brother who liked that wine."

"Er... actually, it wasn't my younger brother. It was the Grand Princess's younger brother, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Azure Clouds."

"You do have a fair bit of courage."

"The princess was gentle with others and treated me like a younger sister. Her younger brother, then, was naturally my younger brother as well, though that was quite an overreaching connection."

"You told me all this today. What exactly do you intend?"

"I'm only a lowly maid. There are many things I do not understand. I only know that the Grand Princess disliked him back then because she felt he was of crooked character, and he was certainly on the wrong side during the palace coup as well. So, Li Yexuan, you must be careful."

"You're only telling me to be careful?"

"Yes. What else did you think I meant?"

I was only telling Li Yexuan to be wary of that scoundrel Wang Huan. What else did he think it could be? Could there be something I did not know?

"You're not even asking this prince to avenge you for it?"

"How could I possibly be so shameless..."

"Since when have you been anything else?"

"Well... if there ever comes a time, you cover for me and I'll just kick him twice. That would count as venting some anger for the Grand Princess."

"......"

"By the way, we've been out for a long time. After Bai Liyue's wedding and we go back, it'll be another half month. I just left without saying a word, and I don't even know whether the Jade and Gold Workshop has descended into chaos. Li Yexuan, could you help me send word back? I don't want my leaving to end up with the Jade and Gold Workshop going out of business too."

"Don't forget, the Jade and Gold Workshop is mine as well. I've long since had a message sent back."

"Oh... you're so smart."

Li Yexuan smiled.

"No, that won't do. You only take one share of the profits from the Jade and Gold Workshop. You can't simply count the whole place as yours."

Li Yexuan's smile deepened, and there was a certain dark amusement in it.

Step by step, he came closer to me. A bad premonition rose in my heart, and I could only retreat again and again.

When there was nowhere left to retreat, I flopped down onto a stool, my head tilting back.

"W-what... are you doing..."

"Whose maid are you now?"

"Prince Xuan..." Wasn't that a ridiculous question? Li Yexuan and Prince Xuan were one and the same.

"Very good. You are my maid. You are mine, and so naturally everything of yours is mine too, including the Jade and Gold Workshop."

He had come so close that our faces were nearly touching. I stood frozen in place.

"Haha..." He turned and walked off, laughing.

Only then did I realize I had been tricked again.

"Li Yexuan, I object!" I shouted after his retreating back.

"Objection overruled."

Waaah, no. The Jade and Gold Workshop I had worked so hard to obtain could not be taken by Li Yexuan.

Still, since the silver had originally been borrowed from him, fine, I would not quarrel with him over it.

In the palace before, I had not needed to handle such trivial matters. I knew a little of the zither, weiqi, calligraphy, and painting; my needlework was only passable, and my martial arts were essentially zero. These past few days, Bai Liyue had been busy embroidering her wedding robe, and I had been unable to help her at all.

Jin Yu was taken as a concubine by Bai Changfeng, and there was a small banquet in celebration. At the banquet, Bai Liyue changed the most. She called Jin Yu "eldest sister-in-law" without the least regard for propriety, and even said plainly that she had been young and ignorant back then, hoping Jin Yu would not take offense on account of her father.

In Bai Changfeng's eyes there was no joy in taking a concubine, only a touch of loneliness. Jin Yu, however, was flattered beyond measure; perhaps the two of them would get along well in the future.

At midnight, Li Yexuan and I returned from outside. I thought I had grown used to these days, leaving early and returning late with him to roam the sights of Mapleleaf City.

Though it was only one city, there were truly many wonderful places here. Li Yexuan was not a picky man either. Traveling with him, most of the time he took care of me; it was not I, the maid, who was serving him.

Li Yexuan said that at one point he had wondered who was master and who was servant.

All I could say was: Have you only just met me?

We laughed all the way, though it was unfortunate that Wang Huan was still in Mapleleaf City, so I had to remain dressed as a man.

"Go back and rest early. These past few days you've been playing until you're exhausted..." Li Yexuan had not even finished speaking when he pulled me down into a patch of bushes at the side.

"Li Yex..."

"Don't speak..."

Obediently, I shut my mouth.

At the place where we had just been standing, a shadow appeared, sneaking off furtively.

"You go find the city lord. I'll follow and take a look." Li Yexuan's voice was low.

"All right. Be careful."

Li Yexuan followed the shadow, while I ran in the opposite direction.

After finding the city lord's chamber, I knocked outside and called him up.

"City Lord, my young master and I returned and saw a shadow in the residence. The young master chased after it, and sent me to find you."

I said it in one breath, not a trace of hesitation.

As soon as the city lord heard this, he was instantly wide awake, and a series of orders was issued at once.

"Not good."

Yet the city lord ran off in another direction.

I could only follow. Why had he not asked me to lead the way?

It was the ancestral shrine. The Bai clan's ancestral shrine.

Could there be something hidden in the shrine? Could it be the City Lord's Seal?

We were almost at the shrine's entrance.

A black figure crashed down from the eaves.

In complete disarray, the black-clad intruder was surrounded by the servants brought by the city lord. Countless torches were held aloft, illuminating the entire area.

Li Yexuan descended slowly from the roof.

With a flick of his hand, the black cloth covering the intruder's face was shattered apart.

That face was not Wang Huan's, then whose could it be?

"Speak. Who are you, and what is your purpose in coming to Mapleleaf City?" the city lord demanded.

Li Yexuan looked down at the man on the ground, still wiping blood from his lips.

"Wang Huan, son of Minister Wang of the Kingdom of Azure Clouds, and also the right chancellor of Azure Clouds."

My mind reeled again. Li Yexuan said that Wang Huan had already become the right chancellor. To have climbed step by step to such a high position, he had truly exceeded my expectations.

"How do you know that? Who are you exactly?" Wang Huan rose to his feet and stared at Li Yexuan.

"Who I am is not for someone like you to know."

Arrogance. What radiated from Li Yexuan was arrogance.

"My skills are inferior. Too bad this trip to Mapleleaf City did not turn up the City Lord's Seal."

Wang Huan sighed as if in regret, but the very next moment his body moved.

"Trying to flee?" Li Yexuan struck at the same time.

Wang Huan was fast. I did not know when, but his hand had already locked around my throat.

"Mu Fan, don't..."

Bai Changfeng and Bai Liyue hurried over, only to see the scene of me being held hostage.

"Young Master Li, you are no ordinary man either. Why not speak plainly? Who exactly are you? I know you are absolutely no simple person. In this world, there cannot be many who can defeat me with a single move."

As he spoke, Wang Huan tightened his grip on my throat.

"Li Yexuan."

"Prince Xuan..." the city lord cried out in alarm.

I felt Wang Huan's hand around my throat tremble.

"Prince Xuan of the Kingdom of Silver Moon—truly worthy of his renown. To lose to you, Wang Huan is fully convinced. However..." His tone was infuriatingly smug. "I never would have thought that Prince Xuan would be so close with one of his servants. No wonder Prince Xuan has so few consorts..."

His words were so harsh they cut like knives, plainly implying that Li Yexuan favored men.

"Thief, release Mu Fan at once!" Bai Liyue tried to rush forward, but Bai Changfeng held her back.

"Li Yexuan, I only want to leave safely."

"Are you threatening me? No one can threaten Li Yexuan. You're only a servant. Do you really think I'd take you seriously?"

You're only a servant. Do you really think I'd take you seriously?

That sentence kept circling endlessly in my mind.

Everything around me seemed suddenly to have nothing to do with me anymore.

Wang Huan's hand grew tighter and tighter. The sensation of suffocation became more and more unbearable. Unable to break free of his grip, I closed my eyes.

My hand moved. I was just about to use the concealed weapon Empty Moon had prepared for me when Wang Huan noticed it and clamped down on my wrist.

"Such petty tricks, and you think you can take my life?"

So it really was still too childish?

The hand at my throat seemed about to sever my last breath.

In the end, while I and Wang Huan were locked in struggle, Li Yexuan made his move.

Watching Wang Huan flee in disgrace, many people chased after him.

A wave of dizziness hit me, and I could no longer hold on. I fell, sinking into darkness.

Who was it that lifted me into their arms...

That was my final thought...