Zhi’er folded her sleeves. "No need to look, I wouldn’t mistake it."

"Tomorrow is fraught with calamity. As long as you don’t make the first move, nothing will happen. Senior Brother, it’s best you stay at home and don’t go anywhere."

At first, Yuan Zhen had been somewhat nervous.

But after hearing Zhi’er’s words, his expression suddenly eased, and he laughed.

That laugh never reached his eyes.

"Junior Sister, it was actually Xixi who told you I was going to assassinate the Emperor, wasn’t it?" He took the initiative to admit it.

Zhi’er remained neither alarmed nor flustered.

"Even if Xixi hadn’t said anything, how long does Senior Brother think you could have kept it hidden?"

"In this entire Mansion, can you really guarantee there are no Xie Yu’s spies?"

"The Regent King’s and your every move have long been under Xie Yu’s gaze. The slightest disturbance from you, and he’ll be the first to know."

"Senior Brother, Xie Yu doesn’t intend to take your lives. He told me so himself. Give up tomorrow’s plan!"

Yuan Zhen suddenly got to his feet, cold laughter spilling out again and again.

"Junior Sister, I thought you were on our side, but I never imagined you’d actually be lobbying for that dog Emperor!"

Zhi’er knit her brows tightly. "He is the Emperor. Imperial power is supreme. If you commit regicide and treason, the world will spit on your name!"

"So what!" Yuan Zhen flung his sleeve, like a fierce beast long trapped with no way out, left with nothing but to charge headlong.

He clenched his fists. "Xie Yu has made things hard for my father and me. He didn’t even discuss it with us back then before sending my little sister off to the distant Great Qin for a political marriage!"

"If an accident hadn’t happened, the most important matter of my sister’s entire life would have been ruined in Xie Yu’s hands!"

"My father once was his revered teacher, and yet he humiliated my father in public, making him bark like a dog for his amusement!"

"Xie Yu is wolf‑hearted and dog‑lunged, already having forgotten how my father once defended him before the late Emperor!"

"Besides, he is a man of shifting moods. How can you take those things he said to you at face value, Junior Sister!"

Zhi’er rose and walked to stand before Yuan Zhen.

She pleaded bitterly, "All that Xie Yu has done is merely to vent the resentment from back when the Regent King forced the officials on the Court to obey only him."

"At that time Xie Yu was like an Emperor whose power had been hollowed out."

"Senior Brother, dare you search your own heart and say that all these years the Regent King has never once shown disrespect or irreverence toward the Emperor?"

Yuan Zhen’s jawline tightened. He looked away and did not answer.

It seemed he too knew the Regent King was not wholly innocent.

Zhi’er went on, "Do you think Xie Yu doesn’t feel hatred? He watched his former mentor turn out to be so greedy for power."

"One can well imagine his state of mind. And the Regent King once plotted against him, nearly crippling him for life."

"Senior Brother, between you all, the grievances piled one upon another have long blurred who is right and who is wrong!"

"Power is indeed tempting, but Master taught us so many principles. Senior Brother, can usurping the throne and murdering the Emperor really be the right path?!"

Yuan Zhen fell silent.

After a long time, he turned his back to her.

"Junior Sister, it’s too late."

His voice carried a trace of weariness.

"My father has already secured help from Xiliang Country. At this very moment those soldiers and officers in disguise should already have reached the outskirts of the Capital."

"At first light tomorrow, with inside‑outside coordination and our troops assembled, we can storm into the imperial palace and cut Xie Yu down with our own hands."

Zhi’er trembled.

Yuan Zhen turned his head to look at her, a bitter smile on his lips:

"The arrow is nocked; it must be loosed."

"Whatever the outcome, whether we become kings or defeated curs, we’ll accept our fate."