Burial
It was the next day, and dawn had not yet broken.
Liang King clutched his clothes to his chest and scurried out through the rear gate of his residence, his face drained white. Just as he ducked behind a tree and tried to dress, the sound of horse hooves drew steadily closer, freezing him in place, clothes clutched tight against his body. Hiding behind the trunk, he held his breath and drew out a dagger for self-defense. His heart thundered in his chest; the terror was so complete he felt his soul might leave his body.
Only a short while ago, he had opened his eyes and, seeing Liu Yafu lying beside him, been so startled he had nearly tumbled from the couch. He hadn't dared make a sound. He had tried desperately to calm himself and gather his wits, but it hadn't been easy — and then the truth had struck him. He had walked straight into a trap someone had laid for him.
Yesterday, as he left the Eastern Market, a woman had spoken to him through the curtain of a carriage, telling him that Dong Zhengzhen knew he had come to the market and wished to see him at once. Since he had gone to the market in the first place to impress her, he had followed the carriage without a shred of suspicion — and in that instant everything had gone black, and he had lost consciousness.
The only stroke of fortune was the vigilance that had become second nature to him over the years; that was why he had woken at this hour. Otherwise, he might still be asleep, unaware of anything at all.
He hesitated for a moment as he looked at Liu Yafu lying beside him, then made up his mind at once — grab his clothes and run. If someone was scheming to frame him, they would never let him marry Liu Yafu easily. And with Liang and Jin on the verge of peace talks, a wedding with Liu Yafu would only earn his late father's contempt.
"Prince Liang, there's no need to hide. Come out, please."
Liang King froze in alarm. It was Bai Jingyan's voice.
How had she known he was here? Surely Bai Jingyan wasn't the one scheming against him?
Bai Jingyan's gaze shifted to the clothes peeking out from behind the tree. Her eyes turned cold and murderous. Clenching her fists tight, she suppressed the urge to kill Liang King on the spot.
"Prince Liang, I must return to Suyang immediately. I don't have time to waste on you here."
At Bai Jingyan's voice, Liang King gritted his teeth, rose, threw on his outer robe, and cinched his belt. Then, concealing the dagger behind his back, he stepped out from behind the tree.
As Bai Jingyan slowly descended from her carriage, Liang King hid the ferocity in his eyes and gazed at her with an expression of pitiable suffering.
"Commandery Princess Zhenguo... do you mean to harm me?"
"If I meant to harm you, would I have let you slip out of your own residence at all? If I wanted to hurt you, it would be far simpler to go and report to His Majesty."
The moment she finished speaking, Nuo Ping dragged out the corpses of several private guards whose names did not appear on the Crown Prince's roster.
Liang King's face went white. He tore his eyes from the bodies and stared hard at Bai Jingyan, whose expression hovered somewhere between a smile and something far colder.
His body reacted before his mind could — every muscle went rigid, and he stumbled back two steps in apparent terror, clutching at his robe.
"Commandery Princess Zhenguo, what is the meaning of this?"
"They are men of the Crown Prince's household!"
Bai Jingyan's voice was solemn and cold.
"You wish to take my cousin Dong Zhengzhen as your consort. His Majesty refused, because he saw through your scheme to seize the military authority my uncle Dong Qing'e holds. And yet now — if you were to defile the honor of Liu Yafu, daughter of Han King, who holds that same military authority, and force her into marriage... what do you suppose His Majesty would think?"
Liang King clenched his fists and stared at her.
"Why would you help me? I am the one who schemed against the Bai family!"
"Because I won't allow my cousin to be hurt. She insists she won't marry anyone but you, Prince Liang. What am I supposed to do about that?"
Bai Jingyan continued with unhurried composure.
"You have two choices, Prince Liang. If your feelings for Dong Zhengzhen are sincere, board that carriage right now. I will help you leave the capital with Zhengzhen and live out your lives as an ordinary married couple. Of course, from that moment on, the man called Prince Liang will cease to exist in this world."
Liang King straightened his back. The thought that Dong Zhengzhen might actually be inside the carriage made his pupils tremble faintly. He answered with a look of wounded innocence.
"But... I cannot leave like this, having defiled the honor of the County Mistress of Nan Tao!"
Bai Jingyan looked at the man performing the role of a kind, simple-hearted fool as though it were his true nature.
"If this comes to light, the Crown Prince will enter the palace and 'admit' that in a moment of impulse he spent a night with Liu Yafu. And naturally, he will take her as his consort. Han King will surely support his son-in-law and help the Crown Prince ascend the throne without incident. Only if the Crown Prince takes the throne will his child by Liu Yafu have a chance of becoming Emperor of Jin."
Liang King's throat went dry.
"But..."
"The Crown Prince is no fool who would simply push Liu Yafu into your hands. Her father, Han King, holds military power."
Watching Liang King hesitate, Bai Jingyan smiled and went on.
"If your feelings for Zhengzhen are not sincere, then stop here. I have no intention of meddling further — test your strength against the Crown Prince to your heart's content. Of course, since I have already chosen to aid the Crown Prince, I will naturally have to make my decision for his sake. I could have you knocked unconscious again and thrown out, or I could call for men to guard you — all until the Crown Prince enters the palace, confesses his offense to His Majesty, and requests a marriage decree.
Once everything is settled, I will release you then. Of course, there's no telling what the Crown Prince might say to His Majesty, and His Majesty may well punish you. But that much, I can do nothing about."
When Liang King kept sneaking glances at the carriage, Bai Jingyan raised an eyebrow and turned to give Nuo Ping an order.
"Show His Highness that Zhengzhen is not inside the carriage."
Liang King clenched his fists. When Nuo Ping lifted the carriage curtain and showed him the empty interior, the body Liang King had kept hunched in a show of frailty slowly straightened.
Bai Jingyan pressed on.
"What will the Crown Prince say when he enters the palace? That you sought to take Dong Zhengzhen, daughter of the Dong family, as your consort, and when you couldn't have your way, you began coveting Han King's military authority with vile shamelessness — that you drugged Liu Yafu to make her entirely yours! Liu Yafu is Han King's only daughter, so claiming her means claiming Han King's support. And the Crown Prince, having fallen into a trap while trying to rescue someone and been forced to compromise her innocence, will of course 'willingly' offer to take Liu Yafu as his consort, won't he?"
Liang King started. Yes — that way, the Crown Prince would appear noble in character, while he himself would have gained nothing and drawn only disaster.
"If you've made your decision, board the carriage. I'll help you go far away with Zhengzhen. You'll never sit on the throne, but I can guarantee you a comfortable life."
The words were practically a threat — take Dong Zhengzhen and flee, or else.
Yet Liang King still hesitated. One road remained to him. The ninth prince of Yan, Murong Li, had told him to come to his study if he ever needed him.
Liang King gritted his teeth and shot back a question.
"I must leave this instant?"
"Yes. If the Crown Prince enters the palace before you go, you won't be able to leave even if you want to. Will you still hesitate?"
Bai Jingyan arched her brow.
Liang King looked at her.
"I cannot go!"
"Don't tell me... your love for Zhengzhen was never sincere at all, and what you truly wanted was my uncle's military authority. Now that Liu Yafu has appeared, you can't be thinking she's simply more useful than Zhengzhen?"
Liang King said nothing, only clenched his jaw.
"I won't go! So stop tormenting me, Commandery Princess Zhenguo! If you mean to knock me senseless and throw me out again, then do it!"
"Just as I thought. To you, my cousin's heart was worth nothing! All that mattered was that Zhengzhen was a Dong — that she was the niece of the Governor of Dengzhou, Dong Qing'e!"
Bai Jingyan's voice dripped with scorn.
"Though I suppose the worth of a governor's niece can hardly compare to that of Han King's only daughter, who holds military power... Well, perhaps that's simply how it is."
Hidden behind the carriage, Dong Zhengzhen pressed her hands over her mouth to muffle her sobs as the tears fell without end.
"Prince Liang — do you truly believe that staying in the capital will let you beat the Crown Prince?"
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and looked at him.
"I cannot bear to see my cousin hurt, so I will drag her away by force if I must. Nuo Ping!"
As Nuo Ping approached, Liang King immediately backed away, drew his dagger from his sleeve, and pressed it to his own throat.
"Stay back!"
Bai Jingyan narrowed her eyes.
Liang King glanced once more toward the carriage. He could not lower his guard. Then, in a strangled voice, he spoke.
"If Commandery Princess Zhenguo has intervened in this affair, and I die here... do you think His Majesty will simply let you be? You are the one who banished his rightful son to exile in Lingzhou. His Majesty has despised you for a long time. If I die, you will be buried alongside me."
"Sister! That's enough!"
Dong Zhengzhen could bear it no longer. She burst from behind the carriage and clung to Bai Jingyan. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Liang King. It felt as though her heart were being torn apart and crushed.
Liang King's pupils shook violently. So Dong Zhengzhen had been brought along after all.
There was no retreating now.
With things as they were, if he could not take Liu Yafu as his consort as well, he would walk away with nothing!
Dong Zhengzhen wept, her whole body trembling. This was the man she had wanted, even at the cost of casting the Dong family into a pit of fire!
Her father's words were like a keen blade, cutting into her heart again and again. And now, seeing Liang King refuse to flee with her even under her sister's pressure, those words became iron forged red-hot in a blazing furnace, searing her heart over and over. The pain mounted until she wanted to die.
"Sister! Let's go! I'll follow you to Suyang! Please, let's go... I don't... I don't want to stay here any longer!"
Dong Zhengzhen tugged at Bai Jingyan's arm. She wailed as though her soul were leaving her body. All she wanted was to escape this place as quickly as possible.
"I don't want to be here anymore!"
"All right. We'll go."
Bai Jingyan looked at Liang King with icy eyes and spoke to Nuo Ping.
"Seize him and throw him out. Ah — if His Highness truly wishes to die, let him. We'll simply say he took his own life, terrified of the punishment that awaited him for shaming the County Mistress of Nan Tao."
With those words, Bai Jingyan boarded the carriage, taking with her Dong Zhengzhen, who hung limp and drained in her arms.
The utter absence of feeling in Bai Jingyan's cold words sent a chill down Liang King's spine.
He bolted at once.
"Follow him!"
Nuo Ping gave the order, and two guards set off in pursuit.
Bai Jingyan turned to look at Nuo Ping. He caught her meaning at once and nodded. Bowing her head, Bai Jingyan stepped inside the carriage.