The only sound that could be heard for the next few moments was the hacking cough that wrecked the young maid’s body. And then chaos descended. The other maids rushed to the Empress, who was now sitting frozen. That look of shock and horror as the implications of what could have happened dawned on her. Samaya sat back and let the maids calm her down, turning her head to look at the girl who was now calming down.

However, instead of a girl begging for her life or trying to run, she saw her raise a hand up in the air, a small dagger in hand, the blade shining in the light. It wasn’t aimed at anyone but herself. Samaya moved, grabbing the hand which was on its way to plunge the dagger into the girl’s throat.

“Not so fast.”

The girl had tears freely flowing down his cheek. “Please, please, let me die. They’ll kill them, they’ll kill my family!”

“Who?” She asked, tightening her grasp on the girl’s wrist as she shook her head desperately, sobbing loudly, every other cry getting caught in her throat as she struggled to breathe. She was clearly in no state to speak and a danger to herself.

Samaya sighed. With her free hand, she struck her neck, effectively knocking her out.

She looked up at the maids, who were now looking at her with wide eyes. It was almost comical. She would have laughed if the situation was not so serious.

“One of you, go inform the Emperor,” she ordered. “And someone call the guards!”

When none of them moved, she frowned, feeling an unusual amount of annoyance burning her nerves. “NOW!” She snapped, her voice reminiscent of the countless times she led missions.

That was enough to get them out of their stupor. One of them quickly ran out.

“We will take these away-” The oldest maid began to move forward.

“No.” Samaya quickly shook her head and stood. “Do not touch them. It would be better if all of it is tested.”

Samaya looked at the Empress. “Your Majesty, it would be better for you to leave this room and go back to your bed chambers to rest. I do not think this much excitement is good for you.”

The woman, to her credit, had long composed herself. Samaya could barely tell if there was any trace of panic or apprehension in her. In this matter, the woman was similar to the Emperor.

“And you?” It was simultaneously a question and an order to answer.

Samaya inclined her head in a shallow bow, ignoring the sounds of footsteps as the guards arrived. “I will stay here until someone arrives to take this woman away.”

The woman tilted her head. “Will she wake up if you leave?”

“Well….”

That was answer enough. “Then, there is no need for you to stay here.” The Empress stood. “Come with me. I wish to speak to you.”

Was this going to be her life forever? Taking orders from superiors. Ugh, she wished she could refuse but she could find no reason to. And this wasn’t TEA where she could do what she wished while her mentor took care of the consequences. She should have appreciated the guy more.

“As you command, Your Majesty.” She bowed before looking at the guards. She pointed to the heap on the ground that was the unconscious young maid. “Tie her up. Hand her over to whoever the Emperor sends, alright?”

The guards paused and turned to the Empress, clearly waiting for her approval. Samaya admired that sort of loyalty. The woman nodded and they quickly went to work. She then gestured at Samaya to follow before walking out, some of her maids scurrying after her, while the others stayed back on her order.

Samaya followed the woman further inside the residence, passing door after door. The door to the Empress’s room was clearly identifiable by its beautiful furnishings and luxurious carvings and embroidery. The maids quickly opened the door and the Empress stepped inside. It was the largest room she had seen since coming into this world.

The room itself was spacious but it was divided into different sections. From what she could tell there were two bedrooms inside, while another room was a small parlour and the front section that they just stepped into was this room’s equivalent of a living room. It did not have the Western-style high table and chair that Samaya’s residence had. Instead, it had a low table right at the head, while behind the table, there was a luxurious low settee which was covered by soft beautiful mattresses and pillows.

The Empress gestured at the maids and they, to their credit, quickly jumped to work, going into another room and bringing out another table and settee which was set to the right side of the Empress. Ah, she heard something like this. The only one who could sit facing the Empress was the Emperor and vice versa. She did not think there was much truth to it except personal preference. After all, she sat facing the Emperor all the time and the man never said anything.

Once they were done setting - which probably took all of 5 minutes or less - Samaya sighed softly and sat down on the settee, softly thanking the maids. It was all certainly luxurious. The mattress and pillows were unbelievably soft, and covered with silk sheets and covers. The table… rosewood. That was damn expensive. It would probably take her at least six months of continuous mission for just one small chair made of this kind of wood.

Another gesture from the Empress and they were all out. It amazed her really - how well attuned these maids were to the commands of their mistress. It reminded her of being keyed into every movement of her comrades and leader, to her superiors - whether in combat or in office. Silent gestures and body language were really all that was needed.

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“You seem to have no lack of knowledge, Lady Qing.”

The Empress’s voice brought her out of her reminiscing. She tilted her head, a confused frown on her face. She had an idea of what the woman was talking about but she had a feeling she had already shaken the woman enough today, so she acted clueless.

“Pardon, Your Majesty?”

“Do not act coy, Lady Qing.” The woman’s voice was soft but full of command. “I do not appreciate being made a fool of.”

Samaya was about to respond but the woman did not let her, continuing to speak.

“You seem to have an abnormal amount of knowledge of strange things, Lady Qing. Contacts, poisons, martial arts and even unknown languages. The Imperial Palace - particularly the Imperial Harem - had always been meticulously curated and controlled. Oh there are always malicious people, but they are people whose background and intentions we can find out. You, on the other hand, are an utter enigma.” The woman tilted her head. “We have no knowledge of your existence except in QingHu and even there, barely anyone would speak of you. Just the woman who lived at the edge of the town with her son and worked at the tavern. Often, however, she would disappear for a week or two and come back to resume her work. The interesting thing is that she never seemed to run out of money for someone working in a shabby tavern in a shabby town at the border of the Empire.”

Samaya exhaled softly. That was the most she had heard the woman speak in one go. This incident must have shaken her more than she let on. Samaya could not blame her. Samaya kept quiet. She knew that a question was coming. And sure enough …

“And now this woman is in my Harem, her son a thorn in my side, creating waves while being absolutely impudent in her pursuit of protection of her son.” The woman leaned forward. “So, why on earth did she save me and my unborn child? She should be happy if both of us are out of her way. How did she know there was poison in the tea? Where did she learn the things she knows? How dangerous is she? Is it a coincidence that someone tried to poison me the one day she came to my residence? What do I make of her, when she is one of the biggest threats to my child, the very child she had now saved?”

Samaya waited for a moment. It seemed the woman was now done asking questions.

She licked her lips before speaking. “If I choose not to answer?”

The woman smiled. “I have other ways.” She tilted her head. “For example, I can ask your son.”

Samaya straightened immediately, her mouth ready to growl out a threat. The woman, however, seemed to know what she would say next. She raised a hand to stop her.

“Do not worry. I am not in the habit of hurting children. However, Prince Xu is still a child. He wouldn’t be able to keep himself from speaking under the correct circumstances.”

Samaya frowned. She … could not deny that. Manu was a strong, resilient and cautious child. But he was a child nonetheless. He could slip up. She sighed. Better for her to speak. It wasn’t as if she had planned on not answering in the first place. She had been just trying to poke the bear … or, the phoenix, she supposed.

Samaya sighed. “You should know what sort of place QingHu is, Your Majesty. It is not a place for the weak. And I had nowhere to go with Manu. The only way for me to survive was either prostitution or doing … the kind of work rich nobles like you would want done but would not dirty their hands for. I chose the latter. Please do not ask for details. I cannot tell you, for the safety of myself and my son.” She sighed. “As for martial arts, I had trained in it since I was a child. My mother was much like me, except she did not care much for her child. She abandoned me and I was taken by a kind old man who also happened to be a martial artist. He came from the West. I learned a lot from him, including that language. I taught it to my son. I thought it would be fun to have a secret language between us.” Well, that and they could talk without anyone understanding.”

“I see.” The woman frowned. “And your knowledge of poisons? How did you know that my tea was poisoned?”

“Not the tea as much as the rim of your cup.” She smiled at the woman. “You like to hold your cups a certain way, do you not? With that single flower in your palm? It is quite likely that the poison was placed on the rim. That girl had tensed up and stared at your cup when you adjusted it. I suspected something was amiss. I was not sure, however. So I made her drink it. Since she drank it without much hesitation, I concluded it was not meant to kill you. There was only one other reason someone would want to poison you.”

Samaya’s eyes travelled down to her stomach. The baby bump was only slightly visible. She was not an expert but if she had to guess, she would say that the woman was at 5 or 6 months. She retracted her eye when the Empress covered her stomach protectively.

“That is why you suddenly began to lecture me about poisons,” she realized. “You wanted to see how she would react.”

She simply nodded. “It was likely that the poisoning was arranged for today because I was coming. They planned to blame it on me somehow. The fact that I brought tea leaves was probably a bonus for them. The poison on the rim would have been washed way by the tea that you drank. The Physicians would not have found much, if any, poison in the tea. The entirety of the blame would have fallen on me and the quality of the tea I brought.”

The Empress seemed to contemplate for a moment before nodding in acceptance and looking up at Samaya.

“And my first question?”

Samaya frowned for a moment before she remembered what the question was.

“Ah! My knowledge of poisons?” She could not help the soft smirk that curled her lips. “I had some basic knowledge before-”

“From your mentor?”

She nodded in answer despite the interruption. “From my mentor, yes. But the majority of it, I had to learn during my years in QingHu since the place was surrounded by woods that had many weeds and plants which could act as both herbs and poisons. My … work sometimes involved poisons too. A… friend taught me.”

If you could call Siwang that.

“Friend?”

Oh, she wasn’t going to answer that. She could hardly say that the friend was the Leader of the Fallen Phoenix, the underworld sect that had more influence in the Empire than the nobles were willing to admit.

Thankfully, she did not have to.

The door slammed open.