“What… what is going to h-happen now?”

Samaya looked back at Rin, who had now unfurled slightly from her previously huddled form but was clearly still frightened if the trembling of her shoulders was any indication. Lady Ren was immediately beside her, rubbing her arms gently. She did not know how a servant like Rin got close to a noble lady like Ren Siyun, but it seemed that the girl had a special place in the lady’s heart. That was good. Rin needed all the support he could get.

“Go bring a glass of water,” she told one of the maids standing to the side. The maid seemed to frown for a moment before she bowed and left and Samaya sat herself down on the bed.

“Now… we fight.”

Rin looked up at her with wide eyes. “F-fight?”

Samaya nodded. “I know it is scary. The Kangs are a powerful family after all. You and I … we seem like nothing compared to their status and power, don’t we? Ants standing in front of elephants.”

“Elephants?” Rin seemed confused.

Ah. It seemed they’d never heard of elephants.

“Very large creatures, can crush dozens of men at once when they are big enough.”

Rin's breath hitched.

“Lady Qing.” Ren Siyun’s voice held a tone of scolding as she called her name.

She smiled and gently took Rin’s hand. “But do you know what happens when ants get into an elephant’s ears?” She asked softly. “It would not notice at first. But soon … soon it would start to get irritated, it would get stressed, shake its head like a lunatic to try and get rid of the ants. If the ants go deep enough, it will go crazy enough that it might bash its own head in on something. Some ants, if they reach deep enough, can kill elephants in an instant.”

She wasn’t entirely sure how much of that was true. She did hear some story or the other about an ant getting into an elephant’s ear and somehow getting it killed from one of the resident nerds at TEA, and she was just exaggerating it. But what mattered was that she said it with confidence, enough confidence that Rin would believe her and be assured.

“We may be the ants and the creature in front of us may seem like a giant. But all we need to do, sweetheart,” she reached out and gently pulled at the girl’s earlobe, “is get into its ear.”

She paused for a moment before squeezing her hand. “It is going to be hard. You will have to speak up in the court, in front of all those people, in front of Kang Yanxin and his father. I know you are scared. If you’d rather not do it, I understand. I will not force you to. The petition was done on my behalf, so I am the only one who needs to be present.”

Rin was silent. Lady Ren did not pressure her to speak and neither did Samaya.

This was a tough decision to make and Rin was the only one who could make it.

“You do not have to give me an answer,” she said and stood. “There are still a few days left before the trial. You can come to a decision by then. You don’t have to tell me. I will wait for you outside the court. If you do not arrive by the time the trial begins and I am summoned inside, I will go alone.”

Rin looked up with wide eyes, “Alone? B-but… they … you cannot…”

Samaya tilted her head. “Are you worried about me?” She smiled. “Don’t be. Did you not see what I did in the Inner Court? Believe me, I will be perfectly alright.”

She patted her head. “Do not worry. Eat well and get rest. I will make sure that man is punished for what he did to you.”

On an impulse, she dropped a kiss on the poor girl’s head before she walked out, Ah-Liu following close behind.

Once she reached her residence, she had all the maids go out and sit down in the parlor. Her residence itself was soundproof but she had Ah-Liu slap some talismans on just in case.

“What are you going to do?” Ah-Liu asked softly. “Wait for Rin to come around?”

Samaya shook her head. “No. She needs to make this decision herself. I am not going to force her to come. I would be no better than that bastard.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. She was trying to do this by the book, no matter how painstaking it was. She pushed down the urge to sneak into the Kang mansion and just slit the bastard’s throat. That was too fucking painless for a fucker like him. No, he needed to be publicly humiliated and punished. And the best way to do that was the Emperor himself.

She looked up at Ah-Liu. “Did you go and find out what I told you to?”

Ah-Liu nodded and sat down opposite her. “Yes. There is this tavern he goes to almost every day. His father scolds him for it as it is an uncouth establishment full of commoners and merchants.” Oh yeah, the nobles looked down on merchants. Why - when most of their trade and income depended on merchants - Samaya had no idea. Something about dealing with money being “crass” and “beneath their station.” Bunch of idiots.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“He gambles there. Then he goes to the Purple Pavilion. The day he wins, he hires a woman.”

She blinked. “The Purple Pavilion? That’s the one Hualin works at.”

Ah-Liu nodded. “Yes. He has not hired her yet, but she has seen him around. He likes to take the elegant ones who play hard to get. Sometimes leaves them bruises, if he’s too drunk.”

Samaya felt digust rise in her. God, it wasn’t like there had ever been a shortage of this kind of man. She should be used to this by now. But the way these kinds of men always managed to get her blood boiling was astounding.

She sighed. “Let me guess, he did not go to gamble that night?”

Ah-Liu shook his head. “No. But he did go the next day and…”

He paused, hesitating

“And?” Samaya prompted.

“Apparently, he bragged about eating a recently ripened forbidden fruit. Something that belongs to someone else…”

Samaya clenched her fist. That was definitely Rin that the bastard was talking about. A young woman on the cusp of adulthood, someone who technically belonged to the Emperor and could not be touched without the Emperor’s permission. Samaya resisted the urge to snort. Fat load of good that did.

“That would not prove much. Is there anything else?”

Ah-Liu frowned, shaking his head.

She sighed. “Did you manage to convince anyone to testify?”

“Yes, one of them.” He nodded. “A waiter. Apparently, Kang Yanxin got handsy with his sister too. Her parents had to marry her off out of the capital to save her.”

“He agreed? That easily?”

Ah-Liu shifted his eyes. “I may have… persuaded him a bit.”

Samaya frowned and sighed. “You used your … illusion thing, didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “Not really. He was already angry. I just gave him a little push.”

“Ah-Liu,” she leaned forward and stared him right in the eyes. “I do not understand your power. But I remember Siwang explicitly telling you to limit the use of your mental powers. It is bad enough that you used it to get into the Palace but you can’t just keep using it willy nilly.”

Ah-Liu was silent, firmly looking away.

“What about the maid? Did she agree?”

The boy gave a small nod.

“And? You used that on her too?”

Silence.

“Ah-Liu!”

“It was the only way!” The boy looked back at her. “You needed witnesses and this was the only way I could get them to agree so fast! I did not force them. I just pushed their already existing emotions a bit. I will be fine!”

Samaya paused. Ah-Liu rarely lost his composure, but when he did, he was like a child. No, he was a child. Samaya always leaned on the boy to do things for her, now more than ever. With how mature and competent the boy was, it was so easy to forget that this boy was barely even sixteen. He was a teenager who should be out there living his life and making stupid mistakes but instead, he was here, stuck in this stifling Palace, doing her bidding, trying to repay a favour that he thought he owed her.

“Ah-Liu.” She took his hand. “I appreciate what you are doing for me. But you are wrong. What I need is for my family and my loved ones to be safe and sound. That includes you. I need you by my and Manu’s side. I need you to grow old. I need you alive, well, healthy … sane. Do you understand?”

Dark qi took an immense toll on one’s mind and soul. And if one used dark qi to fuel mental powers, it could easily turn into a backlash if you did not control it well enough. The best case scenario? You went mad, the harmless kind. The worst case scenario? You went mad, the psychotic kind. You'd be a danger to yourself and others and kill dozens - if not hundreds - of people before someone managed to get you down. None of those were fates she wanted for Ah-Liu.

“Do you understand?”

Ah-Liu was silent and unmoving for a long moment before nodding reluctantly. Samaya made a mental note to herself to be a bit more open with Ah-Liu, to make sure the boy knew that his life was precious too.

“Good. What is done, is done. Now that they have agreed, can you make sure that they arrive at the court safe and sound?”

Ah-Liu gave a small nod and patted the boy’s head.

Things were falling into place.

She had not shown it, but she had been quite anxious that she would not be able to arrange things so quickly for the trial. No matter how much she scolded him, Ah-Liu was truly a godsend.

Now, she would have to anxiously wait for the day of the trial.

Time seemed to stretch on and shorten at the same time.

The wait seemed excruciatingly long and yet like nothing at all.

The day arrived without any pomp or grandeur.

It arrived with a sense of unease permeating in the air.