Character Index
Lady Lin: A divination mage who gave up her eyes in exchange for seeing "everything".
Imperial Princess: Wenyuan's mother and sister of the Emperor, she was involved in magical research as well as investigations into the Grand Duke.
Original Author: A Caucasian man who was suddenly hit with inspiration to write a story about fantasy politics in Ancient China.
Zhou Ying: Current Emperor, uncle of Wenyuan, and father of Kuang, Yunqi, and Xianchun.
Zhou Xianchun: Former Main Character, the Seventh Prince and cousin of Wenyuan. He has yet to learn of the truth behind his mother's death.
Liu Boyue: Xianchun's best friend, right-hand man, and strategist.
Minister Liang: Minister of Justice and head of the Liang clan, Xianchun's supporter.
Jun Shao: Minister of Personnel, Xianchun's supporter.
Yu Bianfu: A female general currently serving in the Southwest, Xianchun's supporter and childhood friend.
Zhou Zhu: Xianchun's eldest son in the original timeline.
Empress Dowager Jun: Xianchun's Empress in the original timeline, daughter of Jun Shao.
Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince, son of the Noble Consort. Maternal relatives are a prominent military clan.
Zhou Chengqian: Son of the Third Prince and Cao Shuyi.
Zhou Yunqi: The Fifth Prince, son of the Wise Consort. Maternal relatives are a prominent military clan.
Qu Boyong/Xiang Daozong: Young lord of the Xiang clan, seeking revenge against the Grand Duke for his clan's extermination.
Housekeeper Wang: The Grand Duke's housekeeper and loyal servant.
Hu Qing/Liang Hongfei: Minister Liang's younger half-brother, currently serving as Kayla's retainer.
Captain Jiang: Mentioned a few chapters back, a young captain in the Imperial Guard who was in love with a palace maid. In the original timeline, he won the palace maid's hand in marriage with Xianchun's help, but Kayla has shifted events so that Captain Jiang's gratitude is towards the Sixth Princess instead.
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“Kayla. My name is Kayla.”
Even though Kayla was breaking out in a cold sweat already, Lady Lin only nodded, not at all surprised at Kayla’s declaration.
“Kayla…that is not a name from the Central Plains,” Lady Lin remarked.
“I’m American,” Kayla explained. “It’s a continent in the far west, or far east, depending on which direction you go in, on the other side of the ocean. But that’s not important right now, just how much do you know about my situation?”
“I can see traces of another time on you,” Lady Lin replied serenely. “I know little of your world, but I can trace the timeline that brought you to ours.”
“You can?!”
“This should come as no surprise. I was the one who helped the Imperial Princess create the spell that brought you here.”
Kayla gaped at the divinator in shock.
“You helped her?! Then you know of how Wenyuan–”
“I know of the events that led to and followed after his death, as well as your soul was bound to his. If you wished for answers, then you have come to the right place,” Lady Lin said.
A rush of hope surged up in Kayla’s chest.
“Is it possible for me to go back?”
“No.”
She’d half-expected it, but it still hurt to hear it.
“Then I’m stuck here, fighting for my goddamn life,” Kayla muttered despondently.
“Unfortunate as it is, there is no way to reverse soul magic without destroying both yourself and the young lord,” Lady Lin said. “Your only options are to die, or to live on as Zhao Wenyuan.”
Fuck.
“So the Imperial Princess’ spell just randomly dragged in someone who doesn’t get any say, and it’s irreversible?” Kayla asked in disbelief. “I didn’t think she was that type of person!”
“It’s not so simple, the magic doesn’t just choose as randomly as you believe,” Lady Lin said. Kayla frowned. “What does that mean? If it wasn’t random, why would the spell choose me?”
“The magic has prerequisites for the soul it takes. Magical compatibility, and situational compatibility. The first alone removes most souls from the equation,” Lady Lin explained.
“How the hell would my soul have magical compatibility? I wasn’t telekinetic or clairvoyant or anything,” Kayla protested.
“If you had those abilities, you wouldn’t have been compatible. That’s the magic local to your world. Magic compatibility chooses by our world. As for how it works, that’s difficult to say. There are no hard rules or set standards, it chooses how it chooses,” the mage said patiently.
“So you don’t know how it works?!”
Lady Lin shook her head.
“Then situational compatibility?”
“The fabric between our worlds is thinner than it would be between other worlds, that’s why this world’s events could resonate with a writer of your world,” Lady Lin said. “The writer from your world may have believed it was his own creation, but really, the events appeared to him because of his magic compatibility. Reading it increases your situational compatibility, but resonance with the events described is the deciding factor.”
Kayla rubbed at her forehead. “I have literally no idea what you mean by that.” She ran through the words a second time in her mind before looking up with a start.
Hold on, the novel was popular primarily among non-Asian readers. Most of the readers who actually spoke Chinese gave up because the author kept misspelling place names and government institutions, and that got on their nerves. Does that mean–
“Are you saying that I was chosen because I’m Asian?! That’s racist!”
“I do not understand what this ‘racist’ you speak of refers to. But the writer of your world was not from the Central Plains or even the Western Regions. He was a foreigner with colored eyes who came from a civilization even further West than the Persian Empire,” Lady Lin said with a frown. “As such, few of his audience had strong resonance with the events he inscribed. Few would have even had the linguistic compatibility needed for basic survival.”
“Fine, that makes sense. But this is so unfair,” Kayla said, still wallowing in disbelief. “No, wait. Even if that were the case, there’s no way I was the only Asian reader! A-and I’m only half-Chinese, my dad’s Malaysian! Why the hell do I even count?!”
“Malaysian? To which land do you refer?"
"Can we focus here?!" Kayla hissed.
"There were several potential souls who had high situational compatibility, but most of them were rejected due to their lack of ability to navigate the circumstances they would arrive into. Simply put, they did not have a talent for politics. You said you were a scholar of history, correct?”
“No, I was a cashier at a grocery store,” Kayla groaned.
“But you used to be a scholar of history,” Lady Lin said undeterred. “Surely that means you have at least some knowledge or skill that increased your compatibility.”
“Oh come on, there's no way that only applied to me!”
“It seems you were only the third-most compatible. The second choice was a prodigy but was much too young to bear this burden. The first choice was a man, which would certainly have made the transition easier. Whether it was bodily functions or the affairs of husband and wife, he would have been more suitable. Unfortunately, the most compatible soul died moments before the magic took effect,” the mage lamented. Kayla gave Lady Lin a suspicious stare, which the mage seemed to sense.
“Magic took no part in that. It seems his heart failed him.”
“Oh my god,” Kayla groaned. “This just keeps getting worse. Is there any good news?”
Lady Lin remained silent.
Kayla’s disbelief slowly turned into frustration.
“Fine, so no good news. Then do you have any advice for my current situation?” Kayla asked.
“You must succeed. If you fail, the stakes will be much higher than you can imagine,” Lady Lin replied. She seemed to sense Kayla’s frown at the vague but unsettling answer.
“My child, what did you think happened after Zhao Wenyuan’s death?” Lady Lin asked.
Kayla’s frown deepened as she thought back to the novel’s plotline.
“Xianchun fights with Kuang for the throne and wins, and he becomes Emperor,” Kayla replied.
“And what happens after that?” Lady Lin asked.
“I don’t know, the novel hadn’t gotten there yet,” Kayla said, growing increasingly confused. “But what does that have to do with the current situation? Are you saying that all of that actually happens? I thought the timeline had diverged enough!”
“You seem to believe that there are separate timelines,” Lady Lin observed.
Kayla gave her a look of confusion. “You said the novel was based on actual events that happened here, and that means that everything that takes place after Wenyuan’s death really took place. But Wenyuan, well, Wenyuan and me are alive right now and events have diverged a lot from the original, haven’t they? Doesn’t that mean that timeline really does exist, but separately from ours?”
“Indeed, multiple timelines can exist simultaneously, and they can be as numerous as the possibilities of every single choice compounded. However, the aftermath of the original timeline is what triggered the creation of our current reality. It’s not that we’re in an entirely new timeline, but rather, we exist in the future of that timeline,” Lady Lin said.
“I don’t understand!”
Lady Lin sighed softly. “The timeline you knew of precedes our present. It was precisely due to what happened that I chose to exchange my eyes for the power of divination."
"Then how did you foresee enough to make the soul magic before the Imperial princess' death?" Kayla asked.
"Time is not a linear thing. My actions then created a strong enough divergence that we were able to create a new path of the timeline," Lady Lin said impatiently. Even though she couldn't see Kayla's look of confusion, she seemed to sense it all the same. "If you do not understand yet, then it simply means it does not matter right now. Rather, you should be more concerned with the events necessitating your arrival into this world.”
“And what would those be?” Kayla asked warily, an ominous feeling in her gut.
“See for yourself,” Lady Lin replied. The cave suddenly went pitch black. Every source of light disappeared, enveloping Kayla in the crushing darkness.
What the fuck?
Kayla went completely still, holding her breath as she nervously fumbled for her nullification magic. Before she could use it, everything went back to normal.
“What are you-” Kayla began to ask. She was cut off as memories that didn’t belong to her slammed into her mind. Kayla doubled over, physically winded as the experiences forcefully carved out their place in her brain. It felt like someone was sawing her head apart and then welding it together again.
Kayla threw up, what little she had eaten for breakfast choking its way out of her throat in an acidic mess. Once she had emptied her stomach, Kayla found herself disoriented. Her limbs felt simultaneously too large and too small. She couldn’t even confirm where her arms and legs were, much less move them.
“What the hell is this?” Kayla managed to croak out, the words coming out as a jumbled mess. Somehow, the mage understood.
“The past that led to your present,” Lady Lin replied. “It is what happens after Xianchun dies.”
Kayla winced, feeling as though she would throw up again.
“Hold still for a few moments,” the blind mage assured her. “It will pass on its own.”
The information began to piece itself together, threading its way into a form that vaguely began to make sense.
In the first year after Xianchun became Crown Prince, Emperor Zhou Ying passed away at the age of 51. His posthumous title was created as Emperor Ruizong, and he was succeeded by his seventh and sole surviving son, Zhou Xianchun.
After three years of strife within the court, factionalism remained strong, posing a significant threat to the stability of the country. In order to solidify his power and begin enacting reforms, Zhou Xianchun’s enthronement was accompanied by a wave of executions to clear out the remnants of the Third Prince’s faction. The capital was filled with unease. And filled to the brim, the unease overflowed into the provinces. The clans whispered amongst themselves, fearful of the new Emperor’s ruthlessness. Alliances were formed, betrothals made, and the court and major clans became more united than they had ever been before.
In the second year of Zhou Xianchun’s reign, Liu Boyue was appointed as Central Secretariat, Minister Liang was promoted to the position of Secretariat Director, Minister Jun was promoted to the position of Chancellor, and Yu Bianfu became the Minister of War. The deck was refreshed, the cards reshuffled, and the dynasty was like a freshly sharpened knife poised to strike.
And yet, little came of it. Xianchun’s reforms were met with intense pushback. The military, which had adored Kuang and Yunqi and had thrived under the leadership of the princes’ maternal clans, despised Xianchun and rejected Yu Bianfu’s authority over them. Any personnel changes were accompanied by insubordination and disgruntlement, and many officers flat-out refused to comply with orders. At the borders, the sky was high and the Emperor far, and there was little Xianchun could do to rein them in without a strong support base.
The court combed through every edict Xianchun released, finding loopholes to abuse, precedents with which to contest its legality, and nitpicking through each detail in order to disparage the policy as much as possible. Xianchun grew more forceful in response, often pushing through despite strong resistance, and the court grew more unruly and resentful in turn.
Sensing the Wu Dynasty’s weakness, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate launched several successful campaigns, gaining control over key trade routes. Xianchun was furious and executed the generals in charge, which further eroded the military’s spirit.
Internally, several natural disasters pushed the palace’s control to the very brink. With an uncooperative court, there was little Xianchun could do to provide disaster aid, leading to widespread hunger, followed by plague. Within a decade, the Wu Dynasty was the epitome of external dangers and internal strife.
Repeated failures and the constant battle of wits and will with the court and military took a significant toll on Xianchun’s health. He constantly overworked himself, adding frost onto the snow, and passed away in the thirteenth year of his rule, at the age of 41. His posthumous title was created as Emperor Suzong, and he was succeeded by his eldest out of four sons, the ten-year-old Zhou Zhu, who ruled with the help of Empress Dowager Jun. Faced with a tumultuous court that had no intention of complying with their rule, the widow and child had no choice but to overturn the vast majority of Xianchun’s reforms in order to gain the support of the officials and the clans, rendering Xianchun’s efforts null.
And yet, it was not enough to reverse the tides of fate. Finally having escaped Xianchun’s dogged determinedness, the clans gained more power than ever before, while the military splintered into regional factions that were only nominally loyal to their child Emperor. A long stretch of severe winters in the North led to large-scale invasions along the Northern borders as well as famine and plague within much of the country, all of which the central government was helpless to handle. The dynasty quickly devolved to the point of collapse.
When the roof leaks, it’s sure to rain all night. None of this was the limit of the dynasty’s misfortune. Over the course of all these years, Kuang’s son, Chengqian, had grown into a young man within the walls of a monastery. With the help of discontented military officers who had supported his father and Yunqi, Chengqian managed to escape from the heavily surveilled temple and started a rebellion.
To the populace, who had been the greatest victims of Xianchun’s fight with the court, one royal was the same as another. Chengqian was the grandson of Emperor Ruizong, just as Zhou Zhu was, and only one of them had proven incompetent so far. The rebellion gained immense support from both the peasants and the military. Unsurprisingly, it proved greatly popular among scholars as well, many of whom had studied under the Cao clan. Chengqian didn’t bother attacking strategically important cities or fortresses, heading in a beeline towards the capital.
Empress Dowager Jun and Zhou Zhu had a weak hold to begin with. They had practically no method of withstanding Chengqian’s onslaught and fled the capital with a small portion of the court. The city fell without resistance, and Chengqian established himself as the new Emperor, while Zhou Zhu’s administration holed up in the south, naming Nanjing the capital of the government-in-exile. The Southern government would have been eradicated within the month if Chengqian hadn’t become otherwise preoccupied with another invasion from the Northwest. By the time Chengqian was able to catch his breath, the Southern government had managed to gain enough footing to face him off.
Unable to wage war on two fronts, Chengqian focused on securing the Northern borders and dealing with the numerous internal issues Zhou Zhu’s administration had left behind, and the country became officially split into two parts. Zhou Zhu died young at the age of nineteen, leaving behind a single daughter. Civil war broke out, each of Xianchun’s remaining sons propped up as puppets by ambitious officials who wanted power, and the Southern Dynasty soon splintered into three, then four, and eventually five separate parts as everyone scrambled to make their claims.
In the Northern Dynasty, Chengqian fared better for a time but eventually began losing ground to invasions from the North and Northwest. He passed away after three decades of rule, leaving his country to his teenage son. Though the boy was far from incompetent, he continued to suffer a series of defeats. The Northern Dynasty’s troubles were compounded by numerous peasant uprisings in response to consecutive years of heavy taxes, which had gone to funding military expenditures. Between crushing uprisings and defending the borders, the young Emperor led a life of extreme stress and overwork, dying only six years after taking the throne. He was succeeded by his younger brother, having had no sons.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Kayla took a panicked breath, cold sweat dripping down her face as the memories stopped readjusting themselves in her mind. The rest of the information had devolved into flashing fragments, none of which looked remotely good.
This? This is the future he killed so many people for? She almost couldn’t reconcile it with the world she had come to know.
Kayla opened her mouth to speak, the acidic feeling in her throat preventing any words from emerging coherently.
“I understand that you must be very shocked,” Lady Lin said gravely. “Even I cannot see what happens after that, other than that it leads to chaos and bloodshed. This is why you were brought into this world, to prevent this from happening. The identity of Zhao Wenyuan is one of the few key figures who could gain the necessary amounts of influence to change the course of events.”
Kayla frowned. It was true that the Imperial family had a shortage of men in Xianchun’s generation, since none of the Archdukes had any sons who survived into adulthood.
“Qu Boyong is also a maternal nephew of the Emperor,” Kayla said raspily.
“Indeed, but his foundation is much too weak to be of any use, and his heart is too narrow to accomplish anything great. It is not his fault, revenge is his duty as a son of the Xiang clan, but it was foisted upon him too early and consumed him too thoroughly,” Lady Lin replied.
Kayla frowned. “Then what about the Archdukes?”
“They’ve been excluded from politics too long to effectively intervene in the succession struggle,” Lady Lin said.
Which essentially only left Wenyuan as someone with a background strong enough to intervene within the critical timeframe.
They don’t even need Wenyuan himself, just his identity, Kayla realized, wincing to herself.
“Then what should I do?” Kayla asked. “I’m still alive, doesn’t that change things?”
Lady Lin slowly shook her head.
“No.”
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The Grand Duke lay on his bed, propped up slightly by cushions. The skin of his right arm had become discolored and shriveled, and it was now difficult to move the entire right side of his torso.
“My lord, there’s really nothing I can do about your arm,” one of the healers said apologetically, his colleague nodding.
The Grand Duke waved his other hand, and the servants escorted the healers away. Once they were alone in the room again, Housekeeper Wang approached him and spoke in a low voice.
“What shall we do with the healers, my lord?” Housekeeper Wang asked.
“They’re too famous to get rid of, have them swear magical oaths to silence.”
“Understood, my lord. Also, we’ve finished taking inventory, and most of the scrolls in the study were damaged beyond repair,” Housekeeper Wang said quietly. “Shall we re-encrypt the remaining ones?”
“Dispose of them, none of those are worth keeping. It wouldn’t even matter if they’d been stolen, encryption or not,” the Grand Duke replied. “More importantly, have the scrolls in the vault been re-encrypted yet?”
“The mages will be finished by the end of the day,” Housekeeper Wang assured him. “None of those were damaged, and there were no signs that the vault had been discovered.”
“If it were that easy to find, then I would’ve spent all that money for nothing,” the Grand Duke retorted.
“Of course,” Housekeeper Wang hastily agreed.
The Grand Duke stared at the canopy of his bed, his eyes sharpening with cold fury. Unlike the roaring rage of usual, the Grand Duke’s killing intent was now concentrated with a crystalline clarity. Housekeeper Wang couldn’t help but fidget nervously at the sight, even if the Grand Duke was bedridden.
“I put the vault there specifically because it would be difficult to discover. Countless intruders have gotten into my study, whether by trickery or by force, but not a single one has thought to check the floorboards. The more someone wants to climb higher, the less likely they’d be to look beneath their feet…but it seems I’ve made the same mistake with Wenyuan,” the Grand Duke said.
Housekeeper Wang pulled at his collar, sweat beading at his collar. “N-no, certainly not,” he protested feebly.
“To think that I’ve kept him under my roof for twenty-five years and never knew he had such a card up his sleeve,” the Grand Duke continued, ignoring Housekeeper Wang. “Nullification magic? Even I have to be impressed that he’s kept it secret for this long. That boy isn’t just like me, he’s well on his way to surpassing me.”
“That’s impossible! In his bones, he’s still just a coward who's only blustering with the palace's support!”
The Grand Duke shook his head slightly. “Wenyuan can endure everything, precisely because he hasn’t given up on anything. Men like that are the most dangerous. So long as they’re alive, they’re certain to keep coming for your neck when you least expect it. Since that brat has left the capital by his own will, see to it that he doesn’t return unless it’s in a coffin. No, even if it’s in a coffin, make sure his corpse doesn’t remain intact. If he wants to come back, he’ll have to do so in pieces!”
“As you wish, my lord. I’ll make the arrangements,” Housekeeper Wang said, sweat dripping down his brow.
“When the mages have finished re-encrypting the scrolls, send them on their way,” the Grand Duke added, meaningfully stressing his final words. Housekeeper Wang bowed his head, understanding that it was the path to the Yellow Springs that the mages would be embarking on.
“I will see it done,” Housekeeper Wang promised.
The Grand Duke closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath. Picking up on the dismissal, Housekeeper Wang bowed and backed out of the room.
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In the darkness of the cave, Kayla gave Lady Lin an incredulous look even though she knew that the blind mage couldn’t see her expression.
“What?! What do you mean it doesn’t change things? Haven’t events diverged enough from the original timeline?” Kayla demanded.
“If the Seventh Prince’s rage is allowed to fester and smolder, it’ll become an all-consuming fire that drives the country to ruin no matter what. Your current path does not avoid it, merely alleviate it somewhat,” Lady Lin replied.
Kayla gave her a look of disbelief. “I’m literally about to kill the Grand Duke! Does that not work?!”
“No,” Lady Lin said flatly. “You are unable to cut the grass and destroy its roots, only burn at the surface without truly removing the danger. Your actions so far only delay the inevitable, but barely so.”
“I’m already trying to destroy his evidence!” Kayla protested.
“It is not enough,” Lady Lin said firmly.
“How could that not–oh my god,” Kayla groaned, her head beginning to throb with a dull pain. “Do you even know what happens?!”
"Indeed, I can see the paths of the future as they stretch out before us, especially with you sitting right before me. Your arrival into this world has made it more difficult for me to see as clearly, I had to exchange years of my own lifespan to learn of this."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kayla replied, not feeling particularly sorry. "May I ask what you saw?"
“Look into the future and see for yourself,” Lady Lin replied. “This is the result of your current path.”
The cave was once more plunged into darkness. Just because Kayla knew what was coming next didn’t mean she was any more ready for it to hit. She found herself retching onto the cave floor again, feeling somehow even worse than last time.
The events of the original timeline had surfaced as abstract knowledge accompanied by brief flickers of images and sounds, most of which had been distant and blurry, but Kayla’s own future flashed in and out of reality itself, enveloping her senses.
Kayla gave a garbled sound of alarm before the vision dragged her into the brittle fragments of her future memories.
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Kayla’s grand plan of assassination worked out just when she’d expected it the least. Hu Qing finally found a chance to poison the Grand Duke while the old man was drinking medicine, after a string of well-timed but extremely unlikely coincidences came together to make it possible. Since it took place the day before Kayla's engagement was announced in court, the matter of Kayla’s political marriage was pushed back until after the one-year mourning period Wenyuan was obliged to observe as the Grand Duke’s legal grandson.
The rest went according to plan, flashing past her in bits and pieces that melded into each other. Kayla held the funeral, gained access to the Grand Duke’s study, and “uncovered” significant evidence to implicate the Grand Duke and his core supporters. The crimes she selected were severe enough to warrant their deaths but not the extermination of their clans. Everything proceeded as planned–the guilty were executed and their assets seized, and Kayla was lauded with praise from the palace for valuing justice over familial ties. Things seemed to be heading in a good direction.
And then Qu Boyong somehow managed to uncover evidence that the Grand Duke had framed the Xiang clan, and that Kayla had helped cover it up. He had been left unsatisfied with the Grand Duke’s death and secretly teamed up with Xianchun without Kayla being any the wiser. What she had feared the most ended up happening anyways. The Grand Duke was posthumously convicted for crimes that warranted the extermination of his clan to the ninth degree, and Xianchun learned of the truth behind his mother’s murder
Trying to reorient her spinning head, Kayla squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment and opened them to find herself standing in a market square. Her body felt simultaneously too big and too small, feeling as though she would burst out of her skin and that she couldn’t control the enormity of her personhood all at once. The shock from the scene before her only served to make it worse.
Kayla’s body was shaking from head to toe, out of both cold and fear. She found herself staring at a mass execution, watching with blank horror as the members of the Zhao clan were beheaded in batches. Screams and cries mingled in the air, forming a cacophony of terror. It was raining. The sensation of raindrops pelting her face sent a shock through her body.
I’m not actually here, she forced herself not to panic, but it felt so real that she could barely convince herself otherwise. Her thin white robes were splattered with blood, and a continuous pulsing sensation went through her hands, accompanied by a dull sense of pain. The skin on her right hand had been scraped right off, exposing the bloody flesh of her palm.
A eunuch approached her. She vaguely recognized him from the Inner Palace but felt nothing but fear at his arrival. The eunuch didn’t look her in the eyes, his face solemn and downturned. He held out a goblet of wine, and Kayla took it with shaking hands.
Death by poison was already a mercy compared to the fate of decapitation.
This is how I die? Hu Qing’s not going to make it time. In time for what, Kayla only had a fleeting idea. She lifted the poisoned wine to her lips slowly and unsteadily, steeling herself for the inevitable, only to have it knocked aside at the last moment. The goblet clattered across the ground, the wine mixing with the blood pooling across the square.
“Stop! The Emperor has granted clemency to Zhao Wenyuan!” An Imperial Guard that Kayla recognized as Captain Jiang shouted, holding up a golden plaque. Ignoring the murmurs of confusion and surprise from the executioners and guards around them, he grabbed Kayla by the arm and bodily dragged her from the square. Kayla stumbled over fallen bodies, her shoes and the bottom of her robes sloshing in the mixture of rainwater and blood. Captain Jiang practically lifted Kayla off the ground, shoving her into a carriage before speeding off toward the Imperial Palace.
Kayla was pulled out from the carriage by two Imperial Guards and rushed into the Inner Palace. She neither protested nor resisted, numb with shock and fear. They stopped just outside the steps of the Emperor’s study where the guards proceeded to push her to her knees. The Emperor emerged, descending the steps in a rush. He stopped just short of Kayla, his face completely pallid.
“Wenyuan,” he said, the rest of his words blurring together with the sharp ringing in Kayla’s ears. She could intermittently make out some of what he was saying.
“...spared for your contributions to the...demoted to commoner status...you are prohibited from contacting any officials of the court…forbidden to leave the borders…and never to return to the capital.”
Kayla barely understood any of it, Captain Jiang gently pushing her to bow her head. She complied, straightening again to the tearful visage of the Emperor.
“I’m sorry, this is all I can do,” the Emperor said, sounding incredibly defeated.
Why? Despite her curiosity, Kayla couldn't voice the question.
“This lowly one thanks Your Majesty,” Kayla replied mechanically. She was once again pulled to her feet. The Emperor reached out but hesitantly lowered his hand before he could grab onto her, and Kayla was rushed back out of the palace. She didn’t look around or glance back, and didn’t register where the carriage was heading, only knowing that it was speeding out of the capital.
The carriage jolted to a sudden stop, nearly launching Kayla from her seat. She looked around in bewilderment, freezing at the sound of a familiar voice.
“Zhao Wenyuan! Show yourself!”
“Your Highness, you can’t do this!” Captain Jiang pleaded.
A cold shock of fear ran through her spine at the murderous rage in Xianchun’s voice.
“Get out of the carriage, you coward!”
Kayla cautiously lifted the curtain a little to peek outside, quickly drawing back at the sight of Xianchun brandishing a sword. She curled in on herself with instinctive horror.
“My prince, the Emperor has issued his orders. If you insist on continuing, you will be going against an Imperial Edict,” Captain Jiang said firmly. Xianchun carried on for a while longer before backing down, likely having been persuaded to stop by Liu Boyue. The carriage took off again, the journey blending into a blur. Kayla buried her face in her hands, desperately hoping that none of this was really her future.
She lowered her hands and found herself standing before the carriage as it prepared to head back. She had been unceremoniously dragged out of the carriage and dumped on the ground, still covered in the blood of the Zhao clan members. She looked around at the unfamiliar environment with trepidation. It was a dusty stretch of road, with a few scrawny trees sparsely scattered here and there, with reddish hills in the far distance.
Captain Jiang gave her a polite nod before departing along with the rest of the Imperial Guards, leaving Kayla completely alone in the middle of an empty road. With no possessions and no buildings or people anywhere in sight, Kayla chose a direction at random and began to walk.
She blinked, and the scene had changed. She was now sitting on one of the hills she had seen from afar, a warm cloak draped over her blood-stained robes. Hu Qing sat next to her, patiently wiping clean the blood from under Kayla’s fingernails. There was an unusually somber air to him that was jarring to see.
“It’s not the end of things, my lord,” he comforted her.
“Just call me Kayla,” she found herself saying in response. “I’m not a lord anymore.”
At Hu Qing’s confused look, she sighed. “It’s my nickname. It’s…um...a foreign name. From the West.”
Hu Qing nodded, not questioning it any further. He seemed relieved that she was even talking.
“A name from the Western Regions? It sounds nice. Here, have some water.” He handed her a water bottle, and she took a long sip. Clouds hung heavily over the horizon, reeds bending against a harsh wind. Looking at them in dazed confusion, Kayla felt hopelessly lost.
“What do I do now?” Kayla asked.
Hu Qing watched her with an unusual stillness in his gaze. “How about heading North? The nomadic tribes don’t care as much about the ongoings of the capital, and we’d be harder to find in case anyone wants to try anything. You already have a name ready, so why not?”
Kayla nodded. “Alright. But what about you?”
“I’m coming with you.”
The simple words offered more certainty than anything Kayla had managed to grasp.
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Cultural Notes
中原/Central Plains: An Ancient Chinese geographical concept that can be used to refer to the area from which Chinese (mostly Han) civilization originated, as well as (in comparison to other countries) the entirety of China. In its most narrow definition, it refers only to Henan Province. In a broader definition, it contains Henan province, Shaanxi province, Hebei province, Shanxi province, Shandong province, the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the northern parts of Anhui Province and the northwestern parts of Jiangsu province. In its broadest sense, it refers to everything south of Mongolia, north of Southeast Asia, east of the Badain Jaran desert, and west of the Pacific Ocean.
西域/Western Regions: A broad term referring to much of Central Asia and Western Asia.
大石帝国/Dashi Empire: The term used for the Persian Empire during the Tang Dynasty, broadly used to include the Sassanian Empire and its successors.
Srivijiaya: The Tang Dynasty (618-907), which the Wu Dynasty is roughly based on, corresponded with the Malay empire of Srivijaya (approximately 671 to 1288). There were records of trade and travel between Srivijaya and the Tang Dynasty, and historical records also indicated separate diplomatic relations and trade with the regions of Kelantan and Johor, respectively in the Northwest and South of the Malaysian Peninsula. In other words, the concept of Malaysia that Kayla is using is a relatively modern concept that would not emerge for centuries yet.
睿宗/Ruizong: A posthumous title used for Emperors. Posthumous titles usually also served as summaries and reviews of an Emperor's life, and one could have several of them. Ruizong is a good posthumous title, usually used to refer to an Emperor who was filial and humane/kind/benevolent.
肃宗/Suzong: A posthumous title used for Emperors, it usually refers to Emperors who attempted to achieve a second Golden Age but failed to do so. It is commonly used with some degree of lamentation, as in "well, at least you tried".
Can Headstrong Emperors Succeed at Reform: I'll come back to this point later on as well, but the general trend is that if a headstrong emperor wants to initiate reforms, his success depends on the strength of his political faction and how long they've been in power. If you already have a strong support base, you're fine. If he does not have a strong political base, then his success depends on whether he can build up one while carefully strategizing to get rid of his enemies. Simply killing a bunch of people doesn't tend to work out too well, especially when you're not prepared to fill in the power vacuum.
Take Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, who was known to forcibly push through his reforms despite heavy resistance from the court and nobility. His success was because he had already been working in court for decades, and had a strong support base in both the military and the court. On the other hand, Emperor Shunzong of the Tang Dynasty tried to initiate reforms but was forced to resign in a coup, in part because his body was too weak to fuel him through the continuous high-stress political battles, and more importantly, because his support base was almost entirely composed of civil officials, with no support from the military. Of course, even if you have both civil and military support, as well as the necessary amount of political skill, you might still fail if the central government's control has already eroded beyond what you can reverse. Xianchun's failure counts as a combination case of having no military support and lacking political acumen.
Overturning reforms for political support: This happened a few times throughout Chinese history, this was often done out of necessity, but sometimes done just to further cement one's own popularity. In particular, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty overturned most of the reforms instituted by his predecessor Emperor Yongzheng even though his own position was really quite secure already.
天高皇帝远/Sky is high and the Emperor is far: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning that it is easy to do your own thing when far from the central government's control. Since communication technologies weren't too advanced, it was much more difficult to administrate the remote provinces.
Limitations of the 和亲/Political Marriage Policy: Marrying princesses into other countries usually had a lot of limitations in terms of success. In many cases, it only had the effect of temporarily delaying war instead of forming a proper alliance.
内忧外患/Inner troubles outer dangers: A Chinese proverb referring to a situation where a country is facing both internal and external troubles.
孤儿寡母/Lone child and widowed mother: An Ancient Chinese proverb used to refer to a widow and her child, usually in a pitying manner.
小冰河时期/Small Ice Age: A climate pattern often known as the "Small Ice Age" refers to when there is a significant and large-scale temperature drop in the North, encompassing Siberia, modern-day Outer Mongolia, stretching all the way down to the South, where there may be snowfalls in temperate rainforest climates. This usually results in a famine among the nomadic tribes due to the effect this has on the grasslands, and further cripples the agricultural economy in Northern China. If famine results in high numbers of deaths, especially in cases where so many people die that nobody is burying them, this often leads to a plague.
Usually, the cold will also force small rodents and other animals to migrate Southwards, often bringing new diseases to people who haven't encountered them, which compounds the plague and worsens the famine as people who can work the fields die. Hence, we see Southward invasions by nomadic tribes who have been forced to seek survival by going South, which compounded with famine and plague in Northern China, results in mass migrations of refugees, which then overloads the Southern provinces and leads to widespread poverty, plague, and famine. This is just a very generalized pattern, upon which we have seen many variations. But generally speaking, it's something that could overwhelm even a robust government, much less one that has already been forced onto its last legs.
屋漏偏逢连夜雨/When the roof leaks, it just so happens to rain throughout the night: An Ancient Chinese proverb that is the equivalent of "When it rains, it pours." It is the upper line in a couplet, the latter line of which is "船迟又遇打头风/When your boat is already running late, you catch a wind that blows in the opposite direction [of where you want to go]". In other words, the compounding of misfortune has the effect of pouring oil on a fire.
Successfully rebelling as a member of the Imperial family: So Chenqian's rebellion strategy is based on that of Zhu Dai, the third Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. He overthrew his nephew in a rebellion, giving up on gaining control over key strategic cities/fortresses and instead charging straight toward the capital, a risky strategy that worked wonderfully in his favor.
斩草除根/Cutting the grass and destroying its roots: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to destroy a problem at its roots.
野火烧不尽，春风吹又生/The grass cannot be destroyed by the wildfire and grows again with the spring breeze: An Ancient Chinese proverb from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi. The two lines are taken to refer to the vitality/survival of something even after it is destroyed. In Kayla's case, it refers to her problems with Xianchun, though this proverb can also be used in a positive manner as well.
送你上路/Send you on your way: A Chinese saying that can mean exactly what it says, but can also serve as a euphemism for sending someone off to the next world (whether through active murder or by bidding farewells to a dying person).
黄泉/Yellow Springs: An Ancient Chinese phrase referring to the afterlife.
不留全尸/Not leaving an intact corpse: Having your corpse dismembered was considered a horrifying fate, and was often tied in with folk beliefs and religious traditions as well.
Mourning rules for grandchildren: Mourning rites were three years for one's parents, but one year for one's paternal grandparents.
赐毒酒/Bequeath poisoned wine: A more "merciful" way of executing a noble by allowing them to commit "suicide" and die in a more dignified manner than decapitation.
贬为庶人/Demote to commoner status: A punishment in Ancient China for nobles and officials who have earned titles. This meant you now faced new limits in what you were allowed to wear (ex: some colors, fabrics, and designs would become off limits), what you were allowed to use (ex: depending on the dynasty, certain luxury goods would be prohibited to commoners), and you would have to show deference to officials and nobles who used to be your peers or even ranked lower than you. Most importantly, you would usually have your assets confiscated and would no longer be entitled to your previous stipend/salary/whatever other forms of income.