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Chapter 1

My previous chapters were very short and full of errors so I tried to write longer version with less mistakes. Hope this new version will make more sense.

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Midnight, the way a big moon in the sky was illuminating the whole City of Tetra, it was almost blinding. The whole city looked like a masterpiece. The trees, lakes, fountains and those lofty palaces on the top of the mountain looked like a jewel crafted crown made by some mysterious person. A cool breeze carrying an unknown sweet fragrance created the whole atmosphere even more enchanting.

Everything was dazzling under the silvery veil of the moonlight but most dazzling pieces were the palaces on the top of the city. Those lofty palaces were the center of attention of this magnificent scenery. Each one of them were crafted with extreme precision and beautifully. White light was reflecting from of the white jades on them. However the one of them stood out even more with a scarlet bronze reflection like ruby within pearls. That palace was called Crescent Moon's Peak palace, nobody knew who named it, but it was built for one favoured Empress years ago. This palace was made from white gold and luxurious sandalwoods while the interior of the palace was decorated with different types of corals. Once it was one of the beautiful palaces within the city. However, now days it was left in negligence and was given to an unfavoured prince for living purposes.

As the time passed a scarlet reflection from the palace shone even brighter. Even a child could tell from it, a fire has started in the palace of crescent moon's peak.

The palace was very quiet than usual palaces, a household of five people was living in it. Other than prince, there were two maids, one steward, one cook were living in it. There were no guards at this palace. That was a perfect example of what kind of treatment the prince was receiving from the Emperor. Well, no one could complain, as the prince could not speak properly from his toddler age. His head was no good. So people called him retard prince.

Burnt smell of sandalwoods covered the whole palace. There were charred wood columns everywhere. Even walls made with White gold started to melt in this scorching heat of those flames.The fire already spread towards inner quarters. Strangely enough, no one was shouting for help. The whole situation was very eerie and it looked like someone used a sleeping curse over this palace.Suddenly a scream of a child can be heard from one of the chambers in the north.The chamber was a very simple for a prince. Most of the furniture already caught on fire. The supporting beams of the chamber were about to crumble at any moment. In the middle of the room there was a wooden bed, and which already caught the flames on its leg posts. Top of it a little boy wearing a simple embroidered cotton clothes was screaming to the top of his lungs while struggling to get up with all his might. The boy was about eleven years old, with a small and petite body structure. Head full of deep scarlet red hair with a small, delicate translucent snow white face. A pair of silver coloured eyes was showing a full of struggle.

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"It is so hot in the room. I opened my eyes abruptly to find my room is filled with smoke and I was alone in the room. Without a doubt, Fire, somehow my room caught on fire.

I yelled towards my steward and maid, but no one replied, as waiting for them will cause my life to meet its end so I tried to jump out of my bed but I felt my body was not moving either. Suddenly a thought chilled my spine. Assassination. But why? I never left the building even once since I was small. I could not think of anyone who held a grudge against me, but now is not the time to ponder over it, I must get up."

At that time somewhere else, two men in white was kneeling in front of a young man with a luxurious robe inside a luxurious mansion.

"Master, we have dealt with the problem."

"Any witness?" the young man who seemed to be the young man aged between fifteen or sixteen years spoke with a charming voice.

"None to be found. A pinch of Night leaf powder is strong enough to make everyone to fall asleep for eight to ten hours the least. Cook was very stubborn at first , but It was not that hard to force him after we threatened the him with his son and wife's life.

Rest assured, when morning comes only ash will remain instead of the palace. Also to be precise we used the gravity charms on the bodies to restrict any movements."

"Good, good, that loathsome prince is better off dead than living. If you want to blame, blame the Grand Empress Dowager for giving you the Marquisate of Luan. If that was not enough, she was even trying to make a marriage match between the heavenly daughter of Prime minister Gu and you. Whole Capital knows how much I adore her. If my mother did not inform me, I did not even know about this scheme. Not giving me face, Let's see what she can do after that trash is dead."

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Head Eunuch Lei was reading in his study when an assistant informed him that a patrol guard was sent by the patrol captain with an emergency report for his majesty. After hearing from his assistant old Eunuch immediately went to meet the man.

Eunuch Lei was serving the previous emperor when he was sent to serve a toddler. After more than fifty years of service, old Lei had seen and heard many things. But after hearing the report the usual calm and composed eunuch suddenly started to panic. His whole body trembled from head to toe and his skin colour turned all white suddenly.

"Heavens......

This is bad.

This is seriously bad news.

How did this happen? For how long?"

As the patrol guard left after finishing his report, old Lei immediately called out the surrounding royal guards.

"You all immediately head towards Prince Shen's palace. Patrol guards reported a fire started in second prince's palace. Get more men if you need also take plenty of buckets and ropes with you."

As the royal guard left, he immediately strode towards the imperial palace.

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"I really pray, it was an accident, if not I would not even dare to imagine the consequence."

Imperial Palace of Yu Dynasty was the biggest and grandest buildings within the City of Tetra. It was the most lavish palace, which belonged to the emperor Himself. It was made with white jade stones and blue crystals, the walls were adorned with rubies and diamonds. There were heavy chandeliers along the hallway. Doors were made with white gold and emeralds where windows were covered with polished painted glass. It was truly one of a kind.

Inner chambers were even more captivating. Each room was different from each other. Styling, decoration and even flower arrangement were different.

The largest chamber was the sleeping chamber of the emperor.

Craftsmanship in this room was extraordinary compared to others. Gold and silver peony flowers were crafted on the walls. Where the floor was shaped like a blooming lotus flower. A water channel was encircling the entire chamber like a real pond. A gold plated dragon bed was in the middle of the room. Thousands of rose petals were floating on the water, making the air very fragrant.

"Forgive us for the rudeness for waking you up, Your Majesty, " a few eunuchs and few guards was frantically pleading in front of the closed door. As the head eunuch entered in the room, he immediately kowtowed in front of the bed.

A man who was sitting on the bed after waking up in the midnight had an annoyed expression on his face, beside him, a young beauty who was trying to wrap herself in the white silk over the bed.

As it was still dark in the room, features of the emperor are still not prominent enough, but by the body shape he looked like a healthy male in his late thirties. A head full of long crimson hair that tied loosely on the back of the head and a jade like body was enough to tell he was handsome enough to swoon a lot of women's heart.

Emperor Wei worked very hard at night and just recently closed his eyes for the night, so he was fuming inside. He glared at the old Eunuch below roared in a deep voice.

"What is it? What made you to barge into my sleeping chamber after midnight. You better have a proper explanation."

"Informing Your Majesty, a fire broke out inside the Crescent Moon's Peak Palace. I already sent men to control it, however, patrol report showed the fire was fierce, so no one could get inside of the palace as of yet. So we cannot decide the percentage of the damages. However Your Majesty, we are also uncertain about the condition of the second prince."

"Second Prince? That retard kid? I was not even sure he was still alive until you spoke of him. Hmph, If Grandmother did not favour him, I doubt he would have lived till this day. How dare he made a fuss in the middle of a night.

So what do you expect me to do in the middle of the night? You already sent the men towards the palace so it was already taken care of. Send few more men to control the damage, so fire does not spread to any other palaces. It will be a pity if we lose that grand palace. As for the boy, If he dies today send his corpse to Grand Empress Dowager. I doubt she will live here any longer after his death. If he lives inform that to grandmother that too. That time that Jing woman dared to seduce me, I never favoured her after that child turned into a fool and sent her to a nunnery to pray for his life. If Grandmother did not intervene, I would have killed both mother and child long time ago. Second prince, what second prince. Loathsome Jing clan's blood. How could a waste like him even born in my bloodline. Hmph. Now leave, You are disturbing our sleep."

Emperor pointed his index finger towards the door.

"Emperor is wise. This servant will leave now."

Hearing all this, head eunuch shivered internally and removed himself from the chamber.

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A bright red coloured sky in the north can be seen from the Phoenix Crown Palace. A gorgeous female adorned with exquisite jewelries and pearl encrusted gold crown, wearing a gaudy silk robe was watching the scene from the terrace. A sneer came upon her lips.

" I never received the love I was longing for from my man because of your family. You even forced your family on my son's life. Now you still wanted to meddle in my grandson's happiness? You should not blame me for being heartless."

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Treasure Palace was also called Exalted palace by the people of Yu Empire. This palace was the residence of the second most powerful person other than the Emperor himself, the most revered Grand Empress Dowager of Yu Empire. One command from her could entirely upside down the entire Yu Empire. Even Emperor did not dare to challenge her commands. She usually did not interfere with the current emperor's decisions, but the whole royal court knew this as a fact.

It was already night time, many of the palace servant were preparing themselves for sleep. As the lights of the palace were being put out, the bright red sky in the north became more vivid. One maid who noticed it earlier, ran to report it to their superior.

"Grand Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, a fire started in Prince Shen's palace", an extremely good looking handmaiden dressed in a blue silk urgently entered inside the old dowager's chamber to report their Mistress, who was resting on a couch wearing white robe. Her hair was let loose on the floor, a simple ruby encrusted hairpin was tied with those long hair cascade.

Old Empress Dowager did not look like an old woman from any angle, she still looked like below forty years old beautiful maiden. Long golden hair, with snow white skin, a pair of silver eyes made her extremely enchanting to look. She was the biological paternal grandmother of the Emperor and great grandmother of all the princes and princesses. One might get confused after looking at her young age, but only a few of the old royal family members and servants knew she was a cultivator and an elder from a grand sect.

She also hailed from Jing clan. After her son ascended to the throne, she thought to make her life easier, so she picked a girl from the Jing clan as Empress for his own son He. However, the majority of the court officials rejected the idea to balance the relationship of the imperial family with the other noble clans within the empire. Though the late Emperor chose a different Empress, he always loved the Jing Princess but sadly princess suddenly passed away. When current crown prince Wei ascended to the throne he took many concubines and one of them from Jing clan as well. However, as the son of the current Empress dowager he hated the Jing clan to his bone even Grand dowager knew it very well, So when the relationship between the Emperor and Shu Fei turned sour, she openly supported the mother and child in their critical times. She wanted the mother and child to get a better life, however, that irked the Emperor so much that he sent the mother to the nunnery and house arrested the child.

After hearing the news from her personal maiden, the old woman could not rest any longer and stood up.

In the last eight years, nothing happened in the little prince's palace as he was under her protection. However, she maintained her distance to make the life of the prince easier. Every day she sent a person to check on palace. Today was also the same. The people in the prince's household were very trustworthy. They never neglected their duties to serve the prince in past years.

As a great grandmother of imperial household, the wise old woman was almost certain that the fire did not just started randomly as in imperial household most of the accidents were happened to be man made.

Seeing the old mistress stood up, the beauty who was respectfully kneeling on the floor immediately stood up.

"Mistress, please, do not be agitated, I, Rong Jing will immediately bring the prince in front of you."

Grand Dowager looked at the pretty maiden below, and said in very icy tone.

"He was my responsibility."

Then she stomped on the floor and with a "whoosh" she vanished from her chamber. Someone had the courage to harm someone who she was protecting. They really were tired of their good life. She was boiling inside with hatred and anger.

The maiden looked at the direction where the Dowager stood a moment ago and commanded to all the ladies in waiting in a somber voice.

"Prepare a well lit room for his highness and call for the imperial healer immediately."

After giving the order she immediately left for the kitchen to inform the cooks. The whole palace instantly became very busy.

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