Chu Qiao was actually awake all along. She was just not willing to open her eyes. She knew that people were moving around her; some of them were calling out to her, crying their eyes out. Some of them fed her medicine while others looked at her silently, not approaching her.

　　She was aware of the things happening around her, but she was unwilling to wake up. She drifted in and out of her sleep; her heart felt cold and devoid of any nutrients. She experienced the same nightmare repeatedly; in her dreams, it was icy cold. She floated aimlessly in that pitch-black icy lake as fragments of shattered ice brushed against her skin. Zhuge Yue was facing her as he sank to the bottom of the lake slowly. A glimmer of light shone behind him, illustrating the paleness of his face. His eyes glowed with a degree of brightness, like stars in the sky. His expression was neither joyful or angry, but calm. He looked at her silently as he sank slowly…

　　It was the first time in her life that Chu Qiao felt so vulnerable. She felt unbelievably fatigued as she wanted to sleep for the rest of eternity. There was no longer any meaning in life. Those dreams and beliefs, which she had held so stubbornly close to her heart, were mercilessly shattered. She did not want to think about them anymore, nor did she have the strength to. She no longer had the courage to open her eyes and face the reality in front of her. She wanted to escape; she had become so weak to the point that she thought closing her eyes would allow her to pretend as if nothing had happened. At this instant, she finally realized that she was a woman. She was able to feel pain, sadness, sorrow, and desperation. She refused to eat or drink, and swatted aside any attempts by others to feed her medicine.

　　It remained like this until one particular day, where it was unusually noisy outside her door. Someone was cursing at her loudly; countless vile words spewed out of his mouth, stabbing at her heart word by word. That voice was familiar, which caused her to open her eyes wide. She climbed out of her bed only to see that Zhu Cheng’s body had been pierced by an arrow.

　　The young butler, who was not versed in martial arts, was heavily wounded. His clothes were torn, tattered and bloodstained. He was like a lunatic. Despite having one hand sliced off, he attempted to dash into her room in fits of madness. Fresh blood splattered across the stone steps of the courtyard. His eyes were bloodshot as he cursed non-stop, while he used his remaining solitary hand to attack the servants beside him. The servants did not attack him as they only tried to prevent him from getting close to the house. They knocked him to the ground and watched on coldly as he picked himself up repeatedly.

　　“You vicious, ungrateful woman!” Zhu Cheng hollered. His body was heavily wounded and frostbitten, as pus accumulated on many parts of his body. It was evident that his bare skin had been exposed to the cold snow for long periods of time, resulting in his injuries.

　　Lü Liu held onto Chu Qiao, as she struggled to cover her eyes with her quivering hands. However, Chu Qiao stood upright and still, like a sharp spear. She did not move as she saw Zhu Cheng being struck to the ground and getting to his feet repeatedly, dashing towards her.

　　“Stop it,” Chu Qiao said in a low voice. “Stop it!” she suddenly hollered again, pushing Lü Liu aside and running outwards. The winds outside was cold. She ran towards Zhu Cheng in a fit of madness, pushed aside the servants who attempted to stop her, and shouted, “Stop it, all of you!”

　　“I’ll kill you!” Zhu Cheng exclaimed and stumbled towards her clumsily with his sword. Chu Qiao stood rooted to the spot. In that instant, she was no longer the agile modern-day agent. She did not dodge as she saw the sword flying towards her head.

　　However, as the sword sliced through her clothes, a sharp arrow flew through the air and pierced through Zhu Cheng’s heart with precision. Blood spurted out of the young butler’s mouth, onto Chu Qiao’s face. The man’s body jerked as his pupils dilated. His knees buckled as he collapsed onto the ground. Chu Qiao held on to him as she saw the hateful look in the man’s eyes. With his last breath, he spat out a mouthful of blood-stained phlegm onto her face and cursed, “Sl*t!”

　　Thud! Zhu Cheng collapsed on the ground, causing dust to fly in the air. Like small winged insects, they stuck onto Chu Qiao’s face. She looked up slowly, seeing Yan Xun’s cold face in front of her. As Yan Xun put down his bow and arrow, he walked over to her solemnly. Looking down at her, he said in a low voice, “I have informed the world that you laid this trap for Zhuge Yue and killed him. This man accompanied Zhuge Yue to Yan Bei, hence he arrived here quickly. I estimate that in a few days’ time, the assassins belonging to the Zhuge family will swarm this place. However, I have assigned many people to protect you. You do not need to worry.”

　　Chu Qiao looked at Yan Xun. In that instant, she felt as if she did not know who he was. She tried to recall, and opened her eyes wide to look at him. However, she felt a blinding headache. The sunlight shone on his body; the radiance caused her to be unable to open her eyes.

　　The servants dragged Zhu Cheng’s corpse away, leaving a trail of blood behind. The hateful look in his eyes was still there, as his eyes were still wide open; he seemingly wanted to devour her.

　　Yan Xun promptly left with his men. The courtyard started to quieten down. The servants fetched many pails of water and poured them all over the floor, trying to scrub away the bloodstains on the floor. Chu Qiao stood rooted to the spot. No one dared to disturb her. Lü Liu approached her carefully and tugged at her sleeve, calling out, “Miss? Miss?” The wind blew across her body as she felt its coldness. Lü Liu shook her arm slightly as her voice appeared slightly choked from crying.

　　Suddenly, the sounds of an angry, young man came from outside the door. AhJing cursed at the servants who attempted to stop him as he walked in, taking big strides. When he saw Chu Qiao, he felt a sour feeling in his nose. Disregarding everything around him, he picked Chu Qiao up and walked into the house. It was cold outside, while Chu Qiao only wore one solitary layer. The maidservants rushed to her side in a state of panic as they tried to warm her up, while she allowed them to do anything to her, as if she was a dead person.

　　“Miss, don’t be like this,” AhJing said to her with bloodshot eyes. “It’s not Your Highness’s fault. It’s all Cheng Yuan, that evil person, trying to sow discord. Miss, you must be stronger.”

　　AhJing’s voice sounded distant. Chu Qiao turned around and looked at him suspiciously. After a long while, she said slowly, “What about He Xiao?”

　　Her voice was hoarse, like a shattered wind box. AhJing was dazed as he did not understand what she meant. He answered in a silly manner, “Ah? What?”

　　“What about He Xiao? The soldiers from the Xiuli Army? How are they? Did anything happen to them?”

　　“Nothing happened,” AhJing answered hurriedly. “Nothing happened to them. They are in the martial arts hall now. They wanted to visit you, but Your Highness stopped any visitors from doing so as you are still recuperating.”

　　“Oh,” Chu Qiao nodded silently. Calmly, she asked, “Are all of Zhuge Yue’s men dead?”

　　“They’re all dead. The majority of their bodies have been fished out of the water. Some have sunk too deep, so we did not manage to retrieve them. Thinking about it, I don’t think they survived either.”

　　“What about Zhuge Yue? Has his body been retrieved?”

　　AhJing licked his lips as he saw Chu Qiao’s calm expression. With a low voice, he replied, “Yes. General Yue has been tasked with returning his body to Xia. Zhao Che will pick it up personally. In addition, the Zhuge family have given us a million taels of gold for preserving his body.”

　　Chu Qiao’s expression remained unchanged as she nodded repeatedly. AhJing continued nervously, “Miss, don’t worry. No one destroyed his body. It was in good condition when we escorted it back. Your Highness prepared a high-grade coffin too…”

　　“He’s dead already. What use is a coffin for?” Chu Qiao retorted plainly as she stood up. She had not eaten anything for the past six to seven days, save for a bit of medicine at the start. She felt light-headed as she walked, nearly falling over to her side. Lü Liu walked over to support her, but she brushed her aside. She stumbled over to the study table and picked up a brush as she prepared to write something.

　　“I’ll prepare some ink for you,” Lü Liu ran over to her side and remarked.

　　The door was still ajar. As the wind blew inside, it messed up the papers on the table. Lü Liu ordered the maidservants at the side in a hurried manner, “Close the door!”

　　When she lowered her head again, Chu Qiao had finished penning her letter. She put it in an envelope and handed it over to AhJing as she said calmly, “Please pass this letter to He Xiao and tell him to follow the instructions written on it. Tell him to prevent the assassins from the Zhuge family from entering Yan Bei.”

　　AhJing was dazed as he received the letter from her. Chu Qiao promptly wrote another letter and handed it over to him as she continued, “Please pass this letter to Mister Wu and tell him that there is only so much that I can do, but that there are a lot of other ways to achieve his beliefs. I have already planted some pawns in Shangshen. I’m handing that place over to him now.”

　　Subsequently, Chu Qiao started to write a third letter. “Pass this to Huanhuan and tell her that I’m counting on her.”

　　An unpleasant premonition started to brew in AhJing’s heart. The man asked frankly, “Miss, are you going to commit suicide?”

　　Chu Qiao looked up at him. The look in her eyes was still as bright as ever, but AhJing felt that it was no longer the same.

　　Yes, it was no longer the same. Back then, Miss was calm and composed, but when she looked at you, you would feel her sincere emotions. Now, even if she looked at you, you would not be in her line of sight. Although she looked at you, it seemed to penetrate through you, through your body, through the house, through the walls of the courtyard, into the clouds and the sky far away…

　　“No,” Chu Qiao replied calmly. She turned back and gestured towards Lü Liu, “I’m hungry, bring me something to eat.”

　　Lü Liu was stunned. After a long while, she obliged happily and ran out of the room.

　　The dishes had been prepared beforehand and were still warm. Lü Liu and the other maidservants spread them out across a big table beside Chu Qiao while she exclaimed excitedly, “Your Highness ordered someone to prepare these dishes. Miss, you’re still recovering, it’s best to eat this. This is the medicine prepared by Physician Yu, it’s good for the stomach. Miss, you have not eaten for a few days, you can’t eat too much meat. This is the chicken soup that I brewed personally. I put it over the fire for 22 hours. Take a sip…” Lü Liu’s voice slowly faded away. She looked on helplessly as Chu Qiao picked up a bowl and started to eat with robot-like movements. She gorged herself with rice as she chewed and swallowed in large mouthfuls. In no time, she had devoured an entire bowl of rice. She stood up and refilled her bowl, sat down, and continued to eat.

　　The sight of her eating was frightening. She behaved like a beggar who had been deprived of food for a long time. She stuffed the food into her mouth non-stop, which scared Lü Liu out of her wits. She wanted to restrain Chu Qiao, but Chu Qiao ignored her. Lü Liu bit her lip as tears streamed down her face. She tugged at Chu Qiao’s arm and cried out, “Miss, if you’re sad, just cry it out. Don’t suppress your emotions, it’s not good for your health. If you’re sad, just cry it out!”

　　Chu Qiao remained silent as she continued to eat in that robot-like manner. It was as if she wanted to swallow her pain along with the rice.

　　The house was silent, save for Lü Liu’s sobs. AhJing held the three letters in his hands as he felt his fingertips turn cold. He wanted to say something as his gaze met Chu Qiao’s cold gaze. The young lady looked up and remarked, “Please leave.”