The princess, in a hirious bout of pride, refused to summon or call Three all day. Instead, she hurried about, working non-stop, unable to accompany her mother’s corpse. She even had to inform her father, Prince Qingzhong, and her brother, the Sixth Prince, personally of the emperor’s new decree.

  It was then that Three understood just why the Third Princess hadn’t dared to kill her despite her hatred.

  She literally had no-one around her. Not even a loyal maid.

  Honestly, it was to be expected given the woman’s terrible personality and temper. Would it have killed to smile? Really?

  Instead, the maids and servants reported directly to her father — the blind man so determined to prove his harmlessness he would let a mouse run free. Even if it was eating his rice.

  ‘Father,’ the princess said, ‘please commission an ancestral tablet to add to the family shrine. We need to purchase incense, a coffin, white mourning robes and burial goods. Not to mention, the whole estate must be covered in white, while the reception hall be prepared for guests in the afternoon —’

  Three, lying on the pace roof, silently lifted a bck tile to peek. The blind man, probably in his forties, was gently running his fingers over a ft cy face. The painted mask was that of the deceased general, Jian Rongyi’s, incredibly lifelike in making; the expression on it was not smiling, nor sad. Rather, it was indifferent and cold. Much like the man who held it.

  The prince said to his daughter, ‘It has already been done. As for the mourning arrangements, Chanzui has already given his guard directives.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ The princess’s face turned cold. ‘My brother? Who told him about —’

  ‘I did.’ The prince paused, his unbound bck hair sliding over his frail shoulder. If he had been any skinner, he would just be hide stretched over bones. ‘Besides, you underestimate the power of shadow guards. Learn to use yours, child. Treat it well before it tries to bite.’

  ‘Father, that woman killed my mother. It is because of her that mother must suffer this dishonour, even in death!’ The princess snapped, ‘I can barely tolerate her existence. I want her dead. And you expect me to treat her well?’

  He shook his head and calmly said, ‘No. I’m saying that you should only torture it to death once it has no value.’

  Three couldn’t believe that these two were actually reted. How in the heavens did her master learn that fiery temper? Both her parents were expressionless blocks of ice, anyway.

  ‘I am going to support your brother,’ the prince said. He unerringly fixed onto the princess’s face — if it weren’t for his blindfold, Three would have believed he still had his sight. ‘My maids, my servants, my wealth. Your mother’s, too. It will be in his hands, and you will get not a single tael or coin.’ His fingers tightened on the cy cast’s brows. ‘That guard… is all you have. Make use of it well.’

  The air, then, turned into a muddy ice-slush that even Three’s thick skin could feel.

  The two in the room stared at each other — one still, the other blind, both with words stuffed down their throats like fishbones.

  Then, his daughter walked out of the study. Calm, like the surface of a frozen ke.

  Three followed her through the rooftops, then switched to the underbelly of the bridges.

  The princess walked all the way to her quarters, sitting down in the study. The study, just like the rest of the house, was interesting as boiled water. Pin white with a few boxy dispy shelves, the entire room was devoid of any sense of happiness — that ck of joy itself was probably the princess’s entire personality.

  ‘Three,’ the princess called.

  Vaulting in through the window, she rolled into a kneel at her master’s feet, her eyes rolling even harder. ‘Yes, Your Highness?’

  The princess flinched, surprised, but quickly schooled herself. Taking a step back, she said coldly, ‘Kill yourself.’

  ‘Understood.’ Three lifted her hand, fring her fingers out into cws. Muscle memory overtook her racing heartbeat. She swiped at her neck —

  ‘Stop.’

  ‘Understood.’ She lowered her hand — her nails had pierced the skin on her neck, leaving five stinging red dots. If her master had been any slower, she’d have torn out her own throat. She spat with a snarl, ‘So indecisive, Your Highness. One would think you had the decision-making capabilities of a toddler —’

  ‘Would you have killed yourself at my order?’ The princess narrowed her eyes, a peculiar glint in her pupils. Perhaps she couldn’t decide whether to smile or not; her lips kept curving, then fttening.

  Oh, Three wanted to punch that smug look hard.

  ‘Sure.’ Impatience boiling up her throat, Three snapped, ‘You see, Your Highness, I’m a shadow guard. What a shock! I serve the throne with both life and death. Surely, you have the awareness to —’

  A fist smmed into her gut.

  Another into her ribs.

  A set of hands around her throat, smashing her onto the floor.

  Pain radiated off her bruises. She gasped for breath, hands ft by her side, a fish on a chopping board.

  The princess’s foot, cd in an embroidered silk shoe, dug hard into Three’s chest as she snarled, ‘Then, Shadow Guard, obey my orders. Never attempt to harm me. Do not speak or communicate with others unless I permit it. Do not py those pranks of yours on me, or anyone, for that matter. And keep yourself invisible unless I order you otherwise.’

  Hah.

  ‘Fine,’ Three hissed back, ‘my second master.’

  The princess stomped down on her chest, hard — pain fshed through her as she yelped. Then, a smile back on her face she spat, ‘Every order you give me, I’ll follow it — until the emperor returns me to her service. You are no true master of mine!’

  The princess almost ughed with anger. ‘Don’t you even dare think of yourself as my servant. You took away my only umbrel, the only roof over my head. You are but the paper tiger sworn to protect me!’

  She sneered — yanked the other’s foot, a hand shoving the princess down. The woman let out a shriek only to gasp as Three caught her head before it could hit the ground.

  Her heartbeat pounded like a galloping, terrified horse in her hands. ‘You —’

  ‘I didn’t hurt you,’ Three whispered, her knees rubbing dirt into the other’s white robes, ‘And I’m not pranking you. I’m demonstrating my capabilities, wouldn’t you say?’

  The princess shoved her away, shooting up to stand as she opened her lips to snarl —

  ‘Or would you rather I hide all of them?

  That snarl turned into a fuming silence. ‘You little whelp,’ the princess hissed. Then her hand flung out, as though to strike Three’s face —

  But then it stopped, the anger dissipating from the princess’s cheeks like smoke. It was repced with a weariness that sat almost too comfortably in the hollowness of her face.

  Then a burning, soft ball was thrown into her face.

  A meat bun.

  It was still warm. Spongy and a little burned, but nonetheless cooked — the heat seared the skin of her cheeks.

  The princess let it fall, only for her to catch it, much to the other’s ire.

  ‘Here, little dog,’ the princess said. ‘Your breakfast.’

  Three chuckled.

  She took a big bite.

  The bun’s skin was soft and thin. She bit down, burning herself in her haste. The sweetness of it, the salty meat and oil, washed over her tongue, the heat filling her nose in a suffocating white steam.

  Her stomach, having fallen asleep since the almond biscuits, awoke with a roaring start. Hunger struck her like a rampaging horse, stealing away her breath and taking in the burns, even if only to swallow a little faster. She bit down, faster and faster —

  Then, the bun was gone.

  She looked up at princess. The woman’s face was a little disgusted, but upon feeling Three’s eagle eyes, she smothered it with a bnket of indifference. ‘Your manners are horrible. Improve them.’

  ‘Is that an order, Your Highness?’ Three cocked her head, rolling her eyes. ‘If you so desire, this humble servant could carry a set of chopsticks around to eat peanuts with. I couldn’t possibly smear Your Esteemed Highness’s eyes with such filthy habits again.’

  ‘Shut it,’ the princess snapped. ‘Tonight, the mourning feast will be held. Stay on standby.’ Getting up from her chair, the princess walked out the study door with an ice-hard spine and thin shadow.

  Before she shut the door, she said, ‘Three. Don’t die.’ A smile. ‘I want to kill you myself.’