1 Prologue

Hui Ying Au, the loving daughter of a disloyal bureaucrat, and an artist with many secrets that could put her life in great danger, hopped in the saddle without looking back. Her father called out, but she dared to break the law that rules their land. She had every right to know what happened to her mother.

Sharp arrows rained at her path; it was her father's loyal soldiers. Yes, her father can kill his legitimate daughter. Why? Because he also had the authority to shut off someone's life when a secret had been discovered. It was like a fire being extinguished.

Her eyes were emotionless as she stared at the wet road; her father knew the horse's weakness. But she manages to let the horse listen to her body language. She then grabs her tai chi sword on the left side of the saddle while turning around as the horse keeps moving, facing her father's soldier; the expected consequence was her freedom's ending.

She should have let her father know her weakness; Hui Ying Au imagined how everything would turn out if she was stupid. The soldiers were aiming at her; they were focused on not letting her escape as they surrounded her in every corner; her pale skin, thin brows, and light brown killer gaze were dead cold. Finally, the horse stopped in front of a complex wooden gate; her lips gradually curved up, and she gave her father's soldiers a creepy smile. There was no sign of a single movement, only their breathing in silence could be noticed. Her ebony brown hair was short but enough to fight back. There was no indication that she had feared; she was delayed in saving her mother's life, with a father loathed the emperor and a situation that got her father furious when he realized that his daughter was also a threat.

Hui Ying Au was aware that her father would be against her, emotionally and physically, since the day her mother did not show up for five months, pretending to know nothing, after her father nearly sacrificed --her mother's life. Perhaps he was trying to make her blind but not fast enough to stop her from seeing the truth; if hardships came to her then let it be since there was not a string of it that she would let through. Because there was no doubt that she would make him satisfied, he knew there was no one to be her backbone. However, she let her sword greet the soldiers that were surrounding her. Time slowed down. It allowed her to recalculate her movements.

Only by fighting back would she give herself peace because it would be an unsolved feeling if she made herself sit still and let them capture her. She looked across them again and again until she formed a second to none compact smile on her thin lips as she slightly adjusted her arching back, "Only the heavens rule in taking a person's life." She told them as an indication of a challenge.

If her mother could not avoid her father's wrath, then she must make a massive difference that a daughter can, and it would be interesting if the emperor's loyal guards were there too. At least, before dying, Empress Dowager must know her situation.

"Father, if you hear me, I have one last card that will cause both of us to die!" An arrow passed through her right cheek; she focused on the soldier, which released an arrow, and then more arrows rained again. She moved her hand along with her sword swiftly. It was an act of objection. Not because she knows that secret but because she is a disrespectful daughter who considers herself a savior with her father's current circumstances. She thought it would bring peace in the household with such an essential secret in their life that anybody would tell and expect everything would be alright. Yet, she was wrong while trying to predict that she would be able to survive another day afterward.

"Really? Tell me what you know, daughter." Her father showed up between the soldiers in front of her. She furrowed her brows.

"I cannot believe you are my father; I must have missed a day knowing you. You were never like this before—oh right, you were good at showing fake sincerity, just like what you have done to my mother. Please tell me how you keep smiling at me when you have done something wrong that the emperor did not even notice. Because you have been hissing around, father. Same with the dead snake I killed yesterday."

Mister Au just watched her; still, she did not wince. Even she gained bruises from the arrows that kept coming at her. He did not care to command the soldiers to stop. She continued shielding herself with the sword—a lotus and grey butterfly, as the mark on the handle meant only royal blood could hold it. She found out that her father was a rebel prince, not just any official. And there were more secrets that she could not handle. For heaven's sake, she was also a princess.

"You talk back now, huh? Are you happy to know that you are a princess?" Her father just does whatever he likes to do. He asked her with a cheeky tone and dared to throw a stone at her. Fortunately, she made a quick move on the front, enough to break it into half in mid-air. She carefully put the sword's tip on the soil where she stands. Her father did not know that the daughter he thought of as weak would be more dangerous than she could be. She could pretend to; besides that, she could also make her father's luxurious life disappear in one word; She may not be one of those higher ranks, but at the least, in the household, she was still his daughter even if she was not part of his pride anymore. Which dragged them both into a clash, and she was genuinely disappointed. The only thing that mattered now was saving her mother even if death tried.