Chapter 96

Yu Tianming stood silently at Sykes’s side. His gaze shifted as he looked toward the mirrors lining both sides of the palace, discreetly studying Sykes’s expression through their reflections.

This Mirror Palace was the most magnificent and opulent hall within the entire imperial residence. The towering arched windows reflected silver candlesticks and dozens of crystal chandeliers. The silent figures of the two men were mirrored within, resembling frescoes.

Sykes’s profile was devoid of emotion. From a certain day onward, Yu Tianming could no longer interpret him with ease.

More than that, there were numerous matters he could no longer influence as he once had. It was as though, from some undefined moment, he had abruptly lost Sykes’s trust.

Yu Tianming racked his mind. Though he possessed his own minor schemes, he hadn’t yet undertaken any action detrimental to Sykes. The only plausible explanation must lie within Sykes himself.

He lifted his gaze to the arched ceiling. The vivid frescoes, unusually, did not depict the legends of the God of Hope. Instead, they illustrated how the Aston imperial family had triumphed in a righteous war eight hundred years ago and led the people in founding the present empire.

He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. This dynasty was truly favored by the gods. When he had examined ancient records in his home, he discovered that five hundred years ago, prior to the descent of the aberrant realms, the Aston imperial family had already reached a dead end. The miraculous rise of industrial technology had left the common populace and emerging classes dissatisfied with the imperial family’s corrupt governance, culminating in widespread uprisings.

Just as the Aston imperial family stood upon the brink of extinction, the aberrant realms descended. The transformations they brought paradoxically granted the imperial family an opportunity to recover, allowing it to endure to the present day.

Naturally, ordinary citizens knew nothing of this disgraceful chapter in imperial history. Even he had uncovered it only by accident.

“Yu Tianming, do you know about my mother?”

Sykes spoke abruptly. Yu Tianming’s eyelids twitched. Who didn’t know that the late empress was the Crown Prince’s forbidden subject?

“The late empress was gentle and beautiful, endowed with exceptional talent. I’ve heard that during...”

The bespectacled young man spoke with caution.

“That isn’t what I wish to hear.”

Sykes cut him off coldly.

Yu Tianming discreetly wiped the cold perspiration from his temple. Behind his lenses, frustration flickered in his eyes. What was Sykes losing control over today? Did he intend to hear how he had supposedly caused his mother’s death?

“During her pregnancy, the late empress frequently traveled between the palace and the church. The elderly members of the church who still remember her all say she was a devout and compassionate believer. She often prayed alone before the divine statue and must have carried beautiful hopes and expectations for the child within her womb.”

Yu Tianming turned his head in astonishment. The Saintess, clad in white, entered slowly. She cast him a faint smile before swiftly shifting her gaze away.

Then he turned toward Sykes. The Crown Prince finally faced them. His proud and refined features remained expressionless, his golden eyes fixed unblinkingly upon the white figure. A faint tremor in his gaze betrayed the emotions he was restraining, like a tempest poised to descend.

Standing between them, Yu Tianming felt himself caught within the eye of a storm. He adjusted his glasses and decisively requested permission to withdraw. Upon receiving Sykes’s nod, he proceeded toward the palace entrance.

In the instant he passed Ye Zheng, Yu Tianming couldn’t suppress the complexity in his gaze. His lenses reflected her calm profile. She didn’t grant him even a single glance.

Yet the place where his finger had once been severed throbbed as though cruelly pinched. The unbearable phantom burn caused his fingers to twitch involuntarily.

On the day Ye Zheng had shed her disguise and raised the divine sword, his shock had equaled anyone else’s.

Sykes had never encountered that Zhao Mei, yet Yu Tianming’s impression of Zhao Mei was indelible. The ruthless youth who had once seized his throat and severed his finger in the Blood Flower Aberrant Realm had turned out to be Ye Zheng, who daily within the team donned a gentle and saintly façade?

The moment he realized Ye Zheng was Zhao Mei, Yu Tianming immediately understood that she had been manipulating them all from the very beginning.

As for Sykes, he likely still foolishly believed that Ye Zheng would stand beside him. A trace of mockery flickered through Yu Tianming’s eyes. Upon closer reflection, Ye Zheng had in fact been covertly targeting this Crown Prince for quite some time.

When he exited the grand and imposing Mirror Palace, Yu Tianming released an exaggerated sigh of relief.

Since Sykes no longer valued his past efforts on his behalf and was even unwilling to share trust and authority with him, then let the two of them clash. If Sykes remained deceived by Ye Zheng for the remainder of his life, it would be no more than he deserved.

As expected, Ye Zheng was exceedingly likely to become the future empress of this empire. There was no reason for him to antagonize her. In any case, she wouldn’t kill Sykes.

Walking along the long and empty corridor, Yu Tianming suddenly slowed. A peculiar thought flashed through his mind. Could even his present circumstances and state of mind be part of Ye Zheng’s design?

✧✧✧✧✧

The moment Ye Zheng saw Yu Tianming, she experienced a flicker of surprise. Ever since Sykes had inadvertently undergone mental treatment at her hands, he had gradually begun distancing himself from Yu Tianming. They were no longer inseparable in all matters as before.

She had already deduced the reason. Yu Tianming was, after all, the individual the emperor had assigned to Sykes, and Sykes’s present relationship with the emperor was complicated.

If Yu Tianming continued assisting Sykes with the same wholehearted devotion, it would pose complications. Even with his enhanced intellect, Sykes remained inferior to Yu Tianming in cunning.

That was why, after joining the royal team, she had been secretly and deliberately sowing discord between them, particularly targeting Yu Tianming.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, you summoned me. Yet from your expression, you don’t appear particularly welcoming.”

Ye Zheng regarded him with feigned confusion. Her clear black eyes met his without the slightest trace of guilt.

“Ye Zheng, even you’ve deceived me.”

“What exactly are you attempting to accomplish?”

There it was. As expected, Sykes wished to question her first about drawing the sword within the aberrant realm. Ye Zheng lowered her lashes and replied, “Naturally, it was to obtain what I desired.”

The blond Crown Prince strode forward. His tall figure cast a shadow. He scrutinized Ye Zheng’s face. At this proximity, he could discern even the nearly invisible fine hairs upon her cheek illuminated by the slanting sunlight, yet her expression betrayed not a single flaw.

He couldn’t read anything from her. Realizing this only aggravated his irritation.

“What you desired? The divine sword, or a loftier and more distant position?”

“For instance, the position of Pope?”

Sykes lifted his chin and looked down at her. The posture was meant to impose pressure and incite unease. He revealed the results of his investigations over the past several days.

He had initially suspected that Ye Zheng’s actions were undertaken under the church’s directive. However, his inquiries revealed that she possessed her own ambitions and wasn’t the Pope’s subordinate.

Under his penetrating gaze, Ye Zheng did indeed raise her eyes in apparent alarm. After a brief moment, she forcibly suppressed the panic and asked calmly, “Your Highness, aren’t you overestimating me somewhat...”

Sykes cut her off impatiently. “Stop pretending. You secretly investigated Wen Jian and joined forces with thugs to expose his scandals. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

For a moment, the Mirror Palace fell into silence. Ye Zheng released a helpless sigh. A bitter smile surfaced on her face, as though she could no longer sustain the pretense. There was even a trace of self-mocking amusement in her voice. “With Your Highness’s wisdom, it isn’t surprising at all that you’d know these things.”

“Hah... You’re no different from ambitious schemers like Yu Tianming and Wen Jian. In fact, you’re even more arrogant and hypocritical than they are, daring to utter such grand declarations right in front of me.”

Sykes spoke through clenched teeth, his voice sinking to its lowest register.

Ye Zheng blinked. She quickly understood what Sykes meant by those grand declarations.

This time, she was genuinely somewhat surprised. Unexpectedly, Sykes had taken her earlier words to heart, those in which she had promised to grant him redemption.

The two regarded one another as though locked in a contest of resolve. Ye Zheng was the first to break eye contact. She lifted her gaze toward the ceiling, painted with the illustrious achievements of the Aston imperial lineage.

“Eight hundred years ago, Aston the First overthrew the tyrannical and corrupt rule of the previous dynasty, liberated the people, and founded an entirely new nation. This is the glorious history your imperial family so loves to proclaim.”

“But if your ancestor had failed, he’d have been nothing more than a bungling conspirator, carved upon the pillar of disgrace in the victors’ chronicles.”

The girl spoke gently, as if wholly unaware that voicing such sentiments to the Crown Prince within the imperial palace was enough to inspire dread.

“Saintess, do you believe you can triumph to the end like Aston the First?”

Sykes didn’t erupt in fury. His expression didn’t even shift, as though Ye Zheng hadn’t criticized his forebears at all. A cold, mocking look was all he offered.

Ye Zheng wasn’t surprised by his reaction. He was a hollow man devoid of empathy, so it was only natural that he felt no sense of bloodline pride or familial allegiance.

“No. What I mean is that glory, justice, ambition, and violence can be two sides of the same coin.”

“On what basis do you deny everything I’ve done in the past merely because I possess ambition?”

Ye Zheng studied Sykes’s dazed expression. For a fleeting moment, he seemed unable to grasp her meaning. She curved her lips into a gentle smile. “Your Highness the Crown Prince, the words I once spoke to you will always remain valid. I’ll grant you fair redemp...”

“Shut your mouth!”

Sykes’s expression turned icy. With a sweep of his arm, he knocked over the nearby silver candlestick. His hand shot forward to seize the fragile neck of the girl before him. He lifted it, then abruptly restrained his bloodthirsty right hand.

“Tell me everything you know about Wen Jian’s experiments in the Western District. Stop spouting that nonsense!”

Ye Zheng nodded obediently and slowly began recounting the lines she’d prepared in advance.

The girl’s soft, delicate voice reverberated through the vast Mirror Palace. Sykes’s right hand, hidden behind his back, trembled uncontrollably. He had to understand everything from back then. He needed to know his origins.

Only when Ye Zheng’s final words had fully faded from his hearing did Sykes’s right hand finally cease trembling. He turned thoughtfully to look out the window. Beyond the arched floor to ceiling panes lay a flourishing garden, where butterflies drifted in the air.

“Using dragon bones for human experimentation. Do you think exposing this would be enough to completely topple Wen Jian?”

Sykes put on a profoundly calculating expression, which suddenly made Ye Zheng want to laugh. She pressed her fist lightly to her lips and gave a soft, concealing cough.

“Isn’t that sufficient?”

“My dear father couldn’t possibly be unaware of all this.”

Sykes withdrew his gaze from the window. His golden pupils fixed on Ye Zheng with cool indifference. “You’ll come with me. You want to drive Wen Jian out, yet you merely hide behind the scenes and scheme. Isn’t that far too convenient, Miss Saintess?”

“You mean... to the Western District?”

Ye Zheng assumed a look of surprise. “Do you know what the situation there is like?”

“You even dared to seize the divine sword beneath my very eyes and kick me down. For the sake of your glorious ambition, is there anywhere you wouldn’t dare to go?”

At last, Ye Zheng revealed the most sincere smile she’d shown since entering the palace. “You’re right. For the sake of my glorious ambition, I’d even dare to descend into hell itself.”