Chapter 35: Nightmare

Luo Shangyu followed the eunuch into the inner palace.

After winding through the corridors for a long time, they arrived before a palace hall.

The eunuch opened the door for Luo Shangyu and made a gesture of invitation, “Please.”

“The Emperor is here?” Luo Shangyu looked at the slightly small hall, feeling a sense of strangeness in her heart.

She stepped cautiously into the grand hall.

The light inside was dim, and before she could take more than two steps, a chill washed over her entire body.

It was a signal of danger!

Luo Shangyu turned to leave, but the hall doors had already closed at some unknown point.

She drew her staff and surveyed her surroundings alertly.

A bizarre sensation enveloped her.

Her body went into a sudden spasm, and she collapsed to her knees on the floor.

‘This is bad!’ Luo Shangyu felt an unbearable surge of pain bloom in her chest.

While it wasn’t enough to strip her of her ability to resist, it heavily affected her mind, causing her will to waver.

‘This is a trap!’ Luo Shangyu struggled, trying to crawl toward the door to escape this terrifying place, but a voice suddenly rang out.

“Stop!”

Luo Shangyu’s already weakened willpower was instantly shattered.

With just a single word, she was frozen in place.

“Tomorrow during the military parade, find the right moment to assassinate Qin Yu!” the voice commanded her.

The voice seemed to possess some sort of magic; the words were carved deeply into her mind.

In her current state of weakened will, she had no way to purge the influence of that sentence.

‘Dammit…’ Luo Shangyu thought of Qin Yu dying a tragic death at her hands and closed her eyes in agony.

She felt as though this was some kind of magic that had planted a mental seal within her mind.

As long as that mental seal existed, she would carry out the command of that voice no matter what.

Thinking that Qin Yu was about to die by her own hand, Luo Shangyu struck the ground helplessly.

She tried to use the pain in her hands to refocus her attention and regather her willpower to break the mental seal but it was all in vain.

“Forget everything!” After the voice spoke, everything around her returned to normal, and the pain in Luo Shangyu’s body vanished instantly.

Her whole body trembled as she lay on the ground in a daze.

She remembered nothing of what had just occurred.

“What happened…?” Luo Shangyu stood up in confusion.

She only remembered walking into this hall just now, and then for some reason, she was lying on the floor.

The palace doors opened, and the eunuch from before walked in and said, “Your Highness, His Majesty has matters to attend to and cannot see you. You should return to the East Palace.”

“I see…” Luo Shangyu pondered the strange scene that had just unfolded.

What happened after she entered the hall?

She felt as if she had overlooked something extremely important.

With a heart full of doubt, Luo Shangyu returned to the East Palace.

The moment she stepped into the main hall of the East Palace, Qin Yu rushed over excitedly and said, “Luo Shangyu! Guo Qing has confessed and named all of Qin Yi’s accomplices!”

“You interrogated him?”

“No, Guo Qing is a complete coward who fears death. He gave them all up the moment he was captured.”

“That is truly wonderful!” Luo Shangyu said, looking at Qin Yu’s smiling face.

She couldn’t bear to ruin Qin Yu’s good mood, so she buried her recent encounter deep in her heart.

***

The entire afternoon was spent with Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu discussing the details of the upcoming deployment.

Han Youcheng only needed to lead the expedition as the commander, but Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu, who remained in the rear, had many things to consider.

They worked until late in the night before they finally finalized every detail, including the transportation of military rations.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Qin Yu said, rubbing her eyes, which she could barely keep open.

“Yes, I’m so sleepy…” Luo Shangyu nodded in agreement.

The two lay on the bed in the bedroom.

Luo Shangyu extinguished the lamp, and the room fell into darkness.

After a long day, the fulfilling work had left Qin Yu too exhausted to think about anything else.

She fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.

In her daze, Qin Yu felt herself sitting on the dragon throne in Weiyang Hall, looking down at the hundred officials kneeling on the ground.

Qin Yu snapped her eyes open and realized that the officials, who usually stood during court sessions, were all kneeling together on the floor.

She surveyed her surroundings and found that the guards, who were usually respectful, now had their Modao unsheathed.

The blades glinted with an eerie, cold light as they surrounded the officials.

The person standing before her was none other than Qin Yi.

Qin Yi wore the Emperor’s dragon robes, his hands behind his back, looking like a man who held total power.

Qin Yi was naturally taller than Qin Yu, and now she had to tilt her head back just to see his face clearly.

‘Qin Yi has rebelled!’ Qin Yu was horrified and hurriedly looked at Luo Shangyu, who was sitting beside her.

Luo Shangyu’s expression was also grim.

She bit her lip and said nothing.

“Qin Yu, it is time for me to sit in this seat!” Qin Yi pointed at the dragon throne.

“No!” Qin Yu refused.

“This is an order, not a negotiation!” Qin Yi waved his hand broadly, pointing at the guards and the officials behind him.

“If you dare defy my decree, for every half minute you delay, I will kill one person!” Qin Yi shouted, pointing at the officials.

Qin Yu drew her staff and stood up, “Qin Yi, you are too insolent! Today shall be the day you die!”

Qin Yu thought that since she knew magic and there were no Mages around Qin Yi who could contend with her, she would surely be able to defeat him.

“Humph!” Qin Yi sneered, “Why don’t you look at who is behind you!”

Qin Yu turned around.

It was Luo Shangyu.

Luo Shangyu had drawn the sword from her waist, but the tip of the blade was pointed at Qin Yu’s back.

“Luo Shangyu!”

“My apologies…” Luo Shangyu bowed slightly, “Qin Yi has already bought my loyalty.”

“Wh — why…” Qin Yu did not know why Luo Shangyu would suddenly betray her.

“Oh my, seeing your shocked expression is truly entertaining!” Qin Yi stood to the side, staring at Qin Yu with a face full of smiles.

“I am sorry.” Luo Shangyu wrapped her left arm around Qin Yu’s shoulder from behind.

With a sudden thrust of her right hand, her sword pierced through Qin Yu’s body from the back, emerging through her chest.

“Ugh… ack…” Qin Yu clawed feebly at Luo Shangyu’s left hand, trying to break free, but it was useless.

“Why…” Qin Yu’s face was covered in tears.

Her heart and lungs had been pierced by Luo Shangyu’s sword, and her mouth was filled with the salty, metallic taste of blood.

“I am sorry…” Luo Shangyu merely shook her head mechanically.

Qin Yu’s heart turned cold.

She had trusted Luo Shangyu so much, yet she had ended up dying at her hands.

Despite her heart being pierced, Qin Yu felt no pain at all, other than a slight chill.

Qin Yu knew her heart had been shattered beyond repair.

“How is it? Does it feel good to be killed by the person you trust the most?”

Qin Yi’s voice sounded as if it were coming from far away.

Qin Yu’s eyelids grew too heavy to open again…

“Whew — whew — ” Qin Yu suddenly sat up, panting heavily as she stared at the quiet, dark night around her.

As her memories from before sleep returned, Qin Yu remembered that she and Luo Shangyu were sleeping in the same bed.

‘It was all a dream…’ Qin Yu clutched her chest.

There was still a faint ache in her left breast.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Luo Shangyu asked from beside her.

“Yes,” Qin Yu said, choosing her words carefully, “I dreamed… that I was killed by you…”

“Dreams are all fake. Go back to sleep,” Luo Shangyu comforted her.

“Mhm…” Having been woken by a nightmare, Qin Yu was already exhausted.

She fell back into a deep sleep a moment later.

But Luo Shangyu remained awake.

She had also been jolted awake by a nightmare.

Based on Qin Yu’s description, it seemed the two of them had shared the same nightmare, only from different perspectives.

She had dreamed that she killed Qin Yu.

‘How could this be…’ Luo Shangyu felt that both of them having the same nightmare was far too much of a coincidence.

She thought about it over and over, and felt that all the problems began after she stepped into that palace hall.

Back then, something terrible must have happened to make both her and Qin Yu suffer through that nightmare.

“Tomorrow during the military parade, find the right moment to assassinate Qin Yu!”

Suddenly, the sentence exploded in Luo Shangyu’s mind…